Qin Tai returned to his room, and he didn't know if he should be happy in the face of so many waist cards? Or should I feel sad? It seems that the situation in Fujian is even more dangerous than he knows, otherwise so many officials would not have taken up their posts.

What is an "official"? In layman's terms, it is a local parent official who replaces the imperial court and the emperor to manage the place. The first is to advise officials to take care of and discipline the people in their jurisdictions as if they were their own children. The second level means that the common people should listen to and respect the officials as they respect their parents. If any ordinary person does not listen to the officials like a disobedient child who disobeys his parents, the official can teach his own child a lesson and beat the disobedient son hard.

There is an old Chinese saying that "county officials are better than being in charge." It means that the county officials who are not in line with him are not as effective as their direct superiors. However, the real power of each magistrate is relatively large, and the superiors give a certain amount of autonomy and can manage all the affairs of the jurisdiction.

There is also an old Chinese saying that "the sky is high and the emperor is far away." "For some local people, the emperor who is far away in the capital is out of reach, but their magistrates can see it immediately. Therefore, some ordinary people are not afraid of the emperor, and dare to talk about the rights and wrongs of the emperor's family behind their backs. However, there are very few people who openly and secretly discuss local officials at all levels. If it weren't for the lawlessness of this official, the common people would not have gathered together to make irresponsible remarks.

Some local officials have also resorted to various means in order to establish their authority. For example, when going out, according to the rules of the imperial court, the honor guard cannot be used casually. Even the emperor went out on patrol and went to the temple or the altar of heaven to have corresponding etiquette. However, local officials do not pay much attention to this point, as long as officials go out, they must have a guard of honor, and it is majestic to hug them from front to back. This is where some Beijing officials envy local officials. There are officials everywhere in the capital, and officials below the fourth rank cannot be called officials, but can only be called officials. They were always careful in their conduct in the capital, for fear of offending some important officials. At that time, there was a joke that said, "A tile fell in the capital and hit six people, four were officials, one was a relative of the emperor, and one was a eunuch." It can be seen that there were many officials in the capital of the Ming Dynasty at that time, there were many relatives of the emperor and the country, and there were also many eunuchs. It is still a trivial matter for the officials to offend a big official, if they accidentally collide with the eunuch or the brocade guard, and they add fuel to the emperor, the official will be very unlucky.

According to the pre-existing rules, the county officials, that is, the "county lords" in the mouths of the common people, went out on patrol, with a guard of honor in front of them and some officials following them. The so-called guard of honor is composed of one person carrying a gong to open the way, and the four people behind are divided into two teams and each holding a sign to follow. The sign has the words "Quiet", "Avoidance", "The Main Hall of a Certain County", and "Zhengqipin Zhi County". Then there was the official sedan chair carried by four people, followed by the officials with killing sticks and handcuffs in their hands. The magistrate belongs to the seven-grade official, so the gong can only be struck three times at a time, which is also called "knocking three sticks". According to normal etiquette, when the county magistrate left his county office, the official who struck the gong had to shout three times in a row, "The lord is out on patrol", and then the county magistrate came out to get on the sedan chair to travel. The official who strikes the gong every ten steps knocks the gong, and after striking it three times, pauses and shouts, "The lord is out on patrol, and the people avoid it." Then he struck the gong three times.

According to the regulations, the prefect goes out to patrol five times, that is, "knocks five sticks", the Taoist patrol is "knocking seven sticks", the governor goes out to patrol is "knocking eleven sticks", and if the emperor goes out on patrol, it should be "knocking eight eight or sixty-four sticks". If you hear the gong beating incessantly, and the number of points has exceeded 20 times, you don't have to count anymore, it will definitely not be the emperor on patrol, otherwise you will not be able to get close to hear the gong. In this case, there is only one explanation, you have met a "monkey show".

The government is not something that ordinary people can enter, and there is a saying that "the yamen is open to the south, and there is no reason to come in if you have no money." "If people want to sue, they must first find someone to write a pleading. There are clear documents in the imperial court, and people who do not have merit and fame cannot write pleadings. Not only should someone write the pleadings on their behalf, but they should also hire someone to be a lawyer and fight a lawsuit for themselves, so as not to be able to speak and offend officials. This kind of lawyer who relies on the yamen to eat and write pleadings is called "lawyers". They are all some down-and-out talents who have not gone well in the imperial examination, and they cannot become unsuccessful, and they cannot study and farm at home with peace of mind, so they have to be these "lawsuits" without conscience. When the common people come to complain, there must be something urgent at home, but they take advantage of this opportunity to extort and exploit the hard-earned money of the people, no wonder everyone is very disgusted with them. Some conscientious lawyers either can't get along or have been killed by others, so those who stay at the yamen to cook are not good people.

After the lawyer has written the pleadings and the lawyer who is fighting the lawsuit, it is time to officially "beat the drum and voice the grievances". "Drumming and shouting grievances" is a precedent, and it is also a rule that has existed since the Han Dynasty. Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, laid down the world, and Prime Minister Xiao He not only formulated the first relatively complete criminal law, but also set up some trial procedures. Every local official's yamen, as well as the yamen in charge of criminal affairs, will set up a big drum. If the people have grievances, as soon as the "drum of grievances" is sounded, the officials must accept the case and raise the court in their own halls to question the case. This is the official Chinese principle in ancient China, and it is the first step in the trial procedure that "the plaintiff beats the drum and voices grievances".

After the plaintiff himself struck the "drum of grievances", a government official would come to receive the pleadings. At this time, according to the column, the plaintiff should prepare a "filial piety" for the officer, and if he is not "sensible" or gives less, the officer will make things difficult for the plaintiff in every way. At this time, it depends on the lawyer, if they have a good relationship, the lawyer will help the plaintiff say something, if the lawyer does not care, this lawsuit will not be able to continue. The official who accepts the pleadings is not considered to be a formal case, and it needs to wait for the reply of the presiding officer. The county is the county magistrate, the prefect or the same governor in the province, and the provincial envoy or governor, and they nodded and agreed, and the case was officially filed.

After the case is formally filed, the yamen will inform the plaintiff when the court will be arranged, and the plaintiff and defendant, as well as the plaintiff and the defendant's lawyer, will all be present at the court. Of course, this is also the most critical time, it depends on which of the plaintiff and the defendant is smart, if the defendant gives enough "filial piety", not only may he not be guilty, but even turn defeat into victory. If the plaintiff has no evidence, or if he makes something out of nothing, he has given enough "filial piety", and the case can also be determined as an ironclad case. In fact, in the Ming officialdom, few people have justice, and some cases have not been able to get fair judgments for a long time because of the incompetence and greed of officials.

Qin Tai summed up some truths, and the corrupt officials who were sent to the guillotine of the Criminal Department all had real talents and real learning. The so-called "three years of Qing Governor's Mansion, 100,000 snowflakes of silver." "Thousands of miles to be an official, just for food and clothing." "One prefect, three generations of food and clothing." It can be seen that many officials study and become officials just for money. There are corrupt officials in the world, and they will not use honest officials, but only some mediocre officials or just as greedy officials. Most of the officials in the Ming Dynasty were mediocre officials, who could not handle official affairs correctly, could not try and investigate cases, and stepped down after a little corruption. These officials have no real talent and learning, and without the support from above, it is difficult for them to stay in the officialdom for a long time. Most of them became magistrates for one term and then did not do it themselves. The real corrupt officials are all those who have a little real ability in their stomachs, they are not only greedy but also ambitious, and they hope that they will be greedy for a few more years. Knowing that what awaits them is a point of no return, they still go forward and continue to walk on this dead end. Qin Tai saw too many of these officials in the prison of the Criminal Department, although many of them were still afraid of death, but they did not regret it one by one, what they regretted was that they felt that they were greedy and did not take enough.

Qin Tai, the criminal officer who has stepped down, is to put an end to the unjust, false and wrongful cases of the magistrates and return justice to the people. However, this kind of thing seriously damaged the interests and authority of the officials, so the imperial court did not dare to give officials like Qin Tai too much authority. Qin Tai can only report to the central government after the review, and the central government will decide on the handling plan of the case. For some officials who have too much influence, although Qin Tai has cheap authority, but the other party must be an official below the sixth grade, at most not more than a six-grade official like Qin Tai, no matter how big the official Qin Tai not only does not have the right to manage, but also respects them, this is the procedure of officialdom and "seniority". If Qin Tai didn't comply, he wouldn't be able to handle the case anywhere. No, Qin Tai just didn't notice this, so he was removed from his position as the Criminal Division. The biggest reason why Qin Tai was dismissed was not because he was in charge of things that should not be taken care of, nor because he caused the displeasure of Emperor Jiajing, but because of his existence, which caused a large number of officials to be uneasy. These officials include the cabinet elders of the central government, the ministers of ceremonies and supervisors, other Beijing officials, and many local officials in Jiangnan. Hu Zongxian is the strangest person, the first thing that comes to mind when something happens is Qin Tai, and only Qin Tai can help him. But after the matter is over, the first person who wants Qin Tai to die or step down is still him, hoping to remove this thorn in the eye and flesh as soon as possible. Although Hu Zongxian is not a woman, he has a particularly sensitive intuition, although he has not officially met Qin Tai, but he intuitively thinks that Qin Tai will threaten him. Qin Tai seems to be inextricably linked with himself, his wealth comes from Qin Tai, and it will be destroyed by Qin Tai in the future.

For Hu Zongxian, Qin Tai can be regarded as his great benefactor. When Hu Zongxian was fighting on the front line, what he lacked most was white silver and shining gold. On the one hand, the imperial court wanted Hu Zongxian to fight a good war and win the war, but on the other hand, it did not give Hu Zongxian military salaries and military supplies. The soldiers were almost hungry and fighting against the Japanese Invaders, how could this kind of army, which was almost called Hanako, win against the Japanese Invaders? Just when Hu Zongxian was feeling hopeless, Qin Tai informed them that there was a large amount of treasure. Hu Zongxian not only had the capital to fight, but also had a way to bribe high-level officials. This treasure was exchanged for Hu Zongxian's status as the governor of Jiangnan. It stands to reason that Hu Zongxian should be grateful to Qin Tai in his heart, but Hu Zongxian didn't believe Qin Tai as always, thinking that Qin Tai had left a lot of himself. Therefore, he sent his subordinate Li Ding to protect Qin Tai in name, but in fact, he was secretly investigating Qin Tai. As long as Li Ding investigates and punishes Qin Tai's corruption, he will immediately arrest Qin Tai, and kill him on the spot in order to extinguish his mouth. Qin Tai was not corrupt, so Hu Zongxian had another plan, using Li Ding to lure Qin Tai to death, and deliberately stabbed the hornet's nest of Qianqiu Pavilion, which no one dared to move. If it weren't for Qin Tai's big life and everyone's good cooperation, Qin Tai would probably have died several times. Hu Zongxian is really an unrighteous person who will take revenge.