The Reborn Duke of Ming Dynasty

In fact, the memorial that Zhang Juzheng gave to Empress Dowager Li recorded the names of hundreds of county magistrates and magistrates. These people are all still in office today, but they all have problems. Zhang Juzheng didn't write it down in the memorial, but presented another stack of documents to the Empress Dowager Li. On those documents, everything was clearly recorded in every detail.

Although it is impossible for Queen Mother Li to go through every document in detail to find out if there is any problem, Zhang Juzheng has waited for this day for a long time and prepared for a long time. Naturally, he does not want anything to happen. Unexpectedly, so when he, Zhang Fan and Feng Bao selected these, they were extremely careful and careful. They could see each person clearly, and only after confirming that there was indeed a problem, would they write that person's name on it. .

Sighing, Empress Dowager Li then asked: "Since these things are true, how does Zhang Qing's family plan to deal with it?"

Zhang Fan didn't know what the empress dowager Li's sigh just now represented, maybe it was approval, or maybe it was a little sad, but these are not important, the important thing is that the empress dowager finally agreed with the reality of this situation, maybe She knew it in her heart before, but she has always refused to admit that the Ming Dynasty under her rule was so unbearable. Now, she has finally put the matter before her eyes, and this is the minimum condition for talking about it.

"The Zhang Qing family doesn't just want to impeach these people, right?" Queen Mother Li asked, "You know, although these people have low official positions, they are all local magistrates and magistrates, and they have deep ties with the people. Very well, if three or five were ruled by the court because of corruption and breaking the law, it would be fine to find someone to replace them. But now, hundreds of people are involved. If they are impeached like this, hundreds of people Being dismissed from office, the people of the world are very happy, but what will the court do? I think the two Qing families understand better than the Ai family, "

No one can deny what Empress Dowager Li said. Her words seemed to be distinguishing something for those people, but in fact they were not at all. Those officials committed crimes after all. Zhang Fan and Feng Bao The instruments provided are sufficient to illustrate the point.

Of course, this is also because of the Empress Dowager Li's trust in Zhang Fan and Feng Bao, or in Jinyiwei and Dongchang. It is true that no matter it is Jinyiwei or Dongchang, there will always be some small actions that do not conform to the rules in private. It is even something that blatantly violates the emperor's order, but at this time, when something needs to be released to the public, they will never do those things.

After all, they knew in their hearts that the court officials had always had a bad attitude towards them, and even at the best of times, they would not say much. Now, since they want to come up with something to convince those people, naturally It is impossible to falsify, and if Queen Mother Li finds out, the trouble will be even greater. No one wants that kind of thing to happen.

Therefore, the things recorded in these documents are absolutely true, and Queen Mother Li is willing to believe it.

But the more she believed, the more she felt that this matter was extremely difficult. Just like what I said just now, since there were real evidence and Zhang Juzheng's walk was also presented, once the impeachment came down, these people would absolutely It is impossible to run away. Losing an official is a trivial matter. Maybe some people will lose their heads.

But the point is not here, the point is that the number of people is too much. If all these people lose their positions at once, the imperial court will not be able to find so many people to replace these people in a short while. , Then, these hundreds of counties will be in chaos. In the Ming Dynasty, where uprisings continued, this is naturally a very worrying thing at first sight. No one dares to be negligent about it.

Of course, there is another way, that is to impeach these people, but it does not mean that they are all dismissed from office, but after discussing with Zhang Fan and others, they feel that if they do that, the situation may be even worse.

It is true that not dismissing all these people can indeed allow the various places to continue to operate normally while still having magistrates, but they have to worry a little bit.

First of all, those who have been impeached but not dismissed are not idiots. They understand in their hearts why they can still wear official uniforms and black hats after committing such a serious crime, and they also understand in their hearts that Not dismissing them now does not mean that the imperial court will forget them. On the contrary, this kind of thing, especially when it involves political affairs, absolutely no one will forget anything. In the future, maybe when the situation is stable, Naturally, the imperial court will dig up old accounts, and even if there is any need in the future, someone will dig up their affairs and impeach them again against individual people.

In this case, since these people know that their official positions will not last long, then they are still in their positions, so they naturally have to reserve a way out for themselves. Sure, plan for the future.

If this happens, it will be far more harmful than removing these people. After all, even if a person with little talent is employed, under the current situation of Zhang Juzheng in power, the minimum conduct of these people is still good Yes, but after keeping the original people and starting to be unscrupulous, the harm will not only be that, the people will inevitably hate it even more, and no one can predict what will happen at that time.

And there is another point, it is impossible to keep a group of people. It is said that officials and officials protect each other, and many officials are related, especially these low-level officials. Although it is said that these people, everyone wants to step on others Climbing up on their shoulders, but after all, they are single and weak, and they need to unite with each other to "progress together". The handle, of course, has to be supported.

If some people were dismissed from office and some were not, those who were dismissed would definitely feel jealous. Don't say that Zhang Juzheng's memorial will not impeach other people, even if there are no other people's names in the memorial, Those who have been dismissed from office will also confess. If that is the case, it is impossible for the court to ignore it.

"Weichen understands the pros and cons of this," Zhang Juzheng said, "Weichen doesn't intend to impeach these people now,"

"Then you, Qing family..." After hearing what Zhang Juzheng said, Empress Dowager Li was even more confused. Since Zhang Juzheng didn't want to impeach these people, why would he submit this memorial now? Besides, the memorial is now in the hands of Empress Dowager Li In her hand, she has also read it, and since she has read it, it cannot be regarded as this thing has not happened.

"The reason why I want to tell the queen mother this is because I want to tell the queen mother..." Zhang Juzheng explained, "The important thing now is not these officials who made mistakes, but the problem of restraint on them in the court."

"Restraint," Empress Dowager Li heard what Zhang Juzheng said, and it took a while to understand, "The Qing family means that there is something wrong with the imperial court's 'Jingcha' and 'Great Plan'."

"When you go back to the Queen Mother, you don't mean that." Zhang Juzheng said, "'Jingcha' and 'Daji' were established when the dynasty was founded, and their original intention was to assess officials. How could there be mistakes?"

"Then what do you mean..." Empress Dowager Li became even more confused by Zhang Juzheng's words.

"What Weichen means is that there is nothing wrong with this in itself, after all, it is for the benefit of the court," Zhang Juzheng explained, "but after so many years, this 'Beijing inspection' and 'big plan' have become a system, and the 'Beijing inspection' of Beijing officials Once every six years, the "big plan" of local officials is not once every three years. It is too fixed, so that those officials will be prepared before this time, just like last year. The county magistrates and magistrates had already begun preparations to deal with the inspectors photographed by the court. When it was over, more than [-] people were found to have problems. There is no problem at all, the minister has checked the files, not to mention corruption and perverting the law, the other hundreds of county magistrates have not even corrupted a penny, the Queen Mother thinks, can this be believed?"

As soon as Zhang Juzheng said these words, everyone present laughed softly, even Zhu Yijun was no exception. It wasn't that they lacked a sense of tension, or felt that the matter was irrelevant, but Zhang Juzheng's words were a little funny.

Everyone knows the saying, "Three years to clear the magistrate, one hundred thousand snowflake silver", of course, this sentence may be exaggerated, or it may not be strong enough, but there is one thing, it is telling the truth, let alone County magistrates and magistrates, even the magistrates below, who are not quick to catch heads, and even the work of looking at coffins and autopsies will have some gray income. If a person has been an official for several years and has not received a penny, It's hard to believe.

However, although facing Zhang Juzheng's words, several people laughed, but this is nothing, there is nothing to sigh, and there is nothing to be sad. , whether in the past or in the future, this situation cannot be eliminated.

Since corruption is only a bit stronger in this dynasty, but not unique to this dynasty, then what else is there for everyone to be sad and ashamed of.

"Since this is the case, I don't know if Zhang Qing's family has any good strategies," Queen Mother Li asked.