Chapter 82 The first section greedy sixty taels peeled real grass

Although Zhu Yuanzhang invested huge administrative resources to reverse the social atmosphere, the results were not significant.The rule of Yao and Shun did not appear in the Ming Dynasty. On the contrary, the empire soon fell into chaos. In the early years of Hongwu, the social situation has been in a state of turmoil. In an autocratic system, bureaucratic corruption is not a disease, but a normal state.Its power is so astonishing that Zhu Yuanzhang, who has ascended the throne, has not yet sat on the dragon chair. Looking around, corruption has spread rapidly under his eyes like a plague: relatives, family members, and domestic slaves of many princes and nobles are fighting against others. , the village is violent, the people are oppressed, and murder cases continue to occur; the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment (equivalent to the Minister of Justice) accepts bribes from criminals, instructs his subordinates to release the criminals, and replaces the criminals with death row prisoners; Printed 7 million ingots, and kept 1.43 million ingots in his own private possession; the minister of war (deputy minister) took the opportunity of arresting the fugitive soldiers, and accepted 220,000 ingots as bribes from the families of the soldiers... Those who are far away from his sight The degree of misconduct of local officials is even more astonishing: in order to complete the task of collecting agricultural taxes, the prefect of Suzhou, Chen Ning, arrested those tax-resistant households and branded them with a soldering iron, which earned him the nickname "Chen Branding Iron".Farmers in Zhejiang Province pay 45% more agricultural taxes than the amount stipulated by the state, and all of them fall into the pockets of local officials. If farmers can’t pay the tax, they go to the houses to demolish tiles and drive animals... The officials are like this, and the people are also not. honest.The small and medium-sized landlords in Zhejiang and Zhejiang have colluded with the government to transfer the agricultural tax to ordinary farmers for many years by means of enclosing wasteland, spreading money, and shifting hills and sections.They even forwarded their property to the name of the long-term workers, called "iron foot trickery".This kind of deception was reported layer by layer, the township deceived the county, the county deceived the government, and the state government deceived the central government, all the way to Zhu Yuanzhang, which was called "Tongtian Guiji".

All kinds of corruption ultimately harm the interests of the people at the bottom of society. Therefore, although the country has just been established, people in many places have launched uprisings.From the first year of Hongwu to the eighteenth year, there were more than one hundred peasant uprisings reported in various places, with an average of six times a year.This is rare in previous dynasties. Faced with this situation, how could Zhu Yuanzhang, who has always emphasized governing the country with strictness, not be furious.Zhu Yuanzhang maintained an extreme hatred of corruption throughout his life.This hatred stems from both blood and reason.

As a former poor man, he hates evil because of his painful experience in life at the bottom; as an emperor, his hatred comes from his love for his family property. He is afraid that these rats will bite the ruling net that he has worked so hard to build.Although the name is not right and the words are not good, he is cruel and merciless in killing dissidents and destroying the wealthy people.Of course, we can imagine how cruel and violent the justifiably punishing corruption will be carried out. In life, we often hear aunts say angrily that if the hands of thieves in the world are chopped off, thieves will disappear.If he is arrested for embezzling even one dollar, corrupt officials will not dare to embezzle again.Everyone knows that this is an outrageous statement, and even aunts who are in power will not do this.However, Zhu Yuanzhang did so. "I am an honest and capable official, although I have faults, I often forgive them. If it is a corrupt person, even if the fault is small, I will not let it go." At the beginning, he stipulated that anyone who corrupted sixty taels would be punished.Then simply say:

"I want to get rid of corrupt officials, but how can I kill them in the morning and commit them in the evening! From now on, those who commit stolen goods will be killed regardless of the seriousness!" Zhu Yuanzhang has no tolerance for corrupt officials, and he will do his best. The "Da Gao" stipulates that all corruption cases must be investigated layer by layer, following the clues, until all the facts of the case are clarified and the corrupt elements are caught. "The Twentyth Reason of Inquiring about the Stolen Items" stipulates: If there is a crime of stealing in the Six Departments, the source of the stolen goods must be investigated.If the Chief Secretary bribes the Ministry, the Chief Secretary will be detained, and if he asks Swaer what he got from it, he must refer to the government.The government also arrested them. When asked where the stolen goods came from, they must refer to the state.The state is also arrested, and it must be referred to the county.The county is also arrested, and it must be pointed out to the people.At this point, how can the traitor who harms the people be hidden?

Doing so can make corrupt officials have nowhere to hide, but when the legal system is not perfect, it is also prone to abuse. The judges must be harsh to be the boss, and the innocent are often involved.From the fourth year of Hongwu to the eighteenth year, he launched several vigorous anti-corruption campaigns across the country.For example, in the fourth year of Hongwu (AD 1371), the screening of officials from all over the world, in the eighth year (AD 1375) of the empty seal case, and in the eighteenth year (AD 1385) of the Guo Huan case, the momentum was extremely great.Among them, the Kongyin case and the Guo Huan case were the largest, with 70,000 to 80,000 unjustly murdered in the two cases.In the case of Guo Huan, "everyone of the servants from the six ministries died, and the stolen goods amounted to seven million. The Ci even included the officials in the straight provinces, and tens of thousands of people died. The nuclear stolen goods were sent all over the world, and most of the people's homes were destroyed."

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