Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 248 Lao Zhu’s suggestion, the solution!

This sentence suddenly sounded like the sound of nature, which instantly attracted Lao Zhu's attention and made him listen attentively.

Although the common people are not as resourceful as the people in the court, they live at the grassroots level and understand the actual situation better.

Even if their suggestions cannot solve the problem, they can often provide a way of thinking.

This is why Lao Zhu attaches great importance to it.

"Tell me, what can we do?"

The group was obviously drinking and chatting, and the conversation was getting heated.

Hearing his companion's words, the man who just said that took a sip of wine and said with a smile:
"It's very simple. Just like when we investigated the Huang Zicheng case, we can publish the postal codes and addresses of the Criminal Department of the Ministry of Justice, the Metropolitan Surveillance Department, and the government offices in various places in the Daming Daily."

"And announce that anyone in the world can write a letter to report it."

"The government will investigate each of them according to the contents of the report. Tell me, what gangs can survive?"

As soon as this was said, the person next to him gave a thumbs up and said, "That's really a good idea."

"If this is true, I'm afraid that all the underworld gangs in Shencheng will be reported to the government by letters."

"That's right. After all, who doesn't have enemies? Even if the people below don't write letters to report, the opponents will."

"Then again, it also depends on the integrity of the government. If the gangs have arranged for the government officials in advance, and the officials receive the report and insist that there is no such thing and it is a pure false accusation, then it will be useless."

"Didn't the newspaper say that the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Justice are going to implement vertical management? The lower government offices have been taken care of, so just send your letters to the upper offices. Anyway, how much does it cost to send a letter now?"

"That makes some sense, but I always feel that this matter is not that simple."

"Okay, okay, stop talking. This is none of our business. It's all the masters' business. Let's just work. Come on, let's drink first."

As Old Zhu listened to what they said, his eyes suddenly lit up.

He soon could not hold back any longer and rushed back to his room to write a letter to Zhu Sun.

……

East Palace.

Zhu Yunhuan sat by the lake in the palace, holding a fishing rod, and started fishing leisurely.

Being able to fish at home was a dream in my previous life.

In this life, there is a lake in the East Palace, and he has wanted to do this for a long time.

But there is a problem. Due to the limitations of craftsmanship and technology, the fish hooks in this world are made of a bent needle and have no barbs.

This requires the angler to be swift, fierce and quick when raising the rod.

If there is any hesitation, the fish that has taken the bait may escape when you lift the rod.

But Zhu Yunhuan's skills were really not that good.

In the past life, fishing relied on high technology, so there was no problem.

Using ordinary fish hooks in this life will always lead to unexpected problems.

He often saw fish come out of the water and then escape, which made him very angry.

Just don't fish anymore.

Until recently, the Ming Manufacturing Bureau, under the guidance of the Ming Academy of Sciences, produced new fish hooks and silk lines... The success rate of fishing has greatly improved, and Zhu Yunhuan has returned to his old job and started fishing in the lake in the Eastern Palace.

On the water surface, the float moved slightly.

A fish is biting.

Zhu Yunhuan was quick-eyed and quick-handed, quickly pulling the rod and reeling in the line.

"Clap clap clap!"

A large crucian carp weighing about one pound was caught and it was struggling and jumping on the bluestone floor, constantly hitting the ground, making a crisp and pleasant sound.

"Hahaha!"

He was overjoyed and quickly caught the fish with his own hands and put it into the bucket that had been prepared nearby.

Good harvest today.

"Congratulations, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Congratulations, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." Yang Rong, who was standing by, hurriedly congratulated him.

It is well known in the Eastern Palace that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince likes fishing.

Since he entered the Eastern Palace and served His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he often accompanied him fishing by the lake.

Zhu Yunhuan put the earthworm back on the fishhook and said, "Yang Rong, you will return empty-handed again today."

Yang Rong smiled bitterly and shook his head.

Last time he accompanied His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to fish at the lake, they caught more than a dozen fish in the afternoon, while His Royal Highness the Crown Prince next to him caught nothing.

Later, I always felt that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince looked at me strangely and was always finding fault with everything I did.

Yang Rong understood immediately.

Later, when he accompanied His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to fish, he followed closely.

If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince caught a lot, he would also catch one or two.

If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince caught little or no fish, then Yang Rong would naturally get nothing.

Anyway, he has to be weaker than His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Sure enough, after that, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would ask him to accompany him whenever he went fishing, and his complexion became much better.

"My fishing skills are certainly not as good as yours, Your Highness," he said respectfully.

Yang Rong served Zhu Yunhuan and always considered himself a student.

"Luck! Luck! I'm just a little luckier than you, hahaha!" Zhu Yunxun laughed heartily.

As he spoke, he threw his fishing line into the lake and continued fishing.

"I asked you to be in charge of the Taxation Department. How is it going now?" He asked about work matters while fishing.

Yang Rong hurriedly said, "Please rest assured, Your Highness, the Taxation Department is doing fine. There were some unreasonable things before, but I have corrected them. Now everything in the Taxation Department is institutionalized, formalized, and procedural. Even if I am not here, there will be no problems."

Zhu Yunhuan looked at the float and nodded slightly.

This is exactly what he wants to see.

Although Yang Rong was put in charge of the Commissioner of Taxation, he was still allowed to stay by his side and serve as a "secretary".

It’s because in Zhu Yunhuan’s view, the Commissioner of Taxation is different from other departments.

The institution of the Commissioner of Taxation needs to be like a sophisticated and huge machine, operating independently and meticulously according to established regulations.

There are many things in other institutions that need to be handled flexibly, and the decision of the chief officer is extremely important.

But if the tax commissioner is too flexible, tax work will fall into chaos.

Many unscrupulous businessmen will also take advantage of loopholes, use sugar-coated bullets to attack officials, and corrupt tax officials in order to achieve their goal of tax evasion.

Therefore, in Zhu Yunhuan's design, the Taxation Commissioner was actually a department with very rigid regulations and work processes, and not much room for maneuver.

It seems that they hold the power to levy taxes, and therefore have great power.

In reality, because there is no room for maneuver, tax officials actually have very little power.

Only in this way can tax work be truly formalized and the breeding of corruption be prevented.

Of course, system building is a long-term task.

After all, the devil is always one step ahead of you.

A system that seems flawless today will often be found to have loopholes within a few years and will need to be patched up again.

This was also the reason why he deliberately kept Yang Rong, the chief tax commissioner, by his side and went on inspections from time to time.

On the one hand, let the Taxation Department operate independently.

On the other hand, supervision can be provided at any time.

"Your tax department is easy to deal with, the problem lies with the criminal department."

Zhu Yunxun's face was obviously filled with worry: "It's not easy to clean up all the thieves and gangs in the world!"

During this period, the reorganization of the Ministry of Justice was carried out in an orderly manner.

Ji Gang’s Anti-Theft Department is being set up at the fastest speed.

The personnel needed are experienced detectives drawn from various places.

The second option is to simply recruit students from the Ming Military Academy.

Although the students had previously learned military knowledge, they were not proficient in solving cases.

But solving cases is only one aspect of the Anti-Theft Bureau's work; catching thieves is more important.

Many cases do not require technical means to solve, but it is difficult to catch the criminals.

Now that the army is strictly prohibited from interfering with local public security, the Ministry of Justice must have its own armed forces. Allocating personnel from the Daming Military Academy is the most convenient and quickest way.

In order to strengthen its combat capability, the Ming Academy of Sciences and the Ming Manufacturing Bureau jointly equipped the Anti-Theft Bureau with a pistol.

The power of this gun is naturally not as strong as the long spears of the new army soldiers.

But a short gun about a foot long is extremely convenient to carry.

No matter who the martial arts master or hero is, one shot can knock him down, which is enough.

The Anti-Theft Bureau was formed and divided into dozens of teams, setting out to travel the world of martial arts!

The local government offices did not dare to disobey the imperial court's orders on this issue.

Vertical management was also quickly implemented.

Everything went smoothly.

But Zhu Yunhuan soon discovered the problem.

Due to the inconvenience in information exchange, the bandit suppression work was not as smooth as he had originally imagined.

In reality, when the Anti-Theft Bureau sent people over, the people from the White Lotus Sect or other martial arts sects would disappear, and the bandits would be nowhere to be found, and even the mountain bandits would be nowhere to be found.

After searching for a long time, there was no result.

Then, the Ministry of Justice received reports from other places that half a month ago, traces of the White Lotus Society’s activities were discovered, a certain bandit was found, and so on.

In other words, those people and the Anti-Theft Bureau of the Ministry of Justice waged a "guerrilla war".

But in this era where information is transmitted by relying on manpower and horsepower, the anti-theft department often finds itself in a dilemma of running around.

Even the bandits would just send people to keep watch on the road they had to pass. When they saw the people from the Anti-Theft Bureau coming, they would immediately send out a signal or send a fast horse to report back, and they would usually be able to evacuate before the Anti-Theft Bureau’s troops surrounded them.

All in all, suppressing bandits is a very complicated and difficult task.

It was much more difficult than he expected.

No wonder feudal dynasties, for thousands of years, with extremely severe punishments, beheading, property confiscation, and even the extermination of entire families, were unable to solve this stubborn problem.

There is a reason for everything!
Zhu Yunhuan thought that the best way, of course, was to create radio communication equipment.

At that time, the Anti-Theft Division's mobilization and response would be very quick. The Ministry of Justice and its subordinates, the Censorate, and the county lieutenants could all contact each other quickly, and upon receiving intelligence, they would rush there immediately.

Instead of waiting for the express horse to send back the news like now, the opportunity is already gone.

In that case, it is estimated that the bandits in the country can be basically eliminated soon.

But it is nothing but a pipe dream to expect the Ming Academy of Sciences to quickly master electrical technology and invent radio communications.

Science can only be achieved step by step and cannot be achieved overnight.

Even with his guidance, it can only greatly speed up the process. It still takes time.

There is another way, which is to strictly restrict population movement.

As long as the population does not move around, it will be difficult for thieves to roam around.

It will also become very easy for the Anti-Theft Bureau to suppress bandits.

However, this move will kill 800 enemies but lose 10,000 of your own.

The entire Ming Dynasty economy will suffer an unprecedented blow as a result.

"We have to take our time with this matter, and don't rush it." Yang Rong said with a smile, "The public security in Daming is pretty good right now. In Jinling City, people can almost leave their doors unlocked at night."

"Since ancient times, the world's public security has probably never been so good."

“But to want a world without thieves is too demanding.”

"To have the current situation is already beyond the prosperity and peace of the ancient times. Your Highness, there is no need to worry too much."

Zhu Yunhuan smiled faintly.

Only he himself knows why he has such high demands on this.

At present, the scale of population movement in Ming Dynasty is not too large.

Once the industrialization process is fully accelerated, the number of people moving around every day will be astronomical.

It is foreseeable that a large number of migrant population will inevitably lead to a rapid deterioration in public security.

If preventive measures are not taken now, it will affect all aspects in the future.

Especially the whole set of reform plans in his mind.

at this time.

A young eunuch hurried over quietly and handed a letter to the person serving not far away.

The man took the letter, glanced at the address on the cover, and without delay, handed it to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Zhu Yunhuan knew that it was Old Zhu's letter that had arrived.

It has to be said that although Lao Zhu was restricted by the times and had many shortcomings, as a prominent figure of his time, he had a sharp eye in many areas and could always quickly find different angles to look at problems.

He has a very deep understanding of human nature.

Through correspondence with Old Zhu, Zhu Yunhuan felt that he had learned a lot.

I wonder what Lao Zhu will say today?

He quickly tore open the letter and began to read.

Slowly, a look of shock first appeared on Zhu Yunhuan's face, and soon turned into ecstasy.

He stood up suddenly.

"Yes, why didn't I think of using this method?"

"In fact, I have already built a network to deal with these mountain bandits and gangs, but I just haven't used it properly."

Why are bandits and gangs so difficult to eradicate?

The reason is simple, because they are rooted among millions of people.

They are thieves wearing night clothes and robbing houses.

After taking it off, they become "good" people again.

When the people from the Anti-Theft Bureau came here, everyone was a commoner, so there were no robbers or bandits!

After the people from the Anti-Theft Bureau left, thugs and gangsters immediately appeared.

People often dare not speak out when they are angry.

Even if people from the Anti-Theft Bureau went to them to question and investigate, they didn't dare to say anything.

Because the people knew very well that even if the Anti-Theft Bureau handled the case impartially and dealt with those people.

But the people from the Anti-Theft Bureau will eventually leave.

But I can run away from the monk but I cannot run away from the temple.

Once the people from the Anti-Theft Bureau leave, he will be retaliated by them or their accomplices.

Many times, the common people can only join the enemy if they can't beat them.

When the common people working at the docks were bullied by gangs, they would simply pay money to join the gang.

Or seek protection from other gangs, pay protection fees, and spend money to avoid disaster.

Even the beggars in Jinling City have beggar leaders.

The food you beg for should also be presented to the beggar leader.

What is the difficulty in governance here?
One is that the officials are lazy in their duties.

They look down on these people and are unwilling to seek justice for them.

I would rather have a "boss" to manage those people and save myself the trouble.

As for the lower classes being bullied by those “bosses”, what does that have to do with them?
The second type is the constables in the yamen, most of whom have friendships and interactions with gangs, "heroes" and "big brothers" on the road.

This is a well-known thing.

Going to the government office to file a complaint may not necessarily result in a fair response.

What's more, the cost of filing a complaint is very high and not everyone can afford it.

After filing a complaint, even if he receives a fair treatment, even if the other party is beheaded, he most likely still has "friends" and "brothers" who will "avenge" him!
All these factors resulted in the common people not getting involved when the court was trying to improve public order, but rather adopting an attitude of self-preservation and standing idly by.

Instead, it was the hooligans, gangs, thieves and bandits who, intentionally or unintentionally, received protection from the people.

Without the support of millions of ordinary people, how could the imperial court succeed in suppressing bandits if it fought alone?
There was no way before.

Now, with the postal system, there is a solution.

……

(End of this chapter)