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Sima An overthought for a moment. In fact, Qin Mu had no intention of using Qitate to destroy Mo Nan's 50,000 young and strong army.
It is not advisable to do so. If not handled properly, Qitate will become a fierce tiger that is difficult to deal with, and may even cause the situation in the entire southern and northern deserts to get out of control.
After Li Jiqing submitted a petition to urge the crown prince to move to the palace, Qin Mu did not deal with the matter for a long time. As the chief minister, Sima An felt like a stone was pressing on his heart and was under great pressure. He was afraid that Qin Mu was keeping the matter and waiting for an opportunity to make use of it. Therefore, Sima An became a little sensitive.
Qin Mu suppressed this matter and did not ask about it, indeed he wanted to pressure the important officials in the court to cooperate with the series of policies he was promoting. But he also knew that some things were too much, and making the ministers too nervous was not necessarily a good thing.
On this day, he deliberately asked Sima An to stay, and then asked someone to bring him lunch. He ate and chatted with Sima An in Wuying Hall in order to appease the prime minister.
A few small dishes and a glass of wine made for a simple lunch. Qin Mu took a sip and said, "These days, the debate about the presumption of innocence has been going on everywhere, from officials to the public. What do you think about this, Mr. Sima?"
Speaking of this matter, Sima An couldn't help but smile bitterly. A few years ago, a memorial submitted by his son Sima Kai caused an uproar in the court and the public. After more than two months, not only did the situation not subside, but it became more and more intense.
Sima knew very well why his son suddenly submitted this memorial and put himself in the spotlight, but he couldn't point it out and could only swallow his anger.
"Your Majesty, I have no prejudice against the presumption of innocence, but as far as I know, many officials at all levels are opposed to it. As for the reasons for their opposition, they are different, but they have one thing in common."
"Mr. Sima, please speak."
"Your Majesty must also be aware of this. The presumption of innocence will inevitably greatly increase the difficulty of solving cases. As local officials, clearing up criminal cases is the top priority. If there are too many backlogs of cases, it will affect the officials' evaluation results and make it difficult for them to be promoted. Therefore, they are naturally unwilling to implement the presumption of innocence."
Qin Mu put down his chopsticks and thought, Sima An did not mention that the presumption of innocence would affect the privileges of the gentry. From another perspective, he analyzed the reasons why local officials opposed it, which was also very insightful.
In the past, officials tried cases with the mentality of presumption of guilt. After a severe torture, if the suspect confessed, the case would be solved. No matter who was wronged or not, the officials who judged the case would not be wronged.
If the presumption of innocence is implemented now, it will be more difficult to solve the case, and officials who fail to solve the case will become the "sucker" and bear the responsibility for the unsolved case.
Under such circumstances, these local officials would certainly oppose the presumption of innocence.
Qin Mu thought for a moment and asked casually, "Mr. Sima, if we separate the criminal justice affairs from the responsibilities of the local officials, do you think they will still persist in opposing it?"
"Peel it off..." Sima An's mind raced as fast as lightning. He vaguely guessed the emperor's back-up plan, which was truly extraordinary.
In the current local administrative structure of the Qin Dynasty, only the provincial level has a special judicial and criminal justice department, which is one of the three departments together with the provincial government department.
In the prefectures and counties, there were no officials specifically in charge of judicial affairs and prisons. All of this was shouldered by the prefects and county magistrates.
If judicial and criminal affairs were separated from the powers of the prefects and county magistrates throughout the country, then all the prefectures and counties would have to set up separate offices and appoint separate officials, and the scope of the issue would be so wide that it would cover the entire country.
"Your Majesty, I'm afraid it's not easy to separate judicial affairs from the powers of local officials. For example, if a county magistrate loses his judicial power, his power will be reduced by half."
Sima An paused and said frankly, "To be honest with you, Your Majesty, since ancient times, local officials in every dynasty have often gained the most benefits from handling cases, and this benefit does not necessarily refer to money;
For example, Bao Zheng of the Song Dynasty gained a good name as Justice Bao, which has been praised for thousands of years. In other words, even honest officials may oppose the removal of judicial power from them.
Qin Mu frowned unconsciously. For local officials, holding judicial power is actually equivalent to holding the power of life and death. Corrupt officials hope to use the power of life and death to obtain wine, sex, money and power. Honest officials want to use this power to gain a good reputation.
Now we want to deprive them of this power, who would be willing to do so
However, absolute power will inevitably lead to absolute despotism.
Especially this kind of power over life and death, if not strictly supervised, will inevitably be abused. Even if one uses methods such as skinning and stuffing straw, as Zhu Yuanzhang did, it will be difficult to prevent it.
The more this happened, the more Qin Mu became determined to separate the judicial power from the hands of local officials.
"As the saying goes, the emperor is far away, and the power of local officials is too concentrated. There is a lack of effective supervision, and it all depends on the self-discipline of officials. Therefore, throughout the dynasties, corruption among local officials has become rampant, and even skinning and stuffing straw is not enough to stop it.
These officials face ordinary people directly. When they are corrupt, ordinary people are the victims. Are there not many cases of officials forcing people to rebel? Mr. Sima, I don't want to use the method of peeling skins and stuffing straw, I know that is useless. Therefore, the power in their hands must be restricted and supervised. Mr. Sima, as a minister of state, has an unshirkable responsibility. "
Sima An knew very well what it meant to have an unshirkable duty. The emperor had made his statement, and as the prime minister, he had no other choice.
"Your Majesty, this matter involves a wide range of issues. One move could affect the entire body. We must be extremely cautious."
Qin Mu sighed and said, "Mr. Sima, some things cannot be accomplished if you are too cautious."
Sima An couldn't help but tremble in his heart when he heard this.
At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang killed so many people that the entire city of Nanjing was emptied. Ministers had to hang their heads on their belts when they went to court. When they left home in the morning, it was like a farewell to their families, and no one knew whether they would be able to come back in the evening.
At that time, who dared to say no to the policies that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to implement
Although this founding emperor looks elegant, he is more ruthless than anyone else when it comes to killing. If his reverse scale is touched, he may not be worse than Zhu Yuanzhang in killing people. At least Zhu Yuanzhang had never built a Jingguan.
If the emperor... ... Sima An was more and more frightened the more he thought about it, and sweat broke out on his back.
After hearing what Sima An said, Qin Mu did feel murderous. If he promoted the presumption of innocence and separated the judicial power from the local chief officials, it would really be resisted by all local officials. Apart from killing people like Zhu Yuanzhang did, how else could he implement it
Sima An quickly suggested, "Your Majesty, this is a serious matter. I think we should gather more ministers to discuss it. Maybe other ministers can come up with a feasible plan."
Qin Mu shook his head and said, "Let's gather the ministers to discuss now. Once the secret is leaked, it will be difficult to deal with. I only trust Mr. Sima. I hope Mr. Sima can think of a strategy for me and keep his mouth shut for the time being."
"Your Majesty, I am grateful for your trust. However, if Your Majesty wants to separate judicial power from the powers of local officials, it will involve all aspects. After all, it will be implemented after consultation with the ministers."
Qin Mu certainly knew that no matter what the policy was, it would ultimately depend on the ministers to implement it. However, he had not yet sorted out the situation and was still unsure.
"No hurry. After we wipe out the Qitate and stabilize the border, we can then eliminate the internal abuses. I am discussing this with Mr. Sima now because you are the chief minister of the cabinet and the minister I trust the most. I should let you prepare yourself mentally and think of a countermeasure for me. As for other ministers, don't talk about it for now to avoid unnecessary disturbances."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will wait till my death."
As far as the whole thing is concerned, the main thing that needs to be reformed is the local judicial system and administrative structure. Among the various departments of the court, only the Ministry of Justice needs to be reformed.
This is because the separation of law enforcement, supervisory and legislative powers has generally been formed in the court, and only the boundaries of judicial power are relatively vague.
Specifically, the law enforcement power of the Qin Dynasty was in the hands of the Ministry of Justice, the supervisory power was in the hands of the Censorate, and the legislative power was generally in the hands of the Dali Temple.
The power of adjudication, that is, the function of the court, is mainly controlled by the Ministry of Justice. In some major cases, the Metropolitan Governor's Office and the Dali Temple often participate in the so-called three-court trial.
The Ministry of Justice has both the trial power of a court and the law enforcement power of a police inspector. This is where reform is needed.
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.(To be continued..)
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