Chapter 181: The Heart of Anti-Corruption

The Great Song Dynasty in history, whether it is political economy or military culture, has reached the peak of feudal society. However, in the past 300 years, the Song Dynasty has been repeatedly invaded by foreign tribes, from the early confrontation between the Liao and Song dynasties, to the Jin annihilation of the Northern Song Dynasty in the middle period, and then to the unification of the Yuan Dynasty later, almost never stopped. It is undeniable that the emphasis on literature over military force was one of the reasons for the Song Dynasty's long-term invincibility in foreign wars, but the military strength of the Great Song Dynasty was not as vulnerable as later generations imagined. The root of the repeated defeats of the Great Song Dynasty in foreign wars lies in the thoughts of the Song Dynasty emperors, especially the ideas of the two emperors in the early days of the founding of the country.

Song Taizong once said, "If the country has no external worries, there must be internal troubles." External worries can be prevented; However, if it is an internal trouble, it is deeply terrifying. The emperor's intentions are always guarded to this. ”

From this sentence, it can be seen that Emperor Taizong's thinking is very clear, external worries are only small things, which can be defended, and internal problems are big problems. But it was this so-called preventable triviality that ultimately led the Song dynasty to ruin.

And the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty, Song Taizu, since the Chenqiao Mutiny, is most worried about his generals to come to the yellow robe again, so Emperor Taizu gradually relieved a group of generals with heavy troops. It is better to accumulate more gold treasures, buy good fields and beautiful houses, and sing and dance girls all year round. ”

These generals are worried about the emperor's suspicion even if they are idle at home, although they are born in the army, but they have a political acumen, they accurately understand the emperor's meaning, too clean and self-righteous will be suspected of having a heart of disobedience, so they have to "show" in the court, have become inactive, willing to degenerate, become a corrupt official who does nothing, at first everyone is just pretending, but later found that the more greedy they are, the more self-deprecating, the more assured the emperor is, over time, these generals have become out of control, The inferior roots of human beings have also been revealed, and they have gradually become accustomed to corruption, and even the founding general Shi Shouxin and Wang Quanbin, who have made outstanding military achievements, have changed from "benevolent generals" to corrupt officials who do all kinds of evil. However, Emperor Taizu was happy in his heart, he thought that once these officials were greedy for money, they would not plot against the Zhao family, so they turned a blind eye, so from the beginning of the Song Dynasty, an atmosphere of corruption [***] was formed.

Emperor Taizu's idea of governing the country is simply to "exchange [***] for military power", in a sense, it is also very effective, at least in the 300-year historical process of the Song Dynasty, there has not been a similar incident of "yellow robe". However, there are pros and cons in the world, and from another point of view, Emperor Taizu's thinking is undoubtedly suicide with a slow surname, so that China's development has since become a long downward line, and it has lasted for nearly a thousand years, and the price is too great.

Most of the later emperors of the Song Dynasty adhered to this idea, and the military generals could not be dominant, and how could they be overshadowed by high merit. This made the border wars of the Song Dynasty continuous, tired of defense, and even a few generals who occasionally turned the tide did not die well. With the rise of other neighboring countries, the territory of the Song Dynasty became smaller and smaller, and in the late Southern Song Dynasty, it could only rely on the Yangtze River natural danger to favor the safe side.

"Alas!" I read the information left by the emperor again in the imperial study, and I couldn't help but sigh. These records and documents left by the first emperor are all things that are not passed down by the imperial family, and their credible surnames should be very high, which is far from being comparable to the historians who wrote history by order.

History is a mirror, and for future generations, it does not matter whether it is true or not, the key is that future generations must draw experience and learn lessons from it, so as to avoid the mistakes of their predecessors. And I can not only see the past, but also know the future, so I know more clearly what history tells me about the future.

"Official, it's late, tomorrow is still coming, let's rest early." Quan Jiu saw that my mood was a little depressed, and he persuaded carefully.

"Well, Jiu'er, I'll rest."

I lay in bed and thought about the Ombudsman again, and then I fell asleep in a daze.

At the end of the meeting, Ye Mengding, the secretary of the ministry, said: "Your Majesty, Chen Wenlong has returned to Beijing and is waiting for the decree outside the door. ”

When I calculated, it was time to come back, and turned to Xiao Qi and said: "Xiao Qi, let Chen Wenlong go to the apse to discuss the matter together after the meeting, and call Ruan Dengbing to participate in it." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Xiao Qi replied in a low voice.

"Retreat."

I sat on the main seat of the conference table in the apse, and watched these important officials of the court walk in one by one according to their taste, Jia Rudao was the first, and Chen Wenlong was the last to enter the house.

"Sit down."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"I am calling you to meet here today for two main things to announce, and before making the announcement, I will first talk about the reasons, both of which are related to the corruption of officials in our DPRK. You all know very well that at present, the state treasury of our dynasty is strapped for money and cannot make ends meet, and the reason for this is that, in addition to the continuous wars and huge costs, officials at all levels are filling their own pockets, and this is also an important reason for the scarcity of the state treasury. At previous court meetings, I said that we would open up sources and reduce expenditures, but if we do not control the corruption of officials, the wealth that everyone has worked so hard to accumulate for the treasury will easily be lost. Moreover, corruption [***] will also cause a series of adverse reactions, making the people complain greatly and social instability increases. So I've made up my mind this time to solve this problem. ”

I looked at the officials who were speechless, and said coldly: "Ladies and gentlemen, first of all, think about it, how is your fortune compared to the previous dynasty? Except for Lu Xiufu, Chen Wenlong and others who have just become officials, most of you have solid family backgrounds, yes or no? You know it, and I know it too. Where does most of this income come from? I know that too. However, I will not investigate the origin of your family background, and here, I will give you all a reassuring pill first, and let the past pass. However, I no longer want the same thing to happen in the future, and all of you are the pillars of our dynasty, so today's meeting is to discuss with you how to fight corruption and promote integrity. ”

As a traverser, I am particularly unaccustomed to officials abusing their power for personal gain. In later generations, many officials' meal money was equivalent to the expenses of poor families for a year or even several years. I once heard a story, that is a businessman in order to get a bridge project, went to the capital to bribe the relevant officials, he carried two credit cards with a limit of 250,000 yuan, the businessman thought that a meal in any hotel would be enough, but did not expect a meal, two cards at the same time to blow up and owe the hotel tens of thousands, so he could only hide in the toilet and secretly call, call a local friend, bring money to pay. Of course, the effort pays off, and the businessman later got the project. However, businessmen are all profit-oriented, and the extra money spent will naturally be earned from it, so they cut corners, shoddy, and eventually become a catastrophe.

As a result of the transaction of money and power, someone will always pay for it, and in the end, the payers are all political axes, and the beneficiaries are all individuals.

I continued: "Ladies and gentlemen, please tell us what you think. Today, I am discussing with you, and if you have different opinions, you can put forward that this matter is a major matter related to the stability of our dynasty, and I hope to reach a consensus with all of you. ”

Seeing that everyone was silent, Ye Mengding took the lead and said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that this matter is feasible and imperative, otherwise it is very likely to cause the gap between the rich and the poor in our dynasty to become wider and wider, causing social turmoil." The minister remembered that during the period of Taizong of our dynasty, the Wang Xiaobo riot in Shuzhong was due to the local county order Qi Yuanzhen embezzling the disaster relief grain allocated by the imperial court, which caused the people to live poorly, and was instigated by Wang Xiaobo and other people with ulterior motives, and the people were extremely angry, which caused a large-scale riot. The grain money that Qi Yuanzhen embezzled in that county was far less than the price spent by the imperial court to suppress the riot, and it was completely worth the loss. ”

Lu Xiufu, Chen Wenlong and others have low official positions, although they have already supported it in their hearts, but it is not good to speak first, at this time, seeing Ye Mengding taking the lead in making a gesture, they also echoed and said: "The ministers also agree with Lord Ye." ”

Immediately, Jiang Wanli, Zhao Kui, Ma Tingluan and others also expressed their support for my anti-corruption proposal.

The eyes of everyone who expressed their posture squinted in unison, and they all looked at Jia Nidao, and Liao Yingzhong, who did not express his position, Weng Yinglong and the others also looked at Jia Nidao.

I also looked at Jia Ru with a smile and said, "Master, what do you think?" ”