The Judicial Military Commissioner, like the other military commissioners, judges, and so on, had traditionally been a military post. Many of them had even been retainers personally recruited by commanders into their staffs. The Song Dynasty valued civil officials and suppressed military men—those four words were merely a summary. The suppression extended from top to bottom and across every aspect.
The Judicial Military Commissioner's duties roughly combined those of a later intermediate court, municipal procuratorate, and municipal police bureau. He held the powers and responsibilities of police, prosecution, and judiciary all in one. Just thinking about it showed how terrifying that was.
When county-level criminal judgments or lawsuits could not be settled, or when the people involved were particularly complicated, the cases likewise went to the Judicial Military Commissioner for judgment. This was basically the final sentence. So long as there was no struggle behind the scenes, whether the ruling was fair or not, the parties involved had nowhere to argue their case.
As for the Circuit Judicial Commissioner, equivalent to a high court, they did not fear him in the slightest. Everyone had the authority to submit official documents to Jingcheng, so who cared what opinions the Circuit Judicial Commissioner had?
Naturally, he still had to act under the instructions of the prefect and the circuit judge.
Thus, the major Ever-Normal Granary corruption case Wang Yan had stirred up by seizing power was presided over by the Judicial Military Commissioner, while Wang Yan supervised and guided the work from the side.
Inside the Judicial Military Commissioner's office, Wang Yan unceremoniously took the seat of honor. After taking a sip of tea, he asked with a smile, "Judicial Commissioner Zhou, why have you dragged me to your office?"
"Circuit Judge Wang, this subordinate was entrusted by others to discuss a