The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 55: Tang Fan, the new Henan Province Justice Director

The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty《成化十四年》Chengnian Shisi Nian
The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 55: Tang Fan, the new Henan Province Justice Director

Although the promotion of a military officer is not quite the same as that of a civilian officer, and a department like the Jinyiwei depends heavily on the families and merits of the Emperor, but... The fact that Sui Zhou has risen from a General Zongqi to a Commander Qianhu in just over a year, and that he is also the head of the Northern Administrative Court Division, is still very impressive.


When the head of the Northern Administrative Court Division Wan Tong was demoted over by Yuan Bin, a few of the subordinates of Qianhu were eyeing this position, but the result was that Sui Zhou was appointed to it. It's a little bit frustrating that he's been in office and he's been getting in the way of things, like things that should have been done are not done in that way. There are people who see Sui Zhou's cold face all the time and think that he must be very harsh on his subordinates. The company has been trying to get closer to Xue Ling and the others to get the word out, to see if they can dig something up about him so they can report him to the authorities and get him out of his position.

Look, don't think that just because the Jinyiwei aren't civil servants, they don't have so many devious ideas and plot ambushes, like the Jinyiwei, who are used to interrogation, they are too good at the way to do it.

There are those who set traps in secret, those who laugh behind the scenes, and those who rush to flatter. Words work everywhere.

Within a few days, someone filed a complaint against Yuan Bin, saying that Sui Zhou, soon after he took office, forced them to train and increase the number of training plans like never before and it is going to exhaust the entire Northern Administrative Court Division. If you don't do something about it, we won't be able to stand it.

Yuan Bin is seventy-eight years old, there is nothing he's never seen before, as the Admiral of the Jinyiwei, he's so condescending, he naturally understands the hearts of people of all greed. But he said nothing, did nothing, neither helped Sui Zhou's plight, nor was there any reason for his men's failure to help him. When a person complained, Sui Zhou was called in and reprimanded, but in truth he was just waiting to see what would happen.

If Sui Zhou can't solve these difficulties, then he doesn't deserve to be in that position.

As it turned out, soon everyone's complaints had died down.

The Jinyiwei were essentially military officers, and they had to practice routinely during the weekdays, but as it got longer and longer before the founding of the country, many of these daily drills were becoming useless. Even the capital camp has become a frame on the battlefield, although the Jinyiwei still perform the function of "direct guards, patrol and arrest", but already they are not as fierce and aggressive as when they first started.

Together with the suppression of the Eastern Depot and the emergence of the Western Depot, the Jinyiwei's increasing power was taken away, making them more and more frustrated. That's why the Jinyiwei have had so little success in tracking down the White Lotus Sect.

The first thing that Sui Zhou wanted to change after he took charge of the Northern Administrative Court Division was this culture, so he gave the deadly order that starting at the beginning of each month, once every three days, at 3:00 a.m., everyone, except those on duty and those on foreign duty, must gather at the military grounds for two hours of training, the standard of training is comparable to that of the Imperial capital military, with the addition of some additional training programs.

For many people who were used to sleeping until dawn and hanging out at night in gambling parlors, they couldn't take it anymore. They even went to Yuan Bin and complained that Commander Sui Qianhu was not a big official, but he thinks he is a powerful one. He doesn't care about others' lives, he mistreats the subordinates, and he is inhumane and so on.

Originally, Yuan Bin couldn't just sit back and ignore a massive complaint like this, but no one knew that Sui Zhou had already told him that these complaints will come en massive

Before the training, Sui Zhou had already approached Yuan Bin and explained his plan, explaining the purpose and reason for it. The Jinyiwei were ruined by Wan Tong, that's why Yuan Bin didn't do anything about it, even though many people came to sue Sui Zhou.

Always seeking the understanding of your superior first is the most important. Any attempt to change the status quo will be met with resistance, but if nothing is done for fear of resistance, Sui Zhou will wait. It's not like he is trying to fly to the open skies.

Seeing that it was useless to file a complaint, everyone had no choice but to follow Sui Zhou's orders and come to the military training grounds for training.

For the first time, a quarter of an hour after midnight, there were still nearly all the people who had not arrived; they were canned ten ticks. If you are late next time, add another ten sticks to your training, and the next time, and so on.

When everyone sees Sui Zhou for real, no one dares to be late the second time.

But for the training program, he listed, which included training with a bowl of water over the head, standing in the hot sun, and squatting for half an hour in a horse stance. If the water spills, it is considered a violation of the rules and will be extended by half an hour, but many people objected, saying it was too hard and too tiring, and the pampered Jinyiweis said they couldn't take it in two hours.

Sui Zhou did not say a word and demonstrated it himself, and everyone witnessed it for half an hour, not to mention that the bowl above his head was empty by the sunray. They were completely convinced that it was possible without spilling a drop of water.

Needless to say, Xue Ling and the other men have always followed Sui Zhou's footsteps and will do whatever Sui Zhou tells them to do, the others saw that the new boss was so quick to do what he said he would do and they had to join in too.

But Sui Zhou wasn't always strict; at the end of every month, he would take everyone out to dinner, with extra rewards for an excellent performance. Of course, the money came from the public purse, but when Wan Tong was here, he was in charge of the South and North Administrative Courts. The money was often used by the public purse for private purposes and is spent indiscriminately, so the people below cannot get their hands on it.

After Sui Zhou took office, he ordered people to re-do the accounts, and every expenditure had to be recorded clearly so that an extra sum of money could be withdrawn and used to appease the people, everyone will be happy.

After three months, when everyone got used to the training, there were fewer complaints, and the whole culture of the Northern Administrative Court Division became... It is not just a new look, but at least some change from before, and this change is certainly good, not to mention the cases of this month alone were completed with much more efficiency.





A boss who leads by example, with clear rewards and punishments, is certainly better than a boss who only knows how to eat, drink and whore, and always takes the benefits for himself. Although Sui Zhou is much stricter than the old Commander, strictness has its advantages. Those who are close to the boss can't cheat anymore, and those who can't get on the boss's good side don't have to worry about being oppressed

Unwittingly, Sui Zhou's position became more secure, and he gradually made his own mark on these people.

On this day, Tang Fan came out of the official's office in high spirits on a happy occasion, even his footsteps were a little lighter, so he turned around and went to the Northern Administrative Court Division instead of going home.

Since Sui Zhou's promotion, he has not been here, and the lax access control in the past is much stricter now. Those who didn’t know him were a bit surprised to see a Sixth Rank civil official here, so he stopped the crazy guy walking in like he owned the place.

"Who are you? What do you want? "The Jinyiwei on duty interrogated him, his attitude was not very good, if not for the fact that Tang Fan was wearing his official uniform, he would have suspected that the other party had nothing to do with coming here and was a problem with himself now.

It's no wonder he thinks so.

Most civil servants cherish their feathers and their reputation, they are reluctant to be "invited" over to the Jinyiwei offices, very few like Tang Fan do this kind of voluntarily come to the dragon's mouth.

Tang Fan said, "I am Tang Fan, a friend of your Northern Administrative Court Governor, please tell him to come out if he has already left the court.”

Strictly speaking, Sui Zhou can't yet be called a Northern governor, since he's only temporarily filling the position, but officials have traditionally put the title before the name if you want to be called a "Qianhu", you can just call them "Qianhu" without the word "Deputy", which makes them feel good and happy.

The man on duty looked at him suspiciously, not believing in his heart that someone like his new Northern Administrative Court Governor would have friends like him, and besides... He's not a low-rank person either, so he is wondering if he's just boasting and trying to climb up to the Northern Administrative Court Governor good grace.

Tang Fan saw his doubts, so he smiled and said, "Please inform this man that if he doesn't see me, I'll go home.”

It's not that the other party is deliberately making things difficult, but the rules have become much stricter recently. If it were not so heavy, Tang Fan would probably be on the chopping block.

So the man said with a straight face, "Da-ren, the Governor, has important business to attend to, come back another day!”

Tang Fang huffed, "So let me just ask, is he still in there, or has he gone home already?”

The other guy said, "He is still in there.”

Tang Fan nodded: "Then I'll just wait here for him.”

Said he lifted up his official robe, sat down on the steps next to him, and took a book out of his pocket, and read it.

The Jinyiwei on duty glared, "How dare you act rashly at the entrance of the Northern Administrative Court Division!”

What a joke, the famous and ruthlessly iron-blooded Jinyiwei in front of the Jinyiwei office’s door with a person who reads books, how can people be scared? OK?

Tang Fan looked at him slowly: "I asked you to inform him and you refused, Besides, I'm not blocking the front door, I'm just getting my butt wet on the side!”

The man on guard duty was speechless and wanted to say something, but his companion, who was also guarding the door, gave him a look and whispered: "If he's a friend of the Qianhu Commander, we shouldn’t offend anyone, but if he's not, we'll just take him in and get rid of them!”

The man gave him a blank stare, "You are all talk and no action, so why don't you go and take him in yourself?”

The companion laughed, "Just go, and don't be hot-eyed when I get a compliment from the Qianhu Commander!”

The man was in disbelief, but as soon as his companion turned around, he actually went in and reported it.

A short while later, he saw his companion hurrying out from inside and smiling at Tang Fan, "This Da-ren, Northern Administrative Court Governor is busy now, but he asked you to wait for him inside!”

He opened his mouth wide and watched his companion eagerly draw Tang Fan in, only to turn back a moment later and ask incessantly, "Who is this man?”

The companion said: “You don't know the Qianhu Commander’s best friend? He's Tang Fan, I heard he's staying with the Qianhu Commander.”

The man took a breath: "Friendship is so good?”

Companion: "That's a no?”

The man paused in depression and said, "Why didn't you say so!”

The companion scoffed, "You're blaming yourself for not reporting it, even though I've warned you. Wait to get yourself reprimanded all together!”

The man was depressed and speechless, thinking he had missed another chance to show his face to the boss.

Regardless of what the two Jinyiweis thought, Tang Fan was guided to the military training grounds by the man on duty. There were shouting and kicks from afar, but when he looked closer, he realized that a fight was going on in the military training grounds.

In the middle of the field, two figures rise and fall, their swords crisscrossing, fighting not with dazzling fancy moves, but without mercy... A deadly move, and upon closer inspection, isn't one of them Sui Zhou!

He was sparring with another man in the arena, surrounded by a circle of people, all shouting for joy and booing.

Tang Fan swept around and spotted Xue Ling in the crowd, so he walked over and tapped someone on the shoulder in case he didn't notice.

Xue Ling was shocked, was about to get angry, turned back to look, and scolded the person who tapped him, but turned the anger into joy: "How did you come?”

Tang Fan laughed, "I was just wandering around, are you guys having a competition? How come even the Qianhu Commander has to play?”




Xue Ling smiled and said, "Previously, big brother made a rule that at the end of every month, a contest will be held, and the contestants can challenge anyone, the last one to win will be rewarded heavily. Many of them were beaten by Big Brother, so they were holding their anger against him and they were all beaten down, they don't know what he is capable of. Do I? I'm not going to make fun of myself, Lao Xue is not that a fool!”

As they were talking, the winner was already on the field, and the one who fought with Sui Zhou thought that he had an opening. He swept over from behind, attempting a sneak attack, but the opponent, as if he had eyes in his back, soared into the air with his toes pointing and flipped in midair. When he fell to the ground, he used the force of the landing to kick my opponent out of the carp and landed standing firmly on the ground.

The whole process is like streaming water, sharp, but full of power, beauty, onlookers have shouted, applaused!

Sui Zhou, standing in the arena, was bare-chested, wearing only a pair of trousers, with sweat running down his forehead and neck and sliding down his body. I can see that such a strong body is also a result of day-to-day hard work and training and he was not slacking off just because he is suddenly in a high position.

He stared at his opponent, who had been kicked over by himself, and backhandedly thrust his Embroidered Springsword into the ground, saying coldly, "Come again if you don't accept defeat.”

Sui Zhou's mind was already fully absorbed in the fight, there was no fighting or dueling for him, now that he was on the field, it is a sign of respect for yourself and for your opponent to do your best and take it seriously.

The opponent he was staring at felt as if he was locked up by a fierce beast, and shuddered, never to be heard from again! He can't afford to fight anymore, so he hastily put away his sword and said, "No more! Da-ren is a strong fighter, his subordinates are willing to defeat him!”

The people around him laughed a bit, but he had defeated everyone in the Northern Administrative Court Division for two months in a row, and was probably a bit proud of himself, He proposed a challenge to Sui Zhou, many people have been defeated by Sui Zhou before, he thought he would be the exception, but he did not expect that he would be the exception and a bit of a mess to be the only one to admit defeat in the end.

As soon as the opponent conceded, Sui Zhou's fierce aura suddenly softened, he walked over, pulled the subordinate up with his own hands, and patted him down. “You are already very good, Yuan Da-ren intends to let us have a sparring session with the capital camp to boost morale. It's all up to you to bring glory to our North Administrative Court Division!”

The subordinate was originally a little accosted, once he heard this sentence, he immediately felt an immediate little heartbeat, excitedly said: "Da-ren rest assured. I'll do my best not to disgrace our Northern Division!”

All this beating and pulling, it's really compelling.

Tang Fan watched the scene with a smiling face and a negative hand but did not rush forward, waiting for Sui Zhou to finish motivating his subordinates and announce the end of the ceremony. Only after the four scattered, did he walk over without any delay: "The Qianhu Commander is so impressive, it seems that the rightful position is just around the corner!”

Sui Zhou didn't notice Tang Fan, but it was inconvenient to talk before, and now he was the only one smiling at him as everyone dispersed, the cold face flashed with an imperceptible embarrassment at the thought that he was now naked.

"How did you find your way here? If you're not in a hurry, wait for me to shower and change. "

Tang Fan laughed: "You go your own way, I'm not in a hurry, I'll take you to dinner today, the Xianke Restaurant, do you want to go?”

Sui Zhou, who was heading to the back of the house where the clothes were changed, stopped and raised his eyebrows, "Where did you get the money?”

Tang Da-ren is now not free financially, spending half each month on himself and keeping half in Sui Zhou to prevent him from spending more than he can afford. If he spends money indiscriminately, the half he has will be gone, and if he wants to spend the money he keeps in Sui Zhou, there's basically no way.

Tang Fan laughed: "The sky is falling!”

Seeing that he was in no hurry, Sui Zhou took a bath and changed his clothes. Only then did he find Tang Fan who was tasting tea in his own room..

"Go, go, go, let's eat!" Tang Fan saw him coming and got up.

Sui Zhou first shook his head, but then asked, "You've been promoted?”

Tang Fan had expected that he could guess it, and was not surprised at the news, nodding his head cheerfully: "Right!”

Sui Zhou: "What position?”

Tang Fang: "The enjoined and bestowed upon the Fifth Rank An of the Henan province of the Ministry of Justice, and gave another one hundred taels of silver.”

These three are the belated rewards for Tang Fan's outstanding performance in the East Palace case and the Child Abduction Case.

Sui Zhou's eyebrows moved and stretched, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly: "That's good, it's indeed worth celebrating!”

Tang Fan smiled, "Although I don't demand a high rank and a high salary, it's a pleasure to get what I've done recognized and get what I deserve! You're not going to stop me from buying dinner this time, are you?”

Sui Zhou nodded, but said, "No need to eat out, ask A-Dong to buy more ingredients tomorrow, I'll cook at home.”




As soon as Tang Fan heard this, his two eyes shone brightly, and Sui Zhou could guarantee that he definitely saw the light revealed in those eyes: "You like my cooking more than Xianke Restaurant's?”

Tang Fan laughed heatedly, his elegant style vanished: "That's natural, Sui Guangchuan's dishes are made by himself, how can they compare with the poorly produced foods by Xianke Restaurant?”

His unstinting praise made Sui Zhou's mouth curled upward a little wider.

When the head of the family is in a good mood, the other two are naturally blessed.

That evening Sui Zhou cooked up some sweet and sour pork shredded with fish, pork chops, and braised pig's head, and a cup of plum wine simmered in a small clay fire. This sweet and sour wine made the food taste even better.

Before the meal, A-Dong fills a glass with wine for Tang Fan and Sui Zhou, and then takes the initiative to offer them a glass, saying, "Congratulations on your promotion Brother Sui! Big Brother you are promoted!”

The two of them naturally laughed and drank it all down. “I was asked to fill the vacant position because Director Zhou of the Henan Province Ministry of Justice Official had fallen ill.”

Sui Zhou nodded his head: "There are always too many people in the bureaucracy, but it was hard to get a seat in your prefecture, even though it's not a fat one, I'm sure there are many people competing for your job, so you'll be the jealous thing for them.”

In fact, there was no need for him to tell him to do so, Tang Fan was a free man, but in fact, he was not lacking in thoughtfulness and prudence. If you want to be grateful, you'll agree with it.

A-Dong was curious: "Brother, then what rank are you now?”

Tang Fan said, "I was previously from Lower Sixth Rank, now I'm in the Regular Fifth Rank, which is a level and a half up.”

A-Dong joyfully said, "Wait a few more years, brother will probably be able to make it to the First Rank?”

Tang Fan’s face didn't look good: "My parental figure is the emperor, but my family is the officialdom of the Great Ming!”

A-Dong covered her mouth and laughed: "You want the emperor to be your father, I'm afraid the emperor isn't happy about it!”

Tang Fan thought to himself if I had a father like this, how pathetic would I be! Tang Fan raised his hand to hit her, but after she was kidnapped, she tried harder and harder to learn kung fu from Sui Zhou. How can Tang Fan get her, he could only just stare at her.

So there's something everyone in the world is good at.

Like A-Dong, she's not good at reading, but her talent in martial arts is better than anyone else's, while Tang Fan can read and be an official, but his talent in martial arts is worse than anyone else's. After the same experience with the South City Gang, he tried to learn a few tricks to get by. After a half an hour of horse stance, the little A-Dong, though sweating profusely, was still biting her teeth and standing firmly in place, Tang Da-ren, on the other hand, had already fallen over and given up at the drop of a hat.

He decided it would be better to do less dangerous things in the future than to wait to learn kung fu for self-defense.

After taking the Ministry of Appointments approval, he can naturally report to the new department it is natural to report to the new department, but before that, Tang Fan will also visit the old boss and Brother Pan Bin to thank him for his training in the past two years.

Pan Bin was both relieved and disappointed when he heard that Tang Fan would be promoted to the Ministry of Justice.

He was glad that he and Tang Fan are brothers in the same school, and with this relationship, they can look after each other in the officialdom. Little brother has a future, and it won't do any harm to himself.

What is lost is that Tang Fan, who is twenty-five this year, is already an official of the Fifth Rank. Now he has gone in back in the Six Ministries, following the same orthodox path of promotion as his predecessors in the Cabinet, and is young and has a promising future

On the other hand, even though he won the imperial examination, he was not selected as a candidate because he was not at the top of the ranking, so he lost a layer of seniority compared to Tang Fan, now he is over forty years old, he's a Shuntian Prefecture Governor. To the uninformed outsider, it may seem like he is a big deal, but in reality, he knows it that he has no background in the court, nor does he have the skills and credentials to move up the ladder.

Looking at Tang Fan, Pan Bin inevitably felt a wave of self-pity and self-pity as "the backward wave of the Yangtze River pushes the forward wave to die on the beach".

No matter what, he can't face Tang Fan with a sad face, he doesn't owe him any money, so Pan Bin still folded up his spirit. He congratulated Tang Fan and then asked him to be cautious of pride and impatience, not to be complacent and arrogant. The biggest enemy in officialdom is often not others, but oneself.

These are all experiences, Tang Fan naturally open-minded to learn, and at the end of the meal at Pan Bin's home, the two brothers and teachers are still in the capital, there's no need to make it sound like we're parting.

Besides, by the time Tang Fan finished his job at the Shuntian Prefecture and reported to the Ministry of Justice, it was already the beginning of summer in May.

This year, it was the fifteenth year of Chenghua reign.




In addition, just two days after he joined the department, Tang Fan discovered that he was somehow isolated.







- The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty -



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