When Fan Zhongyan was the magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture, he always enforced strict laws and cracked down on evil. As a result, the scoundrels were frightened for a while, and the public security on the streets of Bianliang was much better than before.
To achieve this level in the future, we have to wait until Bao Zheng, who is currently in mourning for his parents in his hometown, becomes the governor of Kaifeng Prefecture in 20 years. Only then can he once again eradicate the cancer within Kaifeng Prefecture, and then devote himself to fighting against the evil forces and make Bianliang a new place.
It is a pity that both Fan Zhongyan and Bao Heizi could only keep things clean on the surface. Throughout the Song Dynasty, they failed to eradicate large-scale evil forces such as the Wuyou Cave, Guifan Tower, and the Beggar Gang.
It was not until the Yuan Dynasty that the Mongols, who had completely disregarded martial ethics, used force to defeat skill, and frantically poured water into the cave, that they finally destroyed the Wuyou Cave, which had occupied Bianliang for hundreds of years.
At this time, with Fan Zhongyan transferred away, Zhang Yi's tenure time was too short, and Ding Du was a confused scholar. Without the clear-headed officials to suppress them, the dirty scoundrels below began to move around again.
There are five Kaifeng Prefecture officials in the room right now, namely Kaifeng Prefecture Procurator Liu Yuanzhi, Judicial Officers Liao Yu and Li Dewen, and Record Officers Zhang Pengfei and Zhan Wu.
According to the rules, Kaifeng Prefecture had one prefect, one assistant prefect, two judges, and three prosecutors.
The prefect was the actual person in charge, the magistrate was the deputy, the judge was in charge of the left and right halls respectively, and the prosecutor served as the head of the Southern Court. Then there was the Fuyuan Division, which was headed by six judicial and registrar officers, who were also the superiors of the six departments.
However, as the number of officials in Kaifeng Prefecture increased, the number of officials, both large and small, increased dramatically. Although most of them held nominal positions without the title of "authority", the number of officials in Kaifeng Prefecture had swelled to two Tongpans, three Panguans, five Tuiguans, and more than ten Fuyuan Canjuns. Redundancy was extremely serious.
This resulted in the Kaifeng Prefecture being divided into several small groups and factions, which competed for power and had different opinions.
Liu Yuanzhi's faction was quite powerful, including Liao Yu and others, and under them were several officials from the Six Departments and the Supervisory Office. Moreover, in Kaifeng Prefecture, a resident official who reached the rank of Tui Guan was considered a top official and could serve for several more years.
Because these people are all civil servants, most of them entered the officialdom through family connections or as Tongjinshi or Granted Tongjinshi. Although their official status is low, they can actually stay in lower-level positions for longer.
Those above the rank of judge are usually Jinshi graduates and have high status, but they are temporary officials who can only serve for one or two years at most and cannot generate long-term benefits.
Therefore, Kaifeng Prefecture was a haven for corruption and most of the people there were below the level of prosecutor.
At this moment, Liu Yuanzhi met with several confidants to discuss the recent behavior of the Imperial City Administration that exceeded its authority.
"The Imperial City Bureau is becoming increasingly rampant. I don't know what Zhao Jun's background is, but he was able to deceive the government and give the Imperial City Bureau the power to arrest and judge people."
"I heard that on his first day in office, he hinted to his subordinates that he had a connection to the royal family. Could he be a son of a royal family?"
"Members of the imperial clan cannot serve in government. Your Majesty is violating the laws of our ancestors by doing this."
"No word has come from the Imperial Clan Court, which means this person isn't in the Imperial Clan's Jade Book. Could it be the late emperor?"
"Don't overthink it."
A few people first clinked glasses with each other and talked about the situation of the Imperial City Bureau.
Liu Yuanzhi then looked around at everyone and said in a deep voice, "You may not know this, but on the first day this prefect took office, he ordered his inspectors to secretly investigate all the officials in Kaifeng Prefecture."
"I also know about this. Someone sold the news to me that day."
Li Dewen sneered, "This Zhao Jun is really interesting. On his first day in office, he wanted to investigate my Kaifeng Prefecture, but ended up having all his subordinates come looking for me."
“How many people came to see you?”
Liao Yu asked.
Li Dewen said, "I'm afraid there must be more than a dozen people."
"You bought them all?"
"Why would I buy so much if I have nothing to do?"
"Confused."
Liao Yu frowned and said, "Aren't you afraid that those people will harbor resentment and conduct a secret investigation?"
"hehe."
Li Dewen sneered, "Let them investigate. What can they find?"
"You are not careful in what you do. Sooner or later, you will get yourself killed!"
Liao Yu was very unhappy.
Although they were both serving in the government, Liao Yu was admitted as a fellow Jinshi and he always looked down on Li Dewen who entered the government through family connections.
Now that I've done something stupid again, it makes him even angrier.
Li Dewen, however, was still unaware of this and said coldly, "You don't know how greedy the other party is. I don't have that much spare money to buy a dozen copies of the same news."
"How stupid!"
Liao Yu couldn't help but curse.
"You tm"
Li Dewen was very angry.
"alright!"
Liu Yuanzhi slammed the table and said, "What are you arguing about? I asked you to come here to discuss countermeasures, not to quarrel. Now that the Imperial City Bureau has clearly set its sights on us, you are still fighting among yourselves?"
The two of them stopped talking.
Zhang Pengfei pondered and said, "Brother Cen Gao (Liu Yuanzhi's courtesy name), what do you think we should do?"
Liu Yuanzhi said, "What are your ideas? Tell me what you think."
"I heard from the higher-ups that Zhao Jun is a new official with a lot to do and is favored by the government, so it's not appropriate to get into direct conflict with him."
Zhan Wu analyzed, "That's why we ordered our subordinates to be more cautious, but now they've reached out to us. I suspect it's not just us, but also Ma Tuiguan and Gao Tuiguan. Why not unite with them?"
"Unite?"
Liu Yuanzhi laughed and said, "We fought them to the death before, how can we unite with them now?"
Zhan Wu said, "It wasn't possible before, but now that we have an external enemy, we really should unite."
"Yes, if the Imperial City Bureau continues to investigate like this, there's no guarantee they'll find something."
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