In the Song Dynasty, there is no law or order. Chapter 314 of the main text: Nationwide crackdown on gangs and evil. "Bang!"
There was a loud bang in the house.
This is the west side of the rear pavilion of the Constitutional Yuan, located on the west side of the Constitutional Yuan.
Since the rear pavilion of the Daqing Palace was converted into the Political System Council, the Political System Council has undergone several rounds of expansion and construction.
The front yard was connected to the Daqing Hall and was converted into a huge garden with archway passages on the left and right sides connecting various departments of the court.
In the backyard, there are storage rooms, meeting rooms, lounges, east and west wings, and many other places for the prime minister to meet and rest.
At this moment, below Zhao Jun and Jia Changchao, the head of the Censorate, Zheng Jian, the head of the Imperial City Bureau, Cao Xiu, the head of the Ministry of War, Fu Bi, and the Minister of Police, Du Yan, were standing on the stage.
Jia Changchao slammed the table and shouted angrily, "The court governor and the two prime ministers were stopped and robbed by hundreds of people while on their way to inspect the Yellow River. Is there any law under the emperor? Huh? What do you think you are doing?"
His saliva was almost spraying onto several people's faces, making those who were being scolded feel a little embarrassed.
After all, Jia Changchao was at the same level as them before, and even if they were not at the same level, the literati of the Song Dynasty would criticize you no matter how high or low your official rank was.
When Jia Changchao suddenly entered the Constitutional Council, it was as if he was riding on their heads, ordering them around like this, which naturally made people unhappy.
Du Yan said indignantly, "Although the Ministry of Police is in charge of all county officials across the country, Fengqiu is only a county after all. The Ministry of Police is mainly responsible for the various police branches. If this hasn't been reported to the higher levels, how would we know?"
Zheng Jian also frowned and said, "The Censorate is primarily responsible for checking for corruption among local officials. Since the imperial court is currently repairing the riverbank, the Censorate's job is to supervise the riverbank alongside officials from the Ministry of Works, making it difficult for them to monitor the local authorities."
Fu Bi glanced at Jia Changchao and choked back his words indifferently: "Prime Minister Jia, if you are angry, please don't take it out on our Ministry of War. Even if there are bandits like this blocking the road and robbing people in the local area, it has nothing to do with the Ministry of War. The Ministry of War is there to protect our country. We can't send out a large army just for a few hundred people."
Among the four, only Cao Xiu did not speak and stood there obediently.
Firstly, he knew Zhao Jun's temper. Making excuses in front of Zhao Jun would be like seeking death. Secondly, he really didn't have any excuses to make.
Take Du Yan for example.
Now that the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs have become independent, the officials in the local county government offices have been divided into three parts: the Kongmu Office belonging to the county government office, the Yamen Runners belonging to the Police Department, the Hufang Office belonging to the Ministry of Revenue, the Xingfang Office belonging to the Dali Temple, and so on.
As the Minister of Police, how could Du Yan possibly be involved in the affairs of a county government? Even if there were bandits and bullies in the area, they would definitely be under the jurisdiction of the local county lieutenant.
If the county lieutenant cannot handle it, or if he protects the case, then the provincial government at the next higher level will handle it, and there may even be a road department at the next higher level. There is no way it can go through so many levels and be sent to Du Yan, the Minister of Police, right?
Zheng Jian was in a similar situation. There was no local censorate in Jingji Road. The local area was supervised by the Central Censorate, but the Censorate had no institutions at the county level. The highest level was the state-level censorate.
Therefore, even if it is reported up the chain of command, it still has to go through the State Censorate and the Road Censorate before it finally reaches him.
But with so many things happening across the country, it's impossible to supervise everything.
Some cases were caused by collusion between officials and gangsters, deceiving their superiors and concealing the truth from their subordinates. Some cases were caused by the lack of information technology, when news was kept secret and not taken seriously. Still others were caused by officials who heard of such incidents but simply turned a blind eye for fear of taking responsibility.
Needless to say, Fu Bi didn't even know why he was called here to be scolded.
Therefore, it is not unreasonable that the three of them instinctively chose to shirk responsibility.
"Bang!"
However, Zhao Jun slowly raised his head and looked at them with a gloomy face. The teacup in his hand seemed to slip and fell to the ground with a crisp sound.
This time, Zheng Jian, Du Yan and Fu Bi did not dare to speak.
Zhao Jun has been in charge of the Constitutional Council for nine years. In the beginning, no one accepted him, but now all officials are intimidated by his prestige.
It’s not that he has convinced everyone now, but everyone can see that no matter how you impeach Zhao Jun, the emperor and the prime ministers of the Constitutional Council will always stand on his side.
There is no chance of winning if you go against him. To describe it as "trying to stop a chariot with an egg against a rock" is just flattering themselves.
Zhao Jun's style of doing things has also been reflected. No matter whether you are an honest official or a corrupt official, as long as your business ability does not meet the standards, let alone you are a good official known for your integrity, even if you are the king of the country, he can still demote you to the bottom, or even dismiss you from your post and demote you.
Any honest official who dared to go against him has now gone home to grow sweet potatoes, and any corrupt official who dared to appear in front of him now has grass three feet high on his grave.
So even if the three of them were not greedy or took advantage of others, and thought they had no leverage, in front of Zhao Jun, as long as they wanted to continue to be officials and continue to sit in this position, they had to listen to him honestly.
"I think you still don't realize the importance of this matter."
Zhao Jun stared at them, then slowly stood up, hands behind his back, and walked slowly around them in the room. As he walked behind them, he said, "Hundreds of people can actually block the road and rob people right here at the feet of the emperor. If Bianliang is like this, what will happen to the rest of the world? Your police department has no responsibility at all."
Du Yan remained silent.
Zhao Jun then looked at Zheng Jian and said, "According to custom, the Imperial Censor must conduct inspections of each county every month. A three-foot-thick frost doesn't form overnight. The presence of hundreds of people certainly didn't happen overnight. Are all the Imperial Censors on patrol dead? Can't they see so many bandits on the streets and hear the voices of the people?"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
