The appointment of the officials was sent after the end of the banquet. Fan Jin participated in the banquet, went to Guozijian to change clothes, performed the food ceremony, and then engraved his name on the stone tablet of Guozijian, and when he returned home after completing all the work, he received the documents from the ministry.

After rewarding the poor man with silver, he took out the documents and looked at them, Fan Jin smiled and said: "Zhang Jiangling knows my thoughts, and he actually arranged for me to go to the Criminal Department." Originally, I thought that I would ask Feng Daban or Mrs. Li for this matter, but I didn't expect that I could do it myself. ”

Zheng Wan ran over with a palace flower on her head and asked, "Brother Fan, did you go to the Criminal Department?" ”

"Yes, the Criminal Department, in charge of the world's criminal name, has the right to inquire about the security of the Jingshi. Although the Five Cities Terracotta Division is not under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Department, the Criminal Department also has its own fast catch, and it can be regarded as the No. 1 ghost in the Beijing Division. Now that I am the City God, I can send these ghosts in the field to check your sister's whereabouts, and by the way, help your brother find out the person who cut him. ”

Fan Jin thought that if she said this, the little girl would be happy, but when Zheng Wan heard this, her eyes were slightly red, and she pulled Fan Jin's arm and said, "No!" I don't allow my eldest brother to do this. ”

"Why? Don't you want to get your sister back? Don't want to avenge your brother? He was cut down so badly that he almost lost his life, so forget it? It's not like your little monkey style. ”

"Of course I want to get my sister back, and I want to avenge my eldest brother, but I don't want to see my other brother have an accident. I know that you are powerful, but the person from the Qingyun Hou family was the commander of the dignified Jinyi Guard, and he was also a big official. I promised to find out my sister's whereabouts, and then she was killed. My eldest brother also found his sister's whereabouts this time, and he was seriously injured, I don't want to see Brother Fan also be cut because of my family's affairs, I would rather not find my sister for the rest of my life, and I don't want to see my eldest brother injured. I'd rather not look for someone than take any more risks with my big brother. If you are not allowed to go, you are not allowed! ”

She hugged Fan Jin's arm coquettishly, and the whole person was about to stick to it, which was a bit too much for a girl of her age. Fortunately, there are no outsiders in the courtyard, Tang Xianzu and Zhou Jin have already gone back to each other, but they are not afraid of missing anything.

Zheng Guotai has not recovered his vitality and can't say much, but he also briefly explained a few words yesterday. The reason why he was cut was because the little kid named Xiao Sanzi informed him that he had seen the eldest sister of the Zheng family.

This child has met the eldest sister of the Zheng family, and he wants to say that he is with Fan Jin, but Zheng Chengxian knows that he can't talk about a deep friendship with Fan Jin, and it is not appropriate to ask him for help in this kind of thing, so let his son do it himself. Zheng Guotai secretly went there to observe, and found that where Sister Zheng was located, it was actually a private house in the outer city, and she didn't know what she was doing there.

In addition to the heartache, I want to save people, but I also know that my strength can't do it. Fortunately, in recent days, I have accumulated a few private houses in my business hands, and I went to Daxing Yamen to send a few public servants to rescue. But I don't know where there was a mistake, when the people arrived at the place, the house had already been empty, and even the little third son, who was in charge of guarding the wind, was gone.

This kind of place where the house is transferred is a mixed place, and the flow of people is also fast, and it is not easy to find out the whereabouts of people as soon as they leave. The yacha took the money to make a trip, but according to this, he was not interested, and when he saw that there was no one, he took the soldiers. Zheng Guotai looked for the third son and couldn't find it, and as soon as he went to Dengshikou to do business, he was knifed again. Now that I think about it, I can naturally speculate that it was the work of those spectators who changed houses, and the strength of the forces behind them and the rampant means are unknown.

As a small family, most of them can't afford to fight with such a splash. Although Zheng Wan is strong, she is not ignorant of what is good or bad, and at this time, she doesn't want Fan to go in and risk her own family. Her statement made Fan Jin feel very useful, and gently groped over her head:

"Little monkey, you must know that your eldest brother is not the waste of the Qingyun Hou family, and he will not be killed by someone so waste. Also, this time I not only want to rescue your sister, but also to wipe out those bad guys and eliminate a big harm for Jingshi. Since I went to the Criminal Department to observe the government, I have to look at something, otherwise it will not be in vain. Just wait for my good news, I promise to reunite your family and take revenge! ”

The six departments of the government are equal to the state of official readiness, and they have their own grades and no dispatches, and they can get a lot of money on a monthly basis, but they have no gray income. When everyone arrived in the department, they were basically in a state of confusion, not knowing where to start or what to do.

Yamen is not a company of later generations, there will not be a predecessor to show you how to do things, everything is on your own. After all, those who can be promoted to the jinshi will not be too bad in their own qualifications, as long as they are willing to work hard, they can get started in a very fast time without anyone to bring them. After all, the emphasis on viewing politics is in one view, no one teaches it, and you should also have the subjective initiative to see and learn, and then find a way to ask.

Compared with ordinary Guan Zheng Jinshi, Fan Jin has an innate advantage, his mentor Hou Shouyong works in the Criminal Department to supervise the work of these people, and Hua Zhengfang has a very good opinion of him. With the face of these two people, Fan Jin's road to politics is many times smoother than others.

The six departments gave the sword hanging over the head of the various departments in the matter, even if it was Yan Qing himself, he didn't want to make too much trouble with these people. Since Fan Jin is a disciple of Hou Shouyong, he will lead him to arrange the work, and Yan Qing will not stop him.

Hou Shouyong was in front and Fan Jin was in the back, and the two walked as they walked:

"If you think about it, each province of the Criminal Department has a Qing official Shi Langzhong, a director, who is responsible for reviewing the criminal cases of the province, and all criminal cases above the prison sentence in the province are consulted to the ministry, and the department will review whether the evidence is credible, whether the laws cited are accurate, and whether the proposed charges and sentences are appropriate. Thinking back about your methods in the name of punishment, you know it as a teacher, and it just so happens that this time I see you show your skills, handle a few cases well, and let the people here know the ability of our Cantonese people. ”

Fan Jin shook his head, "Teacher, the disciple may be about to disappoint you. Now in the cases reviewed by the provincial principals, the disciples do not intend to interfere. ”

Hou Shouyong was not angry because of his attitude, but asked: "You say this, you must already have a target that you want to meddle in, let's hear it?" ”

"The teacher has passed the award, and the disciple may just be afraid of trouble. After all, the disciple is now only a scholar of the government, and he has come here to learn how to do things, and he does not have the right to supervise and investigate. When people give face to their teachers, they are happy to respect me, but if they don't give face, the disciples have no choice. So the best way is not to pretend to be deaf and dumb, get familiar with everyone, and wait until the performance appraisal is taken care of by a teacher, and it is not difficult to get a top test. If a disciple indiscriminately interferes in other people's affairs, it will cause people to be dissatisfied. Besides, the head of the criminal department is in charge of the world's criminal name, and there is no easy case, if one is not managed well, he may even be burned and implicated in the teacher, how dare the disciple mess around? ”

Hou Shouyong shook his head and said: "If you say this to others, you may believe it, with your teacher's understanding of you, this is definitely not your Fan Huisi's words." On that day, you even dared to go to the pirate's lair, and you dared to do the work of recruiting peace, what else did you dare not do? The errand of the criminal department is indeed important, and the stakes are significant, but the more this is the case, the more courageous you will be to make a fuss, and this is your style. The people in Beijing don't know much about you, they only know your ability to read, and the means of making trouble for you, but I'm afraid they don't understand it yet. When they do figure it out, most of them will regret putting you in a place like the Criminal Department, which is inherently easy to find fault. ”

When he said this, there was a faint smile between his eyebrows, Fan Jin knew that the attitude of his teacher was not against doing things for himself, but supportive. This is actually very normal, and the benefits given to the matter are different from those of the criminal department. The Criminal Department's pursuit is to close the case as soon as possible and not make mistakes, after all, every day they are faced with countless case files, and they are collected from the local government, and they do not have much information themselves. If those case files can be handed over to the criminal department, generally speaking, there will be no major flaws, only individual cases have obvious flaws, and you will not be able to see the defects no matter how you look at them.

Although the Ming Dynasty had strict institutional review of the death penalty and a mutual check and balance mechanism such as the Three Law Divisions, it is difficult to say whether it can actually play a role. After all, the real and detailed evidence is below, and what you see at this level is confessions and decisive opinions, and basically will not overturn the existing conclusions. As long as the criminal department approves and agrees according to local opinions, there is generally no fault.

However, if you don't find anything in the work, then the work will not be effective, which is also the innate contradiction between the supervisor and the supervised. Yan Qing is a Qingliu old-timer, although he is not a Kedao, but he has a high status in Kedao, and his own department name is also high, Hou and Hua have to talk to him about the rules of respecting the old on the rivers and lakes, and they can't be presumptuous.

On the contrary, it is Fan Jin, a new science jinshi like him belongs to a newborn calf, and compared with ordinary jinshi, there is a lot of aura behind him. For example, the emperor's special attention, and for example, the relationship with the Zhang family, so he must be bolder than the average person, and he dares to make trouble. Fan Jin certainly wanted to take advantage of this opportunity in the Criminal Department to make some trouble, why didn't Hou Shouyong want to pass this disciple and toss it around? After all, if you want to get ahead in the matter, you need to find a big problem or create a big problem, and put down some famous ministers and veterans in one fell swoop, so that you can stand out.

Hua Zhengfang's attitude is similar to Hou Shouyong's, they have been here for a long time, and the private shortcomings of the Criminal Department are not unseen, including the conclusions of some cases. But it's one thing to think that it is another thing to be able to overturn it, after all, the conclusion of this kind of case by the Criminal Department is a technical task. Outsiders can accuse casually, and if they don't do it, they will be disgraced. At most, the two of them don't let the people in the Criminal Department be greedy too much, and as for the overturning of the conclusions of some cases, even a bureaucrat like Hou Shouyong who was an old official is not able to catch it, let alone Hua Zhengfang.

Fan Jin is recognized by Hou Shouyong as being able to make trouble, and he has been trained in this area with Ling Yunyi, and has an understanding of the case, so when this disciple makes a move, Hou Shouyong has a sense of expectation in his heart and is willing to help. Fan Jin said: "Teacher, don't hide it, what the disciple wants to investigate is an old case, the case has been reported for several years now, the matter is not easy to investigate, and the disciple himself can only slowly grope for it." Whether it can be checked or not, in fact, I am not sure, because I don't intend to involve the teacher and the old man. ”

"What are you talking about? Don't mention the friendship between you and me, just say that you and I will contribute to the country and eliminate harm for the people, is this kind of thing still involved? Besides, your case in the Criminal Department is so easy to investigate, and you don't have a few acquaintances, so I'm afraid you won't be able to find out anything. These officials and officials are even more difficult to deal with than Shangshu Butang, not as easy as you think. Tell me about the teacher, what is the case? ”

Fan Jin said: "What the disciple wants to investigate is the case of Zhou Shichen being killed under the command of Jinyiwei after the Marquis of Qingyun. This case occurred when His Majesty first ascended the throne, and according to the current few years, the file should still be in the Criminal Department, and the disciples want to read it. ”

Hou Shouyong was stunned for a moment, and his brows were slightly locked: "This case? Thinking back, when I entered the Criminal Department for the teacher, I happened to review the old case, and I had heard people talk about this case. At that time, I was about to adjust the volume, but I was stopped by others. The matter involves the royal family, and even more involved several bigwigs, so it is difficult to investigate again. Later, the teacher also learned that the case was indeed a bit strange, but as the years went by, the matter was complicated, and we were afraid that it would not be easy for us to see anything from the file. ”

He paused, then lowered his voice and said: "The presiding judge of the case that day is now the Jiangning Criminal Department Shangshu Weng Rushen, the three same trial officials, Pan Zhiyi has been transferred to Jiujiang as the prefect, Wang Sanxi, Xu Yizhong and the second duke are still serving in the ministry, and they persuaded me not to turn over this case again that day." When the teacher arrived in Beijing, he was just in time for the murderer in the case to be executed in the autumn, and the teacher personally went to see it, and the three murderers were imprisoned in the prison for several years, and the people were actually a little bit angry, and they didn't have to be killed, and they didn't live long. Until they died, the three men were still wronged in the words they repeated repeatedly. ”

Although the words were an understatement, Fan Jin could guess the situation at that time. The three ragged and dish-faced prisoners awaiting execution were repeatedly reciting injustices in a pitiful and miserable situation that even the slightest conscience could not bear. Hou Shouyong has been doing it for many years, and he naturally has a vision in this regard, and he can definitely see that most of the people are wronged, but in fact, not only him, but also the veterans in the criminal department, can also see that there is something strange in this case.

The matter involves the royal family, and there are obvious wrongs, but they do not pursue it, which makes people feel even more suspicious. Hou Shouyong shook his head and said, "The difficulty is here. The temple decreed in the sun to take away the hereditary positions of relatives, and they were all replaced by brocade military positions. Zhou Shichen, the commander of the brocade clothes, is actually the one who attacked the lord. The killing of such a person is not trivial, although the power of the Zhou family is not as good as at the beginning, there are still many people in the clan. Some clan elders came out to investigate, and the urging limit was very tight, and if they couldn't solve the case, they would even have to go to the Golden Palace. You also came out below, so you naturally know how much pressure this kind of ratio has on the yamen, and if you can close the case, you will close the case, and whoever says that there is a problem with their closing of the case at this time, they may throw the responsibility over, and who can find the murderer? You also understand the truth that more things are better than less things, and everyone pretends to be confused. Besides, the chief judge of this matter, Weng Rushen, is a seventeenth year jinshi of Jiajing, which is a veritable old-timer, and Zhang Jiangling has to be polite when he sees him. If such a person decides a case, you want to turn it over for him? It's no wonder that he doesn't fight with you. The most important point is that people are dead. Yamen rules, saving lives is not saving lives, several suspects have already fallen to the ground, what is the point of pursuing this matter? Listen to the teacher's advice, forget it. ”