Pingyang Fu of the Red Chamber

Chapter 464 The water in the court is muddy
Clean up the palace,

The nobles and nobles all knelt down and worshiped.

The Duke of Zhen Guo calmly put his robe back on and sighed.

"Boy from the Zhang family, learn more. I eat more salt than you eat rice. Some things can't be forced. It all depends on careful thinking. As for the civil servants, it's nothing more than a dog biting a dog."

Zhang Jinyu was a little embarrassed. As expected, these old guys were still the ones who were difficult to deal with. She couldn't answer the conversation, so she turned her head and looked into the hall.

After the Minister of Civil Affairs laughed, he stood in front of Gu Yichen and asked,

"Everything Mr. Gu said was for the country and the people. Lu admires it, but I remember that no one knows what the officials of the Ministry of Households have always been like. By the way, your former minister, Mr. Yuan, was also in Beijing. The honest and upright officials who provided disaster relief in the south were upright and outstanding in their merits. They appeased tens of thousands of people, so how could there be so much resentment among the people?"

"Your Majesty, I also have something to say. Master Yuan has no credit but hard work in the Ministry of Household Affairs. He has never been slandered as a corrupt official. Check whether he really has real evidence. At that time, Gu Shangshu directly read a copy of Master Yuan. Today's Shen Zhongxin, the Minister of Household Affairs, is a student of Mr. Gu Ge."

Yang Zhuo, the minister of official affairs, immediately came out to complain, and Su Chong, the official of the Ministry of official affairs, even shouted:
"Your Majesty, Mr. Gu Ge has slandered Master Yuan like this, and he is so slanderous that he has ulterior motives!"

The so-called Jiangnan officials made remarks one after another. Seeing this, Emperor Wu Zhou Shihong felt alarm bells ringing in his heart. He was a partisan. He looked at Lu Wenshan, the official minister who had followed him in the early years, with an evil look in his eyes.

"quiet."

Dai Quan had already seen the emperor's unkind expression and immediately shouted.

Seeing that the court was quiet, Emperor Wu signaled,
"I said, let Gu Aiqing finish what he said, and you just listen,"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The courtiers continued to kneel and worship.

Gu Yichen sneered and continued,

"There is a second thing, and this is even more shocking. All of you colleagues have worked in local government offices, and you all know that the official granaries in counties and cities are the most important. These granaries are the treasure basin of the country, the cornerstone of the country, and the foundation of the country. Lifeline, all colleagues know that the Dawu Imperial Court has so many national warehouses spread across the country, in every prefecture, prefecture, and even county town. You all also know that so many official warehouses are filled with piles after they are closed. It is full of yellow millet from the Central Plains, full of golden grains from the North, full of white rice from the south of the Yangtze River, and full of crunching wheat from the northwest."

Gu Yichen's words echoed through the hall, and he looked coldly at the officials in the Ministry of Personnel. Except for Lu Wenshan, everyone nodded and lowered their eyebrows.

"But, Your Majesty, distinguished ministers, I, Gu Yichen, or the former Minister of Household Affairs, Mr. Yuanze, told us that at least [-]% of these official warehouses were empty, or in other words, only the official warehouses checked during the inspection were If it is full, the rest are all imaginary numbers, believe it or not!
Even I, a person who always likes to discount things when doing things, would not believe it, but I have to believe it. Last night, in the capital, under our noses, something big happened. A fire broke out in the important place of Jingcang. We still went to the Ministry of Household Affairs. During the verification, it was such a coincidence. There was no way of knowing how much food was in the burned granary. This was true for the capital granary, let alone the counties and cities below. What do you think, Mr. Lu? "

"You, you, you are such a good person, Gu Yichen. It is clearly a matter of your household department, but you come to ask me instead. Your Majesty, even though you say so, the household department cannot escape responsibility. Gu Yichen at least committed a crime of negligence."

Lu Wenshan was furious when he saw Gu Yichen being so clever and changeable.

Seeing that his goal was achieved, Emperor Wu returned to the high platform and sat on the dragon chair again.

"Everyone, please be safe."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

The courtiers all leaned on the ground, thanked them slowly, and then stood up. Zhang Jinyu also stood up quickly and touched his knees with both hands to relieve the numbness and pain.

Before he could recover, Emperor Wu continued,
"Everyone has their own reasons for this matter, but no matter what, the food in the official warehouse must be enough. As long as the court uses food, it must be allocated. If you dare to deceive the superiors and subordinates, as long as you find that the people of a place, a government, or a county are Officials, as many as there are, capture them all and escort them to the capital for trial. We will not tolerate them. I have given you a chance. Therefore, the Ministry of Revenue does have an unshirkable responsibility for this matter. The Ministry of Revenue must perform meritorious service and thoroughly investigate the ins and outs of this matter. , is Marquis Luo Yun here?"

Zhang Jinyu, who was still grinning and touching his legs below, only reacted when he heard the shouting. He immediately walked out of the queue and came to the center of the hall, standing behind the two pavilion elders. Of course, he deliberately stood in front of the others, blocking the Minister of Rites. Yang Zhuo looked at him and replied,
"Here, return to Your Majesty, I am here."

"My beloved, I just read what you wrote. Why did you miss the number of words, but you had the same idea as Mr. Gu Ge?" How could Emperor Wu leave Marquis Luo Yun behind? The characters of "are all in sight". Marquis Luo Yun didn't know whether it was intentional or unintentional. He also didn't write the word "measure" out, so he asked this question.

Zhang Jinyu's heart skipped a beat, and she cursed to herself secretly, "Aren't you just looking for trouble? I thought it was all the people from the Ministry of Household Affairs who stopped the job, but now I'm looking for a trap to jump into, but what His Majesty told me last night is unavoidable." , but I want some rights to act cheaply.

"Replying to your majesty, I did not write the word "quantity". Of course, I am not as knowledgeable as Mr. Gu Ge. He quoted from the classics and listened to it with all my heart.

But I am a military general and a rough man. He only knows how to lead troops in battles and serve as food for the soldiers, so it is absolutely necessary to be without food. As for the lack of measure, it is better to say that he lacks conscience.

I have always felt that eating the emperor's salary and being loyal to the emperor should not be done at the expense of others. The matter of official position is difficult to say and simple to say. "

Emperor Wu Zhou Shihong was interested after hearing this. He was indeed Marquis Luo Yun, a role model for courtiers, and a close confidant of mine. He did not misjudge the person. Even the people from Wu Xun's side also looked over with great interest.

"Then my dear, please tell me how simple the method is and how difficult it is. Let me tell you all."

"Yes, Your Majesty, the so-called difficulty lies in the unpredictability of people's hearts. One word of greed has ruined many officials. I feel that it is because I have not read enough books about sages and have no compassion for the people, so my greed is getting bigger and bigger. , this will lead to a land of countless calamities, so this kind of people cannot be regarded as scholars, I call them literate people, so if they catch one, they will kill one, and they must sit together with the three tribes of Yi, so as to frighten other officials.
Furthermore, talking about simple things, I feel that it is the fault of the imperial court that local officials cannot control their greed and put too much pressure on them. However, I have heard that many officials in the capital are poor and still maintain their original aspirations. Some people, I Understand, there is one dish a day, a few steamed buns with porridge, and the patches on the official uniforms are sewn again and again, but that's it. As far as I know, these incorruptible people have not been greedy for a tael of silver, Your Majesty!This shows that reading books by saints and sages is useful, so I feel that officials who are so idle in Beijing, or Enke's newly promoted officials, are not weak to be seconded from the Ministry of Household Affairs to manage granaries in various places. No matter what else, they just check. The amount of grain in the official warehouse is managed daily and reported to the capital truthfully.

Of course, in order to protect them, all the military power of the garrison troops in various places must be transferred to the officials appointed by the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the officials sent there will be escorted. Whenever the chief officer of a certain place dies for no reason, this officer Everyone in the warehouse will be killed, and the assessment of officials of all sizes in the city where they are located will be cancelled, and people will be put under review, which will definitely achieve results. "

Zhang Jinyu spoke with confidence and expressed her thoughts, which not only solved the problem of resettling idle officials in the capital, but also shocked the local government. Although her words seemed to be directed at the Ministry of Revenue, they actually muddied the water on the civil servants' side. Many of them Beijing officials are not always honest, they are really powerless and cannot be like this. Seeing those corrupt officials with fat mouths and fat brains, they have long been staring at them like hungry wolves. Seeing this scene, many Hanlin officials The eyes of honest officials, as well as those with high rank but no real power, all had green eyes, their expressions changed drastically, and their expressions of excitement were palpable.

Immediately Wang Yijie, a Hanlin scholar, came out to agree and shouted,

"Your Majesty, what Marquis Luo Yun said is true. Since the local officials are deceiving the superiors and subordinates, it is better to select from the officials in the capital. They are all loyal people of the court and your majesty. They must not be ashamed to associate with those corrupt officials. They will surely succeed. We must guard the official warehouse for the imperial court. We have many scholars from the Hanlin Academy, and one of them can stop this matter, and we will definitely serve the imperial court and the emperor."

The people around were in disbelief. Seeing Wang Yijie, a Hanlin scholar, with a righteous look on his face, they all cursed in their hearts. There are many idle Hanlins in the Hanlin Academy, but you, a yamen, can swallow this matter in such a big breath. , what about the people in other ministries, the veterans of the Imperial College, the Lang Guan who was in charge of the Sixth Division, the Sizheng of the Fourth Division, the chief officer of the Eighth Bureau Ambassador, etc., all were red-eyed.

"Your Majesty, these old ministers are all loyal men. They will serve the imperial court and your Majesty even if they die."

The Siye of the Fourth Division also shouted, and the people from the Eighth Bureau were not left behind and hurriedly came out of the queue and shouted,

"Your Majesty, the veterans and other people in the ministry are all loyal. Even if they die in office, they will definitely keep a grain of food for the court and your Majesty, and will never be greedy for ink, Your Majesty!"

Standing in the back, the civil servants, who were not of high rank but were numerous in number, knelt down with a roar, vying to be the first to show their loyalty, as if anyone who didn't say a word would be a treacherous minister. This shows the fatness of the granary. Big and inviting to fight for.

Seeing this, Emperor Wu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Sure enough, it was Marquis Luo Yun. He had a lot of crooked ideas and what he said was reasonable. There were a lot of officials in the capital. It was a waste to stay in the capital. Some people were really living too shabbily. They It can be used. It just needs specific transfers or the cooperation of people from the Ministry of Personnel. He looked at the ugly-faced Minister of the Ministry of Personnel Lu Wenshan and asked,
"Lu Aiqing, what do you think? Can this be implemented?"

At this time, Lu Wenshan's face was ugly. Japan wanted to catch the people of the Ministry of Revenue by surprise, and then went back and deployed people together with the Minister of the Ministry of Justice. The main reason was that in a few years, the chief minister would inevitably retire and return to his hometown. At that time, He has to fight for the position of chief minister of the cabinet, and he may not be able to take this position.

Unexpectedly, Gu Yichen, an old fox, was very good at calculating. He turned around and glanced at the civil servants in the capital. They were all eagerly waiting for his answer. With that look, if he didn't agree, he was afraid that he would be eaten. That's all. Taking advantage of other people's wealth is like killing one's parents. He endured the fear in his heart and could only nod his head in agreement.

"Back to Your Majesty, I think this method is feasible. If it doesn't work, it can be rotated, so I will choose from the officials in the capital. To be safe, there is no need for prefectures and counties. Let's start from each county and appoint imperial officials to be responsible for the grain order of the official warehouse. It’s a matter of full authority.”

"Okay, since the Minister of Civil Affairs also thinks it's feasible, I agree. We need to come up with a charter on this matter as soon as possible. As for the selection of officials in the capital."

When Emperor Wu said this, he paused deliberately and glanced at the row of civil servants. The chief officials of various ministries stretched out their heads eagerly, as if they could let the emperor see him. Such a scene was also funny.

"Well, since it was Marquis Luo Yun who proposed it, Marquis Luo Yun, what do you think of the arrangement?"

At this point, Zhang Jinyu wanted to go back, but when she saw the emperor throwing the question back, the steps she was about to move back again.

(End of this chapter)