The first assistant of the poor family

Chapter 565 The Law of Corruption [4000 words combined into one chapter]

"Ha ha ha ha"

Zhao Mengqing laughed back angrily, pointed at Gu Dingchen's nose and scolded: "Everyone is an official of Daming, why bother to put on a show here? The officials are greedy, and the masters of the government are also greedy, but so what? Daming Which of the top officials has not been corrupt?"

Without waiting for Gu Dingchen's rebuttal, Zhao Mengqing continued: "Emperor Taizu severely punished corrupt officials, and ordered that those who corrupted more than 50 taels of silver be peeled and made into scarecrows. Such harsh punishments can deter corrupt officials? Why are corrupt officials still one by one? Has the imperial envoy ever thought about it? Emperor Taizu loved his people, but officials are not human? After studying hard for decades, they should be envied by all when they are admitted to the imperial examination, but just looking at the salaries of officials, they think they are beggars Well. It’s fine if you’re just single, but at the age when the Jinshi is released from office, which one doesn’t have a family? The annual salary is only a pitiful few dozen taels, which is not enough to fill the teeth. It’s a joke to support a family! "

The more Zhao Mengqing spoke, the more excited he became, the muscles on his cheeks kept twitching and he said: "Since His Majesty the Emperor doesn't consider his subjects, the officials will naturally find their own way, not to mention anything else. Bing Tan respects the officials, this can’t be considered greedy, right? If this is considered greedy, the officials of Ming Dynasty would have starved to death long ago.”

Ten officials and nine corrupt officials are talking about this kind of situation.

In many cases, it is not that officials want to be corrupt, but that the civil service system forces them to be greedy.If you are not greedy, you will not be able to offer ice, charcoal and silver taels to the officials, so naturally you will not be able to survive in the officialdom.

"Of course, I not only intercepted the fire, offered ice charcoal to the capital, but also took money for building the embankment. Among them, the Futai adults also participated. I believe that any official will be no exception."

After Zhao Mengqing finished speaking, he let out a very carefree breath.

As for Gu Dingchen, the initial shock has become silent.

Although what Zhao Mengqing said was unreasonable, it is not completely unreasonable when you think about it carefully.

At least Emperor Taizu was indeed too stingy in setting the salaries for civil servants.

Being an official for thousands of miles is just for food and clothing.

In the Ming Dynasty, the statuses of officials and civilians were distinct.Countless people have squeezed their heads to be able to become officials. Once the official robes are added, their families will become rich in the local area, and their social status will not be improved at 01:30.

In addition to the official status, the most attractive thing is the gray income brought by power.

Just like what Zhao Mengqing said, since Emperor Taizu didn't let them have a better life, they had to find a way to make themselves better.

Even Gu Dingchen has received ice charcoal and silver donations from local officials every year.

First of all, this is already a legal thing that the court tacitly accepted, and everyone accepts it.

Secondly, Gu Dingchen has a big family to support, and the meager salary from the imperial court is really not enough.

And Gu Dingchen is still the right servant of the dignified Ministry of Rites, and he has the title of cabinet bachelor.If he is still like this, how can the officials of the fifth, sixth, and sixth and seventh ranks in those places survive if they are not greedy?

But it would be fine for them to keep some fire consumption for ice and charcoal worship, why would they want to be greedy for the money to build the embankment?
Don't they know the importance of the quality of the embankment?
Linqing is close to the Yellow River and the canal. Once the Yellow River breaks its embankment, the whole Linqing will be submerged.At that time, countless people will be drowned!

There must be a bottom line in life, and the same is true for being an official.

In Gu Dingchen's view, some things are allowed, such as ice charcoal respect, such as fire consumption.No matter how honest officials are, they will also accept these.This cannot be considered greedy.

As for the officials who don't hold back the fire and don't pay respects with ice and charcoal, I'm afraid there won't be three officials in Ming Dynasty.

But you can't be so greedy that you don't even care about the lives of the people, can you?

"you are wrong!"

Gu Dingchen clenched his fists and started to fight back: "I believe that any official who has not lost his conscience will not be greedy for money to build river embankments to enrich himself."

Gu Dingchen pointed to the sky with one hand and said: "There is a god standing three feet above the head, not everyone is as shameless as you."

"Really? Then the imperial envoy is really high-spirited."

Zhao Mengqing sarcastically said: "Do you know the particularity of Linqing? Everyone knows that Linqing has a banknote pass, and the officials in the Yamen are full of fat. Therefore, officials at all levels will hint that I will pay an extra amount of money. Is it okay to just intercept fire consumption? It may be possible to make up for this money. If I don’t touch the silver used to build the embankment, can I get these money?”

Gu Dingchen was taken aback for a moment and said, "Who are you referring to?"

Zhao Mengqing felt aggrieved, and said loudly: "Naturally, it is the Yamen of the Governor's Mansion, as well as the six ministries of the two capitals, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the General Secretary of the General Administration, and the thirteen supervisory censors! Do you really think they all have clean asses? ?Master Imperial Envoy, you said that you didn’t take the money, and the subordinate officials believed it. But most of the officials did. They don’t ask how the money came from, they just take the money!”

They just take money!

These words kept echoing in Gu Dingchen's mind, and Gu Dingchen almost collapsed after being stimulated.

For some reason, in his opinion, Zhao Mengqing, who is arrogant, always seems to find a reason to refute.

"Aren't you surprised? Doesn't it mean surprise? The next official told the imperial envoy the truth, almost all the officials you can think of took this money. The money for the embankment built by the next official who was greedy for ink seems to be huge, but in fact more than half of it went into their pockets." Pockets. Isn’t your lord going to get rid of the evil, why don’t you get rid of these people together! This way, you won’t be too lonely alone on the road to the underworld!”

At this moment, Zhao Mengqing didn't have any scruples, and he acted recklessly when he spoke.

What can Gu Dingchen say at this moment?He found himself speechless!

If, as Zhao Mengqing said, the money for building the embankment ended up in the pockets of the Beijing officials, then the Ming system should really be improved.Even the supervisory group, the Yushi Yanguan, accepts bribes and corruption. Doesn't that mean it's rotten to the root?Who will supervise?Isn't this self-stealing!
If one person has a problem, it can be said that that person has a bad character, but if there are ten people, a hundred people, a thousand people have a problem?

What if the entire Ming Dynasty went wrong?That must be a system problem.

Although Gu Dingchen is very reluctant to admit this, but now it seems that this is probably the problem.

Even without Zhao Mengqing, there will be Wu Mengqing and Liu Mengqing.

When you are in this position, in order to satisfy your own greed and the big appetite of the Beijing officials, you cannot help but not be greedy.

Not greedy?It is absolutely true that after less than a year in office, the Ministry of Officials will find an excuse to be transferred.

Just kidding, everyone is counting on the magistrate of Linqing to offer a large amount of filial money, you can say that you can not be greedy if you are not greedy?
This point is probably the heart knot of all wealthy prefecture officials, and many people have to be trembling and take risks.

As for greedy ink, if there is a first time, there will be a second time.

Of course, all of this is not a reason for Zhao Mengqing to be greedy for ink.Even if he was forced to do nothing as he said, he made a big mistake.

"That's all I said, and I don't need to listen to your sophistry. Someone, take it down!"

Gu Dingchen waved his hand, and immediately two Jinyi guards stepped forward and dragged Zhao Mengqing down.

Perhaps because he knew that he was doomed, Zhao Mengqing laughed loudly and said, "Lord Gu, listen to Mr. Zhao's persuasion, don't bother to deal with corrupt officials. You can deal with one person, but can you deal with all corrupt officials in the world?" ?"

Zhao Mengqing's voice became smaller and smaller, but Gu Dingchen's mood became heavier and heavier.

It took him a long time to recover and ordered the arrest of Sun Yan, the prefect of Dongchang.

This person is in collusion with Zhao Mengqing, the prefect of Linqing, knowingly breaking the law, and must be severely punished.

In addition, he also ordered people to take down all the people in Sanji Hall.

If such a killer assassin organization is not wiped out and allowed to do evil, the consequences will be immeasurable.

Unexpectedly, he came to the Qing Dynasty to supervise the dredging of the canal, and so many things were involved, which is really embarrassing.

Gu Dingchen decided to return to Beijing to report to His Majesty, the Chief Assistant, and the Second Assistant after dealing with these matters.

Zhao Mengqing deserves to die, but some things he said are worth thinking about.For example, why did the officials of Ming Dynasty become corrupt? Only by understanding this point can we prescribe the right medicine and come up with a good solution.

Otherwise, if these officials were allowed to continue to be corrupt, it would not take long for Daming to rot from the root.

However, after Gu Dingchen executed Zhao Mengqing, Sun Yan and other corrupt officials, he even conducted a thorough investigation of the officials in Linqing and even Dongchang.

Those involved in serious matters will be dismissed from their posts, and those involved in shallow matters will also be reduced to deducting their salaries.

At this point, the ink corruption case came to an end, and Gu Dingchen was able to focus more on supervising the dredging of the canal.

After staying in Linqing for more than half a month, Gu Dingchen set off to return to the capital.

Along the way, he was thinking about the problem of corruption of ink. Can the stubborn disease that has plagued the Ming Dynasty for more than a hundred years be banned in this dynasty?

If it is really possible to ban it, what is the price to pay?
I am afraid that only Xiaoge, who knows everything, knows this.

The words are divided into two sides.

However, Emperor Zhengde was furious when he learned about Linqing.

Among the silver coins for the construction of the river embankment, he allocated from his internal funds, which is equivalent to Zhu Houzhao's own pocket.It can be said that the king's kindness is mighty.But how did his courtiers repay him?

Instead of being grateful for the emperor's grace, they put the silver in their pockets instead!
These are my money, how dare they!
As soon as Gu Dingchen returned to Beijing, he was summoned by the emperor before he had time to take a sip of tea and questioned him in the Wenhua Palace.

The emperor is in the hall, and the three cabinet scholars are in the hall, and the atmosphere is very serious.

Gu Dingchen first reported to His Majesty the emperor the specific work of the trip to Linqing, and then Zhu Houzhao asked about the points he cared about, and the most asked question was naturally the case of corruption in ink.

Gu Dingchen also prepared a lot for this, and he answered them one by one.

The more Zhu Houzhao listened, the more angry he said: "This Zhao Mengqing, beheading him is too cheap. In my opinion, to deal with this kind of corrupt officials who do not repent, they should be executed in a timely manner, or the emperor Taizu's skinning punishment should be restored, and they should be skinned one by one. Make a scarecrow!"

Uh.
At this moment, Xie Shen seriously doubts whether Lao Zhu's family has violent genes.

It's okay to kill corrupt officials, but it's really unnecessary to do skinning.

Zhu Yuanzhang gave a clear proof.

The daring of these corrupt officials to enrich themselves proves that they are already taking chances, or in other words, they are ready to go to the execution ground.

Such a person can be described as a gambler.

And gamblers will not stop just because you increase the torture deterrent.

In other words, whether it is beheading, Ling Chi, or skinning is a dead word, but the trick is different, can you die a second time?
"Your Majesty, I believe that only increasing torture will not be effective in combating corruption."

"Oh? What can you do, sir?"

Zhu Houzhao habitually looked at Xie Shen for help.

Xie Shen said softly: "Reporting to Your Majesty, in fact, the most important thing in combating corruption is to establish a sound supervision system. Increasing officials' salaries will also have a good effect."

"The monitoring system? Aren't the censors of this dynasty just for monitoring?"

Zhu Houzhao was puzzled.

Xie Shen smiled and said: "Your Majesty, although the censors have the responsibility of supervision, the coverage is too small. For example, His Majesty appoints a person to supervise the censors for Nanzhi, and his duty is to inspect the prefectures and counties of Nanzhi. But one person How could it be possible for the inspector to come over, even if the inspector came over, how can we guarantee that this censor will not be bought by corrupt officials?"

This. Zhu Houzhao was speechless.

Yes, this inspection system has had big problems from the very beginning.

For example, the uniqueness of the supervisory censor makes it easy to go wrong in principle.

"I thought that just increasing the number of inspectors would not have any effect. If we want to make a complete change, we must start from the root."

"How to start from the root?"

"Your Majesty may wish to entrust this task to the merchant."

"merchant?"

Zhu Houzhao asked in disbelief: "How is this possible? Use businessmen to monitor officials? Are you joking, sir?"

In Zhu Houzhao's heart, he still despises businessmen.After all, in Daming, the emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats jointly ruled the world, which is nothing to do with businessmen.

"Your Majesty, businessmen hate corrupt officials the most. Most of the money corrupt officials get from corruption comes from businessmen. They have been taken from their pockets by corrupt officials for no reason. These businessmen have long hated corrupt officials. Using businessmen to monitor officials is It couldn't be more suitable."

Xie Shen's approach was actually reversed.The merchant is very rich but lacks the means to protect himself.In the eyes of corrupt officials, this is simply a fat sheep, and they will feel sorry for themselves if they don't slaughter them.

Ordinary ordinary people, how much money do ordinary people have?Even if the corrupt officials scratch the ground three feet, they will not be able to corrupt much.

In fact, most of the income of corrupt officials comes from merchants.

On the surface, the merchants are very respectful to the corrupt officials and even take the initiative to offer filial piety, but how many of them are willing from the bottom of their hearts?Aren't they all forced to smash their teeth and swallow them in their stomachs?

Those corrupt officials are greedy people. This time they ask for 5000 taels, and next time they ask for 1 taels. There is no limit to 2 taels.

Merchants hope that corrupt officials will die without a place to bury them, but they can only continue to be exploited by corrupt officials because they have no means of supervision.

If Zhu Houzhao gave merchants the power to supervise local officials, officials at the prefecture and county levels would certainly not be so blatantly corrupt.

This is actually considered from the perspective of human nature, and it is also the best way Xie Shen can think of to deal with corruption right now.

(End of this chapter)