Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 291 The Anti-Theft Division is going to rebel? Kill!

Since being promoted by Zhu Yunhuan and appointed as the head of the Anti-Theft Department, Ji Gang has been following the orders of the Naughty Kid, leading a large group of people outside to fight against gangs, green forest bandits, remnants of the White Lotus Sect and others, with remarkable results.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that no gangs will be allowed to exist in the Ming Dynasty, so they cannot exist.

Clean them all up.

In this regard, Ji Gang implemented it very resolutely and thoroughly.

He started by targeting his old friends in the underworld.

They would capture and convict their former "friends" one by one, and then force them to reveal the names of their other "friends in the underworld."

Then, just like following a vine to find a melon, he cleared them all out one by one with the force of sweeping the holes in the courtyard.

Although the Ming Dynasty was stable, there were still many remnants of various forces that remained from the previous chaos.

With the control power of the feudal dynasty, it would take sixty or seventy years to completely eliminate these people, and they would slowly disappear after three generations.

But with Zhu Yunhuan's order and the efforts of the naughty kid and Ji Gang, the corresponding remaining forces soon ceased to exist.

More importantly, a large number of gangs were also eradicated.

Ji Gang tried his best and kept fighting outside.

It was not until the end of the year that he returned to Beijing to report on his work.

He originally wanted to take this opportunity to "show off" in front of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, to demonstrate that he was a "useful" person and did not let down His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's trust and importance.

However, he did not expect that as soon as he returned to the Ministry of Justice, a group of people attacked the Ming Academy of Sciences.

Ji Gang's first reaction was to think that this must be a revenge from a martial arts sect.

In the past few months, he has destroyed many underworld forces, the remnants of the White Lotus Sect, the remnants of those who used to support Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng wholeheartedly, and various green forest heroes...

It is obviously impossible to say that these people would not fight back or struggle at all and just wait to be killed.

In fact, in order to "retaliate" against the actions of the imperial court, these "heroes of the rivers and lakes" also took many actions, constantly attacking government offices in various places and killing imperial officials.

They hope this will deter officials who dare to oppose them.

In the past, this trick would have been quite effective.

After all, stability is everything.

For local officials, if they can serve their term without causing any trouble, it is a victory.

From this perspective, it is actually not in the interests of local officials to clear out the gangs within their jurisdiction.

This is because once the government takes action against these gangs, they will inevitably counterattack and create "unrest" in the short term.

The assessment of officials is a rigid requirement. If something happens in the area you manage, it is your responsibility.

The political future of officials will be affected as a result.

On the other hand, if we let the gangs run wild and turn a blind eye to them as if they don't exist, the gangs will be relatively well-behaved and won't cause us any big trouble. This will be good for everyone and we can all get through our term safely. This is of course in the best interests of local officials.

In fact, there are very few local officials who have been truly "bribed" by gangs.

Negotiate terms with gangs, and as long as the gangs promise not to cause trouble during their term of office, they can give the gangs some benefits and turn a blind eye to their daily illegal activities. This is the choice of the vast majority of local officials.

Of course, the "filial piety silver" and various benefits sent by the underworld gangs must be taken.

But taking a little "benefit" does not mean that you have to work for the gangs and risk your life for them.

The most important reason is that he was afraid that gangs would cause trouble and affect his career.

This is actually a drawback brought about by the official assessment mechanism.

The imperial court had a complete set of procedures, rules and regulations for assessing officials. If something went wrong, points would be deducted from the assessment.

If everything is safe and sound, that is good and excellent.

As for how this peace and tranquility came about, unless it is an extremely special case or the official has a very strong background, the higher-ups usually do not have the energy to investigate further and are unwilling to intervene.

Why is it that nothing goes wrong when others are in office, but only when you are in power?

Can you say it's not your responsibility?

Your explanations are all "excuses". The higher-ups only recognize facts and results!
Because of this, officials will of course look for solutions that are as safe as possible.

But this is just the logic of local officials.

At the top levels, the situation is different.

After all, they no longer have to worry about being held accountable by higher-ups.

Since Zhu Yunhuan wanted to rectify all the gangs in the Ming Dynasty, he was of course well aware that these people would "counterattack".

At this time, local officials who caused "disturbance" by vigorously cracking down on gangs will not be punished or held accountable.

As long as it can be suppressed quickly, it will be regarded as an important political achievement.

Only with the "permission" of the imperial court could local governments let loose and crack down on underworld forces within their jurisdiction.

After the naughty boy Zhu Gaoxi took charge of the Ministry of Justice, he became even more simple and rough. If there was any "noise" in a place, he would have to ask the local Censor-in-Chief for advice.

If nothing happens, then nothing has been done.

The Ministry of Justice now also has the power to govern the provincial censors.

Under pressure from one level to another, everyone from the Censorate to the county lieutenants launched large-scale actions to crack down on gangs.

There are also many "resistances" triggered by this.

Under the national policy of the army not intervening in local affairs as much as possible, Ji Gang's Anti-Theft Division was dispatched everywhere to help suppress the "counterattack" of underworld gangs.

Even Ji Gang himself went to the front line.

After several months of fighting, initial results are beginning to show.

The gangs and heroes who were once so arrogant that they thought the government and the court could not do anything to them have now mostly fled in fear and dare not show their heads again.

Ji Gang felt that he had made great contributions and lived up to the expectations of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

However, he never expected that just after he returned to the capital to report on his work and achievements, "bad guys" attacked the Ming Academy of Sciences.

Ji Gang's first reaction was that this must be a dying counterattack by those severely hit gangs.

When a dog is cornered, it will jump over the wall; when a rabbit is cornered, it will bite people.

These people now have no other options but to take risks.

They hated Ji Gang to the core. Since attacking ordinary local government offices was useless, they had no choice but to attack the Ming Academy of Sciences.

Once anything happened at the Ming Academy of Sciences, the person who would be held accountable by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would definitely be Ji Gang.

After all, he is the chief of the Anti-Theft Bureau and the person appointed by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to deal with the gangs.

He is also the "culprit" in the eyes of those people!
If he were held accountable and sent to prison, those people would have avenged themselves.

This is the only reasonable explanation.

Otherwise, with such a small number of people, they could neither rebel nor stage a coup.

Attacking the Ming Academy of Sciences is tantamount to seeking death.

Only those people with abnormal brain circuits and who are fearless and unafraid of death can do such a thing.

And what they did this time really hit Ji Gang's vital point.

Ji Gang was also very clear about this.

Even if his crackdown on underworld gangs caused some underworld forces to gather and rebel, and even captured the county or prefectural government offices, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would only immediately order troops to suppress the rebellion, and would not blame him for exacerbating the conflict and causing such a big incident.

To put it bluntly, since His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has decided to wipe out all those evil spirits, he is not afraid of them causing trouble.

Since Ji Gang began to carry out his mission, there were officials in the court who opposed him.

They believed that since ancient times, "if the people do not report, the officials will not investigate." As long as the gangs and bandits did not provoke the government and no one went to the yamen to file complaints, the court did not need to intervene in the "gang affairs."

Although those people like to fight, steal and rob...the government only cares about the cases filed by people.

There is absolutely no need to actively provoke them, or even intervene in the fights between gangsters, and crack down on them as "evil forces".

As for gangs collecting "protection fees" and the like.

The common people did not go to the government office to beat drums to complain, so why did the court order the government to intervene?

To turn a blind eye and rule by doing nothing is an eternal principle.

Besides, by collecting “protection fees”, don’t they also help maintain law and order in many places?
It saved the local government a lot of trouble.

Isn’t it good that some of the “troublemakers” and “troublemakers” who like to go against the government are dealt with completely by them?

The government cannot take the initiative to take on things.

But after reading the memorial, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince immediately dismissed the person who submitted it.

In the eyes of traditional feudal scholars, they were proud that there were no "criminal cases" and that no ordinary people went to the government to file complaints.

The most important criterion for judging the so-called "political stability and harmonious people" is that the fewer cases the better. Fewer cases means fewer criminals, and also means that the people who preside over the government and govern the country are "wise and wise."

This is a tradition of feudal society that has lasted for thousands of years.

Most of the "wise and enlightened kings" in history books have records of a significant reduction in "criminal cases".

Because the court was well governed, the people no longer had disputes with each other and no longer went to the government to file complaints!

The reason why feudal society had such a concept was that in people’s minds at that time, the imperial court ruled the country with “morality”.

That is, the imperial court should play the role of a "moral model" and persuade everyone in the world to abide by morality and be kind.

Only by doing this can one be considered a truly "wise and enlightened king."

Since the people are all "educated" by the court and are determined to do good, there will naturally be no criminal cases, and no one will go to the government to file complaints!
The logic is perfect.

Of course, in order to achieve this goal, the actual method is to set up various thresholds so that ordinary people cannot and dare not go to the government to file complaints.

In Zhu Yunhuan's opinion, this is bullshit.

Education does work.

Moral opinion and social pressure will indeed regulate and constrain people's behavior to a great extent.

A typical example is "getting married with a baby".

In later generations in the East, once a woman became pregnant and used this as an excuse to force a man to marry her (without a dowry or any other additional conditions, just marriage), few men would dare to be irresponsible and run away from the marriage.

Although legally, men are not obliged to marry a pregnant woman.

But at the social level, if a woman becomes pregnant and has no other conditions but only wants to get married, and the man escapes at this time, it will absolutely not be accepted by social morality and public opinion.

But in the West, pregnancy is a gift from God to women. What does it have to do with men?
If a woman gets pregnant, do I have to marry her?
This is impossible!

Different social moral opinions lead people to have different behavioral logics.

However, if ordinary people are faced with numerous obstacles in their attempts to redress grievances and file complaints, and yet they expect to resolve conflicts through "education" and the constraints of social morality and public opinion, then that is wishful thinking.

After the Ministry of Justice launched an all-out effort to crack down on underworld gangs, the number of all types of cases in the criminal circle across the country increased dramatically, skyrocketing dozens of times.

Most of them are ruffians, hooligans, and robbers who used to do evil things. They were once green forest heroes. Now they have been arrested and brought to justice under the supervision of the imperial court.

But there are also many bullies who take risks because of this.

After all, a three-foot-thick ice does not form overnight.

If you want to wipe out all the gangs that have existed for thousands of years, they will always struggle to some extent.

Zhu Yunhuan didn't care about it at all.

This is war! It's a civil war!
How can there be no death?

Ji Gang led the Anti-Theft Division's troops in more than a hundred battles with gangs of varying sizes from all over the country, causing many "vicious incidents".

But Zhu Yunhuan always praised it highly.

But Ji Gang knew very well that those people's attack on the local government offices was different from causing trouble in Jinling City.

The Ming Dynasty had a vast territory, and it was normal for local government offices to be unable to cope with the situation and be attacked by deep-rooted local gangs.

But Jinling City is the core of the dynasty and is heavily guarded.

If those people caused any big noise here, it would be his fault for not being well prepared and failing in his duty.

The Ming Academy of Sciences was founded by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince himself, and there must be no room for any mistakes.

That’s why Ji Gang rushed here as quickly as possible after hearing the news.

But I never expected that as soon as I arrived, I would meet... To meet His Majesty the Emperor?
How did I become His Majesty the Emperor?
After a brief moment of daze, Ji Gang suddenly reacted.

This must be a "vicious plot" thought up by those underworld figures.

He deliberately called himself "His Majesty the Emperor" and put the hat of "rebellion" on his head.

In this case, he cannot wash himself clean even if he jumps into the Yellow River.

In an instant, Ji Gang felt every hair on his body stand up.

These people really do everything they can to the extreme!
How dare you wear the uniform of the Imperial Guard?
But his reaction was not slow.

Snapped!
He raised his leg and kicked the Jinyiwei who was kneeling on the ground, sending him flying.

He raised the pistol in his hand and was about to shoot to kill, but suddenly stopped.

"Come here, capture this traitor and torture him severely."

At the last moment, Ji Gang suddenly thought that if he shot the man to death, he would inevitably be suspected of murder, which would give the man a reason to criticize him, so he did not shoot.

After witnessing this scene, the detectives suddenly realized that it was indeed a "deception plan" by the rebels.

They actually brought up the so-called "Commander-in-Chief" and "His Majesty the Emperor"?
I and others almost got cheated.

This Jinyiwei in uniform is actually a fake?
These people really came prepared!
Fortunately, the troops from the Anti-Theft Division of the Ministry of Justice arrived in time.

After His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's reform, the constables were established as a separate system within the government, and have become a unit that combines vertical and horizontal management.

The Ministry of Justice is the "highest boss" of all detectives.

The Anti-Theft Department is the most important department of the Ministry of Justice.

According to regulations, the Anti-Theft Bureau has the power to directly dispatch local detectives wherever they handle cases.

Of course I have to perform well in front of the senior officials from the Anti-Theft Division of the Ministry of Justice.

Now that we have reinforcements, we no longer have to be afraid of these criminals who are outnumbered.

"Kill, capture them all." The captain of police drew out his knife, yelled, and led a group of detectives to rush towards Jiang Lin and his gang.

Ji Gang also looked back.

Sudden.

His pupils shrank slightly.

As a person who was suddenly promoted by Zhu Yunhuan, Ji Gang had never met the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Jiang Li, nor had he met the Emperor.

The last time he went to Beijing, Jiang Li had already gone out with Zhu.

I haven't seen the real person, but I have seen the portrait.

During the past six months, Ji Gang had been handling cases at the Anti-Theft Division, and what he had seen most often were portraits of various wanted criminals.

In order to get familiar with the officials in the court as quickly as possible, Ji Gang also used his power to ask his subordinates to draw portraits of many officials for himself and other officials of the Anti-Theft Bureau to identify.

It also avoids encountering officials you don’t know when handling cases.

Jiang Li, commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, was one of them.

He had also seen the portrait of Zhu Yuanzhang at Zhu Gaoxu's place.

The portraits of this era are somewhat distorted and very different from the real people.

Ordinary people may not be able to tell the difference at first glance.

However, because Ji Gang had been catching wanted criminals by looking at portraits in the past few months, he had already developed the ability of "eagle eyes and golden pupils".

As soon as he saw it, the person in the portrait immediately appeared in his mind.

Is that Jiang Li, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard?

what happened?

Could it be that he was planning a "rebellion"?
This was the first thought that flashed through Ji Gang’s mind.

It's not the underworld gangs causing trouble, but the Jinyiwei rebelling?
Immediately.

He saw the "old man" behind Jiang Li, who was surrounded by many people.

It was like being struck by lightning in an instant.

Could it be His Majesty the Emperor?

The person that the “Jinyiwei” is kneeling to is not himself, but His Majesty the Emperor?

Isn't this a "vicious plot" by the underworld gangs?
"Let me go!" At this time, the Jinyiwei who was kicked and held down struggled: "Are you from the Anti-Theft Division going to rebel?"

"Really, Your Majesty?"

Ji Gang only felt the blood rushing up in his body, his eyes went dark, his legs went limp, and his body fell down.

"kill!"

The detectives, who were eager to make a contribution and perform well in front of the officials in the Ministry of Justice, were still rushing towards Jiang Lin and others.

……

(End of this chapter)