Chapter 14: Petition Drum

"New Wucheng Military Commission Thousand-Household Officer Li Mu, greets Commander!"

After the crowd left, Li Mu handed over the Ministry of War's appointment document according to the rules.

"Hmm, I know you.

The Zhenyuan Marquis mentioned it last time, saying his distant nephew was coming to serve as a Thousand-Household Officer.

When I went to see the Empress Dowager yesterday, Prince Fu also mentioned you, meaning to let me take care of you.

Don't say I'm not close to human feelings, the Thousand-Household Offices of the Beicheng, Nancheng, and Central City, you choose one yourself."

The words of the Marquis of Wuyang, Zheng Ruitao, made Li Mu fall into contemplation.

The Wucheng Military Commission nominally supervises the whole city, but in reality, the central imperial city is not their turn to intervene, even the work of patrolling the periphery has been snatched by the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Theoretically, the Thousand-Household Office of the Central City with the highest status cannot manage the inner city and can only be responsible for the near suburbs outside the city.

The jurisdiction area is greatly increased, seemingly the power is increased, but in reality, it is a torturous hard work.

The remaining four Thousand-Household Offices seem to have equal status, but the capital has always been South-Cheap, North-Poor, East-Rich, West-Expensive.

The one that is easiest to produce results is naturally the Xicheng Thousand-Household Office.

90% of the dignitaries in the capital are concentrated in the jurisdiction, and being neighbors with these dignitaries every day, the opportunities are naturally more than in other areas.

Next is the Dongcheng, where rich merchants gather, and behind them are intricate connections with the dignitaries in the court.

Whether it can be promoted is unknown, anyway, every Thousand-Household Officer earns a lot of money.

Such a good position, naturally many people are staring at it. Even if there is a vacancy, it will be filled by others immediately.

The remaining Nancheng and Beicheng, one is gathered with all kinds of people and the situation is complex, and the other is a slum.

"Please give me advice!"

Li Mu bowed respectfully and threw the problem back.

The three Thousand-Household Offices left for him to choose are all very average, and no matter where he goes, it's about the same.

"What are you ink-blotting for, anyway, it's about the same, the real good positions have long been occupied by others.

If you are not reconciled, go and grab them from them."

While speaking, the Marquis of Wuyang also specifically pointed with his hand.

Naked provocation, Li Mu secretly complained.

Officialdom struggle pays attention to fighting without breaking, privately you can die and live, but on the surface, it is rare to tear your face.

The infighting of the Wucheng Military Commission is almost on the surface, and the contradictions between the two sides have reached the point of death.

The chain of contempt within the nobles is just a cause, and the root is still interests.

The most oily positions are all occupied by the little brothers of several deputies, no matter who is the boss, they will feel uncomfortable in their hearts.

The Marquis of Wuyang, who is not reconciled to losing power, naturally took action.

Unfortunately, the chess was one move behind, not only failed to seize power, but also poked out no small trouble.

The vacancy of officials in the Wucheng Military Commission is the result of the last struggle.

The losses of all parties participating in the struggle were not small, and forced by the situation, they had to reach a compromise, which led to the unique scenery now.

"Commander, I choose the Nancheng Thousand-Household Office."

Li Mu made a decision decisively.

Don't think about the Dongcheng and Xicheng, the Empress Dowager's own brother can't handle things, he doesn't think he can grab food from the tiger's mouth.

It can be seen that the Marquis of Wuyang doesn't like him very much. Foreign relative nobles and founding nobles have never been on the same path, and being able to let him choose himself is estimated to be Prince Fu's face.

However, it

Without a doubt, this is impossible.

The group of founding meritorious nobles has a much brighter future than the group of imperial in-laws. No matter how glorious the in-laws are, it only lasts for a dynasty or two, and then they rapidly decline.

Emperor Taizu established the ancestral rule early on: Empresses and imperial concubines must be selected from good families among the common people.

This measure resulted in the generally low status of imperial in-laws.

Even the titles obtained through nepotism are not hereditary. To inherit a title, one must obtain the Emperor's special approval.

Consequently, the more fiercely the imperial in-laws of the Great Dayu Dynasty stir up trouble, the faster they decline afterward.

"Since you've chosen, then go take up your post!

I have important matters to attend to and it is inconvenient for me to go with you. Look at the officials in the yamen, and whoever is free, let them accompany you for a trip."

The casual attitude of Marquis Wuyang left Li Mu speechless.

After one look, he confirmed that this guy just wanted to be lazy. Knowing he couldn't be won over, he simply couldn't be bothered to waste the effort.

In the imperial palace, looking at the mountain of impeachment memorials, Emperor Tianyuan felt troubled.

If the contents were true, half of the officials in the imperial court would need to lose their heads, and the other half would be gifted with exile.

Having climbed up from the bottom, it is impossible not to have some irregular operations.

If one were to be pedantic, there would be no one left in the court.

Although the Great Dayu is not short of people who want to be officials, wanting to be an official and being able to be a good official are two completely different concepts.

Replacing them with a batch of people unfamiliar with the business would, in all likelihood, only make things worse.

"Keep them all and do not issue them!"

If it cannot be handled, then pretend not to see it.

Having seen similar scenes many times, Emperor Tianyuan's heart had long since been tempered.

Impeachment is your freedom, but whether or not I handle it depends entirely on my mood.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The Petition Drum outside the palace gate suddenly sounded, the entire Forbidden City shook, and Emperor Tianyuan's expression instantly turned gloomy.

The original intention of establishing the Petition Drum was: if commoners have major grievances with nowhere to appeal, they can beat the Petition Drum and request the Emperor to preside over the trial personally.

After putting it into practice, Emperor Taizu soon discovered that this was completely unfeasible.

There are too many unjust cases in the world; if the restrictions were lifted, it is estimated that the Petition Drum would ring non-stop every day.

If the Emperor did nothing else and spent every day trying cases, he wouldn't be able to keep up.

To avoid such an embarrassing scene, the Great Yu Dynasty placed strict restrictions on beating the Petition Drum.

Not only would the person beating it suffer severe punishment, but there were also regulations regarding the nature of the case.

It must be a major, false, and unjust case, and only after appeals to multiple levels of yamen have proven ineffective is one allowed to beat the drum to seek redress.

Overturning the judgment of a lower-level yamen belongs to the category of commoners accusing officials, and by law, it starts with thirty strokes of the cane.

The entire path of appeal is a path of being beaten; they are purely risking their lives to seek justice.

Those with the ability to manufacture unjust cases are definitely not ordinary people, and they would never let the victims go to appeal.

Ninety-nine percent of those seeking redress fall on the road to seeking justice.

Once the Petition Drum is beaten and the Emperor intervenes personally, everything changes.

Not only will the unjust case be overturned, but the various levels of officials involved will also meet with misfortune.

Since the founding of the Great Yu, every time the Petition Drum has sounded, it has caused a massive uproar in the court and the public.

"Go quickly and see who is beating the drum!

Arrange for people to watch over the drum-beater; absolutely do not let any accidents happen to them.

Immediately summon the Grand Secretaries for an audience!"

Regardless of how unhappy he felt inside, Emperor Tianyuan still decisively issued the imperial decree.

Such matters need to be written into the history books.

If handled poorly, both his reputation during his lifetime and after his death would be affected.

Under the Emperor's feet, news always travels fast.

The Petition Drum, a thing that naturally carries viral topics, rang, and the entire capital boiled over.

All kinds of rumors and speculations were flying everywhere.

Li Mu, who had just taken office on his first day, hadn't managed to do anything yet before he had already eaten his fill of gossip.

(End of chapter)