Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 570: A good fighter takes advantage of the situation
This case, which was apparently not complicated but had many twists and turns in its verdict, was eventually sent to the emperor's desk.

The Censorate, the Dali Temple, and the Ministry of Justice each have their own responsibilities.

It no longer matters whether Zhang Mi and others should die or not.

The dispute among the three judges turned into a pure fight of personal feelings. They were fighting for the right to speak and who had the final say.

Although the Censorate had the power to supervise the Dali Temple's adjudication of cases and the Ministry of Justice's law enforcement in the past, this supervisory power was rarely used in practice.

If the case is really serious, the impact is too wide-ranging, and the opinions of all parties are not consistent, we will have a "three-court trial" and the three parties will resolve it through joint consultation.

But now the Censorate has been changed to the Board of Censors. It wouldn't matter if you just changed the name, but do you really want to give us orders?
This is a question of power and territorial awareness. If we give in today, you will ride on our heads and pee and shit on us tomorrow.

Therefore, the three judicial officials refused to give in, and all the civil and military officials in the court just watched the show.

After all, no one wants to be constrained by others.

Fundamentally speaking, the three judicial officials are not liked by civil and military officials.

It’s just that there are no personal conflicts in normal times, so they won’t show up.

Zhu Zhuo, the Chief Censor of the Censorate, was over seventy years old and had gray hair.

He was the first Chief Censor of the Censorate of the Song Dynasty and an important figure who left a significant mark in history books.

He would never allow the authority of the Censorate to be undermined during his tenure.

Otherwise, in the future the Censorate will have the lowest status among the three judicial departments, and he will be the number one criminal in the Censorate.

Old Zhu's white eyebrows were raised, his voice was like a bell, and his momentum was like that of a bull. He didn't seem like an old man at all: "Your Majesty, the Censorate monitors the whole country. What's wrong with impeaching illegal activities?
Supervision is the power granted to the Censorate by the imperial court. If the Censorate finds that the Dali Temple is making unfair judgments, it has the right to stop their wrong judgments!
If the Censorate does not enforce the law impartially but follows personal feelings, how can it deter the four directions, clean up the government, and be used by the government and the Song Dynasty court? "

Dali Temple Minister Wu Shu dusted off his purple official robes and walked out slowly, his tone filled with unquestionable majesty:
"Haha, what you said is wrong, Prime Minister Ya, can't our Dali Temple punish the wicked, redress unjust cases, and uphold the law of the country?
Supervision is just supervision, but your Censorate is now above my Dali Temple and is directly interfering with my Dali Temple's law enforcement."

The Minister of Justice Xizhe followed closely behind and said in a deep voice: "I have carefully read the crimes of Zhang Mi and others. Their behavior is indeed outrageous to both humans and gods, but the law is the law.

Whether it is out of public interest or private intention, violating the law and enforcing it based on one's own likes and dislikes is a perversion of the law regardless of the result, good or bad.

The Censorate acted on impulse. If the court indulges them this time, how can we ensure the implementation of orders and the dignity of the royal law in the future?"

The three of them each took their stand and argued their case.

These three are all well-educated people with a lot of knowledge and sharp words. Even if you listen to what any one of them says, you will find that it makes a lot of sense.

This argument lasted for nearly an hour. All three parties were hoarse and thirsty, but they still refused to give up.

Zhao Yuan was so overwhelmed by what he heard that he spoke out to stop them, saying, "Don't be upset, the three of you. Today's fight is not for power, but for justice in the world.

"What you have said is of national importance. You should also put the overall situation first. I will carefully consider the opinions of the three judicial officials before making a decision. You may leave first."

The three old ministers had no choice but to respond respectfully and leave the hall.

Wu Shu wanted to come over and chat with Zhu Zhao. Since everyone was here for official business, there was no need to be hostile.

But Zhu Zhuo is about to retire and return home, so why would he care about you?

Zhu Zhuo flicked his sleeves, snorted coldly, and walked away.

"Hey, this old man..."

Wu Shu was so embarrassed that he became angry.

Xizhe walked up to him and said with a smile: "At fifty, one knows the will of heaven; at sixty, one's ears are obedient; at seventy, one can follow one's heart without breaking the rules. He is following his heart now, so let him be."

Wu Shu said: "This old man, at the last minute, he doesn't even consider keeping a good relationship with others. It's just the Censorate, he gives advice to the emperor whenever he wants, and impeaches an official, but now he really wants to interfere in the details of our two departments."

He looked at Shangshu Xi and stressed, "If my Dali Temple is suppressed by the Censorate today and we allow them to intervene, you will be the next one."

Xizhe said: "Of course I understand. This matter requires the cooperation of our two departments. We must suppress the arrogance of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. They are too arrogant!"

……

Although the fifteenth day of the first lunar month has passed, the city of Lin'an is still almost as prosperous and lively as before the festival.

The streets are bustling with cars and people. Big red lanterns from the Lantern Festival are hung in front of the shops. People walking on the streets are not in a hurry and everyone is in a happy mood.

On both sides of the street, vendors were shouting their wares incessantly, and in teahouses and taverns, friends gathering to drink were talking loudly.

If you listen carefully, you will find that most of what they discuss is the case of Zhang Mi.

On the bank of the inland river, willow branches gently brush against the water.

There were peasant girls washing clothes, pounding clothes and chatting by the river.

The topics of their conversations now no longer involve family matters, men and children, and the most talked about topic is still the Zhang Mi case.

Is public opinion important? It is important, but not important either. It depends on the extent to which you can use it.

Many things are fermenting now.

The Lin'an tabloids published articles every day, focusing on reporting on the case and its progress, and it was almost becoming the Lin'an Legal News.

The brothels and opera troupes in Lin'an were all performing "Yang Yuan's Detective Cases" rehearsed by the Yue Family Troupe, and each troupe was constantly enriching and changing its content according to its own performance style and specialties.

For example, those who are used to using dirty tricks to attract attention focused on how Zhang Mi raped his daughter-in-law.

Those who are used to filming ghost dramas adapted the original plot and added a scene in which Yang Chenxian accepts the report from the wronged ghosts of Gao Suying and her son, and thus begins to solve the case.

In the story of this opera troupe, the villain was not punished by the law of the country, but was punished by ghosts and gods, which made him particularly popular.

Of course, most of the names of the characters in all these plays have been changed, but anyone who sees them knows what story it is about and who the prototypes are.

Since the public is so heatedly discussing this, officials are naturally even more excited about this topic.

They debated when they were on duty in the government office, and they would also debate when they gathered privately to drink. Among them, there were many officials who argued with their colleagues and friends until their faces turned red, and insisted that Zhang Mi should be executed.

An invisible force is constantly fermenting, just waiting for the moment of explosion.

……

As night falls, the Leifeng Pagoda in the distance appears solemn and mysterious under the sunlight.

The pavilions and towers on the lonely mountain are bathed in the setting sun, and in the distance, a cruise ship is returning home slowly on the water.

However, if a ship approaches Lonely Mountain, a small boat will immediately come to meet it.

After a few words, the cruise ship will change its course and sail away from the waters of Lonely Mountain.

Because the people who intercepted the cruise ship were plainclothes officials from the Imperial City Division.

There is a small pavilion on the lonely mountain.

Luo Tingxia stood outside the pavilion, looking at the sparkling lake.

There were two fishing rods sticking out of the pavilion, and outside the pavilion was the lake, with the fishing lines in the water.

Zhao Yuan and Zhao Yu, dressed in gentlemanly robes, sat side by side in the pavilion, holding a fishing rod.

Zhao Yuan frowned, his eyes full of deep worry, and said slowly: "Brother Qu, the life and death of Zhang Mi is not important.

The emperor could grant amnesty because of floods or droughts, or because of the empress dowager's birthday or the birth of a prince.

Now, of course, you can issue an imperial decree to impose extrajudicial punishment on Zhang Mi and put him to death!"

“But the key to the problem lies in ‘outside the law’. Extrajudicial killing and legal killing have very different meanings.

This time, Zi Yue wanted to use this case to change the rule of not killing scholars and officials.

The literati are the foundation of the country, so I can’t help but worry about them.”

You said that princes are subject to the same punishment as common people when they break the law, but you also said that officials shall not be subject to punishment. Are the two things contradictory?

Do not conflict.

Same crime, but different punishment!

One of the privileges of the literati in the Song Dynasty was that the cost of committing crimes was extremely low.

So far, the Zhang Mi case has been focused on the infighting among the three judicial departments, with the two courts fighting and arguing with each other for their respective dignity and rights.

All the civil and military officials in the court were happy to watch the joke.

However, with Yang Yuan's promotion, the issue soon escalated to the point of whether the scholar-officials who committed capital crimes should be punished with death.

By then, it would be like stirring up a hornet's nest. All the civil and military officials who are still watching the show today would probably have to leave one after another. It would be hard to predict what the situation would be like by then.

Zhao Yuan was the emperor, the ruler of the world. He was worried that the strong reaction of the scholar-officials would cause the Song Dynasty, which was on the rise, to fall into chaos as the Jin Dynasty was in turmoil. Zhao Yu ignored him. When he saw his fishing float tremble a few times, he felt that a fish was about to bite the hook.

Zhao Yuan pondered for a moment and continued, "Since our dynasty was founded, we have always governed the country with culture and convinced people with virtue. Without the efforts of the literati, how could we have today's prosperity? I am worried that we are acting too hastily."

The float stopped jumping. Zhao Qu lifted the rod and saw that the bait had been eaten but no one had taken the bait.

As he put the bait on the fishing rod, he glanced at Zhao Ai and said, "If all the countries submit to you, your prestige will be at its peak, but you cannot use this power to change the rules. When will you change it?"

Zhao Yuan smiled bitterly and said, "You are so carefree, but I am worried that if there is a fierce conflict with the scholars, the current good situation may be ruined, so I dare not be careless.

I am the emperor. If the scholar-officials violate the law, they can be sentenced to death. This is to strengthen the imperial power. Why should I be unwilling? If I am not worried about this, why would I hesitate?

What are the three commandments engraved on stone? Don't I know that our Song Dynasty has never had such a thing? Who would put such a shackle on the heads of their descendants?
During the reign of Taizu, many corrupt officials were executed. The same was true during the reign of Taizong. During the reign of Zhenzong, civil officials who committed capital crimes were also executed.

It was not until the reign of Emperor Renzong that the emperor began to grant special favors to civil officials. Emperor Renzong, was this posthumous title given to you by the literati and scholars for nothing?
However, the power of the literati was growing day by day, and the emperors of previous generations had grown up in the deep palace, and had long lost the decisiveness of the two founding emperors. The imperial power was heavily restrained, and the false gradually became true, and the outside of the law became within the law. "

Having said this, Zhao Yuan sighed deeply.

In fact, it was because Song Renzong was too kind-hearted and easily influenced, so he was PUA'd by the scholar-official group.

However, he did not establish a system in which "scholars and officials shall not be put to death if they are guilty". It was just that in fact, he did so during his tenure as emperor.

Subsequent generations of emperors became weaker, and the influence of the literati-officials further strengthened. The emperors' inaction made "not killing literati-officials" a "ancestral rule" concocted by the literati-officials.

Zhao Yu swung his fishing rod vigorously and said, "Since you know, what are you afraid of?"

Zhao Yuan said: "Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. If we encounter strong resistance, both sides will suffer losses. By the time we recover, we will miss the great opportunity to recover our homeland."

Zhao Yu thought for a moment and said, "In that case, why don't you stay away first? If this mess gets bigger and it's really too late to fix it, you can come back and clean up the mess. Give me the title of 'Regent' and I'll do it.

If I really didn't do well, when you come back, you can strip me of my princely title and demote me to a county prince, and the scholars and officials will calm down."

"Ok?"

Zhao Yuan was surprised and asked, "Where do you want me to go?"

Zhao Qu said, "Why not go anywhere? You leave Hangzhou first, and let me handle this. I'm not afraid of them. Damn it, who's afraid of who?"

Zhao Yuan thought about it and felt that this method had great potential.

This is just like when the two brothers were both candidates for the crown prince and had to pretend to be rivals. This is actually a strategy.

Zhao Yuan then slapped his forehead and said, "That's feasible, as long as I'm not the final decision maker. If I see things are not going well, I can just clean up the mess. Then... shall I go to Jingshan Temple for a stroll?"

Zhao Yu looked at him with disdain and said, "You've made such a big decision, and you're just going to Jingshan Temple. It's only a day's journey from Lin'an to Yuhang, right? It's faster to go back and forth."

Zhao Yuan blushed and said, "Then tell me, where should I go?"

Zhao Yu thought about it, his eyes lit up, and he said, "How about going to Chengdu?"

Zhao Yuan was stunned and asked, "So far?"

Zhao Yu said: "If you want to leave, go far away, so that those scholars won't find you and cry to you in a few days.

Another thing is that Chengdu is an important city in the country, and now Xixia is ready to make a move. If you go to Chengdu to visit the border army and meet with the generals nearby, it will definitely give Xixia and Jin a wrong impression. It can be said to kill two birds with one stone, what's wrong with that?"

Zhao Yuan was greatly moved when he heard this. The emperor said that all the land under heaven belonged to the king, but the emperor was mostly trapped in the deep palace and never left the capital for his entire life.

This is especially true for the emperors of the Song Dynasty. In addition to the two founding emperors, the third emperor Zhenzong, who also was the former emperor Zhao Gou, also traveled far away to Mount Tai to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth.

What his kingdom looks like is entirely up to the imagination of the emperor who controls and governs the country.

Zhao Yuan said: "That... is possible. But the officials will certainly advise against it, right?"

Zhao Yu became even more impatient: "Why are you so worried? They don't want you to leave the capital, so why don't you find a reason they can't refuse?"

"For example..."

"For example, the Empress Dowager is ill and dreams of a golden-armored god telling her that the emperor must go to... um... Chengdu Qingyang Palace to burn incense in order to recover. The emperor wants to fulfill his filial duty, so what? Who dares to stop him?"

Zhao Yuan said happily: "This plan is feasible! However, the Empress Dowager is old and tired from the journey. What if..."

"Then the Queen Mother, she is young and skilled in martial arts. It is not a good idea for her to stay in the palace all the time. It is a good opportunity to invite her out to relax."

Zhao Yu slapped his thigh and said, "Yes! The Queen Mother is more suitable. I will go talk to her."

Queen Dowager Wu was Zhao Qu's adoptive mother and had the deepest relationship with him, so there would naturally be no problem for him to come forward and plead in her favor.

Outside the pavilion, Xiao Luo's ears relaxed slightly.

The emperor is going to tour Chengdu, and I can go to Bashu with him.

It’s a pity that if we go to Bashu, we won’t be able to see how Yang Yuan stirs up trouble. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

……

After Yang Yuan finished his work today, he invited Yan Ding, the director of the Imperial College, to have a drink.

Yan Ding, the director of the Imperial College, was equivalent to the "dean of teaching". His power was certainly not comparable to his previous position as the magistrate of Lin'an Prefecture. However, as time went by, he became accustomed to it.

Although he left Lin'an Prefecture because of Yang Yuan, after some contact with him, he did not have any bad feelings towards Yang Yuan. Instead, the two of them had a good relationship.

Today, Yang Yuan invited Yan Siye to have a drink in order to introduce the topic of "Should Zhang Mi be put to death, and whether he can be sentenced to death" to the theme of "not killing scholars and officials".

It is most appropriate for this topic to be raised by the reserve group of scholar-officials, the students of the Imperial College and the Imperial Academy.

Although they are the future scholar-officials, young people have purer ideals and morals. No one thinks that after their academic success, they aim to become a corrupt official after entering the government.

They especially hated the corrupt officials who had corrupted the scholar-official community and the bureaucratic community.

However, Yang Yuan had no other connections in the Imperial College except Yan Ding.

Therefore, he could only rely on Yan Ding's help to guide the students of the Imperial College to intervene actively.

For a mediocre official like Yan Ding who is the Tongpan of Lin'an Prefecture and does nothing but eat and do nothing, talking to him about justice, fairness, that every man is responsible for the rise and fall of the country, and how to reform bad policies to benefit the country and the people is like playing the lute to a cow.

Therefore, from the very beginning, Yang Yuan never thought of using this method to persuade him.

Everything has a price, as long as you can offer something attractive.

Of course, Yang Yuan had bargaining chips. For a mediocre official who had no hope for a career in the government and was counting the days until retirement, Yang Yuan happened to have what he needed most.

So, the two of them had a very happy drink.

The next day, Yang Yuan gave Yan Ding everything he wanted. Yan Ding immediately used his identity as the director of the Imperial College to skillfully guide the students of the Imperial College.

The students were not oblivious to what was happening outside; they had all heard about the Zhang Mi case.

However, they did not originally think about the deep-rooted problem, but instead focused their arguments on the example and the person of Zhang Mi.

During the monthly exams, Yan Ding simply linked the essay topic of that month's exam to the case of Zhang Mi's murder and corpse hiding, and mentioned in the title that the fundamental reason for the dispute among the three judicial officials in this case was related to the traditional concept of "not killing scholars and officials."

The quiz was over, but the topic had just begun. Like a flood that broke through a dam, it became the focus of heated debate in the entire Imperial College.

While Yang Yuan was entertaining Yan Ning, Wang Dashao and Fan Juren also hosted Cheng Hongtu and Song Qi, two students from the Imperial College who had responded to Yang Yuan and redressed Yue Fei's grievances.

As a senior, Mr. Wang invited these two passionate and righteous juniors to have a drink. After just a few discussions during the meal, Cheng Hongtu and Song Qi became two sparks.

With their return, the pros and cons of "pardoning the scholars and officials regardless of the circumstances" became the focus of discussion in the Imperial College.

Zhang Mi fell down, and the invisible stone tablet of commandments was now carried on his back. Whether he could fall down with it was closely related to Zhang Mi's life and death.

At this time, the Privy Council's Printing Office also took action.

Xu Hongcheng, the head of the printing room, quietly transported a batch of ink out of the Privy Council. Liu Shangqiu, who had been keeping an eye on him and Kou Heiyi, learned the news at the first opportunity.

Liu Shangqiu immediately followed in person.

A total of fourteen barrels of ink were transported around Lin'an City and finally arrived at "Li Qiaoer Bookstore".

Li Qiaoer Bookstore was responsible for the printing of "Lin'an Tabloid" and Li Qiaoer was the partner of editor-in-chief Su Qiaosu.

Li Qiaoer Bookstore wanted to save money, and Kanyinfang, an idle office, wanted to generate income, so the two sides cooperated, one preparing the printing ink and the other purchasing the printing ink, which was reasonable.

The sales volume of "Lin'an Tabloid" has skyrocketed recently, and the increase in ink consumption is also normal.

Every link seems to be fine.

However, that evening, six barrels of ink were shipped out of "Li Qiaoer Bookstore".

Uncle Lao Gou's men immediately followed...

(End of this chapter)