"Go back to the palace and pass on the six parts of Jiuqing to meet you!"

Don't care about washing, after Zhang Lingyang finished speaking, he directly put his coat on his body, and rode out of Jingu Garden and hurried towards Luoyang City.

Not long after Zhang Lingyang left, several palace maids entered the room and said to Mrs. Wei: "Long live the lord has returned to the palace, and the slaves and maids are waiting for Mrs. to wash!" ”

"Your Majesty is gone?" Mrs. Wei was stunned for a moment and asked, "But what is the urgent matter in the court?" ”

"This slave doesn't know!" The palace maid headed shook her head and said, and stepped forward to serve Mrs. Wei to change clothes and wash......

Besides, Zhang Lingyang had just returned to the palace on his front foot, and Zhu Kaishan, the new head of the cabinet, who received the news, led the six ministries and Jiuqing and other important ministers of the court to the palace.

"Zheng Yongji's attack, I think all of you Aiqing have already heard about it, I don't know what you think about it?"

Zhu Kaishan took the lead in standing up and replied: "Your Majesty, the old minister thinks that the top priority now is to first summon the world's famous doctors to Nanyang Mansion to treat Zheng Ge Lao, and ensure that Zheng Ge Lao's life is safe."

Then His Majesty transferred Jinyi Wei into Nanyang Mansion to find out which batch of thieves did it, and then wiped out all these bandits.

During this period, it is also necessary to ensure that the lives of Zheng Ge's old family are safe! ”

"What about other people's opinions?" Zhang Lingyang glanced at His Highness's ministers.

"What Elder Zhu Ge said is extremely true, the two most important things at the moment, the opinion is to ensure that Elder Zheng Ge's life is safe, the second is to rescue all Elder Zheng Ge's family, as for other things, they are all small sections, which can be discussed later!" Li Guangtai, the left capital of the Inspectorate, agreed.

"In that case, then I will make an order now!" As he spoke, Zhang Lingyang turned to Xiao Fuzi on the side and ordered: "Xiao Fuzi, immediately draft an order, transfer the famous doctor in Luoyang City to Nanyang Mansion at night, and make sure that Zheng Aiqing's life is safe."

Second, convey my order to the commander of the Jinyi Guard, and ask him to immediately lead people to Nanyang Mansion to investigate the whereabouts of those bandits. ”

"Slaves obey!"

After Xiaofuzi went down, Zhang Lingyang asked, "Ladies and gentlemen, why are bandits so rampant?" Even the important ministers of the court dared to plunder? Do you know why? ”

This ...... "Everyone, you look at me, I look at you, but they can't think of any reason."

Zhang Lingyang was also puzzled.

You must know that the military and political reform of the Great Zhou Dynasty has been going on for several years, and the development in all aspects is very good.

In particular, in terms of agriculture, in addition to the large-scale promotion of three-cropping rice imported from Nanyang in the south of the Yangtze River and the two lakes, the imperial court also vigorously promoted the cultivation of winter wheat in the vast northern regions.

If we add large-scale immigration to the sparsely populated Liaodong, Nanyang and other regions, it can be said that the common people of the entire Great Zhou have completely solved the problem of food and clothing.

So why are there still bandits?

Is the problem of bandits only occurring in one area of Nanyang, or is it widespread in the entire Eighteen Provinces of Great Monday?

Zhang Lingyang couldn't guess.

The ministers couldn't guess either.

Zhou Chang, who was promoted to the secretary of the Criminal Department, came out at this time and said: "Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that the reason why there are bandits is not only because of the inaction of some local officials, but also another very important reason, that is, it is related to the fact that the punishment formulated by the imperial court is too heavy. ”

"Oh? Tell me about it! Zhang Lingyang had a trace of curiosity in his heart.

Zhou Chang said: "Not long after Wei Chen was promoted to the secretary of the Criminal Department, he has been busy these days to check the files archived by the Criminal Department in the past.

According to the files that Wechen has flipped through, in the past few years, the crime rate in various parts of my Great Zhou has surged. The main areas are in the rural areas of the prefectures and counties.

According to the dossier, the crime rate in rural areas began to increase at a rate of 20 percent per year from the ninth year of Tai'an.

Last year's crime rate was more than double that of Tai'an's nine years. ”

"What kind of crimes are they committed?" Zhang Lingyang asked.

"There are many crimes, but the most important of them is the fighting, and in the past year, the number of people who died because of the fighting was as high as 500."

"Fighting?" Zhang Lingyang rolled his eyes and asked, "But is it because of the water source?" ”

"Your Majesty is like a god!" Zhou Chang said, "Every spring and autumn, there will be a large-scale shortage of water in the northern land, so in order to compete for water sources, the fighting in various parts of the north is repeatedly prohibited!"

In addition, the imperial court stipulated that the punishment for death due to armed fighting was very strict, and many people were imprisoned because of armed fighting.

And many of those who were imprisoned for fighting did not return to their hometowns after being released from prison.

Wechen guessed that a large part of these people should have become bandits. ”

After listening to Zhou Chang's words, Zhang Lingyang already had some understanding.

In the past, fights in rural areas also occurred from time to time.

But at that time, the imperial power was not lower than the county, and the rule over the countryside was almost zero.

Therefore, the government is unwilling to take care of many armed fights, and if there are human lives on both sides of the armed fight, most of them choose to go private, so the crime rate is not so much.

But it's not the same now.

As the imperial court began to exercise actual rule over the countryside, the law was implemented accordingly.

And those who are used to being wild, as soon as they are suddenly bound by the law, they naturally feel uncomfortable in every way, and then they are sentenced to prison one by one, and it is strange that the crime rate does not surge.

But Zhang Lingyang finally felt that things were not so simple at all.

Ordinary bandits, at most, rob some past merchants, how dare they rob the important ministers of the court?

Even if they don't understand it, they should understand that robbing the important officials of the court is a felony that will kill you for ten lives.

Moreover, Zhang Lingyang would not believe that when Zheng Yongji was robbed, he did not report his name and official position?

But this gang of bandits still robbed, which shows that the purpose of this gang of bandits is not just to rob homes and houses.

However, no matter what the purpose of this gang of bandits is, Zhang Lingyang has a zero-tolerance attitude towards them.

After thinking about it, Zhang Lingyang said: "The cabinet immediately drafted an edict, and from the date of receipt of the imperial edict, the inspection departments of all provinces, prefectures, prefectures, and counties will take the lead, and the health office will cooperate to carry out a comprehensive anti-bandit work in the territory of the eighteen provinces of the Great Monday.

The time is three years, and after three years, I will see that there must not be a single bandit anywhere in the Great Zhou.

If the inspection departments of the states, prefectures, and counties can't complete the task, they will take off the skin on my body now. ”

"And!" After a pause, Zhang Lingyang continued: "The Ministry of Household allocated two million taels of silver to the Criminal Department as a fund for suppressing bandits.

Tell the inspection departments in various places that for each thief killed, the court will reward him with five taels of silver until the two million taels of silver are used up.

I can't do it, there are more than 400,000 bandits in my Great Zhou.

Also, one more word to the inspection departments in various places, if someone kills the good during the period, I will cut off the heads of all the officials in their entire inspection department, understand? ”

"Wait for you to understand!"