After returning to the Imperial City Office, Zhao Jun gave orders, asking the inspectors to cooperate with Kaifeng Prefecture to officially start the operation.
The next morning.
Inside the Chuigong Hall, all officials came to court to make reports.
Zhao Zhen sat on the dragon throne, overlooking the court officials below.
After normal state affairs were handled, Dali Temple Minister Qian Zhengwei wrote a letter requesting a meeting of the three halls.
In recent days, the government and the public have been in an uproar because of Zhao Jun's affairs.
The government's decentralization of power to the Imperial City Administration caused extreme dissatisfaction among the bureaucratic and scholar-official classes, and they opposed it.
But Zhao Jun handed over a large amount of evidence and quickly silenced everyone.
The main reason is that the evidence is shocking.
Even what Fan Zhongyan found was just the tip of the iceberg. There were still many more that had not been dug out, which shows how much filth was hidden inside.
After Zhao Jun used the evidence given by Fan Zhongyan to arrest people, he tortured them severely. Even Han Zong from the Han family was not spared. He was tortured with the tiger bench and pepper water, and soon he confessed everything he should have.
After the evidence was presented, everyone in the court was shocked, and no one dared to plead for those people.
Moreover, the Imperial City Bureau has already followed the clues and arrested several people involved in the case, including Yang Ruoyun from the Supervisory Censorate and Liu Wencai, the Supervisory Censor.
They even uncovered the fact that several of the Three Departments' Du Gou officials, Tong Yin officials, and several Privy Council officials and Du Cheng officials had colluded with them to commit corruption and abuse of power, and harmed the people. This made people even more frightened, fearing that the Imperial City Department would investigate them.
But the emperor supported the Imperial City Bureau in investigating Kaifeng Prefecture, and the Dali Temple could no longer sit still.
After all, the Imperial City Court has been too dazzling recently. As the highest judicial body in the Song Dynasty, if this continues, the Dali Temple will be useless, so they must get involved.
"Your Majesty, the Dali Temple is in charge of criminal trials. Currently, the Imperial City Division is rampant with criminal cases in Bianliang. I've heard that some of these cases are unjust. If the Imperial City Division is left alone to investigate, innocent people will inevitably be missed. Therefore, I request that we work with Kaifeng Prefecture and the Imperial City Division to jointly investigate this case."
Qian Zhengwei wrote in a letter.
Zhao Zhen thought about it and felt that the other party's reason was legitimate and difficult to refuse, so he said, "Then let's do as Qian Qing says."
"I request that the Imperial City Department be abolished."
Wang Yu, the Right Counselor and Co-director of the Privy Council, wrote in a letter, "Although the Imperial City Office has uncovered a major case in Kaifeng Prefecture, the government cannot continue to use this villain as its eyes and ears. It should listen more to the opinions of the scholars and officials."
Zhao Zhen glanced at him and said calmly, "The Imperial City Office isn't just for monitoring officials; it's also for maintaining local stability. I have great use for it, so don't mention this matter again."
Ma Jiliang, a deputy director of the Longtu Pavilion, wrote to the emperor, "Your Majesty, since the new tea law was enacted, merchants have been selling tea at low prices and driving up prices in Bianliang, causing the people to suffer greatly. I implore your Majesty to close the market and stop the tea trading policy."
Zhao Zhen knew that Ma Jiliang's family was a tea merchant. The implementation of the new law had a great impact on tea merchants. After Li Zi strictly followed the new tea law, the number of people who opened the market this year was much higher than before.
This was mainly because tea permits could only be obtained through the cross-exchange method, and it was difficult for ordinary tea merchants to obtain tea through other channels. Therefore, they had no choice but to give in and buy grain and send it to the border in exchange for tea permits, which put a lot of pressure on the Ma family, who were also tea merchants.
After all, the Ma family can abuse their power for personal gain without having to rely on the Jiaoyin system to obtain tea, but ordinary merchants cannot. Under internal competition, the Ma family's business will be greatly affected. Therefore, if the Jiaoyin system is stopped, ordinary merchants will not be able to obtain more tea, which will drive up the price of tea.
The other officials were reluctant to say anything out of respect for Ma Jiliang, but Zhao Zhen had already understood a lot, so how could he be deceived?
He then said coldly, "The cross-export law is a national policy. It is needed to supplement the food and fodder of the border troops. How can we just close the market? This matter should continue. We must not let the border troops lack food and fodder."
"yes."
Ma Jiliang went back in disappointment. He didn't expect that the government was so smart now and it would be hard to fool it.
Then the courtier talked about some other things.
When it was almost done, Zhao Zhen gave Lu Yijian a look.
Lü Yijian understood, stepped out of the group, and bowed to Zhao Zhen, saying, "Your Majesty, the Song Dynasty is plagued by numerous problems, all due to excessive decentralization. The Council of State, the Three Departments, and the Privy Council each operate independently, leaving no unified government. This has led to chaos throughout the country, and the legal system, government orders, and military affairs are all lax."
"oh?"
Zhao Zhen pretended not to know: "Then what should I do?"
"I request the establishment of a new department to coordinate the various ministries of the Song Dynasty so that everyone can work together."
Lu Yijian said calmly.
When these words were spoken, all the officials were shocked and looked at Lu Yijian with disbelief.
The Song Dynasty has always had a separation of powers: administrative power, military power, and financial power were all separated. In fact, more than these three powers, even judicial power was separated.
The local yamen was responsible for arresting people, and the trial of ordinary cases was basically handed over to the local county yamen, state yamen and the highest judicial institution of the road, the Ministry of Justice. Murder or other serious crimes had to be reported to the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple, and ultimately reviewed by the Dali Temple.
In other words, the judicial power of the Song Dynasty was that the local government offices, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court were independent of each other and had the power of review, arrest, trial and verification respectively.
Each of the four departments has some of the functions of the police station, court and supervisory commission, so as to achieve the effect of superposition of powers and mutual checks and balances.
In the Song Dynasty, where power was so decentralized, it was because the emperor needed to strengthen his imperial power.
Although the scholar-official class held most of the power, they were internally divided and unable to unite, and could not threaten the imperial power.
Therefore, what the Emperor of the Song Dynasty was most worried about was the unification of power by the scholar-official class.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
