Water Margin people

A vigorous campaign to rectify officialdom was launched, and a strict investigation was launched into the Qi officialdom from top to bottom, and many old case files were turned up.

You wouldn't know unless you checked. Once you checked, you would be shocked to find that there are many unjust, false and wrongful cases in this peaceful world.

"How many more have not been delivered?"

Sun Lei was speechless as he looked at the pile of case files in front of him. It seemed that he had messed up something.

"Your Majesty, this is only half!"

Deng Fei said.

"Haha, a bunch of clowns are trying to play tricks on me!"

Sun Lei picked up a case file at random, which showed that the magistrate of a county in Sichuan and Shu had colluded with local wealthy people to embezzle land.

The State of Qi also had laws that stipulated that land should be distributed based on the number of people, and no one could occupy more than that.

But there are also many problems. There are good and bad lands. The value of the best paddy fields and sandy fields varies greatly. As for the terraced fields on the mountains, no one is willing to cultivate them. Everyone knows that they want good land, but there are not so many good fields in the world.

This created conflicts and required the intervention of the government. Most of the time, the spoils were divided by drawing lots, which was fairer and the people who got the spoils had nothing to say.

But drawing lots is organized by people after all, so as long as there are people involved, there will be shady dealings. For example, some people can spend some money and use some connections to get the best farmland for the whole family, and some people even occupy the farmland to build houses.

"Your Majesty, most of these things happened in the early days of the founding of the country. At that time, the slightly more remote places still used officials from the previous dynasty, and many government orders were not implemented properly."

Xiao Jiasui said helplessly that this kind of thing was unavoidable, these problems would occur at the beginning of every dynasty, to replace a dynasty one only needed to capture the capital and capture the royal family, but the world was too big and there were too many prefectures and counties, it was impossible to replace all the officials at once.

“Is it because the implementation is not in place or because they don’t want to implement it?”

Sun Lei asked back.

No one knew how to respond.

"If they fail to implement the policy, it means they are incompetent and they can be demoted or fired. But if they don't want to implement the policy, it is a crime!"

Sun Lei continued,

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid the situation here is difficult to investigate."

Xiao Jiasui was somewhat embarrassed. The previous cleanup of the officialdom was only in Liangshan City, so it was not difficult to investigate. But if the whole world was investigated, it would be a huge project. Not to mention other things, how many people would be sent to hundreds of prefectures and counties? How long would it take?

"Difficult to check? Actually, it's very easy to check! Just start from this."

Sun Lei pointed to the mountain of case files in front of him.

"Such a trivial matter needs to be reported to me? What do the officials at all levels do for a living?"

Sun Lei threw down the case file in his hand and spoke.

Xiao Jiasui lowered his head and said nothing. This matter was indeed difficult to handle, and their place was already piled high with various case files.

"Isn't this just putting pressure on me? You think I'm making a big deal out of nothing and punishing too harshly. Since I'm willing to take care of small matters, you're just throwing all the small matters at me. Do you want to learn from Sima Yi and tire Zhuge Liang to death? Are you trying to tire me to death?"

"Should this be considered regicide?"

Sun Lei's words made everyone bow their heads, but the last sentence made everyone break out in cold sweats. Regicide is a crime that could lead to the extermination of the entire clan.

"Your Majesty, I will definitely severely punish these officials!" Xiao Jiasui immediately saluted. If the emperor were to take action in this matter, there would definitely be a lot of killing, so they had to take over.

"How can you punish so many people?"

Sun Lei shook his head. This was clearly an organized and premeditated incident. He could still discipline the officials in the Liangshan City court himself, but the officials who were sent out were really far away and had already regarded themselves as local emperors.

Xiao Jiasui didn't know how to answer. There were hundreds of these officials, all of whom held important positions in the local area. It would be difficult to find so many people to replace them. If they were all dismissed, the local area would definitely be in chaos.

"Your Majesty, this matter can only be handled slowly. If we rush into it, there may be even bigger problems!"

Xu Guanzhong spoke up. He had just returned from vacation and had some understanding of what was happening in the court.

“This year’s students are about to graduate!”

Sun Lei looked at everyone and said.

"Your Majesty, those students are good, but they are still young. At the age of eighteen or twenty, I'm afraid they can't take charge of the affairs of a county!"

Wen Huanzhang quickly said, as the saying goes, a young man without hair on his lips cannot do things well. This is not to discriminate against young people, but to say that young people are impulsive and inconsiderate, and are prone to make mistakes. This is determined by life experience, and schools cannot teach this.

"Of course we can't afford it, a bunch of ignorant brats!"

"But they are not completely useless. At least they can give these people a deterrent!"

Sun Lei said with a smile.

"Your Majesty wants to send these students to serve as deputy positions in the local areas?"

Wen Huanzhang immediately understood what Sun Lei meant. The students would definitely not be able to take on the responsibility of an entire county if they were in the main position, but it would be different if they were in the deputy position. They would not have to bear much responsibility and there would be people to help clean up their messes.

"Not only deputy positions, but also some minor official positions are also fine. When they go to the local areas, they can not only do things, but also promote the laws of our Qi State, so that the people can understand their rights and interests, and they don't have to kneel down to the so-called officials all day long."

"Also, not only students, but also local captains, captains, constables, and runners should be selected from retired soldiers as much as possible. They must be recruited by the court. Local officials do not have the right to appoint clerks!"

Sun Lei smiled. Others used the catfish effect by putting one catfish in to stimulate the vitality of the rest of the fish, but he wanted to put a bunch of catfish in to completely muddy the water and make those lazy fish dizzy.

Everyone was shocked. The problem they thought was a problem was solved just like that.

Releasing students and veterans to take up some unimportant local official positions may seem unremarkable, but it only solves the problem of the placement of students and soldiers.

But in the long run, this has stabilized the foundation of the country. These inexperienced students and soldiers who do not know how to be officials will definitely cause trouble to the chief officers at first when they go to the local areas.

But as long as a few of them can stand out, accumulate a certain amount of experience and demonstrate their abilities, they can replace the chief officer at any time.

The positions of prefect and county magistrate will be able to be easily replaced. The power of local officials will not change, but their status will plummet, and they will lose their official position if they are not careful.

The benefits of this are self-evident. People who can be replaced by a group of people at any time will definitely work harder and conscientiously. In order to keep their positions, they dare not slack off at all, let alone make mistakes.

Seeing the frightened expressions on everyone's faces, Sun Lei smiled bitterly in his heart. He seemed to have become a capitalist. He had developed the spirit of an ox or a horse. Who knows, he might even be blessed with 996 or 007 work hours in the future.

"I'm a real vampire!"

Sun Lei shook his head helplessly in his heart, not daring to stand in his own perspective. If officials did not become beasts of burden, then Qi would sooner or later be on the road to national decline. (End of this chapter)