Ever since the public security, procuratorate and courts came to Hezhong Prefecture, everyone's attention has been focused on the imperial court. To them, the royal police are just a group of tools.
As the saying goes, to catch a thief, you must first catch the leader. They believed that as long as they could take down the royal court, the royal police would collapse on their own. The key point was that there was no need to compete with a group of ordinary people.
Unconsciously, the police station has grown into a behemoth with 5,000 police officers, and due to its strong execution ability, it can even compete with the military.
They are still immersed in the dispute over the Qingmiao Law and judicial reform, but they never thought that the police station would suddenly take action and arrest dozens of people within two days.
The key point is that these people are either local bullies or have connections in the government, and they are all relatives.
This really caught the officials off guard, and they were confused for a moment.
What's going on here
Don’t you, the public security, procuratorial and judicial departments, play by the rules
But what’s interesting is that people outside the system are not surprised at all. Instead, they think it is very normal. Some even claim that they had expected it.
This is a superficial phenomenon seen by the people. But before in the court, both sides attacked each other back and forth, stripping each other's underwear completely. The royal court saw it all, so did it just do nothing
Isn't it normal to dispatch police now to crack down on these illegal activities
When the common people who had been oppressed for years saw that the police station had indeed taken action, they immediately went to the police station, the procuratorate, and the imperial court to file a complaint. This was tantamount to adding fuel to the fire, causing the whole thing to ferment instantly and directly reach a climax.
Before the officials could react, the Royal Police had already dispatched more than 3,000 people, arrested 367 people, sealed off 56 shops, and destroyed six roadblocks.
This directly broke the record of cracking down on gangsters and eliminating evil, which had previously been held by Bian Jing, but only more than a thousand people were dispatched in total.
This move was as powerful as thunder and suffocating.
The police station also won their highlight moment because of this. There was a constant stream of people coming in and out in front of the police headquarters, and it continued for twelve hours without interruption. Inside the police station, there were constant cries and quarrels.
"Sir, we are here."
Qin Yijie hurriedly got off the carriage and looked up, only to see that the police station was already overcrowded with people, all of whom had squeezed into the yard.
All I saw were familiar faces sitting on chairs, being lectured by the Royal Police.
"Police, I am being wronged! I am really being wronged! I am just a butcher, how could I have committed a crime? Other butchers must be jealous of my business, so they are wrongly accusing me."
"We will investigate whether you were wrongly accused. Also, before you were arrested, only one butcher sued you for monopolizing his meat and forcing him to buy and sell it. But after you were arrested, more than a dozen people came to sue you for forced buying and selling. Could it be that everyone has nothing better to do than to come and accuse you?"
“I…I…!”
... ...
"Hey, police, we are really forced to do this. Our village is a poor place with no money, but we rely on the money we collect for traveling. I have helped the villagers before."
"Standing up for the villagers? Do you think we are blind? Your farm is almost surrounding the whole village. There are 56 households in your village, and 21 of them went out to beg on the streets last year. You are just thinking about the villagers in your heart. You didn't pay any tolls at all!"
... ...
"Police, we are all family. You have to give face to the Buddha instead of the monk!"
"Who are you and your brother? It has nothing to do with this case. How many times do I have to tell you?"
... ...
"Sorry, police, I'm the spy hired by Mr. Zhou."
"Come over here and give your statement."
"Yes Yes Yes."
... ...
"Hey, Mr. Qin."
Finally, a royal policeman noticed Qin Yiji standing at the door in a daze and immediately came over.
Qin Yijie swallowed and asked, "Is your Superintendent Cao here?"
"Our superintendent is in the back hall."
The royal policeman whispered, "Mr. Qin, who are you here to protect?"
Qin Yijie was startled. "What do you mean by protecting someone? I just happened to come here to talk to Inspector Cao about something."
"Save it! Save it!"
The royal policeman nodded repeatedly, but his eyes showed that he did not believe it. Anyone who came to the police station at this time must have relatives involved. He said again: "Mr. Qin, please come in, please come in."
"Thank you for your help."
When I arrived at the back hall, I could smell the aroma of hot pot from afar. When I entered the courtyard, I saw Cao Dongdong eating shabu-shabu while chatting with Fu Shichun. Then I thought about the situation outside. It was like two different worlds. It didn't seem reliable no matter how I looked at it!
"Brother Qin, you came at the right time. Have a drink with me."
When Cao Dongdong saw him coming, he pulled him over.
"Yanei, you...how come you still have time to drink?" Qin Yijie wondered.
"I just held it in for a few days. Today I finally had a break, so I quickly had a couple of drinks. But Xiao Ma had to go out on a police call, and Xiao Chun had to take care of things, so I had to drink alone."
Cao Dongdong has a dandy style.
Qin Yijie couldn't help but look at Fu Shichun who was standing beside him. The latter just shook his head helplessly. He then asked Cao Dongdong, "Yanei, I heard that your police station has arrested a lot of people recently!"
Cao Dongdong said casually: "This is an order from the Imperial Court. Someone went to the Imperial Court to file a complaint. The evidence is irrefutable, so the Imperial Court ordered us to arrest someone."
"So that's what happened."
Qin Yijie nodded, his eyes dodged a few times, and then he whispered: "You may not know that you have arrested many people this time, all of whom are relatives of the uncles and aunts in the camp. The flood has washed away the Dragon King Temple. Do you think you can..."
You must know that after Cao Dongdong came to Hezhong Prefecture, he has always received support from the military. Many people here have connections in the military camp. Those people are very unhappy about this, so they sent Qin Yijie to find out what is going on.
Don't be ungrateful!
Cao Dongdong waved his hand and said, "Brother Qin, don't worry. It's nothing serious. Ask those uncles to find someone to guarantee him, and I will release him."
"guarantee?"
Qin Yijie's mouth twitched. Who dares to come to guarantee? Are they going to die? After all, there are still collective crimes these days. Coming to guarantee at this time, isn't it just walking into a trap? Thinking about it, it's better to find out first, "Yanei, what's going on? These things have been going on for a long time. Why would the police suddenly arrest someone?"
Cao Dongdong glanced outside and said, "It's really not our fault that we are ruthless. It's really that those people have gone too far and we can't just ignore it. But please rest assured, Brother Qin, I, Cao Dongdong, will not betray those uncles. Let them guarantee the person. As long as the person doesn't run away, it will be fine. At most, we will have to pay a fine and return what we owe to them. We are just pretending to do this."
Just pretending? Qin Yijie thought, are they looking for political achievements? He asked, "Really?"
"real."
Cao Dongdong nodded, "But Brother Qin, please don't tell anyone about this."
Qin Yijie nodded hurriedly: "I can save that, I can save that."
Cao Dongdong took Qin Yijie's hand again and said with a big tongue: "Brother Qin Xian, we also came from the Sanya, and we know all the ways to make money here very well, such as selling salt, selling wine, buying horses, there are so many ways to make money, is it worth it to occupy other people's houses and force them to buy our goods?"
Who can compare with your family? Qin Yijie sighed and said, "It is inevitable that there are some relatives who are not tactful."
In fact, this is not the case. Many of those arrested nowadays are relatives of minor officials. They rely on this extra income to make a living. It is not their turn to do high-end business.
Cao Dongdong added, "I, Cao Dongdong, can guarantee this time. I guarantee that nothing will happen, and those uncles will not be implicated. But I won't be able to guarantee it next time. There are the Procuratorate and the Imperial Court nearby. Brother Qin, please tell those uncles not to do this kind of work in the future. The pay is not much, and it is easy for people to catch them."
Qin Yijie hurriedly bowed and said, "Thank you for your kindness, I will tell my uncles about this."
Nowadays, many people are afraid of being implicated. If it is just spending some money, whether to compromise is another matter. At least they will have peace of mind.
A smile flashed in Fu Shichun's eyes.
Cao Dongdong seems unreliable, but being unreliable has its advantages. There are some things that they can't say, but Cao Dongdong can say whatever he wants, and you can just guess anyway.
... ... .
Wei Mansion.
"I originally asked you to enter the police station because I hoped you could get information from there, but you actually got addicted to it. Could it be that you've hooked up with Cao Yanei and have become too powerful to be manipulated?"
Wei Yingfang scolded a young man in front of him.
The young man said with a wronged look on his face: "President Wei is wise, I have never forgotten the instructions of the latter."
Wei Yingfang said, "Then why did the police station make such a big move without you even mentioning anything in advance?"
The young man said, "You can't blame me for this. I received the order suddenly and took action immediately. Even before the arrest, I didn't know what they were going to do and didn't have time to notify Judge Wei."
"you... !"
"Please calm down, Judge Wei."
Cao Yi stepped forward, stopped Wei Yingfang, and said, "Perhaps we can't really blame them. Many people haven't received the news. The police station was clearly well prepared for this operation, so naturally the news wouldn't have leaked out beforehand."
Wei Yingfang said, "What should I do now? My wife has been arguing with me every day since she found out her brother was arrested."
Cao Yi sighed, "My brother-in-law was also arrested. I was also worried at first, but now it seems that he is relatively safe."
Wei Yingfang asked, "What do you mean?"
Cao Yi said: "The police station arrested so many people at once. Behind those people are important figures. If we punish them all, we will offend all the officials in Hezhong Prefecture."
Wei Yingfang nodded thoughtfully: "Yes, do they dare to punish so many people?"
Cao Yi said: "So we will wait and see what their intentions are. If we act too impulsively, the imperial court will find a handle on us. Moreover, naturally, someone will cause trouble for them."
... ... .
It is no exaggeration to say that the action of the police station this time has created an earth-shaking feeling in the entire Hezhong Prefecture. If it were just catching some thieves or even destroying a few gangs of bandits, it would not have such an effect.
The reason is that all those arrested by the Royal Police this time are people with connections and have various backgrounds in the government.
The officials were all dumbfounded. They didn't even dare to provide a guarantee, even though the police station allowed them to do so. As long as they were willing to provide a guarantee and pay a small deposit, they could take the person back.
Officials are speculating on the intention behind this action.
Is it that Xiang Zhuang was dancing with a sword, aiming at Pei Gong, with the purpose of capturing them
This even includes the procuratorate. This action was unexpected and the procuratorate was unaware of it beforehand. However, according to its authority, many of these people had already committed criminal cases, so the procuratorate had to intervene.
However, will there really be no problem if we sue so many people with connections at once
Su Zhe was not Su Shi, who acted entirely on his temperament. He was more cautious and came to the imperial court immediately.
Because he knew the relationship between Cao Dongdong and Zhang Fei, Cao Dongdong would not be so reckless without Zhang Fei's order.
"good!"
Zhang Fei admitted frankly: "I was the one who arranged this operation."
Su Che asked, "I wonder what your purpose is?"
Zhang Fei said: "Rectify the administration of officials."
Su Che was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "This time the rectification of the official administration is really unique!"
Rectifying the administration of officials is a big matter, but you are so careless and didn't even discuss it with us.
Zhang Fei said, "Mr. Su, do you suddenly think that my methods are relatively mild?"
Su Che frowned slightly and began to think.
From the perspective of rectifying the administration of officials, this is nothing. In the past, the rectification of the administration of officials was directly targeted at officials, but this time Zhang Fei investigated their relatives, and no official was arrested.
Zhang Fei said: "In fact, our imperial court has received a lot of secret lawsuits recently, all targeting the bullies in Hezhong Prefecture, and these bullies basically have connections in the government.
There are roughly two types of official corruption. The first is to use one's position to directly ask the people for money. This method is actually very easy to prohibit.
The key is the second type, who abuse their power to seize some businesses and form a monopoly in order to exploit the people. They have no special abilities and rely entirely on their brothers-in-law or uncles.
Just like Zhou Jiazheng's store in the southern suburbs, he relied on his connections in the prison to recruit a group of prisoners and forced passing merchants to live in their store. However, the prices of wine and food in his store were even more expensive than those in Baifanlou.
This kind of behavior is far more harmful to the country than directly using one's position to extort money from the people, because those who work in the government have to be careful, but these people are unscrupulous. "
Su Che nodded slightly and continued, "But when we first came here, we hinted to the public that we would not settle old scores. Otherwise, this process would not have been so smooth. To be honest, I don't agree with settling old scores. That would force them to do something desperate, which is not conducive to the stability of Hezhong Prefecture."
Zhang Fei said: "I have no intention of settling old scores, I just want to tell them that from now on, our imperial court will never allow this situation to continue.
If you make money based on your ability, you deserve whatever you earn. But if you still want to accumulate wealth through connections and brutal means, then jail time is bound to await you.”
Su Che nodded slightly. This kind of behavior must be prohibited. Otherwise, there would be no way to enforce the law. He said, "Then how should we deal with this group of people now?"
Zhang Fei said: "Your procuratorate will take full charge and be responsible for the investigation. Then we will discuss with them and give them a chance to reconcile. However, they must be compensated and punished. If we don't teach them a lesson, they won't realize our determination. At most, we can just exempt them from punishment, but the specific decision will still be made by your procuratorate."
Su Zhe smiled and said, "It seems that even if I don't come to find you today, you will come to find me."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Our Imperial Court has been in the spotlight recently, so it's time for your procuratorate and police station to show off a bit."
"Thank you so much!"
Su Che chuckled twice and said, "Okay, I know what to do."
Although he knew that this was not an easy job, he was still a little excited because many of the previous cases were civil lawsuits and their procuratorate was only responsible for supervising the trials of the royal court. But this time was different, they were all criminal cases and it was their procuratorate's turn to show its proficiency.
Zhang Fei's advice to Zhao Xu was to shift the focus to commercial taxes to make up for the financial shortfall and avoid direct war with the landlords. The first step was to revitalize commerce, and these relatives and friends were the stumbling blocks to the entire plan and had to be completely eliminated.
Only when the interests of merchants are basically guaranteed can business become prosperous and commercial taxes increase.
... ... .
At the same time, the information about the Qingmiao Law and Yuan Jiang's letter had already been sent to the capital by express horse.
This immediately caused an uproar in the capital.
Wang Anshi exploded directly in the court, angrily accusing the public security, procuratorate and courts of colluding with the landlords. The reformists then launched an attack on judicial reform.
You can deny my administrative orders. Who gave you this power
The key point is that they felt that the entire reform was aggrieved. It was clearly those gentry who were causing trouble. It was clearly written in the court records that they all used to lend money at high interest rates. As a result, the court set an interest rate of 2%, and they immediately increased it to 1.5%. Isn't this a blatant opposition to the court
Some people even fanned the flames, saying that the imperial court's decree was even higher than the official decree.
After all, new policies are approved by the government.
However, Sima Guang did not give in to Wang Anshi this time. He immediately jumped out and confronted Wang Anshi head-on, firmly defending the imperial court's judgment.
You have to know that Sima Guang had been holding back and not leaving because of the judicial reform. Now that Wang Anshi directly attacks the judicial reform, he will not tolerate it anymore. Otherwise, there is no point in staying in the court.
Moreover, Zhang Fei's judgment greatly boosted the morale of the conservatives led by Sima Guang. It was such a beautiful denial.
At the same time, this involves the power of the gentry, and the relationship between the conservatives and the gentry is very close.
In addition, with Sima Guang taking the lead this time, the conservatives were unprecedentedly united and defended this verdict to the death.
Among them, prime ministers such as Fu Bi, Wen Yanbo and Zhao Yan did not hide anything and stood up directly to say that there was no problem with the verdict.
Although they had opposed the Qingmiao Law before, they had expressed it very tactfully. The reason was that Zhao Xu was determined to support the new law. Continuing to oppose it would only force Zhao Xu to break with them.
But this time is different. This time they are protecting judicial reform instead of attacking the Qingmiao Law. It will not come into direct conflict with the emperor, so there is no need to be tactful.
The two sides argued fiercely, and heated debates broke out in the judicial and executive branches. One of the key issues was whether the royal court had the power to deny executive orders.
Wang Anshi could drive Fan Zhen out of the court, but he had no way to directly get rid of the prime ministers such as Fu Bi, Wen Yanbo, Sima Guang, and Zhao Yan, and eventually the dispute came to the emperor.
The emperor has to make the final decision.
After Zhao Xu finished reading, he said to Sima Guang: "Sima Xueshi, judging from this class record alone, those gentry and landlords are clearly targeting the Qingmiao Law. I can see it at a glance. Can't you see it?"
The tone is clearly biased towards Wang Anshi.
Sima Guang immediately said, "Your Majesty, Judge Zhang has explained this in great detail in his judgment. The interest rate of 1.5% has long existed in rural areas, and it did not appear because of the Qingmiao Law. It's just that Your Majesty is in the palace, and if it reaches Your Majesty's ears, it must be usury. In fact, there are still many low-interest loans among the people.
In addition, the government did not provide any concrete evidence to prove that they were targeting the Qingmiao Law. Even if they were, it was just a form of competition, and reasonable competition was not illegal.
Moreover, the imperial court also gave an explanation for this. The government certainly has the right to prohibit an act that is not illegal, but this prohibition is not conducive to the interests of the country and the monarch, so the ban was rejected. "
"What nonsense!" Wang Anshi angrily shouted, "They are openly resisting the court's policies, and the imperial court is even more helpless. If we do nothing, everyone will oppose the court in the future. How can we, the ministers, govern the country? How can this not affect the interests of the country and the monarch?"
Zhao Xu just nodded.
Wen Yanbo retorted: "This is wrong. The court's policy is the Qingmiao Law. They did not oppose the Qingmiao Law. They just filed a lawsuit against the sudden ban issued by Hezhong Prefecture, and they won the case in an upright manner. In my opinion, this will effectively put an end to some policies that go against the will of the people and prevent local officials from acting recklessly."
Zhao Xu nodded slightly again.
When Wang Anshi heard this, he was not angry, but happy instead.
Wen Yanbo had been absolutely opposed to the Qingmiao Law before, but his words had a hidden meaning, which was that it was wrong to oppose the Qingmiao Law, and that the imperial court did not reject the Qingmiao Law, but the ban.
This is tantamount to implicitly recognizing the Qingmiao Law.
Sima Guang suddenly said, "Wang Jiefu! You used to brag about your financial management skills, but in the end, when people only needed to reduce the interest rate by half, your Qingmiao Law was vulnerable and you could only suppress it with power. This is the Legalist method disguised as financial management, which is not as easy as raising taxes according to the imperial decree."
Fu Bi secretly glanced at Sima Guang and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.
Sima Guang was truly an expert at irritating Wang Anshi.
"Sima Junshi."
Wang Anshi was immediately furious. You can insult me, but you can't insult my financial management skills. He pointed at Sima Guang and gritted his teeth, "Okay, I'll let them lend you 1.5% interest. I want to see how long those landlords who are sweet-mouthed but treacherous and greedy can hold out. I'm telling you, in less than a year, they will show their true colors. Then we'll see who is truly thinking about the people."
Sima Guang chuckled and said, "Can your Qingmiao Law last for a year?"
"you... ."
Wang Anshi glared at him, then suddenly turned to Zhao Xu and said, "Your Majesty, just looking at the court records will not explain the problem. I suggest sending another official to supervise this case."
Sima Guang was startled and immediately said, "There is a procuratorate over there to supervise. Why do we need to send someone else?"
Wang Anshi said, "I don't trust the procuratorate. There have been many cases reported to us from Hezhong Prefecture, but the procuratorate has never rejected any of them. I now suspect that the procuratorate has colluded with the imperial court, and there is a lack of supervision in between."
Wen Yanbo frowned and said, "You have no evidence, what basis do you have to say that?"
Wang Anshi said: "That is why I suggest that the court send people to investigate. After all, the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs are in the trial period, and the procuratorate is also included. It is reasonable for the court to send people to monitor."
At this point, he paused for a moment and continued, "Your Majesty, Scholar Yuan also mentioned the tax collection problem in Hezhong Prefecture this year. The police station only asked them to declare it on their own, but the autumn tax this year was at least 50% higher. This shows how serious the tax evasion in Hezhong Prefecture is. At the same time, there is also the phenomenon of abuse of labor service in Hezhong Prefecture. Therefore, Scholar Yuan implores the court to set up a taxation department in Hezhong Prefecture and implement the exemption law in Hezhong Prefecture. It would be better to let Han Sishi go to monitor the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs in advance and implement the exemption law at the same time."
Zhao Xu pursed his lips and nodded repeatedly, but he was actually feeling a little suffocated because he knew the entire plan. He admired Wang Anshi's acting skills from the bottom of his heart!
The officials in Hezhong Prefecture hoped that they could fight each other, so Wang Anshi had to give some response and provide administrative support, which required sending people.
But it's just for show.
It’s just that Wang Anshi’s acting skills were so superb that Sima Guang was completely kept in the dark.
Sima Guang believed that Wang Anshi did this to retaliate against the gentry. The methods of the tax commissioner were feared by the dignitaries in the capital. They were really omnipresent. The key point was that the emperor was behind the tax commissioner. If Han Jiang was sent to supervise the public security, wouldn't that be an all-round suppression? So he said, "Your Majesty, the affairs of Hezhong Prefecture have been too busy recently. In my opinion, we should wait a little longer."
Wang Anshi snorted, "This is all caused by your judicial reform. Why should my new law wait? Why don't you let them be quiet for a while?"
Sima Guang said, "Can you please be reasonable? You went to the imperial court to sue because you had a grievance. This proves that the police, procuratorate and courts went there at the right time."
Wang Anshi said: "So the tax commissioner cannot go."
"... ... ?"
Sima Guang was speechless immediately.
Zhao Xu saw that the time was almost right, so he finally spoke: "Master Wang has a point. The public security, procuratorial and judicial systems are still in the trial stage and should be supervised. As for the tax commissioner and the exemption law, they have achieved good results in the capital area. At the same time, officials in Shaanxi Road have talked about the hardships of the corvée every year. They should also be implemented in Hezhong Prefecture to get rid of the bad policies as soon as possible."
Fu Bi suddenly said, "Your Majesty, the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs are independent systems with layers of supervision. If we send more people to supervise, it may undermine the judiciary."
This envoy of the Song Dynasty was a key reason why government orders were not implemented. Because there were too many envoys, the officials below didn’t know who to listen to.
The reason why the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs are successful is because they are independent and no one can control them.
If we send more people to supervise the trials of the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs, it will only influence the judiciary, which will not be worth the cost.
Zhao Xu said: "Han Sishi is only investigating the cause of this case and will not interfere with the judicial trial. If the imperial court's judgment is correct, then there is no need to worry about other people's investigation."