back to ancient times to be emperor

Chapter 15
Ten days passed in a hurry.This day was another regular court, and it was the third time that Lu Chengqi sat in the Daqing Hall, and he was right with all the officials.He is getting more and more proficient at driving with ease.

He only heard him ask: "Shangshu of the Household Department, are you there?"

Xu Chongguang held the court wat, went out and replied: "The old minister is here."

"I don't know how much the stolen money has been collected in the past ten days?" "I report to His Majesty, a total of 620 to 980 pieces, as well as 560 pieces of calligraphy, paintings, porcelain, and jade from various dynasties and dynasties."

Although Lu Chengqi was mentally prepared, he was still taken aback when he heard this astonishing number, and asked after a long time, "Where is the director of the Supervision Department?"

Xu Jingchun came out and said, "My minister is here."

"Starting today, you need to thoroughly investigate officials across the country. If you find corrupt officials hiding stolen money, you don't need to report it. You can go directly to prison and report to me after interrogation. I will make a decision. If you don't have enough manpower, you have to recruit money. Innocent, loyal and loyal son of a good family."

"My minister obeys the order!" Xu Jingchun got the order and returned to the queue.

Lu Chengqi looked around and said slowly, "Do you have something important to do?"

Located in the back row of the queue, a fifth-rank official came out and said: "I have something to report."

Lu Chengqi said, "Quite."

I saw the fifth-rank official said: "Your Majesty, after Grand Master Yang retired and returned to his hometown, the post of Prime Minister and Assistant is still vacant. I think that the court should not be silent for a day. I hope His Majesty will decide on the candidate as soon as possible."

Lu Chengqi sneered in his heart, and said in his heart: "I knew you would not be able to bear it, and asked me to appoint a prime minister, so that I could produce another Li Taishi, Wang Taishi... It's a good idea, but I just don't!"

Immediately said: "I have also considered this matter, but it is so important that I can't make a decision. Besides, I think that the prime minister has too much power. Even if there are political governors to divide powers, the power is still in hand. I am very worried. However, I have a law, I don't know what the wishes of the ministers are: I want to set up a cabinet to branch out the power of the minister and assistant. The cabinet has one chief assistant, and the rest are cabinet ministers, a total of 12 people, all of whom are second-rank. You are not allowed to join the cabinet. The duty of the cabinet is to help me review the memorials, and divide them into four grades of priority. The cabinet handles the most urgent matters; In order to manage the government, there is no need to report all matters, big or small, to me. The original Zhongshu Province, Menxia Province, and Shangshu Province were all abolished, and the original officials were merged into the six ministries and the cabinet. A military staff department was set up, and all generals above the third rank must enter it. When it comes to military issues, submit them directly to the military staff. After the military officers discuss the results, they vote with a show of hands. The results will be submitted to me for review, and then I will be given a military talisman to send troops. Do you understand?"

The civil and military officials seemed shocked by Lu Chengqi's series of "reforms", and they didn't recover for a long time.When everyone came to their senses, many officials couldn't stay still. After all, their leader Yang Taishi had retired and returned home. No one was the backbone. How could they fight against the powerful emperor?
Immediately someone jumped out and said: "Your Majesty, no! These three provinces and six ministries are the ancestral system, and should not be lightly abolished!"

Immediately, many officials echoed, saying: "Yes, Your Majesty, please think twice!"

Lu Chengqi knew what they were thinking, it was nothing more than civil and military disputes, and defending the power of the prime minister.However, Lu Chengqi was never a compromiser, he looked at the noisy officials below with a sneer on the corner of his mouth.

He slowly took out a pamphlet from his sleeve, and said: "Enough is enough, if you keep arguing, go back to your hometown! In this world, there are a lot of people fighting to become an official for me. Many of you are missing, and many of you are missing!" I don’t think it’s too much for you!”

This sound directly covered the entire audience, everyone did not expect the little emperor to be so courageous, immediately choked up and couldn't say a word, so they had to give up resentfully.

Lu Chengqi continued with a straight face, "Hmph, this is what you so-called ministers have done! Wei Ciguang, you received a total of 35 bribes this spring, Sun Qingqi took 81 bribes, Huo Wenxi 22..."

Every time Lu Chengqi read a name, those officials lowered their heads, wishing that there would be a crack in the ground.Those who yelled the loudest just now are all silent now, Lu Chengqi sneered and said: "Do I need to continue reading these?"

Xu Chongguang came out and said: "Your Majesty, the veteran believes that the cabinet system and the military staff are excellent systems. If they can be standardized, they will greatly improve the efficiency of the court."

Xu Chongguang is Lu Chengqi's confidant, of course he wants to support the little emperor at this moment, and also earn some political capital for himself, right?Xu Chongguang is definitely not a fool to have been in the officialdom until now.

Lu Chengqi looked around and saw that there was no objection, so he said: "This matter is settled like this. The Ministry of Officials needs to sort out a complete system tomorrow. I want to see it myself. The first minister of the cabinet, Zhenhui will personally designate it, and the office will be set up in the Wende Palace; the military staff department will be set up in the Zichen Palace."

There is only Wu Xianzhi left in the Ministry of Officials, and the rest have been taken to the prison of the Supervision Department.Fortunately, Wu Xianzhi was also a capable official, and he promoted many low-level officials, so that the huge bureaucracy would not collapse.

Lu Chengqi asked Wu Xianzhi to temporarily take the post of Minister of the Ministry of Officials, in fact, he was waiting for him to make achievements before he was put on the right foot.This is one of the recruiting skills learned by Lu Chengqi, which also makes Wu Xianzhi, who has read Confucian classics, more loyal.

Strike while the iron is hot, Lu Chengqi continued: "Xu Qing, I want you to set aside one-fifth of the stolen money as an official pension. In the future, I plan to reform the salary. Fill it into the pension. If there is any corruption and violation of the law during the period, the pension will be gone, and the family property will be confiscated, and the family members will be sent back to their place of origin.”

As soon as the news came out, the audience was in an uproar.All the civil and military officials were talking about it, but if there is a lesson from the past, who would dare to say a word?Lu Chengqi ignored them and continued: "From now on, civil and military officials will all have equal salaries, as much as the second-rank civil servants, and as much as the second-rank military officials! Pensions will increase by fifty per year during your tenure as officials. As long as Don’t take bribes and break the law, the pension will be given together after returning home. If a hundred years later, it will be given to family members. From now on, the salary will be based on money and silver, and will not be given in kind. All items must be bought by yourself. The department counts the previous physical objects into money and silver, and then reissues after halving. Xu Qing, do you understand?"

Xu Chongguang quickly said: "The old minister understands."

Lu Chengqi announced the reform of the political system and the reform of the salary system in one day. Although corrupt officials cannot be absolutely eradicated, there will be fewer corrupt officials. I hate corrupt officials!Anyone who dares to reach out will be punished severely!

(End of this chapter)