While Hai Rui was instructing Sun Chengzong, Xu Wenchang was also instructing Li Yiqi.
Li Yiqi was different from Hai Rui. Because of his family background, he was very low-key and had a slight sense of inferiority.
Xu Wenchang was very clear about this, but this kind of change wouldn't happen overnight.
As one's status and power grew, this sense of inferiority would slowly disappear.
"After Lord Hai and I leave, Daxing District will be handed over to you and Sun Chengzong."
Xu Wenhai looked at Li Yiqi and said with a smile, "Do a good job. Don't be afraid. If anything happens, Lord Hai and I will take care of it for you."
"Let's not talk about anything else. I can still go to the palace to see the emperor and plead for you."
Hearing Xu Wenchang's words, Li Yiqi's heart warmed. He knelt on the ground and said, "Li Yiqi thanks the two sirs for your guidance."
This wasn't because of this promotion. Ever since they arrived in Daxing, Hai Rui and Xu Wenchang had placed great importance on civil servants like them. It could be said that they were teaching them personally.
For a long time, their relationship with Xu Wenchang was not only like that of a superior and subordinate, but also like that of a master and a disciple.
Standing up and helping Li Yiqi up, Xu Wenchang said with a smile, "Do a good job. You are the first batch of civil servants. The emperor is watching you. Don't let the emperor down."
"Don't worry, sir. I understand!" Li Yiqi hurriedly bowed.
The Imperial Censorate had the most intense competition for the position of Imperial Censor. After all, the patrolling imperial censors belonged to the Imperial Censorate.
In addition, this time, the Imperial Censors were appointed with the title of Deputy Imperial Censor. Thus, it was only natural that an experienced imperial censor would be appointed.
Anyone who had the qualifications to hold this position would want to be promoted, especially the few Imperial Censors.
However, within the Imperial Censorate, there was a yamen that was established with great fanfare. However, it disappeared soon after. Everyone had almost forgotten about its existence. This yamen was the Daming Department of Law and Discipline.
Daming, when the Law and Discipline Department was established, it caused quite a commotion.
Wang Jiaping, the Right Imperial Censor of the Imperial Censorate, was in charge of this matter and sent many people in. But in the end, the yamen seemed to have disappeared, as if it had never existed.
In fact, not only did the yamen not disappear, but it was busy all the time.
As the only doctor in the investigation department of the Daming Department of Law and Discipline, Qi Fei, who came from the inner factory, knew the importance of keeping a low profile.
At the same time, Qi Fei knew what she should do and how she should do it.
"Sir, these are the three cases we have chosen." Qi Fei took out three cases and placed them on the table.
Wang Jiaping nodded. In fact, he knew that the Law and Discipline Department had been busy, but he didn't know what they were busy with.
He was the supervisor of the Department of Justice. No matter what kind of investigation was carried out, his approval was required.
However, in the past few days, the Law and Discipline Department hadn't reported a single case.
This time, when Wang Jiaping heard that Qi Fei had a case to report, she was really curious about what kind of case Qi Fei would come up with.
Seeing that Qi Fei had taken out three cases, Wang Jiaping smiled.
Wang Jiaping reached out to pick up the case on the top and saw the bag at a glance.
There were two big words written in cinnabar on it: Confidential!
It looked very horrifying, but Wang Jiaping knew very well that only three people in the entire Imperial Censorate had access to such confidential documents.
One of them was himself, the other was the Left Imperial Censor of the Imperial Censorate, Wang Zhuan, and the last one was Qi Fei.
If anyone else were to read confidential cases without permission, they would be treated as spying on secrets and would be beheaded.
Wang Jiaping reached out to take out the information in the bag and saw the words on the cover at a glance.
When he saw these words, Wang Jiaping felt that his heart was about to jump out of his chest.
He glanced at Qi Fei and saw that he was sitting there calmly. Obviously, this was the first case he had chosen.
Wang Jiaping felt a little breathless. This case was really too big.
The case of the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Zhao Deqian, selling his official position!
This case was really too big. Not only did it involve the Ministry of Personnel, but it also involved the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. As the Right Imperial Censor of the Imperial Censor, Wang Jiaping did not have to go against the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
However, this was a case of selling official positions!
Every case of selling official positions would involve a large number of people. What were the positions of those people who had bought the official positions now?
How many people were involved?
Once the investigation started, it would be a huge wave.
Wang Jiaping put the document in his hand back and picked up the second one.
After opening it and taking a glance inside, Wang Jiaping gasped again. This time, it was not a case of the Ministry of Personnel, but the Ministry of Revenue. It was also an Assistant Minister.
The case of the Left Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Qian Qian, selling grain.
The case of the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue selling grain had to be related to selling grain from Changping Warehouse.
This was not a small case. If it was really investigated, it would be a huge case.
Who was the buyer?
Who helped him do it?
Selling grain was not something that one person could do alone.
This was a case of hidden nests, and the number of people involved was definitely not small.
Wang Jiaping looked at Qi Fei again and stuffed the document back. Then, he picked up the last file.
After opening it, Wang Jiaping actually heaved a sigh of relief.
Although this case was related to the Ministry of Justice and the Assistant Minister of Justice, compared to the previous two cases, this one was really much smaller.
The case of the Right Assistant Minister of Justice, Yang Huan, accepting bribes.
Wang Jiaping took out the document from the bag and glanced at it. He felt his heart skip a beat.
He had clearly thought too simply. How could Qi Fei bring such a small case over?
As the Right Assistant Minister of Justice, Yang Huan held a lot of power in his hands, and that was the review of cases.
As the Right Imperial Censor of the Imperial Censor of the Imperial Censor of the Three Law Divisions, Wang Jiaping was very clear about the powers of the Three Law Divisions.
Unlike before, there was a change in the powers of the Three Law Divisions in Daming.
That was, the Ministry of Justice replaced the Supreme Court in charge of the trials. The Supreme Court became the institution responsible for the administration of justice, mainly in charge of correcting and rehabilitating wrongful cases.
The Imperial Censorate, on the other hand, supervised the judicial organs. It also had the power to "rule on major matters and make decisions on minor matters".
One of the important aspects of the judicial power of the Ministry of Justice was the verification of sentences. All criminals that were tried locally would be handed over to the Ministry of Justice.
If the crime was serious, the Ministry of Justice would sentence the offender to immediate execution, which meant that the offender would be beheaded.
If it was only a capital offense, then it would usually be interrogated after the autumn, which was also known as the autumn verdict.
It would not be like the movies in the future, where after the trial was over, the other party would be executed.
After the state government finished the trial, it would be handed over to the Imperial Censor of the province, which would then be reported to the Ministry of Justice.
Only after the Ministry of Justice's reply would the trial be considered complete.
With this power, the Ministry of Justice could do a lot more.
There were a few cases involved in these documents, and they were all death penalty cases. Some of them were even cases of immediate execution.
Yang Huan had tampered with these cases and accepted a lot of bribes.
Although it looked like a simple case of bribery, Wang Jiaping was not a rookie.
Who had the money to bribe the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Yang Huan?
Could Yang Huan do such a thing alone?
Every case involved the briber, the local officials who tried the case, and even the yamen of the Imperial Censor.
It should be known that the Imperial Censor was in charge of a province's magistrate and had a high position and power.
There was a saying in the officialdom that a Imperial Censor was half a feudal official. This meant that only by reaching this level could one be considered to have entered the circle of feudal officials. This showed the importance of the Imperial Censor.
After putting the documents back, Wang Jiaping let out a sigh of relief. None of these three cases were easy to deal with.
Glancing at Qi Fei, Wang Jiaping smiled bitterly and sighed. He knew that Qi Fei had given him a difficult problem.
Do you think I should investigate these three cases?
If I didn't, then I would be dereliction of duty!
Wang Jiaping could guarantee that if he said he didn't investigate, the emperor would summon him to the palace.
However, if he investigated, none of these cases were small. He would definitely offend people. If the emperor started a massacre, he would be labeled as a cruel official.
According to the emperor's personality, would he not kill people?
It was impossible. Whether it was the Hejian Prefecture Private Salt Case, the Yangzhou Salt Case, or the Fortune Longevity Ointment Collusion with the Japanese, which one didn't result in people being killed?
This time, when these three cases were exposed, there would definitely be a reign of terror. Maybe in the future, the emperor would use these cases to appease public anger. At that time, it would be very tragic.
In the early Ming Dynasty, which of the officials who handled the cases had a good ending?
On the other hand, Qi Fei sat there calmly. There was no expression on his face, but from time to time, he picked up his teacup and took a sip. It seemed that he was just waiting for Wang Jiaping to finish reading the documents.
These three cases were the results of Qi Fei's hard work over the past few days. She had even used the inner factory's channels to investigate these cases.
For Qi Fei, he didn't come to the Ministry of Law and Discipline to be an official. As a member of the inner factory, he couldn't embarrass himself no matter where he went.
Since the emperor wanted him to do this, he had to do it well.
The emperor said, "We suffered in the past. What we're doing now is so that our descendants won't have to suffer like this."
For this, the people of the inner factory were willing to bleed and sacrifice their lives.
Qi Fei didn't die in the inner factory's mission. In the Ministry of Law and Discipline, he was even more fearless.
In Qi Fei's view, these corrupt officials deserved to die. Behind them were countless poor commoners. Their families were ruined, their lives were difficult, and they were even forced to sell their children.
Qi Fei was one of them. He wanted to stop them from continuing to harm people. He wanted to save those who had the same fate as him.
The people of the inner factory all fought with this belief. Although their own people had left the inner factory, they had not lost this belief.
"Daren, have you finished reading?" Seeing Wang Jiaping look at him, Qi Fei smiled and put down the teacup in his hand.
"Yes, I've finished reading!" Wang Jiaping was silent for a moment, then nodded.
Qi Fei then asked, "Then, which case does Daren think is more suitable to investigate first?"