After the enthronement ceremony was completed, Shi Bufan returned to his post to work again, and after the completion of this enthronement ceremony, the court ministers also began to be careful. At this time, not only do you not dare to take it lightly, but you will be very careful. Especially when the emperor has just ascended the throne, he must be careful of the emperor's move, because the so-called three fires for new officials to take office are not only ordinary officials, even if most of the emperors are the same. A new emperor has just taken office, and there is always something to do, and the new official must be careful when he takes office.

Therefore, everyone is also holding their tails and behaving people, especially the people in the palace should be careful, for fear that the emperor's three fires will burn on their heads. When the time comes, once it is burned by the emperor's "three fires", then not only will others not dare to intercede, but will take the initiative to avoid it, for fear of setting themselves on fire.

Therefore, Shi Bufan never said a word of superfluous nonsense these days, nor did he run around, he came to work every morning and left after work in the afternoon, and he definitely didn't dare to stay longer. However, just two days later, the minister of the court was called again by Li Shimin, the new emperor.

"Hey, I don't know who's unlucky this time!" Shi Bufan thought.

However, when everyone came here, Li Shimin said angrily: "Everyone, I have always heard that all departments of the imperial court are greedy, especially all kinds of scribes, and they want to make money through various means. Originally, I didn't believe it, but now I have to believe it! ”

"It seems that this is going to be rectified!" Shi Bufan thought.

In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, especially in this period when the country was just being established, it was often the time when corruption was the fastest. According to the law since ancient times, there are two stages in which a dynasty or a regime is most prone to corruption. One is the heyday of rapid development, and the other is that after the peace of the country has just been laid, this time is the most prone to corruption, because those who fight the country have begun to enjoy wealth and wealth, and then they can live a stable life, without worrying about the enemy asking for their heads at any time. And there are also many people who think that they have worked so hard for so long and should receive some compensation, especially material compensation.

However, it often backfires, and perhaps high-level officials still have titles and various incomes, but middle- and low-level officials do not have knighthood income, and even their salaries are relatively low. Therefore, they feel that they are a hero, but they have not obtained good enough material conditions, and this mentality will definitely easily lead to corruption. And this situation is mainly concentrated on those middle and low-level officials, and this kind of decadence and degeneration after the founding of the country, because it mainly involves middle and low-level officials or even just some scribes, so their names will not be recorded in those history books. In addition, the early days of each dynasty were at their peak, so this kind of corruption at the middle and low levels was buried in history, and later generations paid little attention to it.

However, although they don't pay attention to it, it doesn't mean that they don't, especially those officials at the middle and low levels are not enough to make their mentality unbalanced. In addition, there is no enemy, so it will "die in peace". Therefore, in the later period of Li Yuan's reign, there were already great signs of greed and corruption among middle and low-level officials.

So at this time, Li Shimin began to rectify, perhaps for this reason. Moreover, Li Shimin has just ascended the throne, and it is normal to use some people to rectify the style and establish authority, but the result is that Li Shimin's new official has taken office three times.

Li Shimin continued: "Bring people to me!" ”

Li Shimin asked the palace guards to bring a man with shackles, obviously a criminal. And this Shi Bufan doesn't know where this guy is, but he seems to be a literati and a petty official. And now, what does Li Shimin mean by bringing him over?

"I was very angry, I knew that the scribes of the court were greedy and corrupt, but I didn't expect to return to this point. I had heard of the corruption of the various ministries, so I had them go out of their way to conduct the experiment. I went and sent the goods to the ministries, and then I hoped that they would test whether they were honest or not. As a result, one of my subordinates in the Criminal Department, Ling Shi, actually accepted a bribe, and then helped the people I arranged to do things. I was very angry, so I brought him here, and this is that Lingshi. I must punish severely, and if I don't punish severely, I can't follow the law, so that more people will dare to do this in the future. Li Shimin said.

The Simen is responsible for the inspection of city gates and various gates and roadblocks throughout the country, and it is equivalent to the status of the customs in later generations. Although the criminal department is the main task, there is still management of affairs similar to the pass, auditing, capturing slaves, etc., so it is a department with a wide range of jurisdictions, and the real power of the criminal department is probably not lower than that of the vice premier in later generations. And the departments under the Criminal Department are actually corrupt, so how can people rest assured that they will enforce the law?

And the eldest grandson Wuji hurriedly patted his ass and said: "Your Majesty, the Criminal Department is an important judicial place, if the judicial people can't discipline themselves, then how can they enforce the law fairly?" ”

"Your Majesty, behead!" "That's right, Your Majesty, you should be punished, and you will not be punished!" "Your Majesty, this kind of black sheep must be severely punished, otherwise it will not be enough to correct my Tang law!" ……

Everyone shouted and shouted to kill, but at this time, Shi Bufan came out and said, "Your Majesty, the minister has something to do!" ”

Li Shimin heard that Shi Bufan came out, and took the initiative to answer: "Say!" ”

"Your Majesty, the minister recently discovered that someone in my Tang Dynasty was indiscreet, and he openly bribed the court officials. This person is really a heinous person, and he is asked to be tried by the imperial court. Chen Te came to report and expose such black sheep, this kind of bribery should be severely punished, otherwise how can I correct the dignity of the law of the Tang Dynasty? Shi Bufan said.

Hearing this, Li Shimin was immediately very happy and said, "Okay, who paid the bribe this time?" If you say it, I will punish you severely. Such bribes must be severely punished in order to correct the laws of the Tang Dynasty. Otherwise, if everyone in the world pays bribes, then what else will it be? Everyone, everyone should learn from the school scholar, and take the initiative to stand up and report and expose injustices when they see injustices, and do not cover up or sit idly by, this is the real good minister! Now, when the time is not ordinary, you say who are you going to report and expose? ”

Shi Bufan hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the minister wants to report and expose my Tang Emperor Li Shimin, he asked people to bribe me with the history of the Tang Dynasty Criminal Department, and he was ashamed to show off the bribery in front of everyone. Such bribery is still so arrogant, it should be severely punished in accordance with the law, otherwise how can I correct the law of the Tang Dynasty? Otherwise, how to maintain the dignity of my Datang law, if I don't punish it severely, then my Datang will inevitably become a country, and the world will inevitably be in chaos! Therefore, please ask the emperor to severely punish my Tang Emperor Li Shimin for the crime of bribery! ”

Hearing this, countless people at the scene immediately felt that they were about to faint, what was Shi Bufan's words for? And Li Shimin suddenly felt that he was slapped hard in the face, he was still praising Shi Bufan just now, being able to report and expose it impartially, and encouraging everyone to learn from Shi Bufan. But Shi Bufan actually gave so little face, and directly reported and exposed him as the emperor. Nima, report to the emperor and expose the emperor, and let Li Shimin punish himself for bribery, isn't this too cheating?

What are you playing with, actually letting the emperor punish himself for bribery? And can the emperor afford to pay bribes? The whole world belongs to the emperor, can you use it to bribe your courtiers? Moreover, what the emperor gives to his courtiers is called a reward, not a bribe. But Shi Bufan actually wanted to sue Li Shimin for bribery, sue Li Shimin for bribery in front of Li Shimin, and ask him Li Shimin to punish himself for bribery, is this a joke?

However, Shi Bufan didn't seem to have stopped, and then asked: "May I ask Dai Xuan Shaoqing of Dali Temple, how should bribery be judged in my Datang law?" ”

Dai Xuan, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, took the initiative to answer plainly: "I have the laws of the Tang Dynasty, and anyone who gives bribes will be imprisoned and placed in the fifth class. ”

The so-called prison officer is an official who holds direct power, an official who has a direct interest in the bribe-giver. And the bribe giver can be reduced to a fifth-degree sentence according to the crime of the prison officer.

Shi Bufan continued: "Well, since this Simen Lingshi should be hanged, then according to the crime of reducing the fifth degree, it should be exiled 1,000 miles away, please ask the emperor to sentence me Tang Emperor Li Shimin to the crime of exile of 1,000 li!" ”

Hearing Shi Bufan's words, everyone almost vomited blood. actually wants Li Shimin to be "exiled" a thousand miles away, this is a slap in the face! This is simply a slap in the face, how can the emperor be punished? You must know that since ancient times, in addition to the emperor who has lost the throne, it is impossible for anyone else who has not lost the throne to receive criminal punishment, and the emperor has made a mistake at most to issue a criminal edict, and this kind of guilty edict will not have any criminal elements, but it only means that the emperor knows that he is wrong, and he does not really want to punish the monarch with punishment.

But Shi Bufan was ashamed to say here that he would do something to exile the emperor for a thousand miles, which simply broke through the bottom line of the ancient people's thinking. It is still impossible to punish the emperor criminally. Not to mention that it's just a thousand miles, the nature of this punishment is different! Maybe the emperor will be "punished" by some so-called queen mother or some other noble family member, for example, the young emperor's teacher can punish the emperor with a ruler, but this does not mean punishment. The nature of criminal punishment is completely different, and the political factor in this should not be underestimated. Therefore, the emperor may be beaten, placed under house arrest, or even killed, but he will never be punished by criminal trial, which is the need to maintain the so-called imperial power.

"Your Majesty, this ......" Dai Xuan was also embarrassed.

Dai Xuan thinks that he has always enforced the law impartially, and Dai Zhou has always been the so-called idea of impartial law enforcement, but now in the face of punishing the emperor, he, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, does not dare to mess around. Therefore, at this moment, he was also intimidated, and he did not dare to directly face the order to punish Emperor Li Shimin, and was exiled a thousand miles away.

Li Shimin's face was dark, obviously made angry by Shi Bufan's words.

"I'm just trying to test whether my Tang officials are honest or not, what's wrong with this? I am also to test the integrity of my Tang officials, this is for my Tang court, and for the people of Limin, so what's wrong? Li Shimin asked.

Soon, a lot of people came out and said, "Yes! The emperor is for me to be honest and honest in the Tang Dynasty, in order to find out the black sheep and corrupt people among those court officials, this is normal. So, how can the emperor be convicted of bribery? This is simply nonsense, nonsense! ”

Obviously, someone immediately began to exonerate Li Shimin, and it is impossible for Li Shimin to really be punished for this so-called crime of bribery.

"Yes! The emperor is trying to maintain the paper dignity of my Tang law, so what's wrong with this? Could it be that if we don't use this method to test, then how can we test the morality of my Tang officials, and how can we test whether my Tang officials are honest and honest? ”

Everyone began to exonerate Li Shimin, especially to show that Li Shimin was not breaking the law, but was defending the so-called Datang Law, and then using this practice to defend the Datang Law, which was reasonable and legitimate. Even, they think that Li Shimin's approach is actually reasonable. If Li Shimin does not use wealth to test, how can he prove whether his subordinates are honest and honest, and how can he prove that his subordinate officials are good officials? Therefore, no matter what everyone thinks, it is now necessary to come out to protect the face of Li Shimin, the emperor, especially Li Shimin's use of this method to investigate corrupt officials, which is a good practice.

"Your Majesty, this is really a good way! If this method is used in the future, who will dare to be corrupt and who will dare to do such a thing? In this way, when the officials of the world accept bribes, will anyone dare to accept money casually? Therefore, the emperor is really a Ming monarch, and he uses this method to eliminate corruption. In the future, the officials of my Datang will definitely be honest and honest, and then completely reject the corrupt. When they collect money, they will inevitably consider whether the emperor is deliberately tempting, so that who of them dares to take bribes? Therefore, the minister thinks that this is okay, and he can do more, and then I Datang will definitely completely eliminate corrupt officials and corrupt officials! Someone nodded.

And Li Shimin also nodded, and then said to Shi Bufan: "Shi Bufan, what else do you have to say?" Everyone thinks that this is a good way, who will dare to accept bribes from me in the future, and who will dare to accept bribes casually in the future? In this way, the officials would be warned that they would be afraid to take bribes. And in the future, I may have to try more, this method is very good, and then whoever dares to take a bribe from me in the future will be severely punished! ”

However, Shi Bufan still said strongly: "Your Majesty, you are fishing for law enforcement, I dare not agree!" ”

Shi Bufan knows that Li Shimin is using fishing to enforce the law, Shi Bufan is studying law, a person with a master's degree in law and has passed the judicial examination, can he not know about fishing law enforcement? Even the harm of fishing law enforcement is incomparably huge, even more serious than the crime of the person himself, and the consequences are even unimaginable.

Many people are scolding fishing law enforcement, but Li Shimin is now using fishing law enforcement to investigate corrupt officials. However, it is certain that once Li Shimin uses this method to investigate corrupt officials, the damage suffered by this Datang will be far more terrible than that of some corrupt officials. This fishing law enforcement harm is definitely more serious than that of corrupt officials, so of course it is necessary to stop it. Once Li Shimin uses fishing to enforce the law this time, and then promotes it in the future, the destructive power of fishing law enforcement to this country and society is absolutely incomparable.

Even countries are opposing fishing law enforcement, especially many countries have explicitly banned fishing law enforcement, and even the crime committed by "fishing" can even be exempted from criminal punishment. It is precisely because of this fishing law enforcement that it is banned by various countries.

Of course, Shi Bufan can't let this Li Shimin's fishing law enforcement be promoted, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable, and the people of the whole country will not be able to be peaceful at that time.