In the case of empty seals, the empty seals refer to the blank account books stamped with official seals.

The collection of money and grain in the Ming Dynasty was sent to the capital by the political secretaries, and the accounts were checked and collected in the treasury after reconciliation with the household department. The money and grain collected by the local government will be lost to varying degrees in the process of being transported to the capital. This means that when the money and grain escorted by the various political secretaries arrive in the capital, the accounts recorded in the transportation will deviate from the accounts that actually arrived.

Because this amount of loss is difficult to grasp, there will be certain deviations in the preparation of account books. In addition, if you recompile the account books back and forth, such as Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and other distant political departments, it will take too long along the way. Therefore, the officialdom has formed a strange reconciliation, and the way to make up the account book is that the official in charge of reconciliation takes the blank account book stamped with the official seal of the political secretary, and then compiles the account book according to the actual loss received by the household department.

Later, Zhu Yuanzhang discovered this way of fabricating account books by the political secretary and the household department, and he was furious, and killed hundreds of officials at all levels of the political department and the prefect, and 20,000 or 30,000 people sat in succession.

This is the so-called empty seal case.

Because it was a time of war, Fang Yuan couldn't trust the provincial political departments and the newly established household departments. Therefore, the two sides of the reconciliation were changed to state governments and more trusting independent accounting groups.

The sparrows in the lobby were silent, whether it was Hu Qi, Jing Jie, Qin Zhan, or the princess, they were all waiting for Fang Yuan's speech.

Fang Yuan squinted slightly, gently stroked such a large stack of confessions, and asked leisurely, "Princess, I ordered the prince to monitor the reconciliation of the independent accounting team before, why didn't the prince report the independent accounting team to such a reconciliation and fabricate the account book?" ”

The princess thought for a moment and said, "The princess did mention it to me. However, according to the princes, the household department of the first emperor Tianqi Emperor and the provincial political departments were reconciled with blank account books stamped with official seals. I guess that's the rule of the Ming Dynasty, so I didn't report it as an abnormality. ”

"Horse, can't you reconcile accounts like this? I think there is some truth in what those prefects said, and you can't just go all the way back to remake the account books in order to change a few numbers! It's too much of a toss-up. ”

Fang Yuan sighed deeply, didn't answer the princess's words, and asked Qin Zhan, "Fourth, what do you think about the reconciliation method of Guangzhou Mansion and Zhaoqing Mansion in Fujian and Guangzhou?!" ”

In Qin Zhan's opinion, since all the state capitals are reconciled like this, they can't just grasp the affairs within his jurisdiction of Fujian and Guangzhou! He couldn't figure out Fang Yuan's thoughts, he lowered his eyes and thought for a while, and said in a low voice, "Since the first emperor made up the account books like this, and the state capitals did the same, it should be an unwritten rule!" ”

Fang Yuan sighed lightly, looked at Hu Qi and asked, "Old Hu, you have been studying the Da Ming Law these days, and you also think that this has not violated the Da Ming Criminal Law, right?" ”

Hu Qi said hesitantly, "In the laws of the Ming Dynasty, there is indeed no mention of this as a violation of law and discipline. ”

Fang Yuan nodded again and asked Jing Jie at the end, "Third brother, you have the same idea as them?!" ”

Jing Jie shook his head and said, "No, boss, the Xuanjia Army reconciles all the accounts with the official seal and the filled account books, and reconciles them with the independent accounting team. If it is a blank account book reconciliation, the household officials of the imperial court, the political secretaries of various places, such a large group of people are making fake accounts together, and there must be corruption and corruption in the middle! ”

Fang Yuan stood up, stroked a stack of confessions, and sighed leisurely, "Zhu Yuanzhang! Zhu Yuanzhang, you have seen it! If you tell a thousand lies, it will become the truth, and you will be in the spirit of heaven, can you turn a blind eye?! ”

"Bang!"

He swept a large stack of confessions to the ground, paced back and forth, and shouted, "You, only the third child has really seen the catty in it!" Such an obvious collective fake accounting, embezzlement, and self-enrichment, you actually think that it is a normal operating process?! ”

The princess was scolded by him, her face sank slightly, and she retorted, "Don't you, that's wrong!" There may be corruption in this, but to be fair, it can't make the officials below run back and forth! ”

Fang Yuan stared straight at the princess and said, "Princess, is it so difficult to solve the problem of going back and forth?!" How difficult it is to keep track of the wear and tear along the way?! It is only necessary to mark the loss and deduction along the way with a red pen next to the account book, and then the independent accounting team will draw a final figure and seal it for confirmation. ”

"Such reconciliation and fabrication of account books can also clearly indicate how much the loss of each political secretary along the way is, and which political secretary is doing his or her feet to embezzle the money and food lost along the way. There can't be more losses along the way in Shandong than in Sichuan and Yunnan! ”

"O princess! Such a simple truth, such a simple contingency method, for so many hundreds of years, those officials who are more shrewd than monkeys in the household department and the political department will not think of it?! Do you have to bring a blank account book with the official seal to the capital to fill it out again in order to check the accounts?! It's not that they can't think of it, they deliberately pretend to be stupid, you see! ”

In Fang Yuan's view, the empty seal case is obviously a case in which the household department and the political secretaries collectively made false accounts and fooled Zhu Yuanzhang.

This is a serious provocation by the bureaucratic and corrupt clique against the central court, and it is a serious and important case related to the national capital in any dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang was annoyed and ashamed to slaughter these corrupt officials who collectively made false accounts, and even 20,000 or 30,000 people were completely reasonable.

As a result, in the later Ming Dynasty, officials actually characterized the empty seal case as an unjust case, giving Zhu Yuanzhang a name of brutality and murder. Then, everyone continued to sit together and make fake accounts collectively.

Everyone listened to Fang Yuan's reprimand, and they were all stunned on the spot, and the scene was embarrassingly silent.

After a long time, Fang Yuan Chong Jingjie and Hu Qi said, "Third brother, old Hu, this time the two of you will lead the Xuanjia Army, Jinyi Wei will jointly enforce the law, and attack hard!" Carry out a major purge of all the official offices in Nanzhili, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong, and the prefects, the same knowledge, and the officials, but those who bring blank account books to the palace to make false accounts, all of them will be arrested, and no one will be left! ”

Fang Yuan was completely furious this time, if he were a bystander, he might think that Zhu Yuanzhang killed 20,000 or 30,000 people in an empty seal case, which was too cruel. But as a party, Fang Yuan also can't wait to follow Zhu Yuanzhang's example and kill all those corrupt officials!

If Fang Yuan's order is followed, it can be said that the officialdom of the entire Jiangnan regime will be completely purged once, and no official will be spared. During the Zhu Yuanzhang period, the empty seal case still only involved the state government of the six ministries and the political department, while Fang Yuan was facing all the state capitals under his jurisdiction this time, even the county-level management. If it is really necessary to arrest them one by one, or even to make a connection, the scale of this purge should be larger than the empty seal case.

Jing Jie and Hu Qi looked at each other, not knowing what to do for a while.