Reborn in the late Northern Wei Dynasty

Chapter 133 The father is not as good as the son
There was no light in the dark prison, and in the corridor, the Duguan Shangshu personally guided Gao Cheng, and said as he walked:
"My son, please don't worry, the subordinate officials have made arrangements for Sima Pushe, and he will never be wronged."

Gao Cheng nodded, and when he walked to Sima Ziru's cell, he was relieved, and finally he still had black hair.

He ordered the jailer to open the door, Gao Cheng sent the official Shangshu and others away, leaving four trusted guards to guard the door, and he went into the prison with wine and meat.

The cell was clean, apparently someone had cleaned it, and Sima Ziru was not in shackles, so it was better to say he was on vacation in prison than he was being detained awaiting trial.

Of course, this vacation is really against my will.

Sima Ziru calmly watched Gao Cheng put on food and drink with a playful face.

"Cheng came to visit my uncle, why did my uncle not say anything?"

Gao Cheng handed over a glass of wine and said with a smile.

Sima Ziru took it, but didn't drink it, he just looked at the wine in the glass and said:
"Don't you dare to be the uncle of the son, the thing in this cup is dove wine? If so, why not give me a white silk, the son is like dying facing north, but I don't want to let the appearance disturb the king."

"Uncle knows that I have no intention of harm, so why make such a joke."

After finishing speaking, Gao Cheng filled a glass for himself and drank it down in one gulp.

Although he drinks his own fake wine mixed with water all the year round, Gao Cheng's drinking capacity is not bad.

Sima Ziru still didn't drink, put down the glass, and said puzzledly:

"I have never had any enmity with the prince. I don't know why I am in today's situation. It is definitely not the prince who wants to use me to make a difference. Let's take action to rectify it."

"Uncle is overthinking."

With a word of relief, Gao Cheng dragged out his entire plan, and then added:
"With today's difficulties, my uncle has been proved innocent, and no one will pursue the matter of uncle taking bribes again."

"So I want to thank the prince for his kindness?"

Sima Ziru realized that Gao Cheng really had no intention of harming him, so he picked up the wine cup and drank the wine in the glass.

Gao Cheng didn't seem to understand Sima Ziru's sarcasm, instead he pouted his nose and said with a smile:
"Uncle owes me more than this."

Then he told Sima Xiao that it was difficult for him to collect criminal evidence for him, and said to Sima Zi:

"Today, Dao Rong kowtowed and begged at Shangshutai, willing to take the punishment with his own body on behalf of his father. Uncle can pretend that he doesn't know what's going on, and reconcile with Dao Rong and his son from then on."

This made Simazi angry, and he said angrily:

"In that case, why did you tell me!"

Gao Cheng said to himself:

"I, Gao Zihui, are behind the scenes to help my uncle and Dao Rong eliminate the past estrangement. You don't have to repay your kindness, but Cheng will not do the stupid thing of not telling me about your kindness."

Sima Ziru was puzzled and said:
"Aren't you worried that after I know the inside story, I will treat Xiaonan even more harshly?"

Gao Cheng didn't take it seriously and said:
"Dao Rong is the only son of my uncle, and my uncle took the opportunity to settle the suspicion with Dao Rong. Since then, the father and son have been friendly, and they still hold a grudge, deepening the resentment between him and Dao Rong, but according to his uncle's will, if Dao Rong is really beaten to death by his uncle, Cheng finding an heir for him is worthy of the old friendship."

Sima Ziru remained silent for a long time before he sighed:

"At the beginning, I thought that your intelligence was not inferior to the high king, but now it seems that you still underestimated you."

Gao Cheng was proud in his heart: He Liuhun, this little Gao Cheng also deserves to be Pangci himself?
But still humbly said:

"My father is a hero in this world, how can Cheng stand up to him?"

Sima Ziru ignored his hypocrisy and continued:

"Just like the corruption incident this time, King Gao may use me to raise his prestige and warn all the officials, but it is more likely to cover up the matter in order to show favor. After the court trial, I was proved innocent, and the censor was held accountable.

"Then I will write a letter to intercede for the censor. Using this as an example, I will give the censor power and encourage them to listen to the wind and act. Whether they are convicted or not depends entirely on the prince's will.

"If my guess is correct, the crown prince will never put people in Yushitai.

"The person who is resented by the impeached is only the official censor, not the prince who stands back.

"Those who have been convicted and resigned have their own sons who are favored by the sons to be promoted to fill the vacancies, and those who are saved by the sons and escaped from crimes should also be grateful for the help and protection of the sons.

"And what did the son pay? Even Xiaonan and I are grateful to the son for eliminating the barriers between our father and son.

"This kind of method is not comparable to Gao Wang."

Having been told the truth, Gao Cheng looked calm, added two glasses of wine, raised his glass and apologized:
"Today's matter is that Cheng has wronged uncle, please don't blame uncle."

After Sima Ziru finished his drink, he said to Gao Cheng:
"My son's uncle today, my son will accept it, but there is a difference between master and slave, please don't beat me again."

Gao Cheng's expression changed, and he asked:
"Uncle still resents Cheng for not discussing it in advance?"

Sima Ziru shook his head and said:
"My son, please don't worry. You are as you think. It's just that Gao Wang has a son. Even if he doesn't want to usurp the country, the foundation of the Great Wei will fall into the hands of the son. The son will be the supreme in the world in the future. Although Ziru has an old relationship with Gao Wang, it is true It's hard to be called uncle.

"If the son thinks about the friendship with Xiao Nan and treats him well, then Ziru is willing to sell this life to the son, and there is no need to call him an uncle."

Gao Cheng smiled and said:

"Although Cheng and Xiaonan do not have an alliance of incense and fire, they have brotherhood and will not harm him."

If Sima Zi saw the sincerity in his eyes, he believed it was Gao Cheng's sincere words.

As long as the Gao family and his son are not involved in power struggles, they still talk about friendship.

He also stated:

"Your Majesty, please rest assured, if you are out of trouble, you will write a letter to intercede for Dr. Du and fulfill your aspirations."

Gao Cheng was not satisfied, and explained:

"For the matter of empowering the censor, I also ask Sima Shizhong to write a letter on his behalf."

Sima Ziru couldn't help but look sideways when he heard the words, this man is really shameless, he even let himself, the sufferer, come forward and ask the emperor to give the censor power.

But after thinking about it, there really wasn't a more suitable candidate than him.

99 I prayed all the way, not bad for this trembling, so I also agreed to this matter.

Obtaining Sima Ziru's promise, Gao Cheng left the meal and left the prison contentedly.

Before leaving, I did not forget to tell the official minister again that I must take good care of Sima Ziru in prison.

Duguan Shangshu was well aware of Gao Cheng's attitude, insisted on the principle of civilized law enforcement, and never used torture methods.

On November [-]th, the presiding judge of the case, Du Guan Shangshu, reported back to Yuan Shanjian. After three days of investigation and evidence collection, he concluded that it was not true that Du Bi, a Taizhong doctor, impeached Sima Ziru for accepting bribes.

Yuan Shanjian ordered someone to re-examine the case. At this time, Gao Cheng, who had been on the sidelines, finally ended in person.

He thought that Sima Ziru, as an important member of the Taiwan cabinet, should be respectable. Since he was found not guilty, why should he be tried again and again?

When Xiao Gao Wang spoke, Yuan Shanjian could only order Sima Ziru to be released and reinstated as an official.

According to the official rules of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the next step is to deal with Du Bi, the Taizhong doctor.

Before the whole process started, Sima Ziru wrote to Yuan Shanjian, recounting Du Bi's actions in the past to support Yushitai alone, and pleaded for him.

He also talked about the censor's responsibility to pick up crimes, but because of the old practice of being convicted for his words, everyone in the censor's platform was afraid of guilt and dared not speak out, which led to the current situation of corrupt officials.

He believes that heavy codes should be used in troubled times, and requests that the imperial censor be given the right to play rumors and not be held accountable by words.

Sima Ziru's appearance caused a thousand waves with one stone, and aroused strong reactions from non-high party ministers.

No one is a fool. In the period when the age limit was abolished and promotions were only based on political achievements, what were the achievements of the imperial censor? Isn't it just picketing and impeaching officials?
If you really want to give the censor such a great power and relieve them of their worries, you are raising a mad dog. Even if this mad dog bites indiscriminately, the life-saving medicine is in Gao Cheng's hands.

Gaodang Xungui was bitten, and he recovered after a few days in prison.

Faced with the counterattack of non-high party ministers, Shangshu ordered Gao Cheng to arrange for a hearing department to manipulate public opinion.

On the other hand, he said humanely to his servants Li Yuanzhong, his servants Gao Longzhi and others:
"Sima servants ignore old grievances and serve the public wholeheartedly. If there are ministers like this, it is a blessing for the country, and all monarchs should follow his actions."

Li Yuanzhong and Gao Longzhi, who got the hint, immediately went to the table to support Sima Ziru.

With these two leaders, the Gaodang and the non-Gaodang confronted each other in court over the power of the censor.

In the absence of Gao Cheng's end, the two parties fell into a stalemate. At this time, public opinion played a huge role.

Today's government officials are corrupt, and both scholars and scholars can see it. There are many reasons for this situation, and the lack of supervision is one of them.

Under the deliberate guidance of the Department of Listening and Wang, scholars and students flocked outside the gate of Changhe, begging the emperor not to blame the censor with words, and to give him the right to gossip, so that it is convenient for him to correct wrongdoing.

And all the censors at Yushitai also expressed their difficulties in the past.

Seeing the turmoil in the crowd, everyone pointed the finger at the lack of supervision that led to the corruption of officials, Gao Cheng finally ended in peace. On the one hand, he expressed his support for Sima Ziru's suggestion that he should not blame Yushi with words, on the other hand, he also believed that he would be dismissed just because of hearsay. Officials are imprisoned for trial, which not only loses their status, but also delays political affairs.

So he wrote to the emperor, requesting that while the censor was given the right to hear the wind, the officials involved could not be dismissed and taken into custody without conclusive evidence.

And the investigation period must be clearly defined, and it cannot be delayed indefinitely, which will affect the management of officials.

The period of Beijing officials is five days, and the local officials and envoys start counting after they arrive at the place, and the period is limited to ten days.

At the same time, the censor cannot enjoy unlimited immunity from liability. Once there are three accumulative pickets that are false, after the expiration of the three-year period, he will be transferred to his post.

More than three false pickets will be punished according to the old rules.

After a series of measures to restrict the censor, the opposition finally died down.

Little Gao Wang understands the concession effect very well.

The so-called investigation period, if he wants to make a move, it must be that the Department of Public Security has already found out the evidence, and then secretly handed it over to Yu Shi to charge forward.

As for the censor, he cannot be exempted from liability indefinitely. At worst, another group of people will continue to be mad dogs, and the performance evaluation is just a fleshy bone hanging in front of them.

As for some censors who were not willing to take the risk of impeachment after two false picketings, the evaluation after three years was moderate, and they were still transferred to other places, and they continued to bite when they vacated positions and replaced them.

Gao Cheng seems to have made a lot of concessions, but when he thinks about it carefully, what did he sacrifice?
On November 23, after several days of debate, Gao Cheng finally made the final decision to implement a new censor system in the Kanto region.

Not long after the controversy subsided, Gao Cheng couldn't help but began to carry out deworming operations in key locations, constantly arranging people to secretly submit letters to Yushitai, or Yushi's home, to report and expose officials' illegal activities.

As for the mastermind behind this operation, after reading the list of criminals, the censors all knew well that those people didn't have a high character written on their foreheads.

For a while, the entire Yushitai was busy, and there were mature and prudent people who would make unannounced visits, check the crimes written in the submission, and then impeach.

If you are more irritable, you will directly file a letter of impeachment, and a large number of officials will be brought under review.

The Duguan Shangshu has also become a busy person. This time he does not have the consciousness of civilized law enforcement. Of course, the serving officials cannot be punished, but the rest of the people involved in the case have been severely punished.

Under the three trees, there is nothing you can ask for. After grasping the evidence of the official's crime, the Duguan Shangshuzou asked the offender to resign, and lost his official status. Naturally, the punishment is unlimited.

It can't be said that torture is a trick, and there are no clean people selected by Gao Cheng.

Under the movement-style governance this time, all of the 120 people on the list compiled by Cui Xian pleaded guilty. Among them, the person with the highest official position was Sizhou Mu at the time.

Sizhou Mu was an unlucky guy, he wasn't originally on the list, but Gao Cheng was eager to make room for Ke Zhu Hunyuan, so he ordered the secretary to investigate secretly, and if he didn't commit any major crimes, he would be transferred to the court official.

But after the investigation, it was found that this person not only accepted bribes, but also beat and killed slaves, so Gao Cheng added his name to it.

Every time a prisoner pleads guilty, the capital official Shangshu will come to ask for instructions on how he should be sentenced.

Gao Cheng set a standard for him: those who murder will pay with their lives, those who abuse the people will be dispatched to guard the border, and those who have committed serious corruption will be dismissed from office.

As for their family members, Gao Cheng sent them to Jinyang and handed them over to Gao Huan as usual.

For those who have embezzled relatively small amounts, Gao Cheng also leniently showed his tolerance, only demoting officials and confiscating the proceeds of corruption.

In the list, half of them were people with relatively minor circumstances, who witnessed the miserable situation of the other half, especially Sizhou Mu who was beheaded outside the gate of Changhe, but they were only demoted and still kept their official status. Naturally, I am grateful to Dade.

Sizhou Mu died because he beat and killed a servant girl, and the nobles felt that his death was unjust.

Since ancient times, when the superior is determined to punish someone, the crime of beating and killing a servant is enough to punish him with death.

And Gao Cheng's behavior also won the favor of servants and maidservants in Luoyang and even in the Kanto region.

But Gao Cheng is not at ease, and his behavior of rewarding and punishing freely also aroused his worries.

It cannot be said that the rulers of Tuoba Xianbei did not pay attention to the law. Laws that once prevailed throughout the country.

However, it is precisely because of the many errors and omissions in these laws that they are constantly edited, and with the chaos of the current situation, the "Zhengshi Law" edited by Emperor Xuanwu Yuan Ke during the Zhengshi period has become a mere formality.

The law again became a problem to be solved.

When Luoyang impeached and investigated lawlessness, the mission led by Wen Zisheng finally arrived in Jiankang and was warmly welcomed by Jiangnan scholars.

　There is another chapter that was updated in the early morning, about three o'clock, and will not be counted in tomorrow's third watch.

　　The update time will be adjusted starting tomorrow, and Chapter 1 will be around two o'clock.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)