My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 393 Hai Rui's First Sword Upon Entering the Capital

Bazhai surrendered very decisively.

These indigenous tribes in the southwest have long had their own way of survival.

In particular, Zhu Shikun had studied the delicate relationship between them and the local government before his departure.

Even the definition of "native people" is debatable.

Many of the chieftains who surrendered in Bazhai this time could speak fluent Mandarin and looked just like Han Chinese.

Some villages can even be described as Han Chinese villages, as their lifestyle is the same as that of the Han people, except for some local decorations.

In fact, this is the case.

If the oppression of the imperial court was too severe, or if the Han people in the southwest region committed a crime, they would flee to the indigenous tribes in the mountains.

The leaders of the indigenous tribes would also recruit these refugees. The strength of the tribe lay in its population. Absorbing Han Chinese refugees could help the tribe grow stronger, while the Han Chinese could cultivate the land and provide the tribe with more resources.

However, just like how local chieftain tribes rebelled against the local government after they became too powerful.

Some Han Chinese refugee leaders, after growing powerful, would also rebel against the chieftains.

For example, Zhao Quan of the Baima tribe, the leader of the recent rebellion of the three chieftains, rebelled because he wanted to usurp the chieftainship after his power grew, but the court refused to grant it to him.

The reform of replacing native chieftains with centrally appointed officials began in the early Ming Dynasty. People have always had the idea that the more successful the reform of replacing native chieftains with centrally appointed officials was, the higher the degree of Sinicization in the region.

The policy of "replacing hereditary chieftains with appointed officials" refers to replacing hereditary chieftain positions with appointed officials who serve fixed terms.

In reality, many of the official positions in areas where the "reform of native chieftainships" was implemented were still held by certain tribes for generations, and the "reform of native chieftainships" was merely nominal.

In some areas where the abolition of the native chieftain system was nominally very successful, some indigenous tribes still remain, scattered on the edge of these urban and rural areas, such as Bazhai.

Zhu Shikun has now figured it out: the reason for the situation in the southwest is that the government's influence is too weak.

Even in Fangcheng, a region where the Tusi system was abolished during the Hongwu era, there were still local tribes like Bazhai occupying key routes, and they would try to threaten the imperial court at the slightest sign of trouble.

However, they would immediately surrender if they encountered strong suppression from the imperial court.

Zhu Shikun sneered. He had agreed to pardon these indigenous tribes, but that didn't mean he would let them go completely.

Zhu Shikun immediately made demands on the local chieftains of the eight villages, ordering them to move down from the mountains immediately and to conscript one hundred able-bodied men from the eight villages as auxiliary soldiers to accompany the reconnaissance commander to investigate the situation in Guangxi.

The leaders of the eight villages wanted to object, but when they thought of the Ming army's terrifying weapons, they could only suppress their dissatisfaction.

By the time the Fangcheng government officials arrived late, Zhu Shikun had already finished dealing with the affairs of the eight villages.

After handing over the task of resettling the villagers of Bazhai to the government, he led his team away from Fangcheng to begin a reconnaissance mission.
-
March 26th, the capital.

Today is not a day off, but the city gates of the capital are bustling with activity.

A group of officials stood in front of the gate, and behind them were a large number of ordinary people from the capital.

In addition, there were also reporters from major newspapers in the capital.

Even Su Ze was dragged by Luo Wanhua and changed into casual clothes to come to the outskirts of the capital.

"I'm coming!"

Someone shouted, and a shabby carriage appeared on the horizon.

"Hai Qingtian is here!"

Unlike the cheers of the common people, the officials standing outside the city gates did not look too pleased.

They are here today to welcome Hai Rui, the newly appointed Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, who will be acting as the head of the Censorate.

Logically speaking, welcoming the leader should be a happy thing.

However, when the leader was Hai Rui or Hai Gangfeng, few subordinate officials could smile.

Even the fearless Censor of the Censorate couldn't muster a smile.

When Wang Ting, the former Left Censor-in-Chief, was in office, the censors often pressured him to take the lead in writing memorials to impeach ministers.

If Wang Ting refuses, these censors will cause a great uproar, accusing Wang Ting of being afraid of powerful figures and unfit to lead the Censorate.

At this point, the weak-willed Left Censor-in-Chief Wang Ting would yield and obediently follow the majority opinion of the Censorate.

But it is different now.

There was no way around it; compared to Hai Rui, the censors of the Censorate were simply no match.

No matter how vehement your petition is, can it compare to the "Memorial on Public Security"?
You claim to be a loyal subject of the Ming Dynasty, but would you dare to submit a memorial criticizing the emperor?

They don't even dare to criticize the emperor! And they dare to call themselves upright and incorruptible officials who speak out against injustice?!

The Censorate was different from other government offices.

The "Collected Statutes of the Ming Dynasty" granted censors and officials of the Censorate a great deal of autonomy. In order to enable these officials to exercise their supervisory power without any scruples, Zhu Yuanzhang designed a rather complex system.

For example, the Sixth Section does not have a leader; it is a flat department, and the officials in the Sixth Section all have independent powers.

Although the Censorate was a hierarchical structure, it was actually led by senior censors who were in charge of the various circuits of censors.

There is no difference in official rank between senior censors and ordinary censors; the senior censor is simply the one who has served the longest.

In many situations, even the Left Censor-in-Chief was unable to command his subordinate censors.

But this is just an ideal situation.

In fact, a powerful Left Censor-in-Chief could also control the Censorate, since he held the power over personnel and performance evaluation within the Censorate. A Left Censor-in-Chief as weak as Wang Ting was quite rare.

However, there is a special case regarding the Censorate.

That is, a moral exemplar has emerged within the Censorate.

Within the Censorate, the influence of a moral exemplar is extremely powerful; the censors will follow the suggestions of such a person.

Hai Rui was the greatest moral exemplar in the Ming Dynasty, and he was appointed as the Vice Censor-in-Chief, in charge of the Censorate.

Hai Rui's influence over the Censorate was immense.

Looking at Hai Rui's shabby carriage, Su Ze could hardly believe that it was the vehicle of a high-ranking official of the Ming Dynasty.

The carriage stopped, and Hai Rui got out of it.

Su Ze saw a thin official standing in the wind, wearing an official robe.

Hai Rui's official robe was new; it was personally bestowed by the Longqing Emperor and must have been changed at a post station outside the capital.

After all, the Vice Censor-in-Chief was already a high-ranking official in the court, and Hai Rui did not need to wear patched clothes to show his integrity and incorruptibility.

By the time Hai Rui reached his age and reputation, he no longer needed these things.

Hai Rui went to his post alone this time.

His mother had passed away, his wife had also died, and Hai Rui's sons had all died young.

However, Hai Rui did have a daughter, but she was already married.

Su Ze couldn't help but sigh, in every sense of the word, Hai Rui was an invincible man.

Three senior censors stepped forward and bowed to Hai Rui, saying:
"Welcome back to the capital, Grand Censor!"

Hai Rui, however, said:
"I am only the Vice Censor-in-Chief, not the Grand Censor."

"Furthermore, I am preparing to submit a memorial to Your Majesty. Officials in the court are fond of feigning refinement and like to use ancient official titles to address current officials, leading to confusion in terminology. Even ordinary officials are unclear about the various government departments." "I have already drafted my memorial, requesting Your Majesty to prohibit this unhealthy practice in officialdom!"

Hai Rui's voice was powerful and resonant, and the people present cheered. Even Su Ze in the crowd nodded in agreement.

Hai Rui's point is indeed valid.

That's how they call it in official circles, leaving everyone completely confused.

It is only because scholars like Su Ze have high academic qualifications that they are not confused by these titles.

Some lower-level officials don't even understand what these positions actually mean, let alone ordinary people.

This confusion in terminology also caused chaos in the imperial court's official document system.

Some department heads even try to appear cultured, using ancient names for their subordinates, resulting in nonsensical and confusing even their own department staff.

But the censors present were dumbfounded.

Everyone was prepared for Hai Rui to arrive in the capital to establish his authority, but no one expected him to start a fight right from the very first episode!
The censor who greeted Hai Rui and addressed him as "Grand Censor" was filled with remorse. How could he have caused trouble in the very first episode?

Seeing the censors' embarrassed expressions, even Su Ze couldn't help but laugh.

However, Hai Rui did not deliberately make things difficult for his subordinates. He thanked them for their welcome and thus completed the ceremony.

At the very end, Hai Rui turned around and addressed the crowd of onlookers:
"The Censorate has the duty to supervise all officials. Starting tomorrow, the Censorate will open its doors. Fellow villagers, if you have any grievances, you can all present them here. If the allegations are verified, I will certainly impeach the relevant officials!"

"If anyone fears retaliation from officials, starting today, a mailbox will be set up outside the Censorate. Citizens can also submit letters to report such cases. As long as the evidence is conclusive, the Censorate will definitely accept them!"

Upon hearing Hai Rui's words, the people present erupted in thunderous cheers.

Compared to the cheers of the common people, the faces of the imperial censors who came to welcome Hai Rui, as well as many officials hidden in the crowd, were not so pleasant.

Even Su Ze didn't expect Hai Rui to be so fierce.

This is like issuing a challenge to all the corrupt officials in the capital right from the start!

However, Su Ze was very happy about this.

Thanks to the series of reforms implemented after his time travel, the capital city has become very prosperous.

However, with the prosperity came various malpractices that began to emerge.

With Hai Rui in charge, the corrupt practices in officialdom could be severely cracked down on, which would naturally be of great benefit to the reforms to come.

"Brother Zilin, won't Lord Hai's reckless behavior affect the Grand Secretary?"

Luo Wanhua asked with concern.

Hai Rui's appointment to head the Censorate was an accidental result of the power struggle between the Gao and Zhang factions.

Neither side wanted the other to control the Censorate, but the emperor needed to manage it, so he had no choice but to bring in Hai Rui.

However, given Hai Rui's personality, he would not care about factional struggles. Once someone commits a crime, Hai Rui would not care whether they are a member of the Grand Secretary Gao or the Grand Secretary Zhang.

Su Ze said:

"That's a good thing."

"Brother Zilin, please don't joke around."

"I'm not joking."

Su Ze said:

"Officials who can be targeted by Hai Gangfeng must be extremely wicked and evil people who take advantage of the party struggle to seek personal gain."

"With Hai Gangfeng's Great Ming Divine Sword helping the two Grand Secretaries eliminate the treacherous villains around them, how could the two Grand Secretaries be angry?"

Luo Wanhua looked at Su Ze and felt that he was being sophistical, but he couldn't find a way to refute him.

Then they saw Hai Rui leading his dilapidated carriage into the city, surrounded by a group of Censorate officials.
-
Wang Renzhong, the Imperial Inspector of the Five Gates, never expected that Hai Rui's first act of taking office would actually burn him.

Who told him to be the imperial censor in charge of maintaining order in the outer city?

When Hai Rui opened the gates of the Censorate and set up a mailbox for submitting letters in front of the gates, the people were initially skeptical.

It wasn't until a commoner entered the Censorate and recounted a case of a Ministry of Justice official seizing his property that Hai Rui immediately took action and thoroughly investigated the case.

The official in charge of the Ministry of Justice who seized the property was impeached and dismissed from office. Hai Rui even sent people to supervise him in returning the property he had seized.

After this incident, the people stormed into the Censorate and began to pour out their grievances to the Censorate.

The patrol camp outside the city, which was under Wang Renzhong's command, became the place where the most grievances were heard.

When Wang Renzhong was summoned back to the Censorate from outside the city to meet Hai Rui, he couldn't help but shudder.

Wang Renzhong was not involved in those matters.

As a promising official, he naturally wouldn't be tempted by the petty gains of the police force, but he couldn't escape the charge of failing to manage his subordinates properly.

When Wang Renzhong entered Hai Rui's office, Hai Rui put down the documents in his hand and asked Wang Renzhong to sit down in the chair in front of the desk.

Then Hai Rui pushed the tall petition to Wang Renzhong.

"These are all petitions from people outside the city accusing the police force."

Wang Renzhong carefully flipped through the pages, but soon he breathed a sigh of relief.

In fact, these people are suing about some minor issues.

Wang Renzhong maintained strict control over the patrol battalion and frequently inspected local patrol stations. However, given the vast area outside the city, some problems were inevitable.

Sure enough, Hai Rui's tone wasn't so stern; instead, he first affirmed Wang Renzhong's work:

"Among the five gates of the capital, the outer city patrol camp had the most problems, but none of them involved murder cases. Censor Wang's work was quite good."

Wang Renzhong had just breathed a sigh of relief when Hai Rui's tone became stern again:
"But these small cases are more related to the people's view of the government, and these cases should not be taken lightly!"

Wang Renzhong also became serious.

The cases I have are all cases of local police extorting money from ordinary people.

As Hai Rui said, these cases did not involve deaths, but the impact they had was extremely negative.

For example, there were patrol police outside the city who would conduct surprise night raids on caravans at post stations, extorting money from merchants under the guise of inspections.

Some joint defense teams even set up checkpoints on the roads to intercept passing caravans.

Furthermore, some police officers take money to do things, helping local tyrants harass the people and punish those seeking revenge.

These cases may not seem like major incidents, but they have had a very negative impact on the police force.

Wang Renzhong was also drenched in sweat.

Hai Rui said:

"The Censorate has the responsibility of supervising the censors, and it is the position that can best benefit the people. However, I see that the censors always want to impeach the important officials in the court to make a name for themselves, but they turn a blind eye to these petty officials and petty thieves who are most hated by the people."

“We are supposed to be upright officials, yet instead of thinking about serving the people, we always try to gain fame by impeaching high-ranking officials. Isn’t that putting the cart before the horse?”

"Imperial Censor Wang, although the cases handled by the patrol battalion may seem minor, each case affects many families. We must not allow those who abuse the power of the court to oppress the people to go unpunished!"

(End of this chapter)