Tibet.

Chapter 1444: Informing on the case
Everyone hurriedly asked, "Is the abolition order really going to be implemented?"

Zhou Rong's cousin Zhou Guang was a general of the inner guards. He usually had some inside information about the inner guards.

Zhou Rong lowered his voice and said, "I went to pay New Year's greetings to my uncle on the third day of the New Year, and only then did I know that my cousin did not rest on the first and second days of the New Year. The Internal Security Bureau has established an Abolition Order Inspection Department, and it is said that they are ready to accept reports!"

"I see!"

Li Zunyi slammed the table and suddenly realized, "I was wondering what the two big black boxes at the entrance of the Internal Guard Department were used for. It turns out they were used to receive informants!"

Everyone became nervous. "Isn't this the same as Wu Zetian? Strict interrogation, torture, and luring people into a trap. How could the emperor do this?"

Zhou Rong smiled and said, "Actually, you don't have to be too nervous. My cousin said it's not that strict. It's just to supervise the execution of the abolition order. If you don't have slaves, it has nothing to do with you. Even if you have slaves, don't be afraid. The Internal Guard is only responsible for investigating cases, not interrogating officials. This is the principle. After the case is investigated, it will be handed over to the Censorate, who will question and interrogate us. We won't see the Internal Guard."

"That's more like it. I thought the Internal Security Bureau was going to use the abolition of slavery to stir up trouble again."

Zhou Rong knocked on the table and said, "Don't put the cart before the horse. This is not a matter of the inner guards, but the strict enforcement of the abolition order. If there are still a few slaves in your family, abolish them immediately, transfer them to civilians, and sign employment contracts. Don't get fired for a few slaves. It's not worth it!"

Liu Qiming frowned and said, "I don't understand why the emperor must issue the abolition order. It's been more than two years and it never ends. Brother Zhou, what does your father say?"

Zhou Rong's father, Zhou Yan, was a great scholar in Guanzhong and a professor at the Imperial College. He taught for thirty years, cultivated countless students, and was highly respected.

Zhou Rong said slowly, "My father said that slavery has always been a big problem since the Qin and Han dynasties. Every dynasty has wanted to abolish it, but has never succeeded. My father also said that now is the easiest time to abolish slavery, as there are no major interest groups to resist. If it is not abolished now, there will be no chance in the future. My father highly respects the emperor and appreciates his great wisdom in solving the Guanlong Group. He believes that this abolition of slavery will definitely succeed."

Li Zunyi nodded and said, "Anyway, my family has no slaves. Brother Liu, quickly release those slaves in your family and tell your father that if you don't release them, you will be dismissed from your post. Your father will definitely agree."

Liu Qiming sighed, "I'll go back and persuade my father!"

Another official from the Ministry of Rites, Qin Kun, said with a smile, "In fact, I think the education and imperial examination reforms mentioned today, as well as the county-level official system reforms, are the highlights of this year."

Li Zunyi raised his glass and said with a smile: "Educational reform should still be to popularize primary school education. This should be the consensus! While the court has abundant financial resources now, more children should have the opportunity to study. This is inevitable in a prosperous era. I am concerned about the meaning of the imperial examination reform."

Qin Kun hesitated for a moment and said, "I heard from the Minister that they might be reforming the third question of the Jinshi exam!"

Everyone burst into laughter. "This reform is timely and necessary. I don't know how many scholars have been deceived by this policy. We all support it!"

"What about the reform of the county-level official system?"

Li Zunyi asked again: "Who knows?"

Everyone was confused, and no one knew this one.

In the courtyard of Danfeng Restaurant, Yan Zhenqing filled a glass of wine for Wei Jiansu and asked curiously, "What does the county-level official system reform mentioned in today's congratulatory message mean?"

Wei Jiansu smiled and said, "I should have mentioned this before. It's normal that you don't know about it. At that time, you were still working in the local government."

"Brother, tell me about it. I'm very interested!"

Wei Jiansu smiled and said, "These are some reform measures proposed by the emperor in response to the court's inability to control the county level. It clearly divides the county level into four levels: officials, clerks, runners, and servants. Officials and clerks are appointed by the court, while runners and servants are still managed by the county. The clerks mainly include the two clerks of law and household administration, as well as the schoolmaster, criminal police, and six departments. In addition, there are six county school assistants, a total of sixteen people.

In other words, the salaries of these sixteen people were borne by the imperial court and they were also appointed by the imperial court.

Then the number of people admitted to the imperial examination would be appropriately expanded and divided into the first, second, second and third lists. The first list would be the top ten, the second list would be the twenty-first to fifty, the fifty-first to hundredth would be the second list, and the list after the hundredth would be the C list.

Among them, the A list is for officials, and the B and C lists are for clerks. Clerks are evaluated every five years, and those who pass the evaluation are promoted to the next level. In other words, if the lowest C list scholar passes the evaluation, he can be promoted to an official at the latest ten years later. " "What about the students of the Imperial College?" Yan Zhenqing asked again.

"Students of the Imperial College still teach in county and state schools. They are divided into two grades, A and B, based on their grades. A-grade students go to the state and county to be assistant teachers and become officials after five years, while B-grade students go to the county school to be assistant teachers and become officials after ten years."

Wei Jiansu drank a glass of wine and smiled slightly, "So the reform of the imperial examination system and the reform of county-level officialdom complement each other. The real purpose of the reform is to increase the court's control over the county-level officialdom and keep the power of the county firmly in the hands of the court, rather than in the hands of local tyrants. This is also a major problem that has been criticized for thousands of years."

Yan Zhenqing raised his glass and said with a smile: "Your Majesty is really generous in competing with local tyrants for control of the county. Let's drink a glass. The emperor sincerely hopes that the reform will succeed!"

After the New Year, the Internal Security Bureau established a special department for the abolition of slavery and set up two informant boxes in front of the Internal Security Bureau's office.

According to the Internal Guard Regulations, except for cases classified as major by the Internal Guard White Tiger Hall, the Internal Guard will not directly contact officials in general cases. The same applies to the abolition of slavery case, which is classified as a major case with a limit of fifty people. In addition, there is an unwritten rule that if officials above the fifth rank are found to have violated the rules, the Political Affairs Hall must be notified in a timely manner.

If a major case involves more than fifty people and involves officials or their immediate family members, the Internal Security Department will also conduct a strict investigation.

If the person is not an official but a civilian, but the number of slaves exceeds ten, the Internal Guard will issue a warning letter and require the other party to make the rectification within one month. If the warning is not eliminated within one month, a case will be filed.

On the fifth day of the first lunar month, the informant box was opened for the first time by the White Tiger Hall of the Internal Guard. No one expected that there were more than 500 informant letters inside.

Excluding nearly 400 letters of complaint that were not within the scope of the investigation, these were all reports of civilians owning slaves, but the number of people did not exceed ten. These letters of complaint were forwarded to the county government for investigation.

There were a total of 164 compliance reporting letters, which Baihutang sorted into 164 cases and handed over to different investigation teams.

At present, the Internal Security Abolition Order Inspection Department has mobilized a total of 1,000 people and established 100 investigation teams.
After receiving the case, the internal security investigation team was dispatched.

The first investigation team consists of ten people, led by Captain Yang Li.

Yang Li received a major case involving fifty slaves. It turned out that Zhang Hao, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, kept fifty slaves in his manor. It was reported by a servant in his mansion. If the case was verified, the servant would be rewarded with five hundred strings of cash, and the inner guards promised to protect his safety.

A huge reward is the motivation, and with a huge reward, people who know the situation report it one after another.

Yang Li, along with his nine men, rushed to Wushan County, Longzhou. There was a manor covering 50 hectares, which belonged to Zhang Hao. There were 50 slaves working for him in the farm.

On the sixth day of the first lunar month, all officials officially went to court. Li Ye also rushed back to Daming Palace from Huaqing Palace and began his normal official duties. His family came back on the thirteenth day of the first lunar month to attend the Lantern Festival in Chang'an.

There was no morning court today, and officials basically arrived at the Daming Palace one after another from the hour of Chen.

In front of several gates of Danfeng Gate, officials were distributing newspapers, including the first issue of "Datang Weekly", and almost all the officials took a copy.

The newspaper story spread a few months ago, but I didn’t expect it to finally come out at the beginning of this year.

The size of the newspaper was like A3 paper in later generations. It was printed on both front and back and folded in the middle to form four pages. The front page was about people's livelihood, the second page was about the emperor's will, the third page was about important news of the court, and the fourth page was about local news.

People's livelihood mainly includes the market prices of major commodities, disasters in various places and the court's handling of them, as well as grain production and other news related to people's livelihood.
The first item of the second version of the emperor's edict is that the emperor issued an edict on the first day of the first lunar month, requiring the inner guards to set up an abolition inspection office, offering rewards to all parties for clues from the third day of the first lunar month, and officially starting the inspection on the fifth day of the first lunar month.

At the same time, various standards for filing cases and offering rewards were introduced, with a reward of ten strings of cash for reporting a slave.

Once verified, the official will be dismissed and never employed again.

This news made all the officials tremble with fear.

(End of this chapter)