There was silence in Lezhizhai, but the sound of cicadas in the forest outside made people a little upset.
There were several huge ice basins placed in the palace, which filled the air with a slight chill. But among the officials in the palace, there were still people dripping with sweat on their foreheads.
Some people couldn't bear it anymore and raised their sleeves to wipe their sweat. While wiping their sweat, they secretly looked into the inner hall.
But their sight was blocked by a gauze curtain, and they could only vaguely see the outline of the emperor.
~
Zhu Yunxi did not wear a gauze crown, his hair was tied up casually with a wooden hairpin, and he was wearing a sapphire blue round-neck uniform. He was sitting on the throne, quietly looking at the memorial in front of him.
Opposite him, all the ministers of the Southern Study Room and the six ministers stood with their heads lowered and their hands lowered, holding their breaths.
Everyone knows that the emperor has a fire in his heart and can be ignited at the slightest moment.
"Chichi...eheh..."
The cicadas outside are still chirping, getting louder and louder.
"I used to think that it was a bit too cruel for the Supreme Emperor to always pick on corrupt officials!" Zhu Yunxi put down the memorial in his hand and said slowly, "But now it seems that it is still too gentle, hum!"
The emperor snorted coldly, and the heads of the ministers lowered their heads.
According to the joint efforts of the Independent Commission Against Corruption and Jinyiwei, there have been as many as 138 corruption cases in various parts of the Ming Dynasty this year, with the least involving eight hundred silver dollars and the most involving tens of thousands of silver dollars.
Not only corruption and bribery, but also some state government officials misappropriated all the money allocated by the court to build local official schools. What's more, some state governments almost openly sell all kinds of petty officials with clearly marked prices.
Errands, and even places in official schools.
What is even more shocking is that in the process of promoting Hongshu, in order to allow the people to farm with peace of mind, the imperial court specially issued special funds to various localities to compensate farmers. This money was secretly transferred to all levels of the state government.
, it has not reached the hands of farmers at all.
This is on the surface, but there are many moths hiding in the dark.
"Emperor Taizu Gao has been killing corrupt officials for thirty years. Do you want me to kill them for thirty years too?"
With a snap, Zhu Yunxi slapped the memorial in his hand heavily on the table. The ministers' hearts trembled and their heads hung lower.
"Haha, look at this!" Zhu Yunxi picked up another memorial and sneered. This was reported by Guo Guanseng, the commander of Jinyiwei and his colleague, "Songjiang Prefecture is in ruins. The magistrate of the Ming Dynasty openly searched for flowers and willows.
.And Xuezheng, who is a role model for others, for the sake of his own career and his own future, actually..."
As he spoke, Zhu Yunxi laughed angrily, "You actually let your concubine and sister accompany the prefect to play mahjong for two days and two nights?"
"Ha!" Zhu Yunxi laughed repeatedly, "It's so shameless... shameless!"
As he said that, he looked at the ministers below and said, "Have you ever heard of such a thing in all dynasties throughout the ages? It has been thirty years since Emperor Taizu Gao was killed, and I have been rectifying the official system since I came to the throne. It seems that these more than thirty years have passed
, just cured a joke, cured a self-deception!"
"I am guilty!" All the ministers could no longer stand and kowtowed.
"Get up!" Zhu Yunxi shouted coldly, "If I come to you, you will kowtow to plead guilty. Do I want a kowtowing bug? Can national affairs be solved with just two words of guilt?"
As he said this, he couldn't help it anymore, and casually tore off the buttons around his neck, with a bit of anger, "This is just the bad behavior of local officials, it's even worse among officials in the capital!"
Having said this, he looked towards the outer hall, where the ministers were covered by gauze curtains.
"Zhejiang Chief Tie Xuan and Inspector Jingqing Inspector Han Kezhong jointly reported the report!" Zhu Yunxi continued, "There are noble officials in the court who are from wealthy families. Therefore, they use their official status in their families to collude with officials and businessmen. We first use their names to weave
In the name of Bufang, we signed contracts with farmers to purchase mulberry silkworms. After a year of hard work, the farmers were told that their mulberry silkworms were not up to standard."
"Farmers have planted mulberries and raised silkworms on their land. If they can't sell anything, they have no money to pay taxes or buy food. At this time, these officials and businessmen, relying on people in the government, started to usury loan sharks!"
"Then after that, when the profit margins were not repaid, they took the opportunity to occupy the farmers' fields, and the farmers who were not working every day were either their tenant slaves, or they could only sign a contract and sell themselves into the workshop to work as livestock! There are still livestock!
Good fodder to eat! They are big living people, but they are not even as good as animals. They work for seven or eight hours a day, and if they are not satisfied, they are whipped at every turn. It is inhumane!"
Bang!
The ministers were excited, and Zhu Yunxi faced the outer hall, "Zheng Chaoxian, Ma Guoliang, Zhang Hongche!"
Plop!
Among the officials in the outer hall, three officials in third-grade official uniforms staggered and fell to their knees.
"Is what I said true?" Zhu Yunxi asked.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty..." The three officials looked pale and spoke incoherently.
"I really don't know anything about the family affairs..."
"Shut up!" Zhu Yunxi scolded him and said, "You three are descendants of a wealthy family, taught by famous teachers and came from Jinshi. You say you don't know anything about it. Do you think I believe it? You are usually in the capital, and you always have a good reputation and call your friends a daughter.
After all, don’t you know that all the money in your hands is filled with blood?”
At this point, Zhu Yunxi waved his hand fiercely, "Taiping slave, hand them over to Yousi and let me investigate them carefully!"
"According to the order!"
"Your Majesty, you are wronged, Your Majesty!"
"What do you have to do with your affairs at home, Your Majesty?"
"Your Majesty, I really don't know this!"
As soon as several people screamed, Deng Ping and his guards dragged them down, covering their mouths.
"Chichi...chichi!"
The sound of cicadas outside became more and more harsh.
It seems like he is laughing at someone!
This cry made Zhu Yunxi even more upset. It was a good thing that the Ming Dynasty's business was increasingly prosperous. It was a good thing that the various products in the land of Zhongxia were in short supply at the customs. It was a great good thing that taxes and money increased year after year.
But behind these good things, there are many bad things.
The wealthy families and merchants along the coast worked hard to build workshops, recruit workers desperately, and produce around the clock.
Those who make fires, those who tire people out, those who buy and sell people, those who don't treat people as human beings... are everywhere.
And those businessmen whose families have official backers are even more unscrupulous. If something happens, some people will suppress them and others will protect them!
Suddenly, Zhu Yunxi felt a stabbing pain in his heart, and a sentence suddenly came to his mind.
"Capital is bloody!"
Seeing Zhu Yunxi rubbing his heart, Cao Guogong Li Jinglong immediately raised his head and said with concern, "Long live the Lord is not feeling well, please come and call the imperial doctor quickly!"
After saying that, he walked straight to the side and quickly poured a cup of hot tea for Zhu Yunxi, holding it in both hands, "Long live my Lord, please moisten your throat and relieve your anger!"
Zhu Yunxi waved his hands slightly and sighed, "I called you here today to talk about the administration of officials." After saying that, he raised his head and said, "Let us, the emperor and his ministers, work together to think of a way to stop this unhealthy trend!"
"It can't be stopped!" Xin Yande, who was in the second row of civil servants, said coldly, "Just kill him!" He snorted coldly, "Since you read the books of sages, you should understand the four words of family, country and world.
.If you behave improperly as an official or as a person, you will be a moth in the Ming Dynasty, and you will bring it upon yourself to lose your head!"
"Killing blindly treats the symptoms but not the root cause!" Xie Jin pondered and said, "Besides, if the killing continues like this, the hearts of the people there will be scattered!"
What he said hit home!
In the final analysis, Zhu Yunxi was not the founding monarch like the old man, who could kill people without any scruples.
Besides, this is not that era anymore. At that time, the Ming Dynasty had just been founded, the world had just emerged from the war, and people were calm. But now the country is prospering, and rules have been formed.
Moreover, there is another layer of truth in Xie Jin's words that everyone understands but cannot put into words.
That is, officials are essentially a vested interest group that helps the emperor rule the world.