Chapter 25: Governance by Reason

  County government office building.

  After Zhou Jian's case, dozens of county and township officials stood on both sides.

  On the left side, the civil officials were headed by County Lieutenant Cheng Kang, under whom were the Group Cao, Accounting Cao, Warehouse Cao and other county magistrates' literary affairs.

  On the right side, the military officer was led by County Lieutenant Wang Quan, under whom were the banditry officials, thieves, and prison guards, all of whom were in charge of military affairs.

  Everyone was solemn, sitting upright with their eyes cast down, but in their hearts they were all wondering what it could be. The County Magistrate of Zhou suddenly summoned everyone together, and no one knew whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

  No one dared to speak out before they figured out Zhou Jian's intention.

  Chen Fang was appointed as the chief clerk, standing behind Zhou Jian, in charge of managing documents and checking for omissions.

  There was originally a chief clerk in the county government, but the chief clerk was a close attendant. How could Zhou Jian put an unfamiliar person by his side? The previous chief clerk had never been used before, and when Chen Fang arrived, he naturally dismissed him to one side.

  The county magistrate has the power to appoint and remove the Zhubo, which naturally lies in the hands of the county magistrate.

  In fact, in a county, except for the county lieutenant and county commander who are appointed by imperial decree, with appointment and removal powers in the hands of the court, there are also some large rural areas' tax officials and patrolmen appointed by the prefecture, and the remaining various departmental clerks and township officials are all subordinate to the county magistrate, who is directly appointed and removed.

  The governor swept his eyes across the officials and clerks sitting upright in the hall, and suddenly said: "The people are the foundation of a country. If benevolent policies are implemented for the people, then the people will be at peace and the country will prosper; if violent policies are used to plunder them, then the people will rebel and the country will fall into chaos. After taking office, I have repeatedly said that as parents, we must treat the common people with kindness, so as not to betray the name of our parents. However, in the past month or so, I have heard that there are still people who take advantage of the situation to exploit and extort the common people, regarding the imperial court's laws and decrees as nothing, and treating my words as mere rumors. Why is this? Who can enlighten me?"

  Everyone immediately hung their heads and rolled their eyeballs around.

  Zhou Jian asked again, "Can someone tell me what's going on?"

  No one made a sound, and County Magistrate Cheng Kang almost tucked his head into his crotch.

  Zhou Jian sneered and said coldly: "Wang Quan."

  "The subordinate is present."

  County Lieutenant Wang Quan hastily stepped forward, cupped his hands and saluted.

  Zhou Jian said: "The case I let you investigate, have you investigated it clearly?"

  "Wang Quan hastily said: 'It's all clear, Your Honor.'"

  "Then tell me, who are the ones that have been corrupt, taking bribes, and exploiting the people?"

  "Yes, your subordinate obeys."

  The official in charge of supervising the examination was taken aback, his face turning extremely unsightly. This should have been his authority to begin with, but now it's being done by the county lieutenant instead, what is he supposed to do as an official?

  However, before he could turn around, he was startled by the numerous crimes that Wang had accused him of.

  Wang Quan said loudly: "Gong Cao Du Man, during his tenure as Gong Cao, took advantage of his position to embezzle a large amount of money and silver from the examination and promotion of county officials and clerks. A total of 52 cases have been found, with a total of 360,000 yuan in bribes received."

  "Innocent! The lower officials are framing me, I beg your honor to judge clearly!"

  Du Manjing suddenly jumped up, hastily crawled on the ground and called out to Chui Tianqu.

  The other officials all looked ugly, and it seemed that the county magistrate was going to take real action. Everyone's buttocks were dirty, and the Gong Cao would be held accountable for their crimes. It was inevitable that everyone would become self-conscious and fearful.

  Zhou Jian turned back and asked Chen Fang, "Was there a mistake?"

  Chen Fang replied: "There has been no mistake, only more or less."

  Zhou Jian nodded, of course he wouldn't fully believe Wang Quan's one-sided words. In the past twenty days, his followers had also collected evidence of corruption and law-breaking by officials, more or less than what Wang Quan had found, all in Chen Fang's hands.

  The amount of punishment should be based on the laws and regulations of the imperial court.

  "Remove his official position and demote him to a third-class commoner. Sentence him to twenty years of penal servitude with hard labor."

  "Ah! This is a miscarriage of justice..."

  Du Man was so frightened that his whole body shook, and he couldn't care about anything anymore. He hastily tore his heart out and started screaming loudly.

  The rest of the officials also changed color one after another, their buttocks were a bit uncomfortable, and they felt that their thighs were trembling with fear, unable to calm down.

  "Press down."

  Zhou Jian shouted loudly, and two bailiffs outside immediately stepped forward, dragging out Du Man, who was still screaming.

  Wang Quan sighed, feeling a bit like the rabbit that dies with the fox. At the same time, he secretly congratulated himself on having bought his official position at just the right moment and having had the good fortune to encounter the county magistrate's majesty, thus avoiding a difficult life.

  County Magistrate Cheng Kang couldn't stop wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, his face twitching nonstop, and he just couldn't calm down in his heart.

  Zhou Jian's face was cold and stern, instructing Wang Quan to continue exposing the corrupt officials, one by one.

  Successively, more than a dozen corrupt officials were dismissed, most of whom were removed from office, and only a small number were convicted and sentenced to penal servitude.

  The crows and sparrows under the hall were silent, and the people left had a ghastly pale face, looking very bad.

  Zhou Jian then turned to ask County Magistrate Cheng Kang, "The official has ordered you to prepare 500 hectares of good land, have you prepared it?"

  Cheng Kang's heart skipped a beat, and in an instant, he understood that County Magistrate Zhou was issuing him his final ultimatum. If he dared to continue being evasive, he feared that he would be the next one to be dealt with. Seeing how more than ten officials had been dismissed in just one day, who would still dare to have any illusions? He hastily said: "Please, sir, grant me another extension of five days, no, ten days will do, and I will definitely prepare good land to resettle the displaced civilians."

  Zhou Jian nodded in satisfaction, "This is good. The people are the foundation of governance for officials. To treat the people well is to treat one's own children well. Otherwise, officials will oppress the people and the people will rebel against them. This bloody lesson has been repeated throughout history. Let us stop here for today. I hope you all will take this to heart and quickly resettle the homeless refugees, bringing fortune and prosperity to the people."

  "The subordinate obeys orders."

  The remaining officials saw that they were no longer being pursued and immediately breathed a sigh of relief, hastily responding in unison.

  "From now on, this official does not want to hear that any villagers or townsmen have no food to eat, no clothes to wear, and cannot lose their homes, carrying their families away. Otherwise, the village head and town mayor will be dismissed directly, and you must all remember."

  Many officials secretly cursed in their hearts, but they didn't dare say much and almost pinched their noses to obey.

  Zhou Jian also made dozens of personnel appointments, appointing more than half of Chen Fang's over 300 disciples to serve as minor officials in various townships and county governments, with the aim of quickly tempering their ability to handle political affairs.

  To say that among those county and township officials present here, almost none of them have a clean butt.

  Zhou Jian also wanted to take down all these corrupt officials at once, but it was not very realistic. If he were to deal with them all at once, he feared that many rural areas would be blocked from governance, and there might even be chaos, so he could only bide his time.

  It is hoped that this shock and blow will give these corrupt officials a profound lesson.

  Even if it's unrealistic to start anew and be fair to the people, at least scale back a bit, don't dare to openly exploit and plunder the common folk, let them have some breathing room, and a way to survive.

  Completely eliminating corruption is something that has never been thoroughly achieved in any dynasty throughout Chinese history.

  At least it should make officials dare not be so bold in extorting money from the people, and the common people will be able to live a relatively better life.

  Zhou Jian also handled some pending cases, tried and sentenced over a dozen civil cases, and was busy with the bi-weekly court sessions until almost dusk before finishing. After leaving the front hall of the county government office, he immediately went to the back garden to practice martial arts with Dian Wei.

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