"The court?"

"What is the relationship between the court that Dasun mentioned and the Dali Temple?"

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but ask.

At present, the judicial system of the Ming Dynasty is composed of the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate and the Dali Temple, which are collectively known as the Three Judicial Departments.

In case of major cases, the three judicial departments will jointly hear the case, also known as the "three-court trial".

In terms of authority, the Censorate was equivalent to the Procuratorate of later generations, the Dali Temple was equivalent to the Supreme Court of later generations, and the Ministry of Justice was responsible for national criminal penalties and reviewing criminal names.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not understand the meaning of his eldest grandson's sudden proposal to set up a separate court.

Zhu Ying explained: "The responsibilities of the three departments are clear, and there are no loopholes in the law. The biggest problem here is not with the three departments, but with the officials themselves."

"The court that my grandson wants to build is based on the law. Everyone except the royal family, whether they are scholars, farmers, merchants, nobles, or officials, will be bound by the law."

"If you want to achieve this effect, you must set up a complete judicial team, completely separate from other officials, and constantly improve the details."

"The current laws of our Great Ming Dynasty are mainly based on criminal law, and also include litigation and civil law. My grandson's idea is to change the way it is, focusing on civil and litigation, and establishing a separate criminal law to make it clear."

The laws of the Ming Dynasty are more of a reference for the presiding judge. The verdict of the case does not need to be based on any legal provisions, as long as it roughly fits the law. All rights of interpretation belong to the presiding judge.

When encountering a trial case, the personal bias of the presiding judge will determine the final outcome of the case.

For example, a serious criminal may be released in court if he is good at making excuses and acting and can impress the presiding judge, even though he meets the criteria for the death penalty.

Of course, under normal circumstances, what impresses the presiding judge is the amount of silver. The greater the amount, the easier it is to move the presiding judge.

For example, the county magistrate is almost a combination of the three courts in one, and many more exaggerated cases are judged in this way.

Coupled with the transfer of official positions, over time, it is natural for officials to protect each other.

What Zhu Ying wanted to do was to break this convention so that the people could, to a certain extent, fight back against officials when they suffered injustice.

Zhu Ying was also prepared for this step.

The existence of the Public Security Bureau was to first deprive the county magistrates of their armed forces, and what we need to do now is to take away their judicial power.

Such practices have, to a certain extent, weakened the privileges of officials, and even local officials dared not act recklessly.

Thus, the Ming Dynasty's rule of man was transformed into a rule of law.

After listening to this, Zhu Yuanzhang did not answer immediately, but carefully considered the feasibility in his mind.

Da Sun's idea is almost a complete revolution for the current Ming Dynasty.

Judicial independence means that there will be diversion in the selection of talents, and the items in the imperial examinations will also be diverted.

The ultimate direction is to gradually change the source of officials to the imperial examination system, gradually replacing recommendations.

Zhu Yuanzhang had a very deep understanding of the system, and the entire system of the Ming Dynasty was almost entirely created by him personally.

Now the eldest grandson’s idea has a huge impact on Zhu Yuanzhang’s system.

From business to military and politics, and then to the current judiciary, Zhu Yuanzhang felt like he had to start over again.

However, this feeling did not make Zhu Yuanzhang feel disgusted. Instead, he felt it made sense.

Zhu Yuanzhang also gradually realized that the difference between his eldest grandson and himself was largely due to their different core values.

The Ming system created by Zhu Yuanzhang was a system with strict hierarchies.

From the royal family, to officials, to generals, to scholars, farmers, workers, and merchants, each level is clearly defined.

It’s completely different here with Da Sun.

In Dasun's place, there are only two levels, royal and non-royal.

In other words, except for the royal family members, everyone else, whether officials, common people, or all classes, are the same and there are not many differences.

This idea gave Zhu Yuanzhang a feeling of enlightenment.

This seems to be a better way to maintain the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang said: "The court and the Public Security Bureau of Dasun should complement each other. Let's follow the path of the Public Security Bureau and start in the Su and Song regions, and then see how effective it is."

Zhu Ying replied, "Grandpa, now that the court is newly built, why not take this opportunity to abolish some of the tortures used during interrogations? I think these tortures are against the harmony of nature."

Zhu Yuanzhang agreed with this and said, "Da Su is right. I have also read many files. Many ministers do not follow the law and the imperial edicts, and they use torture to extract confessions. Even if they are found to be innocent, they are almost half useless to the people."

"Then we should abolish all punishments that are against the harmony of nature, such as tattooing, piercing, cutting off the nose, and castration."

When Zhu Ying heard this, he stood up and bowed, saying, "Grandpa, if you do this, you will surely be appreciated and loved by the people of the world."

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile: "We don't need you to flatter us, grandson. Although we have had the idea in mind, it was you who first proposed this matter. If the people want to thank you, they should also thank you."

Zhu Ying said, "Grandpa, I am not flattering you, but I sincerely think you have done a great thing. In the future, even if the people are wronged, they can get their bodies back intact after the truth is revealed."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said, "Okay, let's not talk about these anymore. We will announce it at the morning court tomorrow. However, if we want to run the court, we must first improve the laws."

"Since it was Grandson who brought up the legal issue, let Grandson take charge. Then he can have a good talk with the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice, and the Censorate, and work together to finalize the matter."

"After the Great Ming Code is finalized, scholars will have an additional way to take the imperial examinations in the future."

Zhu Ying had proposed the reform of the imperial examination earlier, and now is the time to implement it.

Zhu Yuanzhang had nothing to worry about. It was currently unclear whether these reforms were good or bad. He could just do them first. If anything was not good, he could just change it.

Naturally, we should support our eldest grandson's ideas.

By this time, Zhu Ying and the old man had already taken a walk and returned to the Qianqing Palace.

After they sat down, Liu He hurried to make tea.

Zhu Ying pondered for a while and continued to speak of his thoughts.

"Grandpa, regarding the current legal punishments, I want to focus on strengthening labor reform in addition to death penalty and exile."

"My grandson is running a factory now and needs a lot of workers. The wages we are offering are very high at the moment. This is also so that when someone else runs a factory in the future, they can be paid a relatively reasonable wage."

"My grandson has been to the prison, and it is not a place for human beings to stay. Moreover, these prisoners are locked up in the cells and have to be fed."

"My grandson thought that instead of having his head chopped off or dying on the road to exile, it would be better to do more hard labor, such as a sentence of ten or eight years, or twenty or thirty years for the more serious ones."

"The factory run by my grandson also needs a large number of workers. Those sentenced to labor don't need to be paid. If food is scarce, we can mix it with sweet potatoes, but it will save a lot of money."

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was very interested, especially the word "saving".

As for thrift and diligence, this really touched Zhu Yuanzhang's heart, and it could also create banknotes, which seemed to be a good idea.

"Then the eldest grandson will draw up a set of rules and regulations, and include these specific implementation details in the Ming Dynasty Code."

At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and said, "In fact, I have thought about forced labor before, but I feel that sentencing someone to forced labor is too simple. Building roads and bridges every year is basically the same as the labor service in the village."

"Labor is a waste of energy and food. Now that my eldest grandson can make money, that's great."

"Even with so many people in Daming, Dasun's five factories may not be enough."

Zhu Ying laughed and said, "Grandpa, you are wrong. From now on, we should just build a big prison in the outskirts of each city, in a remote place, and gather all the prisoners sentenced to hard labor in the city."

"In this way, each prison can be a factory, and it doesn't require much investment. The prisoners can build it themselves."

"We can also recruit some old masters from the jail to teach. Then we will have sources for weaving, clothing, porcelain, tea, etc. We can even add some other industries to generate income based on local conditions."

"This will not only reflect the grace of our Ming Dynasty, but also increase the annual income of the treasury. Isn't it wonderful? You..."

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard what his eldest grandson said, his eyes lit up.