After Lin Zhu left, Zhao Jun still picked up the brush to write a letter.
This is a document addressed to the Emperor and the Council of Constitution.
The first half describes what I saw and heard along the way, and expresses my own views on grassroots civil governance.
The second half describes that there seems to be a major corruption case in the disaster relief in Huainan, and he is investigating it.
Zhao Jun gently waved the brush, sometimes in deep thought, sometimes frowning, and finally, he stopped writing and let out a long sigh.
He actually only learned about the Huainan corruption case in recent days.
But today alone we can already see the tip of the iceberg.
What can be seen on the surface are already the transport envoys, shipping envoys, prefects, and county magistrates of a certain place.
No one knows which big shots are hiding behind the scenes.
It can be said that this case involves a wide range of issues.
This may not be a matter of just one Guo Chengyou dying like in Bozhou.
Because Huainan had experienced natural disasters, droughts, and plagues in previous years, and many people died.
It was the corruption of these officials that caused the poor people who should have been able to survive to become piles of skeletons.
The common people fell before the officials whom they once regarded as their saviors.
These people are the culprits.
So they must die to comfort the souls of those who died innocently.
However, the Song Dynasty had not executed officials for a long time.
Every time Zhao Jun killed those who committed heinous crimes, there was criticism from both the court and the public, and impeachment was heard everywhere, which led to his very bad reputation in the officialdom.
However, the officials he had killed before were not of high rank. When he was in Bianliang, most of them were officials below the sixth or seventh rank.
Even though the Salt and Iron Bureau was dismissed, Liu Yuanyu was not actually dead.
Because Liu Yuanyu's crime was merely trafficking in contraband, it wasn't a capital offense. In the past, he would have been demoted at best, or, at Zhao Jun's insistence, dismissed and exiled.
Therefore, the fact that Guo Chengyou, the fifth-rank prefect, was the highest-ranking official to be murdered did not cause much commotion.
Now what?
The fourth-rank transport envoy and the fifth-rank prefect may also be involved. In addition, it is possible that the original transport envoy, deputy transport envoy, original Huainan shipping envoy and other high-ranking officials may also be involved.
These high-ranking officials are not only of high rank, but also numerous.
Although their political achievements were poor due to the severe drought in Huainan, they were only transferred out and not promoted.
But these are all real fourth or fifth grade officials, in charge of the civil affairs of a road or a state. Basically, if they take one step further, they can become high-ranking officials in the central government.
For example, Sun Mian later served as the Transport Commissioner of Shaanxi Road, the Transport Commissioner of Hedong, the Pacifier of Hunan and Jiangxi Roads, and the Pacifier of Guangnan East and West Roads. After assisting Di Qing in defeating Nong Zhigao, he was promoted to Deputy Privy Councilor and later became Deputy Prime Minister.
Zhao Jun was worried that once he solved the case and was about to start a massacre, Zhao Zhen would relapse. He found it difficult to accept Zhao Jun's plan to kill so many high-ranking officials and rejected Zhao Jun's proposal.
In fact, it would be no problem for Zhao Jun to kill the officials in Huainan.
However, from the current information, the Huainan corruption case started two years ago and spanned three years. A large number of officials from various parts of Huainan were transferred and circulated. Many officials involved in the case were either transferred to various parts of the country or went to the central government to serve.
If the case is to be dealt with, the Constitutional Court must issue an order to arrest people directly from all over the country, bring them back to the central government for trial by the Censorate and the Dali Temple, and sentence them according to Zhao Jun's opinion.
Zhao Jun was worried that Zhao Zhen and Lu Yijian would interfere and release all those who deserved to die.
After a long silence, Zhao Jun concluded his speech by writing, "Corruption of disaster relief funds has resulted in countless deaths and injuries among the people. Only execution can appease public anger. All officials convicted of such crimes must not be forgiven lightly."
"Looking back at history, we should learn to use it as a mirror to understand the rise and fall of nations, to correct people and understand their gains and losses, and to use it to transform corrupted morals and promote good and evil. We should not face the current predicament by simply getting by and not striving for progress."
"History is full of regrets. There's Confucius, who was born at the wrong time. There's Han Fei, who was abandoned by his motherland. There's Bai Qi, the undefeated general, who died in a war he never fought. There's the Qin Dynasty, which the Qin people worked hard for 500 years to build, but collapsed in 14 years."
"It was Huo Qubing, a young hero who died young; it was Su Wu, who remained steadfast in the cold wind of the northern desert; it was Zhaojun, who never returned to Chang'an. It was Cao Cao, whose dream of unification was destroyed by a fire at Red Cliff; it was Zhuge Liang's ideals, which were blown away by the autumn wind at Wuzhangyuan; it was Guan Yu, whose pride was buried at Maicheng. It was Fu Jian, a good man but not a good emperor."
"It's Princess Wencheng, buried on the plateau, unable to see her homeland; it's the An-Shi Rebellion, which brought a dynasty from its peak to its lowest point overnight; it's Du Fu, who ascended from the summit to a lone figure despite a century of illness; it's Li Cunxu, who was unmatched by any hero in the world and ultimately lost his life and his country."
"It was Yue Fei, who served his country with all his heart, buried in the snow at Fengbo Pavilion. It was Xin Qiji, who went from being as fierce as a tiger to a pathetic old man with white hair. It was Wen Tianxiang, who, since ancient times, everyone is mortal, yet left behind a loyal heart that will shine through history. It was the heroic sacrifice of 100,000 soldiers and civilians at Yashan."
"After the Song Dynasty, there were also many regrets, such as the Battle of Tumu, Yu Qian, Zhang Juzheng, and Wang Yangming. There was also the backwardness of closing the country to the outside world, the disastrous defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, the fire at the Old Summer Palace, and the grief of the 300,000 bones in Nanjing."
“While history is often dominated by heroic epics, we must not forget that ordinary people are also part of history, and even the protagonists of history.”
"How innocent were the people of Huainan? Aside from natural disasters, there were also man-made disasters. Isn't this also a regret of history, and a regret created by our own hands? Are the lives of these few corrupt officials not enough to compensate for the lives of millions of ordinary people?"
"Looking back on history, we sigh, we feel pity, and we grieve."
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