I want to be emperor

Chapter 1161 New Year’s Gift

The winter of the 53rd year of Chengshun was slightly better than usual. Although there were a few snowfalls in Jinling City, it was not too heavy, and there was no extreme cold wave in the vast South China region.

Unlike in the past, extreme cold waves would come from time to time. In extreme years, it was so cold that even Hainan suffered from freezing disasters.

This year is much better. There is no extreme cold wave in East Asia, but a moderate winter climate.

This was actually quite difficult for the Chu Empire, which was in the Little Ice Age.

From North China to South China, we didn’t encounter any extreme cold wave. It was really God’s blessing.

But this is also for East Asia. In fact, this winter, many places in the Chu Empire experienced extreme cold atmosphere or simply sweltering heat and lack of rain.

Extreme cold waves occur in North America. The local area has experienced several cold waves in a row, which has led to extensive snowfall, thick snow, and several train suspensions. Near the south, the temperature has always been mild and pleasant. It actually snowed in Jinshanfu area...

This is strange to the Chu people who have been in America for decades and have some understanding of the local climate.

The drought occurred in Maputo and South Africa under the jurisdiction of the African Governor. In addition, a relatively serious drought also occurred in the southeast of Australia...

So this winter, North America is busy fighting the cold, South Africa and Australia are busy fighting the drought...

In the same country, some areas have good weather, and God is very kind to it, but some areas have severe cold, and some areas have high temperatures and droughts. This seemingly rare scene happens every year. Happening in the empire.

There is no other reason. The territory of the Da Chu Empire is spread all over the world, from the Arctic Ocean to the Antarctic, from Europe to East Asia. The Da Chu Empire has direct jurisdiction or administrative territories in every region.

Therefore, at the same time, Jinling may be affected by various natural disasters such as drought, snowstorms, and floods.

At the same time, natural disasters occur somewhere in the huge Chu Empire almost every moment...

Therefore, the relevant disaster relief agencies of the empire remain busy all year round... However, the various natural disasters that occur all year round will not affect the normal operation of the empire, or even cause practical obstacles to the economy with good development momentum.

Because the Chu Empire is big enough...

There may be natural disasters in one or two places, resulting in the failure of a certain crop, or a reduction in the output of certain raw materials or industrial products, but most other areas have maintained normal agricultural and industrial production, and the disaster-stricken areas can be restored. Make up for the shortfall.

After all, as long as it is not the kind of world-destroying global disaster in science fiction novels, then for the entire empire, most of the time, the climate in most areas is still under normal conditions, and the weather is smooth. Disasters in some areas will not affect the empire. fundamental.

Not to mention that the Dachu Empire has always spared no effort in the construction of various water conservancy facilities and transportation facilities.

Various water conservancy facilities can effectively help resist various natural disasters... The most typical ones are the Yellow River artificial diversion project and the subsequent Yellow River and Huaihe River management projects.

Relying on these large-scale water conservancy projects, the flood disasters suffered by the Yellow River and Huaihe River basins have been greatly reduced compared to the pre-Ming Dynasty. I dare not say that they have disappeared, but they have also been greatly reduced.

In the pre-Ming Dynasty, due to the expansion of water conservancy projects and the Yellow River diverting water from the Huaihe River to the sea, there were floods almost every year, with one major flood every three years... To be exaggerated, there would be floods whenever the rainy season came.

However, after the Chu Empire period, due to the existence of these large-scale water conservancy projects, rainfall in ordinary years has completely eliminated the risk of causing floods.

Floods that occur once in five or ten years will only cause localized flooding at best.

Only those major floods that occur once in decades could lead to the failure of the Huaihe and Yellow River water conservancy projects built by the Chu Empire, and even the flood storage areas could not withstand it, eventually leading to large-scale floods.

In addition to the very large-scale water conservancy projects in the Yellow River and Huaihe River basins, Chu State has also carried out water conservancy projects in the Yangtze River basin and other rivers. In addition, there are also a large number of water conservancy projects on small rivers in various places with great reputations.

These water conservancy projects are used for both flood control and irrigation.

It has greatly promoted agricultural production.

With these water conservancy projects, the Chu Empire can reluctantly say that man can conquer nature!

In addition, there is a large-scale and convenient transportation system, such as railways, ships and even official roads. These convenient transportation networks are almost everywhere, transporting goods and people on weekdays, and effectively promoting economic development.

When disaster strikes, officials can quickly mobilize various relief materials to the disaster area through these transportation channels, such as important food, medicine, cold-proof clothing, tents, etc.

In the forty-eighth year of Chengshun, a sudden large-scale earthquake occurred somewhere in North China. The senior officials of the Chu Empire communicated orders via telegraph in a short period of time, and then quickly dispatched trains to transport thousands of tons of various emergency relief grains in a very short period of time. Three thousand tents, tens of thousands of sets of warm clothes and a batch of engineering machinery and equipment for disaster relief effectively supported emergency rescue and post-disaster relief.

After these materials were transported to the disaster area, the earthquake caused the railway to be destroyed, so the materials could not be delivered for a while... But it didn't matter. The local garrison started overnight and immediately used engineering troops to repair the damaged railway. Fixed it...

At that time, tens of thousands of army soldiers were building the road at the front, while trains loaded with disaster relief supplies were queuing up at the back waiting to pass!

In just one night, the local army urgently erected more than ten kilometers of emergency railways, including an emergency railway bridge with a span of tens of meters... Well, it just used a lot of explosives, because at that time the army was trying to make progress. It was blasted all the way!

After the materials arrived at the local area, engineering troops repaired many official roads destroyed by the earthquake. The earthquake caused many official roads to be cut off by landslides.

The Chu Empire's convenient transportation system, coupled with the fact that the military can not only fight wars but also build roads, has always done a pretty good job in disaster relief, and it has not had any major troubles so far.

As for some minor troubles, there must be some. No matter how well things are done, they cannot be perfect.

But Luo Zhixue doesn't care much about these small details. As long as the overall direction is good, then that's fine. Living too seriously is tiring, and it's impossible to do all the details well.

Therefore, he reported to the inspectorate in North America that many middle- and high-level officials in several North American provinces took advantage of local snowstorms to resell disaster relief supplies; they also secretly supported businessmen to jack up supplies and sold them at high prices to make the country hard to make money. Pay attention, I just casually gave instructions to the Supervisory Office to investigate clearly, and if the criminal facts are found out, they will be dealt with according to the relevant justice.

But after the instruction, he didn't bother to pay attention to it. He would encounter this kind of thing once every ten days and a half. If he got angry every time, he would be angry to death.

Just catch a group of people, kill a group of people, and set an example to others. Even he knows very well that the effect of deterrence will not be too great... Corruption, abuse of power for personal gain, etc. happen every moment. He can only control it, but he can't eradicate!

After all, the Dachu Empire was an administrative machine composed of many people. The core was still human, and people would make mistakes, be negligent, and be selfish.

In this regard, Luo Zhixue's approach has always been to encourage him for small mistakes and punish for big mistakes. Some who go too far due to selfish motives will reward him with a death sentence. Well, it is no longer the confiscation of homes and genocide in the early years.

With the overall progress of society and the gradual improvement of laws, there are very few cases of confiscation of homes and genocide.

Unless it is a treasonous conspiracy, otherwise it is ordinary corruption, criminal cases, etc. Luo Zhixue no longer engages in genocide, or even criminal cases.

Of course, you still have to search your home, but the name has been changed, and it is called confiscation of illegal income, fines, etc.

After all, society is progressing, and many things that could be done before can no longer be done.

In the early decades, the empire frequently engaged in confiscation and extermination of families, largely because the foundation was unstable at the time, while maintaining high-pressure rule, and at the same time needed a name to redistribute social wealth to a certain extent...

If you don’t confiscate all the landowners’ homes, where will you get the land to rent and purchase it to distribute to the people?

There was also taxation. The general consensus in society at that time was that people should not pay taxes...especially those gentry, landlords and wealthy businessmen who controlled a large amount of wealth. None of them were willing to pay taxes. At the same time, the tax inspection capabilities of the tax agencies are not very good, and it is difficult to rely on relatively mild means to collect taxes.

At that time, in order to collect taxes and change the social perception of non-payment of taxes, the Dachu Empire implemented what can be called the most stringent tax laws in human history, and would confiscate homes and exterminate families at every turn. The famous armed tax police were established during this period and set a record With such a great reputation, the armed tax police still make many people talk about it.

Armed tax policemen come to the door with guns and cannons at every turn, and if there is even the slightest resistance, they will confiscate homes and exterminate families... There are few people who are not afraid of this kind of armed tax policemen.

Not only the Chu people are afraid, but also the indigenous people are afraid... Most of the armed tax police forces are deployed overseas to go to indigenous areas to eliminate tax resisters, whether they are Chu people or indigenous... …

So in the indigenous vassal country, if you see a group of Chu troops wearing gray uniforms, driving armored vehicles, and pulling artillery, swaggering through the city, and even firing guns and cannons... don't be surprised, don't be nervous.

It's not that the Chu people came over to invade the indigenous vassal states again, this was just the armed tax police in the Chu Empire collecting taxes.

Gray uniform is the standard uniform color of armed tax police.

The main colors of the military uniforms of the four armies of the contemporary Chu State are black, the guards use gray, the armed tax police use gray, and the navy uses navy blue. In addition, navy officers use white as their uniforms in summer tropical areas, mainly for sun protection.

The main colors of the military uniforms of these three families have actually not changed much. They have always been like this.

The army is more complex and changes a lot, because the colors and even styles of military uniforms vary greatly in different regions and periods. Basically, there are military uniforms of all colors, and there are several kinds of green for combat uniforms, and then there are Desert yellow, snow white, etc... are used to adapt to the diverse terrains and climate changes deployed around the world.

But the most formal dress is still dark blue, which is darker than navy blue.

So when you see a person wearing a gray military uniform, there is a high probability that he is an armed tax policeman that makes people laugh. He did a lot of ransacking and exterminating families back then.

But now...paying taxes in accordance with the law has become a common understanding of most people in society. In addition, the Chu Empire's tax inspection methods have become more abundant, and it has established a large-scale, efficient taxation system with tentacles throughout the entire society. system.

Therefore, when it comes to taxation, the Da Chu Empire no longer engages in genocide. At most, it is to catch the tax evaders themselves, and then fine the illegal gains, and then impose a large fine...

There are a lot fewer armed tax police in the country, and they don’t use heavy weapons very much. At most, they can get some armored vehicles, heavy machine guns, small-caliber rapid-fire cannons, 60- and 80-mm mortars, etc. to deter the tax resistance. molecular……

As for medium and large-caliber field guns, there are no such things. However, in overseas areas, armed tax police are still equipped with a large amount of heavy field equipment, such as 75mm field guns, 100mm howitzers and other standard division and brigade level field equipment. They all exist and are often used.

Society is changing, and the ruling methods of the Chu Empire are also gradually changing. This change does not appear suddenly in a day or two, but is a gradual change, changing a little bit every year.

The same is true for genocide. In the early years, genocide was often done. Later, people became more cautious about genocide cases. The penalty for genocide was changed to only kill the principal culprit, and other family members who were not involved were exiled overseas.

Later, the number of cases of genocide dropped significantly, and the number of sentences for genocide was significantly reduced. The implicated non-criminals were no longer exiled, but were instead sentenced to community labor and fines.

After the 1940s, the penalty of genocide in non-treason cases was completely cancelled. At the same time, words such as home confiscation were also completely deleted from legal provisions, and words such as confiscation of illegal income and administrative fines were used, which implicated community labor. There is no penalty, but no prosecution.

In fact, after the 1940s, in the Dachu Empire, apart from treason and treason cases, not to mention genocide, even criminal convicts were cancelled. The implicated system was not allowed in non-treason cases, and the criminal conjoined system was only used for Treason case.

However, although the case itself is not connected, the actual impact is still there... For example, if someone within the third generation of the direct line commits a crime, the third generation of the direct line is not allowed to participate in the imperial examination, and is not allowed to apply for positions in government-run institutions, such as hospitals, schools, and government-run enterprises.

The treatment of official crimes is even more serious. Even relatives of officials within three generations who have already served must apply for early retirement or resignation.

If you are not decent, then the official will help you look decent, and then it will become even worse.

It is impossible for a corrupt official to be caught and his father, son, and grandson to continue to be officials...

It is no joke that if one person commits a crime, the whole family will suffer.

The official corruption and abuse of power cases caused by the North American snowstorm will inevitably lead to a number of people being killed and implicating many people. However, compared with the 20 years before the founding of the Chu Empire, it is much better, otherwise more people will die. .

Society is changing, he is getting older, and Luo Zhixue's mentality is also changing year by year... In the past, he always liked to engage in large-scale administrative purges, but now he does not engage in large-scale and vigorous administrative purges, but To make the water flow slowly, start it on weekdays.

In this way, he found that the effect was even better. For example, when the official purge was carried out, thousands of officials might be killed once every five years; but now it is normalized, and tens of thousands can be killed in five years.

Such a comparison, the efficiency is improved!

Sometimes, seemingly benign means kill more people more severely, and have smaller negative impacts, and will not cause nationwide turmoil.

And the favorability of the local people can still be maintained... After all, if a local official is killed by corruption, the local newspaper will report it. Even if it is not reported, there will be various gossips, and the local people will know the news.

Compared with the killing of high-ranking officials from other places, the people are obviously more concerned about the killing of local officials and are happier...

And the happiness of the people is the main pursuit of the Chu Empire's daily anti-corruption campaign!

As for the emperor Luo Zhixue himself, he actually didn't care much. Some serious cases of corrupt officials who could threaten the rule had long been dealt with by the Internal Affairs Department, or through the struggle of ministers.

And some ordinary purely corrupt officials cannot affect the rule of the empire. Even he himself does not have much disgust with these corrupt officials in the conventional sense.

It's normal for people to seek money. If it were him, he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't be greedy.

In fact, most of the people who criticize corrupt officials do not really hate corrupt officials, but it is not themselves who hate corrupt officials... Otherwise, if you let him be this official, he will probably be more corrupt!

Everyone hates corrupt officials, and everyone wants to be a corrupt official!

Human nature is like this, and Luo Zhixue didn't take it too seriously.

The reason why Luo Zhixue still engages in anti-corruption from time to time is simply to make the people happy... By the way, the people actually don't care much and don't know whether anyone is corrupt or how serious the corruption is. As long as an official is killed, they are happy. …

People always like to see people who were originally aloof being pulled down and quartered. From Xia and Shang to Chu, it has never changed!

Luo Zhixue has discovered this a long time ago, so every year he kills a few high-ranking officials to make the people happy... Especially when the New Year is approaching, he kills a third-grade or above high-ranking official, which is an annual repertoire...

The year has been hard from beginning to end, and now that it is approaching the end of the year, it makes them happy at least!

This is called having fun with the people!

And this year, Mr. Li, the chief envoy of North America Province, was unfortunate enough to be the protagonist of this year-end repertoire.

How could he be so stupid and such a big official that he colluded with unscrupulous businessmen to resell disaster relief materials and purchased low-quality disaster relief materials at high prices?

It was okay to do it, but the flaws were exposed and the North American Supervisory Office dug them out.

No, Ma Jingtian, the censor of the North American Inspectorate, was overjoyed when he learned about it. He directly regarded him as a stepping stone to return to East Asian politics, and single-handedly promoted the investigation of the North American snow disaster corruption case.

After winning this heavyweight case and killing a chief envoy, Ma Jingtian can be transferred back to East Asia to serve in the mainland next year.

As for Luo Zhixue, he followed the trend and selected Mr. Li from a group of candidates, and regarded his head as a New Year's gift to the people... just to make the people smile!

After Luo Zhixue gave New Year gifts to hundreds of millions of people in the empire, he held a Spring Festival state banquet as usual.

But this time the state banquet was different from the past. That is, although Luo Zhixue still sat at the top, he no longer hosted the state banquet himself. Instead, the prince Luo Jian hosted the state banquet on his behalf.