The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 171 Don’t take too big a step

Zhu Yuanzhang's expression became very serious. At first, he just wanted to find a reason to disgust those Confucian scholars.

It's okay to build a sage temple, but I didn't expect to build a judicial system.

It was impossible for him to ignore it.

As a person from the lower class and sitting in the position of emperor, he understands the situation at the grassroots level very well.

It’s really hard to see how low the case settlement rate is.

After being in contact with Chen Jingke for a long time, he learned a lot and his horizons broadened a lot.

I feel very deeply about what Chen Jingke often said:

Power hates blank space.

Where the imperial court cannot control, other forces will soon step in to fill the gap.

The low case completion rate will also give these forces room to breed.

Over time, these intertwined local forces will in turn constrain the imperial court.

Whether the judicial system can shake the foundation of Confucianism, he cannot yet see.

But it can be seen that this is filling a blank space.

Improve the efficiency of case handling and expand the court's influence in local areas.

It can weaken the growth of local power and at the same time divide the power of local officials.

It can be said to serve multiple purposes.

The more he thought about it, the more he thought this idea was good, it was really good.

"You raised a very good point about this judicial system. It is an issue that everyone ignored before..."

"Furthermore, scholars will also support this method, and there will be almost no resistance to its implementation."

There were [-] prefectures and more than [-] counties in the Ming Dynasty, which added up to another one or two thousand vacancies.

Counting the supporting staff, there are even more.

Scholars who work hard to become an official will naturally support it.

And what’s added this time is not the Zhima Guan of the eighth or ninth rank, but the fifth to eighth rank ones.

Even for officials, it is very attractive.

It is equivalent to another promotion path.

The only ones who may be dissatisfied may be the local officials, after all, they have been decentralized.

So Zhu Yuanzhang put forward a different opinion:

"Placing the judicial officers below the administrative chief officers and half a grade lower will reduce their resistance."

Chen Jingke shook his head repeatedly: "Absolutely not. The judiciary must be independent of the administrative system."

"Otherwise this would not be a reduction in the power of local governors, but an increase in their power."

He did not say anything about the need to maintain the independence of the judiciary.

This concept is a bit too advanced for Lao Zhu. Grasping the key point of decentralization is more convincing to him.

"Besides, we established the judicial system to cultivate legalists."

"If the judicial system continues to be suppressed by Confucianism and cannot remain independent, then Legalism will never stand up."

Zhu Yuanzhang touched his beard and said uncertainly: "Can the judicial system really revive Legalism?"

"Legalism is not just a law, in your words, it is a complete system of thought."

"It includes all aspects, and justice is only a small part of it."

"The judicial system alone is far from enough to revive Legalism."

Chen Jingke asked: "Does Your Majesty think that Confucianism defeated hundreds of schools of thought, thus achieving the dominance of one family?"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked in confusion: "Isn't it?"

Chen Jingke shook his head and said: "No, the various schools of thought were not defeated, but collapsed themselves."

"When only Confucian disciples could serve as officials, people all over the world abandoned their own knowledge and chose to study Confucianism for the sake of power and profit."

"If a knowledge has no apprentices, no matter how excellent it is, it will only perish."

Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a moment, nodded and said: "It is true, the bustle in the world is for benefit, and the hustle and bustle in the world is for benefit."

Chen Jingke continued: "Back to the judicial system, the promotion of judicial officers depends entirely on the case completion rate and the understanding of the Ming Dynasty Law."

"In order to be a good official and to be promoted, they will study the Ming Law in depth."

"If a group of people study the law every day, sooner or later they will come into contact with Legalist thought."

"The judicial system is equivalent to creating an opportunity to be an official without studying Confucianism."

"At that time, Legalist thought will naturally be revived."

"By the time the Confucian scholars realized the seriousness of the problem, it was already too late."

"The judicial system has been established and accepted by the world, and it cannot be abolished just because of their opinions."

"As long as the court does not bow its head, it will give the judicial system a major overhaul."

"No matter how strong the Confucian scholars are, there is nothing they can do against the Legalists. We can only watch them grow."

"Just like during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the more powerful Taoist, French and Mohist schools could only watch the rise of Confucianism."

"However, this process will be relatively long. It would be good to have results within twenty years."

"It will take even longer to really shake the status of Confucianism and pull the Confucian family off the altar."

Zhu Yuanzhang understood his plan, which was to see the big from the small, and break the surface from the small.

The method is indeed very feasible.

But instead he began to worry. He hated the Kong family and the rotten Confucians.

But he also knew the importance of Confucianism to imperial power.

He just wanted to limit the power of Confucianism, not to destroy Confucianism.

However, he did not express his worries, but said:

"Once Legalism revives, it will inevitably compete with Confucianism. Will it cause people's hearts to be torn apart again?"

Chen Jingke said: "No, the feudal system was adopted in the pre-Qin period. Everyone nominally respected the Emperor of Zhou, but the vassal states all managed their own affairs."

"The people only know that there is a king, but they don't know that there is an emperor."

"The First Emperor unified the six kingdoms and completed regional unification."

"Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty only respected Confucianism and achieved ideological unification."

"After more than a thousand years of development, the idea of ​​great unification has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people."

"Even if hundreds of schools of thought are revived now, it will not cause division in people's hearts."

"For example, there are many different schools within Confucianism, and the contradictions between many schools are still deep."

"But that doesn't stop them from calling themselves disciples of Confucianism."

"Similarly, no matter which ideology people believe in, it cannot change the fact that they are descendants of China."

"If His Majesty is worried about the division of people's hearts, the best solution is not to eliminate different ideas, but to strengthen the concept of China."

"As long as they regard themselves as descendants of China, people's hearts will not be broken."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slowly and said: "It makes sense. It seems that we should first fully promote "A Brief History of China"."

Chen Jingke saw his hesitation and could guess some of what he was worried about.

Vested interest groups don’t like to see changes the most. Change means they are uncontrollable and may cause them to lose everything.

Unchanged is the best.

If possible, Zhu Yuanzhang would least want to see changes.

But this is not possible.

Since there is no way to stay the same, look for predictable changes.

Let the country become stronger little by little.

This is why he later accepted change.

Zhu Yuanzhang has only respected Confucianism for more than a thousand years, and the Confucian family has been dominant for hundreds of years. Naturally, Zhu Yuanzhang did not want to change easily. The key is that this change is too unpredictable, so he hesitated.

This kind of conceptual problem is difficult to convince with words.

Chen Jingke did not continue to persuade.

Moreover, it was agreed at the beginning that changes that Zhu Yuanzhang felt he could not grasp could not be forcibly promoted.

Therefore, he brought the topic back to the judicial system itself:

"Reviving Legalism really requires caution."

"However, the establishment of the judicial system is a matter that benefits the country and the people, and it can be implemented first."

"The worst we can do is continue to let Confucian people serve as judges."

"When His Majesty figures it out one day, he can change his strategy at any time."

Zhu Yuanzhang agreed with this point, and the benefits of this change were foreseeable.

So he was very supportive: "Yes, let's establish the judicial system first, and then talk about other things."

"With judicial officers, the efficiency of investigating and handling cases will be improved, which is a good thing for the country and the people."

When Chen Jingke heard this, he quickly said: "Your Majesty, the power of investigating the case cannot be handed over to the judicial officer."

Zhu Yuanzhang asked in confusion: "Why? Without the power to investigate the case, how can they try the case?"

Chen Jingke thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, they have the power to investigate cases and the power to resolve cases. Aren't they a small group of royal guards?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was also a little confused, why was he related to Jin Yiwei:

"That's nonsense. Previously, the chief executive had the power to investigate and resolve cases at the same time, and I never saw them becoming royal guards."

"We know what you are worried about. With the power to investigate and resolve cases at the same time, the judicial officer has too much power and can easily lead to corruption."

"But if they are not given the power to investigate the case, how can they handle the case?"

"Relying on the yamen servants? Do you mean that the yamen servants listen to the chief officials or the judicial officers?"

"If the chief officer and the judicial officer cooperate well, that's all. If they don't cooperate well, the judicial officer may not be able to handle a single case."

Chen Jingke was speechless for a moment. Thinking about it, he realized that he was thinking too simply.

In the previous life, the system was more complete, with the public security organs, prosecutors and the law independent of each other and cooperating with each other.

But now we don’t have that condition, so we can’t copy the experience of our previous life.

As the saying goes, the meal must be eaten one bite at a time, and the road must be walked step by step.

Making the judicial system independent first is already a big step forward.

The public prosecutor system has let it go for the time being.

"Your Majesty is wise, but I thought of things too simply."

"However, if the government officials are assigned to the judicial officers, what will the administrative officers do?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily: "What have you learned from Li Shanchang these days? Don't you even know the third class and sixth room of the Yamen?"

"Wouldn't it be enough to assign the fast class and the strong class' part of the prison class to the judicial officers among the three classes?"

Chen Jingke suddenly understood and said sheepishly: "Ahem, I forgot in my hurry. Your Majesty, don't be angry. Don't be angry."

Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily: "I think it's not that you forgot, but that you didn't study hard at all."

"I will punish you by memorizing all the functional departments of all levels of government offices in the Ming Dynasty."

"We're going to take a test on you in a few days. If you can't answer the question, I'll take advantage of you."

Chen Jingke said with a grimace, "Yes, I know."

The yamen has three divisions and six offices. The six offices are modeled after the six ministries and are in charge of civil affairs.

The third class is what is commonly known as the Yamen class, which is divided into Zao class, Kuai class and Zhuang class.

Zaoban is the government servant who is responsible for clearing the way, maintaining order in the court, and setting the rules.

The fast class is similar to the criminal police, responsible for investigating cases.

The strong squad is responsible for guarding warehouses, government offices, and prisons, as well as patrolling, maintaining public order, and other tasks.

Now that the judiciary is independent, it would be nice to give him fast-track classes and prisons as well.

Of course, the independence of the judicial system is not such a simple matter, and involves many other details.

Chen Jingke spoke out all the key points he could think of.

As for whether it is suitable for the current environment, let professionals weigh it.

After chatting for a while, seeing Zhu Yuanzhang accumulating good things, Chen Jingke was ready to leave.

As soon as I lifted my steps, I suddenly thought of something and said:

"Your Majesty, that...that..."

Zhu Yuanzhang said impatiently: "If you have any trouble, hurry up. We still have a lot of things to deal with."

Chen Jingke said quickly: "Can you lend me some money? It's not much, just a hundred guan."

Zhu Yuanzhang was a little surprised: "It's not that I can't give you the money, but tell us first, why do you want to borrow so much money?"

Chen Jingke said: "After "A Brief History of China" has been compiled, I estimate that Fang Xiaoru should resign and travel around the world. I am going to give him the money for living expenses."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned again. He naturally knew Fang Xiaoru and Chen Jingke's plan.

But he couldn't understand Chen Jingke's approach:

"Aren't you afraid that he will escape control?"

Chen Jingke shook his head: "I have no specific requirements for him, I just feel that Ming Dynasty can no longer follow the old path of Cheng and Zhu Neo-Confucianism."

"Facts have proven that this road is unworkable."

"Otherwise, the Song Dynasty would not have been humiliated by the Liao and Jin Dynasties, nor would it have perished at the hands of the Mongols."

"That's why I guided him to explore new paths. As for where he ends up, it doesn't really matter."

"If he doesn't get far, it's nothing to lose to us."

"If he can really go far and his ideas have merit, then why not use them."

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed: "You young people are just newborn calves that are not afraid of tigers. You even want to change your people's hearts."

"That's all, let you go. I hope he can find a new way out."

In his opinion, no matter how hard Fang Xiaoru tried, he could never break out of the Confucian mold.

He also wanted to see what new tricks Chen Jingke and Fang Xiaoru could come up with.

Chen Jingke said happily: "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Taking a thick wad of new banknotes from Lao Zhu, Chen Jingke happily left Jinshen Hall.

The courtiers who were queuing up outside the palace to receive him all looked sideways.

Among them, the earliest one has been waiting here for almost an hour and a half.

In other words, the emperor ignored so many ministers and received him alone for more than an hour and a half.

Although I don’t know what they are talking about, this kind of grace is obvious to all.

No wonder he can be the eighth princess's consort.

I need to have a good relationship with him from now on.

Chen Jingke didn't know this, and even if he knew it, he wouldn't bother to care.

Returning to the side hall, I found that the small circle was gathering again, and Princess Fuqing was also there, and I was very happy.

also joined in.

If it was as he thought, he received a message from Fang Xiaoru two days later, inviting him to go out for a party.

　I have a cold and feel bad.

　　I don’t know if it’s yang, but if it is, then the three yangs will be the best.

　　I sat down at four o'clock and now I have barely written four thousand words.

　　Haihan everyone.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)