Qu Rukui heard Matteo Ricci say this, and smiled bitterly slightly.

"Mr. Li, it's useless for you to say this, the court won't pay attention to you at all, the court has now tasted the sweetness of gold and silver, if there is any news, it will definitely go to find it, your court will make the court believe that there is really no gold and silver on Luzon, and the court will stop, but as you said, if it really doesn't, then you don't need to worry about the court will move troops against Luzon."

Matteo Ricci was worried, then relaxed.

It is not a difficult thing to prove that there are no mountains of gold and silver on the island of the Philippines, and when the matter comes, even if there is, it must be changed to none, and the Spanish occupation of the Philippines is mainly engaged in the spice business, and the gold and silver business is mainly in the Americas, not in the Philippines.

But the Philippines is also an important stronghold, an indispensable stronghold, and every year the income from the spice business can greatly support the Spanish finances.

Otherwise, where did Spain get the confidence to start a war with Britain, France, and the Netherlands at the same time? Isn't that self-inflicted?

As long as China can avoid war on the Philippine Governor-General's Palace, then everything is easy to say, so Matteo Ricci consulted Qu Rukui urgently.

"So, Taisu, can you tell me what I can do to convince the Emperor of China that there are no mountains of gold and silver on Luzon?"

Qu Rukui pinched his beard and smiled a little wryly.

"Actually, it's not difficult, as long as you can spend some money to settle the relationship between the upper and lower levels, and let the official in charge of this matter tell the court for you, then it will naturally be useful."

Matteo Ricci was stunned for a moment.

"Originally, this kind of thing is not the same, you can say more, but there is no way, this is the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, and the officialdom of your country is similar, right?"

Hearing Qu Rukui say this, Matteo Ricci remembered his own life in his childhood, and nodded involuntarily.

"It seems that the whole world is the same, except for Myanmar."

Qu Rukui was stunned for a moment.

"Myanmar? You mean, Zhennan Hou Xiao Ruxun is there? ”

Matteo Ricci nodded: "Yes, Taisu, I have lived in Myanmar for three years, working for General Xiao, there is no such thing in the cities under General Xiao and the officials under him, I have never seen General Xiao punish his officials for corruption and bribery, but he has punished many treacherous businessmen who have been denounced by officials for wanting to bribe officials, and these businessmen have been beaten." ”

Qu Rukui frowned, and said slowly: "The old man remembers that Burma Town is a military town, and Xiao Town, Nanyong Town, Burma, which is basically his private territory, if you want to talk about officials, they should all be the officials of the Hou Mansion, not official officials of the Ming Dynasty, at most they are officials, and they are recruited and arranged by the Hou Mansion itself."

How? Xiao Zhennan is extremely strict, and his officials dare not be corrupt? No matter how strict it is, how can it be strict? The founding ancestor of my dynasty treated officials as if they were enemies, and he peeled his skin and cramped when he embezzled sixty taels of silver, and in the past thirty-one years, he has killed many more officials than executed prisoners, and he has not been able to stop corruption?

Corruption has existed since ancient times, and the emperors of all dynasties have hated corruption, but who can solve it? No one has ever been able to solve it, as strong as Taizu, it is only temporarily contained, and the death of people is the political rest, how strong is Zhang Juzheng? Not the same failed to solve? I'm afraid that only under the rule of three generations can the road not be left unturned, and the night will not be closed! The world is declining, and people's hearts are not ancient! ”

Qu Rukui sighed and sighed.

"Not really, General Xiao gave the officials in his Hou Mansion a very high salary, much more than what I got in my hands, and there are various rewards every Chinese festival, and I have a lot of them, not to mention those officials, some officials with very good political achievements are estimated to get more money than some businessmen."

Matteo Ricci would think about his comfortable days in Myanmar.

Although it was a little depressed, I really didn't have to worry about eating, drinking, or wearing, and even ice cubes were available, which was very comfortable.

"Oh? Xiao Zhennan has a lot of money, he studied the politics of the former Song Dynasty, and raised officials? But that's not enough, right? There is a Song generation of officials who have a high crown of ancient and modern, and it is incomparable to the Ming Dynasty, but there is a Song generation of officials who are greedy for ink has not been reduced at all, which is inevitably too wide, Xiao Zhennan is a military general, I don't know much about political affairs, and the people of Myanmar are suffering! ”

Qu Rukui stroked his beard and sighed.

"No, Taisu, although General Xiao gave a very high salary, but at the same time, there is an official office called the Audit Office in each city, which directly obeys General Xiao, and General Xiao told me that this official office is specially used to audit taxes, and there are some people in it who are specifically responsible for reviewing the income and expenditure of local officials.

As soon as these people found out that officials were corrupt, they immediately reported it to General Xiao, and this situation had occurred three times in the previous three years, and the fate of those three officials was miserable, and then there was no official corruption, and those officials did not have the power to collect taxes.

The power to collect taxes is in the hands of the Audit Office, and then the city administrator gives General Xiao a detailed list of expenses that need to be spent, and after General Xiao approves it, the Audit Office will allocate funds to the administrator, but the administrative officials can send people to supervise the whole process of tax collection by the Audit Office, and if the Audit Office is found to have evaded taxes, they can also report it to General Xiao immediately. ”

"This ...... This is a two-phase check and balance, the local administration can't manage the local tax, and the local tax can't manage the local administration, but the two can supervise each other and report each other, the local administration needs to use money and needs to apply to Xiao Zhennan, Xiao Zhennan will order the appropriation of the audit office when he allows it, and the two checks and balances will be checked by each other, and the dominant power will be attributed to Xiao Zhennan himself, which is a good system. ”

Qu Rukui was slightly surprised.

"The use of taxes and taxes is completely in Xiao Zhennan's own hands, which controls the money, so that local officials and people from the Audit Office can supervise each other and not let each other go, which controls people again, Xiao Zhennan's move is really another old man's eyes, this martial artist is not simple, no wonder he can Yongzhen Myanmar."

Matteo Ricci smiled happily: "I also think this is very good, General Xiao also said that he thinks that the reason why China's corruption problem is serious is that the income of officials is too low, and the income of officials is too low, especially some low-level officials, who are so low that they can hardly live."

This is to force officials to be corrupt, not corrupt even life is a problem, no wonder officials want to be corrupt, General Xiao also said, officials hold power, their own status is very high, but see that those who are not as good as their own businessmen and even wealthy civilians live better than themselves, it is inevitable that the heart is unbalanced, plus the power in hand, will often be begged, then corruption is inevitable.

If the official's salary is high enough for the official to live well, then the official's resistance to corruption will naturally be higher, but this is not good, because if the power of supervision is not enough, the official is fearless, and the power in his hands will become lawless and more terrible over time.

However, if officials are given strong supervision on the premise that they can have a well-to-do life, and if they know that if they are corrupt, they will not only lose their current good life, but also lose their lives, then officials will naturally develop a relatively strong resistance to corruption. ”