"Since County Magistrate Lu thinks he has no power to try the Renaissance Society case, who does Magistrate Yan think should be tried?" Fang Yun looked kindly at the Taihe Magistrate, Yan Wu.
Yan Wu didn't answer immediately.
Lu Ming glanced at Yan Wu, dissatisfaction flashing through his eyes. He then looked at Fang Yun, his heart full of respect. He knew that Fang Yun had purposely asked Yan Wu to take over as a trap. Then, with these words, he put Yan Wu between a rock and a hard place.
Yan Wu's goal was clear. He wanted the case to be tried in Taihe Manor. No matter what the result was, he could handle it in a way that was beneficial to Gyeongo. But now, Lu Ming didn't want to try the case. Yan Wu could either use his status as an official to force Lu Ming to accept or try the case himself.
Once Yan Wu used his status, it would give Fang Yun an excuse to give Fang Yun orders as the Governor.
If Yan Wu tried the case himself, once something went wrong, Fang Yun would seize the opportunity to take him down.
The Governor was arbitrary. He didn't need anything else but an excuse.
Many of the officials present had already understood the meaning behind Fang Yun's words. Some of the officials were extremely shocked and even secretly observed their surroundings, suspecting that there were Ministers or even Four Ministers secretly giving Fang Yun pointers. No matter how talented one was, one who had not been tempered in the officialdom for several decades would definitely not be able to say such words.
Yan Wu's forehead was oozing with sweat.
The other "officials" were secretly anxious and wanted to help Yan Wu, but other than the county magistrate and prefect of Taihe Manor, there were only the Law Division, the Judicial Division, the Prefecture Overseer, and the Governor's Yamen. These three yamens were all firmly controlled by the "Jingguan". Above them were the capital's Supreme Court, Ministry of Justice, and Overwatch Council. They were the three Law Divisions that could be responsible.
Neither side wanted the case to be tried by the three departments.
Although Xiangzhou's Jingguan didn't take the initiative to admit that he wanted Xiangzhou to belong to Gyeongo again, he had long been at odds with the Jingguan. Both sides knew who the other was. Once he stepped forward, he would certainly be attacked by the other Jingguan.
A moment later, Yan Wu said, "Since this matter involves the dispute between the two countries, I'm afraid it's not appropriate to just hand it over to the Law Division. It should be jointly handled by the Law Division and the Rites Division."
Many of the Qing officials revealed satisfied expressions. A country had a Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple, which was in charge of foreign affairs. A province did not have a yamen similar to Honglu Temple. Some of the functions of Honglu Temple were placed under the Ministry of Rites.
The Prefecture Overseer was in charge of government affairs within a prefecture. Under the Prefecture Overseer were various departments in charge of specific government affairs, such as the Civil Division, Judicial Division, Rites Division, Trade Division, Law Division, and so on.
The various departments of a province were the yamen that dealt with specific affairs. Basically, the Prefecture Overseer would not personally try a case like the County Magistrate or the Prefect, unless it was a very special case.
"Magistrate Yan is an experienced man. I think we should let the Department of Rites and the Department of Law make a joint judgment."
"This is the safest plan. After all, it involves hundreds of scholars."
The Department of Rites in Xiangzhou had always been the private property of the Qing officials. Back when Jingguo took over Xiangzhou, they wanted to use Jingguo officials or Jingguo officials who leaned towards Jingguo to take over the positions of Si and Left and Right Si. However, they were met with strong resistance from the Qing officials.
Although the Qing officials secretly supported Gyeongo, they were still people of Xiangzhou or officials of Xiangzhou. The Jingguo court could not force them to leave because of this. Once they were forced to leave, most of the yamens in Xiangzhou would be paralyzed. Moreover, Left Prime Minister Mount Liu was still in the court, coordinating with them from afar.
Jingguo had no choice but to compromise. They gave up the Department of Rites and let the Qing officials control it. At the same time, the Left Si, and Right Si of the other departments would definitely let the Qing official take over the position of Right Si. Furthermore, the Left Si had to be a native of Xiangzhou. Only the position of Si could be held by officials from other provinces in Jingguo.
Jingguo had already made a huge concession and promised that if Xiangzhou was stable in ten years, they would gradually increase the ratio of Xiangzhou officials. They were also willing to let people from Xiangzhou become the Prefecture Overseer. They treated the officials and scholars of Xiangzhou much better than Gyeongo treated Xiangzhou.
When Gyeongo ruled Xiangzhou, there were many strict rules. Not only did the positions of Gyeongo have to be held by people from Gyeongo, the Si of the various departments, Left Si, Right Si, Prefect of the various prefectures and prefectures also had to be held by people from Gyeongo.
In the beginning, ninety percent of the rank seven county magistrates were people from Gyeongo. Later, Gyeongo "showed mercy" and stipulated that three to five county magistrates could be held by people from Xiangzhou.
In other words, during Gyeongo's rule, ninety percent of the officials of rank seven and above were from Gyeongo, while ten percent were from Xiangzhou. The majority of the officials of rank seven and below were from Xiangzhou.
Currently, Jingguo was treating Xiangzhou far better than Gyeongo. Even so, the officials and scholars of Xiangzhou who were against Jingguo still went to the Jingguo board and wantonly attacked Jingguo. They said that Jingguo did not give the people of Xiangzhou any power, that they would always be people of Gyeongo, that they missed Gyeongo, and so on. Even during festivals, they would still hang the Gyeongo flag and kneel to the portrait of the Qing Emperor.
The funniest thing was that when Jingguo and Gyeongo were handing over power in Xiangzhou, a portion of the people of Xiangzhou actually requested that the people of Gyeongo continue to hold the posts of the Minister of Law, Minister of Punishment, and Minister of Rites. They objected that the backward Jingguo was tarnishing Xiangzhou's righteous Minister of Law, Minister of Punishment, and Minister of Rites.
When this matter came out, the world was in an uproar. Many officials of Jingguo expressed that if Jingguo was really weak, then this matter could be tolerated. Even if they tolerated it, they had to set a time limit. If they accepted it without any restrictions, then it would be a national humiliation. If any country's ruler gave up the judicial power of a state to someone from another country, then it would be better for him to abdicate his throne.
One official even shouted that if such a situation really happened, then everyone could say that Xiangzhou did not belong to Jingguo.
This matter should not have been blown out of proportion, but the Minister of the Left's party actually supported it, causing chaos in the imperial court.
The Minister of the Left's party's main reason was to set an example for Xiangzhou. After all, Jingguo had annexed more than one state. This way, the other states would believe that Jingguo would not be oppressed and return to Jingguo's old state.
This reason made many officials who originally objected to it fall silent. After all, this reason was very reasonable.
The normal Jingguo people were furious and scolded the people of Xiangzhou. Only the members of the Minister of the Left's party, who were ready to betray their country, praised these people and the Qing officials.
Other than the Yangtze River flowing through Xiangzhou, there was also an extremely large tributary of the Yangtze River called the Wuxiang River. Thus, a Hanlin from Jing Country criticized the people of Xiangzhou for "willingly becoming slaves, making Xiangzhou unscented and Xiangzhou like dogs."
On the day of the imperial court meeting, Minister of Justice Kang Ha-chuan said loudly, "Xiangzhou was taken back by Fang Xusheng with his life! If we continue to let the Qing officials govern Xiangzhou, then we will be drinking his blood and eating his flesh! Since Fang Xusheng risked his life to take back Xiangzhou, then we will risk our lives to keep Xiangzhou intact! "
At this point, all the officials outside the Minister of the Left's party supported Kang Ha-chuan. Jingguo used a single imperial court meeting to reject the strange request of the scholars of Xiangzhou.
When this happened, Fang Yun was still in the court examinations and could not participate in the court disputes.
But now, Fang Yun was the ruler of Xiangzhou.
Fang Yun swept his gaze over Yan Wu and the other Qing officials. His gaze was calm, but it was filled with bone-chilling coldness.
"The Bureau of Ceremonies will not try the case. This matter will be handled by the Bureau of Legal Affairs alone. In addition, I will submit a memorial to the Criminal Court and the Cabinet. With Xiangzhou as a pilot, the Bureau of Supervision will be divided into the Bureau of Supervision and the Provincial Procuratorate. The former will supervise the officials, while the latter will investigate the cases, "Fang Yundao said.
Some of the officials heard Fang Yun's first sentence and wanted to object to continue testing Fang Yun's bottom line. But after Fang Yun finished speaking, no one dared to object.
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