The prince is more stable

Chapter 899 It’s too many to write about
"Arresting without cause" and "fabricating false accusations."

He immediately made a huge accusation, leaving Zhao Xiaoqian speechless.

This is probably the Song Dynasty version of "putting aside the facts".

From the start of the court assembly until now, not a single person has asked the Chenzhou officials what they have done wrong or whether the evidence is conclusive. They have spoken out for the Chenzhou officials without asking any questions.

The arrogance of the scholar-officials and the superiority of the civil officials were fully displayed.

Zhao Xiaoqian sighed. The Song Dynasty needed to change. What needed to be changed was not only the system and order, but more importantly, the hearts of the people.

For a century, emperors have treated scholar-officials far too well, to the point that today's civil officials are so arrogant and have lost sight of who they are.

“Is it Liu Zhongdao, the Censor-in-Chief?” Zhao Xiaoqian asked.

"Yes." Liu Zhongdao stood tall and proud, his righteousness resembling that of a wife catching her husband cheating.

"You just said that the Censorate arrested officials in Chenzhou without cause and fabricated false charges. I understand that, but there is still something I don't understand..."

Zhao Xiaoqian's lips curled into a smile as he slowly said, "From the moment you started speaking until now, you haven't seemed to have asked about the merits of the matter. You just open your mouth and slap the blame on the Censorate. So, have you never been used to reasoning with people since you were a child?"

Liu Zhongdao paused, and the expressions of many people in the hall also turned grim.

After a long silence, Liu Zhongdao had no choice but to lower his head and say, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I was just indignant. May I ask Your Majesty what crime the officials of Chenzhou committed that led to the arrest and questioning of all the officials in the entire prefecture by the Imperial City Guard?"

Zhao Xiaoqian hummed in agreement and praised, "That's right! This is what normal, reasoned conversation should be like. You see, when you learn to reason, you're not so repulsive anymore; you radiate a clear, approachable, and lovable quality from the inside out..."

The courtiers in the hall were both amused and exasperated. With the emperor and his ministers in such a tense standoff, how could the emperor still have the leisure to tease his ministers? Could they even argue so casually?

After a pause, Zhao Xiaoqian's tone gradually lowered: "Since the establishment of the Censorate, the first case we handled was the interrogation of officials in Chenzhou."

"Gentlemen, if the Censorate doesn't have solid evidence or proof of the officials' crimes, do you really think they're so bold as to arbitrarily interrogate officials?"

"Let alone the fact that they can't get past me, the officials in the palace already have a lot of grievances against the Censorate, and I'm afraid they won't tolerate the Censorate's misbehavior, right?"

Zhao Xiaoqian looked at Liu Zhong with a smile and said, "Therefore, my explanation to you may disappoint you, or many court officials..."

As he spoke, Zhao Xiaoqian raised his head and called out, "Where is Han Zhongyan, the Inspector General? Where is Zhen Qing, the official in charge of the Imperial City Guard?"

Two figures emerged from the court officials inside the hall, standing in the center of the hall and bowing to Zhao Xiaoqian in unison: "Your subject is here."

Zhao Xiaoqian looked at Han Zhongyan and said calmly, "In investigating the case of the Chenzhou officials, the Censorate should uphold justice and punish them according to the law. As the ancients said, 'To punish without teaching is cruelty.' Now, in front of all the civil and military officials, you should present the evidence and confessions and let this case be settled in a fair and square manner."

Han Zhongyan bowed and said, "Your subject obeys the decree."

Turning around, Han Zhongyan surveyed the assembled officials and slowly said, "Five days ago, the Censorate received an anonymous complaint from the people of Chenzhou, accusing Chenzhou officials of distorting the new policies, imposing additional taxes, colluding with merchants and landlords, and forcing the people to sell their land, turning their entire families into refugees."

"After receiving the complaint, the Supervisory Office, with the assistance of the Imperial City Guard, immediately set off to Chenzhou to conduct an investigation. The Imperial City Guard visited more than 30 villages and towns under the jurisdiction of Chenzhou and finally confirmed that the people's complaint was basically true. The Imperial City Guard had also obtained a lot of evidence of crimes, and all the officials in Chenzhou were involved in the case."

Han Zhongyan spoke slowly, enunciating each word clearly, as if afraid that the courtiers in the hall might not hear him.

At this moment, Liu Zhongdao and many court officials looked very dissatisfied. It was clear that Han Zhongyan had only calmly stated the facts of the case without offering any substantial information.

Seemingly knowing what the court officials were going to say, before Liu Zhongdao could refute, Han Zhongyan immediately said, "The cases investigated by the Censorate must have complete witnesses and physical evidence, and must not give anyone any grounds for complaint."

As he spoke, Han Zhongyan looked at Zhen Qing, who was standing side by side with him.

Zhen Qing understood and turned to shout in a deep voice towards the outside of the hall: "Bring the evidence of the crimes committed by the Chenzhou officials into the hall."

As soon as he finished speaking, several subordinates of the Imperial City Guard walked in from the outer corridor of the hall. Together they carried in two large boxes.

After the boxes were placed in the center of the main hall, Zhen Qing stepped forward and opened them himself. Inside one of the boxes was a large stack of papers, with densely written characters visible on them.

Another box contained many ledgers and land deeds, as well as physical evidence such as the murder weapon and blood-stained clothes.

Two boxes were placed in the center of the main hall. Han Zhongyan calmly bowed to the assembled officials and said, "The evidence of the crimes committed by the officials in Chenzhou is all here. Each piece of evidence is real. If you do not believe me, you may come forward and examine it yourselves."

"Furthermore, the Imperial City Guard found letters, embezzled silver, and other valuables in the homes of these convicted officials. Zeng Shuli, the prefect of Chenzhou alone, received nearly a million taels of silver in bribes, along with contracts for over 100,000 mu of farmland. The amount of gold, jewels, and rare treasures is countless. The scale of this embezzlement is unprecedented since the founding of the Song Dynasty." The box was placed in the main hall, but after Han Zhongyan finished speaking, not a single official stepped forward to examine and verify it.

There were very few honest officials in the Song Dynasty. Everyone knew in their hearts that these pieces of evidence, such as stolen silver and land, were basically genuine. The fact that Han Zhongyan dared to bring these things into the Daqing Hall showed that the Censorate had the confidence to prove that all the evidence was true and reliable and could withstand verification and scrutiny.

The crimes committed by the officials in Chenzhou are basically set in stone and cannot be overturned.

However, the court officials were still unwilling to accept this outcome.

They didn't care about the corrupt officials exposed by the Censorate; after all, they had already been caught, so they had to accept it.

What the court officials cared about was that the Censorate could not continue operating in this manner.

Today it's Chenzhou, but what about tomorrow? Who will be the next unlucky one?

The officials felt as if a knife was hanging over their heads; it hadn't fallen yet, but it might fall at any moment, and their fate would be no different from that of the officials in Chenzhou.

If officials have to live in constant fear after the establishment of the Censorate, what's the point of being an official?
Seeing that none of the officials in the hall spoke, Zhao Xiaoqian stared at the Censor Liu Zhongdao and said, "Censor Liu, you just impeached the Censorate for arresting officials without cause and fabricating false accusations. Now I ask you again, do you still think the Censorate 'arrested officials without cause' and 'fabricated false accusations'?"

Liu Zhongdao was pale-faced, his head bowed, unable to speak.

Zhao Xiaoqian looked around at the assembled officials and said, "Gentlemen of the palace, is there anyone who has any questions about the interrogation of the officials from Chenzhou? You may step forward. The more we debate, the clearer things will become. I do not mind your questions. As long as you speak reasonably, I will listen to anything you say."

Still no one spoke up. Before today's court assembly, many court officials secretly conspired to use the case of questioning officials in Chenzhou to bring down the Censorate, or at least make them more cautious in their future actions and not dare to question officials at will.

But now things have spiraled out of everyone's control.

Faced with the doubts and dissatisfaction of the officials, the Censorate calmly presented the facts and evidence, speaking and acting openly and honestly, and every word and deed firmly adhered to the principle of "reason".

How could the court officials possibly question or refute this? Their reasons were selfish and utterly untenable.

After a long silence in the hall, Zhang Dun felt an itch on his back, probably because he felt the pressure of the ministers' gazes.

Zhang Dun had no choice but to break the silence, and said in a deep voice, "I wonder how Your Majesty intends to deal with the officials involved in the case in Chenzhou?"

Zhao Xiaoqian looked at him calmly and said, “Mr. Zihou, as the prime minister, what you should be concerned about now is how many people under Chenzhou’s jurisdiction have been harmed by these officials, how many families have been torn apart, how many farmers have sold their land and children, and how many families have become refugees and have no choice but to leave their homes, rather than just caring about the fate of these corrupt officials.”

Zhang Dun's face turned pale, and he lowered his head, saying, "Your Majesty, I know I was wrong. Your Majesty's reprimand is correct."

Zhao Xiaoqian looked up at Han Zhongyan and said, "You tell the gentlemen in the hall exactly how many people have been harmed in Chenzhou."

Han Zhongyan looked around at the assembled officials and said in a heavy tone, "In the sixth year of the Yuan You era, Chenzhou had a total population of 80,000 households and 420,000 people. After Prefect Zeng Shuli took office as the Prefect of Chenzhou, during his four years in office, the population of Chenzhou had decreased to less than 70,000 households and the population had also decreased to 350,000."

"This includes people whose families were destroyed, those who were forced to sell their land and flee with their families, those who were killed by the government and landlords, and even those who starved to death or committed suicide out of despair."

"All data, including land area and population, are verifiable. Zeng Shuli and his cronies, including officials, landlords, and merchants, have directly or indirectly harmed tens of thousands of people. This is outrageous and their crimes are unforgivable!"

The hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Many people dared not utter a sound, while others were stunned by the cold, unforgiving numbers and remained speechless for a long time.

Zhang Dun's face grew increasingly grim; these shocking figures were indeed alarming.

In history books, they may just be a line of insignificant numbers, but in the present reality, they are all real human lives lost.

They could have lived peacefully and healthily, generation after generation, as obedient and law-abiding citizens. However, the evil deeds committed by the officials ultimately cost them their lives.

Zhao Xiaoqian's face was also ashen. Although he had known about these shocking figures last night, he still couldn't suppress his anger when he heard them again.

"Tens of thousands of people! Some died, some became refugees with their families, and some may have starved to death on their struggle for survival. Others became serfs and tenants of landlords, living like animals. All of this is the evil done by Zeng Shuli and his accomplices!"

"When I led my army to fight against the Liao Kingdom, none of our soldiers ever died this many times. Now, in this small place of Chenzhou, tens of thousands have been killed! The evil of the officials is even worse than that of the foreign enemy!"

"Master Zihou, how should the crimes committed by the officials of Chenzhou be dealt with? What advice do you have for me?"

(End of this chapter)