"Search the house?" Datou was stunned for a moment, then realized, "You want to arrest the doctor from the Ministry of Justice?"
"Yes." Nod.
"This person has sinister intentions and has insulted our ancestors, so we must not let him off lightly," Datou trotted to follow him while admonishing, "But now we don't even know where the Yushitai is, nor how old we are.
We are not familiar with the authority, the number of officials under his command, and the laws and regulations. Moreover, there is a crime for confiscating a house. How to determine his crime? He is a court official from the fifth rank, and we don’t know whether we need to ask for an order to arrest him."
"I didn't say I'd go right away," he said.
Hearing the words, Datou secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could finish what he had never thought of, he immediately said, "Go back and prepare, we will start in the afternoon."
Seeing that his mind had been made up, Da Tou stopped admonishing and quickly left the palace with Yang Kai.
Along the way, I met many officials who had retired from the court and left the palace. The eyes of everyone were surprisingly the same. They were all shocked and confused. No one could understand why he was able to rise to the top, and no one could understand who he belonged to.
.
The three of them didn't know where the imperial censor's desk was, but the other officials knew that when they were about to leave the palace, they called out to a fifth-rank court official wearing a light red official uniform. The latter didn't know why, thinking that this was the newly appointed censor's official.
When he was about to be stabbed, he was so frightened that his face turned pale and he was shaking like chaff. He only said that he sincerely supported him and had never opposed or slandered him in the palace before.
I was quite surprised when I saw the other person's face turned pale with fright. Isn't it true that he was so frightened when he asked for directions?
After being told that he was just asking for directions, the latter, as if he had been granted amnesty, hurriedly introduced himself to his family, saying that his name was Jia Youdao and that he was currently a doctor in the Ministry of Rites. He then showed his hospitality and personally led the way.
Seeing that the others were not very familiar with Chang'an, Jia Youdao explained along the way that although Chang'an is divided into east and west cities, it is also divided into three inner and outer cities. The inner city is the imperial palace, the middle city is commonly known as the imperial city, and the outer city is where common people live.
place.
In addition to the inner government that is responsible for the daily affairs of the palace, only the three core agencies of Zhongshu Province, Menxia Province, and Shangshu Province work in the palace. The other major yamen, including the Six Ministries, are distributed around the imperial city, and there are also a few
Distributed in the outer city, Yushitai is located on the west side of the imperial city, north of the middle between the East City and the West City.
Hearing this person mention the three provinces, he interrupted him and said, "Master Jia, what are these three provinces doing in the palace?"
Jia Youdao knew that he had just entered the official career and was not very familiar with the official system of the imperial court, but he did not expect that he knew almost nothing about the official system. When he heard his question, he hurriedly replied, "My lord, this is a long story. Because the former prime minister
The authority was too heavy, so things like usurping the country often happened. Cao Pi usurped the Han, Sima Yan usurped the Wei, Liu Yu usurped the Jin, Xiao Yan usurped the Qi in the Southern Dynasty, Yang Jian usurped the Zhou in the Northern Dynasty, and so on. In order to prevent the slightest change, the Tang Dynasty
The position of prime minister has never been established, and the powers of the prime minister are shared by Zhongshu Sheng, Menxia Sheng, and Shangshu Sheng."
When Jia Youdao paused for breath, he took the opportunity to ask, "Did the Tang Dynasty never have a prime minister? Wasn't Wei Zheng the prime minister?"
Jia Youdao hurriedly replied, "Master Xiantai doesn't know that the prime minister and the prime minister are not the same thing. The prime minister is a formal official position, in charge of the government, one person is subordinate to ten thousand people. And the prime minister is just a respectful title.
Some important ministers, including the chief officials of the three provinces, can be called prime ministers as long as they share part of the prime minister's powers. The Lord Wei Zheng you are talking about is the chief official of the province, so he can also be called prime minister."
After Jia Youdao finished speaking, he asked again, "Master Jia, these three
Which province has the most power?”
Jia Youdao did not answer the question directly, because he could not answer the question directly, so he could only explain patiently, "The responsibilities of the three provinces are different. Zhongshu Province is in charge of decision-making and is responsible for drafting and issuing the emperor's edicts. Its chief officer
It is Zhongshu Ling. The subordinate province is in charge of deliberation and is responsible for reviewing government orders and refuting corrections and violations. Its chief officer is Shizhong. The Shangshu Province is in charge of execution. All government orders are implemented by the Shangshu Province. Its chief officer is Shangshu Ling."
Worrying that the explanation was not clear enough, Jia Youdao added, "The reason why Master Wei Zheng dared to remonstrate directly was precisely because he was a minister in charge of the province, and it was both his right and his duty to speak out.
Above, Mr. Gao who spoke for you at the last moment is also the Minister of Menxiasheng, and his words represent Menxiasheng. Since Zhongshu Sheng has proposed that you be the censor, and Menxiasheng has no objections, naturally the civil and military officials cannot
Say anything more."
Hearing Jia Youdao's explanation, he suddenly realized, and then asked, "If there is no draft recommendation from the Zhongshu Province, can the Menxia Province select and appoint officials?"
"No," Jia Youdao shook his head and said, "Officials below the fifth rank are selected and recommended by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Officials above the fifth rank must be appointed by the emperor, submitted to the Zhongshu Province for drafting, and then submitted to the Menxia Province for review. The Menxia Province can only object to rejection.
power, no power to appoint officials."
Nodding slowly, it turns out that the court situation is so complicated. At present, Zhongshu Province is under the control of the emperor, while the power of Menxia Province falls into the hands of the eunuchs. As long as they disagree, many of the emperor's decrees cannot be implemented. Likewise
, if the eunuchs want to promote someone, they can't do it without the emperor's consent. The two sides are in a relationship of opposition and coercion to each other.
The situation in the palace was generally understood, and then he asked about the situation at the Yushitai.
Although Jia Youdao was not an official in the Yushitai, he was a doctor in the Ministry of Rites, and he also knew the situation of the Yushitai very well. According to him, although the Yushitai was not as big as the six departments of Hu, Bing, Punishment, Officials, Rites, and Gong,
, but it is also a very large yamen. In addition to the Yushitai itself, there are three courtyards below, namely the Taiyuan, the Dianyuan, and the Chaoyuan. The Taiyuan is responsible for supervising and impeaching hundreds of court officials and hearing major cases. The Dianyuan is responsible for patrolling Kyoto.
It also supervises court rituals, court gatherings, and sacrifices. The Procuratorate mainly supervises and impeaches local officials such as prefectures and counties.
In a nutshell, the officials in the Yushitai are the officials in charge of the officials, and the Yushi doctor is the officials in charge of the officials.
On the surface, the Yushitai is half a level lower than the Liubu. In fact, the Sixth Department is afraid of the Yushitai because they are all under the supervision of the Yushitai. As long as the Yushitai deems it necessary, they can be called to ask questions at any time.
talk.
Yushitai, Dali Temple and the Ministry of Punishment are collectively known as the Three Law Divisions. The three Law Divisions all have the power to arrest, interrogate, and judge, but their powers do not conflict with each other. Dali Temple is mainly responsible for handling some common cases, and may be sentenced to exile or more.
In major cases of punishment, the Ministry of Justice will come forward. Although the Yushitai can also arrest people for trial, its main responsibility is to supervise and impeach officials. Therefore, unless there are some particularly important cases or cases involving officials, the Yushitai will
Taiwan generally won't take action easily.
However, in terms of criminal and prison powers alone, the most powerful among the three judicial departments is Yushitai, because Yushitai has the power of inspection. During the inspection process, if it is found that the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple have made mistakes in the trial, they can directly send it back for retrial or simply
Take it over yourself.
Knowing his scope of authority, he was not far from the Yushitai. Finally, he got in touch with him. Jia Youdao tried his best to make friends and show his goodwill, and kindly reminded him that although the post of Yushitai had been vacant for a long time, there was a person in the Yushitai.
Yushi Zhongcheng, a deputy, performed the duties of the chief official, and this person had previously opposed the emperor's appointment as Yushi Dafu in the palace.
Seeing the Yushitai in front of him, Jia Youdao was unwilling to go any further and bowed to leave.
After saying thank you, Jia Youdao nodded and bowed. Liandao was so honored that he turned around every three steps and bowed after every five steps.
The three of them continued westward and arrived at the gate of Yushitai. Most of the government offices faced south and faced north, and Yushitai was no exception. Yushitai had three gates, one main and two auxiliary. The middle gate was one foot and two feet high.
It is 1.8 feet wide. On the door plaque are the three gilded Chinese characters "Yu Shi Tai". On the left and right sides of the door there is a stone beast of Haechi, which is more than five feet high, symbolizing justice.
Because there are seven steps, no carriages or horses can pass through the gate. There are spacious passages on both sides of the small door for carriages and horses to enter and exit.
There were more than a dozen officers from the headquarters on duty in front of the gate. When they saw several young officials coming in front of the gate, one of them hurriedly stepped forward to salute you, "I have met you sirs. What are you doing here?" .??.
Before he could answer the question, the boss on the side took over the conversation and said, "The two of us are the new censors, and this is the specially appointed censor."
Although the big head is small, his voice is very loud. Hearing this, the official in front of the door hurriedly ran over and saluted the three of them, "I pay my respects to Mr. Xiantai. I have met the two royal censors."
Yushitai is in charge of constitutional law, criminal and prison affairs, so Yushitai is also called Xiantai. As an official in charge of government, Yushitai is also honored as Xiantai.
"Take us for seal verification and handover." Datou said loudly.
Without this official uniform, naturally no one would look down upon this inconspicuous dwarf in front of him, but wearing the official uniform gave him a sense of majesty. Hearing Datou's words, the leader, the captain, hurriedly and respectfully ushered the three of them into the censor's platform.
As a supervising official and the legal yamen responsible for handling prisons, the Yushitai is much larger than the county yamen and the government yamen. It has dozens of branches and hundreds of rooms. It is connected from east to west and connected from north to south. It is such a big area.
Yamen always give people a solemn feeling, especially Yushitai. Although the courtyard is large and the house is very high, the entire Yamen feels very serious and depressing. As an owner, you have this feeling.
It feels like outsiders are even more frightened when they come here.
"Has Zhong Cheng come back?" he asked casually.
"Returning to your lord, Lord Zhongcheng has already returned before you." The captain replied respectfully.
"What's his last name?" he asked again.
"Sir, Mr. Zhongcheng's surname is Feng." the captain replied.
"Where is he now?" asked again.
"Sir, I don't know how humble my position is." The captain shook his head.
He nodded and didn't ask any more questions.
Although the censor's platform is large, it is still small compared to the imperial palace. Soon the three of them were led by the school captain to the censor's hall.
The Censor's Hall is more than two feet high and more than ten feet wide. It is really grand. However, as soon as you come out of the palace, you don't feel that the Censor's Hall is very big. The door of the lobby is ajar, and you can see through the crack in the door.
I saw a lot of people inside, talking loudly about something.
"Sir, there is someone in the hall," the captain said.
Hearing this, he turned around and glanced at the captain.
The school captain felt weak when he saw it, and hurriedly lowered his head in fear, "Can you please go and inform me?"
"No, you go down first." He said coldly.
The captain responded in fear, turned around and retreated.
After the captain left, he said, "They knew we were coming, so they deliberately left the door open and talked loudly in the hall. The captain also got their permission in advance and deliberately did not shout to disturb us, so that we could hear
What did they say inside."
Yang Kai and Da Tou both nodded.
"Since they want us to listen, then let's listen." He said.
"Master Feng, as a court official, you should speak out and give advice, not to private matters, not to personal matters, and not to individuals. Lord Xiantai will never hold grudges, retaliate, suppress or exclude people."
"Yes, Mr. Feng, you are too pessimistic. Over the years, you have fulfilled your duties and worked hard day and night. We have all seen it."
"Master Feng, in a few days it will be Mr. Attendant's birthday. If you still want to take care of it, don't worry about it."
"The Ni family has been hoarding money and making profits over the years. There are many violations of the law. Although we have verified the facts, we have not made it difficult for them."
"What Mr. Jiang said is that Mr. Xiantai is the son-in-law of the Ni family, so he will not let the Ni family's family be disgraced and its reputation be ruined."
"Master Feng, you don't have to worry anymore. We have been working on errands for many years. Master Xiantai is new here and always asks us to help him. He will not hold a grudge and wait for an opportunity to retaliate."
"Master Feng, you are overly worried. Your Majesty is far-sighted and has a keen eye. The person he chooses will never be petty or despicable."
Hearing the loud discussions from everyone in the hall, he raised his head and looked up, "Sir, they knew we were outside the door and they deliberately told us."
He nodded. If everyone didn't know that he was outside the door, they would never speak so loudly, and they would never call him Mr. Xiantai. It is probably polite to call him Huangmao Ruzi.
"They are using both soft and hard tactics, trying to make you respect your identity and avoid the enemy. They not only want to protect themselves, but also want to dampen your spirit." Datou said.
"It doesn't matter what they think, what matters is what I think." He walked towards the Censor's Hall to the north.
The door of the lobby was ajar. Da Tou and Yang Kai took a few steps ahead and pushed open the ajar door. Everyone in the hall turned their heads when they heard the sound, pretending to look in panic.
After crossing the threshold, I entered the lobby first. At this time, there were more than 20 officials gathered in the hall, most of them were minor officials. The only one wearing red court clothes was a middle-aged man sitting in the hall. This man had two small mustaches.
, I have an impression of him. This person had slandered him a lot in the court before.
Just when everyone was hesitating whether they should rush to greet him or not, they walked straight towards Feng Zhongcheng who was sitting in the hall.
Seeing the gloomy expression on his face, Feng Zhongcheng panicked and stood up with his arms raised.
Before the other party could speak, he raised his hand angrily and gave Feng Zhongcheng a resounding slap in the face.
Feng Zhongcheng did not expect that he would beat him in public. He was shocked and stunned on the spot.
"Do you think I can forgive you just by saying goodbye to me?" He said and gave you another slap with his backhand.
"I, I, I..."
Before the other party could finish speaking, he slapped him again, "Is this seat yours? Get out of here..."