The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 57: The Reasoning in Tang Fan madness

The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty《成化十四年》Chengnian Shisi Nian
The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 57: The Reasoning in Tang Fan madness

After hearing the disciple's complaint, Assistant Minister Liang was naturally furious, but not because Tang Fan insulted Yin Yuanhua, but because Tang Fan knew that Yin Yuanhua was the one who had the right to be humiliated and he still did it. How dare this new Director do this to a student of his, this means obviously that Director Tang doesn't respect Assistant Minister Liang or his position in the ministry.


These days, respect is more important than heaven. Tang Fan is just a small boy, he's not even sure of his footing on his first day at the Ministry of Justice, and he dares to provoke the Assistant Minister! A high official. Is he brainless or has he lost his nerve?

But with Assistant Minister Liang's status, calling Tang Fan in for a reprimand would be disgraceful. Respecting your superiors is the first thing you do, and if this issue gets too big, it won't do anyone in the ministry any good because everyone will know that an assistant minister is abusing his power and the Imperial Censors will get involved, so Assistant Minister Liang did nothing.

Two days later, when the ministry wanted to review the work done by the divisions in the first half of the year, it called the divisional wardens over one by one for questioning and encouraged them to work harder in the second half of the year, to do better, and so on. They tell them that if they encounter any difficulties, you can also take the opportunity to talk to the leaders, mention it, the leaders when in a good mood, may help you solve a problem you encountered.

As a result, twelve of the thirteen officers of the Ministry of Justice went, but only Tang Fan was not called.

If the brass thought Tang Fan was new here and didn't know anything about affairs, they should have sent for his Deputy Director but there was nothing, the Henan province! It's as if the Henan Division has been completely forgotten.

No one is a fool. Now everyone knows that Tang Fan must have offended Assistant Minister Liang and refused to meet him.

There are three heads in the Ministry of Justice, a minister and two assistant ministers.

Nowadays, Minister Zhang is not in charge of the day to day activities, and Assistant Minister Peng is like an opinion less machine, leaving Assistant Minister Liang in charge of most of the practical affairs of the ministry. It's not too much to ask but he is the only one who is available.

Even Lu Tongguang, who had shown goodwill to Tang Fan before, was afraid of being implicated. When Tang Fan came to him for a chat, he excused himself and didn't show up.

It's only natural that when the walls would fall down and everyone would be pushed out, but now that Tang has maligned Assistant Minister Liang, there's no telling when he'll be kicked out of the Ministry of Justice, it's good that people don't say they shunned him and didn't rub the assistant minister the wrong way.

"Did you see how pleased he is with himself? He won't be expelled soon, will he? Will it be time for Deputy Director Yin to be promoted to a Director?”

In the duty room, the three officers were sitting around, with the master of the house, Dai Hongming, sitting beside them, this whole talk appeared a bit disrespectful.

But there's nothing they can do, they're about to become forgotten weeds, everyone panic ah, quickly get together to exchange information! As well as giving themselves some psychological comfort.

Yin Yuanhua's popularity is not very good, except for one officer who is steadfastly clinging to Yin Yuanhua's leg. He likes him. But whether he likes him or not, it's all in their minds. They can't go against Yin Yuanhua. He's a second-ranked scholar in the imperial examination of his rota, and with Assistant Minister Liang as his superior and teacher to protect him, his career path is definitely better than theirs.

I thought Tang Fan would be able to suppress Yin Yuanhua's anger and make their life easier. He offended Assistant Minister Liang, and the Henan province officials were sidelined.

"I think so!”

Cheng Wen sighed incessantly, he was an old secretary, now in his early fifties, and had been in the Henan Division of the thirteen Ministry of Justice for more than ten years, and had served several through many Directors, he doesn't want to be promoted, he just want to live in peace. Before Tang Fan's coming here, Yin Yuanhua was in charge of the administration of the division, but the man was always flattering to his superiors, but not to his subordinates, even if there was a slightest benefit he didn’t share it with the other in the department but took it to his superiors in a hurry. It's no wonder that Assistant Minister Liang likes him, but they don't like him, so neither Dai Hongming nor the other three officers want Deputy Director Yin to be a Director. But the fact remains that this issue is not up to them.

"After all, Director Tang is too young and got carried away and started to teach Yin Yuanhua a lesson, but even if he's happy to do it, hasn't he thought about the future?”

The other officer expressed his disapproval of Tang Fan: "I heard that Tang Da-ren was born as a commoner. This kind of Hanlin officials have their eyes long on the top of the head and only look to the upper ones, the nobility is very much preferred, how can he know how important things are!”

Dai Hongming was worried: "Okay, don't worry about others, think about ourselves first! Da-ren told me today that he and Lu have agreed to invite me to a dinner party in a few days, so I have to go to the different departments. I walked around, but no one would talk to me. They either said they were too busy to leave or that they had a funeral at home. Not being able to attend the banquet, that's nothing. They are clearly not taking Tang Da-ren seriously! Tell me, what should we do?”

The other three officers sighed with him: "What can we do, just tell Director Tang the truth, we can't force them to go there!”

"Go where?” came a voice from the doorway.




Everyone looked back and said, "Speak of the devil and the devil appears," and Tang Fan walked in with his hands behind his back, smiling.

"What a waste of a man to not come. What can they say to me if they decided not to come?”

Everyone's smiling and looking embarrassed.

The secretaries retired in succession, and Tang Fan nodded with a smile, without stopping them.

Dai Hongming is the only one left, this is his duty room, of course, he can't get out, he can only pull out a smile: "Da-ren has a lot on his mind. Why did you personally come here, if you wanted to tell me what's going on, I'll just come over and listen to your orders!”

Tang Fan chuckled, "How's the post I asked you to go to each division to invite the Directors to dinner?”

Dai Hongming's smiling face fell: "Da-ren, it's really not that I'm not doing my job properly, but that your superiors are too busy, I can't even pull away.”

Tang Fan's smile remained unchanged: "It's not that I can't get out of it, it's because I'm afraid of offending Assistant Minister Liang, who thinks I'll be kicked out of the Ministry of Justice soon. Useless?”

"How could it be?" you said. "Dai Hongming chuckled, and said you already know, why are you asking me?

Tang Fan said: "I know about this, just pass the word on, whether they come or not is our business, it's not your business, at that time you can call Liang Wen and the three of them, and you go over there.”

Dai Hongming said: "This is not right, only the director of each department can attend the banquet, and I am not qualified."

Tang Fan waved his hand, interrupting his words: "This is something you do not have to worry about, I am the director, naturally, it's within my power to make the decision, anyway, when you are ready just go with them. In five days, after the imperial court activities will be suspended, I've reserved a table in the Xianyun Restaurant

Dai Hongming was shocked. The Xianyun Restaurant is one of the best restaurants in the capital, and everyone knows that it's owned by the same owner as of the Xianke Restaurant, Each taking a different route, the former is even more upscale than the Xianke Restaurant, I heard that the environment of the place is elegant and secluded, non-officials are not allowed to enter the door nevertheless a nobleman so even if Assistant Minister Liang wanted to make a reservation there, he wouldn't be able to do so, and even a minor official like Dai Hongming has only heard of the place and never set foot.

What does it mean to say that Tang Fan has a reservation at Xianyun Restaurant? It means he has more connections than Assistant Minister Liang!

Dai Hongming suddenly thought, he heard that this Tang Da-ren was transferred to the Sixth Ministries after less than two years as a Prefect in Shuntian Prefecture. He's been promoted one and a half ranks within that time. He's obviously someone backing him from the top. If he wasn't backed, there are a lot of meritorious officers in the world, but you sure as hell don't see them all getting promoted so fast!

[1] So Tang Fan was originally a Lower Six Rank Prefect now he is a Regular Fifth Rank which mean he skipped a Below Fifth Rank, and Upper Firth Rank and a Lower Firth Rank into a Regular Fifth Rank so that Three Ranks but because one rank has four levels so he skipped one rank and a half.

Dai Hongming was beginning to get a little flurried, and in just a few moments, his mind came alive with the number of thoughts that were spinning through his head.

Dai Hongming thought of something, originally he thought this Director Tang was foolish and daring, but now it seems that he is not a dummy at all. What about him that makes him have confidence!

It's still unclear who in between the dragon or the snake will be stronger in the end, but if he can take this opportunity, he will be able to do it. Maybe something good will come of it.

Thinking about this, Dai Hongming's attitude was not as negative as before, he even agreed, and took the initiative to advise: "Da- I'm not going to be able to do anything about it, but I'm going to be able to do something about it, they may not dare to go either, but let's postpone it for a while?”

Tang Fan laughed at the news, this Dai Hongming is really an interesting character.

He's new here and really needs to get down with his own people, so Tang Fan took the opportunity to observe Dai Hongming for a few days while he was in trouble with Yin Yuanhua. Dai Hongming is not a bad person, although he has his own small mind, but since he is not on good terms with Yin Yuanhua, he wants Tang Fan to. Be something to back him up.

Before, Dai Hongming didn't dare to ask because he thought Tang Fan didn't have much chance against Yin Yuanhua, so he didn’t want to show his support for Deputy Director Yin lest he be alienated by his new boss.

Tang Fan also came from a basic department like Shuntian Prefecture, so he knew exactly what the people underneath him were thinking.

"There is no need for words, saying two days are two days is two days, call Cheng Wen, Tian Xuan, and Yin Wen." Tang Fan said.

There are four magistrates in this division, all working for the three superiors, except for one, Liao Zijin, who rushes to hug Yin Yuanhua's thigh, the other three are watching the scene undecidedly, and to them anyway, no matter who becomes a Director, they'll just be doing odd jobs and their lives won't change much.

Of course, they're the most insignificant and neglected members of the department, so even if they wanted to hug him, Yin Yuanhua wouldn't let them. That's why the three of them got together with Dai Hongming and sighed in misery at Director tang, Deputy Director Yin and Assistant Minister Liang.

Tang Fan noted these three people, which means the remaining Liao Zijin is excluded. He seemed determined to work with Yin Yuanhua to the end, so Tang Fan was smiling inwardly.

Seeing his careful agreement, Tang Fan patted him on the shoulder, said two words of encouragement, and asked him to follow his own requirements to find some Take the file to your duty room, and then leave.

The Ministry of Justice is not a big place, to begin with, but although the Director is a province division chief, it is not comparable to the Minister of the Dynasty, and the duty room is just like Tang Fan’s old officer's room was about the same size.

When he entered his new room, the flowers and plants that were almost wilted a few days ago were starting to come back to life because of the care they have received, Tang Fan brought two pots of orchids from home, the slender leaves are like jade green and lovely, the pink buds growing from the middle, because of the house is warm, there are already signs of blooming, a hint of fragrance wafting out, making the duty room wafting with a refreshing fragrance that is so elegant that everyone who steps in here can't help but take a deep breath.

It's the middle of the year. They've already been busy at the beginning of the year, but Tang Fan didn't come here just to get his salary... He's always had something of work to earn your pay on his mind. He couldn't do it in the Shuntian Prefecture because of the layout, and now he's in the Sixth Department, he can now do what he can with the convenience of the Ministry of Justice.

Soon, Dai Hongming came over with a pile of files, and Tang Fan buried his head in the papers without raising his head, so he could remove them after putting them down, Dai Hongming saw the half cold teacup on Tang Fan's table, and didn't disturb him, he quietly turned and left.

A few moments later, a Secretary, Cheng Wen, brought over the hot tea.

He had already heard from Dai Hongming that Tang Fan was going to invite guests at the Xianyun Restaurant, and asked them to accompany him, haha he smiled widened! He was a little more attentive than usual, but the Director Da-ren was too busy going over the file to even look up and give acknowledgment to him. Who was the one serving tea, he gave him just a grunt from the throat?

Mr. Cheng had to leave in dismay.

Tang Fan was really doing something important.

After the founding of the Ming dynasty, the laws of the Tang dynasty and the Yuan dynasty were used as a reference. But times have changed. More than a hundred years have passed, and there are many things in the original law that don't apply now, and many things that do. As the details of implementation were not regulated, the officials could not find a basis in the Great Ming Law Code and began to judge according to their own code of conduct.

In the Ming Dynasty, to become an official, one relied on the imperial examination, which was a test of the eight-legged race scholarship, but not of the Ming Dynasty's laws. Some officials are transferred from the Ministry of Rites to the Ministry of Justice or maybe the Imperial Censors who used to be in charge of overseeing a hundred officials, but after being transferred to become a judge and jailer, you can't expect them to be familiar with the Great Ming Law.

This is true at the central level, not to mention the local level.

Before Tang Fan took office, there was a very famous case in Zhejiang.

A had a fight with B. They fought and A was killed by B.

The law states that if one's grandparents or parents are killed, the line of descendants  can revenge for their death on the spot, that murder is not a crime. If you go and kill that man who killed you relative afterward, you'll get 60 lashes.

If the enemy has already been judged and not executed because of the amnesty, and if at this time the descendants still go to take revenge and kill, then they will be slapped with a cane one hundred, and exiled three thousand miles.

At this time, A's son did not kill the man on the spot but made a private agreement with B that B would compensate him for the land, and then he claimed that his father died as a result of an accident, then he applied to the government for a waiver of autopsy, and that's the end of it.

At that time, since the dead were the most important, and an autopsy would destroy the body, many families were reluctant to do so after the end result left their loved ones looking like a mauled animal, so the government received such an application, it won't be insisted upon doing a dead body examination, and the wishes of the family will prevail.

It's not legal, but it's not against the law either, it's just taking advantage of a loophole in the law.

If the matter ended here, it would be over, and A's son would at best be denounced as an unfilial son who couldn't hold his head up in society and so on.

But of course, things didn't end that way.

B compensated A's family for the land, and the A received a lot of rent every year, so A's son took the rent for a few years to eat, drink and be merry. He married a wife, had kids, and when the kids were three years old, he took a knife and stabbed B to death, saying he was done living and he wanted to avenge his father's death by carrying on the family name.

Okay, here's the problem. The law already states that if your parents are killed, it's okay for your grandchildren to kill the killer on the spot, but A’s son didn't kill b at the time, he didn't let the government judge him, but he broke up with B. He didn't even tell the government. That means the case is over, three years later, A’s son killed B. According to the rules, A’s son should be sentenced to at least 100 lashes and 3,000 miles in exile.





The case was so sensational that it went to the Ministry of Justice, and the officials who ruled on it had two main opinions:

One view is that the sentence should be strictly in accordance with the law, and that A's son's refusal to perform an autopsy and his concealment of the matter from the authorities was a contemptuous attempt to manipulate the authorities, this behavior must be severely punished.

Another opinion is that A's son had to bear a son in order to carry on the family name, and this was an act of filial piety that he can put up with B. A should be lenient and can reduce the crime.

The two opinions were at odds, with the Dali Temple and the Imperial Court joining in the debate, but in the end it was the Cabinet that gave the go-ahead: A's son was shown mercy and compassionate, but his crime is also abominable, so the compromise is a hundred lashes and exile will be avoided.

In Tang Fan's view, this case is a typical example of using filial piety to cover up one's own despicable behavior and exploitation of legal loopholes.

Because according to the rules, A's son could have been exonerated if he had killed B right after his father was killed, but he didn't. Then he took B's money and spent a few years enjoying himself. Then he got married, had a kid, and stabbed B. He said he was doing it for his father in the name of revenge.

The Ministry of Justice and the Cabinet did not fail to understand this, except that A's son used filial piety as a cover, and the Ming dynasty ruled the world with importance on filial piety, so if they if the punishment was severe, it was not in line with the education of the time, so the court finally chose to make a relatively balanced choice between law and reason.

But it also directly favors A's son.

His family was poor, but they had to rely on the land compensated by B to improve their situation, so the family didn't have to die. It's a great way to have money and a good reputation for filial piety, and to clear your name.

This mirrors some of the problems that exist today.

On regulations that are not so carefully regulated by the existing law, many people have the opportunity to exploit loopholes, as in the case of A's son. If the government had made autopsies mandatory, none of those things would have happened.

This problem was not only realized by the Cabinet but by many others as well.

People like Lin Cong, the former Minister of Justice, and A-Dong Fang made it clear that they wanted to revise the Great Ming Law to meet the growing demand for sentencing.

However, the Great Ming Law was laid down by the Taizu Emperor, and could not be changed just because one wanted to, and after Taizu, there were many courtiers who proposed to change it. Every time someone brought it up, a bunch of ministers would come out and impeach him for violating our ancestral laws. That Great Ming Law, many officials were unable to find a basis for their judgments and had to go by their own common sense, which produced a lot of injustice.

Tang Fan also felt that the Great Ming Law had to be changed, but not directly from above, countless predecessors had already proved this to him by their physical practice. It won't work, you'll be scolded very badly, but if you don't touch the law and choose to add some extra regulations, it won't work. The question will come up.

But even so, it's not Tang Fan's turn to be in charge now. He's just a little Fifth Rank director, not even a cabinet minister. If the proposal was presented, the most likely it will be shelved, and besides, this is not the court that wants to do things now.

But by entering the Ministry of Justice, Tang Fan had a good environment, where he could access a lot of things that he couldn't see in Shuntian Prefecture before. File information, he can also start his own project - to find out from the various cases over the years where the judgments are not reasonable and list them in the new questioning regulations were written based on the Great MingcLaw.

If he doesn't reach high office in his lifetime, it's likely that these things will never be pushed through, but that doesn't mean that Tang Fan could have spent his life like Yin Yuanhua and the others in the Ministry of Justice, spending all his energy on petty crime. He will forget the reason why he became an official, just as he will not forget the words of his teacher, Qiu Jun, who encouraged him to be righteous before he left the capital.

No matter how dark the world is, there will always be a day when the light comes back, no matter how dark the world is, there will always be a group of people who will fight for the day when the light returns. Relentless effort.

Tang Fan isn't the only one working on it, but he'd like to be one of them.

In this way, after Tang Fan was isolated, instead of being overwhelmed as expected, he was so busy that he wanted to take everyone with him! Bury it in a high file.

But this thing can't be done overnight, it's not only huge, but also tedious, and it's impossible for Tang Fan to do it all by himself, if more people do it together, it must be much more efficient than if he did it alone.

But Tang Fan also had his own plans, he didn't rush to call Dai Hongming and the others over, ask them to show their loyalty, assign them tasks, and also not agitated by the outside world's comments about him, after Dai Hongming moved the entire file over to him, Tang Da-ren said he will do it himself, and then I'll just read the file every day and wait for the show to start.

Two days later, during office hours as usual, Tang Fan drank tea while looking at the mountain of files.

He looked very carefully at the case, then read the verdict, from which he picked out unreasonable places for additional marking, and then wrote his own opinion. And the idea, it will be very slow, but he is not in a hurry, anyway, it will take a long time to come, the heart of the hot issue.

Just then, the sound of hurried footsteps was heard outside.

Soon, Dai Hongming's slightly anxious face appeared at the door: "Da-ren! Da-ren!"

Tang Fan raised his head: "What is it? Come in.”

Dai Hongming walked in and lowered his voice: "The Ministry called a meeting with the Provincial magistrates and the staffs' wardens, saying that they wanted to ask some of the divisions in the second half of the year.”

Tang Fan asked, "When?”

Dai Hongming: "It's now!”

Tang Fan's eyebrows furrowed slightly: "Why didn't you say so beforehand?”

Dai Hongming faltered: "This humble servant has only just learned of it”

Tang Fan understands that the person who should have been told of this is the Deputy Director who should have been in charge of this and told him in advance, but Yin Yuanhua didn't want him to... How could you tell him beforehand if you made a fool of yourself? How could you tell him beforehand?

He hummed and hawed, not blaming Dai Hongming, and got up and walked out.

Dai Hongming was anxious that Tang Fan would make a fool of himself and that he might not be prepared enough for the meeting.

After walking for some time, Tang Fan turned back and saw that Dai Hongming was still following him, so he was surprised: "What? You want to participate too?”




"No, no, my servant thought Da-ren had any other orders, I'm leaving, I'm leaving! "Dai Hongming laughed dryly and slipped away in a hurry.

This meeting is considered to be a regular meeting, which is held every month, usually towards the end of the month. He's away for a few days. They should have warned him beforehand, but Tang Fan is new and not well-liked, people were bullying the new guy, so the meeting was about to start before he knew it.

Of course, Tang Fan was the last of the divisions to arrive, even half a step behind the Assistant Ministers.

He hurriedly curtsied, then found his seat.

According to the rules, all the Secretaries of Divisions and Staff Secretaries were naturally sitting together, Tang Fan's looked and Yin Yuanhua who was sitting next to him were inadvertently opposite to each other. The latter gave him a smug look.

Tang Fan returned the smile with an unmoving flicker.

The person sitting next to him is Lu Tongguang, who also saw Yin Yuanhua's demonstration against Tang Fan and sighed in his heart, he quietly said to Tang Fan: "This meeting, not only to discuss this month's, but also mainly to discuss the second half of the plan of the various departments, Official Zhang may be going after one division at a time, you have to be prepared.”

Tang Fan gave him a grateful smile and also whispered, "Thank you, Brother Lu.”

Lu Tongguang still wanted to say something, but Minister Zhang Liang came in, he waved his hand, indicating Tang Fan to stop talking.

The meeting is now officially underway.

As Lu Tongguang said, Official Zhang gave an overview of the situation in the first half of the year, and then focused on a few cases that are still pending, urged the divisions to step up, and then start having the divisions report.

Yin Yuanhua had already planned this, and he knew Tang Fan was unprepared. He probably won't be able to answer nine times out of ten, so this is his chance to shine.

Even if Tang Fan can't be dismissed or transferred for a while, if he's poorly behaved and isolated, he won't be able to do anything in the Ministry. He'll be a puppet Director, even worse than his predecessor.

The other one, a Director Magistrate at the Ministry of Justice in Fujian Province division, said, "It is customary to have a younger brother in Fujian before one family can send another to the palace, and there are many people who have taken to the palace, but they are not allowed to do so. It's really a headache to be banned from being a eunuch. The Fujian Prefecture has written several times asking the court to order a strict ban on private citizens from going to the capital to be eunuchs. I'm afraid the trend will only grow stronger.”

Minister Zhang asked Assistant Minister Liang: "What do you think?”

Assistant Minister Liang intoned: "I have also seen letters from Fujian reporting this matter in official documents. The people have been doing it themselves, but it's not very effective. In the end, it's because the government hasn't taken a hard look at it, and that's why it's become so prevalent. It's not going away. In order to put an end to this, we have to think of something at the source. I propose that the imperial court decree that in the future, anyone who privately intends to build his own palace influence will not be allowed to enter.”

Tang Fan nodded his head inwardly as he listened, although this Assistant Minister Liang is harboring his disciple and is always in for finding trouble with him, he does have some ability. Those mediocre officials are a little better.

Minister of Justice Zhang nodded his head and said to Director Xian, "You can write it down first, and I'll take a look at it later after I've sorted out Assistant Minister Liang's proposal.”

Director Xian was busy and reported some more.

After the Fujian one, it's the next one.

Statements at the meeting were not intended to be made in the geographical order of north to south or south to north, but rather in the order of everyone else. Lu Tongguang sits to the left of Tang Fan, Director Xian sits to the right of Tang Fan, in the order of right to left, it's Tang Fan's turn, then Lu Tongguang.

Minister Zhang's gaze shifted away from Director Xin and landed on Tang Fan.

"Are you the new Secretary of the Henan government? I don't think we've met yet?”

Tang Fan got up and bowed, "Yes, I am, I went to see the Ministerial Court these few days, but unfortunately the Ministerial Court was out, so I couldn't meet the Minister and please I ask for Da-ren's forgiveness.”

Minister of Justice Zhang smiled, but said reasonably: "Since it is not coincidental, what crime is there? Sit down, according to your opinion, how is the situation in Henan's Ministry of Justice?”

Yin Yuanhua was delighted to hear that Tang Fan has only been here for a couple of days, so what's the point of having to ask him? He's the one who has to tell us what's going on.

Thinking of that, he straightened his back and tried to speak.

But he heard Tang Fan say, "I have been to Henan for several days and found that there is a lot of procrastination here. There is indeed much room for improvement in cases and there is inadvertent misjudgment or even casual obfuscation....”

What's wrong with him? He bites like a rabid dog when he talks? Yin Yuanhua turned his head to stare at him.

Not only had he, everyone else looked at Tang Fan like he was a monster.

Tang Fan was the only one who looked as if the words had not come from his own mouth.




The author has something to say:

Is Tang Da-ren really crazy? Obviously not! Next time it will be his turn to make a name for himself!

1. The A-B case has a provenance, it happened during the Wanli years of the Ming Dynasty 1573-1619, and the facts of the case have been changed by me.

2, Fujian Chedi is also a historical problem, many eunuchs are from Fujian, it is said that the two are linked ~



3, Tang Da-ren now writes the new questioning regulations, history is a prototype, in this novel when the crown prince Zhu Youcheng ascended the throne, then the Ming dynasty issued the Regulations on Interrogation and Punishment, which was an extension of the Great Ming Law to regulate some issues that were not regulated before. This is a hint to the later text, by Da-ren, you know...







- The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty -




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