When Lü Yijian was called out, he paused for a moment and said, "Didn't you say that it was because the later officials wanted to stop the Liao army?"
"Wrong."
Zhao Jun shook his head. "They made the people think that this would stop the Liao army. But both the officials and the Liao army knew that this would not stop them at all."
Everyone: “.”
"You say the Imperial City Bureau has arrested countless innocent people, but you don't know how many innocent people have been harmed by those incompetent, corrupt, and foolish officials? Three Yi Huihe incidents harmed millions of people in Hebei. Corrupt officials are rampant across the country, harming tens of millions of people in the Song Dynasty. Although the Imperial City Bureau has its drawbacks, its benefits definitely outweigh its disadvantages."
Zhao Jun looked at them and said seriously, "I still say that the interests of the country are paramount. As long as it can ensure the national interests, then any means are the right means."
"Is it right to wantonly monitor officials and slander and distort their stories?"
Wang Sui frowned.
"How can this not be correct? Power needs to be supervised, and national security needs to be guaranteed. And you say that slander and distortion are slander and distortion? As a secret agency, the Imperial City Bureau has the right to investigate all intelligence, and it must be spread throughout the country, even overseas."
Zhao Jun insisted, "Because only in this way can we understand whether officials are corrupt, oppressing the people, and exploiting the locals. Only then can we understand the lives of the people and their thoughts. Most importantly, the Western Xia knows how to find spies to obtain our intelligence, but we have no spies in the Western Xia and Liao. How can this be justified?"
"Then the Imperial City Bureau shouldn't be allowed to arrest people at will. Do you know how many people they've harmed?"
"Yes, power does need supervision, but the Imperial Censorate and the Censorate are sufficient. There is no need for the Imperial City Bureau! The existence of the Imperial City Bureau will only make the Song Dynasty more chaotic."
"If the Imperial City Bureau alone can solve all problems, then why did you say that the Ming Dynasty had the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the East Factory, and the West Factory? Did they all perish?"
"Yes, in my opinion, we should just send more censors to various parts of the country. Censors and remonstrators will supervise all officials, and that will be enough."
Several people spoke one after another, and the core idea was still that they did not intend to give the Imperial City Bureau power.
This will have a huge impact on the original bureaucratic system.
"hehe."
Zhao Jun sneered and said, "You guys are really interesting. You let corrupt officials investigate corrupt officials, and let yourself supervise yourself?"
Wang Zeng complained, "Zhao Jun, there are countless upright censors and remonstrators in the court today. They have been fulfilling their duties and impeaching illegal officials. How can they be said to be supervising themselves?"
"The Cases of Zhao Jian, Cui Bai, Miao Wen, and Li Si"
Zhao Jun recounted over a dozen major cases in one breath, then laughed, "These are all old cases I've seen at the Imperial City Division, and they're just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more cases I haven't even finished looking at. The number of censors and remonstrators involved in these cases, including those from Kaifeng Prefecture, local prefects, magistrates, prosecutors, and county magistrates, must be at least hundreds or even thousands."
He was talking about cases investigated in the early years of Emperor Zhenzong's reign.
The co-governance of the literati and officials in the Song Dynasty was not like this from the beginning, but was a gradual process.
From the time when Zhao Kuang treated the literati and officials more harshly, to the time when Zhao Guangyi and Zhao Heng were in their early years, they became slightly more relaxed, but still kept a tight rein.
Therefore, Zhao Heng did a lot of great things in his early years, such as investigating and punishing corrupt officials.
For example, in the Zhao Jian case, more than 70 officials were involved, including a large number of censors, censors, and judges of Kaifeng Prefecture. A few were even executed.
But in the late Zhao Heng period and the Zhao Zhen period, the attitude towards officials became very relaxed, and he even issued an edict to openly pardon the crimes of corrupt officials.
Especially Zhao Zhen, who used to pretend to demote criminal officials, but later he didn't even pretend. Even if the evidence was conclusive, he would often cover up the crime. Unless the court and the public caused a big commotion, he would generally let it go.
From this we can see why historical records show many corrupt officials being investigated and punished during the reigns of Zhao Guangyi and Zhao Heng, but there are far fewer such records during the reign of Zhao Zhen.
It’s not because there are fewer corrupt officials, but because these corrupt officials are no longer investigated or protected by the emperor and are not treated as corrupt officials at all.
Therefore, during the reign of Emperor Renzong, it became common for officials to oppress the people, exploit the local residents, and arbitrarily use punishments to kill, exterminate families, and humiliate the people.
It is no wonder that in the absence of so many detailed records in historical materials, upright people such as Fan Zhongyan, Su Shi, and Bao Zheng would lament the large number of corrupt, treacherous, and evil officials in the world.
After Zhao Jun finished speaking, he continued with a smile, "That's nothing. Guess what I learned during my investigation of official farmland outside the city this time? Guess how many people, including you, work like slaves for you in the official farmland and imperial farms, yet still can't even get enough to eat all year round?"
"this"
Everyone looked at each other. Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and others thought for a moment, then reorganized their words and prepared to fight back.
But Zhao Jun didn't give him a chance. He shouted, "All of your high-sounding excuses are nothing more than a fear that the Imperial City Bureau can investigate and punish corrupt officials at will. You don't understand that if you truly care about this country and want to do good for it, you must have some special departments to play a special role."
"Did you know that the United States, the world's most powerful nation, has over a dozen intelligence agencies, including the CIA, the Bureau of Investigation, the National Intelligence Service, and the National Security Agency? Did you know that our country also has its own intelligence agencies? In fact, every influential country in the world has its own intelligence department!"
"The intelligence services aren't just for internal affairs, they're also for external affairs. They can investigate everything and eliminate any destabilizing factors. Internally, they monitor officials and understand the suffering of the people. Externally, they gather military intelligence, understand enemy movements, and even sow discord within enemy countries."
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