Zheng Ci left this sentence and quickly walked out of the West Flower Hall, while Chen Ying, Ma Jing and others continued to drink tea.

Li Qing is also a smart person, and when he saw this, he hurriedly stood up and said to everyone, "I'll go to the room and get something."

After he finished speaking, he didn't even look back, and left in a hurry, and he didn't know whether he really went to his room in the criminal department to get something, or slipped away.

Everyone was dumbfounded, no one expected that Li Qing would run away!

However, the departure of Zheng Ci and Li Qing did not affect the work of the Three Law Divisions.

Li Qing chased Zheng Ci all the way to a secluded place in the backyard of the mansion, and the two closed the door.

As soon as they met, Li Qing asked, "Why is the ministry absent? Your Majesty, I'm afraid it won't be easy to explain."

Li Qing caught up with Zheng Ci, but Zheng Ci smiled bitterly and said to Li Qing: "Now that things are in trouble, I have to think carefully before I find a secluded place, what are you doing with him."

Li Qing is a typical professional bureaucrat, and all he thinks about is judicial matters, and he hasn't seen through it at this time: "Ministry, it's a big deal to sentence Li Zhigang lightly or directly acquit, what's the trouble?"

"Now it's not just a matter of whether to judge or not, but how to judge."

Zheng Ci frowned and said, "I originally wanted to pinch Li Zhigang, not to mention rubbing the circle and pinching flat, I have to make his life not so easy, after all, His Majesty also meant this before...... But today, when the national teacher appears as a messenger, I always feel that something is wrong."

"What's wrong? Is it because the national teacher is helping Li Zhigang get rid of his crimes?"

"Nope."

Zheng Ci is the best at figuring out the emperor's intentions, and he has been keenly aware of it at this time, I am afraid that after the emperor let the three law divisions unify their opinions, there may be some changes that he does not know, and this kind of change is very likely to be brought by the national teacher.

At the same time, the news of the new Dharma Trial Temple has also been kept strictly confidential, and it has not yet been leaked out at this time.

Zheng Ci brushed his mind and said to Li Qing, "Let me ask you, do you need the national teacher to come in person to get Li Zhigang away from his crimes?

Li Qing was stunned for a moment, and only said, "Naturally, there is no need."

Yes, if it is just to exonerate Li Zhigang, there is no need for Jiang Xinghuo to handle it personally, just say it to Chen Ying and Yu Qian.

"So since the national teacher is here, and he is so well prepared, he must have other purposes, then think about it again, the national teacher didn't come for Li Zhigang's matter, why did he come? What is he going to achieve through Li Zhigang's case?"

Zheng Ciming was asking Li Qing on the face, but he was actually asking himself.

"The loophole of the Da Ming Law!" Li Qing suddenly exclaimed in a low voice.

Li Qing hurriedly said: "Not to mention anything else, just the matter of divorce from his wife is a huge loophole in the "Da Ming Law", although it is an open secret that the princes and nobles and the relatives of *** are now operating business, the son of Wang Yuma, the younger brother of Cao Guogong...... But in any case, this is illegal, once Li Zhigang's case is made public, I am afraid that everyone will do this in the future, and prepare a letter of resignation in their own homes, and then the "Da Ming Law" will be useless."

As I said before, Jiang Xinghuo's way of getting a BUG is to use the matter of divorce from his wife that he really doesn't need to go through the government, as long as there is a letter of divorce, the two are not considered husband and wife, and the relatives of one of them are not violating the "Da Ming Law" if they run a business.

And this kind of thing, as long as one person does it, there will naturally be countless people who will follow suit.

In fact, Jiang Xinghuo is blatantly trampling on the "Da Ming Law" with a holy decree.

What does Jiang Xinghuo want to do?

- Naturally, it is necessary to change the "Great Ming Law"!

Li Qing didn't dare to imagine that if Jiang Xinghuo, a peerless talent who had not been able to see a single one for hundreds of years, devoted all his mind to studying the loopholes of the "Da Ming Law", what would the entire current legal system based on the "Da Ming Law" be broken into.

And the most important thing is that they have nothing to do with Jiang Xinghuo.

Obviously, this is Jiang Xinghuo's counterattack.

Since the Criminal Department does not agree to revise the provisions under the current legal system of the "Daming Law" such as the Salt Law and the Tea Law, Jiang Xinghuo simply used Li Zhigang's case to show that he can put the entire "Da

The ability of the Ming Law system to be broken. Li Qing thought for a while, and then spoke: "The intention of the national teacher's move, I think it is still to promote the revision of the "Da Ming Law", so as to change the salt law."

"Not bad."

Zheng Ci smiled bitterly and said, "This is Xiang Zhuang Dancing Sword, which is intended for Pei Gong!"

Li Zhigang's case is just a sword in Jiang Xinghuo's hand, if the Criminal Department is still unwilling to compromise and refuse to back down, then even if Li Zhigang's case is closed, I am afraid that he will face endless troubles next.

When he thought about this clearly, Zheng Ci couldn't help but have a headache.

Now Zheng Ci is also under great pressure, you know, if he is a squire like Ma Jing and Li Qing, he can naturally put the interests of the Criminal Department first, but he is the secretary of the Criminal Department, he has to figure out and obey the emperor's will, and he has to bear the pressure from the highest level of the empire, so naturally he can't work against the emperor, but he can't completely ignore and sacrifice the interests of his own department, which has caused Zheng Ci to be in a dilemma and forced to slip away.

"What then? Shall we agree? Will you agree right away or will you agree after a stalemate? If so, will some quid pro quo be won? If there is a stalemate, can you explain to those people the difficulties of our criminal department?"

Li Qing's series of questions asked Zheng Ci's scalp was numb.

The so-called "those people" naturally refer to the salt merchants who were huge and ubiquitous in the Ming Dynasty.

The Kaizhong Law has been implemented for so many years, and a bunch of monsters have been raised.

And the Criminal Department is the hardest hit area by the salt merchants, who from top to bottom has not received a gift from the salt merchants, either publicly or privately? This kind of gift is not necessarily material, but may also be for the convenience provided to one's own parents, descendants, villagers, etc., rather than for oneself.

"Let's talk about these things, and close the case in front of me first."

Zheng Ci's heart could be described as a mess, and he raised his hand and rubbed his forehead and said.

"That ministry showed whether Li Zhigang was wronged."

Zheng Ci can escape from the toilet, but Li Qing came out to get things, and he has to go back to continue to participate in the three sessions, at this time, the attitude of the criminal department naturally has to be decided by Zheng Ci, and he will go back to ventilate Ma Jing, who is in charge of the trial instead of Zheng Ci, Li Qing can't make this decision on behalf of Zheng Ci, and he will definitely not carry this pot.

Zheng Ci snorted coldly, "Do you need to say this? Someone must have framed him, if Li Zhigang is really corrupt and bribery, can there be no evidence?"

Looking at Li Qing's eyes, Zheng Ci clutched his stomach and said angrily, "Do you still want me to make a note for you?" Don't worry, just do it, I don't want to see Li Zhigang's villain's appearance, I won't participate in the future, you tell Ma Jing what I mean."

The triage continued.

This time, except for Zheng Ci, everyone is not left behind, but they are all there.

But Ma Jing did not sit in the main seat, but changed positions with Chen Ying.

It stands to reason that he, as Zheng Ci's deputy, is also higher in rank than Chen Ying, so he should sit in the main seat and sit on an equal footing with Chen Ying.

Obviously, after Li Qing and Ma Jing passed the anger, the Criminal Department had reached a compromise on the Li Zhigang case and did not intend to continue to entangle.

And Chen Ying is in charge, in the second half of these three trials, in fact, the result is not turbulent.

Ma Jing's face was a little gloomy.

He originally thought that this trial would be very simple, and he didn't even have to spend too much to force Li Zhigang to give in, and at least give a light sentence, not an innocent sentence. In this way, it can also respond to Jiang Xinghuo's previous pressure.

The reason is very simple, since Jiang Xinghuo is unwilling to give up revising the salt law at the cost of the Criminal Department's acquittal of Li Zhigang, then the Criminal Department naturally wants to convict Li Zhigang within the emperor's tolerance.

It doesn't matter what the crime is, it is also a crime to embezzle money.

But it wasn't until now that Ma Jing realized that he was too naïve in his thinking.

This national teacher is not as gentle as it seems on the surface.

Otherwise, how could he be so quick and ruthless, directly help Li Zhigang get rid of his crimes, and hit the major loophole in "Da Ming Law"?

Before Ma Jing

I heard that the national teacher has excellent wisdom, and he has never been taught, because of the business scope of the Criminal Department, it is indeed rare to have anything to do with Jiang Xinghuo, but now it seems that other colleagues are really right.

Playing intelligence within the rules, even senior bureaucrats who have been engaged in the law for unknown years are powerless to fight back against Jiang Xinghuo.

Because at this time, the "Da Ming Law" was not a weapon in their hands, but a cage that bound them. Thinking of this, Ma Jing couldn't help frowning slightly, and secretly wondered in his heart: Is there really no way at all?

After this thought popped up, Ma Jing suddenly panicked, and a lot of thoughts instantly flooded into his mind, constantly impacting his brain, making him dizzy for a while.

At the same time, Jiang Xinghuo, who was sitting on the side, seemed to be looking at Ma Jing intentionally or unintentionally.

Li Zhigang's case is just the beginning.

Jiang Xinghuo's purpose is to use this case as a typical case for revising the "Da Ming Law".

If the Daming Law is not amended, not only will the relatives of officials do business in the future, they can follow the legal loopholes found by Jiang Xinghuo, but the more troublesome ones are still to come.

Jiang Xinghuo wants to change the law, and no one can stop it. As the documents were handed to the hands of the three officials, Li Zhigang's originally calm heart gradually became excited.

He glanced at Jiang Xinghuo gratefully.

Li Zhigang knew very well that according to the usual degree of disagreement between him and Zheng Ci and those in the Criminal Department, these people must deal with him, and without Jiang Xinghuo's help, he would definitely not be able to successfully pass the test.

And as long as he passes this hurdle and can defeat and dismember Annan with the Ming army, he can immediately take up the post of the political envoy of Jiaozhi, and when the time comes, the emperor will be far away, and it will be a real and genuine earth emperor level enjoyment, how to enjoy the blessings, but it is much more comfortable than spending his mind in the court. What is written on the paper is not exactly the same as before.

And today, this is the second time that the conference has been held, and there must be a result.

In fact, since Li Zhigang could not be convicted through "relatives doing business", they did not know anything about Li Zhigang's direct bribery and abuse of power, so there is not much controversy at the moment.

After one last communication between the three officials, the reading began.

"The core of this case is whether Li Zhigang's relatives are engaged in business, and the evidence submitted by Jin Yiwei shows that although Li Zhigang and his wife divorced their wives because they had no children, they had been together for many years and had a very strong relationship, and they could not bear to abandon his wife and leave him without food and clothing, so renting a house and compensating them with work such as sprinkling and cleaning did not violate the relevant provisions of the Da Ming Law.

In addition, it is true that Li Zhigang's ex-father-in-law was engaged in business and the price of antiques was too high, and after assessment, the price was far from the supermarket, but there was no evidence that he had any connection with Li Zhigang, and he was only ordered not to sell antiques at obviously unreasonable prices on the basis of price stabilization."

After investigation, the three legal departments confirmed that Li Zhigang, the former secretary of the Ministry of Rites, was not suspected of accepting bribes, and there was no evidence of abuse of power during his tenure. The evidence in this case is not sufficient to support the sentencing of Li Zhigang's previous charges, and in view of the significant involvement and extensive impact of this case, the results of the trial of the three legal divisions,

It will be published in Ming Pao Pao."

After the verdict was announced, Jiang Xinghuo put down the thick notes in his hand, and was the first to stand up and say, "Congratulations to Lord Li."

Immediately afterwards, many middle-level officials who participated in the trial of the three divisions also congratulated Li Zhigang.

Looking at the two waiters in the Criminal Department, Jiang Xinghuo also smiled.

Jiang Xinghuo is not worried about what will be too big a difference if he takes over the reform of the salt law.

Because the outcome of the "Li Zhigang case" is destined to become a milestone event in the judicial reform of the Ming Dynasty.

There are many loopholes in the "Daming Law", if the Criminal Department insists on not changing the salt law, then the problems they will face in the future will be much more troublesome than insisting on this matter, after all, there are always loopholes in the law, and it is not allowed to add amendments now, and the Criminal Department takes the ancestral training of Emperor Taizu Gao and insists that everyone cannot change it, so the last one who suffers is still himself.

Therefore, Jiang Xinghuo concluded that after Li Zhigang was released, the criminal department had no cards in his hand, and the initiative was now in his hands.

He can slowly put pressure on the Criminal Department and promote the reform of the judicial system of the Ming Dynasty.

meantime

, Zhu Di's side used the establishment of the trial temple to divide power, and it was obvious that sooner or later the criminal department would give up resistance.

Once the "Da Ming Law" is promoted to become the Tianxian, and the Tianxian can be revised regularly, plus the supplement of regulations and decrees, then he will have a basis for many subsequent reforms.

After all, this is all done in accordance with the "Da Ming Law" system.

If the name is not right, it is not good.

What Jiang Xinghuo has to do now is to correct this "name".

After Li Zhigang was acquitted, the entire city of Nanjing was fried, no one expected that Li Zhigang's case would end so neatly, and well-informed officials knew that this matter was planned by the national teacher from beginning to end. To put it bluntly, this is the temple struggle between the law-changers and the criminal department that insists on the immutable law.

Li Zhigang was involved in the last temple struggle from the beginning, and at best he was just hit as a target, but now he has turned over seriously.

And Jiang Xinghuo's method of breaking the situation seems very strange, but he is smart, and the way he adopts is very special, that is, to directly find the loopholes of the "Da Ming Law", so that many officials have consciously prepared a letter of resignation at home in case of emergency.

The three law divisions are almost bursting their scalps, everyone is doing this, how can "Da Ming Law" be broken in the future.

And that's not even the end of the incident.

Immediately afterwards, the case of Yangzhou prefect Wang Shijie being sued by businessmen was also disclosed.

Wang Shijie was picked up by Jiang Xinghuo from the position of Tongzhi of Changzhou Mansion, and Jiang Xinghuo of course had to fight back.

Moreover, the monster-like major salt merchant groups raised by Kaizhong Law are the driving forces behind the obstruction of the reform of the salt law, whether it is the non-cooperation of the Criminal Department or the prosecution of Wang Shijie, it is all appearance.

And the role of the remnants of the party in this is very small.

Although Mao Dafang is still at large, in the eyes of the high-level of the Ming Empire, he is just a clown who will be caught sooner or later.

Soon, a liquidation of salt merchants began.

At the same time, the political envoys of Huang Huaibu and the local government of Nanzhili received orders to investigate the sale of illicit salt.

I don't know if I don't check, I was shocked when I checked, I have to say that the profit of private salt is really high, which is a bit scary.

Zhu Di was furious after knowing the amount, and immediately ordered the Metropolitan Procuratorate to thoroughly investigate the evidence of the salt merchants involved in smuggling, and at the same time sent Jinyiwei to investigate all the way, and once the officials involved in the case of selling illicit salt were found, they would be arrested immediately!

After this vigorous and resolute action, in less than 10 days, nearly 20 officials of Nan Zhili and Huang Huaibu were arrested, and many of them were the core figures of the Yamen of the Salt Envoy Division.

According to the official system of the Ming Dynasty, the main person in charge of salt administration was the Salt Envoy Division, which was basically in the coastal areas, that is, Lianghuai, Liangzhejiang, Changlu, Hedong, Shandong, and Fujian.

At the same time, in non-coastal areas, that is, inland well salt, the establishment of black salt wells, white salt wells, Anning wells, five wells and other salt section lifting divisions, in Liaodong set up decoction salt lifting division, whether it is the salt section lifting division or the decoction salt lifting division, are a change of name, in essence, the responsibilities are no different from the transfer of salt envoys.

In order to supervise these salt government yamen, the center set up a salt patrol imperial history.

However, judging from the arrested officials of this operation, the salt patrol imperial history is obviously also very corroded, and it is a little unusable.

As for the remaining problematic officials in the salt administration yamen, although they have not been found out for the time being, they have also become frightened birds, and they are panicked for a while.

For salt merchants, it was also a bolt from the blue.

As I said before, the Ming Dynasty's opening of the Chinese legal system, the sale of illicit salt caught by Jinyiwei and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, in fact, the salt was raised from the salt fields of Lianghuai and Zhejiang, and they were all serious official salt, and they were introduced by salt.

The problem is that within the scope of the salt sales area, it is not possible to use so much salt

And it can't be sold at too high a price, so in order to maximize profits, salt merchants must sell these official salts to other places.

And once these official salts leave the scope of sales, they will become private salt.

In the confiscated private salt this time, in fact, the salt that was originally official salt accounted for most of the share, and this money is not only the income of the salt government yamen, but also an important fund for the salt merchants to maintain their own interests.

The salt industry is a profiteering industry, and the sale of private salt is a profiteering in the profiteering, but not everyone can eat it, in the salt industry yamen, unless there are top salt merchants such as Hui merchants and Jin merchants, ordinary salt merchants, if they do not have an absolutely sure relationship on the transportation route, they will not be able to eat it after years of corrosion.

Once they left the nest, their influence dropped directly to the second-rate level, far from being comparable to the Hui merchants, the Jin merchants, and even the Shaanxi merchants and the Guangdong merchants.

After all, the salt quotations distributed every year in the hands of the salt administration yamen also strictly controlled the amount of salt merchants to pick up.

But with the seizure of the salt administration yamen, the salt merchants who were originally in power because of the salt transportation yamen almost completely collapsed, and many salt merchants were trying to escape for a while, and even those old fritters in the officialdom also absconded with money, causing the entire salt administration yamen to wail.

And if the officials are confiscated, it will naturally involve a bunch of moths and scum.

Some of these people made a fortune by participating in the sale of illicit salt, while others made a profit by reselling salt. As soon as the case of the Yanzheng Yamen was reported to Nanjing, it immediately caused a shock in the government and the public.

In addition, there is a trend of expansion immediately. Ji Gang even personally led the team to arrest him, but in just two days, seven or eight officials were arrested, including officials of the fourth and fifth grades.

This move directly shocked the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty, and also frightened the officials of the Criminal Department.

Zheng Ci, the secretary of the Criminal Department, summoned Ma Jing, the left waiter, and Li Qing, the right waiter, to have dinner and discuss together, and the content of the discussion was naturally how to deal with the aftermath.

After all, the Criminal Department is actually the department most involved with the salt merchants, and this operation, all the new faces of the Metropolitan Procuratorate were dispatched, as well as the pro-army Jinyi Guard under the direct command of the emperor, and there was no matter of the Criminal Department at all, which was undoubtedly an extremely abnormal thing.

According to the usual practice, the officials involved in the case must first be escorted back to the prison of the Criminal Department to be convicted, but this year, so many officials of the Yanzheng Yamen were raided and sent directly to the edict of Jinyiwei, which caught the officials of the Criminal Department a little off guard.

"The two Huai have transferred salt to the Yamen, but there are many people involved here, if it is usual, to deal with these people, you must have scruples, but now, alas."

Zheng Ci drank with his head down.

Li Zhigang is fine, he is in trouble.

Although according to His Majesty the Emperor's attitude towards him, he should be able to pass the test smoothly this time, but this kind of apprehension is always uncomfortable.

Ma Jing was sweating a little on his forehead at this time, and he asked cautiously, "Let's do things according to the usual practice, this time it's not a big problem, right?"

Zheng Ci and Li Qing confiscated the money of the salt merchants, and at most collected some unquantifiable interests, but Ma Jing's house could not be cleaned.

Li Qing frowned and said: "Jin Youzi has become the Shaoqing of the Law Trial Temple, Your Majesty obviously wants to separate the legislative power of the "Da Ming Law" from the hands of the Criminal Department, plus the matter of the salt administration, I am afraid that the salt law must be changed."

Zheng Ci put down his wine glass and said coldly: "I have figured it out, the power in the hands of our criminal department is too heavy, and the power is too weak, just like a child carrying gold, can it not be coveted? What's more, it's still the way of others who carry gold."

"What does Shangshu mean?"

Although he asked so, Ma Jing still didn't understand that the legislative power is "gold", and the salt law is "Tao".

But Ma Jing couldn't help but ask, "What should the salt merchant do?"

"If you are too busy to take care of yourself, what do you care about what others do?" Li Qing couldn't help but be a little speechless, "Since the national teacher's goal is them, then let them die, do you want to use your mantis arm as a car and get crushed to death in the way?"

」

"Jin obediently offered his hands and let go of the way of others, isn't it okay to live well?