"Since County Magistrate Lu believes that he is unable to try the case of the Fuxing Society, who does Prefect Yan think should be responsible for the trial?" Fang Yun looked at Taihe Prefect Yan Wu with a kind face.
Yan Wu did not answer immediately.
Lu Ming glanced at Yan Wu with a hint of dissatisfaction in his eyes, and then looked at Fang Yun with respect in his heart, because he understood that Fang Yun deliberately wanted Yan Wu to take over as a trap, and then combined with this sentence, he put Yan Wu in a dilemma.
Yan Wu's purpose was obvious. He wanted to keep the case in Taihe Mansion for trial. No matter what the result was, he could handle it in a way that was beneficial to Qing State. However, now that Lu Ming did not want to try the case, Yan Wu had to either force Lu Ming to accept it as a superior, or try it himself.
Once Yan Wu puts the pressure on, it will give Fang Yun an excuse to issue orders as the governor.
If Yan Wu conducts the trial himself and something goes wrong, Fang Yun will take the opportunity to arrest him.
The governor is arbitrary and needs nothing but an excuse.
Many officials present had already understood the meaning of Fang Yun's words. Some officials were so surprised that they even looked around secretly, suspecting that there were some savvy bureaucrats at the level of Shangshu or even the fourth prime minister who were secretly directing Fang Yun. No matter how talented a person was, he would never say such words if he had not been tempered in the officialdom for decades.
There were traces of sweat on Yan Wu's forehead.
The other "Qing officials" were secretly anxious and wanted to help Yan Wu, but the ones who could really be responsible for this matter, apart from the county magistrate and the prefect of Taihe Prefecture, were only the Law Department Yamen, the Criminal Department Yamen, the Provincial Governor's Yamen and the Governor's Yamen. These three yamen were firmly controlled by the "Jing officials". Above them were the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice and the Supervisory Council in the capital, which are often referred to as the Three Law Departments.
Neither side wanted to submit the matter to a joint trial by the three courts.
Although the "Qing officials" of Xiangzhou did not take the initiative to admit that they were trying to make Xiangzhou belong to Qing Kingdom again, they had long been in opposition to the "Jing officials". Both sides knew the identity of the other side. Once they stood out, they would inevitably be besieged by the "Jing officials".
After a moment, Yan Wu said, "Since this matter involves a dispute between two countries, it may not be appropriate to hand it over to the Ministry of Justice alone. It should be handed over to the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Justice to jointly try the case."
Many celebrating officials showed satisfaction. A country had the Ministry of Rites and the Honglu Temple in charge of diplomacy, while a state did not have an office similar to the Honglu Temple. Some functions of the Honglu Temple were incorporated into the Ministry of Rites.
The government affairs within a state are under the charge of the governor, and under the governor there are various departments in charge of specific government affairs, such as the Department of Households, the Department of Criminal Justice, the Department of Rites, the Department of Works, the Department of Law, etc.
Each department in a state is a government office that handles specific affairs. The governor of a state basically does not personally try cases like a county magistrate or prefect, except in very special cases.
"Governor Yan is speaking from an experienced perspective. I think the case should be decided jointly by the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Justice."
"This is the safest strategy, after all, it involves hundreds of scholars."
The Lisi of Xiangzhou has always been the private domain of the Qing officials. When Jingguo took over Xiangzhou, it wanted to use Jingguo officials or "Jingguan" who were inclined towards Jingguo to occupy the positions of Sizheng and left and right Sizheng of each department, but was strongly resisted by the Qing officials.
Although the Qing officials secretly supported the Qing Kingdom, they were Xiangzhou people or Xiangzhou officials after all, and the Jing Kingdom court could not force them to leave. Once they were forced to leave, most of the government offices in Xiangzhou would be paralyzed. What's more, there was also the left prime minister Liu Shan who echoed them in the court.
As a last resort, Jing State compromised and gave up the Ministry of Rites, which was controlled by Qing Guan. At the same time, among the three chief officials of the other departments, namely Si Zheng, Zuo Si Zheng and You Si Zheng, Qing Guan must be appointed as You Si Zheng. Moreover, Zuo Si Zheng must also be a native of Xiangzhou. Only Si Zheng could be an official from other states in Jing State.
Jing State has made great concessions and promised that if Xiangzhou is stable in ten years, the proportion of officials from Xiangzhou will be gradually increased, and it is willing to let people from Xiangzhou serve as Xiangzhou governors. The treatment of officials and scholars in Xiangzhou will be much better than that of Xiangzhou in Qing State.
During the period when Qing ruled Xiangzhou, there were many strict regulations. Not only the governor, the governor-general and the prince had to be from Qing, but also the chief ministers, the left chief minister, the right chief minister, as well as the prefects and associate governors of each prefecture had to be from Qing.
Even the seventh-rank county magistrates were initially 90% elected by people from Qing. Later, Qing showed mercy and stipulated that three to five percent of county towns could be headed by people from Xiangzhou.
In other words, during the reign of the Qing Kingdom, 90% of the officials above the seventh rank were from the Qing Kingdom, and 10% were from Xiangzhou. Among officials of the seventh rank or below, talents from Xiangzhou accounted for a large proportion.
The treatment that Jing State gives to Xiangzhou now is far better than that given to Qing State. But even so, those officials or scholars in Xiangzhou who are against Jing State still go to the discussion board to attack Jing State, saying that Jing State does not give power to the people of Xiangzhou, that they will always be people of Qing State, that they miss Qing State and so on. Even on festivals, they hang the flag of Qing State, kneel down and worship the portrait of King Qing, etc.
The most ridiculous thing is that when Jing and Qing were handing over the power of Xiangzhou, some people in Xiangzhou actually asked people from Qing to continue to serve as the chief judges of the Law Department, the Criminal Department and the Etiquette Department, and opposed the backward Jing State's tarnishing of Xiangzhou's fair Law Department, the Criminal Department and the Etiquette Department.
When this incident happened, the whole country was in an uproar. Many officials of Jing State said that if Jing State was really weak, such things could be tolerated, but even if they were tolerated, a time limit should be set. If they were accepted without restrictions, it would be a national humiliation for the country. Any monarch who ceded the judicial power of a state to people from other countries should abdicate and let others take over.
One official even cried out that if this happened, everyone would be able to say that Xiangzhou did not belong to Jingguo.
The matter would not have escalated into a big fuss, but the left prime minister's party actually supported it, thus causing chaos at the court meeting.
The biggest reason of the Zuo Xiang Party is to let Xiangzhou set an example. After all, more than one state was annexed by Jingguo. This way, other states can believe that Jingguo will not exploit the old states that have returned to Jingguo.
This reason silenced many officials who had originally opposed it, after all, the argument made sense.
The normal people of Jing were very angry and cursed these Xiangzhou people. Only those members of the Zuo Xiang party who were ready to commit treason at any time praised these people and praised these Qing officials.
In addition to the Yangtze River flowing through Xiangzhou, there is also a huge Yangtze River tributary called Wuxiang River. So a Hanlin from Jingguo criticized the people of Xiangzhou for "willing to be slaves, making the Wuxiang River smellless and Xiangzhou like a dog."
On the day of the court meeting, Minister Jiang Hechuan said in a loud voice: "Xiangzhou was taken back by Fang Xusheng at all costs! If we continue to let Qing officials govern Xiangzhou, we will be drinking his blood and eating his flesh! Since Fang Xusheng risked his life to take back Xiangzhou, we will risk our lives to protect the integrity of Xiangzhou!"
At this point, all officials except the Left Prime Minister's party supported Jiang Hechuan, and Jingguo rejected the bizarre applications of those Xiangzhou scholars at a court meeting.
When this incident happened, Fang Yun was still taking the palace examination and was unable to participate in the palace struggle.
But now, Fang Yun is the ruler of Xiangzhou.
Fang Yun glanced at Yan Wu and the other officials of Qing, his eyes were indifferent, but filled with bone-chilling coldness.
"The Ministry of Rites won't try the case, so let the Ministry of Law try it alone. In addition, I will report to the Criminal Court and the Cabinet, and use Xiangzhou as a pilot to divide the Supervisory Department into the Supervisory Department and the State Procuratorate. The former will supervise all officials, and the latter will prosecute cases." Fang Yun said.
When some officials heard Fang Yun's first words, they wanted to speak out in opposition and continue to test Fang Yun's bottom line, but after hearing Fang Yun finish speaking, no one dared to speak out in opposition.
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