The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 390 There is trouble everywhere in the place.

Zhu Jingkun obtained the cooperation of the governor and the chief judge, and then began to understand the overall situation of the jurisdiction of the Jiangnan Provincial Administration.

After reading some information, Zhu Jingkun couldn't help but sigh in his heart that compared with people in other places, the people in the Jiangnan region are really too rich.

The Jiangnan region was originally the core area of ​​the Ming Dynasty and the most developed industrial and commercial region in the world.

Although during the "economic decentralization" process thirty years ago, Zhu Jianxuan bought out the Jiangnan region and turned a large number of private industries into state-owned industries.

But this kind of economic bottom-fishing is not a massacre, and the economic foundation of the Jiangnan region has not been destroyed.

The original craftsmen and literate managers are still there, but most of the private industry employees have become employees of the state-owned industry.

As long as the factory owners at that time did not commit suicide or rebel, they could survive by selling their loss-making industries, and their management experience would not disappear.

At that time, Zhu Jianxuan took the initiative to trigger the economic crisis, which only led to a brief stagnation of less than a year in the local area, and then new development immediately ushered in.

Before the industrial age, only a small number of landlords had idle women.

Now the families of workers and managers will also appear.

When people have free time, they will find things to do, and then the contents in Liang Zhangju's report will appear.

After Zhu Jingkun understood the basic situation in the local area, he asked his secretary to call all the prefectures, counties and districts under Jiangnan and ask the heads of government offices and education officials at all levels to come to a meeting.

Investigate the imperial examinations for women in Jiangnan and arrange matters related to the local imperial examinations this year.

Zhu Jingkun’s main duties now are, first of all, to be the councillor of the Jiangnan Provincial Government. The councillor is an assistant to the Provincial Government. The specific power he has can be large or small, depending on the arrangements of the court and the local government.

The default duties of the prince's training are "Executive Deputy (in charge of work)".

It means following the chief officer, learning all the work processes of the office at his level, and being able to make any decision for him when necessary.

Therefore, Zhu Jingkun was the superior of all officials in prefectures, states and counties under the Jiangnan Provincial Administration.

Zhu Jingkun also served as the Jiangnan Education Commissioner, and naturally he was the immediate superior of all local education officials.

After receiving the phone notification, these people felt extremely guilty.

The issue of women's imperial examinations had been going on for several years. Liang Zhangju had been fighting against them for more than half a year, and the related news spread very quickly.

They all now know that Liang Zhangju finally brought the matter to the attention of the emperor last year.

It is also known that the eldest prince came to Jiangnan for training just to investigate this matter.

They actually knew in their hearts that what they had done before was strictly speaking cheating.

Now we can only hope that “the law does not hold everyone responsible”.

The people involved in this matter were not just the education officials, but also a large number of gentry families in Jiangnan. The scale of the "crowd" was really huge.

It is impossible for the imperial court to deal with all these people together.

The key lies in the final decision made by the imperial court as to whether women can be allowed to take part in the imperial examinations in the future.

After receiving the phone call, these officials quickly arranged the things on hand and took a car to the office of the Judicial and Censorate.

The Jiangnan Provincial Administration was very small in area, almost the smallest provincial administration district in the Ming Dynasty.

The economy in the Jiangnan region is developed, and transportation is naturally very developed, with railways, highways, airplanes, and water transportation all very developed.

Suzhou is basically in the central area, and it only takes two hours to drive a motor bus to the north and south ends.

So at nine o'clock the next morning, in the meeting room of the Judicial and Provincial Surveillance Commissioner's Office, the chief officials and educational officials from all over Jiangnan gathered.

The Jiangnan Governor, Jiangnan Chief Censor, and councillors also came to attend the meeting.

The two main officers of Jiangnan first introduced Zhu Jingkun's identity.

Zhu Jingkun accepted the greetings from everyone present, confirmed and acknowledged each other's identities, and then everyone sat down.

Zhu Jingkun immediately began speaking into the microphone:

"My father asked me to come to Jiangnan. First of all, I want you to ask your wife and daughter to come forward and verify the identity of the women who are taking the imperial examinations."

Having said this, Zhu Jingkun's voice suddenly became extremely stern:
“Who gave you the courage to arrange for your wives and daughters to take the female student examination without consulting your father or even the Ministry of Rites?
"The imperial examination is related to the country, how dare you make decisions on your own? You are really tired of living!"

Zhu Jingkun's curses were very unpleasant, but the officials at the scene felt a little relieved. Although his words were harsh, he probably would not go to jail.

A group of people came out one after another to plead guilty:
"Don't be angry, Your Highness."

"It's all my fault..."

"Your Highness, please punish me—"

Zhu Jingkun listened for a while, raised his hand to signal them to be quiet, and then continued his lecture:
"Do you know what the emperor hates the most? It's doing things without asking for permission before a conclusion is reached!
“So, this time, the emperor is very angry, and all those involved in this matter should have been imprisoned and punished.

“But Jiangnan still has things to do, so I’ll give you a chance to redeem yourself and make meritorious contributions.

Zhu Jingkun stood up and the secretary behind him held out a box with both hands:
"The imperial edict has arrived. All the prefectures, counties and educational officials in Jiangnan should listen to it!"

The officials at the scene also stood up together, stood on both sides of the conference room, bowed and saluted, waiting for Zhu Jingkun to announce the decree.

Zhu Jianxuan held the imperial edict in both hands and read it out.

The imperial edict reprimanded all the officials in Jiangnan, and then required all of them to cooperate with the eldest prince Zhu Jingkun to conduct a comprehensive investigation and sort out the matter of women participating in the imperial examinations.

Before this matter is completed, all chief officials, assistant officials, and educational officials in the Jiangnan region shall not be promoted and can only be transferred elsewhere.

If this matter is not done well, if someone does not actively cooperate, they will be sent to prison and punished.

After this matter is completed, all the educational officials who were previously directly involved in the women's imperial examinations can be promoted again in the next three to nine years based on their performance during the investigation period.

Therefore, the prefect, county magistrate and their assistants in the place where the incident occurred shall not be promoted again within three to six years, depending on their performance during the investigation period.

The Governor of Jiangnan, the Judicial Commissioner of Jiangnan, the Councillor in charge of the imperial examinations, and the Inspector General shall not be promoted again within three years.

All previous scores of female students who passed the exam before this year will be invalidated.

Women were not allowed to enter the examination hall until the court had investigated everything and decided whether to allow women to take the imperial examination.

This punishment is definitely not easy for an official with great ambitions.

For six or even nine years, one can only stand still. How many nine years can an official have in his life?

With this punishment, he may lose the chance to become the head of a department.

We can only try to reduce the penalty to the lowest possible three years.

However, now that such a unified warning punishment has been issued, there should be no further investigation into whether what they did in the past constitutes cheating in the imperial examination.

The past is over.

Of course, the group of people did not dare to have any objections. After hearing the imperial edict, they bowed again and thanked the emperor for his grace.

Zhu Jingkun handed the imperial edict to the Jiangnan Governor and the Jiangnan Judicial Commissioner, and asked them to check it one by one to confirm that it was correct. Then they took it back and asked the secretary to keep it.

Then he asked the officials on the scene to sit down again, and Zhu Jingkun officially began to investigate the matter:

"Shanghai County, what happened to that widow? How did she, a widow, continue to take the exam?
"You'd better tell me everything you know honestly, and I will arrange for someone to investigate." "If you make me waste my time, you will lose more than just time."

Since Zhu Jingkun had no hope for the throne, he would not be polite to these grassroots officials.

Besides, he was already a prince and had reached the level of participating in politics through training, so he did not need to consider the evaluation of these grassroots officials.

Shanghai has actually been upgraded to a prefecture, but Shanghai County was very famous before, and many people say that they are used to it and cannot change it in a short time.

The prefect of Shanghai did not dare to remind the eldest prince that he was actually the prefect, nor did he dare to pretend that he did not know that the county magistrate of Shanghai was himself.

Now that he heard the eldest prince calling his name, he quickly stood up to answer the question and explain the situation:
"Your Highness, the widow, Ms. Lu, was originally the wife of a Huang family outside the city. Her husband died less than three years after their marriage.

“Her husband’s family owns more than 100 mu of mulberry fields, which bring in a good income every year.

"When her husband died without a child, her husband's brothers wanted to arrange for their nephews to be adopted by Huang Lu as heirs.

“But Huang Lu refused to accept it.

“The clan brothers were all worried that Lu would marry again and take their brothers’ land away.

"It requires Huang Lu to accept the clan's stepson and swear to remain a widow for life. The clan is willing to apply for a chastity arch for her.

“At the same time, word was spread in the countryside that anyone who dared to marry Huang Lu and seize the Huang family’s real estate would be punished.

"So Huang Lu sold her family's property to the Southern Land Company and took the money into the city.

"If Huang Lu didn't squander the money from the more than 100 acres of mulberry fields in Shanghai, she would never be able to spend it all in her lifetime.

"She bought a small courtyard in the city and spent her days hanging out in theaters and teahouses catering to women, hoping to hang out with the wealthy ladies in the city.

"It is said that the ladies in the city looked down on her because she was from the country, and for some unknown reason the two sides started competing with each other over the imperial examination.

"The widow had money and was willing to make friends, so she found a recommendation and then took the exam."

Zhu Jingkun couldn't help but frown when he heard the latter part.

Thirty years ago, this widow would have been desperate, and taking in a stepson arranged by the clan and living a stable life would have been a good outcome.

She might even be stripped of all her assets by the clan, who would then find a reason to sell her off.

Now the imperial court's control over the local areas has been greatly enhanced, and the suppression of local clan forces has become increasingly stronger. Clans no longer dare to carry out the death penalty at will, let alone trade in human beings.

Especially this Southern Land Company, if they really dared to take over the widow's land, her husband's clan would really not dare to do anything.

But then again, the widow had been married to her husband's family for less than three years when all of her husband's huge fortune became hers. The key point was that she did not leave any children for her husband.

Her husband's brother would certainly not be able to accept this outcome.

The key point is that the Ming Dynasty law does not stipulate that in this case, all assets should belong to the widow!

According to past customs, after the husband's death, the family property was to be divided equally among his wife and all children, and could be managed by the wife/mother who did not remarry.

Only if the wife has given birth to a son and promises not to remarry can she control all the assets left by her husband.

If a woman has children but wants to remarry, she can only take away the share that is allocated to her.

Other assets are managed by the children's guardian.

If a woman remarries without having children, then depending on how long they have been married, she can take away at most one-fifth to one-half of her husband's assets, as well as her own dowry.

Since ancient times, Shenzhou has regarded dowry as the wife's property. In fact, ancient marriages come with a basic prenuptial property agreement.

Therefore, there are big problems in the matter of the widow Huang Lu selling her land, and we need to seriously consider whether this issue can be brought to the table for serious discussion.

It may involve the issue of Shanghai County...the magistrate of Shanghai, and the issue of the Songjiang branch of the Southern Land Company.

The land left by Huang Lu's husband's family did not completely belong to her, and she should not have the right to sell it directly to other people.

Strictly speaking, this transaction is invalid, and the widow and the land company will lose the lawsuit.

However, the land company's recycling of land is a beneficial thing for the country, but is it really appropriate to reclaim it under such circumstances?

What do the managers of the land companies think?

Zhu Jingkun was worried when he thought of this. He glanced at the Shanghai governor and said:

"Didn't her husband's brothers report her to the government?"

The Shanghai prefect said as a matter of course:

"The widow sold the land to the Southern Land Company, which was a government-run enterprise directly under the imperial court. People even thought it was a royal merchant. How could her husband's brothers dare to enter the government office?"

When the Shanghai prefect said this, he subconsciously glanced at the Chief Justice.

This unreasonable thing has already happened. Even if the person involved has not come forward to report it, the Judicial and Surveillance Commissioners' Office has the obligation to take the initiative to uphold justice.

The Judicial Supervisory Commission was a local supervisory agency that was obliged to supervise all local officials and official agencies, including state-owned land companies.

The Chief Inspector tried his best to keep a calm expression and cautiously glanced at the eldest prince's reaction.

Zhu Jingkun also realized these things, so he looked over at him.

The Chief Justice immediately knew that he could not escape.

Allowing land companies to buy such sensitive land will not bring any benefits to us.

They just didn't take the matter seriously. The officials below felt it necessary to confront the land company for the sake of the people, and because of concerns about official connections, they didn't start an investigation.

Now that the eldest prince has realized this matter, he can no longer cover up for the land company.

After hesitating for a few seconds, he stood up and apologized to Zhu Jingkun:

"Your Highness, please forgive me. I was negligent and failed to supervise properly, allowing such a controversial transaction to proceed..."

Zhu Jingkun waved his hand helplessly and ordered:

"Is this kind of thing common? Write a memorial to your father.

"We have always been quite magnanimous to officials who take the initiative to ask for instructions when they are undecided and take responsibility for their mistakes.

"But those who deliberately conceal the truth and deceive the emperor will be punished with a heavier punishment.

"You'd better not wait until my report is sent to Shuntian Prefecture before you ask for forgiveness!"

Zhu Jingkun's words were a straightforward warning. The Criminal Investigation Commissioner could not help sweating on his forehead when he heard half of it:

"Thank you, Your Highness... Thank you, Your Highness, for your kindness. I will write it immediately when I get home today!"

Zhu Jingkun shook his head silently, feeling emotional and thinking for a while.

My father is in Shuntian Prefecture. Does he really know what the world is like? Does he know that there are so many unreasonable things at the grassroots level?

But I think he should have a general understanding that his father did not lose his mind in the face of the flattery of his subjects.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have arranged to investigate it so seriously.

(End of this chapter)