Chapter 852
Conservatives think radicals are too conservative
Shen Wansan stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said, "Your Majesty, all the state-owned asset projects formulated by Your Majesty have been implemented. These include resource-based industries such as salt, iron, tea, horses, and coal, as well as productive industries such as gunpowder factories and steel mills. All of them have been put under state management."
After listening to Shen Wansan's words, Chen Jie nodded slightly and asked, "How is the bank's paper money plan progressing?"
Shen Wansan immediately replied, "It has already begun to be implemented gradually, and it has now been widely adopted throughout the country. Banks have also opened branches in various counties. At the same time, banks have also launched small commercial loans to help small business owners."
"So far, 130,000 loans have been issued, ranging from tens of taels to tens of thousands of taels, with the total amount issued exceeding 40 million taels."
Chen Jie nodded slightly and asked, "Well, what's the current bad debt ratio?"
Shen Wansan said, "Less than one in a thousand. Only a few really lost a lot of money, but most still made a profit."
Chen Jie said, "Well, for those who have bad debts, don't pursue them too much. Just make sure they get their principal back."
Shen Wansan replied, "Yes, I understand."
Chen Jie said, "Duke Xin, I've seen you scratching your head for a long time. Come on, give everyone a report on the recent achievements of your patrol department and the Dali Temple."
Upon hearing this, Director Zhou immediately stood up, then looked at Jin Yanzi and said, "Minister Jin, please."
Jin Yanzi smiled and said, "Minister Zhou is all I need."
Hearing this, Chen Jie said, "Alright, either of you can say it."
Upon hearing Chen Jie's words, the two immediately stepped forward and followed Zhou Chu, saying, "In accordance with His Majesty's request, our patrol department, in conjunction with the Dali Temple, carried out a nationwide legal reform, which included the drafting of a basic law and three separate laws: criminal law, civil law, and commercial law."
Upon hearing this, Chen Jie looked at Zhou Chu and asked, "So, what specific results have been achieved?"
Zhou Chu said, "Your Majesty, since the promulgation of the four laws, we have been carrying out legal education activities in various places and have been cracking down on crime."
"During this period, more than 5,000 criminal cases, more than 10,000 civil cases, and 8,000 commercial cases were solved nationwide."
"The number of people involved in the case is as high as 200,000, and the total amount involved is 50 million taels of silver."
"Typical cases include the Kyoto纨绔案 (a case involving spoiled young men) and the Shandong结社案 (a case involving a secret society)."
Upon hearing this, Chen Jie nodded slightly. He had heard about both cases before. The case of the纨绔 (wan ku, spoiled brats) in the capital referred to the sons of three high-ranking officials, including the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice, and the son of the Prefect of the capital. They formed an organization called the Three Young Masters of the Capital, committed all sorts of evil deeds, allowed their servants to commit murder, and raped women, resulting in the tragic death of twin daughters from a farming family.
The case directly alarmed the central government, and the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice even tried to cover it up. However, the matter was eventually brought to the Court of Judicial Review, and Jin Yanzi was furious when she learned of it.
Golden Swallow ordered a thorough investigation into the matter.
After the incident, the three young masters were arrested, and all sorts of people tried to pull strings. You should know that these three were all veteran officials of the Han Dynasty, especially the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice, named Chen Hong. Just from the name, you can tell that he was a relative of the emperor.
This Chen Hong was also from Xiantao Village and was related to Chen Jie's family. Later, he joined the fishing gang with Chen Jie. After Director Zhou took charge of the fishing gang, he followed Director Zhou and worked diligently and conscientiously. In addition, he was literate and had studied, so he was quickly promoted.
He became a fourth-rank official in the Ministry of Justice.
However, this time he chose to conceal the fact that his only son had committed a crime, and coerced the victim into not being allowed to file a complaint.
The behavior was extremely egregious.
After the incident, many people from Mianshui spread the word, and some even pleaded with Chen Xiaohu.
Chen Xiaohu was arguably the most prestigious among his fellow townsmen from Mianshui, and was also widely recognized as the leader of the imperial faction.
The Imperial Party was a small group of people in the imperial court who considered themselves part of the Imperial Party. They came from Mianshui County and considered themselves part of the Imperial Party because they were from the same hometown as the emperor. The leader of this group was Chen Xiaohu, the Duke of Chu.
However, Chen Xiaohu did not take the lead this time, but instead directly turned away the people who were pleading for him.
And he replied with the words: "He deserves his punishment; the emperor is subject to the same laws as the common people."
This answer certainly wouldn't satisfy those who considered themselves part of the imperial faction, so they discussed who else to approach. In fact, there were quite a few members of the imperial faction, such as Zhou Chu of the Police Department of the Duke of Xin and Wu Hong of the Supervisory Department of the Duke of Ding, both of whom were genuine members of the imperial faction.
However, after these foolish fellows found Wu Hong, Wu Hong wrote down all their names. The next morning at court, Wu Hong impeached them on the spot.
One can imagine how varied the expressions must have been on the faces of those who considered themselves part of the imperial faction.
Upon learning of these events, Chen Jie flew into a rage and denounced these self-proclaimed superior imperialists.
He immediately ordered that the three纨绔 (sons of wealthy and powerful families) be executed according to the law, that they pay for their crimes with their lives, and that they repay their debts. He also ordered that Chen Hong, an official in the Ministry of Justice, be executed immediately for interfering with law enforcement and coercing the victims. He was also ordered to be beheaded for knowingly breaking the law.
The Vice Minister of Revenue and Prefect of the Capital were dismissed from their posts for failing to properly educate their son, but were allowed to remain in office for probation.
Those who pleaded for leniency will be fined three months' salary; if they dare to commit the offense again, they will be dealt with severely.
This was the infamous "Wanku Case" in the capital, which shocked the court and the public. It was this case that showed the entire Han Dynasty what it meant for princes to be subject to the same laws as commoners. A third-rank official, a fourth-rank assistant minister, and a fourth-rank prefect of the capital all lost their positions or their lives because of the three Wanku they failed to manage.
Moreover, some of them were from the emperor's hometown, yet the emperor still showed no leniency.
This served as a wake-up call to the entire world, proving that the emperor's saying that "the emperor is subject to the same laws as the common people" was not a joke, but a fact.
It was after this case that the spoiled brats and sons of wealthy families across the country became much more obedient, and the common people also saw the court's determination and bravely appealed, which directly promoted the progress of the judiciary.
Another case is the Shandong Association case.
This happened in Dengzhou Prefecture, Shandong Province. There was a large local gang called the Black Tiger Gang, which specialized in bullying and monopolizing the market, engaging in forced buying and selling, and collecting protection money everywhere.
The people were suffering terribly. Some brave people who went to file a complaint were stabbed to death in the street, while their families who went to the authorities were arrested and imprisoned by the Dengzhou government for the crime of mob violence.
In no time, everyone in Dengzhou Prefecture knew that Liu Sanye of the Black Tiger Gang was the king of Dengzhou Prefecture.
The turning point came when the imperial court sent a household registration official to the local area for inspection. While eating on the street, the official got into a fight with some hooligans and beat the official half to death on the spot.
The household registration official was appointed by the emperor; to offend the household registration official was to offend the imperial court.
This matter was immediately reported to higher authorities. At the time, the Qinglong Army was responsible for assisting the Ministry of Revenue in investigating land. Upon hearing this, they wanted to send troops to level the area.
Chen Jie stopped them, then ordered the police department to intervene, with the Dali Temple following up. Two teams were dispatched in total. One was the official imperial investigation team. Upon arrival, the local prefect, Wang Dewang, immediately handed over the perpetrators. The imperial envoys could tell at a glance that they were clearly being used as scapegoats, but they didn't say anything. Meanwhile, the other team conducted an undercover investigation and learned about the Black Tiger Gang from the local populace.
They gathered enough evidence, and once the evidence was complete, Zhou Chu was furious.
At that time, an order was given to arrest more than 500 members of their gang. Unexpectedly, the gang dared to openly resist and confront the police.
When Director Zhou arrived in person, Liu Sanye of the Black Tiger Gang immediately showed a disdainful expression.
"Is this Zhou Chu, the son-in-law who married into the family?"
"I know you. Weren't you just a lackey of the fishing gang in Mianshui County? Even the emperor was just like me back then, a gang leader. Now that you've gained the world, you come here to interfere with my business. You're not loyal to the code of the martial arts world..."
Upon hearing his words, Director Zhou's face turned purple with anger. This guy really didn't know what he was getting himself into.
What is he anyway, daring to compare himself to His Majesty?
Enraged, Zhou Chu didn't even wait for his men to charge. He rode alone, cutting through the enemy lines and giving Liu Sanye a sound beating, so badly that even his own mother wouldn't recognize him.
Old Master Liu was a tough guy: "If you've got the guts, give me a quick death."
Zhou Chu didn't impulsively kill Liu Sanye. Liu Sanye was the main culprit and would be subject to legal trial. If he had killed him on the spot, how would he have been any different from these gangs? It would have just turned into a gang war!
Master Liu continued to curse and swear, but Director Zhou knew that Master Liu wouldn't be so arrogant.
This matter must be investigated thoroughly. We didn't know until we investigated, and once we did, we found that the entire officialdom of Dengzhou Prefecture was rotten to the core. Shandong was the last province to be recovered, so the officialdom in Shandong had not yet undergone a systematic cleanup.
The reason why Master Liu was so arrogant was because he had a protective umbrella behind him.
Upon closer examination, all officials in Dengzhou Prefecture, from the prefect to the county magistrate, were replaced and given a legal verdict. This case involved as many as a thousand people and was known as the first case of the association.
Following this case, Chen Jie directly issued an order to crack down on organized crime cases nationwide.
It should be noted that Chen Jie had previously served as the leader of the fishing gang, and knew that there were quite a few similar underworld forces in this area.
Therefore, they need to be targeted. Of course, Chen Jie also gave these people a chance, which was to join the army. As long as these criminal gangs joined the army and confessed their past crimes, they could be spared from the court's crackdown.
These individuals are all quite capable in combat. Once they join the army and are bound by military law, they can all become excellent recruits.
This crackdown is nationwide, involving hundreds of thousands of people. Even so, Chen Jie only said one thing: crack down hard and never tolerate it.
We must give the people a bright and clear world.
At Chen Jie's command, countless Jianghu organizations vanished swiftly, resulting in a significant improvement in local security. With improved security came more businesses, leading to a boom in the local economy.
This measure can be described as spraying weeds on society, directly eliminating all these harmful pests.
At this moment, Zhou Chu reported on the major case, and everyone listened attentively.
Those present had matured considerably over the years, so how could they not know that Chen Jie had laid the most solid foundation for the country in these five years, and only with this foundation could they accomplish great things?
Chen Jie then looked at Zhang Dingbian and said, "Let me also talk to you about the military reform."
After Chen Jie finished speaking, Zhang Dingbian stood up and said, "Yes."
At this moment, Zhang Dingbian said, "According to His Majesty's instructions, our military has carried out sweeping reforms, the first of which is the military system."
“In the past, we used positions like decimal, centurion, and chiliarch.”
"After the reform, we changed it into nine military units: squad, platoon, company, battalion, brigade, division, army, and group army."
"After the reforms, our army now has seven army groups: Azure Dragon Army Group, White Tiger Army Group, Vermilion Bird Army Group, Beggar Army Group, Buddha Army Group, Destroyer Army Group, and White Deer Army Group."
"Each legion has approximately 110,000 to 120,000 men, with a total strength of nearly 800,000."
"In addition to these seven main corps, there are also local reserves, about 1.5 million people, stationed in various parts of the country and along the border, ready to supplement the main corps at any time."
After saying this, Zhang Dingbian sat down.
Upon hearing this, Chen Jie asked, "What about the militia?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Da stood up and said, "I am in charge of the militia. We have nearly five million militia members nationwide, but they train in villages and towns every seven days."
"In terms of training intensity, it is far inferior to that of the reserves, and even more so to the main force."
Upon hearing this, Chen Jie looked at Xu Da and asked, "Approximately what level is the militia's current strength equivalent to?"
Xu Da thought for a moment and said, "If we don't count top-tier troops like the Azure Wolf, White Deer, and Treasure Elephant, they should be about the same as the elite soldiers of the Qian Dynasty."
Chen Jie nodded slightly upon hearing this and said, "Good, it seems that you all have been quite busy lately. The achievements over the past five years are remarkable."
At this moment, Chen Xiaohu stood up and said, "Your Majesty, our Han Dynasty is now prosperous and fertile, with many talented people. In such a golden age, if we do not launch attacks to expand our territory, how will future generations evaluate us a hundred years from now?"
"With granaries overflowing, the nation is prosperous and the people are strong; with abundant talent, the court is full of capable men; with strong ships and powerful cannons, and excellent armor; with hundreds of millions of soldiers, arrayed in all directions; capable of reaching for the stars and grasping the moon, and capable of capturing dragons and catching water monsters."
Chen Xiaohu's gaze swept over the entire court of officials, who all stood tall and proud, their Han Dynasty far surpassing the Tang Dynasty in strength.
But then Chen Xiaohu's voice suddenly changed.
"However, despite their ability to defend the country, they have not expanded their territory by an inch. In the past thousands of years, we have never seen such a China, which is full of rats."
Chen Xiaohu's voice was resounding, and all the civil and military officials changed color. Chen Xiaohu was right. Now that the court is so powerful, if we don't conquer the northern deserts and sail south to the ocean, then all the land under heaven will belong to the king. When will we ever get around to this?
Even the most conservative Liu Bowen frowned slightly and clenched his fist at this moment; these words were truly poignant.
Meanwhile, at the banquet, Zhao Ya whispered to Su Yunjin, "Sister Su, when did Xiao Hu become so talented? It's so inspiring!"
Su Yunjin smiled and whispered in Zhao Ya's ear, "Yesterday, my husband secretly summoned the Duke of Chu. When the Duke left, he was carrying a note!" (End of Chapter)