Chapter 47 9. Strictly investigate the empty printing case and kill corrupt officials

The problems of the nobles are potential problems, and these problems are related to the future of the Ming Dynasty, so Zhu Yuanzhang resolutely dealt with a large number of veterans and heroes regardless of old feelings and dissent.Zhu Yuanzhang understood that his dynasty still had many problems. After nearly two decades of hard work, the development of the Ming Dynasty gradually stabilized. In a stable environment, the most common mistakes officials made were dereliction of duty and corruption.Before that, Zhu Yuanzhang was busy cleaning up the heroes and veterans who threatened the court. Now he thought it was time to severely punish the officials. The Ming Dynasty had just been established. To be able to continue for generations to come, he must strictly demand civil and military officials and set an example. , to warn future generations.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was born as a farmer, thinks wholeheartedly about the farmers, because he has always adhered to the admonition that those who win the hearts of the people win the world, and he has achieved the great cause he is today. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang feels that if he wants to stabilize the world and prevent the people from rebelling, he must let them have food Food and clothing must keep them alive.Correspondingly, the imperial court should have good policies so that farmers can work comfortably and develop production.However, it is not enough to have good policies. These policies have to be implemented by officials, so officials must be honest and honest, and do things for the people.Only in this way can the people live and work in peace and contentment, and the country can sit firmly. With this kind of thinking logic, in Zhu Yuanzhang's government, finance has become the focus.

Because in Zhu Yuanzhang's view, what common people want is to live and work in peace and contentment, and to have a good meal without disease, while intellectuals want much more. And less.Therefore, in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang strictly controlled the government's finances. He thought that by controlling the finances of governments at all levels, he could avoid corruption by officials. Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that each government must report its fiscal revenue and expenditure accounts to the Chief Secretary, and then the Chief Secretary will report to the Ministry of Households, and report it level by level.If there is any number that does not match, the entire reimbursement booklet will be invalidated.The chief secretaries have to fill in again, and then affix the seal of the original yamen to take effect.The chief secretaries are far away from the capital, and the closest ones are thousands of miles away. It takes several months to go back and forth.

In order to meet the requirements of the Ministry of Household Affairs and avoid traveling back and forth, the officials of the chief secretaries all brought blank documents with official seals on them when they came to Beijing.In case there is something unqualified, they can fill in and make corrections on these blank books at any time.Regarding this situation, the Ministry of Household Affairs is also very clear. In their opinion, doing so will save both parties a lot of trouble, which is reasonable. One day in the fifteenth year of Hongwu (1382), Zhu Yuanzhang inspected the household department and overheard two officials arguing.

"Master Liu, what's going on with you this year? The accounts are too messy and don't match up at all. You have to take them back and fill them out again," an official said. "We have already changed the account once, and please show your respect and be tolerant." Mr. Liu said humanely. "No, the rules and regulations are clearly written here. Please take it back, Mr. Liu, and revise it carefully." Zhu Yuanzhang was secretly happy when he heard this, thinking that my officials in Ming Dynasty are really law-abiding and impartial. It seems that our efforts have not been in vain.

But on the morning of the next day, the Minister of the Household Department reported the previous year's finances to Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang was very surprised, and asked: "Yesterday, you still had a chief secretary whose accounts failed. Today, you reported to me the financial situation for the whole year. How is this possible?" Zhu Yuanzhang learned the truth of the matter under questioning.He Longyan was furious, and immediately questioned the Minister of the Household Department: "You are so courageous, and you have joined forces to deceive us. Our court clearly stipulates that those who do not match the accounts must be sent back for redoing. Are you all turning a blind eye? Do you still have us as the emperor in your eyes?"

The Minister of the Household Department knelt down and said: "The emperor calms down, forgive me, the officials have no choice but to do this. If any discrepancies are found, they will be sent back for redoing. Their mountains are high and the road is far away. I am afraid that they will not be able to complete the accounts every year." "Bastard!" Zhu Yuanzhang was even more furious when he heard this. "Your sloppy handling may have allowed those corrupt officials to take advantage of the loopholes. It is convenient for you, but have you ever thought of those people! They have worked hard all year long, and may be starved and naked because of your actions what."

"Your Majesty, I understand that you are thinking of the common people. Your Majesty is really a sage. But please also consider us officials. Since they are also sincere to Daming, please let your Majesty deal with it lightly." Hubu Shang Shu knelt down and begged. "You officials are full of thoughts on how to extract money from the people. You can stamp whatever you want. But if we don't strictly investigate and deal with it, you can change our country's surname tomorrow." Zhu Yuanzhang said fiercely. "Your Majesty, on behalf of the officials of the Chief Secretary and the Household Department, I implore the Emperor to appease the Emperor's anger." The Minister of the Household Department thought that so many officials across the country were involved in this empty seal case, and the Emperor would definitely not punish them all.

"What? Do you think that this case involves too much and we dare not handle it? We killed more enemies on the battlefield than this." Zhu Yuanzhang walked away after speaking, leaving only the Minister of the Household Department to kneel in the empty space. in the hall. "My lord, what does the emperor say?" Seeing the Minister of the Household Department coming back, all the officials asked quickly. "I'm afraid this time will be more dangerous than good. The emperor was very angry when he heard about this incident, and threatened that we are deceiving the emperor and will be severely punished." Said the Minister of Rites.

"Then what should we do?" the crowd asked. "The emperor was furious, on the one hand, because he felt that the officials had deceived him; on the other hand, he was afraid that we would take advantage of the convenience of the empty seal and take advantage of the common people." The Secretary of the Household Department had no good solution. "I have an idea, I don't know if it will work." Suddenly a person said. "It's already this time, so don't make any fools of yourself. Tell us quickly." Everyone said. I only heard the man say: "The emperor just thinks that we have cheated him and may have taken advantage of the people. Now we find a person to write to the emperor. He can prove that we have not deceived the emperor, and can prove that we have not taken advantage of the people." Cai, I believe the emperor will forgive us."

"Good idea, but where can I find such a person at the moment." Everyone asked hurriedly. The man said with a confident look: "I know one, and his name is Zheng Shili. Not only is he good at writing, but he is also a commoner. He fully meets the requirements. He usually likes to comment on current affairs. Letter to the emperor." Unexpectedly, after Zhu Yuanzhang read Zheng Shili's letter, he became even more angry.Zhu Yuanzhang thought to himself: You officials really think we are fools. Why did Zheng Shili write a letter? This is obviously your excuse. How could we be fooled by you.If we really let you go, where is our Longwei?You will only be more presumptuous in the future.So it was decreed that all the chief seal officials of the prefectures, counties, and chief secretaries were executed, and even Zheng Shili, who submitted the letter, was punished as a coolie. In this empty printing case, many honest officials were also implicated and killed.Through this case, Zhu Yuanzhang showed his determination to rectify the administration of officials at all costs, and to rectify the administration of officials must kill corrupt officials.Regarding the case of killing corrupt officials, the Guo Huan case had the greatest impact in the early Ming Dynasty. In March of the eighteenth year of Hongwu (1385), Yu Shi Yu Min and Ding Tingshang reported that Guo Huan, the servant of the household department, used his power to collude with officials and embezzled taxes from Taiping and Zhenjiang. Guo Huan's case happened at this time, just hitting Zhu Yuanzhang's gunpoint to punish corrupt officials with all his strength.Zhu Yuanzhang ordered an investigation to the end, and he would not tolerate it. It turns out that Taiping, Zhenjiang and other prefectures were the places where Zhu Yuanzhang started his family, and these areas have been responsible for the supply of corvee for many years.Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered that all summer taxes and autumn grains in these areas be exempted, and only half of the taxes were levied on official land.However, Zhang Qin, an official, colluded with Guo Huan, an official of the household department, to cheat and distribute these taxes privately, so that none of the grain in these counties was handed over to the court. Under strict investigation, it was also learned that Guo Huan accepted bribes from officials, collected money and taxes indiscriminately, and harassed the people.The most serious thing is that Guo Huan and his gang still mixed water in the grain, and after it was handed over to the state treasury, the grain became moldy and spoiled, causing the whole warehouse of grain to spoil. Zhu Yuanzhang killed many people by mistake, but Guo Huan was a really big corrupt official.Roughly speaking, Guo Huan stole and sold as much as seven million shi of official food.Zhu Yuanzhang sighed: "Throughout the ages, there are many people who are corrupt and pervert the law, but they are nothing compared to Guo Huan. Guo Huan is too much!" The case of Guo Huan's execution is not settled. What about the greedy food?It has to be returned to the people.Zhu Yuanzhang ordered that from the Ministry of Households to the Chief Secretary, to the prefectures and counties, they should be checked layer by layer, and every household of the common people was found, and wherever the excessive collection was made, they were found.After finding out, the officials are required to return it truthfully. But there are policies and countermeasures, and those officials don't want to return what they get.They asked each household to apportion and guarantee compensation for the stolen money. Zhu Yuanzhang was very angry when he learned about it, and said: "It is said that the people are tricky, but I think these officials are the worst. The common people just want to live, but they don't let them. Sooner or later my Ming Dynasty will be destroyed in their hands!" So he made up his mind to use Guo Huan's incident to severely punish officials at all levels and the landlords involved in the case. The Guo Huan case involved 12 chief secretaries across the country, leading to the implicated execution of tens of thousands of people from the left and right ministers of the six central ministries, sweeping up the entire political arena, and most of the middle-level people in the country went bankrupt due to the case. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang discovered that the Guo Huan case had indeed been enlarged, which aroused public anger and made officials at all levels feel insecure.So Wu Yong, the right judge who reviewed Guo Huan's case, and others were executed to appease people's resentment. In order to rectify the administration of officials and punish corrupt officials, Zhu Yuanzhang had to use heavy codes to kill.But no matter how it is dealt with, perpetrators still appear from time to time.On the one hand, this is related to the political system of the Ming Dynasty. On the other hand, the low salary of Ming Dynasty officials may also be an important reason.Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang was unaware of this. For the sake of the future foundation of the Ming Dynasty, he had no choice but to continue to increase the punishment to punish those who were corrupt and broke the law.