For several days, the cases sent from various places were accompanied by the officials of Sangong Cao, which made Tingwei people very strange.

But the officials said it was a routine matter and they would not interfere with the court officials, so they didn't say anything.

As for the affairs of the border barbarians, this is actually a hot potato. If it is handled well, no points will be awarded. If it is not handled well, it will easily cause problems. Da Honglu is also happy to return the power to the Chancellor.

Counting the population and measuring the land are matters within the scope of the Secretariat. Chen Mu sent a civil servant to communicate with the Shaofu. The new Shaofu, Fan Ling, was a paid official and had private interactions with the eunuchs, so there was no objection.

As for financial issues, the Shangshutai does not care about them. They are under the control of Da Sinong's inner palace, the emperor's Shui Hengwei, and the Shaofu's Money Forbidden Department.

Among them, the Du Neifu was responsible for the salaries of officials and public expenditures across the country. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was called the national treasury.

The Shuihengwei and Qianqiansi were the private property of the emperor, and were later called internal funds.

Therefore, the Shangshutai cannot interfere with the finances.

What we can do now is to take charge of people's livelihood and actively communicate with the governors and governors of various states to see if there is any malfeasance in their duties by the two thousand stone prefects and ministers.

The governor cannot remove the prefect and the prime minister. Generally speaking, if the governor discovers that there is a problem with the two thousand stones in a certain place, he will report it to the central court. After the three princes agree, the person can be dealt with.

However, there is a two thousand stone cao in the Shangshutai, which is actually used to divide the power of the three princes and gradually evacuate the three princes. Now that Chen Mu has taken over the power, in the future, the prefects of various prefectures and counties will use the Shangshutai to communicate with the governors of various states. Documents

It will also be sent to the Chancellor's desk.

This is equivalent to directly intercepting the Hu of the Three Dukes. If he encounters a strong Three Dukes, he might actually come to cause trouble. The problem is that the current Situ Xuxiang and Taiwei Cao Song are all eunuchs, and Sikong Zhang Wen is also a minister.

almost.

Therefore, if Zhang Rang comes forward and this part of power is returned to the Chancellor, there should be no big problem.

The real troubles are the selection of officials and the end-of-year examinations on state and county affairs.

Why were the later officials called Heavenly Officials?

Because he holds these two powers, he can remove officials and admit officials.

And now these two powers are in the hands of the emperor and the three ministers and nine ministers respectively? Where is the selection of officials in Xiyuan? Except for the officials recommended by the court officials and approved by the emperor, most officials in the world are put up for sale.

At the end of the year, state and county affairs are generally led by the three ministers, assisted by the nine ministers, who inspect their respective subordinate officials and assess them, and determine whether some unqualified officials will be eliminated.

When it comes to the local level, the governor and the prefect will take charge respectively. The governor will do the work separately, while the prefect will dispatch postal supervisors.

In this way, the prefects inspected local minor officials, the governor inspected the prefects and county magistrates, and the central government inspected the prefects and governors. A fairly complete supervision system was formed.

What if Chen Mu wants to take action in these two directions? It would be better if he just deploys a few people. For example, Cao Cao's uncle Cao Ding once arranged Cao Hong as the magistrate of Qichun County when he was the minister.

But if you intercept the appointment and removal documents sent from various places and want to use the power of the Shangshu Ling to appoint and remove officials according to your own will? That will undoubtedly touch the cake of everyone, including Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty.

So the end of this year is a big test for Chen Mu. If he wants to make a difference? If he wants to depose and eliminate some corrupt officials or incompetent officials who use nepotism to gain power, the resistance he encounters is simply as high as the sky.

But this matter? Chen Mu is not crazy enough to offend everyone. After all, he is not Bao Zheng? What can he do to offend the emperor and all the officials of the dynasty?

So his plan is to just let it be as it should be? Mixed with sand at most? Just do some nepotism and the like, there is no need to cause trouble.

For more than ten days in a row, power was slowly being consolidated and government affairs were handled in an orderly manner.

But when dealing with government affairs, it is inevitable that we cannot cover everything.

On this day, Tingwei Wu Gong came to the door.

"Chen Shangshu, there are obviously no problems with this case, why is it being remanded for retrial?"

Wu Gong is coming with force.

Nowadays, most of the three officials and ministers in the court came to buy official positions. With the support of the emperor, it would not be difficult for Chen Mu to wrest power from them.

Only Tingwei is not easy to deal with, because Wu Gong's family has the third generation of Tingwei, a family with legal knowledge, and has legal authority.

"Why is Dali angry?"

Chen Mu knelt down on the main seat and took a calm sip of tea.

The name Dali comes from "Xia". "Book of Rites·Yue Ling" records that Xia had "Dali". It means the chief judge in charge of trials, and his status is equivalent to the president of the Supreme Court in later generations.

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, Dali became Tingwei, then changed to Dali during the reign of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, and again to Tingwei during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. It changed several times.

After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was officially renamed Dali Temple. This temple is not a temple, but the name of an official office.

In the Han Dynasty, the chief officer of Tingwei was commonly known as Dali, which means "the person in charge of the law".

Although Tingwei is one of the Nine Qings, a high-ranking official with two thousand stones, since Emperor Ling, most of Tingwei's power has been vested in the cabinet. Sometimes Tingwei has to be a subordinate of the Shangshu Ling, and he must obey the Shangshu Ling when hearing cases, so Chen Mu

It's not unfair to him either.

Wu Gong threw the case on his desk and said coldly: "The minister ordered you to look at it yourself."

Chen Mu saw that he seemed to be really angry, so he stood up, took his hand and pushed it to the table next to him. While pulling him, he smiled and comforted him: "Don't get angry, Dali. We have something to discuss."

"snort."

Without reaching out to hit the smiling man, Wu Gong snorted and sat down.

"Do you want Dali tea or wine?"

Chen Mu sat back in his seat and asked while flipping through the case documents.

The Han people basically only drink these two kinds of drinks, just like the guests in later generations would serve tea.

"liquor."

"Serve Dali wine."

Chen Mu gave the order, took another look at the case, and had an idea in his mind.

"I wonder what Shangshu Ling thinks?"

Wu Gong took a sip of wine and asked.

Chen Mu nodded: "It turned out to be a theft in Hongnong County. I was planning to issue an official document to Dali, Hongnong Prefect Sun Mu and Lu Hunling Guo Yong."

Wu Gong's face darkened and he said: "So, Shangshu Ling thinks there is something wrong with my sentencing and wants to blame me?"

"There is no problem with the sentencing."

Chen Mu smiled: "The "Criminal Law Chronicles" said that anything that is not a thing is called theft. "Laws" said: The person who steals two taels of gold abandons the market. This person has obtained the stolen goods, and the lost items are worth three taels.

Gold, there is nothing wrong with abandoning the market."

The crime of theft was a very serious crime in the Han Dynasty and was divided into four levels: stealing 1 to 22 qian or items worth 1 to 22 qian, with a fine of 1 tael.

Stealing items worth 110 to 22 taels of money will result in a fine of 4 taels.

110 to 220, closed for 3 years.

220 to 660, off for 5 years.

660 five baht coins to two taels of gold, life imprisonment, and inscriptions on his face.

For more than two taels of gold, abandon the market.

A pound of gold is worth 10,000 yuan, and sixteen taels is a pound, so one tael of gold is worth 625 yuan, and two taels of gold is worth 1,250 yuan.

What does abandoning the market mean?

They were taken to the streets where there was trouble and there were many people and beheaded.

By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, executions were carried out in the vegetable market.

Imagine the modern concept of being sentenced to death for stealing thousands of dollars.

This was still the Han Dynasty, and the laws were already somewhat relaxed. The laws of the Qin Dynasty were even more stringent, and the crime of theft was almost equal to the crime of murder.

If you dare to steal even 1 cent, you will have to serve in corvée for 30 days.

Judging from the "Answers and Questions on the Law" on the Qin Slips, it basically means that those who commit minor crimes will be imprisoned and served as corvees, and those who commit minor crimes will be sentenced to death. For major crimes, there is no need to think about it, and they will be imprisoned directly.

With such a harsh law, it is no wonder that Qin II died.

"Since the sentencing is correct, what does that mean?"

Wu Gong's expression became even more ugly. He temporarily stopped the prisoner whom Ting Wei had stamped to be beheaded, and forcefully dragged him back to the death row. This was undoubtedly a slap in Ting Wei's face.

Chen Mu said: "There is one doubtful point in this case."

"Where is the suspicion?"

"The official document says that the wealthy businessman Zhang Dou lost a piece of jade, worth three taels of gold, and later recovered it from the criminal Wang Yi's family. Is this true or not?"

"Yes, it is clearly written in the official document that Wang Yi was drunk that day, sneaked into Zhang's house at night, and stole jade. There are also shoe prints on the wall of the shoes Wang Yi was wearing that day. The prints have been compared and confirmed to be correct.

.”

"That's why I can't figure it out a bit."

"Which point?"

"According to previous official documents, how the local government confirmed that this prisoner was the prisoner and how they caught him will be recorded in detail, but here it is vague. There is only one sentence: "Zhang Dou got up at night, and it was vaguely Wang Yi."

"Isn't it right for the owner to identify it himself?"

"Of course not. I looked at Wang Yi's household registration. He is from the countryside outside the city. He rents a house alone in the west city and does some small business on weekdays. And Zhang Dou lives in the east of the city and is a wealthy businessman. Logically speaking, Er

There is such a big difference between people's status and status, so they shouldn't know each other."

"Maybe I hear it occasionally? How many people can there be in a county? It ranges from thousands to just over ten thousand. It's normal to meet them occasionally."
To be continued...