After hearing the words of Zhao Jun and Jia Changchao, Cao Xiu and the others realized the seriousness of the matter and began to investigate thoroughly almost the same day.

Fan Zhongyan was ordered by Zhao Zhen to preside over the entire investigation.

That night, countless imperial city guards and soldiers were transferred to Fengqiu, took control of the county government and the official government, and then searched door to door under the guidance of local officials.

The next day, in just one day's effort, most of the bandits who intercepted Zhao Jun's convoy were arrested.

It is also a pity that now that the New Year is approaching, most of the river workers who repaired the river have gone back for the New Year. Otherwise, if these people hide in the team of more than 100,000 people, it will be really difficult to find.

Soon after interrogation, it was learned that most of these people were local people who had been hired to repair the river.

Because in recent years, the imperial court has vigorously rectified the Yellow River and repaired the canals, so that more than 400,000 people have gathered along the Yellow River.

In particular, the construction of the canal from Kaifeng to Huazhou, because it is a new canal, requires much more manpower than repairing and reinforcing the previous river.

The Great Song Dynasty treated the people who repaired the river well, not only in charge of food and housing, but also digging ditches for more than 150 wen a day, and the income was relatively high in the local prefectures and counties.

These people made money, and they were bound to spend money in cities along the route such as Fengqiu, Changyuan, Yucheng, and Huazhou, which made a large number of brothels, taverns, gambling houses, and restaurants born in the cities along the line, attracting many people to go.

So what happens when so many people gather in a society of idlers?

Naturally, there are fights and brawls.

And if you want to open brothels, taverns, gambling houses and restaurants, you must have a black and white background.

Therefore, many people began to huddle together to keep warm, forming many forces, large and small, and social instability factors were born.

Among them, the person who robbed Zhao Jun's convoy was the local underworld gang, most of their members were locals of Fengqiu, and a community gang was formed, called the Fengqiu Short Knife Society.

They used to build canals by the river, but later found that the money from the canal was too slow, and they slowly opened the market to fight, bully and dominate the market, blackmail people's husbands, rape women, and rob passing merchants.

Under the leadership of their group leader, the gang became more and more powerful, and gradually became the largest underworld force in Fengqiu, with more than 50 core members and more than 400 total members.

However, after the investigation of the Imperial Historical Observatory and the Imperial City Division, the protective umbrella behind it was not even the county order and the county prince, but the county lieutenant of Fengqiu and many officials below.

But the relevant responsible personnel of the closure of the mound are obviously unlucky.

Although the most important objective factor that they did not perceive was the sudden influx of people in the local area, which caused management difficulties.

It can make the short knife grow rapidly, but not discovering it in time is also a major loss of responsibility.

Therefore, all the local officials who were not involved in the case were pushed to the end, and regardless of whether they had political resources or not, they all went home to plant sweet potatoes. As for the officials involved in the case, they will be punished for the same crime.

In less than five days, more than 400 people were arrested, and the rest of the local underworld forces were also wiped out.

"It's ironic that a mere eight-grade county lieutenant can make such a huge underworld force cover the sky with one hand."

December 28 was the last time I was in office this year.

In the Constitutional Yuan, Zhao Jun is signing a special working document on the special work document launched by the Ministry of Police and the Imperial City Department next year's national anti-gang and evil eradication.

After he signed, Du Yan, Zheng Jian, Fu Bi, Cao Xiu and others sent the investigation report.

After Zhao Jun saw it, he sneered: "Although I personally handled the underworld forces such as the Sanssouci Cave and the Ghost Fan Tower at the foot of the Son of Heaven before, I thought that the scale had been swept away, but I didn't expect that in just a few years, it would start to breed again." ”

As he spoke, he signed the documents in his hand, signaled that all the more than 1,000 people captured by the underworld forces and gangs were executed, and then raised his head to look at Fu Bi and said, "Where did their firearms come from?" ”

"It's stolen."

Fu Bi smiled bitterly: "Didn't the imperial court have a firearms army camp in the northern suburbs of the city before? At that time, the management was not so strict, and instead of being locked in the armory, they were locked in the squad office according to the squad unit, and they stole more than ten muskets and more than 500 rounds of ammunition. ”

"What about those responsible?"

Zhao Jun frowned, he must be responsible for the theft of things, first of all, the camp was not strictly guarded, and he actually let people steal into the barracks. The second is that the gun was stolen and was not reported.

Fu Bi said: "It has been caught, and the soldiers of the three squads reported it to the battalion commander, but the commander was afraid of being responsible, so he concealed it and reported that the firearm was damaged." Originally, the damaged guns were to be returned to the logistics department, but he bribed the quartermaster and hid it. ”

"Hmph, it's not a pity to die for such a person who has deceived his superiors and subordinates and caused such serious consequences!"

Zhao Jun snorted coldly, then thought about it and said: "Since the soldiers have reported it, it is not their responsibility, the defense of the military camp is loose, and the personnel involved will all be dismissed." As for the officers who deceived their superiors and subordinates, they were dealt with by military law. ”

"Yes."

Fu Bi answered.

"The local Imperial City Division turned a blind eye, what use do you want them? Fengqiu County Imperial City Division, from the commander to the guard, all of them were sentenced to prison for dereliction of duty! ”

Zhao Jun said again.

"Yes."

Cao Xiu was busy.

"There is also the imperial history of the Jingbei patrol, which will be demoted by three levels."

"Yes."

"The problem with Gyeonggi Road is that the local counties are directly under the imperial court, and there is no state government to supervise them, and the Kaifeng government cannot control them, so there is a lack of supervision in the middle, which is an oversight on my part with the Constitutional Yuan."

Zhao Jun rubbed his hands on his temples and said: "In the future, I will re-survey the supervision responsibilities of each county on Gyeonggi Road, and make sure that the supervision is in place, so let's go." ”

"Yes."

A few people left the Constitutional Yuan.

Not long after they left, it was the last regular meeting of the Constitutional Yuan this year.

In fact, what needs to be said has basically been said.

This meeting means some trivial matters that come to the end of the year, such as this year's Bianliang event, palace dinners, and welfare of hundreds of officials.

Everyone in the conference room talked about trivial matters, Lu Yijian glanced around, and said, "Do you have anything else to add?" If not, then this year's year-end arrangement is like this, and the meeting should be adjourned. ”

"Wait."

At this time, Zhao Jun suddenly said: "I still have something more important to say. ”

"What?"

Everyone sat around the conference table and turned their heads to look at Zhao Jun suspiciously.

Zhao Jun looked around at everyone, knocked on the table and said, "This matter is about public security and criminal names, and I think the Constitutional Yuan should probably take this issue seriously." ”

"But didn't Hanlong say that the priority of this matter should be lower than the focus of national development?"

Yan Shu wondered: "Now that the Great Song Dynasty is making rapid progress and increasing productivity, the people of the whole country have more food, are well fed and warmly clothed, isn't it more important?" ”

"Yes, it's really the most important thing. But what I mean is that there is no need to rise to the side of the government, and the Constitutional Yuan still has to care about public order and criminal names. ”

Zhao Jun said calmly: "You can't ignore individual feelings because you only take into account the general direction of development. What's more, these individuals are not a small number, and they add up to a huge number, which is an important group of people that we cannot ignore. ”

"The most important thing is that if we don't care about it now, then there will be more similar problems in the future. For example, we will open a large number of iron mines and coal mines next year and enter the era of large-scale steelmaking. Then it is inevitable that there will be iron tyrants, coal tyrants, and real estate monopolizing industries with violence. ”

As he spoke, he suddenly laughed, and turned his head to look at the people on both sides: "I remember that because the septic tank needed to be cleaned and sold to the city for farmers to farm, there has always been the position of a dung picker in ancient times. And some outlaws took control of this industry and became a dung tyrant, and Zhao Gou was the biggest dung tyrant in the Southern Song Dynasty. ”

"Amount"

Everyone looked at each other, thinking that in addition to betraying the country, Yan Gou actually had this hobby?

It's a story for the ages.

"But these things are naturally handled by the local government, and there are so many things in the country, if the Constitutional Yuan participates in everything, then our prime ministers can't do it even if they are divided into eight parts."

Lu Yijian spread his hands and said.

That's the big truth.

Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "You still haven't figured out where the core problem is. ”

"What's the problem?"

"It's that we ignore the people."

"You mean, we're going to listen to the common people?"

Wang Zeng said.

"Not bad."

Zhao Jun nodded: "How far are the people from us, do you think that the people are the county government and the county order?" The county order is above the state ya, is it the state? Zhizhou is above the road, is it a transfer envoy? Wrong. ”

He tapped the table with his index finger and said, "Big mistake! ”

"On weekdays, it is impossible for people to see the county order, and the village chief and township officials may be the biggest officials they have seen in their lives. Although the county order still has the opportunity to contact the state government, it can be separated layer by layer, like a mountain. ”

"You don't know that in our later generations, there are several TV series that have a good response to anti-crime and evil, anti-corruption and clean government, respectively called "Hurricane", "Sweeping Black Storm" and "In the Name of the People".

"In these TV series, the underworld forces in "Hurricane" are just dominating in one city, and the umbrella behind them is just a city hall."

And in "Sweeping the Black Storm", the umbrella behind it is just a vice province. In addition to the provincial level involved in "In the Name of the People", many of the underworld forces below, the umbrella is between the county level and the city level. ”

"You should also know by now that in the administrative planning of the Great Song Dynasty, a state is basically equivalent to a city in our later generations, and a road is basically equivalent to a province in our later generations."

"That is to say, if it corresponds to our Great Song Dynasty, a few officials in the county will completely control the power of life and death of the people in the county. A few officials in the state can support a strong underworld force entrenched in the state capital to exploit, abuse, and harsh the people. ”

"Although after the independence of the public prosecutor's office, it is difficult for officials to come clearly. But if you abuse your power and help the underworld to cover up your crimes, it is easy. ”

"So they just changed the way to oppress the people, why did they say that in ancient times, there was a saying that the county order was broken and the door was destroyed? It is because the voices of the people are covered by them, and their evil deeds are surrounded by layers, so that those above us cannot see what is going on below. ”

"You might say there's a lot of regulation right now."

"But whether it is the Imperial Historical Observatory or the Imperial City Division, there are times when they neglect their duties, do things perfunctory, and even simply go along with them, act in embarrassment, and protect each other."

"We cannot ignore the voice of every people, nor can we hope that all evil will come to me in the same way as the other day."

"Because at that time, it is basically a time when the underworld forces are growing, and I don't know how many innocent people have been violently coerced by them, and they have been humiliated and oppressed."

"In that case, even if the imperial court discovers this act in the future and responds immediately, it can only be regarded as belated justice."

"Therefore, in order to prevent the gradual progression, we must increase supervision, in addition to our own Imperial Historical Observatory, the Imperial City Division and local supervision, we must also provide channels for the people to appeal, as well as special docking personnel. Not only the common people, but also many righteous officials must also give them the right to hear heaven. ”

Zhao Jun finally said: "Although this may not be able to completely solve the problem, at least the people have a place to redress their grievances, and I believe that it can still greatly improve the current dilemma of having no way to redress their grievances." ”

The court of the Great Song Dynasty seems to be very close to the people of the Great Song Dynasty, but in fact it is still too far away.

If the people are bullied by the underworld forces, in the era when transportation is not developed, once the county governor in charge of this aspect does not do anything, or even acts as the backstage of the underworld forces, then the people basically have no right to appeal, and there is no way to ask for help.

Although the Imperial City Division and the Imperial History exist, just like Fengqiu, the Imperial City Division neglected its duties, and the Imperial History Observatory mainly focused on the river repair project, and the people were chaotic as soon as there were many people, and the local county orders and county officials did not do their jobs, so that the underworld forces breeded, and I don't know how many people became victims.

If Zhao Jun hadn't been stopped by these underworld forces on his way to inspect the Yellow River, I'm afraid they wouldn't know how long they would have to stay here and how many people would have been uprooted.

Therefore, Zhao Jun believes that the Constitutional Yuan has neglected the people at the bottom.

In other words, the ancient feudal dynasties basically did not take root among the masses and penetrated into the grassroots people.

For this reason, he must be like later generations, to give the people a channel to speak, to give the people the soil to listen to the heavens, and let these high-ranking prime ministers listen to the voice of the people, so that he can truly govern the people and the country well.

The crowd looked at each other, and the suggestion did not harm them. And this is also what Zhao Jun meant, so they naturally have no reason to object.

So after thinking about it for a while, Yan Shu asked: "Then what kind of department should be set up and what positions should be set up?" ”

"In this way, layer by layer. Let's first set up a national inspection team of the Great Song Dynasty. ”

Zhao Jun thought for a while and said: "In the past, before the squire and Shangshu of various departments were promoted, they all let Sijing be the governor of the government, which is about to become a common practice, so that the same governor of each province has become the chief official, which is definitely not possible." In the future, when the meritorious road officials are promoted, they will be appointed as the leaders of the inspection teams, half a level higher than the transport envoys of the various routes, and they will be stationed in the first road every year to supervise the situation in various places. ”

The official system of the Great Song Dynasty was somewhat similar to that of later generations, but it was also different.

In later generations, it was basically divided into township level, county department level, city department level, senior officials and national level, but in addition to the division of counties, prefectures, roads and imperial courts, there were also various ministerial levels in the middle of the Great Song Dynasty.

To put it simply, in later generations, a province was at the same level as the ministries, and the chief officials of the Great Song Dynasty were not at the same level as the ministries.

For example, under normal circumstances, in addition to the temporarily established Zhengsanpin Jingluo envoys, the other traditional four-division chiefs such as the Transshipment Division, the Pacification Division, the Xingjiao Division, and the Changping Division are all Zhengsipin.

At the level of the central ministries, the chiefs of the thirteen first-level institutions under the Constitutional Yuan are all the second-rank candidates of the Political-Institutional Yuan, and the chiefs of the second-level institutions are the third-grade of ordinary ministries, and only the chiefs of the third-level institutions are at the same level as the chiefs of various provinces.

Therefore, there is a situation where high-ranking officials are not at the same level, such as the level of Xia Zhu, the secretary of the Ministry of Finance, must be much higher than Yang Cha, the transfer of Guangnan West Road.

In the past, the selection of squires in various departments was actually mostly selected among the subordinate institutions of various ministries of the imperial court and the four chief officials of each road, but there is generally a transition in the middle, and this transitional position is Kaifeng, Yingtian, Henan, and Daimyo Sijing Mansion Yin of Zhengsipin.

Zhao Jun is planning to improve the status of Sijing, and promote these Sijing Mansion Yin to Zheng Erpin, so he simply pushes the boat down the river, breaks the transitional convention, and lets these personnel who have been promoted because of their outstanding political achievements go to inspect the place.

In this way, they have become the eyes of the Constitutional Yuan, and they have entered the people instead of the Constitutional Yuan, so that the common people have a channel to appeal to them.

"But if the country is so huge, even if a large number of officials are sent every year, how many problems can be solved?"

Wang Zeng objected.

"So it's better to increase the communication channels between the subordinates and the superiors."

Zhao Jun pondered, and then said: "Just starting next year, it is time to set up a national postal channel, and in the future, all counties, states, and roads will establish post offices." Then set up a whistle-blowing box, establish whistle-blowing institutions at all levels, and jointly supervise with the Imperial City Division and the Imperial Historical Observatory. ”

"Hmm"

Everyone looked at each other, Fan Zhongyan nodded slightly: "I think it's no problem, so that there are multiple channels for the people to report, and we will no longer be like now, like the deaf and blind, unable to see the situation of the people." ”

"In addition to the official oversight agencies, there is also non-governmental supervision, and just next year we will open up private newspapers, allow the media to conduct supervision, and encourage front-line investigative journalists to look for evidence."

Zhao Jun continued: "With such a multifaceted approach, if there are local underworld forces in the future, it will not take so long to be discovered. ”

The underworld forces are like a cancer rooted in the people.

But the Constitutional Yuan is too far away from the people.

Therefore, it is necessary to provide communication channels for the people, so that they can report to the court what underworld forces there are in the people.

In various villages, counties and cities, all kinds of banners against criminal syndicates and evil elements have always reminded people how determined our country is to sweep away organized crime and eliminate evil.

As a good young man in the new era, Zhao Jun naturally can't let go of the increasingly rampant civil underworld forces in the Great Song Dynasty.

So he decided to copy the homework of the afterlife.

Communicate with the people, hoping that the people will tell the court where there are underworld forces and which are underworld elements.

After all, as the people, they are the first to bear the brunt of the harm of the underworld forces.

Who are the underworld forces and who have violently coerced them, no one knows better than the victims.

So this time, he wants to crack down on crime in an all-round way, and he must let the people be in peace and tranquility before the Great Song Dynasty fully enters the era of industrialization!

(End of chapter)