Numb!
Zhu Gaoxu is numb now!
He never expected that Zhu Di would now suspect his motive of apprehending Liu Guan and would still hold on to him.
It was just because of the financial constraints of the imperial court that he thought of arresting a few corrupt officials, confiscating their stolen money, and relieving the pressure on the Ministry of Revenue.
Could it be that I tell you, Zhu Laosi, that Zhu Gaoxu is no longer the same Zhu Gaoxu？
Zhu Di was busy fighting in the north and south, implementing Yongle’s various new policies, and being his emperor for eternity. He had no extra time and energy to pay attention to official governance issues.
Prince Zhu Gaochi was also a kind and generous master. He was always lenient towards his officials. As long as he did not go too far, he chose to turn a blind eye and turn big problems into minor matters.
As a result, the ‘official corruption’ that was suppressed to almost extinction in the Hongwu Dynasty quickly resurfaced in the Yongle Dynasty, and became more and more serious.
Liu Guan, the censor of Zuodu, is just one of the more famous ones.
Zhu Gaoxu took a deep breath, considered his words, and then slowly said, ‘Dad, do you know the methods of official corruption？’
Zhu Di was startled when he heard this, not quite understanding what he meant.
Official corruption methods？
This really involves his knowledge blind spot, but after all, he has been in the world for eleven years, and he has heard a lot about it.
‘I’ve heard a little bit about it. The Hongwu Dynasty was most famous for its color-shaking fire consumption and pouring the tip of the dendrobium.’
Zhu Gaoxu nodded. It seemed that Zhu Di didn’t care about people’s livelihood.
Zisehuo consumption means that when the government collects money from the common people, there will be losses when fusing the broken silver. This part of the loss is borne by the people. The government has the final say on how much is lost.
Linjian kicking dendrobium means that when the government collects grain, when a dendrobium is filled with grain, the official will kick it, and part of the grain will be shaken out. The kicked out grain will not belong to the people, but will be used as losses during grain transportation. , the same part of the losses will also be borne by the common people.
To put it bluntly, these are corrupt methods used by officials to exploit the people, but the people have become the ‘biggest victims’.
‘Dad, do you know what the Yongle Dynasty’s most famous method is？’
After hearing this, Zhu Di’s expression changed and he suddenly sat upright.
He really wanted to hear how those corrupt officials in this dynasty cleverly created their names!
However, Zhu Gaoxu just smiled and uttered four words ‘Please help the people!’
Zhu Di ‘？？？’
What？
Pray for the people？
How could this become a method of official corruption？
Most of the talented officials respected by the people from ancient times to the present are those who can ask for orders for the people at critical moments.
In the hearts of the people, only when an official has the people in his heart and always asks for orders from the people can he truly be worthy of the reputation of an upright official, be a good official in the hearts of the people, and be praised by the government and the public.
Zhu Di suddenly became interested and said, ‘Second brother, stop being so pretentious and tell us in detail.’
‘The method is very simple. After collecting the tax for the year, local officials are not in a hurry to hand it over to the court. When the court calls for tax collection, the local officials will apply to the court for tax relief due to the disaster and the people’s livelihood is difficult.’
‘In this way, not only can they gain a reputation for being ‘pleasers for the people’, but once the court agrees to the reduction or exemption, the part of the reduction can be ‘justly’ put into their pockets.’
‘Even when you are lucky, the court will not only waive taxes but also distribute money and food relief. Since local officials like yourself have won relief for the people, it is natural that the local officials and the people will share a share of the relief funds. Something happened.’
After hearing this, Zhu Di’s face instantly turned extremely ugly, and he angrily yelled, ‘Asshole!’
This kind of behavior of local officials is simply deceiving the emperor, deceiving the court, and making fun of the court and the people as fools, but they themselves make a lot of money in the process!
The people paid their taxes faithfully, and the burden on their shoulders was not relieved even a little bit.
However, the imperial court’s tax revenue has been reduced, and it even has to subsidize the so-called disaster!
All of this money eventually fell into the pockets of those corrupt officials, which made them mouth-watering and even earned them a reputation as ‘pledging orders for the people’!
Zhu Di has always prided himself on being wise and mighty, and loving the people like a son, but Zhu Gaoxu’s words were tantamount to giving him a loud slap in the face!
Zhu Gaoxu, however, did not tolerate him at all, and said to himself, ‘Due to the severe drought in Henan and Shandong, my son remembered this method commonly used by officials, and then he thought of these idiots from the Metropolitan Procuratorate.’
‘In order to punish corruption, Taizu reorganized the Censor’s Office into the ‘Ducha Yuan’, significantly expanded the Censor’s team, and gave them great power to verify and impeach officials all over the world without being restricted by official rank.’
‘But dad, you might as well think about it. The officials in the world are checked and supervised by the censors. Who will check the censors？ After you ascended the throne and became emperor, you were busy fighting all day long, and the boss was busy wiping your butt. Who would Do you have this time and energy to supervise the censor？’
Zhu Di was startled, then laughed and cursed, ‘You bastard, what do you mean by ‘wiping your butt’？ You have no superiority!’
Zhu Gaoxu shrank his neck and sighed, ‘Then the problem will be much simpler for corrupt officials. All they have to do is drag the censors into the water.’
‘The censors who got into trouble were soon no longer satisfied with passively waiting for officials to pay bribes. Instead, they took the initiative and used their power to directly ask for bribes from officials. Because no one could monitor them, they had no choice. scruples.’
‘In the final analysis, the root of the problem still lies in the supervision system. Dad, you can take this opportunity to plug the loopholes left by the great ancestor and put a layer of shackles on these censors, so that they will be honest.’
Zhu Di raised his eyebrows and frowned even more tightly.
If you want to eliminate corruption in the Yongle Dynasty, the Department of Ethics and Discipline of the Metropolitan Procuratorate is the key.
‘Second brother, do you have any good suggestions？’
Zhu Gaoxu was dumbfounded, not expecting that this thief wanted to drain him dry.
The problem has been pointed out to you and the money has been obtained for you. Do you still need me to help solve the problem？
Seeing his unhappy look, Zhu Di suddenly opened his eyes and glared angrily, ‘Speak quickly, or you will be punished by the high wall!’
Come on, this is a thief!
‘First, appoint an upright and loyal minister as the censor of the capital. As the saying goes, if a soldier is a coward, he will be a coward to a whole group. The Metropolitan Procuratorate has evolved into this, and Liu Guan and Wuzhong are the chief culprits.’
‘Dad, you can consider Gu Zuo, the deputy envoy of the Jiangxi Procuratorate. This man is upright and unyielding, and the officials and the people respect and obey him. Compare him to Bao Zheng of the Ming Dynasty. If he serves as the censor of the capital, corruption will not happen again in the procuratorate. wind.’
Gu Zuo!
Daming Bao Zheng!
Zhu Di nodded. He still had an impression of this Gu Zuo. He was just a stubborn donkey with a bad temper. As long as he violated the law, he would spray anyone he caught.
But in this situation, leaving the Metropolitan Procuratorate to him is a good choice.
Now the Metropolitan Procuratorate is full of waste and needs to be revitalized, and what it needs is a new Metropolitan Censor who is bold and courageous.
‘Second, it is to put a layer of shackles on the supervisory censor. For example, a recommender system is implemented. When the Metropolitan Procuratorate selects a censor, the recommender needs to submit the candidate’s name list and resume to the Ministry of Civil Affairs for review. Once the censor is selected in the future, If something goes wrong, the recommender and reviewer will also be held accountable.’
Zhu Di’s eyes suddenly lit up, and he nodded repeatedly while pulling his beard.
‘Third, after Gu Zuo has established the team of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the court can vigorously fight against corruption and promote integrity, restart some of the Hongwu Dynasty’s harsh penalties against corruption to deter corruption, and then formulate some consecutive punishment laws, such as after officials plead guilty to corruption If the family wealth is not enough to fill the hole, directly demote his children to be slaves and maidservants for generations to come until all is paid!’
Zhu Di ‘!!!’
hiss……
This second guy’s methods are very sinister!