Chapter 604: Zhao Shen's punishment, balance civil and military?
Chapter 604: Zhao Shen’s punishment balances civil and military affairs?
Listening to Wang Quan's "inadvertent" words, Zhao Shen's eyes were filled with murderous intent!
Kill them all?
What a kill!
His sister is in the Shen Mansion. On weekdays, even he can't make his sister unhappy at all. Now, someone actually wants to kill his sister?
"Okay, okay, okay!"
Zhao Shen's stern gaze wandered in the hall!
"Who recommended this new county magistrate?"
Zhao Shen asked word for word.
Standing behind Shi Hao, Wu Yufeng, the Minister of Civil Service, was already dead. Of course, he was the one who pushed Geng Wang forward.
He had just taken up the post of Minister of Civil Affairs, so he naturally needed to promote some of his own people to form his own power.
This desire, talent, learning and wisdom are naturally not very good.
However, he is from the same hometown as me and is extremely respectful to me.
As long as you promote such a person, you will naturally have many benefits in the future.
And this Lienli City is a place rich in oil and water. By asking Geng Wang to go to Lianli City to serve as the county magistrate, it can almost be said that Lienli City is vaguely in his own hands.
However, he did not expect that Geng Wang would do such a shocking thing.
As an official appointed by the imperial court, he secretly colluded with bandits?
Well...actually, this kind of thing is not that unusual.
But now not only was there no success, all the gangsters were trapped in the Shen Mansion, and even he himself was exposed. This is a bad thing.
Looking at Zhao Shen's appearance, although Wu Yufeng didn't know clearly, he could feel that Zhao Shen was extremely angry at this moment.
"I've suffered terribly from this stubbornness!"
Wu Yufeng said with gritted teeth in her heart.
Hearing Zhao Shen's question, Wu Yufeng thought for a moment, then went out to prostrate himself, and said to Zhao Shen in fear, "Your Majesty, this county magistrate Geng Wang was recommended by my ministers.
Because Geng Wangzhong has not been in office for several years since he became a Jinshi.
Seeing that Geng Wang was considered loyal to the emperor, the minister unexpectedly promoted him.
But I didn’t expect that Geng Wang was so ambitious that he not only failed to live up to His Majesty’s high hopes, but also colluded with bandits. This is my fault, and I ask Your Majesty to punish him.”
Wu Yufeng thought, "I understand."
The reason why he was able to become the Minister of Civil Affairs was precisely because he was trusted and valued by Zhao Shen.
Zhao Shen even wanted to use his hand to stir up the political situation.
Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that he is an extremely important chess piece in Zhao Shen's hands.
Although he was still far behind Ma Shao, I thought that Zhao Shen would not directly remove him from the position of Shangshu for such a 'trivial matter'.
After all, although Geng Wang was recommended by him, he also acted according to the 'rules'. This matter was not done by himself, and the Shen family did not seem to have caused much damage!
Since His Majesty is furious, then I should directly confess my guilt and give His Majesty a step down. In this way, wouldn’t it be more beneficial to win the Sacred Heart?
However, Wu Yufeng had no idea how serious this trivial matter in his eyes was in Zhao Shen's heart.
Therefore, the consequences he expected were completely different from his original intentions!
However, Zhao Shen stared at Wu Yufeng for a moment, and then said coldly, "As a magistrate appointed by the imperial court, Geng Wang colluded with bandits to rob Lianli City. This crime is unforgivable! Shi Hao, go there in person and tell me Geng Wang will be interrogated in Lin'an later.
If things continue to be like this, then he will be executed in an extremely late manner to serve as a warning to others!"
As soon as Zhao Shen said this, there was an uproar in the main hall.
All the courtiers looked at Zhao Shen in shock and disbelief!
Execution?
Or Lingchi?
what is happening?
You must know that for nearly two hundred years, the Song Dynasty has always adhered to the principle of sharing the world with the scholar-bureaucrats. It can be said that it has the utmost favor for civil servants, especially those who came from a formal background.
If you look at the Northern Song Dynasty for more than a hundred years, were there any civil servants with any kind of temper?
Those who criticized the emperor, scolded the emperor, were disdainful of the emperor, and disobeyed the emperor's orders. Those people did things that were almost a hundred times more abominable than this. However, during the entire Northern Song Dynasty, almost zero civil servants were directly executed by the emperor.
At most, it is just being demoted to the bottom. Unless it is a serious crime like treason, otherwise, the death penalty has no chance for civil servants.
Now, does His Majesty want to set a precedent?
Or is this thing foreshadowing something?
That's right! This must be because His Majesty wants to change something! During this period of time, headed by Zhang Jun and Shen Tang, although they were also civil servants with Jinshi background, their identities were mainly military generals! These people were obviously regarded as Your Majesty is very trustworthy.
Could it be that the Holy One feels that the current civil servants are too arrogant, so he wants to suppress the civil servants and improve the treatment of military officers to balance the court?
If this is the case, then what happened today is probably just the beginning!
The ministers in the hall had different thoughts. Some frowned and thought about the deep meaning behind it, while others were surprised! Obviously, Zhao Shen's punishment of Geng Wang directly affected everyone's minds.
After a moment of silence, Wu Yufeng, who was extremely horrified in his heart, suddenly reacted. He quickly prostrated himself and said to Zhao Shen in a hurry, "Your Majesty, this is indeed an unforgivable crime, but it should not be delayed. Put to death!"
"Geng Wang is a legitimate scholar. If he is put to death rashly, it will not only make the nobles uneasy, but also frighten the courtiers! Furthermore, it goes against the name of His Majesty's benevolence.
Therefore, I ask your Majesty to think deeply about this, and to demote this stubborn person to the end and never hire him again.
Keep him as a warning to your colleagues..."
After Wu Yufeng finished speaking, a moment later, a court official came out again, "My lord, I second the proposal!"
"My lord, I second the proposal!"
"Your Majesty, please think twice, this punishment is inconsistent with the ancestral system!"
"Your Majesty, you can be demoted, but you must not be put to death to taint your Majesty's name of benevolence and righteousness..."
Wu Yufeng's words were like opening a hole, and the courtiers went out one by one to ask for orders from Zhao Shen!
For these people, the life and death of just one Geng Wang is naturally not in their eyes! Even if hundreds of Geng Wang die, it will not have any impact on them.
However, His Majesty's intention is very clear. How is this punishing Geng Wang?
Rather, he is taking this opportunity to break the shackles of immortality on civil servants and balance the hierarchy between civil and military officials.
Although with Zhao Shen coming to power, because Zhao Shen focused on the Northern Expedition, the status of military commanders improved a lot.
First, Zhang Jun became the privy envoy and ranked among the top officials in the court. Moreover, the promotions of Li Xianzhong, Shao Hongyuan and others under Zhang Jun, and even Xin Qiji, Bian Xi, Shen Tang and others, were all closely related to Zhao Shen.
However, at least for now, military generals still cannot compete with civil servants in terms of quantity and quality.
To put it bluntly, the court is still dominated by civil servants.