The dark room made Wang Qiong feel extremely panicked in his heart, and his panic came from the fact that he didn't know what the emperor wanted to do to him.

"I confess, I admit that I received the benefits of Shangshu Zhou of the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing, so I intended to slander His Majesty, so as to transfer Luo Xiang back, but I never had any dealings with Father-in-law Wei, I recommended him because I heard that Father-in-law Wei has always been gentler than Father-in-law Luo, and is willing to do something to make a fortune, I just heard, but I really don't have a disobedient heart!"

Wang Qiong whimpered and cried as he spoke, he didn't know how many pairs of eyes were looking at him opposite, so that even if he was crying in this dark room where he couldn't see his fingers, he could only cover his face and cry, extremely scared.

"Your Majesty has repeatedly and strictly ordered officials at all levels not to accept bribes, why did you, as the head of the cabinet, also make this mistake, you should understand what kind of crime it is to accept bribes!" The person from the East Factory Inspectorate asked.

"I, I couldn't help it, but collecting charcoal and bing has always been something that officials in Beijing often do."

Wang Qiong wanted to say that the people in your East Factory Inspectorate had also accepted bribes, but he knew that saying it directly now would only make the people in the East Factory Inspectorate kill him, so he didn't say it directly.

The officials of the Dongchang Supervision Department are also in a complicated mood at the moment, this kind of officials in Beijing to receive filial piety is indeed a common practice, even among them there are people who have received filial piety, although everyone is not poor, and even there are rich people who rely on investment to open a business, but they are naturally a minority in their positions and do not seek their wealth, most people are greedy, even if the Ming Dynasty has very strict laws on corruption.

Now, if it weren't for Emperor Zhu Houzhao's edict asking them to investigate Wang Qiong, the first assistant of the cabinet, they would really not take the initiative to investigate Wang Qiong, after all, Wang Qiong, the first assistant of the cabinet, is polite to his colleagues and is extremely behaving.

But now, Zhu Houzhao wants to rectify the Chaogang, and has already killed a group of Jinyi guards who are ineffective, violate laws and disciplines, and are not loyal enough, and if their people from the Dongchang Inspectorate Department do not abide by their duties and perform their duties to maintain discipline, they will naturally be killed.

That's why.

When interrogating Wang Qiong, they should not have the slightest partiality.

Wang Qiong's questioning soon ended, and the only thing that could be found guilty was accepting bribes.

In front of the imperial power, Wang Qiong did not dare to hide anything, and explained all her problems very frankly.

Thereupon.

According to the current judicial system of the Ming Dynasty formulated by Zhu Houzhao, Wang Qiong was escorted to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, where the Metropolitan Procuratorate filed a case, and Wang Qiong was dismissed by the Ministry of Clerks, and then tried and convicted by the Criminal Department.

However, according to the law of the Ming Dynasty, those who commit serious cases of corruption and bribery will be shown to the public and then skinned and grassed.

However, such a treatment of a cabinet chief assistant is unacceptable to many officials in the Ming Dynasty.

Although the prince is guilty of the same crime as the common people, the Ming Dynasty is still a society ruled by one person after all.

Neither the scholars nor the general public have a strong sense of the legal system.

Of course, if Zhu Houzhao was not a traverser, but only the emperor of this era, he would not have such a strong sense of the legal system.

"Your Majesty, although Wang Qiong said that he accepted bribes, but in the end it was only a loss of personal morality, for the official and private, if it is really dealt with according to the law of the Ming Dynasty, the head of the owl is shown to the public and the skin of the grass is not too harsh, and Wang Qiong is a veteran of the four dynasties, hard work is high, only because of bribery and was shown to the public, peeling the skin and grass, is it also a little unkind! Therefore, the minister came to ask His Majesty, how to deal with it? ”

Lin Jun, the secretary of the Criminal Department, had to come to Zhu Houzhao at this time, he had no personal feelings for Wang Qiong, but as a Confucian official, he had always believed in leniency and prudence, and he did not think that a cabinet chief assistant who had contributed to the Ming Dynasty was worthy of being shown to the public because of corruption and bribery.

"How does the Da Ming Law stipulate?" Zhu Houzhao only asked.

"Whoever takes bribes and perverts the law shall be punished with a sentence of 70 canes, plus one for every five strokes, up to 80 hangings; Anyone who guards the theft of money, grain, and other goods from the warehouse shall be punished with a sentence of 80 canes to 40 strokes; Officials who embezzle more than sixty taels of silver shall be beheaded and punished with the punishment of skinning."

Lin Jun, the secretary of the Criminal Department, replied.

"The outline of the constitution has long clearly stipulated that all crimes and responsibilities shall be dealt with in accordance with the law, and there shall be no favoritism!"

Zhu Houzhao knew that the officials of the Criminal Department could not punish Wang Qiong, the chief assistant of the cabinet, who was also a civilian official, with the punishment of stripping the head of the cabinet, and in order to cultivate the awareness of the rule of law among Ming officials, he had to emphasize it again now.

"Your Majesty, the law of Da Ming is too strict, and the minister thinks it should be changed!" Lin Jun said.

"The outline of the constitution has stipulated that only the emperor has the power to change the law and even make a new law, that is to say, I have the power to change, but if I want to change it, you Lin Jun can make a suggestion", Zhu Houzhao said with a smile.

Lin Jun, the secretary of the Criminal Department, really didn't dare to make a proposal, because this would be equivalent to him taking the lead in violating the ancestral system.

Zhu Houzhao saw that Lin Jun didn't speak anymore, and fell into a dilemma, and only smiled faintly, he believed that these officials in the court and the central government should probably be aware of the importance of the legal system to a country by now, and they should also realize the importance of legislative power to a country.

"I know that you are worried that you will have a bad reputation for violating the ancestral system, since you are not willing to violate the ancestral system, then you don't have to change the law, but I hope you can understand through this matter whether the ancestral system is important or the law is important!"

Zhu Houzhao said that he believed that Lin Jun and other court officials could gradually understand what legislative power and judicial power were.

"The minister respectfully obeys His Majesty's teachings, and the minister retires!"

Lin Jun is indeed thinking about these now, and he now feels more and more strongly that His Majesty has always been like a good teacher, teaching himself how these officials can correctly understand the Ming Empire and how to rule the Ming Empire, therefore, His Majesty established the constitutional outline, and only then did the legislative power, judicial power, and administrative power be stipulated in the constitutional outline.

However, Lin Jun had to admit that the thoughts of his officials had not completely kept up with His Majesty's thoughts, and his own officials still did not consciously subdivide the power of the ruling empire, and only instinctively believed that the world belonged to the emperor, and the lives and property of his officials and people were determined by His Majesty.

It is precisely because of this that he came to ask Emperor Zhu Houzhao, hoping that Emperor Zhu Houzhao would give Wang Qiong a lighter punishment.

But Emperor Zhu Houzhao's behavior made Lin Jun realize that he was wrong to do so, and the emperor could not give Wang Qiong a lenient punishment, only if the law stipulates whether Wang Qiong should be punished lightly, can he decide whether Wang Qiong should be punished lightly.

Lin Jun had to follow the existing provisions of the law, because Wang Qiong accepted bribes of 30,000 silver dollars, so he sentenced Wang Qiong to show his head to the public and peel the skin and grass!

Suddenly, as soon as this news came out, there was a big uproar in public opinion.

Although the officials were afraid of Zhu Houzhao, they were not afraid of Lin Jun, so they accused Lin Jun one after another, saying that Lin Jun was a personal vendetta.

Yushi Qiao Jin went to the court to impeach Lin Jun for personal vendettas, the punishment was too strict, and asked the imperial court to review Lin Jun's case, and even got the unanimous consent of the Metropolitan Procuratorate from the Imperial History of the Metropolitan to the Imperial History of the Metropolitan Court, and was able to get to Zhu Houzhao's case.

But Zhu Houzhao was very depressed about this, he had stated countless times how to use the supervision power of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, but he didn't expect that there were still many officials in the Metropolitan Procuratorate who still used their supervision power indiscriminately, and he had to directly reprimand it in Qiao Jin's recital:

"Without any evidence to support it, he impeached Lin Jun, the secretary of the Criminal Department, for personal vendetta, in addition, you said that Lin Jun's punishment was too severe, and he Lin Jun's trial of Wang Qiong's crime was not in accordance with the law of the Ming Dynasty, which law must also be pointed out! If you dare to abuse public power like this, I will dismiss you! ”

The imperial examination system of the Ming Dynasty has not been completely banned, and there are still many old-style Confucian scholars who have entered the official career through this road, so the awareness of the rule of law is still very weak, Qiao Jin is such an example, and Zhu Houzhao's reply gave him a lesson, when he received the reply, he was also quite surprised, at first he really wanted to go to the Ming law, but found that Lin Jun was completely in accordance with the law, and there was no punishment too strict, not to mention the personal vendetta of the communiqué, and he could not find evidence in his imperial history.

Zhao Jian, the secretary of Dali Temple, also made a review, and he found that he could not overturn Lin Jun's trial decision, because it was a fact that Wang Qiong had embezzled and accepted bribes of more than 60 taels, and he could not find any reason to reject Lin Jun's trial decision.

But because of this, the civil officials of the empire were deeply aware of the importance of changing the law after this incident.

Originally, they didn't take the law seriously, after all, they couldn't punish the doctor, and if the emperor didn't pursue it, who would pursue it.

But the current emperor is a master who wants to rule the country by law, and if he does not change the unreasonable laws, his officials will not be happy.

But the legislative power is in the hands of the emperor, and how to get the emperor to change the law is another headache for the imperial civil officials.

"Princess, the law of the Ming Dynasty must be changed, otherwise, those who will be beheaded for corruption in the future in this world should not know themselves", at a gathering presided over by Lin Jun, the secretary of the Criminal Department, Zhao Jian, the secretary of Dali Temple, first put forward his own views.

Other civil officials also said yes, but none of them dared to say that they stood up to revise the Da Ming Law.

Because they can contact Lin Jun, the secretary of the Criminal Department, are all high-ranking officials of the imperial court, and the high-ranking officials are very concerned about their black yarn hats, they are afraid that once they propose to change the Daming Law, they will be attacked by the officials below.

However, Zhao Jian, the secretary of Dali Temple, finally saw that no one was willing to come forward, so he still resolutely came forward and said: "Since no one dares to advocate a higher Ming law, then, let Zhao take the initiative!" Among the princes, there are those who are willing to jointly ask His Majesty to change the Da Ming Law. ”

For a time, there were several officials who were willing to sign a joint name.

Zhu Houzhao was really embarrassed after receiving this note, he actually hasn't decided how to exercise his legislative power, after all, the officials of the Ming Dynasty are not used to advising the emperor to exercise his legislative power, but now, Wang Qiong's case has obviously made a cadre of civil officials realize the importance of changing the law, and whether he exercises the legislative power to fulfill the wishes of these civil officials to change the Ming law seems to be a problem.

"Since the law is for the people of the world, whether I exercise the legislative power to change the regulations on the handling of corruption in the Ming Law will be handed over to the Emperor Ming Bao to solicit opinions from the people of the world, whether to change the Ming Law, and punish the corrupt lightly, and at the same time, order the governors of each province to elect the boundaries of scholars, farmers, industry, commerce, and the military, and elect three representatives from all walks of life to enter Beijing and vote to determine whether to change the Ming Law! Note that the taxis here include officials, teachers, and craftsmen. ”

Zhu Houzhao said.

As soon as this decree was made, the entire civilian-bureaucratic clique exploded.

"Solicit opinions from the people of the world, and all provinces elect representatives from all walks of life to vote in Beijing, why is it so troublesome to change the Daming Law! Isn't the legislative power in the hands of the emperor?"

Zhao Jian, the secretary of Dali Temple, said a little unwillingly, now he has gnawed the outline of the constitution several times in order to keep up with the pace of the times, he thought that several of his officials jointly played, and the emperor directly followed the good flow, and then agreed to change it, but he didn't expect that His Majesty the emperor wanted the people of the world to make decisions, which made him very uncomfortable with the Dali Temple.

However, Lin Jun, the secretary of the Criminal Department, didn't see it that way, and only smiled: "Your Majesty's move is a wise move, the world is not the world of Your Majesty alone, and the law is not the rules of the heavenly family, if you want Your Majesty to change the law, Your Majesty naturally cannot use the legislative power to change it without authorization, and naturally you have to ask the opinions of the people of the world!" Otherwise, wouldn't it be easy to cause chaos! If everyone in the world thinks that the crime of embezzlement is too severe, Your Majesty will naturally change it, and what we think is also in line with the general trend of the world! But if the people of the world don't think so, it means that our thinking is very different from that of the people of the world, and then we are afraid that we are not suitable to assist Your Majesty in governing the Ming Dynasty! Because the people's hearts are different from what we think. ”

Zhao Jian also had nothing to say, he also hoped that the people of the world would have the same opinion as himself, and even after thinking for a while, he laughed: "It's also interesting to think about it, the world has the final say in the world, and the greatness of Your Majesty's move seems to have far surpassed that of the Holy Ancestor Mingjun of the past dynasties!" ”

Lin Jun, the secretary of the Criminal Department, just smiled faintly after hearing this: "Your Majesty is a Ming Jun, but the people may not understand, even if you and I are courtiers who may not understand, Your Majesty seems to know hundreds of years earlier than us, as soon as this matter is told to the world, Your Majesty may be able to predict it, but I am afraid that you and I can't predict it." ”

As Lin Jun said, as soon as the proposal of Zhao Jian and other civil officials to change the Da Ming Law was made public by Zhu Houzhao, there was a controversy within the entire civil official group.

After all, the entire civilian-bureaucratic clique is not all in favor of advocating leniency and light punishment, and there are also officials who can't rub sand in their eyes and are even jealous and hateful.

"The minister thinks that it is very inappropriate for Zhao Bing and other officials of Dali Temple to advocate the crime of embezzlement to change the law of Daming, and even have ulterior motives! The rule of officials is the great defense of the country, and it is not easy to forgive those who are corrupt and pervert the law! And the ancestral system cannot be changed! Zhao Bing and others have ill intentions, intending to reduce the punishment for corrupt officials, even if they are not corrupt officials, they are also stupid officials, and they should be removed from their official positions! ”

"The minister also thinks that Zhao Bing, the secretary of Dali Temple, is not worthy of being in charge of the three law divisions, and intends to reduce the punishment for corrupt officials, and he intends to harm my Ming Gang discipline! Death to my society! ”

For a time, many middle- and lower-level young officials in the imperial court played to impeach Zhao Jian and other officials who advocated changing the law, and scolded Zhao Jian and other officials for being incomplete.

Zhu Houzhao was only amused by this, he had to admit that the officials of the Ming Dynasty were sometimes really cute, some wanted to change the law to reduce the punishment, some were not allowed to change the law, and some asked to change the law to increase the punishment, which is the same as the history of the Chongzhen Dynasty Chen Xinjia to discuss peace, hundreds of officials knew that the discussion was a good policy to impeach Chen Xinjia, and now many officials also know that what Zhao Jian did is what most officials think, but there are also many officials who want to oppose it, sometimes they oppose it for the sake of opposition, Sometimes it's just too young to have a lot of enthusiasm.

But because of this, now Zhao Jian is directly angry: "Suggesting that the law be changed is not just for me, Zhao himself!" How did I become a corrupt official! ”

Zhu Houzhao did not have time to care about the disputes between these civil officials, in his opinion, if the people of the whole world felt that they could forgive the officials who took bribes, or even punish them lightly, he, the emperor, could also obey the wishes of the people of the world, but obviously this is impossible, and some crimes are destined to not be forgiven by the upright people of this world.

Now, Wang Qiong, who is sitting in prison waiting for death, has understood this truth, and if he wants him to say why he still accepts bribes when he knows that the law punishes corruption and bribery so harshly, and when he is already rich, he doesn't know why, he can only admit that he is not greedy enough.

Wang Qiong now only longs for Zhu Houzhao to use his power as emperor to violate the law and forgive himself, so when Zhu Houzhao came to see him, he only kowtowed to Zhu Houzhao and begged for mercy: "Your Majesty! The old minister knows that he is guilty, but the old minister is really loyal to you, and the old minister doesn't want to die! Please, Your Majesty! ”

"Wang Qiong, if I don't spare you, the law can't spare you, you said that you participated in the Infrastructure Construction Bureau and earned a lot of money, why do you still want to accept bribes from below, I want to excuse you, but once I exonerate you, won't other officials commit crimes again in the future, and I have to excuse them, so where is the majesty of my Ming law?"

Zhu Houzhao said.

When Wang Qiong saw Zhu Houzhao say this, she had no choice but to stop her tears and bow to Zhu Houzhao: "The old minister understands!" There is no forgivable reason for the old minister to violate the law of the country first, and there is also disloyalty in the old minister who deceived His Majesty, and the old minister only wishes to be His Majesty's minister again in the next life! Be an innocent minister! ”

"It's good if you can think like this, don't worry, I will remember your merits, after you die, there will still be nicknames and posthumous seals, these are what you deserve, after all, you have also contributed to the reform of the Ming Dynasty's finances!"

Zhu Houzhao left the prison as he spoke, sometimes he has been with some close ministers for a long time, and he does have some feelings, at this moment seeing Wang Qiong so lonely, he is also a little unbearable, and he also wants to open the net, after all, as the emperor, he doesn't seem to hate the corruption of the officials under him so much.

But Zhu Houzhao knew that he couldn't do this, he couldn't be a virgin, he couldn't have the kindness of a woman, he had to keep his sanity, and the law could only be modified but not violated! You have to do it! If he forgives Wang Qiong for personal gain, he will only let the majesty of the law be destroyed, and he will only make other courtiers who have a good relationship with him unscrupulous.

Sometimes, as an emperor, you have to be ruthless.

Getting rid of Wang Qiong, the first assistant of the cabinet, is not the result that Zhu Houzhao wants emotionally, because Wang Qiong is not useless except for being clever and fooling himself, and he will even greet himself and pay attention to the way he gets along with himself, which makes himself more like the emperor than some so-called direct ministers.

But rationally, Zhu Houzhao knew that he had to get rid of Wang Qiong! The position of the head of the cabinet cannot be done by any dissenting people, at least not with dissenting intentions towards oneself, and cannot take the lead in violating the law, otherwise, the officials below will be even more unscrupulous.

"Your Majesty, there is news from the Criminal Department that Wang Qiong has just bought off the jailer to commit suicide by taking medicine in prison!"

At this time, Qi Jingtong came to Zhu Houzhao to reply.

The pen in Zhu Houzhao's hand couldn't help but stop, and only after a long time did he say: "It's okay, so as not to suffer the pain of a broken head!" ”

Saying that, Zhu Houzhao instructed Gu Dayong again: "With the cabinet, the decree will be issued to the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Rites will be pursued according to the regulations, and at the same time, the Ministry of Edicts will be chased and sealed according to the regulations!" ”

Gu Dayong replied, "Yes!" "I also secretly sighed that Your Majesty's merits and demerits for a person are also clearly distinguished, Wang Qiong's faults let the criminal department punish the crime according to the law, and Wang Qiong's merits also let the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Officials reward them."

……

Yang Yiqing also knew about Wang Qiong's death at this time, and he was frightened when his hair was almost white overnight, after all, as a cabinet scholar, he also received filial piety from the officials below.

Yang Yiqing knew that even if the bribery of the first assistant of the cabinet was discovered, he would not be forgiven, and he was afraid that the third assistant of the cabinet would not be forgiven, and the law was ruthless!

Thereupon.

Yang Yiqing decided to turn himself in, because Zhu Houzhao had established new regulations in the case regulations (a supplement to the Da Ming Law, which existed during the Hongzhi period in history), and those who surrendered would be given a lighter punishment.

Zhu Houzhao is quite willing to see Yang Yiqing turn himself in, after all, he doesn't want to execute these so-called capable ministers for the crime of corruption and bribery.

For the entire Ming officialdom, the surrender of an official is the first case, and it has also caused a lot of sensation.

However, the Metropolitan Procuratorate also approved Yang Yiqing's application for voluntary surrender and filed the case, and the Criminal Department also sentenced Yang Yiqing to 70 canes for voluntary surrender and leniency in accordance with the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

Although Yang Yiqing said that he had passed the sixtieth birthday, but fortunately, his muscles and bones were strong, and he was taken care of by the officials of the Criminal Department, although he was punished with a cane for seventy, he was not beaten to death, but he could only travel in a wheelchair from then on.

But Yang Yiqing also made a good start in doing so, and since then, once the officials were impeached by the imperial history for embezzlement of ink, many timid officials took the initiative to turn themselves in and hand over the money for corruption, but there were also luck waiting for the incident to regret it.

Yang Yiqing's position as a cabinet scholar was also dismissed, after all, cabinet ministers cannot be allowed to have the slightest stain.

For a time, the two cabinet ministers fell, which was also a sensational event in the Ming Dynasty.

But Zhu Houzhao didn't want to end with this, he wanted to purge the dynasty in all directions, and Zhu Houzhao also knew that the real imperial moths had not been dug up yet, and he dared to directly instigate the inspector to punish the four-rank officials without authorization in the south of the Yangtze River, and dared to collude with the eunuchs in the border town to mix gunpowder with mud and sand, which obviously showed that there were still many moths that corroded the empire in secret.

"I have long said that the imperial history of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, as a constitutional official, should not abuse his power just because he has the power of supervision, this Nanzhili patrol according to the imperial history Hu Shiyan deputy envoy and Songjiang prefect Xiong Xun perverted the law for personal gain, greedy for ink and dereliction of duty, then, where is the evidence of his partiality and malfeasance!"

Zhu Houzhao called the Imperial Palace, the left capital of the Imperial Palace, and Jin Xianmin and directly reprimanded him.

"Then according to Your Majesty's intentions, is it to be dismissed?" Jin Xianmin asked.

"What do you say?" Zhu Houzhao asked back angrily.

"The minister understands, the minister will go to approve it, and let him Hu Shi come up with empirical evidence!" Jin Xianmin hurriedly replied.

Zhu Houzhao nodded, and called Ma Yongcheng over again: "The Dongchang Inspectorate sent a competent person to Nanzhili, let this Hu waiter explain the problem, and ask him who gave him the power, so that he felt that he was directly lynched against the court officials, and he was directly suspended, does he want to be the emperor of Nanzhili, and give Nanzhili's official appointment and dismissal power, trial power, and supervision power!"

I have already issued an edict, and the provincial governors only have the right to supervise according to the imperial history, and the power of judgment is in the hands of the inspectors, and the power to appoint officials is in the hands of the governors. ”