The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 56: The New Director takes Office

The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty《成化十四年》Chengnian Shisi Nian
The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 56: The New Director takes Office

According to the status of each department, the order of the six ministries of the Great Ming is Appointments, Revenue, Rituals, War, Justice, and Work.


The Ministry of Appointments is to take care of all the officials of the promotion assessment, this is the most important, needless to say.

The Ministry of Revenue is in charge of the money.

The status of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War is actually not that low, because the ancient saying goes: The state of affairs, in the Rites and Military. Rites are the various rituals and sacrifices to ask about the divination, etc., this developed later to have six ministries, this part of the function is responsible for the Ministry of Ritual. Money is the military affairs.

So in terms of status, the Ministry of Rites was the noblest, and the Ministry of War was indispensable to a nation.

Well, at the end of the day, we're all very highly placed, all very important, all indispensable, so at the bottom of the pile are the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Works.

Nevertheless, don't think that lower status means less resources.

If you divide them according to the number of resources and importance, you should rearrange the order of the six ministries: Appointments, Revenue, Workers, War, Rites, and Justice.

It is understandable that since the Ministry of Appointments is in charge of promotion, people would want to avoid being put on the inspection sheet in order to get a good position. So inevitably they have to send money and gifts to appease the ministry that decides their ranks, which in the Ministry of Appointments, which is in charge of the civilian assessment of the fattest department.

The Ministry of Public Works is not high in status, but that's because of people's traditional attitudes towards it, not because it's low on resources so there may be no need to build a palace. But there are the levees going to be built, it all costs money, and where you need the money you can make a little money to cut off for oil.

I can't help it, it's too poor to be a court official in the Ming Dynasty, not everyone is willing to work as hard as Tang Fan to write a book to subsidize the family expenses.

Although the Ministry of Revenue is in charge of the money, in reality, it does not have that much money on hand, and the taxes have been reduced repeatedly, but sometimes the taxes are never collected, there are more and more big tax evaders, but the commercial tax has remained unchanged since the founding of the country.

So the Ministry of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty became the poorest Ministry in history. The bad guys are exploited by the central government and the money doesn't end up in the hands of the central government.

According to Tang Fan's own private estimate, last year's annual tax revenue of the treasury was about four million taels, which is still a lot, because the year before last, there were only about two million due to various natural disasters.

But the money had to be allocated to various departments, not the Ministry of Revenue, which could take it all by itself. The Ministry of War shouts war and fights and the Ministry of Public Works is shouting that the embankment has collapsed again and there is no money to repair it.

Divided and divided, the money left in the hands of the Ministry of Revenue is also little, no wonder the court officials' salaries are never raised, even if the Emperor wants to raise their salary, but he doesn't have the money. For the sake of life and pleasure, there were fewer and fewer corrupt officials, and the higher-ups did nothing while the lower-ups followed suit. It's a mess.

But these are not Tang Fan's business now, but those cabinet elders should worry about Tang Fan, even if he wants to say something about it, no one will listen to him! of.

All in all, in a nutshell, the Ministry of Justice is at the bottom of the list, both in terms of status and in terms of resources.

Because although the Ministry of Justice is in charge of prisons throughout the country when it comes to cases that require the Ministry's attention, they are usually major cases that are difficult to decide, usually no one dares to bribe in such cases. Even if they do, it's useless. Besides, it's not the case of policing the law. It was also subject to the control of the other two departments, along with the three divisions of the Censorate, the Dali Temple and the Imperial Court.

Although the Ministry of Rituals is a cold court with little money, it still manages the imperial examination. In addition, the Ministry of Rites is usually in charge of the Hanlin Academy as well, so it's not as important as the Ministry of Justice and there is no comparison.

And now, Tang Fan is going to such a department.

Is the Ministry of Justice important? Of course, it is. Without it, there would be no way to adjudicate major cases, and even death row inmates from all over the country would be waiting for the central government punishment which was approved by the Ministry of Justice, but no matter how important it is, it doesn't change the fact that there's no money to be made from it.

Like the other five ministries, the Ministry of Justice has one Minister of Justice and two Assistant Ministers.

Underneath, there are provincial divisions according to the administrative divisions of the country, which are specialized in hearing cases submitted by the provinces, and there are also prison divisions, which are specialized in hearing cases submitted by the provinces. This is what is commonly known as the Heavenly Prison, and the leaders' subordinates - all kinds of secretaries, clerks, inspectors, etc. without rank.

Tang Fan was a Fifth Ranked official in Henan's Department by the Officials Clearance, he is the head of the department. He is in charge of the whole of Henan.

On the day he took office, Tang Fan went to see the minister and the Assistant Ministers as usual.

Now the Ministry of Justice Minister Zhang Ying is close to the Noble Consort Wan and is also a member of the Noble Consort Wan's faction. He's not a villain, and he's not a good person, but he's just making a living, living day to day, and he's one of the "Six Clay Figurines Ministers", as they call him. 

Nevertheless, Minister Zhang was not in today, so Tang Fan has no choice but to pay a visit to the two assistant ministers first.

The Left Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Liang Wenhua, was a bit strange to Tang Fan, he only narrowed his eyes at Tang Fan's self-introduction and courtesy, slowly and deliberately, he asked, "I heard that you were previously serving in the Shuntian Prefecture?”

Tang Fan should b going in this situation

Then Assistant Assistant Minister Liang said, "Although the Shuntian Prefecture is in charge of the security of the imperial capital, it is still a local government thing after all, which is incomparable to the Ministry of Justice, so you came to the Ministry of Justice! You have to get used to how we do things here. Don't bring the petty culture of the Shuntian Prefecture here. After all, the Six Ministries are Six Ministries. There's no comparison to the Shuntian Prefecture!”

Tang Fan's heart was a bit strange, he didn't understand where this kind of strange attitude of the other party came from, normally they had never met before. It's not like he's the one who owes him a lot of money, but it's good that Liang Wenhua came to his rescue as soon as he met him.

Although he thought so, his face remained respectful: "I am following the teachings of the ministry.”

Assistant Minister Liang said a lot of words as lectures, but Tang Fan was standing there like a wooden man, no matter what he said, he was still very respectful. He was bored, so he waved my hand and told him to leave.

Tang Fan then went back to the duty room of the Right Assistant Minister.

Right Assistant Minister of Justice Peng Yichun, who celebrated his 65th birthday last month, is not in good health and is already in his semi-retirement years. In this situation, the chances of moving up are slim, so there's no competition with anyone else in the department. He's not much of a talker, but he's at least showing that he's a good man, not a bad man.

Tang Fan saw that he was easy to talk to, so he asked for advice: "Assistant Minister Peng, I have never known Assistant Minister Liang before, let alone old grudges. When I went to see him just now, his words were cold, which made me feel puzzled. Or did I unintentionally offend him?”

Minister Peng chuckled: "Assistant Minister Liang is probably in a bit of a bad mood lately, don't worry, you'll be fine in a few days.”

It is always impossible to speak in official circles to tell exactly what you want to say, then you need to say the kind of vague words for the other party to figure it out, Tang Fan is so smart. The first thing he heard from him was: "It seems that the unhappy mood of Assistant Minister Liang is related to me?”




Minister Peng thought about it, and finally said to him: "Assistant Minister Liang has a protege who was pulled off? Who is now in the position in the Ministry of Justice? He was a student of his own who he wanted to take your position."

Tang Fan understands that he has become the "gold biter" that appears halfway, stealing the position that others originally wanted to take, so they naturally look at him with a not so good look anymore.

Knowing the truth, there was nothing Tang Fan could do.

There are only a few official positions, but there are so many people who want to be promoted, so there is no choice but to take your place. Unless you're willing to give up your position. The question is in this world where people want to get promoted who will?

When Minister Peng saw the helpless expression on his face, he smiled and said, "Since you've come here, just do a good job."“

Tang Fan respects this gentleman, and he was eager to learn from him.

After meeting with the Assistant Ministers, he went back to the courtyard where the departments of the officials of the Ministry of Justice are located, which are divided according to the 13 provinces of the Ming Dynasty. As a junior in the Ministry, Tang Fan naturally takes the initiative to pay a visit to all the senior colleagues.

Most of them were indifferent and even a bit distant and polite to this young colleague, much to Tang Fan's annoyance.

But after learning the whole story from Peng Yichun, he could understand the attitude of others.

Because there are some rumors in the court, it is said that Zhang Ying will be replaced in the cabinet soon, Assistant Minister Peng is old and sick, so of course, Assistant Minister Liang, who doesn't like Tang Fan, will be the next Minister of Justice.

Who isn't a good judge of character in official circles?

Tang Fan took over the position of the next Minister Da-ren's protégée. right after his arrival, which made Assistant Minister Liang very unhappy. What would you choose between alienating a Fifth Rank official and offending a Third Rank official without any roots? What would you choose?

Don't even think about it!

Whoever is close to Tang Fan at this moment, doesn't that mean he doesn't care about Assistant Minister Liang?

So when Tang Fan visited the other twelve provinces heads, he had a similar attitude.

Of course, no one was overly explicit, but neither were they overly enthusiastic, they were all polite and reserved, distant and courteous in their pleasantries, making you I can't tell you what's wrong with me, but I can't find anything wrong with you.

The only exception is Jiangxi's Governor Lu Tongguang, who, like Minister Peng, is a generous man. He didn't know the reason, so he told him tactfully and evasively implied that Assistant Minister Liang was not an open-minded person. He suggested that he should go and apologize to Assistant Minister Liang sometime so that Assistant Minister Liang won't hold a grudge and Tang Fan will have to be cautious often from now on.

Tang Fan thanked Lu Tongguang for his kindness but pretended not to understand his advice because, in his opinion, he had not done anything wrong, He didn't ask for the post, but was assigned by the Ministry of Appointments, so he took it out on himself. I don't know why, but it's true that we have to compromise a lot as officials, but we can't go too far back in begging for forgiveness, only then will he be bullied to death.

Besides, since Liang Wenhua is so narrow-minded, even if he apologizes and blames himself for the mistake, he should hold a grudge against him. It's still a grudge.

When Lu Tongguang saw that Tang Fan refused to listen to him, he sighed in his heart, secretly saying that the young man was still too proud and arrogant, one day he would suffer a big loss. After that, he will realize the reality, so he won't try to persuade Tang Fan anymore, but he will tell Tang Fan about the trivial matters of the various governors in the spirit of making good friends.

He was always an enthusiastic person and took the initiative to instruct Tang Fan: "You are new to the Ministry of Justice, and you are not familiar with the subordinates, especially those who are I'm not going to be able to do anything about it, but I'm going to be able to do something about it. Invite them to dinner first, get to know each other and get to know each other better, so you don't get left in the dark.”

Tang Fan thanked him for his advice, and asked, "Before I joined the Ministry of Justice, I heard that the various departments of the Clear Officials have monthly dinners, and they take turns to take care of each other. Is this true? Although my parents died young, I have got a lot of money to spend on myself. Borrow some money in case you can't afford to pay for dinner.”

Lu Tongguang nodded, "There is indeed a rule, but you don't have to worry, the place we're going is not a big restaurant like the Xianke Restaurant, it's just an ordinary restaurant, and it's not even a drain on one's salary.”

And Tang Fan was amazed: "Where does that money come from?”

Their friendship was shallow and deep, and Lu Tongguang wanted to stop talking, but finally told him the truth.

It turns out that the Ministry of Justice is different from Tang Fan's imagination, although it's a cold department, it's not without a little bit of money, like in some big cases. As long as the case is not related to rebellion, it is usually submitted to the Ministry of Justice, which can decide on its own and that leaves room for debate now.

For example, if you are sentenced to banishment, 300 miles is different from 3,000 miles, and if you are sentenced to be punished with a cane, 10 canes is different from 100 canes. It's up to the Ministry of Justice to decide how heavy the sentence is. Many of the charges are only generalized in the Great Ming Law, so if there are people involved in paying, there is no harm in getting a lighter sentence.

But it also depends on the region, like Zhejiang, Huguang, Jiangxi ah, these are among the more affluent provinces, rich people means there is also more money to ease the problem, like Tang Fan's Henan, Guizhou, Yunnan and so on, the richness is much less.

These are the unspoken rules, so the Secretaries of the Ministry of Justice take turns to be the host of the dinners. A part of the oil to treat the guests, so that the other officials will not look jealous, and go to report themselves, and then the fish will be destroyed, we all have no fun.

When Tang Fan suddenly realized, Lu Tongguang said: "You don't need to worry, everyone knows that the Henan Department of Justice is not very profitable, so they won't force you. It's your treat, but you're new here. If you want to get along with other people, you'd better not skimp on the money. If you're worried that you don't have enough to pay for my guests. I have some here. "

Tang Fan finally saw his generosity, busy laughing: "No, no, no, I just ask, thanks for the kindness of the old brother, to buy a meal! I can still afford the money, I'm relieved you say that I thought it was a monthly treat!”

The two of them became close at once.

Lu Tongguang lost his laugh: "How is this possible, even the Ministry Da-ren can't afford this invitation!”

Tang Fan said: "Then dare I ask my brother, who should be the host at the end of this month?”

Lu Tongguang twirls his beard: "According to the rules, it should be my turn.”

Tang Fan also laughed: "That's a coincidence, so let's talk brother, to cut in the queue, at the end of this month, I will be the first to host how?”

Lu Tongguang can also talk nice, so he nodded: "Well, anyway, you've just taken office, you can indeed use the hosting dinner to get acquainted with the colleagues, But when you book a place, you don't have to book a big restaurant, just a nice, cheap one. That's fine, otherwise, if you start something big, everyone behind you will blame you.”

This is the advice of conscience, and Tang Fan also understands the reasoning behind it, busy being taught: "Then how many ministries officials can we invite?”

Lu Tongguang shook his head: "No need, the several ministries, and halls cherish their feathers and will not mix with us just.”

Tang Fan asked again, "Don’t we have to invite the top guy?”

The head of the department is the deputy to the head bone-setter, and the head of the department is the next highest rank, plus six officers, one from each division.

Lu Tongguang shook his head again, "No, just Directors and Deputy Directors.”

Here are the fine points, in the eyes of Lu Tongguang, a director, the chief of staff(Deputy Director) belongs to the second-in-command, although there is a grade, but do not need to if you are too close, you will confuse the priorities and make people look down on you.

It seems that the rules of the Six Ministries are a bit more strict than the Shuntian Prefecture. We'll call up the head constables as well, to show our unity.

It seems that every place has its own rules, Tang Fan remembered these details, and after chatting with Lu Tongguang, he was ready to take his leave. He hadn't seen his subordinates yet, so naturally, he had to go back and get acquainted.




As a result, Lu Tongguang called out to him, "Brother Runqing, there's something I have to tell you first.”

Tang Fan felt a little bad seeing him so solemn: "Brother Lu, there's no harm in talking."“

Lu Tongguang said, "Your Deputy, Deputy Director Yin Yuanhua, is Assistant Minister Liang's protégée, the one who was going to take your place.”

Tang Fan: "...“

Tang Fan finally came to his own room with the bad news Lu Tongguang had given him.

There is no difference between this place and other duty rooms, except for the decorations, which used to be full of flowers and plants. His predecessor, Director Zhou, loved to plant flowers and plants, but once his master left, his subordinates didn't know about this new boss's hobbies. They were removed and put on the porch, where they were dying.

As soon as Tang Fan entered the duty room, he saw someone preparing to take a pot of peonies out of the pot.

When the man saw Tang Fan, he put the flowerpot down and bowed, "This humble servant is Dai Hongming, Staffmaster of Henan's Province Ministry of Justice, greet Director!"

Tang Fan asked him to dispense with the salute and asked, "Are these flowers left by the former 8?”

Dai Hongming should be doing these replacing of things because the previous Director Staffmaster was sick and died, as many people are a bit taboo about using dead man things, here's something to make people, he saw the soap and those couldn’t be changed. He only replaced the ink, paper, and ink stone and the flowers, and seeing the time is almost up, and seeing Tang Fan visit it was the time for his boss and colleagues to come over, so he had to do it himself to prepare to move the flowers out, so as not to break the taboo of the new boss (Director).

Who knows, Tang Fan said: "I think it's fine, so you don't need to move it out, or move it back, but these plants are not watered so we need to water it quickly before it dies.”

Dai Hongming was on the verge of tears when he heard this, thinking why did I waste the effort to move it in and out before?

But he also didn't dare to argue, as the saying goes, a new official has three fires, who knows if this Director Tang will find him because of this and feel that he is slacking. So he did as he was told, and then moved the pot of peonies back to its original position and went to move the outside ones.

Tang Fan called him, in a very amiable tone: "Master Dai, these trivial matters will be done by others, you do not need to do it now, I have something to talk with you! A few lines if you will.”

Dai Hongming was perplexed by the news: "I wonder what Da-ren wants to ask?”

Tang Fan smiled and said, "Don't be nervous, I'm just asking. Apart from you, how many other workers are there in the Henan Province Ministry of Justice?”

Dai Hongming: "Back to Da-ren, there are four of them, two of them are clerks and the other two are hearing officers, Da-ren. If there is any errand to be done, you can ask them to do it.”

He paused and smiled a little ingratiatingly, "Of course, if Da-ren has something important to do, it's not convenient to do it. It's okay to leave it to your subordinate!”

Dai Hongming is in his early forties this year, but he's still working in the Ministry of Justice as a Sixth Rank officer. Also, because of his lack of background, he followed Tang Fan's predecessor for nine years and stayed put in his position.

He didn't have a good teacher like Yin Yuanhua, who was a third-ranked scholar like Dai Hongming, whose background was only a little better than the successful candidate. He had to rely on his superiors to promote him, and when Tang Fan's ex died, he became a motherless child again.

With Tang Fan as his new boss, he could have been their new backer, but Tang Fan took Yin Yuanhua's place, Yin Yuanhua hates him with a passion, and with Assistant Minister Liang behind him, it's hard to say whether his new boss can hold his position or not. Before Tang Fan's arrival, he was struggling inside for a long time, but when he saw how young he was, his heart suddenly went cold, Dai Hongming didn't think he'd be able to beat Yin Yuanhua and would end up being a wooden puppet at best.

Tang Fan laughed as if he didn't understand his meaning: "Well, on the first day of my term, you go and call everyone over, everyone! Get to know each other well.”

Dai Hongming was a little disappointed and had to be strong enough to answer the call, splitting up to call for someone.

A quarter of an hour later, they all saluted Tang Fan and introduced themselves.

Tang Fan sweeps a circle and suddenly asks, "Why am I not seeing Yin Yuanhua?”

Dai Hongming grumbled and forced a smile, saying, "Mr. Yin said he had an old illness and couldn't walk so he can't come.”

As soon as this was said, the faces of the crowd changed, this is clearly not caring about Director Tang rank!

They all looked at Tang Fan to see how he'd settle the matter.

But Tang Fan's face showed a slight look of surprise, and he said with concern, "He has trouble with his legs? Is he crippled?”

Why does it sound like cursing? The crowd muttered under their breath and looked at the man’s face with genuine concern, but it didn't sound like it.

Dai Hongming spoke dumbly, faltering, "Maybe it's some kind of old rheumatism problem that Mr. Yin is having?”

Are you kidding? Yin Yuanhua is only in his early thirties this year. How could he have rheumatism? You are not a rheumatologist.

But Dai Hongming can't say that he's deliberately trying to make a fool out of you, so is he giving you a hard time?

Tang Fan sighed: "Deputy Director has just passed his prime, and he's so young that he has paralysis. He should have rested and recuperated since he is sick.”

Sure enough, he's a soft persimmon. Everyone secretly thinks that he knows Yin Yuanhua's history, so they don't dare to correct him.

The next moment, they heard Tang Fan say, "Well, Master Dai, please send someone to buy something for Deputy Director Yin, consider it a small token of my appreciation.”

Dai Hongming asked helplessly, "Send what?”

I didn't expect the new boss to ignore Yin Yuanhua's rudeness and to bow down to him.

He sighed in grief, his mood had fallen to the bottom, as if he could already see his own bleak future!

Tang Fan seemed to be unaware of the diverse emotions of the crowd: "Go to the medicine shop and buy some Fengfang and Japanese rush grass.”




What kind of gift is that?

Dai Hongming was dumbfounded, and he thought he had heard wrong: "Huh?”

Tang Fan was unhappy: "Did my official not make it clear enough?”

Dai Hongming was busy: "No, no, my servant is going!”

Japanese rush grass is what effect he does not know, but everyone knows Fengfang treatment of rheumatism paralysis, Dai Hongming did not understand the boss in the end. Is it true understanding or false confusion?

Just to be on the safe side, he asked again, "Da-ren, how much of each of these two herbs is appropriate, and what is the rush grass for?”

Tang Fan chuckles: "Japanese rush grass, the main treatment of epilepsy and forgetfulness, it has the effect of awakening the mind and improving the knowledge of the subject, it is suitable for Deputy Director Yin's illness! As for how much, I see that Deputy Director Yin is not lightly ill, at least a medicine packet for four or five dosages to be enough!”

This is a mockery of Yin Yuanhua, so Tang Da-ren isn't afraid of him, but wants to confront him!

But if he delivers the medicine, will Yin Yuanhua go crazy?

The crowd couldn't react, they all looked at Tang Fan dumbly.

Dai Hongming grimaced, "Da-ren, that's not very good?”

Tang Fan's smile was abruptly reduced, looking at him coldly: "What, do you intend to disobey my orders?”

Dai Hongming shuddered, not daring to.

Of course, he didn't buy them himself. After the meeting was over, Dai Hongming took the money and ordered one of his staff to buy the two herbs. The officer was scolded by Yin Yuanhua, and he wanted to please the new bridegroom, so he bought half a catty in one breath, and Dai Hongming looked annoyed at that.

He also knows that this is Tang Fan's way of forcing him to take sides if he can't make Tang Fan happy, then he will definitely be alienated from him in the future! But Hongming is already at odds with Deputy Director Yin, so he won't do that.

Thinking about it, Dai Hongming gritted his teeth, thinking that it was worth fighting for, so he personally carried the herbs over.

On the other hand, Yin Yuanhua was so proud of himself for giving Tang Fan a hard time, that one of the staff, who had always been a fan of his, came to him and told him that Tang Fan had been supper annoyed. Yin Yuanhua heard Tang Fan giving him medicine for rheumatism. He turned furious, he thought that Tang Fan was cursing him!

It turns out that Dai Hongming hadn't come to please him but to chock up his anger yet, but he really sent the herbs.

That's an outright slap in the face!

In less than a day, the rumor spread all over the Ministry of Justice that Deputy Director Yin of the Henan province's Ministry Official, because he had a teacher who was an Assistant Minister, didn’t go to welcome the new province director. The superiors took it easy on him, but he got the worst of it.

Yin Yuanhua excused himself from the meeting with his new boss on the pretext that his legs were hurting, and then Tang Fan sent a Japanese rush grass to sarcastic him for being sick in the head. When the people heard this, their belly was smiling and they were worried about Tang Fan.

How can you have a good thing if you're having a quickie?

This story also quickly reached the ears of the Left Assistant Minister Liang Wenhua.

The author has something to say:

Don't look at Tang Da-ren and think he only knows how to eat, and can't do martial arts, the man cunning is also very ruthless!

Did he not think of the consequences of upsetting Yin Yuanhua's backer? He's not thinking about the consequences of upsetting Yoon's patron?

Hey, let's hear it next time!

The yearly tax revenue of the Chenghua dynasty is fictional compared to the Wanli years, but the central government of the Ming dynasty was a mess anyway, which has nothing to do with this novel, So I won't write too much of it, because I'll have to explain why Tang Da-ren's salary is so low, and interfere the way for the rest of the story, so... Just a quick mention.




Yin Yuanhua was originally a Minister of Justice in the 18th year of Chenghua's reign, but here he is early than in real hisrtory and he was not a minister







- The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty -



Prev: Chapter 55《Chapters Home 》Next: ,Chapter 57