Naturally, Qining didn't know what happened between Xian'er and Heipao. He returned to the Hou Mansion that night and made sure that Tang Nuo was fine before going back to the house to rest.
Although Tang Nuo turned the corner, Qining was not in a happy mood. He wanted to dig out the whereabouts of Lu Shanghe from Duan Qingchen. Now that Duan Qingchen had been silenced, it was even harder to find Lu Shanghe's whereabouts, which made him a little depressed.
I got up early the next morning, took a shower, and went straight to the Xingbu Yamen with two attendants.
Longtai has handed over the criminal department to him. Now that he is in charge of one, he naturally wants to see what happens.
The Xingbu Yamen is located on Mingyang Street not far from the imperial city. This street is full of various government offices. When Qin Ning arrived at the Xingbu Yamen, he saw a black plaque on the head of the Xingbu Yamen, which said "Ming Cha "Integrity" has four characters, and there are couplets with gilded characters hanging on the left and right doorposts. Six criminal officials stood on the left and right with their hands on the handles of their sabers, which made them look very solemn.
Qi Ning dismounted, and the entourage beside him shouted loudly: "Jinyi is waiting for you, come in and report!"
A guard from the Criminal Department immediately ran to report. Not long after, Qi Ning saw a sparse group of four or five officials coming this way. One of them was in his early forties and thin. When he saw Qi Ning, he quickened his pace. He stepped forward and bowed: "Shen Lian, the head of the criminal department, pays homage to the Marquis!"
Several officials behind him also saluted Qining.
Qi Ning frowned slightly and asked, "Who is in charge of the Criminal Department now?"
"Reporting to the Marquis, it's Mr. Daxi, the left servant." Shen Lian said respectfully: "However, Mr. Daxi has been unwell these past few days and has been recuperating in the mansion. He was unable to come to the Yamen today to do errands." After saying this, he raised his eyes slightly. Look at Qin Ning.
Qi Ning thought to himself that it seems that I really hit too hard last time. Da Xi was beaten so hard that he was unable to go out. He asked, "Who is the right minister of the Ministry of Punishment?"
"It's Mr. Chu." Shen Lian said: "But Mr. Chu is currently handling a case and cannot go out to greet him. Please forgive me, Lord Marquis."
Qi Ning hesitated for a moment before asking: "Has the decree from the palace been issued?"
"Master Hou, are you saying that the emperor has decreed that Master Hou be in charge of the Ministry of Justice?" Shen Lian said in a calm voice: "Reporting to Master Hou, the decree was issued yesterday, and everyone has been waiting for Master Hou to come and take up his post."
Qi Ning originally thought that Xing Bu had not received the order yet, and thought that he was suddenly visiting today, so there were so many officials coming to greet him. But now it seems that this is not the case.
Now that the decree has been promulgated, the officials of the Ministry of Punishment have naturally known that they will be in charge of the Ministry of Punishment. Today is the first day for me to come to the Yamen. Logically speaking, even if the Ministry of Punishment does not hold a welcome ceremony, at least the officials in the Yamen should come out to greet them. But at a glance, there were only a few officials, and the one who took the lead was just the head of the Criminal Department.
Qi Ning suddenly felt a little unhappy, but he remained calm and said with a smile: "This is my first day on duty, so please take care of me." Without any nonsense, he put his hands behind his back and went straight to the Yamen.
He did not call himself a prince, but an official, which naturally told everyone that he did not enter the Xingbu Yamen based on his title, but stayed here as the chief official of the Xingbu Yamen.
After entering the yamen, the officials all bowed their hands to Qining and said: "Master Marquis, I still have official duties in this humble position. Please resign first!" They didn't even wait for Qining to say anything, and they already left one after another. In the end, only Shen Lian, the head of the Criminal Department, stayed with him.
Qi Ning frowned and glanced at Shen Lian, but Shen Lian was cautious. Qin Ning looked over and Shen Lian immediately bowed his body, looking extremely humble, with a slight apologetic smile on his face.
"It seems that the Yamen is very busy today. Could it be that there is some important case?" Qining put his hands behind his back and walked to the main hall of the Criminal Department Yamen.
Shen Lian followed beside him and said cautiously: "Returning to the Marquis, the Ministry of Punishment is in charge of the world's criminal affairs, and its affairs are always very busy. Recently, the case of King Huainan's rebellion occurred, and the Holy One has decreed that the Ministry of Punishment should investigate and deal with it, so... all the big and small people in the Yamen Officials are currently doing this."
Qi Ning stopped, put his hands behind his back and turned around, half-smiling but not smiling: "Are you all working on the Huainan King's rebellion case? That's great. I also got the emperor's order to investigate the case thoroughly. Chief Shen, come here. Tell me how you plan to handle this case so that I can learn from it."
Shen Lian was stunned for a moment, but immediately smiled and said: "Master Hou, this case was originally investigated by Master Da Xi. After Master Da Xi rested, Master Chu is now in charge of presiding over it. Therefore, Master Chu will give instructions on how to investigate the case. , it’s a humble job just to follow orders.”
"So that's it." Qi Ning thought to himself that Shen Lian was an old cunning guy, so he didn't get angry. He smiled and said, "I have just come to the Criminal Department and I don't know everything. How about Sir Shen introducing me?"
Shen Lian hurriedly said: "Going back to the Marquis, the Ministry of Punishment has seven departments: the Supervisory Department, the Autumn Trial Department, the Reduction Department, the Prison Collection Department, the Penalty Treasury, the Redemption Department, and the Law and Regulations Department. There are one official who is a minister and a minister. Two people, four chiefs, twenty-one chief officials of each department, twenty-eight officials, and seventy-six clerks. The total number of officials is one hundred and thirty-six, and there are two hundred officials from the Ministry of Justice. Eighty people, there are more than 400 people in the entire Penal Department Yamen."
Qi Ning thought to himself that the Xingbu yamen was bloated. The Xingbu yamen alone had more than 400 people, and the six yamen combined had two to three thousand people.
Nowadays, Chu State only accounts for half of the country, not counting other bureaucracies. If fully counted, the officials who built Ye Capital City are really an extremely large team.
After the Qinhuai War, the vitality of the Chu State was severely damaged and the treasury was empty. However, it still had to maintain such a large management team. It is no wonder that the Ministry of Revenue always complained about poverty.
"How many people are on duty in the Seventh Department of the Ministry of Punishment today?" Qining asked as he walked, but did not go to the lobby at this time. He saw a large stone tablet on the left. He walked around the stone tablet and followed a bluestone path. .
Shen Lian was a little surprised when he saw that Qi Ning did not enter the lobby, but he did not dare to say anything. He followed behind and carefully replied: "Due to the case of King Huainan in the past few days, Mr. Chu has given instructions that no one can ask for leave." , in addition to a few officials who are away on official business, there are hundreds of people in the yamen."
"Hundreds of people are busy, which is good." Qining caught a glimpse of a large courtyard nearby with a plaque saying "Autumn Trial Office". Knowing that this was one of the seven divisions of the Ministry of Punishment, he walked over with his hands behind his back. Shen Lian quickened his pace. , said from the side: "Master Marquis, why don't you go to the lobby to have a cup of tea first, wait until they all stop doing their errands, and then go meet the Marquis?"
Qi Ning ignored him at all and went straight into the courtyard. There was a circle of blue brick and white tile buildings in the courtyard. He didn't say anything. He heard a sound coming from a room. He moved over lightly and walked to the window. He saw that the window was open. , but there were five or six officials gathered together in the room, forming a circle, all of them staring intently, and no one glanced at the window.
Qi Ning didn't know what these guys were up to, so he walked lightly into the house. A group of people were unaware of it. When Qi Ning approached the edge, he discovered that several officials were surrounding a table, and there was a large-mouthed green turtle in the middle of the table. In the glaze vat, two crickets were fighting fiercely. Several officials stared at the fiercely fighting crickets with wide eyes. No one cared that Qining was approaching.
Shen Lian followed Qi Ning, his face changed slightly, and he coughed a few times on purpose. No one noticed at first. After Shen Lian coughed seven or eight times in a row, someone turned around, saw Shen Lian, and said with a smile: " Master Shen, hurry up and take a look, Master Lu has brought his black general today, he seems to be quite capable...!"
But Shen Lian winked. The man saw Shen Lian winking and felt a little strange. He glanced to the side and saw a young man standing next to him. He had never seen him before and didn't know him. He couldn't help but ask. Said: "Who are you?"
After he asked, several other officials came to their senses and turned to look at Qining.
Qi Ning smiled and said nothing, but saw an official take two steps forward and kneel on the ground: "I have met Cao Sen, the chief judge of the Autumn Trial Division, and I have met the Marquis!"
When the other officials heard the word "Master Hou", they didn't care much and knelt down to worship. Qining glanced at it and said with a smile: "Everyone, get up."
Everyone stood up. Qi Ning glanced at Shen Lian and said with a smile: "Shen Zhushi told me that all the adults in the Yamen were busy on errands. I was curious, so I came over to take a look." After looking at the cricket tank, He glanced at it and said with a smile: "Does everyone like this trick?"
Judge Cao Sen smiled and said: "Master Hou, when we have some free time in the Autumn Trial Office, we will find some fun to relax. After all, every case involves people's lives, so there is no room for sloppiness. If we stay tense all the time, we will easily make mistakes." Errands. When other yamen make mistakes, they still have a chance to make amends, but our punishment department cannot."
"I see." Qi Ning said with a smile: "After entering the Yamen early in the morning, do you all feel very hard and tired?"
Cao Sen smiled and said: "This is the rule of the Autumn Trial Office. We are used to this. We have fun for a while and everyone does their own errands. It has been like this for these years."
"Rules?" Qi Ning nodded slightly and said: "Each profession has its own rules. As the saying goes, the state has national laws, and families have family rules. The Penal Department Yamen naturally has its own rules. Since they are rules, it is difficult to break them. Just keep playing." He raised his hand and said, "Please!"
All the officials looked at each other, but Cao Sen smiled and beckoned: "The Marquis has already spoken, let's just finish this fight. Lao Lu, if your black general beats my big green head today, My house in the west of the city will be given to you. If I win, your tea set will have to be handed over."
Several officials looked a little embarrassed, but Qining smiled slightly, turned around and walked out without saying a word.
Shen Lian followed Qining out of the door and said with some embarrassment: "Master Marquis, the Autumn Trial Office has always been like this, but they have never delayed their errands."
"It doesn't matter, I'm just here to meet you all." Qi Ning remained calm and smiled: "By the way, where is Mr. Chu? Since he is temporarily in charge of the affairs of the Criminal Department, I should also meet him and tell him Please ask for help.”
Shen Lian said hurriedly: "Master Marquis, please go this way, Master Chu is over there at the Law and Regulations Hall."
"Lead the way!" Qi Ning put his hands behind his back, looking quite relaxed. Shen Lian was very respectful and led the way. As he walked through the hall, Qi Ning discovered that when the officials of the Ministry of Justice saw him, they only saluted him from a distance, but did not Not even close.