Chapter 196 The Truth Behind the Corruption Case

On the morning of May 14, Zhao Jun visited Bi Sheng.

Zhao Jun was still very interested in this man who lived in the history textbooks of junior high school.

At this time, Bi Sheng was 65 years old, but he was in very good health, with good hearing and good eyesight, which was very rare in ancient times.

When he learned that Zhao Jun was coming, he hurriedly took his family to greet him.

Zhao Jun consoled the great inventor, and then, surrounded by many officials and neighbors, expressed his views on inventions and creations.

He pointed out that scientific and technological inventions and creations are the key to improving the convenience of life. Hoes, bows and arrows, and blades are actually inventions.

Some schools of Confucianism denounced craftsmen's creations as "strange skills" and "small skills", which is definitely wrong. As long as the inventions and creations are beneficial to people's lives, they are not bad.

However, the world often misunderstands such criticisms of Confucianism, and there are also differences within Confucianism itself. In fact, Confucianism does not say that inventions and creations are bad, but that some useless but novel things cannot be presented to please the emperor.

Therefore, when dealing with inventions and creations, we must have a good sense of innovation and correct ideas.

Zhao Jun emphasized that inventions and creations should not be for the purpose of offering and pleasing others, but for making life better. Just like the inventions of hoes, curved plows, and water wheels, they change people's lives and make the world go one step further.

Therefore, the court encourages everyone to give full play to the wisdom of the working people, and specially establishes the Creation Bureau for this purpose, hoping that the people of the world will participate in inventions and creations and actively promote the new style of construction.

This time, Zhao Jun came here to represent the Creation Bureau to award Bi Sheng a medal for inventing movable type printing. The court not only issued Bi Sheng a certificate for invention and creation, but also gave him a cash reward.

Under the witness of many officials and neighbors, Zhao Jun personally handed over the certificate and 20 strings of cash that he had written last night and stamped with his seal of the Political System Institute, which made the old man burst into tears and lamented that his invention finally had value.

A series of processes were naturally planned by Zhao Jun.

In fact, Bi Sheng's movable type printing technology was of little significance at least at that time, or in feudal society. It was not until the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China that people knew its true purpose because Europe used movable type printing technology to strengthen the publishing industry.

So even if Bi Sheng invented this thing, in the Song Dynasty, except for seeing strange people, people still preferred to use woodblock printing rather than movable type printing invented by him.

However, Zhao Jun knew its value. Clay movable type did have great disadvantages, but it could be improved to lead movable type in the future, which would be more effective.

With movable type printing technology, the publishing industry will flourish and will bring huge publicity effects in the future.

In addition, Zhao Jun himself attached great importance to inventions and creations and put forward the concept of rejuvenating the country through science and technology. Therefore, this time he came to see Bi Sheng, in addition to seeing the characters in the history textbooks, the most important thing was to bear certain political significance and play the role of buying horse bones with a thousand gold.

In the afternoon, at the Criminal and Prison Office, after more than 20 days of investigation and evidence collection, all the evidence of Sun Mian's crime was available and conclusive. Li Jianzhi, the Criminal and Prison Censorate, followed the order of Zhao Jun, the head of the Political System, to approve the death penalty for the offending official.

Sun Mian was shackled and kept silent during the whole sentencing process, because he knew that with Guo Chengyou's previous experience, he would definitely die if he fell into Zhao Jun's hands, so he simply remained silent.

After several rounds of trials, Li Jianzhi read out his crimes and decided to execute him immediately.

He panicked when he heard this.

In the court, Sun Mian shouted that the local criminal justice department had no power to judge him, and according to normal procedures, he must report to the court.

This reason is actually quite sufficient.

Because in the past, although the investigation of local officials was under the jurisdiction of the road criminal justice department, the trial often had to go through the Imperial Censorate and the Dali Temple, so the trial of local prefectures and counties did have to wait for the court's reply before it could be executed.

However, doing so would result in a very long litigation time, leaving a lot of room for maneuver, so Zhao Jun ignored it and directly issued an order to execute.

Rules are set by people, and Zhao Jun already has the power to break them.

So under this ineffective protest, not long after, Sun Mian and his accomplices Bian Xun, Hangzhou Prefecture's second official, assistant officials, and clerks, more than 100 people, were beheaded or exiled.

Sun Mian never revealed the mastermind until his death.

Later, some other not-so-good news came back, that is, five county magistrates involved in corruption in Huainan West Road, four of whom died.

Moreover, Mengcheng, Bozhou, and Zhaoxin, Sizhou in Huainan East Road, also had serious corruption.

After Lin Zhu and the people sent by Jiang Tang to investigate, Mengcheng was exactly the same as Shouzhou. It was done by the former governor Guo Chengyou and two Mengcheng county magistrates, but Guo Chengyou was dead, and the former Mengcheng county magistrate was not killed, but died of illness.

As for Zhaoxin, Sizhou, it was another case. Zhaoxin was not only affected by the drought, but also by the plague. Many people died under the plague, and there was still a surplus of disaster relief grain issued by the court.

The former magistrate of Zhaoxin County and other officials in the county did not store the extra relief grain back to the Changping warehouse, but embezzled it themselves, which was a bit like eating empty salaries, but it had nothing to do with that side.

It was precisely because of the empty salaries that the former magistrate of Zhaoxin County did distribute relief grain, instead of not distributing the grain and letting the people starve to death, so he was able to conceal the truth.

This time, Zhao Jun investigated the corruption case in Huainan West Road, which was like a swindle.

The former magistrate of Zhaoxin County was naturally arrested by Zhao Jun.

However, as the relevant personnel were silenced, Sun Miao remained silent until death, and Huang Wei was too far away to know what was going on over there. As a result, everyone involved behind the scenes was still a mystery.

What has surfaced so far are just a few county magistrates, Sun Miao, a prefect, and Huang Wei, the former Huainan West Road transfer envoy.

On May 17, Yang Gao immediately sent an official document and he captured Huoqiu's former county magistrate from Sichuan.

Moreover, he was attacked by "water bandits" on the way. If Yang Gao had not responded quickly and led the army himself, he would have been killed and silenced again.

In this case, the former Huoqiu County Magistrate was scared to death. Finally, Yang sued for interrogation, and he asked to meet Zhao Jun before he was willing to let go.

Zhao Jun then took a boat northward to Zhenzhou.

In fact, he did not do anything during this period. When Li Jianzhi was trying Sun Mian's case, Zhao Jun was visiting people to understand their sentiments.

In addition to the agricultural situation in the Jiangnan region, the most important thing is the southern economy.

In later generations, the southern coastal zone was the economic center, and it was similar during the Song Dynasty. Frequent foreign trade exchanges made the commercial atmosphere in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangzhou extremely developed.

According to historical records, the number of large-scale shipping ships traveling between Guangzhou Shipping Department every year can reach more than 2,000, and trade spread to more than 50 or 60 countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, and West Asia at that time, including Japan and North Korea.

Hangzhou is an important hub for maritime trade. As early as the Zhao Guangyi period, the Song Dynasty established municipal shipping departments in Hangzhou and Mingzhou (Ningbo) to specifically manage foreign merchants from Guangzhou.

In addition, many Japanese and Korean merchants came to Hangzhou and other places, which was the main gathering place for Japanese merchants, while Korean merchants mainly concentrated in Mizhou (Qingdao).

For example, Japan's famous breeding program took place in Taizhou, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. This shows how much radiation and influence the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions had on Southeast Asia and East Asia at that time.

During this period, Zhao Jun inspected the Hangzhou Shipping Department and also visited the business guilds in Hangzhou. He chatted with some of the more famous businessmen in Hangzhou and asked them for their opinions and views on the current business of the Song Dynasty.

He even met with some Japanese businessmen, which made the Japanese very excited. He casually asked them about the situation in the country, which was like pouring beans through a bamboo tube, and he told them without any notice.

In addition to business, agriculture is also his focus. Zhao Jun traveled around outside Hangzhou and inspected several villages and towns around Hangzhou such as Anxi, Chi'an, Linping, Chang'an, etc.

Understand the land annexation situation here, understand the difficulties farmers are encountering now, and go to the fields to see how productive southern agriculture is.

As a child who grew up in the southern countryside, Zhao Jun did not feel that the agricultural development in Jiangsu and Zhejiang was very developed. The planting intervals in the rice fields were far less than those of later generations, and the ears of rice produced by early rice were also fewer than those of later generations. many.

Not full, less mature rice, and short rice seedlings are all problems.

You must know that one acre in the Song Dynasty was almost the same as one acre in later generations, which was approximately equal to 0.91 acre in later generations.

According to Fan Zhongyan's report to Zhao Zhen, "Ten Matters in Reply to the Imperial Edict", it can be seen that at that time, the amount of rice per mu was two to three stones.

One stone in the Song Dynasty was about 50.2 kilograms. Even if calculated as three stones, the output of one mu per quarter in the Song Dynasty was actually equivalent to about 150 kilograms in later generations.

Later generations have basically been able to achieve a general yield of more than 500 kilograms of rice per acre, and super hybrid rice can achieve a yield of 1,000 kilograms per acre.

Therefore, the grain production per acre in later generations was at least three times that of the Song Dynasty. It is obvious how big the productivity gap between the two sides was.

This is still the south where grain production is relatively high.

If you go to the north, one acre of grain production is basically about two stones, and there are about 600 million acres of arable land. To feed the country's population of nearly 100 million, and to prepare for war, the survival pressure of the people at the bottom is very difficult.

Moreover, many people do not have their own fields, and they are all tenants and long-term workers of landlords. In times of famine, hunger is rampant, which is the most realistic portrayal.

What Zhao Jun has seen along the way is the suffering of the people. Dealing with those corrupt officials can be regarded as paving the way to change everything in the future.

On May 26, Zhao Jun arrived in Zhenzhou.

Yang Gao took the water route. The former Huoqiu County Magistrate was serving in Sichuan. The people sent by Huainan took Zhao Jun's warrant and captured him on Fulu Road in Chengdu. They then took a boat along the Yangtze River to Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Originally, we should just go to Shuzhou, and then take the overland route through Huaining and enter Shouzhou. However, Zhao Jun has already arrived in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so he can only move on and wait for him in Zhenzhou.

At Zhenzhou Wharf on Huainan East Road, when Zhao Jun's ship arrived, transshipment envoy Jiang Tang led many officials to greet him.

Zhao Jun was quite tired from running around during this period. He should have had a good rest, but he still declined Jiang Tang’s banquet. Under the leadership of Yang Gao, he went all the way to the Zhenzhou Transfer Envoy Yamen to meet the man. Former magistrate of Huoqiu County.

From the time in March when Zhao Jun discovered the existence of the Huainan corruption case to late May, more than two months later, this major case finally came to light and a key figure was caught.

Although Huang Wei was probably arrested, he was in the north and too far away, so the news could not be delivered immediately.

Therefore, Zhao Jun is eager to know all the prisoners from the mouth of the former Huoqiu County Magistrate.

In the cell, in the interrogation room, Zhao Jun was sitting behind the desk. Next to him were Yang Gao, the shipping envoy of Huainan West Road, and Jiang Tang, the shipping envoy of Huainan East Road.

The rest of the guards, such as Jiang Dalang and Huang Sanlang, protected them on both sides. Many forbidden troops stood in the middle, making a great noise.

The room was relatively dark, with only a small window high on the wall behind Zhao Jun.

The sun shone in through the window. When the former Huoqiu County Magistrate Wang was brought in, he was first blinded by the sun and could not open his eyes.

After a while, he adjusted himself and saw a young face sitting behind the desk in front of him, looking at him seriously.

I had heard that the Magistrate was young, only in his early twenties, and now I finally saw him in person.

Magistrate Wang was handcuffed and brought to Zhao Jun. After looking around, he bowed to Zhao Jun with a slightly panicked look and said, "I am the guilty official Wang Yingshi, I meet the Magistrate."

"Yes."

Zhao Jun looked at him and said in a deep voice, "Wang Yingshi, you know why I arrested you."

"Alas."

Wang Yingshi sighed and said, "I knew there would be such a day. When I dreamed at night, I could hear the cries of the people of Huoqiu who were starving to death."

"It sounds like you have some conscience, but the most people died in your Huoqiu County in Shouzhou. Do you still feel a little ashamed?"

Zhao Jun looked at him sternly.

There was a severe drought in Huainan, and both Huainan West Road and Huainan East Road were affected.

According to historical records, tens of thousands of people died.

There is no statistics on the exact number of people, but nearly 20,000 people died in Huoqiu County alone. Every household was wearing a white scarf. If Wang Yingshi really had a conscience, the disaster would not be so serious.

Wang Yingshi smiled bitterly and said, "The magistrate is high up, how can he understand the difficulties of lower-level officials like us. If he had not agreed to Huang Wei and Sun Mian at the time, the guilty official would have been demoted to a remote area and served as an idle official."

"So in order to keep your official position and flatter your superiors, you ignored the lives of so many people?"

Zhao Jun shouted, "That's thousands of lives, not weeds on the roadside. Compared with your official position, so many lives are not worth it?"

Wang Yingshi covered his face in shame and could not answer.

Zhao Jun stared at him, and after a moment he said in a deep voice: "Okay, it's time to confess. Tell us everything about the people involved. If you confess, your family can be exempted from the crime. Otherwise, Sun Mian's fate will be yours."

He did not say that Wang Yingshi's confession would spare him the death penalty, but he could spare his family from exile. Unlike Sun Mian, he was not only beheaded, but his family was also confiscated and all his family members were sent to the army as a warning to others.

"Yes."

Wang Yingshi said tremblingly: "In addition to Huang Wei and Sun Mian, there were also Li Yu, the then Huainan Road Shipping Envoy, Guo Chengyou, the prefect of Bozhou, Yang Chongxun, the prefect of Chenzhou, and the Huainan Road Transportation Judge."

He confessed the names of more than a dozen people in one breath, the lowest official among them was the Tongpan of a prefecture, and in addition to these senior officials of Huainan West Road at that time.

If the local county magistrates, chief clerks, county lieutenants and lower-level clerks are counted, the number of people involved in the case may reach hundreds or thousands.

Such a huge amount of money, embezzling state assets, and harming the people, is really a crime that cannot be forgiven.

Zhao Jun listened to these names, and murderous intent gradually rose in his eyes.

Among them, Yang Chongxun, the governor of Chenzhou, was recalled in his mind. This man was born in the military and served as a privy envoy during the Tiansheng period. He was in a high position and was decisive in killing!

There is another chapter after 12 o'clock. I slept too late last night and got up this afternoon. Then my nose has not healed, and my stomach is upset again. I feel like I am about to become a sickly person. I feel uncomfortable.