*****
At dusk in spring, catkins were flying in the air and the red clouds dyed the sky outside the courtyard wall. In the governor's back office, the peach blossoms had just fallen and the apricot blossoms were blooming again, creating a scene of spring.
All the annoyance caused by Qin Mu's day-long arguments with his officials disappeared because of Li Xiangjun's arrival. After bathing, he sat cross-legged under the railing of the waterside pavilion in a wide-sleeved Confucian robe. Outside the pavilion, the back garden was quiet, with a pool of warm spring water. The evening breeze blew, and ripples moved gently.
Two months had passed since he closed his door to visitors and rested for three days in Ganzhou during the Chinese New Year. He had been busy all the time, and it was not until this March evening that he finally put everything aside and enjoyed the spring scenery.
Li Xiangjun's skin was as white as jade, and she was still blushing. Qin Mu had just dragged her to take a bath together. Qin Mu had promised to hold a formal ceremony for her, so he had not yet taken her body. But when they were bathing together, they were affectionate and had some intimate actions. Although Li Xiangjun was born in a brothel, she was still a virgin, so it was inevitable that she was still a little shy.
When she served Qin Mu the fragrant tea, she lowered her head slightly, her eyes avoiding Qin Mu intentionally. A piece of apricot blossom fell with the evening breeze, gently touching her hair, and then spun and landed on her frosty and snowy white wrist. The scene was fresh and timeless, like a poem or a painting.
"Xiang'er, come and sit down. You must have been tired from running back and forth alone this time." Qin Mu took a sip of the fragrant tea, put it down casually, and patted the futon in front of him.
From southern Jiangxi to Jinling, and then from Jinling to Changsha, it was indeed very tiring for a delicate person like Li Xiangjun. But with Qin Mu's words, Li Xiangjun immediately felt that all the hard work was worth it.
She leaned against Qin Mu's knees and replied coquettishly, "Master, don't say that. I have always felt that I am useless. This time, I am really happy to be able to help you."
"Ha, who said you are useless? You are the source of motivation for me to move forward."
"If you don't believe me, Master will coax me." Li Xiangjun crossed her hands and placed them on his knees. Then she rested her chin on them, looked at him with a pair of watery eyes and said, "Master, why is Sister Dong here..."
Li Xiangjun and Dong Xiaowan were both from Qinhuai, so they knew each other. Qin Mu saw that she finally couldn't help asking, and couldn't help laughing and said, "Why ask? Of course, I stole it."
"Master..." Li Xiangjun shook his knees and rolled her eyes.
"Believe it or not, I am a bad man who likes to steal other people's women." Qin Mu stretched out his hands and hugged her. Li Xiangjun was very light, like a scented fan pendant.
The beauty lies on my knees, as pure and elegant as a white lily, and its faint fragrance drifts in the evening breeze, refreshing my heart.
Seeing that he was deliberately talking nonsense and didn't want to talk about this matter, Li Xiangjun blinked her eyes, bit her lips and said, "Master, this time when I returned to Jinling, I met Sister Bian. I was able to solve the bank matter thanks to Sister Bian's help."
"Oh, then I must thank her very much. By the way, how is she now?"
"People in Nanjing are also in a state of panic. I originally wanted to invite Sister Bian to come to Changsha with me, but..."
"But what?"
"But Sister Bian said that she was afraid of disturbing the master, so she refused to come with us." Li Xiangjun kept staring at Qin Mu, afraid to miss every tiny change on his face.
"Hehe..." Qin Mu hugged her slender waist, held this lovely girl in his arms, and then kissed her earlobe lightly.
"Master, what are you laughing at? Alas... The flowers have feelings for each other, but the water is merciless. Sister Bian is such a miserable person."
"Hahaha... Is Xiang'er talking about Wu Weiye?"
"Master!" Li Xiangjun refused and hit him lightly, "You are not allowed to make fun of Sister Bian's sad story."
"Okay, okay, Xiang'er, quickly get some paper and pen."
"What does the master want to write?"
"write a letter."
"oh."
Li Xiangjun suddenly realized something, her face lit up with joy, and she hurried to the study to get writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone.
Outside the pavilion, willow catkins were swaying, apricot blossoms were swaying, and their reflections were reflected in the clear water of the spring pond. A few sparrows were jumping and chirping on the high courtyard wall. Apart from that, the whole backyard was silent. After Li Xiangjun had ground the ink, Qin Mu dipped it in the ink and thought for a while, then wrote a poem "Dielianhua" on the red paper:
The flowers fall without any wind.
In the lonely garden, old willows and cherries grow by.
The setting sun is still shining on me.
A dot of horizontal cloud breaks the green mountain.
When the road ends and the river turns back, people turn the rudder.
In the fishing village, there is a solitary light in the dark moonlight.
I use my flying soul to call Chu Xie, and when I miss you, you miss me.
***
The next day, in the Third Department Hall, when the issue of setting up a military procuratorate and a military court under the General Inspectorate came to discussion, everyone began to argue fiercely again.
The opinions between the civil and military officials were once again completely opposite and neither side would give in. The military officials supported it while the civil officials opposed it.
Once the military procuratorate and military courts were established, the military became even more closed, becoming a group that civilian officials could no longer interfere with. When problems arose in the military, they could be dealt with internally, and civilian officials could not even figure out the whole story. This undoubtedly greatly increased the legal basis for military generals to confront civilian officials.
In other words, if I commit a crime, you civil servants have no right to interfere.
What worries the civilian officials even more is that once some major issues are involved, such as things that affect the overall reputation of the military, the military prosecutors and military courts will deliberately cover up the truth in order to avoid giving the civilian system an excuse to attack the military.
These were things that the civil service system could not tolerate. Even Shao Hua, who had been nominated by Qin Mu to be the chief of the General Supervision Department, sided with the civil service and fiercely opposed the establishment of the Military Procuratorate and the Military Court.
Zhuge Min blushed and said, "Sir, you often say that corruption will grow if there is no supervision. Setting up a military procuratorate and a military court will undoubtedly make the military out of effective supervision from all parties. This is absolutely unacceptable."
Su Jin immediately retorted: "The establishment of a military court is conducive to the rapid judgment of certain specific crimes, such as desertion, refusal to execute orders, treason and surrender to the enemy, etc. If these crimes are not judged quickly during wartime, it is very likely to lead to the failure of the war. If we follow the civil law procedure, it is difficult to achieve the effect of a quick trial."
"Ridiculous! These crimes can be dealt with by existing military law. Why is it necessary to set up a military procuratorate and a military court? My lord, in every dynasty, the military has a military supervisor. These problems can be handled by the military supervisor."
In the Ming Dynasty, military supervisors were often imperial envoys or eunuchs from the Censorate. Their main purpose was to prevent rebellion by generals and they actually performed the duties of the Military Procuratorate.
The existence of military supervisors greatly restricted the generals, and most of these imperial envoys or eunuchs were ignorant of military affairs. They made trouble in the army and commanded the experts, which often led to the failure of the war. There were many such examples, too many to list.
Qin Mu also took these into consideration and placed the political commissars, who were responsible for daily military supervision, under the general inspection department of the military system. The political commissars not only had to come from the military, but also had to have high military and political qualities, so as to avoid the situation where laymen restrained the experts to the greatest extent.
The real intention of establishing a military procuratorate and a military court was to reduce the situation in the future where the military was supervised by imperial envoys and eunuchs who were not military professionals, as happened in the Ming court. In order to improve the combat effectiveness of the army, Qin Mu had good intentions.
The civil officials strongly opposed it based on the precedents of previous dynasties, and their views were not without reason. The current system was different from that of later generations. It was now a system of family rule. The dragon throne was too tempting and easy to obtain through violence, so the defense against military generals was much more severe.
Most emperors were not unaware that sending an amateur as a military supervisor might affect the outcome of a war, but they had to do so in order to ensure that their chair would not be taken away by others.
After listening to the civil servants' words, Qin Mu also realized that it was unrealistic in this era to completely free military generals from the supervision of the civil service system, although this could greatly improve the combat effectiveness of the army.
However, if the army's combat effectiveness increases, his own life may also be in danger. And it is far more than just his own life. You must know that whether in ancient times or later generations, it is not a good thing for military generals to have too much power or be autocratic.
Zhao Kuangyin once said that even if all 100 civil officials turned corrupt, they would not be as harmful as one military general. This statement makes sense.
In short, after fierce opposition and reminders from the civil officials, Qin Mu was finally pulled back from the 21st century to the late Ming Dynasty. This is why he asked everyone to discuss the powers of each department one by one.
The effective systems of the 21st century may not be useful in this era, because we are now in a monarchy society, and blindly applying things from later times may very likely harm others and yourself.
Qin Mu secretly breathed a sigh of relief and agreed to abolish the Military Procuratorate and the Military Court.
As soon as he said this, the civil servants in the hall also breathed a sigh of relief.
*****************(To be continued...)
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