"Your Majesty, I have heard that the Ministry of Punishment has sent a memorial to the Minister of Punishment to sentence him to death, and the Queen of Autumn has asked about the execution. Your Majesty has not yet approved it back to the Ministry of Punishment?"
"Indeed. Dong Qing, you suddenly mentioned this matter. Why do you want to tell me something?"
"Your Majesty, this is about corrupt officials. I would like to ask your Majesty to spare those corrupt officials from the death penalty." Dong Lun saluted and said: "On the 18th of the first lunar month this year, your Majesty ordered many officials from the Ministry of Rites, Honglu Temple and other yamen to be corrupt.
They were imprisoned on corruption charges, and then several people were arrested based on the confessions of these imprisoned people. The Minister of Punishment, Ru Shangshu, in accordance with the provisions of the Ming Dynasty Law, sentenced them to death crimes according to the amount of money they had embezzled and accepted, and reported it to His Majesty."
"Your Majesty, these criminals have naturally violated the "Great Ming Law" and committed a capital crime. However, I boldly speak to Your Majesty and ask Your Majesty to exempt the prisoners from the death penalty."
"Since I have been the Minister of Rites since February this year, most of the corrupt officials I arrested were also officials of the Ministry of Rites, so I was able to check the resumes of these criminals. Many of them were promoted to officials from the former junior officials of the Ministry of Rites.
Although by His Majesty's decree, they were sent to the Imperial College of Ceremonies for instruction to get rid of their petty official habits and become officials of the Ming Dynasty, after all, it had only been three or four years, or even only two or three years, and these people's petty official habits remained for a while.
It is difficult to completely correct it. I ask your Majesty to think about this matter."
"Moreover, if I take a closer look, I see that many of them work diligently on weekdays. Although they have bad habits, they have never delayed the errands assigned to them by the sect. Even if they are not credited, they still work hard for the imperial court."
"So I beg your Majesty to allow them to be exempted from the death penalty."
It was the twenty-sixth day of July on the second day. Yunxi had to go back to Qianqing Palace after the court, take a bath first, and then prepare for what he wanted to discuss with the five ministers, the censor of the imperial censorship, the fourth assistant officer, and other officials.
The officials also knew Yunxi's summer habits and walked slowly and unhurriedly to Qianqing Palace.
But in February this year, Dong Lun, who had just replaced Zheng Yi, who had been demoted as the Right Chancellor of the Qin Dynasty, as the Minister of Rites, quickly stepped forward and asked Yunxi to pardon those officials who were sentenced to death for corruption after the 18th day of the first lunar month this year.
capital offense.
Dong Lun's request to Yunxi was not, or not entirely, out of the idea that civil servants would harm others. He made the decision after repeated thinking. Although Dong Lun was not an official who was particularly close to Yunxi, he
When Zhu Biao was still alive, he served as an official in Zhan Shifu. He belonged to the second closest official faction after Yunxi himself was an official in Zhan Shifu when he was the emperor's grandson. Moreover, he had served as an official since the fifteenth year of Hongwu.
He was recommended as an official and had presided over politics in many places across the country. He was even demoted to Yunnan as a county instructor and taught barbarian leaders. He had rich experience as an official, so after Yunxi came to the throne, he was promoted to Minister of Rites.
Therefore, Dong Lun often comes into direct contact with Yunxi. At the same time, he is a good friend of Xie Jin, and can even be said to be Xie Jin’s only friend. Xie Jin has very few friends because he is too awesome and arrogant towards others.
, even the Jiangxi fellows have little relationship with him - and they can hear Yunxi's daily words from Xie Jin, who serves as the winter auxiliary officer, so even if they sometimes cannot understand the reasons why Yunxi does certain things, but for
His guesses were relatively accurate.
In his opinion, the reason why Yunxi suddenly arrested so many civil servants on charges of corruption was to exile them to the Hanzhou Continent to fill the need for civil servants in the Hanzhou Continent. Therefore, although they were sentenced to death, they would definitely not be punished.
They will be really executed and will be pardoned before October comes.
But it was impossible for Yunxi to pardon them casually, so he advised Yunxi on the matter. His Majesty just followed the trend and pardoned them, and everyone was happy.
Even the words, method, and location of his request for Yunxi's pardon were carefully considered. Dong Lun knew that Yunxi was not very fond of simple civil servants, so he did not mention their status as civil servants. Instead, he used their former petty officials as an entry point.
Focus on their status as minor officials and their hard work on errands.
He did not resort to the method of remonstrating, but instead begged for mercy face to face, and deliberately chose a time when no one was around, in order to avoid making the emperor think that he was asking for a name for himself, and to avoid damaging his image in the eyes of his majesty. If the emperor were
With permission, it would not be too late for him to make up for the memorial.
Because of the above careful preparations, Dong Lun was very confident and believed that his request would be granted. But what was beyond his expectation was, "Dong Aiqing, I understand Aiqing's intention to plead for the officials of her Yamen as the Minister of Rites.
, but since they have violated the "Laws of the Ming Dynasty", they must be dealt with according to the provisions of the "Laws of the Ming Dynasty"." Yunxi said this.
Dong Lun guessed Yunxi's thoughts well and was well prepared. Yunxi actually appreciated his approach this time, but still rejected his suggestion.
Just kidding, although Yunxi really wanted to exile those former officials who were imprisoned for corruption to the Hanzhou mainland, he couldn't allow it just because of Dong Lun's plea or remonstrance. If the power of amnesty is exercised so easily, "The Ming Dynasty"
The majesty of the "Laws" has been wiped out. This is not just pretending not to know that officials are corrupt and not arresting them, but having already arrested and sentenced them to death but then letting them go. If they are pardoned so easily, who will care about the "Laws of the Ming Dynasty" in the future?
Regarding the provisions on corruption? In the end, the country was like the Song Dynasty. People who committed capital crimes tried every means to smoothen their relationships and delay the time of being sentenced, so that they could wait until the amnesty was available on average once every 18 months?
Yunxi must exercise his power of amnesty only after something that everyone considers very important in this era has happened, and it is not just for these officials, but to reduce the punishment of all criminals. Only in this way can the "Da Ming Law" be maintained
》The majesty.
Although Dong Lun guessed the emperor's first thought, he did not guess the second. After hearing Yunxi's words, he wondered in his heart why his plea for mercy failed.
But Yunxi didn't want him to waste his time on such a matter. "Dong Qing, as the Minister of Rites, what do you think of what Wang Shilang, the minister in the court just now, said?"
"What does Your Majesty mean? What he just said about 'what is a human being'?" Dong Lun asked.
"That's what he said." Yunxi said.
When Yunxi went to court for the last time before the Chinese New Year, he asked all the officials a question before going down to court: What is a human being? What kind of person can be regarded as a human being?
This issue aroused heated discussions among all the literati in the Ming Dynasty during the Chinese New Year, and the discussion was still going on until the New Year's holiday was over. However, the military reforms carried out by Yunxi soon replaced this issue as the topic of most concern, and later Yunxi
The school was reformed again, and Cuju, which had been renamed football, suddenly became popular in the capital, attracting endless discussion.
Until May and June, as those topics gradually faded away, the topic of "what is a human being" became popular again. Literati discussed it one after another, and through the discussion they came to a relatively unified conclusion.
"Your Majesty, I agree with what Wang Shilang said." At this time, Dong Lun replied: "I believe that those who look like humans should be divided into three categories: humans, savages and beasts."
"Only those who can converse with others, know etiquette, know good and evil, know virtue, know history, and can learn writing can be regarded as human beings; only those who can converse with others, can learn writing, but do not know etiquette, do not know good and evil, and do not know morality
"Those who don't know history may be regarded as savages and can be taught to be human, but they cannot be regarded as human until they know etiquette, good and evil, virtue, and history."
"If you can't talk, can't learn to write, and your habits are similar to those of wild beasts, let alone know etiquette, you can only be regarded as a beast. Even if you look similar to a human, you can only be regarded as an ape, not a human or a savage."
"As far as Aiqing knows, do all the officials in the imperial court agree with what Wang Shilang said?" Yunxi asked again.
"Your Majesty, as far as I know, more than 90% of the officials in the court and the scholars in the field agree with what Wang Shilang said." Dong Lun replied.
"Okay." Yunxi said this, and then said: "About the concept of 'what makes a person human', you should write it down immediately. I will incorporate these words into the curriculum of schools such as the Imperial College or Jiangwu Hall."
When he said these words, his eyes were shining.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Dong Lun was a little surprised: Is it necessary to take this seriously? But he still agreed.
Having said this, Yunxi had nothing to tell Yunxi for the time being. He asked him and other ministers to go to the front hall of Qianqing Palace to wait. He went to the back hall, took a bath first, then put on his regular clothes and put on his clothes.
Let your hair be completely let go, and while drying it, prepare the materials to discuss the matter with the minister later.
After a while, when his hair was dry, he asked the eunuch to tie it up and wear a crown. He picked up the documents and walked to the front hall.
"Everyone knows what is going on. How do you think the charter should be revised?" Yunxi asked. At this time, he was discussing yesterday with the five ministers, the fourth auxiliary officials and the left and right censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
It was learned that Xiao Zhuo's two nephews, Xiao Tong and Xiao Yong, took advantage of the stipulated opportunity to move their household registration in order to increase the probability of passing the imperial examination and becoming a Jinshi.
"Your Majesty, I believe that those two scholars should be severely punished. They will be sent back to their hometowns and members of this family will not be allowed to participate in the imperial examination for ten years." Dong Auxiliary Officer Xie Jin said. He has always been proud of his talents and hates this kind of taking advantage of loopholes.
"I have made up my mind on how to deal with those two scholars, and there is no need to discuss it at this time; you all only need to discuss how to modify the regulations." Yunxi said immediately. Since he had already allowed Xiao Tong and Xiao Yong to continue to participate in Zhili
The provincial examination cannot be overturned even if it is wrong; what's more, as he thought at the time, the loopholes that occurred were first of all due to omissions in the rules and were not the responsibility of the person who exploited the loopholes; the impact of two scholars participating in the provincial examination would not be big; and,
He also needs Xiao Zhuo to give the Xiao family a favor to prevent their family from resenting the royal family and to work harder for the court.
"Your Majesty, I think we only need to stipulate that if the people in the newly established states and counties want to participate in the imperial examination, they must have lived within the boundaries of the newly established states and counties for three generations." Li Ren, the Minister of Civil Affairs, said.
.
"What Li Qing said is true, but I thought of another thing." Yunxi said: "According to the regulations, you must have lived in one place for three generations before you can participate in the imperial examination. However, if a certain family originally lived in a certain place, due to some things
After moving to another place and living in another place for two generations, a person with amazing talent and beauty emerges, but because of this rule he cannot take the imperial examination. Isn't this a loss for the imperial court and me?"
"I wonder what your Majesty wants?" In this case, according to the current rules, he cannot participate in the imperial examination in his current place of residence, but his place of origin will not be willing to take part in it, and participating in the imperial examination requires a certificate from the village chief.
You have no longer lived in your place of origin for two generations. Unless you are bribed with money, how can your place of origin issue a certificate for you?
Therefore, such a person cannot participate in the imperial examination; but if there is a particularly talented person in this situation who cannot participate in the imperial examination, it is indeed a loss for the court. Therefore, the officials present felt that what Yunxi said was reasonable.
asked.
"I believe that the rule that you must live in one place for three generations before you can take the imperial examination should be abolished. As long as a person is born in a certain county and loses the household registration of this county after birth, he can take the imperial examination in this county. What do you think?
How?" Yunxi said.
"At the same time, I am amending the current household registration system. As long as a person has lived in a certain place for five years, has a livelihood and is not a refugee, and is married, has a wife and children, he can move his household registration to this place; if he marries a local, he only needs to
If you have a livelihood and are not refugees, you can immediately move your household registration here no matter how many years you have lived.”
"But there is one thing to note." Yunxi added: "In the former situation I just mentioned, if the person's son was born in the place of origin, and when registering the household registration in this place, the son's household registration will also be registered.
If you want to take the imperial examination, you must return to your place of origin."
"What your Majesty said is very reasonable, and I have no objection." Qi Tai said first. As the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, household registration matters are his responsibility, so he naturally has to be the first to answer. When Yunxi spoke just now, his brain
It was already running quickly. After thinking about it, I thought that the new rules set by Yunxi were very good, so I agreed.
"I have no objection." Other ministers also said quickly. They also thought about it when Qi Tai answered. Although they felt that it was inappropriate to change the rules rashly, they were not worth arguing with His Majesty for such a matter, so they spoke out one after another.
Agree.
"Okay. Since all my dear friends have no objections, I will order the Shushe people to draft this charter into an imperial edict and issue it to the whole country." Yunxi said with a smile. (To be continued)