Su Keji, who listened to it, took the initiative to confiscate the family property, Ma Qi and Wang Ji couldn't help but secretly praise, this Su Keji's reaction was not slow, he deliberately showed Zhenwu that it was impossible for him to be greedy for so many bribes, which was a typical retreat.

Although the state and county officials were a little uneasy, they were not too worried, they had falsely reported the amount of extortion, but this was simply a confused account, even if they did not copy so much silver, they could not be accused of false reporting, in so many years, Su Keji may have been squandered, or transferred, who can say clearly?

Zhenwu glanced at everyone, then stared at Su Keji, and said: "As a feudal official, you don't want to repay the emperor's kindness, but you are blindly greedy, how can you ever put the imperial court discipline in your eyes?" After a slight pause, he said in a deep voice: "Temporarily put Su Keji in prison, and immediately send people to confiscate all Su Keji's family property in Taiyuan and Jingshi." ”

Ma Qi and Wang Luo hurriedly bowed down and said, "The slave obeys the order." ”

Su Keji knew that he was not spared, and he hated these officials of Daozhou and County who fell into the well, and at the moment, he kowtowed quite a single and said: "Slave thanks to the emperor's grace." As he spoke, he took off his top and kowtowed three times, before he said in a deep voice: "The slave has the emperor's grace, the crime is unforgivable, and today's end is all self-inflicted, but the Shanxi officials are not the only slaves, Shanxi's nine prefectures, six prefectures, eighty-seven counties, all the prefectures and counties are in deficit, and the officials of the prefectures and counties bribe the slaves in order to conceal the deficit." ”

Zhao Fengzhao knelt down first and said: "Your Majesty, Su Keji is spewing blood, deliberately confusing the public, trying to expand the case, evading punishment, and praying for the emperor to investigate." ”

Su Keji immediately raised his voice and said: "Your Majesty, the criminal ministers are already in a catastrophe, why should they escape?" Your Majesty, the rule of officials is fundamental. Otherwise. No matter how good the new policy is, it is in vain, and the guilty ministers earnestly pray that the emperor will vigorously rectify the rule of officials and protect my Qing dynasty for thousands of generations. ”

None of the officials in the audience expected that Su Keji would drag them into the water together, and there was a way to take a bite and get three points into the bone, not to mention that his own boss bit back, and everyone couldn't help but be terrified. Seeing this situation, Ma Qi and Wang Luo couldn't help but look at each other, not knowing how to speak.

Zhenwu didn't expect such a situation, he really didn't expect that Shanxi's deficit would be so serious, and he couldn't help but glance at Su Zhan, the political envoy, and Su Zhan was in a cold sweat at this glance. He didn't think that things would turn out like this, so he knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, the servants are clean and self-conscious, don't dare to be corrupt, don't dare to exceed the rules, pray to the emperor to investigate." ”

Hearing this, Zhenwu also looked at Su Keji again. Moaned slightly. Only then did he wave his hand and said, "Fork out." ”

Su Keji was already out of the way, and immediately said loudly: "Your Majesty." What the slave said, every sentence is true, if there is half a lie, the heavens and the earth will be destroyed. Before he could finish speaking, the two guards had already carried him out.

After this twist and turn, Zhenwu was also in the mood to speak, glanced at everyone, and said: "Zhao Fengzhao, the prefect of Taiyuan, was involved in bribery and bribery, and left his home to be investigated. ”

Zhao Fengzhao is also leaving the post to be investigated? The hearts of all the officials couldn't help but sink, isn't this a fifty board each, what does Zhenwu mean? Su Zhan, the political envoy, raised the old high when he was on the spot, for fear that Zhenwu would hit his head.

Zhenwu's interest was obviously a little low, and he glanced at everyone silently, and was silent for a long time before he said, "Kneel down." ”

When he returned to the internal office, before he could sit down, a guard came in and bowed down and reported: "Your Majesty, Ma Qi, Wang Luo, Yu Xu, and Fang Bao are asking to see you outside." ”

"Let them in." Zhenwu casually ordered, knowing very well in his heart that a few people also estimated that Shanxi's deficit was too powerful, and specially came to find out, this matter did make him a little entangled, at first he was unwilling to check the deficit at this time, the reason why Ma Qi and Wang Luo strictly investigated was to take into account that when Kali left office, Shanxi's deficit had been smoothed out, and it was only a few years, even if there was a deficit, it could not be too big, and the review of Su Keji's corruption case must also involve Shanxi's deficit.

Today, Su Keji and a group of officials from Daozhou and counties ate dogs, and said in one sentence that Shanxi's nine prefectures, six prefectures, and eighty-seven counties, all of which were in deficit, really shocked him.

Ma Qi, Wang Luo, Yu Xu, and Fang Bao came quickly, and after coming in to salute, they got up and stepped forward to kneel, Zhenwu waved his hand, and said lightly: "No courtesy, sit down." ”

The four of them sat down, and then he said, "What do you think about today's matter?" ”

Ma Qi groaned slightly, and then spoke: "Back to the emperor, the servants secretly thought that what Su Keji said should be true, and the deficit situation in Shanxi is afraid that it is very serious. ”

Seeing that no one answered, Fang Baocai groaned and said: "Your Majesty, if the deficit in Shanxi is serious, once it is vigorously investigated, it will easily lead to unstable people's hearts. ”

Wang Luo said: "Weichen secretly thinks that Su Keji is right, the rule of officials is fundamental, no matter how good the new policy is, it must be implemented by officials, if it is implemented by a group of corrupt officials and cool officials, it is tantamount to harming the people." ”

Ma Qi listened to the secret slander, Zhenwu has only been on the throne for a year, only quiet for half a year, after the change of the yuan, he will continue to make big moves, if this moment throws out another rectification of the rule of officials, clean up the deficit, the government and the opposition will not be in a mess? He immediately said: "At present, Jiangnan is vigorously promoting the apportionment into the mu, and the gentry have a great reaction to this. ”

"Wechen disagrees." Wang Luo immediately said: "If the Shanxi deficit case is not revealed, it is naturally not appropriate to make extraneous branches, but now that the Shanxi deficit case has been poked out, there is no reason to cover it up!" Otherwise, provincial officials will increase the scale of the deficit, and within a few years, it will grow to the point where it is difficult to return. ”

"There are priorities, how can we generalize." Ma Qi also said without showing weakness: "At the beginning of the emperor's reign, he should only be stable and supreme, clean up the deficit, rectify the rule of officials, and postpone it for a year or two. ”

Seeing that the two of them were in an uncontrollable posture, Zhenwu couldn't help coughing lightly, stopped the two from continuing to argue, and then looked at Fang Bao and said, "What do you think?" ”

"Back to the emperor." Fang Bao bowed slightly and said: "The imperial court also vigorously rectified the rule of officials when it tried to apportionment into the mu in Guangdong, and the micro-ministers thought that there was no conflict between the two, but it was just necessary to properly control the scope, however, Taiyuan was not only trying to appraise the ding into the mu, but also the gentry were on an errand and paid for grain, the gentry supervised local officials, and abolished the consumption of envy and other measures. ”

"It's not entirely impossible for a minion." He is now the temporary acting governor of Shanxi, which made him see the opportunity to enter the cabinet and worship the prime minister, this opportunity is the new policy, Zhenwu likes innovation, which is famous, the trial of the new policy can be described as an absolute big deal, not only to stabilize the income of the court, but also to weaken the power of the gentry, and it is also part of the rectification of the rule of officials, whether it is the gentry to supervise local officials or abolish the consumption of envy, it is from the system, the root to prevent official corruption.

Moreover, Zhenwu also made it clear that the new policy should be vigorously promoted, and he naturally wanted to seize this opportunity, if he could ensure the smooth promotion of the new policy in Shanxi, when the new policy was promoted throughout the country, that is, when he entered the cabinet to pay respects, he naturally had to vigorously support it.

After a slight pause, he continued: "Your Majesty, the Shanxi gentry are rich, but they are different from the Jiangnan gentry, the Shanxi gentry mainly rely on commerce and trade to accumulate wealth, and most of their children abandon literature and business, although they have money, but they have no status, in order to win status, they can only pay donations and bribe local officials.

The imperial court now has abundant national strength and has not been opened for many years, and the only way for the Shanxi gentry to win status is to bribe local officials, which is the fundamental reason why the corruption of Shanxi officials is prevalent in other provinces.

As the saying goes, the mouth of eating people is soft, and the hands of people are short, and if they want to try out the new policy in Shanxi, the slaves secretly think that the existing local officials must be replaced, and furthermore, the gentry of the new policy supervise the local officials, and abolish the two articles of consumption and envy, which will inevitably be greatly welcomed by the Shanxi gentry, and there will not be much resistance.

At present, there are quite a few prisoners stranded in Shanxi to supervise disaster relief matters, and it is entirely possible to get the prisoners to cooperate, clean up the deficit, rectify the administration of officials, and carry out the new policy on a trial basis at the same time, and the new policy can not be limited to Taiyuan Prefecture, but can be tried out throughout Shanxi. ”

Ma Qi said in a deep voice: "With such a large-scale trial of the new policy in Shanxi, isn't it worried about causing panic in other provinces?" Nowadays, Jiangnan is implementing the spread of land into acres, and gradual progress is the right way. ”

"Shanxi is prosperous in commerce and trade, Jin merchants are all over the north and south of the river, and there is no difference between the Taiyuan trial and the Shanxi provincial trial." Yu Xu said without showing weakness.

Wang Luo also immediately said: "In fact, the apportionment into the mu and the gentry are integrated to pay grain, and the one errand is in the same line, and there is no need to divide it into two implementations." ”

Fang Bao is also in favor of the trial in Shanxi Province, in this way, the pressure on him will be greatly reduced, the trial of the new policy is undoubtedly a matter of offending the gentry of the whole world, he does not want to be criticized by the gentry of the world, if it is a comprehensive trial in Shanxi, this reputation can be said to be the governor of Shanxi in front.

After a little hesitation, he spoke: "At the beginning of the emperor's reign, officials all over the world were waiting and watching, and since the Shanxi deficit case has been stabbed, it must be strictly investigated, which is not only related to the emperor's reputation, but also to the emperor's purpose of governing the country.

Since it is a comprehensive clean-up of the deficit, the rectification of the administration of officials can naturally take advantage of the trend, and it is also logical to try out the new policy, so it is better to simply carry out an all-round development in the whole territory of Shanxi, rectify the administration of officials, and try out the new policy, which is not only thorough, but also saves manpower, material and financial resources. (To be continued.) )