Borrow the day to change the day

"I understand His Majesty's intentions, and I also understand that if the government is not clear, nothing can be done. I support Your Majesty's efforts to rectify the government."

Wen Tiren first expressed his support for Emperor Chongzhen's intentions, and then changed his tone: "But official corruption is not unique to the present. It has existed since the founding of the country, even during the period of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors. This chronic disease cannot be cured with a single dose of strong medicine."

The meaning of these words, Emperor Chongzhen had heard from Wen Tiren last time, that he just wanted to stop himself and let other moths go.

Seeing that Emperor Chongzhen had listened to his words, Wen Tiren didn't express his opinion immediately, so he continued: "I know that your Majesty took Taizu as an example, so your Majesty should know Taizu's determination to fight corruption. If you embezzle 60 taels of silver, you will have to peel the skin to warn the next round of officials." , There have even been several major anti-corruption cases involving a large number of officials, but even so, is there no official corruption?"

"Even if there are some, there aren't many left." Emperor Chongzhen originally wanted to express his concerns, but when Wen Tiren asked this question, he couldn't help asking directly in accordance with Wen Tiren's topic. [

"Yes, Your Majesty, but the court situation during the Taizu period was different from the present. During the Taizu period, not long after the founding of the country, no matter whether it was in the court or in the army, people's hearts were upbeat. Most people were ashamed of corruption, and a small number of people were considered corrupt." It was also sneaky. But now, His Majesty should understand something." Wen Tiren analyzed it patiently for Emperor Chongzhen.

Emperor Chongzhen frowned, and said to Wen Tiren, "Say it."

Wen Tiren had no choice but to open the sky and speak clearly: "Your Majesty, as far as I know, when officials go on tour, they must give gifts. This is the rule. Anyone who doesn't give gifts will find it difficult to gain a foothold in the officialdom. How much gift money does an official of what rank receive?" , there is a number, if it is lower than this number, others will laugh at it. Even when some officials meet, the first greeting is that you accept it. "

When Wen Tiren said this, Emperor Chongzhen digested it for a while, and then said: "Every time the tax money collected by the court passes through the hands of an official, it will lose one cent; It's going to be a little bit of a drift. It's all public, no one thinks there's a problem with it."

The entry and exit of hundreds of thousands of silver taels is a huge sum if one is greedy.

Emperor Chongzhen couldn't listen anymore, and slapped the imperial case and shouted angrily: "So much silver, can they eat it?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Emperor Chongzhen remembered that there was a censor in the confession that directly took 20 taels of silver as his own.He thought sadly that these moths could really be made.

"Your Majesty, I'm not trying to excuse them. Most of the silver taels they have stolen in must be sent out. Otherwise, without these incomes, it will be difficult for them to maintain their relationship in the officialdom."

Emperor Chongzhen was a little dissatisfied when he heard this, and said to Wen Tiren: "Why didn't the chief assistant tell me earlier?"

"If I had said these words before, would His Majesty have believed it?" Wen Tiren asked back.

Emperor Chongzhen was taken aback when he heard this, and then remembered the things that Han Yiliang hesitated to say but dared not to say in the case of the original household department.It turned out that everyone knew about the corruption in the officialdom, but I was the only one who kept it from me.

Han Yiliang was afraid that if he said it, he would offend everyone in the officialdom, and he would not be able to gain my trust.

Emperor Chongzhen thought of this, leaned hard on the back of the imperial chair, and began to be in a daze.

Suddenly, like ordinary people who found silver in their pockets when packing up their old clothes, he said to Wen Tiren: "Isn't there still Wen Qing in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty?"

"Your Majesty, this is my duty as a minister. I dare not forget it." Wen Tiren replied seriously.

"That is to say, there should be some people who still remember their duties as ministers?" Emperor Chongzhen asked hopefully.

"Your Majesty, there are, but not many more." After Wen Tiren finished his answer, he realized that the topic seemed to be a bit far away, so he said again: "Your Majesty, do you think this case should end here?"

Emperor Chongzhen listened to Wen Tiren's old remark, was silent for a while, and asked: "Then what should we do with so many people who have been arrested? What if they still involve others?"

When Wen Tiren heard this, Emperor Chongzhen no longer insisted on it. He was overjoyed and suggested: "Your Majesty, you can choose some officials who have embezzled a large amount of money and the circumstances are serious. For others, you have to let them go back to work, so that the scope of attack will be reduced. If you don't, everyone won't tear their skins apart. There will be opportunities to deal with them slowly in the future." [

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he was not satisfied. After thinking for a long time, he still couldn't make up his mind, so he said to Wen Tiren: "Wen Qing should let me think about it again. You should do things first."

Seeing that Emperor Chongzhen's attitude was much better than last time, Wen Tiren didn't try to persuade him anymore, fearing that it might backfire.So, back to the cabinet to do business.

Besides, Luo Yangxing, the commander of the Jinyiwei, was working in his yamen, and the Dongchang Fanmen broke in to arrest people under the order, so he couldn't help being surprised and angry.

Surprised that the crimes committed by the Jinyiwei yamen were confessed by others, and he was angry because he had already compromised with the civil servants and went to settle the matter, yet he dared to involve the Jinyiwei people.

The people in Dongchang have an imperial decree, and like them, they belong to the emperor's close ministers. He can do whatever the emperor says, and he dare not stop him.

As soon as Fan Yan left, Luo Yangxing went to his assistant minister Zhou Yanru to find out what was going on, didn't he say that several aspects were stopped at the same time.

Unexpectedly, when he went to find Zhou Yanru, Zhou Yanru did not see him, saying that it was inconvenient for cabinet ministers to have contacts with the emperor's army.

Luo Yangxing was really angry, he knew that he was afraid of being tricked by Zhou Yanru.

Well, if you want to reveal the old things from a few years ago, then don't blame me for being rude.There are also people from Dongchang, don't run away, since they have all been caught on their heads, they should fight it out, and no one should think about it.

Zhou Yanru watched Jin Yiwei's commander Luo Yangxing rush away in the dark, secretly happy in his heart, this is the effect he wanted, dragging everyone into the water, the law will not blame everyone.

Besides, Zhang Tongchang was supposed to leave Beijing to inspect the salt administration and supervise the implementation of the new policy.But when he went to the Ministry of Officials and the Metropolitan Procuratorate to go through the relevant procedures, the relevant personnel had already been imprisoned, and no other officials had come to take over these tasks.

Moreover, all the yamen are basically panic-stricken, gathering together all day to discuss who will be arrested next, and everyone is focused on their work.

Zhang Tongchang was very helpless, and had to go home when it was getting dark.

He is in favor of the anti-corruption storm in the capital.He is young and passionate, and has long been displeased with the practice of charging money for everything he does.

But now that the anti-corruption storm has affected the normal work, he feels that the imperial court is a bit inappropriate.At least think of a complete plan, and then wipe out all these corrupt officials without affecting the normal work. This is perfect.

But he didn't know that when the emperor decided to do this, he had no idea that there would be such a huge scale of corruption.

But these are all closed to him for the time being.His mission is the New Deal of the Salt Administration.The emperor solemnly entrusted him to do this matter well, so Zhang Tongkai devoted all his attention to how to do this new deal well.

Zhang Tongchang's family was not rich, and his official position was small, so he walked home.

When he walked to the door of a restaurant called Zuixianlou, he happened to meet two people coming towards him, they swayed and didn't give way, they brushed his body and walked towards the restaurant.

While walking, he kept talking loudly, as if Zhang Tongchang couldn't hear him: "Brother, look at these officials, they usually take money and receive soft hands, now it's time for retribution. I'm in a good mood, today brother and I I invite you to drink."

"Thank you brother, I'll have a few more drinks to celebrate, let them take my money, and report them later." Another person also responded loudly.

"No, it's enough for my brother to persuade you to enjoy yourself. You are going to report it, and be careful of the protection of officials." The man lowered his voice to persuade his brother. [

Zhang Tongchang heard their conversation, stopped and watched the two people enter the restaurant, thinking in his heart: the emperor's anti-corruption is in line with the people's will, but the common people are still afraid of officials after all, and dare not support the emperor with practical actions anti-corruption.

No matter how big the storm in the capital was, it did not affect Zhong Jinwei. At this time, he was playing hide-and-seek with Jianlu.