I'm only seven years old, Lao Zhu, you let me supervise the country?

Chapter 194 Purge the officialdom, tearful old Zhu!

Following Huang Zicheng, Qi Tai's rectification of Fa, Zhao Mian's suicide, and the execution of Ouyang Lun, the captain's son-in-law, a large group of officials involved in the case were imprisoned, and the situation in the court has also undergone considerable changes.

The business tax increase has finally been implemented.

Almost overnight, the commercial taxes collected by the imperial court skyrocketed.

However, the taxes that many small businesses and hawkers need to pay have been reduced by more than half.

In the tea shed on the pier, the shopkeeper was very busy.

Only after Taisun Weifu's private visit was published in the newspapers did he know that the people who came that day turned out to be His Highness Taisun and his party.

The grandson personally came to investigate and deal with the commercial tax, and killed his son-in-law Ouyang Lun. The commercial tax collected by his tea shed was also reduced from 30 taels a month to three taels.

And because His Highness Taisun had been here, it attracted countless people to visit.

Taste the tea that His Royal Highness Taisun once drank together.

The tea shed business is naturally booming.

In the market, there are legends about the grandson everywhere.

The establishment of newspapers and periodicals reversed the situation in which literati and poets controlled public opinion.

Now the high ground of public opinion has been firmly occupied by the "People's Daily".

The direction of public opinion naturally shifted based on Zhu Yunxun's will.

With the new army in hand, plus newspapers and periodicals, pen and gun barrels were grasped tightly in both hands, he no longer had any scruples.

On the [-]th, the scholar Yang Shiqi, as a commoner, made meritorious service in the trial of Qitai's case. He was briefly promoted by the grandson and given the post of counselor in the Political Consultation Office.

Although the counselor had no rank or real power in Zhu Yunxian's design, he only served as an adviser to the emperor.

But after all, if you can enter the Counselor's Office, you will work in front of the emperor.

Although His Majesty is currently recuperating away from home, the political affairs committee is entrusted to the Grandson.

But everyone knows that Taisun's current position is unshakable.

After Lao Zhu passed away, there was no doubt about his succession.

Working beside him is no different from working beside the emperor.

It could be even better.

After all, after the new king ascends the throne, he will be the minister of the dragon.

It is natural to promote meritorious service and promotion.

The people who had gone in before, except Yao Guangxiao, the demon monk, were all well-known ministers in the court.

Now that Yang Shiqi is in the counselor's office as a commoner, he naturally attracts the attention of both the government and the public.

But after Yang Shiqi entered the Advisory Office, in order to be very cautious, he never said a word, and he didn't lightly talk about state affairs. He just stayed by and listened silently, studying hard, and he was not excluded too much.

At the same time, His Royal Highness Taisun ordered the establishment of an institution of the People's Supervision Department, and Yang Shiqi was also awarded the first director of the People's Supervision Department.

Zhu Yunxi decided to set this up after careful consideration.

He considered using Jinyiwei directly.

But there are three problems. First, the Jinyiwei is also responsible for guarding the palace. If Jinyiwei is used to investigate officials, his power will be too much.

Second, Jinyiwei is essentially a military household. According to Ming law, military households are hereditary.

As a result, it is inevitable that one generation will not be as good as the other.

Of course, this is also a matter of the future, at least the current Jin Yiwei is still the elite of the elite.

The third reason is even more critical. Jinyiwei had an extremely detached position at the beginning of its establishment.

To be able to enter the palace as a royal guard, one must ensure the absolute loyalty of the candidate.

Therefore, most of the people who were initially selected to join the Imperial Guard were descendants of aristocratic families, or had achieved considerable military exploits, and had received favors from the court. Only in this way could they be safely allowed to stay in the imperial palace.

But precisely because of this, these people actually have relatively close contacts with officials in the DPRK and China.

If they are allowed to exercise the powers of supervision of clean government, big things are fine, but if they are ordinary small things, it is inevitable that they will talk about favors and cover up.

The People's Supervision Department established by Zhu Yunxi is to start from a small place and prevent the passing of time.

Official corruption, bribery, and various illegal activities all start from small things.

Lao Zhu's punishment was very severe.

Any newly appointed official, when he first became an official, most of them did not have any thoughts of corruption.

Even if he had such a thought, he was still terrified and dared not take half a step beyond Lei Chi.

But as time goes by, ideas will slowly change.

Start taking advantage of your position to seek some minor personal gains, and then you will become more and more courageous.

The same principle applies to what later generations would call "sugar-coated bullets."

What Jin Yiwei investigates has always been major and important cases.

They don't investigate common cases.

Moreover, the long-term habit will inevitably lead to thinking that small cases are not worth investigating, and it is too much fuss.

The People's Supervision Department was established to prevent this situation.

In a sense, preventing corruption is more important than punishing corruption.

The most important thing is not to give the soil for corruption to happen.

Otherwise, even if you keep killing and killing, you can only treat the symptoms but not the root cause.

Once there is any slack, the tide of corruption will retaliate with greater intensity.

It is different from other yamen in Ming Dynasty.

All the personnel of the People's Supervision Department were re-recruited, including the chief executive, Yang Shiqi, who were all civilians.

Zhu Yunxi even ordered that all the noble children of the court, or those who were officials in the court, would not be allowed to join the people's supervision department within three generations.

The People's Supervision Department requires everyone to be ordinary people and of civilian origin.

The officials of the People's Supervision Department, big and small, are not awarded ranks, nor do they enjoy the privilege of not paying taxes like the scholar juren who have obtained fame.

But the reward given was very generous.

At the same time, the People's Supervision Department is completely independent from many institutions of the imperial court, and the finance is directly paid, approved by the grandson, listed separately, and no longer applies for funds from the Ministry of Households.

Personnel is independent, all personnel appointments are decided by the general manager, directly reported to the grandson, not subject to the assessment of the Ministry of officials.

Handling cases is independent, and the People's Supervision Department has independent investigation powers, arrest powers, and interrogation powers.

In fact, at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Lao Zhu granted the common people the power to turn away unjust officials.

But this system is, to some extent, only formal.

How easy is it for ordinary people to turn away officials?

During Lao Zhu's period, it didn't happen a few times.

Later, the system survived in name only.

The People's Supervision Department transferred this system to a controlled institution.

The People's Supervision Department has no rank, but it has the power to handle cases.

However, Zhu Yunxi also stipulated that the people's supervisory department shall not use punishment.

If the arrest is made at a local level, in principle, after interrogation, the case will still be handed over to the local Yamen Judicial Department for handling.

If it is really necessary to escort the capital, the local government must be notified and permission from the superiors must be obtained before the escort can be carried out.

For those arrested in the capital, the longest period shall not exceed two days.

After two days, he must either be handed over to the Ministry of Punishment, or he must be released.

Exceptions can be made unless there is a special order from the grandson.

In other words, the People's Supervision Department only has the power to investigate and handle cases, but it does not have the power to convict people.

The final prosecution and trial must be handed over to the judicial department.

In addition, as soon as the People's Supervision Department was established, it set up an internal anti-corruption agency and strictly warned all personnel not to embezzle a single penny.

The recruited personnel have been trained first.

Zhu Yunxuan personally gave lectures to them many times. Because of the special nature of the People's Supervision Department, he should be as gentle as possible in handling cases.

The second is not to let go of any little things.

Because what is a small thing in the eyes of officials may be a big deal in the eyes of the people.

At the same time, he ordered the "People's Daily" to create public opinion, publicize the People's Supervision Department, and let the common people come here to report the illegal behavior of officials.

Before that, if people want to sue officials, the premise must be that the crime committed by the officials is very serious.

Ordinary things, the people can only endure.

Suing officials for trivial matters will only be considered "troublemakers".

The establishment of the People's Supervision Department directly reversed this situation.

It can be as small as collecting a few cents in taxes, or even as government officials asking for bribes of a few cents from businessmen, or as large as officials building mansions or buying fields... they are all within the scope of the supervision of the Civil Supervision Department.

Lao Zhu once killed many people and shed rivers of blood, but there were still many officials who lorded it over the people.

However, with the continuous deepening of supervision by the People's Supervision Department, this phenomenon gradually disappeared.

No one wants to be reported by the people and invited to "drink tea" by the People's Supervision Department just because of a trivial matter.

Although he won't lose his head, and won't even get a board, but he will be scolded severely, and at the same time, he will make a note of it.

When taking merit tests, one's merit will be rated at a lower level, and his career will be hampered from then on.

Who would be so stupid?

As a result, from the first-rank officials to the officials without any rank, everyone has become more orderly.

I no longer dare to be too arrogant and domineering in front of the people.

The atmosphere of Jinling officialdom has changed.

In the past, when the imperial court killed corrupt officials, the common people just stood around and watched.

After all, most of the time, there is not much intersection with them.

They hate this kind of behavior, but they are a little numb to their personal feelings.

Nowadays, the changes in the officialdom, especially the attitudes of the officials who deal with them on a daily basis have changed drastically, but they are more visible and tangible.

Everyone can feel that the official master has changed, and the official post has changed.

They no longer dare to bully people at will, because they are really afraid that people will report to the People's Supervision Department.

For a time, the people of Jinling City all praised him.

……

Yangshan.

Although Lao Zhu left the dynasty.

But he knew everything about Jinling's movements.

"Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai were executed, and they didn't complain to us. They cared about their kinship. Sure enough, we didn't misjudge him."

"Okay! What a great Civil Supervisor!"

"We enacted so many severe punishments and killed so many people, but we killed more and more corrupt officials."

"Prevent small things from happening in the past, don't do nothing because of the small things."

"Instead of waiting for the 60 taels of silver to be executed, it is better to start with the punishment for the greed of one penny."

"Start from a small place, put an end to petty corruption, and the social atmosphere will be good."

"If the atmosphere is good, it will be difficult for the soil of great greed to survive! Even if it cannot be eliminated, it can be reduced to nine out of ten. This is the fundamental solution!"

Lao Zhu looked at the information he received in his hand and suddenly burst into tears.

He has fought against corruption all his life, but as he gets older he feels increasingly powerless.

I just found out today, that's how it is!
(End of this chapter)