Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 467 The killing begins

Zhu Youjian was in Teng County and ordered: "Report to Yanzhou, and also report to the Inspector General and the Inspection Team."

The Magistrate of Teng County and the Judge of Teng County Court looked at each other and asked carefully, "Your Highness... report everything?"

"Report everything! Report immediately!" Zhu Youjian nodded as a matter of course, "Also, when on official business, use your official title!"

"...Then I'll obey the order of the County Master." Judge Shen looked distressed, "The Public Security Bureau... said that the prison is not big enough."

"So we need to report it quickly. After the review, those who need a second trial will have a second trial, and those who need a final trial will be sent to the Fuzhong Court. After the trial is concluded, those who need to be punished will be punished, those who need to be sent to the border to cultivate land, and those who need to be sentenced will all be able to make room." Zhu Youjian sneered, "The prison is not big enough, no rush, vacate the Confucian Temple temporarily, and those who have made achievements will be imprisoned in the Confucian Temple!"

"…The county lord has a great opinion."

Judge Shen felt that this was a truly heartbreaking act: if these people with great achievements but awaiting conviction were locked up in the Confucian Temple, what would become of the Confucian Temple in the future?

The most important thing is: because the prince is handling cases here as if for "revenge", Shandong has been under martial law again, and the three ministers have gathered together. In fact, all places are trying cases in fear and trepidation - the prison of the Yanzhou Prefecture Public Security Bureau is probably just as crowded.

The current court system is different from the previous system where the county magistrate went to court to handle cases. The chief judge of a county court is responsible for criminal cases. If the court is within his power to make a judgment and the defendant does not appeal, he only needs to send the case file and judgment to the prefectural court. Otherwise, the prefectural court will decide the second instance. Depending on the severity of the case, the prefecture or county will continue the second instance, or the prefectural court will make the second instance. If there is still an appeal, the provincial high court will make the final judgment.

During this process, provincial governors, prefects, and county magistrates did not participate in the trial of specific cases, and the Central Court actually only had three important things to do: first, to archive and analyze all the files compiled by the provincial high courts to further improve the laws and regulations; second, to directly participate in the trial of major cases ordered by the emperor; third, to work closely with the Jinxianyuan and the Jianchayuan to supervise local courts and select and examine local judges.

Especially the second-in-command, since he is only responsible for other civil affairs, he is not allowed to interfere in criminal procedures. However, the chief official of a place is actually like an imperial envoy, so he can pay attention to criminal matters regardless of whether they are big or small - he does not participate in the details, but controls the direction.

At present, the direction controlled by the magistrate of Teng County is to deal with both old and new cases in a big way. The officials, gentry and clerks in Teng County and the surrounding areas have no idea what they are talking about the violent prince.

The county magistrate ignored all this and reported: "After the Caohe River was reopened, due to the martial law in Shandong, the commercial travel was blocked. Although Teng County is not close to the Caohe River, many people's livelihoods are related to it. In addition, regarding the spring plowing, many gentry and wealthy families were summoned, questioned, and arrested, and there were many tenants and hired workers. In this regard..."

There are only so many officials and runners in a county, and now they have to focus their energy on handling cases. The civil affairs system is actually in a very difficult situation.

Moreover, people’s hearts are also unsettled - His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is so "hateful of evil", and not all officials and clerks are clean, so they are all worried that they will be implicated in a case.

Seeing that Zhu Youjian was about to speak directly, Lu Xiangsheng reminded him in advance: "County Master, it is better to use ordinary means."

Zhu Youjian looked at him and calmed down to think.

Lu Xiangsheng was reminding him not to use the influence of the crown prince - although his identity controlled the direction of Teng County and had symbolic significance and served as a political signal, when it came to the civil affairs of a county, if a good result could only be achieved because of the power and resources he possessed as the crown prince, then what guiding significance did it have for other places?
The actual detailed difficulties encountered by Teng County should still be digested and resolved locally.

Zhu Youjian thought for a while and said, "Please ask the county magistrate to send a messenger to inform the good people that the county is holding a banquet to thank them for their many years of kindness and education."

After a pause, he added: "You can also bring your young talents to our county for a brief inspection. There will be a national exam this year, and we hope that despite the turmoil in Teng County, there will still be gains in the national exam."

Lu Xiangsheng nodded with a smile: Although there are many families involved in the case, there are always some families who are innocent, or the cases involved are relatively minor. Beat one faction and then pull another, support them to fill the temporary vacant interest space, and naturally drive them to do more - whether it is to shoulder the business and circulation of goods, or to help the government at least ensure a certain scale of spring ploughing.

Even if the current magistrate of Teng County is not the prince, this approach will still be useful.

"Mr. Lu." Zhu Youjian looked at Lu Xiangsheng again.

"The county magistrate has ordered." The role that Lu Xiangsheng is "playing" now is the county magistrate's staff.

Although after many reforms, roles such as financial and legal advisors and criminal lawyers have been replaced by more specific official positions, it is difficult for Lu Xiangsheng to arrange them. In various places, some chief officials no longer need to hire staff. Some local chief officials are richer or more motivated, so they still hire staff.

"I originally wanted to go to various villages to persuade farmers to grow crops." Zhu Youjian looked at him, "Since my status is not convenient, I would like to ask Mr. Lu to do it for me. How about that?"

"How should I persuade you to do this? Please tell me, County Lord."

Zhu Youjian pondered for a moment and said, "The only ones who need to be persuaded are the tenants, hired workers, and righteous men involved in the case. What they are worried about is, first, the new money this year, second, how the government will collect taxes, and third, those who have been deceived and regard the government as an enemy. Some cases have not yet been finally judged, but in the past few months, the land and population of Teng County have been checked again, but they have not yet been officially measured and re-registered."

"This advice..." Zhu Youjian looked at the county magistrate again, "County Magistrate Lu, if what you said before is correct, this county will have enough tax revenue to survive this year, right?"

The county magistrate surnamed Lu looked at his relative Lu Xiangsheng. He already knew that the prince's "mentor" was a disciple of the emperor and the future son-in-law of the emperor. Now that the prince asked this question, he roughly guessed what he wanted to do.

So Magistrate Lu replied, "I'm afraid we need to save a lot of money and grain this year, firstly to prepare for disasters, and secondly to avoid owing money for public expenses. Since the county magistrate wants to give a banquet to the kind families, I have another way. We can imitate the national debt and raise some money and grain from them first."

"Okay!" Zhu Youjian was confident. "Mr. Lu, you can tell them that this year we will abolish the preferential treatment for officials and gentry in this county. We will investigate all fraudulent donations and false mails. This is not a long-term solution. This county has submitted the tax regulations of Teng County to the provincial government for a ruling. Mr. Lu and the county government should work harder to calculate how much each family should pay this year."

Lu Xiangsheng understood: "Have you explained it clearly to the tenants, hired workers, and adopted son?"

"Yes, make it clear." Zhu Youjian sneered, "Settle accounts with them. Their employers should have paid a certain amount in the past, but they only paid a certain amount, and they also collected a certain amount from them. Let them know that without the employers, each family only needs to pay a certain amount in the future. Moreover, the county will advance the taxes this year, and they can owe them first. After the case is handled this year, the land will be measured and the register will be re-made after the autumn harvest. Most of their employers are waiting for punishment, and then the owners of the hidden land will be determined, the stolen land will be sold, and the rent of the official land will be determined. As long as they farm well this year and pay the arrears, they can continue to owe next year's taxes first. As long as the county can make more money, they will be diligent and have their own land in a few years, and they will know the taxes."

Magistrate Nalu felt a lot of pressure: "Your Excellency, if I can't pay off the debt next year..."

"There are also children with ambitions in good families, and they will be affected this time." Zhu Youjian had already thought it through. "The silver bank now only has branches and sub-branches in the provincial government, and the prefectures and counties still need counters. In the future, these counters can be invested by local good and wealthy families. The county's official land must be managed in a way. They can jointly establish a farming company and then hire families with more labor to farm. This counter can lend money, help ordinary people buy land, make coins, private money, and even treasure notes..."

Under Zhu Youjian's gaze, Magistrate Lu trembled slightly: "...Baocha?"

Zhu Youjian nodded affirmatively: "Baochao! Don't worry too much, as long as the government is fair-minded and announces it properly, the common people will be able to distinguish the pros and cons. In the past, it was because of the heavy corvée and exploitation that it was better to donate than to farm on your own. Now the gentry and wealthy families not only cannot protect them, but also have to help them share the taxes. They can also earn wages by purchasing corvée projects. Why are they not happy?"

"I understand!"

Magistrate Lu was only shocked by the news that "treasure notes can be used to buy land".

Mr. Lu has already reminded us of this, which of course means that this move is not an exercise of privilege by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, but a policy that will be implemented throughout the country later.

The court was so determined about the new currency system that it was willing to fill the big hole left by the Baochao currency.

In order to fill this huge hole, they naturally had to use the land taxes that had been evaded for so many years.

Officials and gentry will be exempted!
If one wants to earn more, one can either become an official and live a more comfortable life, or pay taxes honestly and work hard on the land, or go into industry or business.

It is no longer the era when a piece of official title and background can make local officials "inconvenient to disturb" and thus evade land tax and silver, and annex land and collect tenants to slowly accumulate wealth. The expenditures of their time, the tributes and bribes to local officials, are now poison - the Ministry of Rites has become the Ministry of Rites and Laws, the Censorate is in the bottom, and at the local level, there are several officials with their own duties and duties, watching each other.

Although the boundaries have not been clear for more than a decade, many local relics remain and donations from wealthy gentry are still there.

But that is because there are still officials and gentry who are exempted from punishment, and the wealthy gentry and families in the countryside still have motivation.

But if the exemptions for officials and gentry were removed, would they still have so much extra money to play the old tricks? Without this extra income, why should local officials still take care of them? They would only collect what they should collect and hope that the taxes on the surface in the local area would be enough - only in this way would there be enough left.

In order to accomplish this, the higher-ups even wanted to recall all the treasure notes. After the uproar last year, which official or wealthy family still had treasure notes?

When Magistrate Lu saw the prince looking at him deeply, all the other officials at the Teng County "County Affairs Meeting" were trembling with fear. "So don't worry about the arrears." Zhu Youjian looked at them, "The establishment of the Daming Money House is not just for the new money law. Private usury, hidden fields and hidden people, disaster relief silver, public expenses, salaries... There are so many old problems that there must be a radical change to make them all new. You are all those who have remained in your original positions or promoted after the assassination of the crown prince, so you should know the importance of it. Let's not talk about the rest. Before completely banning old silver, old valuables and private money, if there are officials and gentry in the world who go against the trend and hoard treasure notes, the source is among you."

The "important officials" in Teng County looked aggrieved: "Your Highness... Your Excellency, we are not the only ones who know about this?"

Zhu Youjian smiled and said, "Do you think that no one is watching those who know about this? This is a favor from your majesty to the common people. Anyone who uses this to seek personal gain is the enemy of your majesty and the enemy of all the common people in the world!"

"I dare not... dare not..."

Zhu Youjian nodded: "Mr. Lu, is this a good way to persuade me?"

Lu Xiangsheng smiled and replied, "Good. I will settle the account with every household."

Zhu Youjian stood up and bowed to him: "I am on the southern tour on behalf of His Majesty. I would like to trouble you to visit every household in Teng County on my behalf."

Lu Xiangsheng returned the greeting: "Don't worry, County Master. I am young and strong, so it won't be too much hard work."

Teng County is taking a big step and is really planning to remove all the officials and gentry in the county first.

At this moment, Shandong was under martial law, the central inspection team and the three ministers were all there, so there was no need to run back and forth to handle the assassination case.

So of course the speed is fast.

There were execution grounds in many places, including Jinan, Qufu, Linqing, Yanzhou Prefecture...

How could assassinating the crown prince be an ordinary thing? Moreover, the crown prince was on a southern tour on behalf of the emperor, which was equivalent to assassinating the emperor.

After waiting for so long to start the execution, it is nothing more than bringing here some people who have been found in Henan, Huaiyang, Jiangning and even further away.

Yuan Keli was the Privy Councilor, and he came here just to stabilize the situation.

So now he has set out south.

Wang Yingjiao had to stay here and wait to finish cleaning up the mess on this side.

"Execute!" he said in a deep voice, "After killing this group, I will go to Huaiyang!"

The magistrate of Qufu County's hands were shaking as he looked at the kneeling criminals on the execution ground and the black but silent heads in the surrounding streets.

The cry was loud.

"Master..."

"Unjustly accused..."

"Where is culture and education! Tyrants..."

Death is imminent, and you still don’t dare to cry, shout, or curse?

But strangely, no one among the onlookers or other gentry who were not involved in the assassination of Chu spoke out, either cheering or protesting injustice.

Including some people from the Kong family.

They were still wearing mourning clothes - Kong Shangxian had just been buried.

Those executed at the Qufu execution ground were almost all members of the Kong family’s side branches or in-laws who were involved in the case.

The Confucius Temple is not far away. Today, a large number of Confucius’ descendants are going to die.

So the common people and gentry who were watching found it hard to believe: Would he really kill?

The ideas passed down from generation to generation are deeply rooted. Although the prime minister who is supervising the execution has given the order and the executioners are raising their knives, just like the storytellers sometimes say, they all wonder if a rider will suddenly arrive and shout "spare his life".

Inside and outside the execution ground, there were only the unwilling and angry cries of the Kong family chieftain, while the outside was in an eerie silence.

Those pairs of eyes were either expectant or incredulous; those mouths were either open or closed, but they were all holding their breath.

Kong Yinzhi, who came back to attend the funeral, opened his eyes wide, and finally saw the knife light scraping down without any suspense, and then blood spurted out with screams.

Only then did a cacophony of noises begin to fill the outside of the execution grounds: some gasped, some exclaimed, some sobbed, and some cried out in grief.

After a while, there were many cries.

But among these cries, someone finally started shouting.

"Good kill!"

"retribution!"

"retribution!!!"

Kong Yinzhi felt dizzy, but heard more and more poor people in Qufu shouting like this.

He wasn't the only one who was distracted.

Before the body of Duke Yansheng was cold, more and more people from the Kong family went to accompany him.

Things have changed...

Wang Yingjiao was also filled with emotion, but he had already stood up.

"Let's go! According to the imperial decree, the three princes involved in the case will be tried in Yangzhou."

This killing has just begun.