Chapter 29 11. Invigorating the government, Emperor Shunzhi punished corrupt officials

After Li Zicheng withdrew from Beijing in a hurry, the social order inside and outside the capital became quite chaotic after two master changes.The more serious problem is that before Li Zicheng's peasant army occupied a large amount of grain and grass, and transported away the grain and grass in the capital when they evacuated, causing the people's life to be extremely difficult.The situation is grim and urgent. Stabilizing Beijing and gaining a firm foothold have a great bearing on the future development of the Qing Dynasty and whether it can achieve national reunification.Before deciding to move the capital, the regent Dorgon took decisive measures to implement new policies in an attempt to reverse the chaotic situation.

After careful consideration and discussions with Minister Zhu Baylor, he drew up a set of plans, which completely changed some of the previous strategies in response to the status quo, focusing on winning the hearts of the people.He believes that even if you win the capital, if you don't win the hearts of the people, it is no different from guarding an open space. On the contrary, there may be signs of popular uprising.Judging from the current form, the policy needs to be implemented step by step, which will avoid many problems.In December of the seventh year of Shunzhi, the regent Dorgon died of illness.In the first month of the eighth year of Shunzhi, Shunzhi was just fourteen years old and officially in charge.He continued the various policies of Dorgon's regency period, continued to strictly rectify the administration of officials, severely punished criminals such as corruption and bribery, and tried to establish a generation of clean and honest politics.

The difference between Emperor Shunzhi and the previous Qing emperors is that he grew up in a stable environment. Although he was not as brave and good at fighting as the previous emperors, he was more knowledgeable in theoretical knowledge.He has long seen what Dorgon did during his administration. Although Dorgon has repeatedly tried to improve the punishment of corrupt officials, he has not achieved substantial results.Shunzhi believes that the problem lies in the time and strength. Given the background at that time, it was not easy for Dorgon to do this.And now that he is in charge of the government, he can just grasp this point. First, he can prove his own strength, and second, he can make the country more stable.He regards this as the first problem to be solved after taking office. After some careful consideration, he believes that if he wants to put an end to corruption and bribery, he must make great efforts to solve it from all angles.

He began to continuously issue instructions to set up governors, governors, capital censors, inspectors, salt inspectors, tea horse inspectors and other censors in each province for supervision.He said to the censors: "I appointed officials like you not to make you greedy for wealth and honor, but to make you peaceful and peaceful. Corrupt officials harm the country and the people. They are the most hateful. You must give me all the corrupt officials." Find it out!" But in the twelfth year of Shunzhi, the "greedy wind" still persisted.So Shunzhi intensified his efforts and enacted stricter laws to fight against corrupt officials.In November of the same year, he announced: From now on, all officials, big or small, inside and outside, who collect more than ten taels of silver, will be convicted in accordance with the law, regardless of what is wrong with the law, and all their property will be charged to the state treasury.This repeated increase in strength does not seem to have any substantial effect.Finally, Shunzhi came up with an idea that he had to personally interrogate and handle major and important cases, so that corrupt officials could be deterred.

In the twelfth year of Shunzhi, the case of accepting bribes by Shuntian Xun and Gu Ren occurred, which was the most shocking case.This was a bloody case, and the informant was Zhang Mian, a clerk from the Ministry of Officials.On October 19th, Zhang Mian failed to expose Gu Ren repeatedly, so he committed suicide and used his death to accuse Gu Ren of being corrupt and perverting the law and framing innocent people.Shunzhi was furious when he heard the news. Gu Ren was originally an imperial envoy hand-picked by himself, with the title of inspector of the Ministry of Punishment.Ask Gu Ren to investigate the sufferings of the local people, and take charge of the corruption and bribery. Before leaving, Shunzhi repeatedly urged.However, as soon as Gu Ren left the city, he took off the mask of innocence on his face, acted boldly, and began to sell power with power.

Wang Qi, Zhang Mian and others wanted to obtain the position of the inspector book office, so they entrusted Gu Ren's acquaintance, He Shenglie, the official of the Ministry of Punishment, to intercede for them, and each gave two hundred taels of silver to Gu Ren as a favor.But there is only one official position, and there are more wolves than meat.Wang Qi secretly gave Gu Ren another two hundred taels of silver, and Gu Ren accepted Wang Qi. The rest of the people were all wasted money and were blocked outside the door.Zhang Mian gave the "headless silver" but didn't get what he wanted. The two hundred taels were all the family's belongings. If he did this, he would lose his home.Zhang Mian couldn't hold back, and threw away the initial flattery along with the money. He began to think of ways to expose Gu Ren's behavior.Since ancient times, officials and officials have protected each other. As soon as he exposed it, he transferred the matter to Gu Ren.Gu Ren just ignored it at first, because a similar situation had happened before.With officials like them oppressing them, those who exposed often quit during the process of exposing.But Zhang Mian is different, he is a man of love, thinking: Even if I die, I will expose Gu Ren's scandal.So, he threatened: "You are corrupt and perverting the law. Although I have made mistakes, I will pay for my sins with death, which is enough to pay for the crimes I committed earlier. But you are different. I want to expose you, so that fewer people will fall into you. temptation."

Gu Ren was afraid that it would be bad for him if things got worse, so he wanted to kill people to silence them. After sending killers there, he found that Zhang Mian had already committed suicide at home.Zhang Mian's matter was full of disturbances in the city, and almost no one in the streets and alleys, idle, busy, and storytellers did not mention it.Until this matter spread to the palace and to Shunzhi's ears. Shunzhi was furious, and at the same time he blamed himself a little. He had misjudged himself, letting such a corrupt official punish corrupt officials would only make the officials more corrupt one by one.After three considerations, he decided to take charge of the case himself.

After verification, Shunzhi understood the reason, so he summoned the civil and military officials of the Manchu and Han Dynasties and escorted Gu Ren to the main hall.All the officials had already guessed Shunzhi's intentions, and among them, the officials who were somewhat involved with Gu Ren began to feel a little worried and afraid. Shunzhi walked up and down the main hall for a few steps, with his hands behind his back, silent.This silence made the officials feel chills in their hearts.Finally, after being silent for a long time, he said: "I don't know how to open my mouth. It's nothing else to call all the officials to the palace today..." As he spoke, he knelt down on the ground with his fingers, shaking like chaff all over his body. Gu Ren said: "I want to ask about the merits of the imperial envoys appointed by me personally. Can Gu Aiqing give a rough report?"

Gu Ren buried his head on the ground and said in a trembling voice: "I have committed a crime, which is unforgivable. I hope the emperor will show mercy. Considering that I have made many contributions to the Qing Dynasty, I will spare my death." All the officials hissed at the same time, thinking: Even if you have ten more heads, this crime is not enough to be chopped off. You should pray that you can die happily and involve less people. At the beginning, Shunzhi's face was still a gentle questioning look, but as soon as Gu Ren finished speaking, his face suddenly became dark, and his tone became sonorous and forceful: "Gu Ren, I just saw that you have made many achievements. , the heavy responsibility is entrusted to you. But what have you brought to me? What have you brought to my Qing Dynasty? It’s a disaster!" As he spoke, he turned his face to the officials and said, "Gu Ren violated the law, corrupted and accepted bribes, It brought a serious negative impact on my Qing Dynasty. I should be ashamed and didn't see it clearly. Gu Ren, I should have sentenced you to Ling Chi to death. I read that you also made contributions to my Qing Dynasty. Now I am sentenced to be beheaded immediately. Wife, children, and family property are all confiscated."

Shunzhi's original intention of summoning the group of ministers actually had another purpose of warning, using Gu Ren's fate to warn officials who were about to or were corrupting to stop as soon as possible, Gu Ren's fate was the fate of those who violated the order.All the officials didn't understand the truth, they all knelt on the ground and kowtowed and shouted in unison: "The emperor is wise, and the Qing Dynasty lasts forever." A few days later, Shunzhi investigated who recommended Gu Ren, who was admitted in the imperial examination, and how he got into the court as an official.After the investigation by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Aobai, Gu Ren's recommenders were the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment and Wang Erlu, the minister of the Ministry of Justice. The candidates for Gu Ren's admission were the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Wang Yongji, and other five people. Shunzhi gave them demotions respectively.

Afterwards, Shunzhi personally handled several major cases. In November of the 15th year of Shunzhi, Lu Shenyan, the inspector of Jiangnan, embezzled tens of thousands of taels of silver, a huge amount.After Shunzhi verified it, he executed Lu Shenyan Ling Chi. There are many cases of similar size.From the eighth year to the seventeenth year of Shunzhi, during the nine years, Shunzhi personally handled forty-five corruption cases.To be sure, the severe punishment of corruption and bribery is a heavy blow to corrupt forces.In addition to continuously intensifying efforts to combat corruption, at the same time, we have not forgotten to promote and reuse virtuous people in a timely manner.Eliminate corrupt officials, weed out some mediocre officials, and select superior and virtuous ones to entrust them with important tasks.Shunzhi regards the discovery and selection of talents as an extremely important aspect of the administration of officials. In a certain sense, this is the fundamental guarantee for "clarifying the administration of officials".Shunzhi combined the punishment of corruption and the use of talents, and the two complemented each other, and there was indeed a substantial improvement in the subsequent time. In terms of political system, the political system of the Qing Dynasty followed the political system of the Ming Dynasty.While continuing to use the system, it also allowed the corruption of the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty to seep in.Of course, this kind of official corruption was not unique to the Ming Dynasty, but it was the most prominent problem in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, and it was also the most fundamental reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty.As a newly established new regime in the Qing Dynasty, rectifying the administration of officials was also an indispensable way to strengthen itself.The efforts made by Emperor Shunzhi in combating corruption made the official atmosphere of the Qing Dynasty relatively clean during this period, and also laid a good political foundation for the subsequent prosperity of Kangxi and Qianlong.