Chapter 16: Nothing

As the rain stopped, the fat lotus leaves bloomed with dazzling green on the lush river pond. From time to time, frogs croaked under the lotus leaves, frightened a few dragonflies, flapping their wings, dancing a few circles in the sun, and lazily perched on the raised lotus, kissing and sucking the bright red that was first vomited.

With one rod, one stool, and one hat, the governor Guo Pu enjoyed the breeze of early summer comfortably. As soon as the fish hook was thrown down, the float had not shaken. Perhaps the owner of the fishing rod was not on the fish, and the joy of fishing was fishing, not on the fishing.

The garden is very small, except for this half acre lotus pond, which can no longer accommodate too many decorations. Compared with the layout of the official residences in Peking, it is even worse than the capital of Huairou County Magistrate. At the beginning of the year, the text of Zhang Wuge's eldest son accompanied him to Taiyuan. After seeing the old and dilapidated yamen of the governor, he immediately donated a large sum of money for local maintenance. Guo Pu refused, so he had to take it away and used the money to buy an abandoned mansion near the yamen and donated it to the local library. This unintentional act suddenly became a local stranger. Since ancient times, only the people have paid for officials, and no one has heard of the new officials who paid their own pockets to subsidize the place after taking office. The righteous act of Guo Pu and others to help immigrants in Shanxi during the term of Huairou County Magistrate also spread. The people in Taiyuan paid their bribes to celebrate, and finally hoped that someone who was not greedy for money and did practical things for the people.

In clear weather, there is a building on the streets of Taiyuan that attracts the most attention. This is not only because the palace next to it, which was carefully renovated and used as a library, becomes more and more brilliant in the sun. Under the blue sky, behind the bustling crowd, a small building like a land temple forms a huge contrast with the prosperity of the street. Compared with the newly opened shops all over the street, the government office looks very cold, but you can still feel its strength, its solemnity, prosperity and simplicity, shortness and height. The more vivid the contrast, the deeper the impression it gives, the more it cannot ignore its existence.

"I am not a temple, I have to have gold and silver jewelry. Besides, there is not much official business in the government office, so why is it so easy to repair it? When I die, I cannot roll it up and take it away." Someone once advised Guo Pu to pay attention to maintaining the image of the government, but Guo Pu used this sentence to be lightly evaded. According to secular etiquette, the surrounding houses that were higher than the government were somewhat outrageous. The original government envoys have fought with local gentry for this matter. When Guo Pu's tenure, no one mentioned this matter again. The officials and the people were in peace. Some people who wanted to give gifts to the superiors saw Guo Pu's appearance, knew that it was difficult to achieve their goals easily, so they quietly put away their thoughts and seriously implemented the government orders. The local officials were revived.

"The government is to do the government's affairs, formulate relatively fair rules for the people, and maintain a relatively fair environment. As for what the people want to do, there is naturally their reason. It is better not to interfere too much." At the beginning of the year, local officials in Shanxi heard such an ineffective policy program from the governor for the first time. However, when they really did as Guo Pu said, they found that this kind of governance method seemed more effective than writing about education on the minds every day. At least the people did not have to bear their "study" for the sake of the chief's random arrangements. What satisfies the locals most was that the new policy had hardly changed their lives during the implementation of the new policy. The face of the city had quietly changed between opening a shop in the east and opening a factory in the west.

Therefore, Guo Pu's job as an advisor to the two provinces of Shaanxi is particularly easy. Shanxi people are born with financial management experts. They will not fall behind others when making money. Many of Peking's experiences can be copied here. And what is more advantageous than Peking is that the minerals here are richer and the population is denser. The reality of relatively scarce arable land makes Shanxi people willing to accept new industries and can happily use new industries to create wealth.

The South was in full swing, and the governor Guo Pu had this ability. He had to rule the water in front of him. The wind passed, and the slight ripples made a slight wave, and then the tranquility was restored. The frogs roared and the frogs roared, and the fish play was still the fish play. At the beginning of his tenure, Guo Pu sent people to carefully check the accounts of the treasury of the two provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi, verify some of the chaos one by one, and the deficit was remedyed by local officials with their own property. He also cut off several major figures with obvious corruption and confiscated their property. Therefore, the imperial anti-corruption order

Next time, the two provinces were hit and had room for buffering. According to the principle that they had been held accountable and no longer held accountable, some officials were lucky in disguise and saved their lives. After remembering the benefits of Guo Pu, they sent someone to bring gifts to the door to thank him. They were blocked by the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper brought the gifts to the door, but the voice was not loud, but every word was steep: "My lord said that he was the governor and wanted to save you, so he dared not receive any rewards without merit. If you have been guilty until death, and if you die in his hands, there is nothing to thank for."

Several local officials who were retained by Guo Pu were framed. Guo Pu carefully considered the matter as the governor and found that the evidence was obviously insufficient. He wrote a letter to the new Minister of Justice Kai Ji, digesting the case in the local area. However, there were several guys who were involved in the court's policy of encouraging the people to sue the lawsuit. Guo Pu was severely repaired and sent to the Lin Dynasty and was never allowed to return to his hometown.

Guo Pu also doesn't like killing people, but unlike Wu'anguo, Guo Pu does not object to Zhu Yuanzhang's severe punishment of corrupt officials. Although peeling the skin and implicating the relatives is suspected of malaria, severe punishment and punishment of corruption cannot be considered a bad policy. He does not want to set a precedent for party struggles. Deeply, he weighs the pros and cons of the implementation of the new policy. He is very supportive of the current anti-corruption strategy. In his opinion, no matter how good the policy comes to the hands of corrupt officials, because of selfishness and selfishness, he will become a harsh policy. Zhu Yuanzhang killed these national worms, which just creates a favorable situation for the next step of the implementation of the new policy. Moreover, this

Some officials did too much. According to the progress of the Guo Heng case that had been published in the newspaper, the Ministry of Revenue sold 7 million stones of grain in the last year alone. When his fellow surname confiscated the autumn grain in western Zhejiang, he actually intercepted 3.9 million stones of grain from the farmers to the treasury. After selling it, he only extracted 800,000 stagnant of the banknotes to falsely apply for the account. The remaining 1 million taels of silver were privately divided by Guo Heng and local officials Huang Wentong, Bian Yuan and others. In addition, the 500,000 taels of tax silver paid by merchants in western Zhejiang were unknown after Guo Heng took it.

This time, officials involved in the Guo Heng case could not even get the end of being exiled to Liaodong. Crown Prince Zhu Biao came forward to plead for some officials and asked the emperor to refer to the handling of the Hu Weiyong case back then and sent some officials who were not involved in the case to the newly developed Beihelin area as officials. He was rejected by the words of King Yan Zhu Di. Zhu Di, who had always respected his brother, refused to take these officials away, saying that he was afraid that they would not want to correct their mistakes when they went to the grassland, and instead polluted the officialdom there.

I'm afraid this matter cannot be put aside. Master Wu Ge made good tricks and thought that Guo Heng was over and could not resist President Zhu's envoy and undermine the situation. Zhu Di's remarks must be under the guidance of Yu Hanyu, Zhu Jiangyan and other Songjiang masters, which included the elements of catering to Zhu Yuanzhang's determination to fight corruption, and also took the opportunity to retaliate against the new policy. He also had the suspicion of attacking the new policy by a group of imperial envoys who made a name for making a name for seeking fame and the Jinyiwei who killed people and for seeking honor, and the initiator might have fallen into it himself. Wu Anguo, the only one who could tell Lao Zhu to put down his butcher knife, was so cold that he didn't know who would clean up the final mess this time. The fish float moved slightly, and the greedy one was about to take the bait. Guo Pu smiled and picked up the fishing rod, scaring away the fish that came to the banquet. Fishing is one of the best ways to organize his thoughts. Following this thin fishing line, he can sort out many complex problems clearly.

If Wu'anguo had not been able to stay out of the matter, Guo Pu would not know if he could still stay so idle. The governor knew that his current integrity and desire were based on the shares of various industries in Peking and the achievements of governing the local area in recent years. That is, at this time, with his family's foundation, he no longer had to rely on corruption and bribes to make a fortune. The annual dividends of hundreds of thousands are enough for him to live a comfortable life and deal with official exchanges. Similarly, with the achievements and reputation of implementing the new policies in Peking and other places, he could still be promoted without bribing his superiors. If he was willing, it would not be difficult to find a position as a cabinet master. But if he was still like that eight years ago, he worked as the magistrate of Huairou for several years, guarding a remote country and being tortured by his ambition to govern the country and pacify the world every day, could he persist for a long time? I'm afraid that the anti-corruption campaign this year has just begun, and his head has already been on the city gate.

The rules of the officialdom are to eliminate good officials. If you are not greedy, you will have no money to pay colleagues and manage your superiors. If you cannot climb a certain position, you will not be able to display your lifelong ambitions. If you rely on corruption, bribery and accept bribes, you can still remember your ambitions from that year. If you bend your waist for a long time, you will naturally become hunchbacked.

Another fish began to test the bait. The official's mind was like a fish in a pond. He could see the food in front of him, but could not see the baiter in front of him. Guo Pu shook his head and laughed at him and put away the fishing rod. The interests of corrupt officials were big and the risks were small. Even if Zhu Yuanzhang punished him so severely, he was only one-tenth of the net arrested. This is when he made a fortune. If there was three times the profit, someone would sacrifice his life, not to mention that this profit was a huge profit, and the risk was only one-tenth of the corruption career. So people fought for it. Throughout history, all dynasties have been anti-corruption, and officials of all dynasties have become more and more greedy. When corruption has become the habit of officials, when the people are already numb to the corruption of officials, it is not far from changing dynasties. This is like this in the Central Plains, outside the Great Wall, and even more so in the Mongolian that has not far away from the destruction. What about the Western countries? It seems that I have to ask Bo Chen and Wu'anguo to see what is the solution on the other side of the world.

"Those who know the king say that the king is worried, and those who don't know say that the king wants. Bo Wenyuan, who is far away in Peking, understands the escape of Wu'anguo best. In his letter to Wu'anguo, he tried his best to write in the vernacular language that Wu'anguo could understand: "The law protects everyone's rights, which is the fundamental interest of the people. No matter where they come from or what kind of harm they are, the main responsibility of the court is to provide such protection; the family members of corrupt officials are also human beings, and they also have the right to live, freedom and the pursuit of happiness, and their rights should not be trampled on at will. The Jinyiwei is not the Ministry of Justice of the dynasty, and it is already contrary to the law whenever he takes people..."

Wu Anguo smiled, carefully folded Bo Chen's letter and placed it on the lamp. The room was covered by blue smoke, and the scenery gradually blurred.

Wu Anguo knew that he was not as noble as Bo Chen said, and his thoughts were not even as clear as Bo Chen, the bystander. This time and space may have been parallel lines with the history he knew. Since he accidentally broke in, the two lines were no longer parallel. The trajectory of the Ming Dynasty was getting farther and farther away from the history he knew, and even left all known development directions in another time and space. Now, he doesn't know where he will move forward. The feeling of becoming increasingly powerless always makes him want to go, but at all times, he can feel that the old man of history is standing behind him, watching his own every move patiently, waiting silently, waiting for the glitz and noise to dissipate, the truth gradually exposed and shining in the sun.

It has been more than two months since he arrived in Liu Ling's hometown. The anti-corruption storm in the capital and local areas has become increasingly fierce. He wrote to Zhu Yuanzhang, suggesting that he be cautious and be careful that someone would take the opportunity to weave a charge and seek credit. Zhu Yuanzhang turned a deaf ear. The suggestion of opening up the road from Hunan to Sichuan was also put on hold. Lao Zhu is now determined to compete with him, either returning to the court to help him kill, or not doing anything.

The case of the wrong accounts of the Ministry of Revenue has been almost over. Liangjiang News is always concerned about the progress of the case. The officials who have been arrested include Hu Yi, Wang Daoheng, Minister of Rites Zhao Mao, Minister of War, Wang Zhong, Minister of Justice, Wang Huidi, Minister of Works, and Mai Zhide, Minister of Works. Among the six former Ministry of the Ming Dynasty, there is only one Ministry of Personnel who is honest. It is because the Ministry of Personnel participated in the trial of this matter and largely protected his officials. It is reported that the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works jointly printed more than 6 million jin of counterfeit money. No wonder the Ming Baochao is so worthless. If the money and grain that Guo Heng had embezzled for several years in office were collected clearly, it would be converted to 24 million stones of fine rice. The total amount of autumn grain collected nationwide in the Ming Dynasty last year was only 20 million stones.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was born in a humble background, spared no effort in anti-corruption. It turned out that he thought that local clerks were recruiting officials, and the newly promoted officials were relatively honest. The longer they served, the easier it was to embezzle, so he established a three-year rotation system for officials to be officials from other places. In order to prevent officials from cheating on money and grain, he also deliberately changed one, two, three, four, five, and thousands into one, two, three, si, wu...bai, and qian. However, the officials' methods of embezzlement are still unpredictable. A few days ago, the Grand Secretary Shao Zhi asked Wu Anguo to find a way to persuade Zhu Yuanzhang to stop and not expand the killing. However, the officials did so out of their way, what else can Wu Anguo say?

But he knew the final result, that the storm would eventually blow, and the market would remain peaceful, and officials would soon return to their old careers and continue their career in embezzlement and bribery.

Some of Bo Wenyuan's views are very correct. As long as the promotion and appointment and removal of officials are in the hands of their superiors, they cannot avoid being greedy and abused by the law. How can the official positions obtained by bribery not rely on bribery to recover the cost? Civil officials do not love money, and military generals do not hesitate to die. Just like in the world of a saint, it is just a dream. If you really want to solve this problem, you can only return the power to the people, let the people control the power to appoint and remove officials, and let officials receive the orders from the people, rather than from the emperor. Isn't this a matter of a tiger to say to the emperor who thinks he is ordered from heaven?
Chapter completed!