Chapter 74 Section 74: Demotion to four grades for excessive punishment

The streets of Daxing County are already crowded with people. In order to prevent accidents, in front of the car to escort the criminals, as usual, there are soldiers and government servants from Qingjie, followed by two rows of teams with foreign guns.At the back of the line were the prisoners who were being escorted. All the prisoners were tied with their hands tied and tied with a long rope, each tied around their necks, so that they could never dream of escaping.Behind the criminals are several groups of soldiers.Finally came Hong Jia on the horse, Duo Ze and Zeng Guofan in the sedan chair, Eunuch Cao in the tweed sedan chair, and the officials of Daxing County.There are more than half of the street, mighty and mighty, so lively!

The team marched to the field of execution in an orderly manner.Seeing that there were still two arrows away from the execution field, the advancing team suddenly stopped. Zeng Guofan was wondering when a yamen servant ran over and said, "My lord, an old man is sitting in the middle of the street and can't leave." Zeng Guofan said: "Couldn't the people in the street clear him away? We can't miss the hour!" The yamen servant said: "My lord, people in Qing Street dare not fight, because the old man is wearing a yellow jacket." "What?" Zeng Guofan was taken aback, got off the sedan chair in a hurry, and said, "Li Bao, Liu Heng, lead the way!"

Zeng Guofan went to the front and took a look, and he saw an old man with white hair, a shaggy beard, and a yellow jacket, sitting on a wooden chair in the street, staring straight at the oncoming team. Zeng Guofan took a step forward and knelt down, saying in his mouth: "Cabinet bachelor and Minister of Rites Zeng Guofan pays his respects to the Holy Majesty, long live my emperor! Long live long live my emperor! This department is ordered to supervise and execute criminals. Please step aside." "Huh!" The old man stood up abruptly and said loudly, "My old man has been an official for many years, and I don't bother to take care of the affairs of the palace! You let my grandson go, you go your way, and I go mine. Dare to say half Not a single word, hum!"

Zeng Guofan got up and whispered to Li Bao, "Please come over, Eunuch Cao." After a while, Eunuch Cao walked slowly along with Li Bao, holding the banner of Wang Ming in his arms; when he saw the people standing in the street, he recognized them. Eunuch Cao hurriedly took a step forward, greeted with a smile, "My servant pays my respects." The old man glanced at Eunuch Cao and said, "But Eunuch Cao?" Eunuch Cao gave another salute and said, "It's the slave." The old man suddenly pointed to Eunuch Cao's nose and said, "Eunuch Cao, don't you understand my ancestor's family law? Eunuchs who leave the palace for half a step without permission will be killed without pardon! Eunuch Cao, you are too courageous!"

Eunuch Cao took a step back, and suddenly sneered and said, "Thank you, old man, you still know the family law of your ancestors! The word 'good' just saved our family. Come here and see what this is?" As he spoke, he shook his head suddenly Wang Ming Banner.The old man was really unambiguous. When he saw the word "Ling", he immediately turned over and knelt down, calling him "Sheng'an". Zeng Guofan told the yamen servant to take the old man aside and tell the old man by the way that he should wait for his grandson's body to be collected.All the criminals were taken to the execution ground.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, with the sound of three cannons, nineteen heads fell to the ground at the same time. After lunch, Duo Ze sent someone to escort Cao Jinxi and others back to Beijing. Zeng Guofan asked the county school discipline to call all the scholars in the county to come to the scene, personally write the questions, and re-examine and register all the registered scholars.There are a total of 107 old and young county students in the county. After review, only 32 are qualified, and the others are only registered as candidates.For this matter alone, Zeng Guofan was busy for three days.

The next thing is the assessment of all teaching officials of the county school. Daxing County School has the most powerful teachers and staff, and the most officials. Not only are the professors assigned one Wen and one Wu, but there are also more disciplines and instructions than county schools in other provinces. There are also door officials, bell officials, Announcer, name-calling officer, and a few others who are not well-known, but also hold the title of salary.Although they are all minor officials and officials who have not entered the mainstream, they are so favored that Zeng Guofan is stunned, and he can be called the best in the Qing Dynasty.

The county school officials must be dismissed, and the consent of the clan government must be obtained to eliminate the county school officials.Because the affairs of the Manchus are not the order of the emperor except the clan mansion, other yamen have no right to intervene. Zeng Guofan was neither sitting nor standing in the courtyard, and his mood was very complicated.You can't go back to Beijing to ask for orders for everything, right?Without an order, he, Zeng Guofan, can't do anything in Daxing County School! "Cough!" he sighed while drinking tea, "doing a job in the small Daxing County is even more difficult than doing a job in the big Hunan Province!"

After dinner, the magistrate of the county, Dozawa, came to say hello.Seeing Zeng Guofan's sad face, Duo Ze asked, "Master Ganqing has encountered a difficult problem again?" Master Zeng Guofan sighed and said: "Duoming Mansion, the establishment of the main hall in Daxing is really a step-by-step process! There are many people in the county school, and it costs a lot of money. The first priority is to weed them out!" Duo Ze interjected: "My lord, why don't you consult Wen Shun Tian Prefecture's academic and administrative office and start weeding them out?"

Zeng Guofan said with a smile: "It's easy to just consult the literary and political yamen. There is still a clan mansion that can't be bypassed! The clan mansion originally had a lot of dissatisfaction with the Han officials' meddling in clan affairs. Even if Master Wen nodded, other The minister will not agree!" Duo Ze pondered for a while and said, "My lord, why don't you choose what you can do first? For example, first examine the officials of the county government. After you return to Beijing to ask for an order, it is not too late to eliminate the county officials. !” One sentence reminded Zeng Guofan.

Zeng Guofan immediately said to Duo Ze: "Xie Ming Mansion reminds you, please go back and inform your subordinates that the main hall will assess the government of your county tomorrow. Duoming Mansion, from tomorrow onwards, you should not come to Xingyuan to visit the main hall. If there is something to do in this department, I will pass it on to you." Duo Ze said: "Your Majesty has already made a decree. Your Excellency acts according to the rules. How dare you violate the rules? I will resign." After Duo Ze left, Zeng Guofan thought about it, and wrote a notice to Li Bao tomorrow morning. Paste it on the gate of Xingyuan. The notice reads: Zeng Guofan, a cabinet bachelor and minister of the Ministry of Rites, is ordered to assess the administration of officials in Daxing County.During the assessment period, local officials are strictly prohibited from entering and leaving Xingyuan without being summoned; local people have grievances and complaints, and the complaints can be sent directly to the Xingyuan gate room, and a special person will undertake it. Zeng Guofan had eaten his meal early and was about to be promoted to the department to do business.But suddenly he received the imperial decree that Xuan Zeng Guofan returned to the city immediately to see him without delay; the county school and official administration assessment in Daxing County has been handled by another minister.Zeng Guofan had no choice but to return to Beijing. Before Zeng Guofan's sedan chair left the gate of Daxing County, the imperial edict was issued again. The decree said: Zeng Guofan, a cabinet bachelor and minister of rites, assessed Daxing County School in Jingxian County. The punishment was too severe, which aroused public outrage.Considering that the demobilized member had acted fairly and seriously in the past, he temporarily issued the palm seal of the Sixth Division of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to Shizhong.I hope that the staff will live up to the grace and do a good job.This is it. Zeng Guofan bowed his head to thank him, and took the imperial decree with both hands.After entering Beijing, he did not enter the palace, but directly entered the mansion.Zeng Guofan was demoted four grades in a row, and the punishment was so severe that it shocked the government and the public. Zeng Guofan's top hat changed from red to blue. Fortunately, the sedan chair and ceremonial guards had not been upgraded in the first place, otherwise, people would have to chew their tongues again. But he still did not forget what he had promised Daoguang: to recommend Li Zongyi, a well-learned scholar, the book of the Imperial Academy, and to act as an acting professor in Daxing County. There is no need to fake the hand of the superior in the imperial history, Zeng Guofan's recommendation paper is handed in directly through the Meridian Gate. On the second day after the papers were handed in, the Ministry of Rites issued an imperial edict that "Li Zongyi, the book of the Imperial Academy, acts as the professor of Daxing County". According to the Daqing official system, only the censors can act independently regardless of rank or size, because what the censors did was originally a matter of supervision. Although he is a fourth-rank official in the six divisions of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, his duty is to supervise the government affairs of the six ministries, and he has the right to impeach and participate in all kinds of illegal activities in the six ministries. Zeng Guofan's official position has been reduced, but his power and responsibility have increased. On the contrary, he is busier than before.Since the day when he was promoted to a cabinet bachelor, the words "Cabinet Notice: No noise is allowed, if you violate the law, you will be sent to the official" have been written on the gate of Zeng's mansion. Other contents remain unchanged.However, whips, sticks, etc. were hung on the side to show that the people living in it were extraordinary, and they were dedicated to monitoring and earning a living.This is why the supervisory censors are low in rank, but dignified; even the supplementary uniforms worn by the censors are different from those of other officials.According to the regulations of the Qing Dynasty, snow geese were embroidered on the supplementary uniforms of fourth-rank officials, but all supervisory and judicial officials, such as censors and procurators, wore Haechi supplementary uniforms.According to the cloud, Xiezhi is a kind of divine sheep, which can best distinguish straight from straight.The Qing Dynasty asked the supervisory censors to wear supplementary clothes embroidered with Haechi for nothing more than to reflect judicial justice.As for whether the justice of the Qing Dynasty is really fair, only ghosts know. Zeng Guofan's immediate superiors are Zuodu Yushi and Zuodu Duyushi of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.But the censor, the left deputy capital of the Qing Dynasty, has always been a part-time job of ministers.The Zuodu censor, except for Lao Ren, is also the title of the minister of each ministry; the Youdu censor and the right deputy capital censor are concurrently held by the local governor and governor as usual.When Zeng Guofan came to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Lao Ren had already been vacant due to illness for a long time, and the vacancy had not yet been filled.The palm seal of the original six subjects was given to Ding Jianzhong. At this time, the highest official of the Metropolitan Procuratorate was actually Zeng Guofan.Because the censors of the left deputy capital are all signed by ministers of various ministries and courts, these people would never take up their posts if they were not on duty. Anyone with a discerning eye can see at a glance that although the emperor downgraded Zeng Guofan's rank from second rank to fourth rank, his authority has become heavier than before; Emperor Daoguang is equivalent to handing over a huge Metropolitan Procuratorate to him . Emperor Daoguang not only calmed down the anger of the banner people, but also gave Zeng Guofan a punishment of demotion. At the same time, he gave Zeng Guofan greater impeachment and supervision powers, and the six major ministries were all included in his supervision scope. Emperor Daoguang was the real winner. Emperor Daoguang fought an extremely beautiful battle of personnel coordination. Zeng Guofan saw this and was even more grateful to Emperor Daoguang. At this time, he had finished compiling "Zeng's Family Precepts Changbian" and copied a copy, and entrusted his fellow villagers who returned home to visit relatives to bring them back to the lotus leaf pond. "Zeng's Family Precepts Changbian" is divided into three categories: self-cultivation, family regulation, and state governance, with thirty-two categories.It contains not only Jing Xigong's thoughts on housekeeping, but also Xinggang's housekeeping content, and his own opinions run through it. His academic thought has basically taken shape at this time.The articles he writes mainly focus on the truth rather than empty words and stereotypes.The poems are also written with emotion, and there are very few words of moaning.His calligraphy is a collection of many families, with the shapes of Yan and Liu, and the elegance of Su and Huang.His words had become sought after by collectors at the time.Many ministers in the DPRK regard the ability to own a picture of him as their capital to show off to others.This is all the result of his hard study, hard training, and hard work, as the saying goes, "God rewards hard work." But Zeng Guofan is still struggling.With the rise of his popularity, more and more people asked him for words, essays, and donations. His expenditure increased, but his income did not increase. On the contrary, since he was demoted, his salary has declined. Butler Tang Xuan became more and more anxious for his master.