Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 99 Xiongzhou City

When an official committed a crime, the case was tried by the Dali Temple, and the Ministry of Justice only sent people to participate in the trial and play a supervisory role. However, the government allowed the Ministry of Justice to arrest people directly.

Since the founding of the country, the Ministry of Justice has rarely been asked to arrest officials, and none of these officials has been able to escape unscathed.

In the eyes of the officials from the Ministry of Justice who led the team to capture Feng Deguang, Feng Deguang was already finished, so they naturally would not be polite to him.

"My husband is the Chief Censor. Even if they want to arrest him, it should be the Dali Temple. On what basis can the Ministry of Justice arrest him?" Feng Deguang's wife said angrily.

"shut up!"

Feng Deguang held his wife and smiled at the official, "Can I have a word with you?"

The official hesitated and said, "Of course you can, but you have to do it quickly and within my sight."

"Thank you!"

Feng Deguang thanked him, took his wife aside, whispered a few words, then walked back and said with a smile: "Let's go."

"go!"

The officials from the Ministry of Justice did not arrest Feng Deguang, but instead asked two yamen runners to follow Feng Deguang and take him away from the Feng family.

After Feng Deguang was taken away, Feng Deguang's wife hurried to the study, found a mechanism according to what Feng Deguang said, and opened the secret room.

Mrs. Feng walked into the secret room and went downstairs along the stairs. She saw many antique display shelves in the secret room, on which were placed all kinds of treasures.

In addition, there are some wooden boxes, but I don’t know what is inside them.

Mrs. Feng didn't even look at it, but started rummaging around on an antique display shelf. She soon found the compartment, opened it, and took out an account book.

When I opened it, I saw many names written on it.

After getting the account book, Mrs. Feng hurriedly left the secret room, and then she and her son went door to door, taking gifts with them according to the list on it.

……

The news that the Chief Censor had been arrested soon spread throughout Bianliang.

For the common people, it just gives them some topics to talk about, but few people really care about it.

Not to mention a Chief Censor, even if the emperor passed away, it would not matter much to ordinary people.

But for the officialdom in Bianliang, it was a bolt of thunder.

Some are happy about it, some are worried, and some are indifferent.

However, the next day, the emperor's desk was piled with letters pleading for Feng Deguang like snowflakes.

The official was holding a piece of paper, on which was written the names of the houses that Mrs. Feng and his son Feng Mingsong had visited after Feng Deguang was arrested.

"It seems that Feng Deguang has a wide range of friends. His wife and son have only found a dozen families, but there are dozens of officials who plead for him." The official sneered.

It has only been a short time since Feng Deguang was arrested, and most people don’t even know what Feng Deguang has done specifically, but they are pleading for him. This is obviously a big taboo.

The officials knew without thinking that these people were most likely promoted by Feng Deguang over the years. They were worried that Feng Deguang would expose them, so they pleaded for Feng Deguang this time.

The official picked up a few documents at random and took a look. He actually saw the document from the Dali Temple Chief, who said that the examination of officials should be done by the Dali Temple, and it was against the rules to let the Ministry of Justice arrest people.

"Take down all these petitions. Anyone who submits petitions to plead for him will be fined one month's salary, and the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple will be fined half a year's salary!" the official said indifferently.

"Yes!" Eunuch Liu responded and asked someone to take away all the sticks.

……

Those who pleaded for Feng Deguang were fined their salaries, but instead of being worried or afraid, they were relieved. They pleaded for Feng Deguang not only because they were worried that Feng Deguang would betray them, but they were also testing the government's attitude.

The government has ordered the Ministry of Justice to arrest people, so it is very likely that a lot of evidence has been obtained, and the government may already know about their affairs.

As the saying goes, the law does not hold everyone accountable. These officials all know that many people have bribed Feng Deguang over the years, and it is impossible for the government to hold them all accountable.

Now the government has only fined them one month's salary, which means that the government has no intention of investigating the matter further. Otherwise, the government could have completely ignored it and then questioned them one by one after obtaining evidence.

……

"Your Highness, this is the detailed rules for distributing the land tax based on what you said. Please take a look." Wang Anshi said, holding a thick document.

Sanshui stepped forward, took it and gave it to Zhao Xing.

Zhao Xing asked someone to give Wang Anshi a seat and started to watch.

A quick glance at the note showed that it had tens of thousands of words, which gave Zhao Xing a headache.

However, he still read it carefully. He had to say that Wang Anshi was indeed amazing. The system he established was very complete. He proposed many things that Zhao Xing had not thought of and formulated preventive measures.

Finally, Wang Anshi also proposed that if the land tax was to be implemented, it would be necessary to measure all the land in the country.

Zhao Xing pondered for a while after reading it, and said: "The system formulated by Wang Xima is very perfect, and I can't see any problems at the moment. However, every advantage will bring disadvantages. Not being able to see it does not mean that there is no disadvantage. You should think about it carefully and improve it. When I become the prefect of Kaifeng in the future, I will report to my father and see if it can be tried in the entire Kaifeng Prefecture. Only through practice can we discover some omissions that we didn't expect and make timely adjustments.

Otherwise, if we rashly implement it nationwide and make mistakes, the impact will be too great.”

Wang Anshi's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he praised: "Your Highness is wise. Choosing a place to try it out is indeed a good idea!"

"Wang Xima has nothing to do, so he can go and learn about the various aspects of Kaifeng Prefecture, find out what drawbacks there are, and formulate measures for improvement. I will try to implement them when I become the prefect of Kaifeng in the future." Zhao Xing said.

"Yes!" Wang Anshi responded, and said, "If Your Highness has no other instructions, I will take my leave first."

"Yeah." Zhao Xing nodded.

After Wang Anshi left, Zhao Xing continued to look at the calligraphy.

……

Xiongzhou City is one of the northern border cities, where tens of thousands of soldiers are stationed all year round to guard against the Liao Kingdom.

Although it is a border city located in the north, Xiongzhou is very lively and is not much worse than some big cities in the south.

The reason for this is that there is a Song-Liao trade market outside the northern city of Xiongzhou, where merchants from the Song and Liao countries can trade goods from the two countries.

The trade is not open every day, but at regular intervals.

Therefore, the Song Dynasty merchants who had been active in the trade for a long time usually lived in Xiongzhou City.

After more than half a month's long journey, Sheng Wei and his group arrived in Xiongzhou City.

After finding an inn to stay, Sheng Wei found Fang Zhongrong and said, "General Fang, His Highness said that you can handle the city introduction. Now that we have arrived in Xiongzhou, when can the city introduction be completed?"

The market permit is the qualification certificate for entering the market. The government will verify the type and quantity of goods and then issue a market permit. Merchants can only enter the market to trade with the market permit.

The market permit is not only an admission ticket, but the government will also collect taxes based on the quantity recorded on it and the amount of goods left when leaving the market.

However, what they brought was wine, which could not withstand inspection at all, let alone be introduced in the market.

"Mr. Sheng, please rest in the inn. I'll be out for a while." Fang Zhongrong said.

Sheng Wei nodded when he heard this, but didn't ask any more questions.

(End of this chapter)