Chapter 035: Barbarian Tyrant
After receiving the documents, Sun Shaozong naturally had to report to his supervisor, Governor Liu Chongshan.
Different from the open and covert attacks from Chen Jingli, Liu Chongshan was very law-abiding. He just threw a lot of old cases and files that had not been reviewed before years ago at him, and sent him to the small courtyard exclusively for the criminal judge.
This is normal, after all, she had just suffered a setback a few years ago, and was forced by the situation to bite the bullet and promote Sun Shaozong's reputation. Now that his words of praise for Sun Shaozong are still fresh in her mind, it would be bad to turn against him immediately, right?
Besides, although Liu Chongshan was Sun Shaozong's leader, Sun Shaozong, as his deputy, had the power to check and balance the government. If Liu Chongshan went too far, Sun Shaozong could even impeach Liu Chongshan directly to the court.
Therefore, at least on the surface, he did not dare to be too threatening.
At this point, it seems necessary to explain the general division of labor in Shuntian Prefecture:
When Sun Shaozong watched costume dramas in the past, it seemed that everything was handled by the prefect [only Shuntian Prefecture had a third-rank prefect, the others were fourth-rank prefects], but if that were really the case in reality, the prefect would have died of exhaustion eight hundred times already!
In fact, the third-rank prefect in Shuntian Prefecture was equivalent to the municipal party secretary. Although he was in charge of the overall situation and could intervene in everything in name, he seldom dealt with specific details.
A fourth-rank prefect is equivalent to a mayor, and is similarly responsible for focusing on the big issues and letting go of the small ones, but he is in charge of slightly more detailed matters than the prefect.
The fifth-rank Zhizhong can be compared to the Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission and the President of the court, and has the right to hold court, pronounce sentences, and investigate cases.
These three people were respectfully called the "hall officials" in the government office, that is, officials who could go to court to try cases. The rest of the officials, no matter how much power they held, were not qualified to go to court alone.
There were three sixth-rank Tongpans, who were in charge of money, grain, taxation, salt and iron household registration, and criminal cases.
Sun Shaozong, the criminal judge, had powers equivalent to that of a police chief. He did not have the right to hold trials in court. He could only investigate cases independently or with the assistance of his superiors, and provide investigation results and various inferences.
Although he is not as powerful as the "tangguan", the criminal judge has a privilege that the tangguan does not have, that is, the right to investigate and approve cases.
In other words, no matter whether it is a major case tried by the prefect, the chancellor, or the governor, it must be reviewed and approved by him before it can be sent to the Ministry of Justice for closing.
If Sun Shaozong had any objections to the trial results, he could request a retrial by a different person [usually from the governor to the prefect or the chancellor]. If he was still not satisfied with the results of the retrial, he could submit it to the Ministry of Justice for a decision.
If the Ministry of Justice finally rules that the trial result is unfair, Zhizhong will be in big trouble.
It was for this reason that Liu Chongshan had some concerns about Sun Shaozong.
Below them, there were the experiencers, the examiners, the governors, the instructors, the inspectors, and so on, officials from the seventh rank to the lower ranks, who were either in charge of some specific matters or assisted the three Tongpans in presiding over the routine work.
All in all, although Sun Shaozong could not be said to hold a high position in Shuntian Prefecture, he undoubtedly held great power.
Stop talking nonsense.
Sun Shaozong arrived at the northwest side of the Zhizhong compound, in a small courtyard belonging to the Criminal Court Judge, where a group of lower-level officials were already waiting to meet their new superior.
Because the highest rank among these people was just a Juren, no one dared to act rudely in front of Sun Shaozong - of course, it was hard to say whether they would try to trip him up behind his back.
Among them there was an old acquaintance, who was none other than the horse-faced team leader Zhao Wuwei.
This Zhao Wuwei was in charge of a dozen constables and more than 300 white servants [temporary workers without a regular salary]. In terms of power, he was at least a captain of the criminal police brigade, but in Shuntian Prefecture he was a member of the lowest level. Among several minor officials, he could not even rank at the front and could only stand awkwardly in the very back corner.
After the dozen or so officials came forward one by one to introduce themselves and pay their respects, the leader, Lin Delu, an eighth-rank governor, presented the official seal of the previous magistrate - because the predecessor had died of an acute illness , there was no handover ceremony.
Sun Shaozong carefully put away the official seal and spoke a few official words. Seeing that there were few responses from below, he knew that these people had their own thoughts and estimated that few would approach him, so he simply announced the disbandment.
All the officials immediately scattered like birds and beasts, and Zhao Wuwei also mixed in and left the courtyard.
After just walking around outside and seeing that no one was paying attention, Zhao Wuwei turned back quietly. He hesitated in the yard for a long time before he finally gritted his teeth and walked to the door of the main hall.
"My Lord, I am..."
He had just begun to speak respectfully outside the door when he heard Sun Shaozong's voice from inside: "Is this Zhao Bantou? I've been waiting for you for a long time. Come in and talk."
Zhao Wuwei was stunned when he heard this. The main hall where the Criminal Judge lived had three rooms, namely the living room, study, and bedroom. Sun Shaozong's voice came from the study on the east side. Logically, he could not see the situation outside at all.
Could it be that the magistrate can predict the future?
Otherwise how would he know to turn back!
Thinking of this, Zhao Wuwei did not dare to hesitate any longer, and hurriedly walked into the study room with his shoulders slanted, bent his body, raised his face and asked carefully: "Master, how did you know that I was coming?"
Sun Shaozong sorted out the documents on the desk and smiled without looking up: "I asked someone to find out that you are a close confidant of the previous Tongpan, and the previous Tongpan had some friction with Liu Zhizhong. I'm afraid he won't easily accept your surrender now - otherwise he wouldn't have arranged for you to look for me a few days ago."
At this point, he looked up at Zhao Wuwei's horse face and laughed, "Besides, you were standing in the corner just now, twisting and turning like a monkey. If I can't see that you were hiding something in your heart, wouldn't I be a blind man?"
He is indeed worthy of being called 'the Divine Judge Sun Tongpan'!
Zhao Wuwei admired in his heart, and saw that the official documents on the desk had been sorted into categories in a short time. There was no sign of the confusion of a novice, but rather like an old official who was used to doing this kind of work. His confidence in it increased a bit.
So he knelt down quickly, patted his head on the ground and said: "Master, your discerning eyes are really sharp! I am now helpless and have offended Liu Zhizhong, so I have no choice but to seek shelter under your tutelage. As long as you are willing to take care of me, I will do my best to serve you!"
After saying this, he was kneeling on the ground anxiously waiting for the result, when suddenly an arm as thick as a thigh reached out and pulled him from the ground into the air!
Zhao Wuwei was startled and tried to struggle, but he was met with Sun Shaozong's eagle-like eyes. He was so frightened that half of his body went limp. How could he still struggle?
Sun Shaozong stared at his horse face and smiled warmly: "I don't care whether what you said is sincere or false. Since you want to be my running dog, you'd better not be indecisive!"
"Then Liu Zhizhong can only dismiss you from your post at most. But if you dare to betray me - you say that with my ability to climb over the wall in the middle of the night and kill your entire family, will anyone be able to find out afterwards?"
His smile was like a spring breeze, but his words were like swords, cold and frightening!
Zhao Wuwei had seen many civil servants speak harshly and harshly, but this was the first time he had seen a tyrannical boss who wanted to kill an entire family at will!
Fortunately, he had dealt with many bandits before, so he still had some courage. He hurriedly said in a trembling voice: "Master... Master, please understand. I dare not have any second thoughts!"
"Ha ha……"
Sun Shaozong laughed, gently put him back on the ground, and patted him on the shoulder: "It's just a joke, don't take it so seriously - tell me, what exactly do you want to report to me?"
If you really believe that this is a joke, Zhao Wuwei is a big fool!
But he didn't dare to ask further, and hurriedly explained his purpose: "Master, I heard that the people in the government want to embarrass you at the welcoming banquet!"
