Chapter 515: The rich and powerful ministers barely enjoyed it
"Your Majesty, of course this cannot prevent the occurrence of corruption." Liu Song replied honestly: "In fact, in recent times, due to the rapid economic development of Yanjing, this situation is actually more serious than before."
Liu Ji is almost going crazy. They both have the same surname of Liu. How come there is such a big gap in their lives?
You guy, don’t you know what you can and can’t say?
There are some things that everyone just knows in their hearts and there is no need to say them out, okay?
It's a pity that no matter how Liu Ji winked at Liu Song, Liu Song continued to mind his own business as if he hadn't seen it: "In the past month, our Economic Inspection Division alone has discovered as many as seventeen people. .”
"The most egregious one among them was a doctor who worked for the Ministry of Industry. Because he was in charge of land bidding, he secretly and openly accepted more than 300,000 taels of silver."
"What?" Even Lao Zhu, who hates corrupt officials, when he heard this number, the first thing he thought of was not killing people, but that this guy could embezzle so much money.
Three hundred thousand taels, in the past this was an extremely huge amount of money.
Even if some state capitals invite disasters, such as the drought in Datong this time, the disaster relief funds allocated by the court are only three to five million taels of silver.
But here in Yanjing, an ordinary doctor can embezzle so much money?
After the shock, there was endless anger. Lao Zhu's eyes were red and he gritted his teeth and said word by word: "How brave, dare to blatantly embezzle so much money in our Ming Dynasty, I will punish his nine tribes!"
Liu Ji looked pale and did not dare to say anything.
Liu Song still looked like he didn't care about anything: "Back to Your Majesty, this person had a public trial three days ago and was sentenced to death."
"As for his embezzled money, all of it has been found in the house he bought to hide the dirty money."
"According to our Ming Dynasty's current laws, unless it involves heinous crimes such as rebellion, his family will not be implicated. As long as his family can prove that they were unaware of the crime and hand over the money embezzled by the official, they will be forgiven."
"Nonsense!" Zhu Yuanzhang slammed the table again angrily: "What kind of official punishment is this? The families of those corrupt officials enjoy the benefits they bring, so naturally they cannot stay out of it."
"They said they didn't know, so they didn't know? Who knows if these people are lying to avoid the sanctions of the Ming Law."
"And!" The more Zhu Yuanzhang talked, the more he felt something was wrong: "Wait a minute. We seemed to have overlooked something just now."
"This guy embezzled three hundred thousand taels of silver, and you actually said that the circumstances were not bad."
"You two Qing family members are now so far-sighted that you don't even care about three hundred thousand taels of silver?"
Facing Zhu Yuanzhang's ridicule, Liu Song and Liu Ji looked at each other, with strange expressions on their faces.
Liu Song said with some regret: "His Royal Highness the King of England has made a rule before that if there is a corrupt official in the family, his immediate family members will not be allowed to obtain academic honors within three generations."
"Okay!" After hearing Liu Song's words, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but cheered loudly.
It must be that my brother is capable. Why didn’t I think of such a wonderful idea before?
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Even those corrupt officials must consider the future of their children.
If their heirs are unable to continue to obtain academic honors because of something they committed, it will definitely be a devastating blow to these traditional scholar-bureaucrats.
Liu Song and Liu Ji were speechless at the same time.
They will know once they hear the news.
Zhu Yuanzhang achieved eight achievements with this attitude.
Liu Song waited until Zhu Yuanzhang was almost happy before continuing: "Also, the benefits His Royal Highness the King of England has given us officials are really great."
"Your Majesty, there are almost no officials serving in Yanjing who need to worry about their livelihood."
"In terms of housing, there are welfare houses provided by the imperial court. These welfare houses are distributed according to grades. For higher-ranking officials, such as ministers, these houses are relatively large."
"His Royal Highness the King has said that this is only temporary. In the future, if Yanjing is completely built, high-level officials will distribute villas."
Zhu Yuanzhang curled his mouth downwards, his younger brother was good at everything, but sometimes he was a little too generous.
Does he know how many officials there are in Yingtian plus Yanjing? If they are all given houses, how much will it cost?
"No wonder you support the King of England so much. Your Highness treats you much better than I do, right? This big house is placed in Yingtian Mansion. If you don't have 20,000 taels, you probably won't be able to buy it, right?"
…
Liu Song and Liu Ji both had scornful expressions on their faces.
Seeing their appearance, Lao Zhu knew something was wrong and immediately said sternly: "If you have anything to say, just say it directly. If we find out on our own, you will reap the benefits."
Zhu Yuanzhang asked directly. Liu Song and Liu Ji naturally did not dare to neglect, and immediately explained carefully.
"I don't dare to deceive Your Majesty, because more and more projects are being carried out in Yanjing, and land is becoming increasingly scarce. The value of Wei Chen's house..." At this point, Liu Song hesitated. In fact, even he, now thinking of this The price of a house has a strong sense of unreality.
"How much." Zhu Yuanzhang could feel that the value of this house would definitely not be lower, otherwise Liu Song would not be so hesitant.
Although he was mentally prepared, when Lao Zhu heard the price of the house from Liu Song, his eyes widened in shock.
"Your Majesty, the Wei Chen's house, together with the land, costs about 120,000 taels."
Seeing Liu Song speak, Liu Ji immediately spoke in a slightly lower voice than Liu Song, and finished quickly and simply: "My one hundred and twenty thousand taels."
Lao Zhu's head buzzed for a moment. He originally thought that it was only a little more expensive than the one in Yanjing, maybe more than ten thousand taels of silver.
As a result...the price has doubled.
Damn it, he didn’t even know if he had 120,000 taels of silver to build a grand palace in his palace.
The place where these two guys Liu Ji and Liu Song live can be so expensive.
Besides, Liu Ji didn’t say anything, Liu Song, what’s going on?
Is this a house worth 120,000 taels for you to live in? The yard is overgrown with weeds, many rooms look uninhabited, and the window paper is torn?
The old sow eats ginseng and spoils things.
When it comes to observing words and emotions, even ten Liu Songs might not be able to catch up with Liu Ji's thighs.
Just by looking at Zhu Yuanzhang's face, Liu Ji had already guessed what Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking.
Now is a good opportunity to talk about favorability, and Liu Ji will certainly not miss it.
"Your Majesty, I am not just greedy for pleasure. The reason why Lord Liu and Fa Chen live in such luxury is actually for their own reasons."
What the hell?
The one who has made you prosperous and rich, and delicacies from mountains and seas, is still making things difficult for you?
"Oh? We would like to hear how our brother made things difficult for you." Zhu Yuanzhang sneered disdainfully.
The intention is clearly to question Liu Ji. If you can't give us a satisfactory reason, it will definitely not be a good thing for you.
This time, Liu Ji didn't feel guilty at all, because everything he said was true, so he naturally wouldn't be afraid.
It's just that what he wants to say is what Zhu Han said to Liu Song. And he is just a repeater.
Even so, when Zhu Yuanzhang understands what Liu Song means, his impression in Lao Zhu's eyes will definitely change greatly.
Therefore, although Liu Jiming praised Liu Song on the surface, he was actually doing it for himself.
It's just that Liu Ji won't use the method of benefiting himself at the expense of others.
"Your Majesty, at the very beginning, Lord Liu Song did not agree with His Royal Highness the King's political adjustment order."
"Lord Liu believes that we are officials of the imperial court. As the saying goes, we can eat the emperor's salary and share the emperor's worries. How can we use our position to get more benefits from the imperial court?"
Upon hearing this, Lao Zhu gave Liu Song an appreciative look.
Although this guy's words are not very pleasant, his loyalty to the Ming Dynasty is still very worthy of praise.
Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's face softening, Liu Ji was secretly happy, knowing that he had hit the right target, and his voice became louder and louder: "Does your Majesty know what His Royal Highness said?"
Although Liu Ji deliberately sold the lawsuit, he knew that Lao Zhu was not the kind of person who liked to guess.
In saying this, he only deliberately aroused Zhu Yuanzhang's suspense.
The so-called language art is naturally meaningless if it is explained in a straightforward manner.
It must have highs and lows to arouse the audience's interest.
However, his current audience is not the readers of later generations of novels, who were so ecstatic that they were cut off from chapters and chapters, scolded their mothers every day, and in the end had no choice but to charge up their money.
But if Lao Zhu wants people to die, they will really die.
So he didn't even wait for Lao Zhu to guess. After arousing Lao Zhu's interest, he immediately explained: "His Royal Highness the King of England talked about Zilu's deeds of redeeming people."
"Zilu's family is well-off, so he does not need rewards from the court. However, it is impossible for other people to have Zilu's family background. He doesn't want the last time. If others want the last time, it will appear that they are greedy, and Zilu has a noble character."
"You have obviously done good deeds, but not only do you not get the rewards you deserve, but you will also be criticized by others. If things go on like this, no one will be willing to go to other countries to redeem people."
"The same is true in Yanjing." Liu Ji said with an upright look: "I and Mr. Liu have high positions and powerful salaries, and their salaries are much higher than those of ordinary officials. Naturally, there is no pressure in life."
"But those ordinary officials don't have much salary to begin with. In addition, the housing prices in Yanjing are becoming increasingly expensive. Many officials' salaries are already difficult to use just to rent houses, let alone daily life."
"His Royal Highness the King's welfare policy provides housing and other benefits to officials according to their rank."
"If Lord Liu Song doesn't want this kind of welfare, and neither do I, then how can the officials below have the nerve to ask for it?"
"Therefore, in order for His Royal Highness the King's welfare decree to be promulgated smoothly, so that lower-level officials can live in the welfare housing provided by the court as a matter of course."
"Wei Chen and Lord Liu Song have no choice but to humiliate themselves and set an example."
Zhu Yuanzhang smacked his lips.
He understood what Liu Ji meant, but Zhu Yuanzhang always felt a little uncomfortable.
Why do you always feel that when Liu Ji said this, he seemed to be particularly in need of a beating and wished he could punch him a few times?
What's more, Lao Zhu could tell that Liu Song lived reluctantly. He only lived in one room in such a big house.
You can tell by looking at the state of the house. Indeed, this is the only place where people live permanently, and the other houses have no owners at all.
But you Liu Ji...
The stay was obviously quite comfortable, and it didn't look like it was forced at all.