Chapter 52      Old ministers from the country (1)

Yan Jingming and Su Shun were both officials of the Ministry of Revenue, but the two only had some contacts on official matters, but they never had any contact in private. They invited them to the main hall. The servants brought tea and snacks and each retreated. In addition to Su Shun, there were Long Rulin and others who sat down as guests.

Su Shun was a popular man in the court, governor of various provinces, and the ministers were very filial. Yan Jingming hated the most was a person like him, so he was condemned by the emperor on the same day. After thinking about it, he was so sad that he was so energetic! With his character, he was definitely unwilling to come to visit him. This time, he came here according to the order.

The Military Affairs Office knelt down and the emperor called him to the imperial court. "What I told you a few days ago is to add additional items to the business courses. What did you think?"

"The emperor asked me to forgive me for being rude. In the business course, all the merchants could supervise things from the side. The obstacles were originally great. However, merchants paid taxes for the country and had the right to make suggestions. I thought it was also impossible. They could also avoid the disadvantages of embezzlement, exploitation, and deductions of clerks from various provinces. After several years, they achieved great results. This is the wisdom of the emperor and the holy heart. The holy heart has seen something, so that the treasury is full today and the country is full of money."

He first poured a bowl of miscellaneous soup, and then said, "However, I think that if I lightly open the people and sue the officials first, I am afraid that officials from all provinces will be afraid of the attacks of the people and will be afraid of the people when doing things..."

The emperor sat on the imperial deck, his voice was muffled and he couldn't cheer up. "What you said makes sense. I have thought of such a disadvantage. But think about it, a bastard slave like Sushun received no less than 100,000 taels of silver for a lifetime. Is this money taken out of his own pockets of those bastards who have been asking for him? Didn't it be exploited everywhere?" He said hatefully, "Isn't it all the fat of the people? If this continues, how can it be?"

Yan Jingming sighed, the court was full of energy, greed became wind, ice and charcoal became two respects, three festivals and two birthdays, students worshiped the family and set up a name, and there was an excuse to ask for money - the gentleman who stood up in court had become inappropriate? It was really atrocity and sadness to think it was a shame, "The emperor said this, so I am ashamed..."

"I know very well your character. Among these court officials, Zeng Guofan in the capital and Peng Yulin outside the capital, he can be as good as you. The people around him have talent or knowledge. This kind of honest demeanor and stubborn virtue are far inferior to those of you!"

"The emperor's praises him and honors him in Huagu. I should remember him in my heart. I will treat him with good morals and talents as a minister who is good at it and live up to the emperor's expectations."

The emperor shook his head and stopped talking about these off-topics. "What you said just now is that setting a precedent for the people to sue officials is not wrong, but have you ever thought about it? If Xiao Guicao continues to follow me like this, the Qing magistrate for three years and the 100,000 silver silver, the people who later served should still do so. Wouldn't the words I said that the purging of the administration have completely fallen into nothing? What will the people in the world regard me as the lord?"

"This..." Yan Jingming really didn't know how to answer, so he stammered for a few words and replied, "I am not saying that such a precedent cannot be set. However, if the people sue officials, they must have an article of association. What can they be sued? What can they not be sued? How can they accept it? After receiving the complaint, whether to submit the food in the province or send someone to the capital to investigate the details, there must be an article of association, so that the people below can be handled poorly."

"Yes, yes, yes!" The emperor sighed half and half admired, "About how many years younger I am after all. I hope that whatever I think of is realized immediately. I still have to have a calm person like you, Yan Danchu, to support you! The people have said: If you have an old family, it is like a treasure... Well, don't you seem to be very old?"

With a word, even Yan Jingming was so cautious and polite, he couldn't help laughing out loud: "Ah, I'm not polite."

"Get up and talk." The emperor asked him to stand up, unable to hide his excitement and asked suddenly, "I remember you were a Jinshi in the 25th year of Daoguang and a disciple of Zhou Zupei, but?"

"Yes. The minister Meng was pulled on the mud road, and the master was Master Zhou."

"He is an old Qiu official who has been in charge of the Ministry of Justice for a long time, and he is also skilled in government affairs. Although he was expelled from the court for many years, he has always been concerned about it. This matter is very important, so you might as well ask him what he has to do."

"Yes, I understand."

"There is also the dog Sushun. He is greedy and stretches out his hands everywhere. What about the officials below? He always caters to him, letting him be too dependent. Sometimes, I really don't know whether to deal with him or those who are indulging and flattering him!"

Yan Jingming's heart moved: If you say that indulge in guilt, the emperor is the biggest culprit! Since the fourth year of Xianfeng, Su Shunzhi has made great use of the court officials, and all the court officials have looked at each other. What should he do outside the capital? Of course, these words can only be thought of in my heart, and they cannot be expressed in my mouth.

"However, I think that Sushun is very good at talking about the courage to promote profit and eliminate disadvantages. Therefore, I think that this matter will be done by you and Sushun. After you withdraw your duty, go to his house and tell him that I will keep him useful and contribute to the country. If you can't do this job well, let him find a rope and break it! It's also a shame to see that he is so nervous!"

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After listening to Yan Jingming's retelling of the emperor's words, Su Shun's face turned pale. He didn't have to think too much, and replied, "I am willing to give up the emperor and trust him with great responsibility. How dare I die in order to repay the holy grace?" After that, he rang a few times.

"Brother Yuting, the emperor said to me, "I asked the former Minister of Military Affairs and Minister of Justice Zhou Zupei on this matter. I think it is better to go early rather than late, so why don't you and I visit the palace now?"

Su Shun was willing to refuse. Although he didn't read much, he was very smart. He just heard a few words from Yan Jingming, and knew that once such an errand was done, he would offend all the officials in the world! He always had to make a long-term plan and discuss it carefully with several Qingkes in his mansion before talking. Seeing Yan Jingming rolling a horse and bent his bow, he knew that he couldn't hide. He smiled bitterly, "Okay, let me change my clothes and go with Brother Danchu."

After changing out of clothes, the two of them took a sedan chair and headed straight to the Zhou Mansion in Nancheng. If only Yan Jingming was the only one who had a relationship with each other, they should enter from the side door and from the main door with the etiquette of students paying homage to the teacher, which was called "soft in and hard to go out". However, if they came with Su Shun, this would not be the case.

After the servants in the mansion reported, they opened the middle door and welcomed the two of them to the hall. Zhou Zupei personally stepped down to greet him, "Master Su, Danchu, are you safe?"

"Please to the elder (teacher)."

"What did the people who went to court say "Master"?" Zhou Zupei laughed and said, "Come on, please speak in the hall." After saying that, he ordered the servants, "Go, prepare a banquet and keep guests tonight."

After waving his subordinate, Zhou Zupei smiled before he spoke, "Brother Yuting, Danchu, you are here just in time. The chef in my mansion learned a fresh method of drinking and drinking from the southern part of the world. I have eaten it a few times, and the fragrance of my teeth and cheeks is left. Today we have a great time and we will stop drunk."

Su Shun forced himself to send a sad heart and laughed at himself, "It's still the elder who loves others. Su has nothing to do with it, only the four words "desire for words and tongues."

After saying a word, the two looked at each other and laughed.

Yan Jingming watched coldly, smiling bitterly in his heart: The teacher deliberately wanted to make a leisurely and unwilling attitude, but it seemed even more delicate and artificial. Seeing that it was a gap, he interrupted from the side, "Teacher, the emperor is here..."

"My husband Rong salutes."

"Ah, no." Yan Jingming stopped him, "The emperor has no orders, but there are some things that students ask the teacher for a few questions."

Zhou Zupei was stunned. Since the fourth year of Xianfeng, he suffered a disaster in the pond and fish and was demoted to the temple. Every New Year holiday, the emperor has been rewarded continuously. In addition to gratitude to the emperor, he also thought that one day he would be able to recover, but the day of his use was far away. Over time, his heart became colder and colder. He did not expect that Sai Shanga and Zeng Guofan led their troops to fight against the enemy. He made great contributions and awarded the Baturujia title and gave him the title again, which made him see hope again.

This time, I heard that Su Shun and Yan Jingming joined forces to pass the mansion, and there was a turning point in the matter, but unexpectedly it was just a 'question'? He hesitated for a moment, "I don't know what's going on, can I let me work effectively?"

"That's how it is..."

After hearing Yan Jingming finish his story, Zhou Zupei was shocked! How to do such a thing? Once it is implemented, everyone in the world will be in danger, and no one dares to take responsibility in official affairs anymore! He almost thought Yan Jingming was joking with him, and immediately knew that it would not be possible. How could anyone make such a joke?

"Danchu, you are confused! The emperor is still young and intends to succeed the martial arts predecessors and achieve the title of a generation of orders. As a minister, we should assist the lord. How can you... how can you implement such orders? Otherwise, all officials and external officials will not do it."

Yan Jingming frowned, "The students dare not agree with the teacher's words. Is it impossible to correct them even though I know the wrong one?"

"Governing a big country is like cooking a small fresh food. The method of correction should be slow to do so, so he is eager for quick success and instant benefits." Zhou Zupei wanted to speak but stopped, which was related to the emperor, so he could not speak disrespectful, so he changed his tone, "Isn't it a bad example for the people to sue officials to repeat the old tricks of the Empress of the Wu Dynasty?" He sighed heavily, with a heartbroken expression.

Seeing that the two of the junior brothers were energetic, Sushun hurriedly advised, "Old Zhi, Brother Danchu, there is no need to do this. You are all for business. If you hurt your junior brother's kindness, there is no need to. It also hurts the emperor's holy heart of asking the old minister. I said, "Didn't the following say that there are new things to be tasted by the official? Why, isn't it done yet?"

After making jokes, Zhou Zupei gathered his mood to invite guests to sit down. Su Shun looked at it. There were four plates in the middle of the table, which were colorful and very interesting. He was also one of the experts. After careful look, he could tell a few: the crimson purple one was the drunk crab; the bright rouge one was the Yunnan Xuanwei ham; the light yellow one was the salt and almonds of pepper, and the other was as white as snow, smooth and soft as flakes. I couldn't tell what it was. It was not powder skin, right? He thought to himself.

The servant burned the wine. Is it the best Moutai? Or is it the New Year that the emperor gave me? He rarely drinks. The Maotai wine that the province paid tribute to him was used to reward the ministers below. He opened the wine pot and the sauce smelled so good, and put it on several people. Zhou Zupei pointed with his hand and said with a smile: "Brother Yuting, I heard that you are proficient in food and drink for a long time. Let's try it. Do you know what it is?"

Sushun was not polite either. He stretched out his chopsticks to pick it up. However, he was slippery and couldn't pick it up at all. "Switch to the spoon."

Take the spoon, scoop up a spoonful, put it in front of you, and Su Shun lowered her head and smelled it, "It seems to be the seafood?"

"This is called meat powder." Zhou Zupei said with a smile, "I want to eat it with sauces."

How can meat flour be considered a delicacy? Su Shun was surprised. When she saw that the plate was filled with ginger powder mixed with sesame oil, she didn't know where the 'meat' was? After dipping it a little and putting it into her mouth, she realized: "Is this the skirt?"

“How does it taste?”

"Well, it's extremely plump!" Su Shun swallowed the meaty skin and scooped another spoonful: "This is the first time I've eaten the skirt like this."

"I have only eaten it two or three times, and there is no trick to make it, but the ingredients are just good."

It turns out that the skirt is a turtle. People in Jiangnan call it a turtle. After grabbing it, slaughter it and washing it, put it in a pot and cook it slightly. Then pick the skirt, use small tweezers to remove a layer of black tweezers, steam it in a cage, mix it with the ingredients, and then serve it on the table. The method is really nothing great, but just a plate of it, you need to use several turtles - a tool of one utensil is worth more than ten days of food for ordinary families, and it seems very precious.

Su Shun bowed and smiled: "People say that they are not officials for three generations, and they don't know how to wear clothes and eat. They are really indecent!"

Yan Jingming was not as particular as them. He was poor since childhood and had many brothers. When he was eating, he was like a hungry wolf rushing to eat. He became an official in the court and waited for Taotie's eating appearance to make many jokes. Therefore, while listening to the two people's words, he never stopped chopsticks, like wind and clouds, and his belly was round. He put down his wine glass and said, "Teacher, can't this be done? So he didn't mention the emperor's holy intention to purify the administration, but for the sake of Lord Su, please ask the teacher to give me some advice?"

Zhou Zupei was stunned, "Why does it have anything to do with Lord Su?"

"The Emperor said that if this matter cannot be done or done well, Lord Su... will stop himself, and it will not be distracted from the emperor's panic when he sees him!"

Zhou Zupei was stunned for a moment and shook his head heavily, "This matter is too difficult, too difficult! The officials in the world are not many good or bad, and the most are those neither good nor bad. If they say that they are greedy and punished with this, they are afraid that everyone will not escape justice. But some people, greedy and ingenuity are greedy and doing things are greedy. If a person like this is dismissed from office just to rule a complaint from the people who have been dealt with, and will be dismissed from office in exchange for a fish-fighting official, wouldn't it hurt the emperor's love for the people?"

"If we can clearly distinguish the details of the charter, what if the officials make mistakes and need to be removed from their posts, what are they?"

"Not even possible. Even though the laws are good, officials must eventually implement them. They may be friends, relatives, or fellow villagers, and in the same year. They should take care of each other. The big ones are said to be small, and the small ones are said to be none. The world is so big, can we still verify them one by one? Or they have hatred and take the opportunity to retaliate, and the small ones are said to be big; they have no mistakes or have very little mistakes, but they end up being dismissed, which is not disappointing?"

Yan Jingming and Su Shun stopped at the same time, their eyebrows frowned, "If you say this, it will be difficult for this matter to proceed?"

Zhou Zupei wanted to nod, but then he thought that this matter was not clear, not only was Sushun so difficult to protect, but he was afraid that his only road to recovery would also be blocked! If he thought about it this way, the emperor ordered Yan Jingming to come to him for advice, which seemed to have a difficult problem for him. If he couldn't solve it, he would not ask everything; if he could solve it, and if he could solve it well, he would be happy and he could also return to the temple!

As soon as he thought of this, he said, "I think about this matter any more. I always have to let the emperor purify the administration and restore the people's clear and peaceful holy heart to be put into practice! Let me... think about it again?"

After seeing off Su Shun and Yan Jingming, Zhou Zupei looked at the sky. It was already early. He wanted to ask someone to use his famous post to invite Zhao Guang. First, it was too late, and second, the emperor's intentions had not been clearly explained. Too many people knew the news and were not good for themselves, so they gave up this idea.

He walked into the study, found the "Law of the Qing Dynasty" and carefully climbed it. He really deserved to be a man of ups and downs in the officialdom for many years, and he had unique achievements in judging the superior intentions. He knew that it was an evil example for the people to sue the official title, but in fact, if he could really operate it, it would be a supreme good deed!

Once the new law is implemented, the cases reported by the people are almost all the neighborhood fights, land sale and other details! This does not mean that there will be no mistakes in criminal cases. However, the Qing Dynasty's criminal cases had a very strict review system from top to bottom, especially theft and murder cases that caused a sensation. The Ministry of Justice always had to transfer all the files of the case to Beijing, carefully sort them out and confirm that there were no omissions before the final judgment could be finalized.

Even so, when the decision is made, there are still four situations. The first is the truth, which is completely without any other factors, and the order is to be executed; the second and third are the delay, which are generally referring to the accomplices in the case, or to investigate the case, and find that they are forced to be pitiful; the last is the survivor, which refers to the criminal being the only son, with an old relative in the family, over 70 years old; or a chastity woman who has been chastity for more than 20 years and only rely on this child. She can submit her to the chastity for the time being.

The disposal is different. Second and third are still in prison for a period of time; the last one is to beat a board and shackle it for two months before it is released. Except for the first one, the other three are equivalent to leaving a glimmer of life for the prisoners.

Because the court has such a realistic style, few local officials dare to take human life aside. For example, the case of Cui Jingnan in Shandong in the second year of Xianfeng, and the case of Wang Shuwen in Hubei Province in the third year of Xianfeng, can only be regarded as a very rare exception. Moreover, judging from the results of these two cases themselves, it can also be seen that the court attaches great importance to the course of criminal titles. Therefore, Zhou Zupei has such confidence.

The so-called meticulous reasons are some civil lawsuits, which are nothing more than marriage disputes, tax comparisons, neighborhood fights, and economic exchanges. Most of the cases are small but very relevant to people's livelihood. However, if such cases are not handled well, it is easy to cause hatred between officials and the people.

If such cases cannot be tried out at the county and government levels, most of them will be tried at any time. The test is the proficient law and the level of public awareness of the county master. If the trial is done well, the two people will go together and leave each other without hurting each other. If they are unfair, one party will be full of resentment and speak rudely - not only hurts the hearts of the people, the master will also lose face.

As for the so-called "reporter of the Imperial Complaints" among the people, Zhou Zupei was not worried about such a love incident. Since he joined the 26th year of Daoguang, he has not had a case of suing the Imperial Complaints, which can be ignored for the time being. However, the "Chen Jujuan lawsuit" caused by these details is very troublesome.

After carefully checking the details of the "Da Qing Dynasty" for a while, Zhou Zupei yawned, rubbed his eyes, closed the volume, blew out the candle, and went back to his room to rest. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations from ***(***.***). ***, your support is my greatest motivation.)
Chapter completed!