There was silence in the imperial study room.
Because of the strong recommendation of Zhu Gaoxu, the King of Han Dynasty, Gu Zuo was promoted to the imperial censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate at the age of thirty, a second-rank court magnate!
Originally, this behavior was not in line with the old system, and Jin Zhong and other officials should remonstrate with the emperor.
However, Prince Han had good reasons and argued with the ministers, but they could not find a suitable reason for a while.
However, Gu Zuo and Gu Liqing were indeed upright officials. Wherever they went, officials and people were intimidated. He was a rare upright and upright minister.
It is indeed a good choice for him to control the Metropolitan Procuratorate and eliminate the widespread corruption.
But Jin Zhong, Huang Huai and others were murmuring in their hearts. What benefit would it bring to him if the King of Han recommended a direct minister like Gu Zuo to the position？
The biggest characteristic of upright ministers such as Gu Zuo is that they are not afraid of power and are dedicated to serving the country.
Even if you, Prince Han, are kind to me by recommending me, so what？
If you dare to violate discipline and cause harm to the country and the people, I, Gu Liqing, will still spray you to death!
In this case, why did the King of Han do these thankless things？
Could it be that he really changed his temper and started thinking about the country？
impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
He is Zhu Gaoxu, the King of Han!
Zhu Di tugged on his beard and continued in a cold voice, ‘In addition, the King of Han told me that one of the most famous methods of corruption among officials in the Yongle Dynasty was more crazier and more heart-breaking than using sex with fire and kicking the stems with the tip of the shower. Point out!’
All the big guys were stunned when they heard this, and looked at Zhu Gaoxu with some confusion.
Shouldn’t you, the Prince of Han, be dedicated to fighting for power？
Why are you now uncharacteristically focused on fighting corruption？
Zhu Di narrated the story of how local officials used money to fill their own pockets for the people. After hearing this, Jin Zhong and others’ expressions suddenly changed.
Jian Yi frowned and immediately asked, ‘Your Highness, King of Han, do you have any evidence？ Don’t be fooled by rumors, it’s shocking!’
Local officials enriched themselves by reporting disasters and reducing taxes. The taxes paid by the people remained unchanged, but the taxes received by the court were reduced. This was a huge hidden danger that could shake the foundation of the Ming Dynasty.
Taxation is the foundation of the imperial court!
If a dynasty does not collect taxes, where will the money come from？ How to govern a country without money？
Now there are officials who collude with each other to line their own pockets, create clever names, and fool the people!
This phenomenon usually only occurs in the last years of a dynasty and when the world is in chaos!
But now, it is the prosperous era of Yongle, the era of great governance that these officials are proud of!
At this time, the King of Han Zhu Gaoxu gave them a slap in the face.
Therefore, as the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Jian Yi must find out whether this is a deliberate exaggeration by Zhu Gaoxu, the king of Han Dynasty, or whether it has already happened!
Zhu Gaoxu nodded expressionlessly, and then looked at Xia Yuanji, ‘Old Xia Tou, do you still remember that you found the Henan Disaster Relief Bank in Liu Guan’s Mansion？’
‘Believe it or not, the Henan Disaster Relief Bank can also be found from the Wuzhong Mansion, as well as the Henan Province Censor, the Henan Inspector and others.’
‘This disaster relief money was transported from the national treasury to Henan. I won’t mention whether it was exploited along the way, but after it arrived in Henan, it was exploited layer by layer. The big shots in the capital, Liu Guan and others, took the big part, and the local people The supervisory censor will get another sum, and then it will go to the local officials… With this layer of exploitation, the actual relief funds for the victims may not be saved even one out of ten!’
Zhu Gaoxu is not alarmist, but telling the truth.
The entire Metropolitan Procuratorate was corrupt under the leadership of Liu Guan and others, and failed to perform its duties of supervising hundreds of officials.
Naturally, the local officials no longer had any scruples, and they could do whatever they wanted to do in a clever way to plunder people’s wealth.
After all, as long as these censors are fed, no one will cause trouble for them!
The relief funds used for disaster relief in Henan disaster areas appeared in Liu Guan’s mansion. This is the best evidence!
Jian Yi’s expression changed, and he immediately stood up and knelt on the ground, ‘Your Majesty, I am guilty, please punish me!’
Although the root cause of the problem lies in the corruption of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, these people had to obtain the approval of the Ministry of Personnel before taking office. The Henan Inspector and other officials in the border areas needed to be recommended and reviewed by the Ministry of Personnel.
Now that there are these major corruption cases, Jian Yi, the official minister, is also responsible for negligence.
Fortunately, Zhu Di valued him very much and did not criticize him too much. He waved his hand and dismissed the matter.
‘Jin Yiwei will investigate this case thoroughly, and none of those moths can escape!’
‘But since such corruption has appeared, we must find ways to curb it. Do you have any good strategies, dear sirs？’
After hearing this, the big guys looked at each other and frowned.
Officials lied about the disaster and enriched themselves. This matter is not easy to solve.
If the local censor’s supervisory censor plays a role, he can report to the court in time.
Otherwise, when the imperial court receives reports of disasters from local governments, it can only verify them as soon as possible, and waste this time sitting back and watching the victims starve to death.
In addition, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, a problem in tax collection has been that there are too many taxes owed.
The reason for this situation is a welfare policy formulated by Emperor Gao. If a region owes taxes, then the tax can be discounted or even greatly reduced as appropriate until the second year.
When Taizu set up this welfare policy, he actually wanted to look back on the people.
However, Jin Zhongjianyi and others reacted after listening to Zhu Gaoxu’s words.
So far, corrupt officials have been obstructing the process. Those who can pay taxes deliberately default on payment. In the second year, they can apply for discounts and exemptions, but the part that is exempted is taken away by corrupt officials.
These local officials who enriched themselves not only made a lot of money because of this policy, but also gained a reputation as a virtuous person who prayed for the people!
What a bastard!
But precisely because of this, this problem is even more difficult to solve.
When it comes to the system established by our ancestors, it would be unfilial to delete or change it easily!
Zhu Di originally rebelled and successfully conquered the world, so he always abided by the rules set by Taizu. Unless he had to change, he would never change it easily, lest he be accused of being unfilial by others.
But now, local officials have taken advantage of the welfare policies that the court has extended to the people, and used clever pretexts to line their own pockets. They have not only fooled the people, but also deceived the court!
It is unbearable!
Zhu Di was disappointed when he saw that all the ministers were discussing but could not come up with an idea.
He looked around and saw his second son sitting in a daze on the small bench, staring directly at the porcelain from the previous dynasty beside him, and immediately shouted, ‘King Han, since you were the first to notice this problem, do you have any good ideas？ ‘
When Zhu Gaoxu heard this, he was immediately dumbfounded!
You, the Yongle Emperor, with three famous ministers including Yang Jianxia and others in your cabinet, still can’t solve this small problem？
Why do you insist on me being an anti-corruption fighter, offending the world’s bureaucrats？
Zhu Gaoxu had always wanted to go to Yunnan to become a feudal vassal, and become a free and easy prince who loved the red and the green, and didn’t like to get involved in such nonsense.
‘Dad, my son is stupid and has no good ideas. You can handle it as you see fit…’
‘Are you going to tell me？ If you don’t think of a solution today, I will send you to a high wall tomorrow!’
Zhu Gaoxu ‘？？？’
Your uncle!
What a dog-like thief!
You really don’t care about your face at all!