Chapter 89 Section 8: The Vicious Circle of Anti-Corruption

Although the strength is so strong, the pure and pure situation that Zhu Yuanzhang expected finally did not appear. Under Zhu's policy, it is almost impossible to get out of the officialdom, so some people think that it is better to make a profit as soon as possible anyway, and instead step up the activities of corruption and looting."When they were not in office, they practiced self-cultivation, feared prudence, and obeyed the law. Once they entered the official position, they used the strict prohibition net, and did not plan for day and night, so they abandoned their integrity and shame, or they did things to restrain them, and used them to build labor in the fields. ", enjoy day by day, so corruption incidents are still emerging one after another, making Zhu Yuanzhang repeatedly lament: "Like this kind of fool, I am so old, talk dry, out of breath, and say he is not Awake."

Even the village self-government that Zhu Yuanzhang pinned his best hopes on was soon bankrupt.Because they have power, they can handle ordinary cases, and the old man becomes corrupt very quickly.They have no self-respect, use power for personal gain, and even covet food and drink and bribes. As for the capture of law-breaking officials in one fell swoop, the negative effects were quickly reflected.The heat of mass movements is the most difficult to grasp.Soon, for political interests, many local officials threatened and lured the people to recommend themselves and attack others, and many local people even arrested normal working tax officials to Beijing in order to resist tax payment.This kind of thing was far more than the corrupt officials who were actually caught, which made Zhu Yuanzhang whimper endlessly.

Zhu Yuanzhang himself admitted many times that his ideological education work had little effect.When he talked about the implementation of the first two volumes of "Dagao", he said, "Recently, the stubborn people have not turned their bad hearts." This treachery is stubborn, even if the gods will do the same!" Looking at the announcements issued by Hongwu from the 21st to the 31st year, we can also see that Zhu Yuanzhang's goal has not been realized, and the phenomenon of his dissatisfaction abounds: Officials in the provinces and provinces who serve in office often uphold benevolence and righteousness, and add words to trap the good", "torture the good and seek bribes"; Punishment is added up, and traitors will eventually become unconscious”; “Those who have no excuses and do not pay attention to their basic psychology often commit crimes and become thieves. If they are not dealt with outside the law, it is difficult to stop them.”

In his later years, the emperor was confused and shaken by his violent punishment of corruption.In the 23rd year of Hongwu, he said to the officials of the Criminal Ministry: "Foolish people break the law, like eating and drinking, and they don't know how to stop. Try to prevent it, and the offender will benefit the public. But forgiveness and benevolence, may it be able to influence?" Although Zhu Yuanzhang has repeatedly reiterated that "one word of the law that has already been established cannot be changed" and "those who dare to change the law of the ancestors in future generations will be treated as treacherous officials without amnesty", they still cannot change the "big law" that he once hoped to guide the people from generation to generation. Patent" was quickly abandoned as a reality.Although no later emperor dared to explicitly announce the abolition of the "Da Gao", after Zhu's death, it never played a practical role.By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, "Dagao"

Already little known.Tens of millions of copies of this precious book were once issued, but by the end of the Ming Dynasty there was almost no one among the people.This may have never been thought of by Zhu Yuanzhang. What Zhu Yuanzhang didn't expect was that although the phenomenon of corruption and corruption was suppressed for a while during his lifetime, he had accumulated a huge rebound energy.After his death, corruption flourished again, and Ming was finally recorded in history as one of the most corrupt dynasties in Chinese history.The death of the Ming Dynasty was due to this.