The mere words "Hall of Punishment" sealed every official's lips. Only then did they remember how close Fang Yun's ties to the Hall of Punishment were. Even though Fang Yun wanted to divide it into the "Hall of Punishment" and the "Law Hall," most scholars of the Legalist School still supported him.
People said that members of the Legalist School had no personal attachments and would never bend the law to favor anyone. Yet Fang Yun was clearly helping their school and strengthening the Legalist Sacred Way. For the sake of that sacred way, they had ample reason to favor him.
No one could be certain whether Fang Yun had mentioned the Hall of Punishment deliberately or in passing, but either way, none dared take that risk.
No one wanted to be the first official in Xiang Prefecture whom Fang Yun had the Hall of Punishment arrest.
Dong Wencong immediately said, "Our dynasty's Censorate has always been responsible for overseeing both officials and commoners, but it places too much weight on officials and too little on commoners, often leaving its oversight unbalanced. Might your division of the Office of Supervision into two bodies be intended to strengthen oversight of the common people?"
Fang Yun smiled. "It is to let the Criminal Office, the Legal Office, the Office of Supervision, and the Prefectural Procuratorate each perform their own duties."
None of the officials present understood what Fang Yun meant, but many vaguely sensed that what he proposed was far from simple and very likely concerned the Legalist Sacred Way.
Some of the more perceptive officials noticed that Fang Yun had said "Prefectural Procuratorate" and suspected there might also be municipal or county procuratorates, or even a national procuratorate.
The Qing Officials all turned toward their nominal leader, Nie Changju, director of