"At present, our Jiangsu and Zhejiang Judicial Inspection Office has jurisdiction over four sub-districts: Zhejiang East, Haiyou, Zhejiang, and Jinhua. Due to the special status of Nanzhili, it does not have a Judicial Inspection Office and a Provincial Administration Office. The sub-districts within its territory are managed by the neighboring Provincial Administration Office and Judicial Inspection Office. Our Jiangsu and Zhejiang Judicial Inspection Office is in charge of one of them. Our two deputy commissioners and three assistant commissioners each lead a sub-district. The manpower is just right. It was originally difficult for Zihou to fulfill his duties, but now he doesn't have to worry about it. At present, the Japanese invasion in Jiangnan is getting worse and worse. The responsibility of defending against the Japanese invasion is heavy. Through this Judging from the reality in recent years, the garrison troops have long been unfit for use. Facing the rampant Japanese pirates, they have had almost no success. The court was extremely disappointed with the garrisons, so it specially appointed the deputy envoys or assistants who originally had the power to "supervise the garrisons of prefectures, states, and garrisons" to lead the militia to help defend against the Japanese pirates. Zihou, you have the imperial edict of "rectifying military preparations" specially issued by the court, and have the right to command troops. In the future, Zihou will be responsible for the military preparations of our Jiangsu and Zhejiang Judicial Inspection Office. I hope Zihou will carry forward the achievements of Jingnan, make persistent efforts, and do his part for Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which have been bullied by the Japanese pirates..."
In the end, Neitai made arrangements for Zhu Ping'an's duties and handed over the military preparations of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to Zhu Ping'an.
This was within Zhu Ping'an's expectations and what he hoped for, so Zhu Ping'an gladly accepted the position.
"I will do my best to live up to the expectations of the Prime Minister." Zhu Ping'an bowed and accepted the order, expressing his position.
"Good!" Neitai nodded with satisfaction, then picked up the teacup beside him and took a sip.
The ancients had an implicit rule of serving tea to see off guests. Besides, the visit just now interrupted Neitai's lunch, and they had been chatting for such a long time. If he didn't eat, Neitai's lunch would probably get cold. Zhu Ping'an tactfully said goodbye and left.
Next, Zhu Ping'an, led by Chu Xiong, met the two deputy envoys and two other assistant officials of the office.
After the tour, Zhu Ping'an had a brief understanding of the leadership of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Judicial Inspection Office.
The chief judge, Zhang Zijing, was fifty-eight years old this year, and his ancestral home was in Hunan. Zhu Ping'an's first impression of him was that he was simple, kind, and responsible for his work.
The two deputy envoys, one named Hu Jin, styled Tongda, 55 years old this year, native to Henan; the other named Bai Jinhu, styled Jincheng, 61 years old this year, native to Lingnan. Due to the short time of the visit, Zhu Ping'an did not have a deep impression of them, Hu Jin was more indifferent, Bai Jinhu was more sophisticated.
The other two assistants besides Chuxiong were Zhang Chufeng, 45, and Zhuo Yan, 48. Zhang Chufeng was somewhat similar to Zhang Juzheng, with spotless clothes and a refined and handsome appearance; Zhuo Yan was the opposite, with a medium build, a somewhat expressionless face, and a bit fierce.
This is Zhu Ping'an's impression of his colleagues for some time to come.
"Brother Zhu, come on, let me take you around our office and familiarize you with the environment." Chu Xiong said enthusiastically after leading Zhu Ping'an for a walk, drinking a cup of tea and taking a short rest.
"That's what I want, but I don't dare to ask for it." Zhu Ping'an nodded.
Next, Chu Xiong took Zhu Pingan to visit the government office and briefly introduced the people and things in the government office to Zhu Pingan. Of course, the introduction was only superficial, and the deeper level was not involved.
The four government offices of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provincial Surveillance Commissioner really exceeded Zhu Ping'an's expectations. They not only had the majesty of an official uniform, but also had comfort. The outer hall was built with the majesty of a high-ranking government official, while the interior, especially the backyard, was built like a garden, or in other words, it was built according to the standards of a garden, with winding paths leading to secluded places, beautiful landscape pavilions and corridors, rockery, waterside pavilions, and artificial lakes. The independent building that Zhu Ping'an was assigned was actually a small garden, with a small pool of clear water, a small bridge, a small pavilion with flying eaves, green bamboos and trees, and a beautiful woman leaning against the corridor... ... Zhu Ping'an felt that it was luxurious to use this as an official's inner residence.
"Zihou, what do you think of our office?" Chu Xiong asked with a smile after leading Zhu Ping'an to visit the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provincial Surveillance Office.
"Tall, big, superior..." Zhu Pingan replied
Chu Xiong was stunned when he heard this. What does "high-end" mean? Zhu Pingan realized that he was not a modern person and could not understand the meaning of these three words, so he explained, "high-end, grand, and classy..."
"Haha, high-end, classy, great, seconds!" Chu Xiong listened to Zhu Ping'an's explanation and couldn't help but smile and give a thumbs up, "Brother Zhu is worthy of being the top scholar, these three words are insightful!"
"Thank you for the compliment, Brother Chu." Zhu Ping'an said modestly.
"As far as the environment is concerned, there are few government offices in Jiangnan that are better than our Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provincial Procuratorate."
Chu Xiong said confidently.
Zhu Ping'an nodded and had no doubt about Chu Xiong's words, because the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Censorate was indeed ranked first among the yamen he had seen. Most yamen were old or dilapidated, and a luxurious yamen like the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Censorate was rare among the yamen.
"Brother Zhu, in fact, we should all thank the previous governor, Lord Wangsi Xiaowang. The government office where we live now was built after Lord Wang took office." Chu Xiong said with emotion.
"Where is Lord Wang now?" Zhu Ping'an nodded and asked.
"Ahem, Lord Wang is in the capital now..." Chu Xiong coughed and pointed to the north.
"Lord Wang was promoted to the capital? When I was in the capital..."
Zhu Ping'an said slowly while thinking about the adult surnamed Wang who could correspond to the number in the capital.
The Censor is a third-rank official. If he is promoted to the capital, he must be at least a third-rank official of the same level. Beijing officials are half a level higher than local officials. The left and right assistant ministers of the six ministries are third-rank officials, and the deputy chief censor of the Supervisory Office is also third-rank officials. The highest rank of the six ministries is seventh-rank officials, which is too low. The rank of the chief officials of the five temples is only third-rank officials, which is also too low. The most likely ones are the six ministries and the Supervisory Office. When Zhu Ping'an was in the capital, he had more dealings with the six ministries when he was on duty at the Hanlin Academy and Wuyidian. He also had quite a few interactions with the Supervisory Office. However, he really has no impression of this adult surnamed Wang and named Sixiao, which is a bit inappropriate.
"Ahem, he wasn't promoted to Beijing, but he's imprisoned in the capital's prison..." Chu Xiong started coughing again.
ha?!
Sitting in the prison?!
Zhu Ping'an was stunned when he heard this, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help twitching. No wonder he had no impression of him, it turned out that he was imprisoned in the Sky Prison.
"Why..." Zhu Ping'an was about to ask why, but suddenly he looked at Chu Xiong with understanding and asked tentatively, "Lord Wang is good at repairing government offices?"
Since ancient times, there has been a folk saying that "officials don't repair yamen, and guests don't repair inns". First, because an official only serves for a few years and is just a passer-by, so naturally there is no need to take the trouble to repair the yamen for the next official; second, because of clean government. In the old days, repairing yamen would inevitably cost a lot of money and labor, and recruiting or mobilizing manpower would easily lead to criticism; third, authority, which is also the most important reason. You can't repair a yamen whenever you want. On the one hand, the imperial court has strict regulations on yamen at all levels and does not allow usurpation. On the other hand, local officials have no right to use financial funds to repair yamen without authorization. They must report to the imperial court and obtain permission before they can repair yamen within the permitted scope.
Those who repair government offices without authorization will be demoted at the very least and sent to prison at the most serious.
Therefore, in ancient times, it was basically rare to see the kind of oversized office buildings that we see in modern places.
That's why Zhu Ping'an believed that Lord Wang was thrown into the Heavenly Prison most likely because he repaired the government office without permission.
"Ahem, it's not that I did it on my own. Lord Wang reported to the court before renovating the office, and only renovated it after getting approval." Chu Xiong coughed and said, seeing Zhu Ping'an's burning eyes, he continued, "But Lord Wang applied for 50,000 strings of money, and the court only approved 6,000 strings of money."
Zhu Ping'an immediately understood.
6,000 guan couldn't build such a grand office. This amount of money was only enough to build a door at most. Even 50,000 guan couldn't build such a grand office.
This is no different from repairing an office without authorization, and is even more of a crime of deceiving superiors and deceiving subordinates. In addition, as the Chief Criminal Inspector who is responsible for reviewing and supervising, Lord Wang is breaking the law knowingly, which is an even more serious crime. It is not surprising that he was sent to prison.