Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 269 The Depressed Chief
"Grand Minister of Justice, this is the impeachment letter sent by the Ministry of Public Security today, which involves my Ministry of Justice."
"Hey, how many of them are impeaching me?"
"Well, Grand Secretary, please forgive me. According to the superiors of the Ministry of Public Security, there are at least a hundred impeachments against Grand Secretary today."
"Tsk! Forget it. Go and invite all the officials of the sixth rank and above in this department to hold a meeting in Room 3 of Building A this afternoon to discuss the issue of this impeachment."
"Yes, I obey your command!"
Watching his men leave, Minister of Justice Liu Yuanlin sighed and sat down dejectedly in his chair.
This person was from Renqiu, Northern Zhili, and was a Jinshi in the eighth year of Wanli. Since he entered the government, he has always been known for his integrity and efficiency. Of course, Zhu Youdong always laughed at the "integrity" of the Ming Dynasty scholars. The reason why he was chosen to be the Minister of Justice was mainly because he valued his advantage of high efficiency.
In the historical plane, he died in 1614. However, in this plane, thanks to the advancement of medical technology, Minister Liu is not only alive, but on the contrary, he is in excellent spirits and wants to do things.
He really wants to do something.
From the eighth year of Wanli to now, he has been in office for more than 30 years. Overall, Liu Yuanlin felt that the years when the crown prince was the regent were the most comfortable.
People who are efficient at work hate the laziness and inefficiency of their colleagues, the buck-passing and wrangling among departments, and the indecision of their superiors. After Zhu Youdong reorganized the cabinet, at least most of these problems were solved, if not all.
Therefore, Liu Yuanlin has been working happily in the past few years and has no intention of retiring. The Ministry of Justice has also done a lot of things in the past few years. Among other things, many unjust, false and wrong cases that were previously concealed by various places have emerged in the national household registration census. Minister Liu led the officials of the Ministry of Justice to personally turn over many cases. After the Yanjing Daily reported and praised this, Liu Qingtian didn't know how proud and satisfied he was in his heart.
Unfortunately, the pot came from the sky while the person was sitting at home. The damn heavy rain actually washed out so many Qin bamboo slips, and their contents were mainly related to the Ministry of Justice.
But what annoyed the Ministry of Justice was that, judging from the unearthed Qin bamboo slips, the laws on them completely surpassed the "Great Ming Code" in terms of sophistication and operability.
For example, on the issue of thieves breaking into homes and robbing people. Both the Shuihudi Qin Bamboo Slips and the Ming Dynasty Code clearly stipulate that it is not a crime for the householder to kill such a criminal. However, the Ming Dynasty Code ends here. The Qin Bamboo Slips continue to stipulate: If the householder cannot beat the criminal, and shouts loudly, and the neighbors hear it but do not go out to help, what crime should he be punished for? How to judge after the fact whether it was a criminal breaking into the house to rob, or whether the householder faked the scene after killing someone. And how to tell whether the neighbors really heard the call for help ( based ), etc.
The sophistication of Qin law can be seen from this.
This is normal. The Qin Law was compiled by the Legalists, who advocated the rule of law. The Legalists believed that strict laws and severe punishments were a way to protect the people. Once the people knew the cost of breaking the law was extremely high, they would naturally stop breaking the law.
Similarly, as believers in the theory of human nature being evil, the Legalists also insisted on considering all people as bad people before making laws. Then, they made various laws based on this premise. In this way, if people did not break the law, the law would not harm them. But once people broke the law, various pre-set laws would be waiting there.
When Confucianism was unified, Confucian scholars who believed in "teaching without distinction" came to formulate laws, and they would first teach people, and only consider using the law to punish those who could not be educated. In short, they would try to solve the problem at the moral level as much as possible, and only resort to the law if it really didn't work.
For example, on the issue of children being unfilial, the Ming Dynasty Code stipulates that if an elderly person sues his or her children for being unfilial, the village elders and the head of the village should first mediate and educate them. If the situation is really unresolved, or even if someone dies, then the county magistrate can be consulted. However, the provisions of the Shuihudi Qin Bamboo Slips are: first arrest the children reported by the elderly! Then slowly investigate the situation.
In short, since the Ming Dynasty was already full of hypocrites, the Confucianism of governing the country by morality had long been unpopular among the people and a considerable number of officials. Once this straightforward, clear and highly operational Qin bamboo slip decree came out, it immediately gave people of all walks of life a refreshing feeling.
Then the Ministry of Justice naturally became the target of public criticism!
On December 23 of that year, the Yanjing Daily first published a report on the Shuihudi Qin Bamboo Slips. Within two days, the other five major daily newspapers in the country followed suit. It quickly became a hot topic across the country!
And the censors who had been severely suppressed by Zhu Youdong in recent years suddenly rushed over in a group like sharks that smelled blood!
The content of the impeachment is actually the same: What do you officials in the Ministry of Justice do? Look, the Qin laws more than a thousand years ago are much better than the laws you have made! It is said that His Highness has urged you to revise and revise the Ming Dynasty Law since the day he took office as the Regent. As a result, several years have passed, and you still haven't come up with a plan! What are you doing? If you still occupy such a good position and do nothing, you might as well get out, and we are begging to work in the Ministry of Justice!
…
"Ahem, everyone is here, let's start the meeting now." That afternoon, officials of the Ministry of Justice and above who were of the sixth rank entered the meeting place on time, all of them with solemn expressions.
There is no way. It is common for officials from the other five ministries to be impeached. But the Ministry of Justice? We are in charge of the judiciary. It is normal for a specific official to be impeached if one or two cases go wrong occasionally. But it is the first time that this has happened in the two hundred years since the founding of our dynasty.
So, everyone came to this rally in a very orderly manner.
"Everyone is aware of the current situation, so I won't say much. What I need to know now is how the new Ming Code is progressing. It has been almost two years since His Royal Highness the Crown Prince issued the edict to revise the Ming Code, and you have submitted two versions. What's the result? It's basically the same old story, and even I can't get it to pass, let alone submit it to the Crown Prince or even the Emperor."
"Grand Minister Rong, I have no department under the Ministry of Justice that is specifically responsible for making laws. Therefore, this matter has always been temporarily revised by people from the Autumn Trial Office, the Reduction Office, the Prison Office and other departments. However, after all, they are not specifically responsible for revising laws, so..."
"Ah..." Liu Yuanlin felt a headache when he heard this: Most of the officials in the Ministry of Justice are Jinshi graduates. The eight-part essay is not tested in the Ming Dynasty law, so everyone didn't learn it much when they were in school - almost everyone is illiterate. To be honest, these so-called officials in the Ministry of Justice are not as familiar with and apply the law as those experienced officials!
"Everyone, since I took charge of the Ministry of Justice, my only wish has been to eliminate wrongful convictions. However, after a few years, I have deeply felt that if the laws of the Ming Dynasty are not further refined and clarified, corrupt officials and cunning clerks in the local area will still be able to manipulate them. In this way, even if we work ourselves to death, we will not be able to prevent the endless number of false and wrongful convictions. After the Qin bamboo slips from Shuihudi were discovered, I also studied them carefully. Although the Qin law is indeed a harsh law, there are still many things to learn from it. Therefore, I have decided to revise the laws of the Ming Dynasty based on the principles embodied in the Qin bamboo slips from Shuihudi."
"We ask the Grand Secretary for instructions."
"First, the legal system of our Ming Dynasty should not be case law. Instead, it should be a strict set of legal theory system. However, since most people in our Ming Dynasty are illiterate and do not understand the law, and the imperial examinations in our Ming Dynasty do not test Ming Dynasty laws, when you formulate new laws, you still need to match each law with a case like the Qin bamboo slips found at Shuihudi."
"Yes, I will take your orders."
"Secondly, the most important thing in learning the essence of the laws in the Shuihudi Qin bamboo slips is to consider the laws thoroughly in advance. We must fully consider the various situations after someone violates a certain law, as well as the subsequent developments. Then reflect them in the laws. You are all officials, and it is our . So, after some new laws are issued, I will take the lead and visit ordinary people in Beijing, and even the rural elders in Northern Zhili, to listen to their opinions on the new laws."
"The Grand Secretary has thought it through very carefully. I admire you."
"Yes." Liu Yuanlin nodded and knocked on the table with his knuckles: "Everyone, although tomorrow is New Year's Eve and the entire department will be sealed. But when you go home for the New Year, you must take the time to study the Shuihudi Qin Bamboo Slips. Alas, after learning it, I really feel ashamed!"
"I am deeply ashamed and will continue to study further."
"Third, after the newspaper report, the Qin Law, which originally had a bad reputation, quickly gained the recognition of the people and even some censors. I think the most important thing is that the Qin Law is extremely detailed, so that officials have fewer opportunities to manipulate when judging cases, which makes the Qin Law more fair. I think that such laws and regulations are correct. The detailed and even rigid laws not only protect the people from being wrongly accused, but also protect our officials at all levels who judge cases. Therefore, I think that in the next much as possible. The previous laws that were vague must be made as clear as possible. It is better to make the laws unnatural because of rigidity than to cause false and wrongful convictions because of the ambiguity of the laws!"
"I will follow the orders of the Grand Commander!"
"Well, I will go to Xinghua Palace to meet the Crown Prince later. Everyone, I will give you a promise this time. Next year, that is, in the 44th year of the Wanli reign, I will present a complete new version of the Ming Dynasty Law. Please don't let me commit the crime of deceiving the emperor."
