Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1003 0998 [Only the Pure Energy Fills the Universe]

In the autumn, the drought in the north finally improved, and several autumn rains moistened the long-dry land.

The sweet rain falls and the whole world celebrates.

This was the year with the worst drought since Zhu Ming traveled through time. Some states even had no harvest!

So many cases were exposed in some areas that the emperor issued a special order not to arrest anyone for the time being, allowing local officials to redeem themselves by providing disaster relief. As long as the relief work was effective and the stolen money was returned and fined afterwards, they could receive a lighter punishment.

Of course, we can arrest people and then send new officials, but firstly, it takes time for new officials to take office, and secondly, changes in officials will affect the efficiency of disaster relief.

By late autumn, the disaster had completely subsided and the first batch of guilty officials were sentenced.

Min Zishun, who actively returned the stolen money, was eventually sentenced to death because his problems were so serious.

When this guy was in charge of the national treasury warehouse, he took advantage of the severe drought in the northwest for several consecutive years and colluded with local civil and military officials to embezzle a lot of disaster relief money and grain.

Disaster relief money and food!

army!

Min Zishun touched two things that he shouldn't have touched.

The army was mainly concerned with the transport troops, who were responsible for transporting goods along certain sections of the route. One of the four commanders of the transport troops was arrested and sentenced to death.

In comparison, Min Zishun's work in the Ministry of Personnel was nothing.

Considering their old friendship, Zhu Ming changed the beheading to hanging, leaving Min Zishun with an intact body.

"Kill! Kill! Kill..."

At the execution ground, countless people screamed and cried.

They had already heard that the criminals executed today were all charged with embezzling disaster relief grain.

Those queuing up to be executed included not only officials but also businessmen.

The merchants are responsible for selling the stolen goods.

It's not just about selling stolen goods, they also help exchange rice and wheat for cheaper corn, sorghum and other items.

After all, the court is strict in its investigation and cannot really cause famine, and even when there is corruption, enough food must be transported over.

Min Zishun knelt on the execution platform, listening to the shouts one after another and looking at the indignant people in the distance. He was in a trance as if he had had a big dream.

I have been dreaming for the past few years, and now I finally wake up.

In fact, Min Zishun did not take much of the disaster relief money and grain that was embezzled, and he was not even aware of it at the beginning.

When he was the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, he initially promoted his relatives and friends in violation of regulations in order to cultivate his own direct lineage.

Moreover, he was a bit too hasty. Some people did not have enough qualifications and political achievements, and they would have met the requirements in three to five years, but he still promoted them. In order to achieve his goal, he even colluded with the doctor of the Ministry of Examination to secretly modify the political achievements of those officials.

The instigator of the embezzlement of disaster relief funds and grain was a confidant of Qian Chen, who was also an unnamed disciple of Zhu Guoxiang.

At that time, Qian Chen had already become a cabinet minister, and that confidant was transferred to the warehouse. The two had basically no work overlap and only visited each other during the holidays.

Min Zishun was transferred to the warehouse as the head and became Qian Chen's trusted boss.

When Min Zishun realized something was wrong, he found out that his nephew had been involved.

His nephew was a member of the Min clan who had served as an official after Zhu Mingquan occupied Sichuan. With Min Zishun's deliberate promotion, he had become a provincial councilor in charge of civil affairs in Shanxi Province.

Qian Chen's confidant was in the national treasury warehouse, Min Zishun's nephew was in Shanxi, and in between there was also a grain transport commander from Daming Village.

Three people conspired to embezzle disaster relief funds and food!

If Min Zishun had reported it immediately after he found out, even if he had brought up the past affairs of the Ministry of Personnel, Zhu Ming would definitely not have punished him severely. At most, he would have been demoted two or three levels, and would not have been allowed to hold any position in the Ministry of Personnel in the future.

But Min Zishun thought too much at that time.

He was afraid of being demoted, and wanted to protect his nephew, but he was also afraid of offending Qian Chen and Zhang Guangdao, because the other two accomplices were Qian Chen's men and Zhang Guangdao's men.

So Min Zishun chose to turn a blind eye and quietly ordered them to stop.

He thought those guys would stop while they were ahead, but the scope of corruption became wider and wider, quickly spreading from Shanxi to Shaanxi, and more and more officials were implicated.

Moreover, in order to shut Min Zishun up, those corrupt officials secretly hunted down his wife and children.

Min Zishun’s wife and children all accepted generous gifts from corrupt officials!
When Min Zishun realized that the situation was irreversible, he simply gave up and hoped that the court would not find out. Anyway, the relief grains that were directly withheld were not much, and they were mainly replaced with coarse grains, so the victims would not really starve to death.

"Min Zishun, while serving as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, colluded with the officials of the Ministry of Examination and the Ministry of Literature to tamper with the achievements of officials and promote officials in violation of regulations... While serving as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he colluded with civil and military officials to withhold relief funds... According to the law, he should be executed... Because he actively returned the stolen money, the death penalty was commuted to hanging, and his body was kept intact... Do you plead guilty?"

Facing the questioning of the supervising officer, Min Zishun answered with difficulty: "I plead guilty."

"The identity has been confirmed and the prisoner has confessed his crime. Execute!"

In ancient China, hanging was generally applied to royal relatives. Although the process was far more painful than beheading, it allowed the body to remain intact and gain the final dignity.

If the prisoners were allowed to choose, most would prefer to leave their bodies intact.

Two executioners came forward.

Someone covered Min Zishun's head with a black cloth bag to prevent his death from being too ugly. This is also a unique decency of hanging.

Another person tied Min Zishun to the execution post while he was kneeling to prevent him from struggling in pain and making mistakes during the hanging.

Hanging is really hanging.

The two executioners each held a long wooden stick, and the two sticks were tied together in the middle with a rope. The rope was also two strands, clamped around the prisoner's neck.

The executioner twisted the wooden stick in opposite directions, and the two ropes gradually tightened against each other, eventually suffocating the prisoner to death.

Compared to beheading, the process is extremely painful.

Min Zishun struggled and twisted his body, but he was tied to the execution pillar and could not move at all.

Finally, it stopped moving completely.

"Next one, bring it here!" The man was none other than Qian Chen's confidant Han Song, who was born as a minor official in Xicheng County, Jinzhou. When he was in Hanzhong, he had already assisted in the management of money and grain, and also worked as a clerk under Zhu Guoxiang.

Even as early as when he was in Hanzhong, Han Song had already started to embezzle money, but it was just a minor matter at the time and was not investigated.

Han Song was forced to kneel down. When he saw Min Zishun's body being carried away, he collapsed on the spot and couldn't even kneel straight.

Li Hanzhang, Qian Chen, Ling Guxu and others left the execution ground silently at this moment.

They all had a good relationship with Min Zishun, and today they came to see Min off for the last time. Moreover, it was Zhu Ming who asked them to come, which might be a warning.

Li Hanzhang and Qian Chen were lucky, as the former was the first Minister of Personnel and the latter was the first Minister of Revenue.

These are all positions that are very easy to get into.

But they were transferred to the cabinet early, no longer involved in specific affairs, and strictly controlled their families. Even if they had done something in the past, the court had drawn a timeline, and as long as they did not commit the same mistake again in the future, they would not be held accountable.

Therefore, even if they have countless students and former officials, they will not be involved in various cases as long as they are not found to have traded power for money.

Several of their gang members were arrested this time!

The third division promotions of Li Hanzhang and Qian Chen were both reduced as a punishment and warning to them.

Qian Chen turned around and took one last look. Han Song, who was about to be beheaded, was his confidant whom he had personally brought up.

"This guy even dares to touch the disaster relief grain, he deserves to die!" Qian Chen said gritting his teeth.

Li Hanzhang didn't want to talk about this kind of thing, and said in a depressed mood: "Come to my house for a drink. After this drink, handle official business well tomorrow, and don't let this kind of thing disturb your mood again."

Qian Chen shook his head: "Let's drink it another day."

Ling Guxu and others also bowed and said goodbye. Several of their old friends were going to be executed today.

The group took a car back to the city. When they passed by a bookstore, they heard a clerk standing at the door of the bookstore shouting: "Da Ming Monthly News, Da Ming Monthly News. Previously, only officials could read the official newspaper, but now everyone can buy it and read it. Fifty-five coins a copy, not worth three meals a day, but it can tell you about the world's major events..."

The prices in the capital are high. If you eat three meals a day, the meal cost about 40 or 50 wen. Even if you are frugal, it will still cost 20 or 30 wen.

From this perspective, fifty-five cents for a newspaper is not really expensive.

If the circulation volume is increased in the future, the cost will continue to decline.

There were free newspapers available in the government office, but Li Hanzhang and others did not buy them. However, many common people were attracted.

Today is the ten-day weekend, and students are also on holiday. There are many scholars strolling along the bookstore street.

Before the guy had shouted a few times, more than a dozen scholars gathered around him.

When the owner of the bookstore next door saw this, he immediately regretted not buying a newspaper.

Regardless of how much it can sell, this thing can attract customers. Who knows, someone might buy a book or a pen.

The owner of another bookstore went out and shouted, "I have newspapers at home, too! I have newspapers at home, too!"

The bookstore was already packed with people. The customers who couldn't squeeze in heard that there were newspapers nearby and hurried over.

Lu You and a few friends were also visiting the book market today, buying some ink sticks and paper.

They were not short of money, and almost everyone bought a newspaper and read it while walking.

Instead of reading the specific reports directly, I focused on the binding and layout of the newspaper.

Quite fresh.

The court reports of the early Song Dynasty were mainly hand-copied, but due to Zhu Ming's improvement of movable type printing, they were changed to printing in the middle and late period of Emperor Huizong of Song. However, the layout was not particular until the founding of the Ming Dynasty, when it was slightly improved.

Today, the layout of this newspaper is extremely fresh.

The font size of the title is larger, and the font size of the text is smaller, and it is separated by horizontal and vertical lines, which is very reader-friendly.

Nowadays, printing uses "Ming typeface", which is also called "Song typeface", and there are several unified font sizes and punctuation marks.

These printing standards were promoted during Zhu Guoxiang's tenure.

Initially, it was used to print official letters and textbooks, and was gradually imitated by private booksellers. They spontaneously used official standards and asked craftsmen to make movable type, which greatly improved printing efficiency and quality, and also reduced printing costs.

"Hey, there are two more poems here." Lu You exclaimed.

Wang Lianqing asked: "Where?"

Lu You said, "The second to last page."

The friends hurriedly flipped through the pages, only to see Hong Mai shouting, "It's your majesty's new poem!"

Because the newspapers had just been delivered, even the bookstore owners and clerks had not had time to read them carefully.

"Beside the inkstone pond in my home, the trees have flowers with faint traces of ink. I don't want people to praise my beautiful colors, I just want my pure spirit to fill the universe," Lu You finished reciting and exclaimed, "Your Majesty hasn't published any poems for many years, and the new work you published today is really a good poem."

The plum blossom represents self-discipline, which originated in the Tang Dynasty and was fully established in the Northern Song Dynasty. It also became more and more common for literati to paint plum blossoms as a playful gesture.

Wang Lianqing pointed to the front page headline and said, "Your Majesty, this poem is the opposite of the corrupt officials mentioned above."

The scholars turned to the first page and read the specific content carefully, which was a detailed report of several senior officials who were executed that day.

Moreover, it describes how they gradually became corrupt and degenerate.

Lu You couldn't comment on those corrupt officials, so he could only say from another perspective: "The words used in the article are too plain."

Hong Mai pointed to the top of the front page and said, "It was intentional. There is something even whiter, and it is an imperial article."

Only then did my friends notice the editorial, and saw that the author was Zhu Ming: I heard from the sages that governing the world with benevolence can make the country rich and the people strong. How can benevolent governance be implemented? It depends on officials to do it. There were too many corrupt officials in the early Song Dynasty, and the people became poor, the country declined, and the country was lost...

Just a few hundred words, all in plain language.

These students from the Imperial College were all talented. They could not help laughing or crying after reading a few sentences. They were able to write such articles when they were still children.

Suddenly, Lu You muttered, "These are written for the common people. No wonder the Ming Yuebao is sold among the people."

(End of this chapter)