Chapter 325: Nationwide Crackdown on Gangsters and Evil Forces

"boom!"

There was a loud banging sound in the house.

This is the west corner of the back pavilion of the Constitutional Yuan, located on the west side of the Constitutional Yuan.

Since the rear pavilion of Daqing Palace was changed into the Political Yuan, the Political Yuan has also gone through several rounds of expansion and construction.

The front yard was connected to the Daqing Hall and turned into a huge garden. There were arched passages on the left and right sides, connecting various ministries of the imperial court.

In the backyard, there are storage rooms, conference rooms, lounges, east and west storage rooms, and many other places for the prime ministers to meet and rest.

At this moment, under Zhao Jun and Jia Changchao, Zheng Jian, the boss of the Yushitai, Cao Xiu, the boss of the Imperial City Department, Fu Bi, the boss of the Ministry of War, and Du Yan, the Minister of Police, stood in the audience.

Jia Changchao slapped the table and yelled emotionally: "The two prime ministers of the imperial court were stopped and robbed by hundreds of people on their way to patrol the Yellow River. Is there any royal law under the emperor's feet? Ah? What do you do for food?"

His saliva almost sprayed onto several people's faces, making those who were being reprimanded below feel a little embarrassed on their faces.

After all, Jia Changchao was on the same level as them in the past, and even if they were not on the same level, the literati of the Song Dynasty did not care whether you were a senior official or a junior official.

Jia Changchao suddenly entered the Constitutional Yuan, as if he was riding on their heads, bossing them around like this, which naturally made people uncomfortable.

Du Yan said angrily: "Although the Police Department is in charge of county government officers across the country, Fengqiu is a county after all. The Police Department's main responsibility is the various police branches. This level has not been reported, so how do we know? "

Zheng Jian also frowned and said: "The Yushitai is mainly responsible for whether local officials are corrupt, and the imperial court is repairing the river embankment, so the Yushitai's work is placed on supervising the river embankment together with officials from the Ministry of Industry. It’s difficult to monitor the place.”

Fu Bi glanced at Jia Changchao, and choked back: "If Mr. Jia is angry, don't attack our Ministry of War. Even if there are such gangsters in the local area who block the road and rob, it has nothing to do with the Ministry of War. The Ministry of War is here to protect the people." To defend our country, we can’t send out a large army just for a few hundred people.”

Among the four, Cao Xiu was the only one who did not speak and stood honestly.

Once he knew Zhao Jun's temper, making excuses in front of Zhao Jun was seeking death. Secondly, he really had no reason to find.

Take Du Yan as an example.

Now that the Public Security Bureau has become independent, the local county government officials have been separated. There are kongmufang belonging to the county government, government officials belonging to the police department, household houses belonging to the household department, and execution chambers belonging to Dali Temple. etc.

As the Minister of the Police Department, how could Du Yan have access to the county government affairs of a county. Even if there are bandits and bullies in the local area, they will definitely be under the control of the local county captain.

If the county lieutenant cannot control it, or if the county lieutenant covers it up, then it is the state government at the next level up, and there is even a first-level road department above it. How is it impossible to go through so many levels and send it to Du Yan, the Minister of Police?

Zheng Jian is in a similar situation. There is no local censorship department in Gyeonggi Road. The central censorship station oversees the local area. However, the censorship station does not have an organization at the county level. The highest level is the censorship case at the state level.

Therefore, even if the report is reported at various levels, it has to go through the State Censor's Case and the Road Censor's Department before it can finally reach his hands.

But there are so many things going on in the country, and it’s impossible to regulate everything in place.

Some are caused by collusion between officials and bandits, deceiving the superiors and concealing the truth from the inferiors. Some of them were in an era when information was underdeveloped, and information isolation was not taken seriously. In other cases, even if officials heard about such things, they simply pretended not to see it because they were afraid of taking responsibility.

Not to mention Fu Bi, he didn't even know why he was called here to be scolded.

Therefore, it is not unreasonable for the three people to instinctively choose to shirk responsibility.

"boom!"

However, Zhao Jun slowly raised his head and looked at them with a gloomy expression. The teacup in his hand seemed to have slipped and fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

This time Zheng Jian, Du Yan and Fu Bi did not dare to speak.

Zhao Jun has been in charge of the Constitutional Yuan for nine years. From the beginning when everyone was dissatisfied, now all officials are in awe of his authority.

It's not that he has convinced everyone now, but everyone can see that no matter how you impeach Zhao Jun, the emperor and the prime ministers of the Constitutional Yuan will always be on his side.

There is no chance of winning against him. To describe it as using an egg against a stone as a mantis' arm as a chariot is to put gold on their own faces.

And Zhao Jun's work style has also been reflected. It doesn't matter whether you are an upright official or a corrupt official. As long as your professional ability is not up to standard, let alone a good official known for his honesty, even if you are the king of heaven, he can give you a slap. In the end, he was even dismissed from office and demoted.

Any honest official who dared to confront him has now gone home to plant sweet potatoes. Any corrupt official who dared to appear in front of him now has grass three feet high on his grave.

Therefore, even if the three of them are not greedy or possessive and think they have no leverage, in front of Zhao Jun, as long as they want to continue to be officials and continue to sit in this position, they must listen to him honestly.

"I think you still don't realize the importance of this matter."

Zhao Jun looked at them, stood up slowly, put his hands behind his back, walked slowly around their room, walked behind them, and said: "Under the emperor's feet, hundreds of people can actually block the road and rob, and Bianliang is still like this. , What is it like in the world? The police department has no responsibility at all?”

Du Yan remained silent.

Then Zhao Jun looked at Zheng Jian and said, "According to convention, the censors must go to various counties for inspection every month. The ice is not formed in a day, and the scale of hundreds of people is definitely not formed in a short period of time. Are the inspectors dead? Can't see so many bandits on the street, can't hear the voices of the people?"

Zheng Jian looked helpless.

Finally, Zhao Jun stared at Fu Bi again, looking him up and down, which frightened Fu Bi.

But he felt that there was nothing wrong with him, so he straightened his back.

However, what Zhao Jun said next made him feel like he fell into an ice cave.

"The bandits have guns!"

Zhao Jun's calm tone revealed a hint of murderous intent: "Do you understand why you are called here, Minister of War?"

Fu Bi realized the importance of the matter in an instant.

Since the appearance of muskets in the Song Dynasty, they have been strictly controlled. Soldiers cannot get muskets during normal training in the army. They can only be distributed during shooting training and put back in the armory after shooting.

And when the muskets are forged, it is almost impossible to leak.

Because the Firearms Department did not have contact with the outside world, the craftsmen and their families lived in a separate market town, which had schools, family buildings, and various living facilities, like an independent small kingdom, and there was military protection outside.

It can be said that the process of forging firearms was no different from being confined. Although it was allowed to go out during holidays, it was impossible to take things out.

Therefore, the firearms could flow out only if there were problems in logistics distribution, soldiers' hands, and weapons storage.

After the three yamen originally controlled by the nobles were abolished by Zhao Jun, the Ministry of War took over their functions. Since then, the army of the Song Dynasty has been responsible for the deployment of troops by the Privy Council, and the Ministry of War is responsible for the promotion of middle and lower-level officers, the allocation of logistics materials, and the rewards and punishments of military courts.

Among them, if the guns flow out from the hands of soldiers, then the generals in charge of those soldiers will be punished. If it is from the logistics distribution and weapons storage, the Ministry of War will naturally be blamed.

Therefore, upon hearing Zhao Jun's words, Fu Bi immediately said in a deep voice: "I will investigate this matter and give an explanation to the prefect."

"You want to investigate this matter, not to give me an explanation, but to give an explanation to the people of the world. These people under the emperor's feet are so rampant, how about other places?"

Zhao Jun glanced at them and said: "I haven't reported this matter to His Majesty yet. If I report it to His Majesty, you should know the consequences. Today, it is me and Prime Minister Jia who asked you to come here, not to let you go to Chongzheng Hall in front of the emperor and many prime ministers. That is to give you a chance. I only give you three days. Do you hear me!"

"Yes!"

The four people were sweating profusely.

"Okay, that's it."

Zhao Jun walked straight out of Xixie and no longer had the mood to continue to go out of the city to Huazhou to inspect the Yellow River.

Jia Changchao passed by the four people, glanced at them, and couldn't help saying: "It is only the prefect who is kind enough to give you this opportunity. If it were me, hum."

He left with a wave of his sleeves.

The four people looked at each other, then left silently, and went back to their respective departments to vent their anger on their subordinates.

It was already afternoon, and Bianliang was only about 30 kilometers away from Fengqiu. Zhao Jun set out in the morning, and it was still about 10 miles away from Fengqiu County. It took him four hours to go back and forth, so it was time for the meeting in Chongzheng Hall.

Many prime ministers were not in the Political System Court. Zhao Jun and Jia Changchao returned to the Political System Court and looked at the empty hall. Finally, they thought that there was nothing to do anyway, so they might as well go to Chongzheng Hall for a meeting.

"The main task at the end of the year is to check the data of various departments and compare the policies for next year. We must make the GDP increase next year."

At this moment in Chongzheng Hall, Yan Shu talked freely: "At present, we still need to implement the locations of iron mines in various places reported by the Ministry of Natural Resources. The large-scale steelmaking still cannot do without iron mines. According to Hanlong's intention, coal mines and iron mines will be operated by state-owned steel mills and coal mines, but some small mines can be contracted to private owners."

"Yes."

Zhao Zhen nodded and said: "Da Sun has been in Song Dynasty for ten years. Starting from next year, we will officially enter the first industrial revolution. Taking off the hat of an agricultural country and stepping onto a new stage, this matter must be fully prepared, not careless, and everything must be prepared. "

"Please rest assured, the emperor."

Lv Yijian coughed slightly, and then said: "The Ministry of Industry and Commerce has prepared the documents, and the Political System Council has signed them. Starting from February next year, each route will be allowed to set up state-owned enterprise departments according to the natural resources within its territory, and to establish steel plants, cement plants, textile plants, and brick plants. The central court will also establish a large-scale national central enterprise directly under the Political System Council. "

"Well, it's the same as the state-owned salt field, tea field, and wine field."

Zhao Zhen said.

"Yes."

Everyone responded.

Although the Song Dynasty opened up the original monopoly and allowed private participation in the exclusive sales of salt, iron, tea, and wine that were originally controlled by the court.

But this does not mean full privatization, but allows private businessmen to come in, and the state-owned monopoly still exists and is directly under the Political System Council.

The level of the head of the department is the same as that of the ordinary three-level departmental institutions. According to the size, it is divided into the fourth rank or the fourth rank, which is equivalent to the provincial or vice-provincial level.

In addition to the original monopoly, the Song Dynasty also established a maritime shipping group. It was also a central enterprise, organizing fleets to go to Japan and Goryeo for trade every year, which was very large in scale and earned a lot of profits for the Song Dynasty treasury.

Therefore, the current situation of the Song Dynasty is definitely still dominated by central enterprises and state-owned enterprises, driving the operation of private companies, and then slowly liberalizing business controls to increase business prosperity.

Everyone was discussing the new policies to be promulgated next year. At this moment, Wang Shouzhong knocked on the door and walked in to report: "Your Majesty, the Governor and Prime Minister Jia are back."

"oh?"

Zhao Zhen was puzzled, and when he saw Zhao Jun and Jia Changchao had come in, he asked: "Hanlong, Duke Ziming, didn't you go to patrol the Yellow River?"

Jia Chang came over and saluted Zhao Zhen first, but stopped talking.

Zhao Jun replied: "Halfway through, I suddenly didn't want to go anymore, so I came back."

"Oh, let's sit down and talk together."

Zhao Zhen didn't think too much and asked them to sit down together to continue discussing government affairs.

The two of them sat down.

"Then let's continue talking. The next step is to talk about the reform of the imperial examination next year."

Lu Yijian said.

This year's apportionment is only part of the reform.

In order to officially enter industrialization next year, the court must be prepared to deal with industrialization.

For example, next year's major infrastructure projects; preparations for transportation rail planning; opening up the national newspaper industry; allowing private businesses to enter emerging fields; reforming the imperial examination to include science subjects and cultivate more science and engineering talents, etc.

Basically, at the end of each year, we start to make plans for the next year. This is also what Zhao Jun advocates, which is to take a long-term view and not be a monk for a day.

The meeting continued for more than half an hour. At this time, Wang Shouzhong knocked on the door again and interrupted the meeting.

Zhao Zhen let him in and asked, "What happened again?"

Wang Shouzhong glanced at Zhao Jun and Jia Changchao, then hurriedly walked to Zhao Zhen and whispered a few words to him.

"What?"

Zhao Zhen was shocked, then looked at Zhao Jun and said, "Hanlong, were you attacked on the road?"

"Being attacked?"

As soon as these words came out, many prime ministers in Chongzheng Palace were shocked.

Fan Zhongyan said quickly: "What's going on?"

Yan Shu also said: "Who is so brave that he dares to attack the prime minister of the dynasty?"

"Is there another interest group behind this?"

"Your Majesty, investigate this matter thoroughly!"

"Please send troops immediately, and we must wipe out the mastermind behind it!"

Everyone's hearts were in their throats. Fortunately, they saw that Zhao Jun and Jia Changchao were fine. The most important thing was that Zhao Jun was fine, so they were not so excited.

But everyone was filled with indignation and immediately expressed that they would investigate the matter strictly.

Zhao Zhen's face could visibly change from shock to anger, and then he said: "Where is Cao Xiu, let him come over."

Zhao Jun smiled bitterly and said: "Forget it, I don't want to make this matter too big and delay the progress of next year, so I didn't tell everyone."

"what happened?"

Zhao Zhen looked at Jia Changchao angrily.

Jia Changchao immediately explained the matter exactly as it was, and then said: "Zhiyuan is still kind-hearted. Seeing that they are just a group of ruffians, they don't want to start a war, but I can't see it."

"boom!"

Zhao Zhen slapped the case and said, "Let Cao Xiu, Du Yan, Zheng Jian, and Fu Bi come over here!"

"never mind."

Zhao Jun said to Wang Shouzhong: "You go down first, I will talk to the officials about this."

Wang Shouzhong glanced at Zhao Zhen and saw that Zhao Zhen didn't speak, so he bent down slightly and walked backwards away from Chongzheng Hall.

After he went out, Zhao Zhen looked at Zhao Jun and said, "Dasun, I even dared to stop your carriage and even used a musket. Isn't this a big deal?"

"Big, but not as big as the sky."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "Actually, after sitting in this position, I realized that the real national affairs are mainly development. For example, feeding hundreds of millions of people, keeping clothing warm, and making the lives of people all over the world easier. better."

"The emergence of a large number of evil forces and hooligans across the country has affected social security and stability. It is definitely a national problem, but compared with the people's livelihood across the country, it is still far behind."

"These issues can be placed in the Constitutional Yuan, and the Constitutional Yuan can issue orders to crack down on crime nationwide and eradicate evil, but there is no need for the emperor to go to war."

"It's like when I was studying history, I never quite understood why the imperial court in ancient times turned a blind eye to some people's grievances. It was only when the matter got bigger and bigger that it finally reached the ears of the emperor, and was finally resolved."

"Now I understand, it's not that I'm indifferent, but that the focus above is on the grand strategy of the entire country's development. It's impossible to pay attention to everything in detail. Only when the fermentation continues and public opinion surges, can I notice it. question."

"This is the position. From the perspective of the common people, they hope to receive fair treatment. But from the perspective of the emperor, he cannot take care of every wronged commoner. What he has to take care of is the interests of the entire country."

"So when you sit in this position, you have to plan things related to this position. National security issues can be raised by the Constitutional Yuan and implemented by the Police Department. As the emperor, the official has to consider the future of the country. There is really no You need to worry about my safety.”

It sounds as if Zhao Jun tolerated it and didn't complain to Zhao Zhen. Then after getting the power, he immediately went crazy and led his troops to wipe out the robbers in Fengqiu.

But in fact, it is because he has matured and understands the importance of things in this position.

To put it simply, if the sitting position is different, the issues considered will naturally be different.

If Zhao Jun were a county magistrate, then in addition to the people's livelihood issues, development issues, and education issues in a county, he would also have to consider public security issues.

Then he, the county magistrate, must do a good job in public security and eliminate the evil forces in the county, so that the people of the county cannot be left in dire straits.

The same principle applies to a Zhizhou and Lu Si.

So is it feasible to put it on the Emperor of the Song Dynasty and the Prime Minister of the Political Academy?

It works.

Because they also have to consider national security issues.

But every issue has priority.

Their highest priority is to seek development and progress for the Song Dynasty, transform the entire country from an agricultural society to an industrial society, and make the country go better and further.

Public security issues are a secondary issue. The main person responsible for this issue is not the emperor and the prime minister, but the police department.

The Police Department is in charge of public security across the country. If there is a problem with public security across the country, it is the Police Department's business.

In addition, supervision is not in place, and both the Yushitai and the Imperial City Department are responsible.

Therefore, the nature of this matter is actually negative for public security and supervision, and has nothing to do with the rapid development of the country that the emperor and prime ministers want to study.

So since Zhao Jun encountered this incident, he naturally planned to send people to deal with Fengqiu and the gang of evil forces, and then next year he would launch a nationwide crackdown to eradicate gangs and evil on a nationwide scale.

There is no need to complain to the Constitutional Yuan, the place where the country’s development path is discussed, which would make it seem like he is making a mountain out of a molehill.

"Of course, I still have some selfish motives, and that is to keep those four people."

Zhao Jun finally said calmly: "If I report it directly to Brother, Cao Xiu and the others, as the main responsible persons, will probably be punished. With Brother's character, I'm afraid he will be slapped. These people have done a good job. OK, as for the responsibility, let’s wait until the investigation is clear. I’m mainly worried that I will punish them directly before the investigation is clear.”

"Okay, since the great grandson said so, then I will not ask who is responsible for this matter, but this matter must not be passed lightly. Anyone involved must have their families confiscated and exterminated!"

Zhao Zhen suppressed the anger in his heart, then looked at Fan Zhongyan and said, "Mr. Xiwen, it's up to you to investigate this matter thoroughly."

"yes."

Fan Zhongyan responded quickly.

At this moment, everyone had no intention of continuing the meeting.

After all, Zhao Jun's safety is too important. In their hearts, it is more important than the development of the country.