The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 543: No One Can Be Spared
As soon as Shen Li and Li Tingji left, Wanli ordered someone to call Yuan Keli over.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, he picked up the corrupt official's remains and said solemnly, "Mr. Li, how about punishing corrupt officials in this way?"

Yuan Keli took it with both hands and looked at it, and he couldn't help but exclaimed: "Your Majesty is wise, this method is very good."

The original illegal and dirty law cannot be enforced any longer.

Just kidding. If you are greedy for 40 strings of cash, you will be beheaded. If you are greedy for 80 strings of cash, you will be hanged.

The treasure notes are no longer valuable.

If the law is really implemented according to the original corrupt and illegal methods, all officials will be scared and dare not associate with them, and even the relatives and friends of all officials will be scared and dare not associate with them.

There's nothing we can do. Forty strings of cash are not worth forty cents.

Nowadays, who doesn’t bring something when visiting relatives or putting something up at someone’s door? Especially during Chinese New Year, would you feel embarrassed to pay New Year’s greetings without bringing something?
The New Year's goods cost more than 40 cents just to pick up some.

If it is really based on corruption and abuse of power, then all officials should be beheaded or even hanged.

Isn't this a joke?
Even if forty strings of cash are worth forty taels of silver, it won’t work.

These days, it's common to receive gifts worth more than forty taels of silver.

They have no choice. Can they forbid all relatives and even disciples from visiting during festivals?
If the penalty is really to be executed if the amount exceeds forty taels, the court will probably be in chaos.

Officials with ulterior motives will certainly use this to exclude dissidents. If you insist on being picky, accepting gifts is also considered greed, and it's easy to do so if it exceeds forty taels.

Even if it's less than forty taels, it's easy to find someone to give it to you and make up the forty taels. Who can escape?
Unless you don't associate with anyone.

How can officials not interact with anyone? That's a joke.

Therefore, the original illegal and dirty laws cannot be enforced.

There is no need to add any more serious crimes. It is impossible for any corrupt official to be greedy for only 40 taels, let alone 80 taels.

In other words, corrupt officials will be put to death if they are found out, and it will be useless to aggravate or reduce their crimes.

Because according to the original law, if you embezzle more than 80 taels, you will be sentenced to death if you increase your level, or if you reduce your level, you will still be sentenced to death. In any case, it's a death sentence.

In this situation, can those corrupt officials confess?

He would definitely not admit it even if he was beaten to death.

This is different from the dirty and unjust reform.

Those who are not very greedy can at least see some hope, and there is still a possibility that they will confess.

After all, the annual salary of a county magistrate is ninety taels, and the annual salary of a sixth-rank official is more than one hundred taels.

If you are just a little greedy, you will just be beaten with a stick. Torture is much more severe than beating with a stick. If you can't bear it, you will definitely confess.

There is a world of difference between using this trick and not using it.

Because the corrupt officials are definitely not just one person, but a group of people. Once one of them is revealed, the others will basically all be exposed.

For example, Li Dai, this guy can shake out hundreds of them at once.

The reason why Wanli made such changes was based on the characteristics of corrupt officials.

It is impossible for a corrupt official to make a fortune in silence. Once a serious corruption case occurs, it must be that a large number of officials are cooperating with each other in corruption, and a long list of them will be exposed.

It is convenient to implicate corrupt officials after they have reformed. As long as the corrupt officials are implicated with each other, they can be caught in one fell swoop.

Of course, this also requires certain trial methods.

He nodded slightly, then said solemnly: "Li Qing, this time we must implicate all the corrupt officials we can, and not let any of them go.

You should be flexible when trying a case. If someone refuses to confess even after being severely punished and the facts are later proven wrong, his crime will be more serious. If he confesses to other corrupt officials, it will be considered as a meritorious service to atone for his sins, and you can also reduce his guilt appropriately.

This punishment for the corruption of the law is actually mainly used to punish those who embezzled more than hundreds or even thousands of taels. If they embezzled dozens or hundreds of taels, it would be enough to be beaten with a stick. If they embezzled hundreds of taels, it would be enough to have their property confiscated and be exiled.

The key is that you have to take advantage of their lucky mentality and purge as many corrupt officials as possible from top to bottom in the court, understand?"

There seems to be something wrong with this reformation of the law.

Yuan Keli nodded slowly, then asked carefully, "Your Majesty, you didn't mention dismissal, investigation, or even expulsion from office. Are you really just going to get a beating just for embezzling a few dozen or a hundred taels?"

That certainly won't work.

Wanli shook his head slightly and said, "I have neglected this. We cannot employ any corrupt officials.

Even if they are greedy for a few taels of silver, they will be dismissed from their posts and investigated. As for being removed from office and stripped of their official title, you can also take advantage of their lucky mentality and give them some hope.

Let’s put it this way. If someone embezzles more than one month’s salary, he will be dismissed from his post and investigated. If someone embezzles more than one year’s salary, he will be removed from office and stripped of his official title.

However, you can be more flexible when trying the case. You can use the fact that they retain their scholar status to induce them to confess more corrupt officials.

Anyway, we will not use any officials who have been dismissed for corruption in the future. Dismissal is basically the same as removing them from office and removing their official titles."

This is a really good idea.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Keli nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise. I understand."

Then let’s get ready to start cleaning out corrupt officials.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Any other questions?"

You only mentioned the trial of the case, but didn't mention its execution.

Yuan Keli said carefully: "Your Majesty, who will be responsible for the confiscation of property and exile of these people after I finish the trial?" You don't have to worry about that. I don't know how long it will take to just try the case.

Wanli pondered and said, "Let the Jinyiwei take charge of this. After you have interrogated him, submit the confession and I will handle it.

When the time comes, I will send people to handle those who deserve to be executed or exiled. When it comes to the confiscation of property, you can just send an official to supervise it. When it comes to exile, you can just send an official to go through the procedures. "

That's not so bad, because confiscating property and exiling people would require a lot of manpower, and the Ministry of Justice simply doesn't have that many people.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Keli nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

There seems to be another problem.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then asked, "Do you have enough manpower to arrest those local officials? Do you need help from the navy?"

We don't actually need to arrest these local officials.

Yuan Keli pondered and said, "Your Majesty, we can entrust the arrest of local officials to the provincial judicial commissioners or the provincial government offices. We only need to submit a letter to the cabinet.

However, this will take quite a while to capture him. If His Majesty wants to capture him quickly, it would be best to ask the navy to help."

It’s better to follow the formal process this time.

Wanli nodded slightly, then instructed: "You go discuss this with Zhonghua. When the cabinet sends documents to the local areas, you can dispatch navy officers to row speedboats to take the documents directly there, and then bring back the arrested local officials.

As for mobilizing the navy's fleet and officers, leave it to the Ministry of War to issue the document. I won't arrange it for you one by one."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Keli nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Should this be alright now?"

Yuan Keli thought about it carefully again, then nodded repeatedly and said, "No problem."

Upon hearing this, Wanli waved his hand.

Yuan Keli quickly bowed and took his leave.

When little Zhu Changxun saw this guy leave, he couldn't help but ask, "Father, why did you go to such trouble this time?

This involves the Ministry of Justice, the Cabinet, the Ministry of War, and the Navy, mobilizing so many government offices.

It seems that you just ordered the Jinyiwei to arrest them, interrogate them, confiscate their property, exile them, or execute them. It's very simple."

That's simple, but prone to problems.

Wanli shook his head slowly, then taught him carefully: "Xun'er, in a prosperous era, we should try our best to govern the country with laws and regulations, do you know?

It would be much simpler if the Jinyiwei handled all matters, but this would give the Jinyiwei too much power and there would be no one to supervise them.

You must be careful in the future and not leave everything to the Jinyiwei. If the Jinyiwei has too much power, problems will arise.

Without constraints, they may act as they please and do whatever they want, causing panic and even public resentment.

This problem had already arisen during the Yongle reign. Because the Jinyiwei had too much power, Emperor Yongle had to set up the Dongchang to supervise and restrain them.

As a result, the power of the East Factory surpassed that of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. During the Chenghua period of Emperor Xianzong, the West Factory had to be established to supervise and restrain the East Factory.

Once the Western Factory appeared, it was even more serious. Its power was above the imperial power. The eunuch Wang Zhi didn't even need the emperor's approval. Any official could be arrested and beheaded!
As a result, within just five months, the whole court was in a panic, and Emperor Xianzong had to withdraw the Western Factory.

During the Zhengde period, in order to restrain the East Factory, the West Factory had to be reopened. The eunuch Liu Jin even set up the Inner Factory, which was above both the East and West Factories.

As a result, the country was in chaos again, and Wuzong had to order the disbanding of the Western Factory and the Inner Factory.

Therefore, this approach will not work. If you give the Embroidered Uniform Guard or the Eastern Depot too much power and allow them to override the laws of the Ming Dynasty, there will be no peace and prosperity.

Doing so will only cause chaos in the world.

It would be different if you asked the Ministry of Justice, the Cabinet, and the Ministry of War to come. This is their responsibility. They each perform their duties and also supervise each other.

This way you won't have to worry too much, and following the rules will also benefit the stability and peace of the entire dynasty."

The art of governing a country is too complicated.

Upon hearing this, little Zhu Changxun nodded, seemingly understanding, and suddenly became excited again, "Father, are you going to raid the homes of many corrupt officials this time?"

of course.

Wanli nodded slowly and said, "Yes, this time we are going to raid the homes of many corrupt officials. These guys have embezzled tens of millions of taels. Even if they each embezzled a million taels, we will have to raid dozens of their homes.

What's more, those who can embezzle millions of taels are still a minority, while those who embezzle hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands, or even thousands of taels are the majority.

I'm afraid there will be hundreds, thousands, or even more companies being raided this time. There are too many corrupt officials now, and we must take this opportunity to clean them up."

Oh, so many companies were copied.

Upon hearing this, little Zhu Changxun said excitedly, "Father, I haven't seen the confiscation of property yet. Can you take me to see it when the time comes?"

You kid, you are curious about everything and want to see everything.

Curiosity is not a good thing. Curiosity can kill the cat and it may also kill you.

Wanli thought for a moment, nodded slightly, and said, "You can watch the house raids, but we have to be careful about safety. We won't go to the corrupt officials' homes to watch. If you want to watch, we can go to the walls of the imperial city with a telescope."

That’s okay too.

Little Zhu Changxun nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay, let's go to the imperial city wall and take a look."

(End of this chapter)