Fang Yuan's words completely touched the interests of the officials, and the prefect Chen Hongmi took the lead in retorting, "No! Governor Fang, you're too child's play! ”

Fang Yuan looked at the prefect Chen Hongmi noncommittally and said, "Prefect Chen, there hasn't been a single complaint from you these days, it seems that you are still a clean official, why are you the one who is leading the opposition?" ”

Chen Hongmi said, "When it comes to honesty, it is definitely not as good as Hairui." However, I didn't disregard the people's livelihood and take the money when I saw it. ”

He looked at Fang Yuan, and said without giving in, "Governor Fang, the wealthy businessmen in Suzhou Mansion are all drunk and drunk, drunk and dreaming of death, and the officials' monthly income is only enough to support their families. Officials are also human beings, and it is only natural to engage in a little subsidy for the family! It can't be that the squires and rich merchants are all fat, and the officials of the court are as poor as beggars begging for food! ”

"Even Hai Rui, who is as honest as water as a sage, also raised two or three concubines, and can he afford two or three concubines with the monthly salary of that official? Governor Fang, no matter how much corruption is suppressed, you should always talk about some favors, and you can't cut off all the roads of officials! ”

Chen Hongmi's words can be regarded as heartfelt, at least he is willing to reason with Fang Yuan, not blindly contradictory.

When the officials heard this, they nodded again and again, and said one after another, "Governor Fang, Suzhou Mansion is rich in the whole country, and there are many people with a family wealth of more than 100,000 taels, but the salary of officials is only a few taels of silver a month, and Suzhou Mansion also has a special situation in Suzhou Mansion!" ”

"The silver that a pusher can get every month is less than five taels, which is not much higher than the weaver in a workshop.

"I studied hard for ten years, and finally got famous, but this official deserves to be a wreck, it is better to give up literature and do business, and end up free."

"Governor Fang, you just forced us to death, and if another group of people come up, you won't be greedy? It's not the same greed. ”

Everyone was gossiping around Fang Yuan to complain.

Fang Yuan was secretly amused, it seemed that these people had changed their strategy, from not cooperating before to pretending to be pitiful and sympathetic, as if they were not being corrupted, they were forcing them to die.

He interrupted the officials' complaints with a cold smile, "The imperial court has provided each of you with free mansions, carriages, miscellaneous servants, ten acres and twenty acres of arable land, free of tax, and five times the monthly salary of ordinary people. ”

Chen Hongmi sat upright, and he didn't have many handles, so he was not afraid of Fang Yuan's investigation, and said bluntly, "Governor Fang is a full man who doesn't know how hungry a man is hungry!" With the salary of the governor and the thousands of households in brocade clothes, I am afraid that I can't afford to live in the Canglang Pavilion, and I can't afford to hire dozens of male servants and maids, let alone spend 1,000 taels to buy a small thin horse with a tooth line! ”

His information was controlled very accurately, Fang Yuan was stunned by his words, and he couldn't clearly say that Xiao Yuan was sent by Xu Hua, otherwise this group of officials would chase Xu Hua's attempt to send Xiao Yuan to get to the bottom of it.

In the final analysis, Fang Yuan and them are colleagues in the officialdom, they live in Canglang Pavilion by themselves, there are dozens of slaves in the house, and they also accept a stunning little beauty of great value, but they require their colleagues to be honest as water, which is difficult for a strong man.

Of course, this matter itself has nothing to do with Canglang Pavilion and Xiaoyuan, that is, Fang Yuan and the Qing official Hai Rui will change seats, and these people will also quarrel with Hai Rui, who let you raise two or three concubines, you can raise a little concubine like a flower and jade, so that everyone can only hug the yellow-faced woman?

Unless Fang Yuan planned to live an ascetic life, he would never be able to suppress these officials from the moral high ground.

Cracking down on corruption is a difficult problem faced by both Chinese and foreign countries in ancient and modern times, and it is by no means something that can be solved by Fang Yuan sitting here and slapping his ass, or by pure force suppression.

One batch was suppressed, and there will be another batch. Back then, Zhu Yuanzhang even used the torture of skinning, but he failed to stop waves of corrupt officials who followed one after another.

Because corruption is not a unilateral cause of corrupt officials, but the result of the joint action of corrupt officials and profiteers such as Ximenqing, as well as Zheng Tu, Jiang Menshen and others. If Ximenqing, Jiang Menshen and others are unwilling to give money, it is impossible for officials to forcibly snatch money from their bags; If Ximen Qing scrambled to be the first to send money in order to embezzle the interests of the imperial court, they would arrest the current corrupt officials, and the successor officials would also be defeated by Ximen Qing's sugar-coated cannonballs.

If we really want to fight corruption thoroughly, we must crack down on officials and Ximen Qingmen together. As a result, Ximen Qingmen will either leave his house or shrink the scale of investment. Whatever the outcome, it will inevitably seriously restrict the development of the private economy.

The direct consequence is that there will be a large number of unemployed people in the cities, and these unemployed people are the most unstable factors, and once they are instigated and bought, they will cause serious mass incidents.

This is why there was a civil unrest in Suzhou before, but Zhu Yuanzhang was anti-corruption, but the more he was anti-corruption, the more corrupt he became.

Unless it is a country where politics and business are integrated, corruption is legalized and very hidden. In most countries, the prevailing approach to corruption is to set a baseline that the government can tolerate. Under the bottom line, no one cares how you play; If the bottom line is crossed, it will be punished by law.

What Fang Yuan wants to discuss with these officials today is the issue of this bottom line.

Fang Yuan looked around and said coldly, "Okay, I ask you how much silver is enough to spend, and you will come to complain to me, and I will draw a bottom line for you today." One acre of land, according to the Ming Law, how much grain should be levied? ”

Chen Hongmi said, "With the addition of three salaries, it is about 30 catties." ”

Fang Yuan asked rhetorically, "After the government has apportioned it layer by layer, how many catties are there?" ”

Chen Hongmi was stunned for a moment, thought for a while and said, "100 catties, these are all losses along the way." ”

Fang Yuan said sharply, "Collected 30 catties of grain, and lost 70 catties along the way?!" Are you really fools to this governor? ”

Chen Hongmi said unconvinced, "The apportionment of our Suzhou Mansion is the least in the four prefectures of Nanjing, and Governor Fang can go to the Governor of Songjiang Mansion, where the harvest is 130 catties per mu." ”

Fang Yuan saw that he had finished procrastinating the word trick, and began to push the word trick again, prevaricating Songjiang Mansion as a shield, slamming the table, got up angrily and said, "Governor Chen, who made your Suzhou Mansion rich in the whole country, and the taxes accounted for 10% of the country?!" I want to create a reform mold in Suzhou and then promote it to the four provinces in Nanjing. The Songjiang Mansion is just one step earlier and one step later. ”

"I give you two choices, one is to pay 30 catties of grain per mu to the governor, and the governor will transport it to the capital, and the loss along the way will be paid by the imperial court in advance, and then distributed to each mu of land according to the actual loss, which will be made up by the Suzhou government; Second, the loss along the way is levied in Suzhou Prefecture to make up for it, and I will convert it to you 10 catties per mu of land, and allow you to levy 40 catties of grain per mu. ”

Fang Yuan had already done his homework with Jing Jie and others, including the amount of grain that could be lost by marching and transporting grain, and he already knew in his heart that 40 catties per mu was actually the land endowment that self-cultivated farmers should bear without apportionment.

Without apportionment, where does the black income of officials come from? Chen Hongmi was speechless, and the officials were even more silent.

Zhang Fan, who was in charge of Caoyun, couldn't help but stand up and say, "Governor Fang, you have cut off the financial routes of all officials, how can this work?" ”

"If the governor is really so unkind, then there is no need to talk about it, and I will continue to take leave and claim illness."

"I'll apply for Zhishi right now, and I will ask Governor Fang for approval!"

The officials were coaxing again, and more than a dozen people even took off their official hats and wanted to leave.

Fang Yuan wanted them to get out of the way immediately, but as soon as they left, how should this year's autumn grain be collected? How to deal with the local gentry, squire? You can't send Jinyi guards to go door-to-door to find farmers to ask for food!

Fang Yuan said coldly, "Qin Zhan, remove all the idle people in the mansion!" ”

Qin Zhan got the order, and immediately ordered dozens of brocade guards to close the gate of the palace, and all the miscellaneous servants and officials were cleared.

The officials looked at each other, wondering if he was going to suddenly attack.