I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 256

It is a trivial matter for officials who have the opportunity to use this method to solicit money for personal gain and supplement their families.

After all, there are many people in the world who are responsible for labor labor. As long as they can make up a certain amount of labor labor according to the requirements, the business will not be delayed.

During this period, it is harmless to recruit some more civilian husbands, and let those who have some money and do not want to do hard labor pay to exempt them from labor, and it has no major impact on the court.

Therefore, even a clean and impartial official like Gu Zuo had done this before.

It can be seen that this kind of thing is not only regarded as the norm, but also an open secret.

However, this is only one of the means of soliciting money for external officials.

There are even more ways for these officials in the capital to make money.

Some like Guo Wenyu took advantage of their positions to collect money, and some like Guo Liuhu and the others resold valuables in the palace.

In fact, more officials took advantage of the convenience in the capital to receive filial piety from local officials.

This method is the most difficult to verify and the most difficult to find.

Unless it is reported by an insider, it will be difficult for people to catch the handle.

At this time, most of the people in the court who dare to say in front of Li Tian that they are fine are like this.

And people like Yang Shiqi, who had already exposed their scandals, knelt down, but did not beg for mercy.

Their matter is actually not that big, whether to punish or not depends on Li Tian's thoughts, and whether to beg for mercy is actually of little effect.

Li Tian was also in trouble at this time.

If this matter is not dealt with today, it will inevitably become a tool for the officials to attack and violate the government in the future.

But if it is really dealt with heavily, it is not known how many officials will be wiped out.

And Gu Zuo was an upright official whom he finally fell in love with, how to deal with it really made him want to break his head.

After a long silence, they finally made a decision.

He slammed the table and shouted loudly,

"Gu Zuo, I think you are a clean and honest official, just and strict, and I don't plan to pursue any minor mistakes. I still accept your appointment as the Zuodu Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate."

Although Gu Zuo was withdrawn, not only was he able to get out of prison this time, but his official position was further improved, which made him inexplicably delighted.

Hastily bowed down and shouted in the mouth,
"Thank you for your majesty's forgiveness, I... I will definitely do my best to repay your majesty's kindness!"

Seeing that Li Tian finally let go, Yang Shiqi and others were also greatly relieved.

Only the spokesperson who reported Gu Zuo just now turned pale with fright, thinking that he was already in dire straits.

In fact, the reason why he dared to do this today was instigated by someone behind the scenes.

Li Tian didn't know exactly who they were, but he concluded that they must be related to those who supported Liu Guan.

Gu Zuo's matter was easy to deal with. Li Tiandang pardoned him for his crimes and appointed him regardless of past suspicions. It is estimated that no one would dare to speak out.

However, it is not so easy to deal with the matter of officials sent abroad to fill their private pockets with labor.

First of all, there are obviously not a few people who take advantage of this loophole.

Secondly, if this part of the benefit is missing, they may find other ways to collect money for corruption, and the impact may be even greater.

If you want to solve it, there is actually no way. The most effective way is to increase the salaries of officials.

Only in this way, the burden on the court will immediately increase.

The Ming Dynasty was different from previous dynasties in that there were a large number of officials in the court.

In the Tang Dynasty, the number of administrative officials in the whole country was only in the early seven or eight thousand, but at this time in the Ming Dynasty, there were more than [-] officials above the ninth rank.

Once the salary is fully raised, the burden will not be a little bit, and it may not take a year to crush the court.

And the solution Li Tian came up with is also very simple.

That is to increase only the salaries of expatriate officials.

"The proposed purpose is that in the future, all officials sent abroad will be given official subsidies according to their official position, distance, and length of service, ranging from one or two to three or two taels. The details of this matter will be discussed by the cabinet later and will be given detailed data."

As soon as this decree came out, it immediately caused a burst of exclamation from the crowd.

Hubu Shangshu Xia Yuanji was the first to jump out to object.

"Your Majesty can't do it. In this way, the burden on the imperial court will be greatly increased. Please think twice, Your Majesty!"

With a vigorous wave of his hand, Li Tian made the final decision,

"I have made up my mind, there is no need to discuss this matter again."

Xia Yuanji wanted to say something more, but Yang Shiqi and the others firmly stopped him from speaking.

In fact, Yang Shiqi probably guessed at this time what Li Tian wanted to do.

It's just that, in front of so many people, he couldn't explain to Xia Yuanji for a while.

After Li Tian finished speaking, he turned to Gu Zuo and said,

"Gu Yushi, I will give you a chance to pay off your merits and crimes. Starting today, you will take the lead in investigating all suspected corruption in the court. Not clean."

Gu Zuo was shocked, and hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "I obey the order!"

And Jin Youde, who is the censor of the right capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, couldn't help but change slightly when he heard Li Tian's will.

It stands to reason that he is better than Gu Zuo in terms of qualifications and position. Li Tian should not appoint a newcomer who has just taken office instead of him no matter what.

He just wanted to ask Li Tian to think again.

Unexpectedly, Li Tian went on to say,

"You may be wondering why I have just raised the salaries of the dispatched officials and investigated their corruption!"

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, only Yang Shiqi and the others were the old gods, looking completely confident.

"I won't explain why the salary increase is for. As for the corruption matter, since I already know about it, there is no reason to ignore it."

"Starting from today, I don't plan to pursue those who have participated in this matter before. I hope that after I raise their salaries, they will restrain themselves."

"Gu Yushi, I said so, but you understand."

Gu Zuo nodded quickly and said, "Yes, I understand!"

Li Tian didn't finish his words, he continued,
"From today, the Metropolitan Procuratorate no longer sticks to its previous missions of supervision, prosecution, and impeachment, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate has the right to report any matter suspected of corruption.

Even if there is corruption in the inner court and the army, you can report it directly to me. "

The officials were shocked and whispered,

"Your Majesty, what's the matter? You spared no effort to suppress the Metropolitan Procuratorate before, but now you have increased the power of the Metropolitan Procuratorate!"

"Now that the power of the Metropolitan Procuratorate has greatly increased, I'm afraid we will not have a good life in the future."

This decision was not only beyond the expectations of the officials, even Gu Zuo and Jin Youde were also unexpected.

But Li Tian's shocking words did not end. He smiled slightly and released another big news.

"Starting today, all officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate will no longer be transferred to other positions, and will be changed to tenure!"

(End of this chapter)