Suddenly, a wave of resignations of officials broke out in Jingshi.

After the announcement of the Beijing Chacha, in just a few days, a large number of officials resigned in various yamen of the Beijing Division. All sorts of reasons, sickness, family illness, etc., in short, quitting your job.

Yuan Jixian, the first assistant of the cabinet, couldn't help but be alarmed by the increasingly violent tide of resignation, and asked his subordinates to make a statistical report and hurriedly entered the palace to report to the emperor.

After Liu Jun saw Yuan Jixian, he did not receive the ruling report, and he had already received a report from Jinyiwei in Dongchang about this matter. It soon became clear what was the cause of the tide.

Yuan Jixian believes that these officials who have resigned have problems, and they are now resigning because they want to evade the assessment of the Beijing inspection and evade investigation, and he advocates that measures should be taken immediately to focus on investigating these officials who are about to resign, especially their economic problems. He said to the emperor, "Seeing that the New Year is coming in a few days, all the officials have to seal the holiday, and at this time they resign, and they don't even want double salaries at the end of the year, it is obvious that there are ghosts." These people, as long as they focus on checking, they will definitely be accurate. ”

Liu Jun just smiled, "Teacher, I think this is a good thing." These people also know that they can't withstand the investigation, so they want to take the initiative to get out at this time. I think it's a good thing for the imperial court. ”

"A good thing?" Yuan Qiangxian was incomprehensible. Black is black, white is white, since you know that these people have a problem and want to escape, shouldn't they be sanctioned?

"I know that we should not and will not condone it. But there is a priority in the matter, what is the most important thing in the court at the moment, assessment, what is the most important thing in the assessment, is the assessment of the current officials, the capable are the mediocre and let the mediocre. Now that the assessment has not begun, these problematic officials have taken the initiative to withdraw first, isn't this a good thing? ”

"Now that they have taken the initiative to withdraw, the imperial court can write down these people for future reference. For these people, they can wait for the assessment to be investigated, or they can be directly handed over to the judicial department for investigation. We still have to do a good job in the current assessment, without these people, the assessment can save a lot of things and speed up a lot of processes. By the end of next spring, the national assessment will be completed, and the workload will not be small. ”

Liu Jun took out two cigars from the humidor and cut one for himself and Yuan Jixian. This is a cigar from the Americas, the Portuguese exported to the Han Dynasty, and now Portugal transferred the colonies of Malacca and Timor in the South Seas to the Han Dynasty, in exchange for a loan of 50 million silver dollars from the Han Dynasty, in exchange for merchant ships and warships, all kinds of artillery, muskets, steel, cloth and other materials, is being continuously shipped back to China.

The Portuguese were able to sell very few commodities to the Han Dynasty, namely gold, silver, all kinds of minerals, and some of their native products along the coast of the Indian Ocean. It was cigars and high-grade tobacco from the American colonies, and it became an export commodity that could earn Han silver dollars.

In addition to tobacco, whale products are also an important commodity that the Portuguese are now able to export to the Han.

Portugal has many whaling ships in the Pacific, Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and many other seas, they chase whales, hunt whales, and there are special equipment for refining fat on whaling ships. They can stay at sea for three or four years until the whale oil barrels on the ship are full.

Whale products are an extremely popular commodity in this era, whale oil can be used for lighting and lubricating oil, and whalebone can also be used as a shaping material.

Whaling at sea is hard, but it's very profitable. As long as nothing happens, the whaling ship's profit can reach fifteen percent, which is quite an attractive profit.

The Portuguese are now greatly shrinking their colonial trade across the globe, but their whaling industry has been growing. This year, the Portuguese took large loans from the Han, which turned into various orders, among which there were many orders for new ships, in addition to warships, there were many merchant ships, and there were twenty whaling ships alone.

Liu Jun smoked a cigar from the Americas, and then thought of the Portuguese whaling ship, whale oil, and then he suddenly thought that in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in history, it seemed that the whaling industry was very prosperous. At its peak, they owned eight or nine hundred whaling ships, and the richest Americans along the coast were the owners of those whaling ships.

The most dazzling dowry they gave their daughters was not silk, not porcelain, but boatloads of whale oil.

However, whale oil was difficult to meet the demand, just like the current Dahan.

Nowadays, Dahan has a great demand for lighting oil, whale oil, butter and vegetable oil and other animal and vegetable oils, but with the development of industry and commerce and urbanization, the consumption of lighting oil is quite large. The price of lighting oil has been rising and is already very expensive.

Historically, it seems that the Americans or the French later developed kerosene lamps?

The kerosene lamp does not shine on the oil refined from coal, but on the oil refined from petroleum. It seems that the refining technology of kerosene is not very difficult, that is, distillation.

And the technology of oil extraction is not difficult, the Americans later extracted oil, using the Chinese salt well extraction technology. Whether it is drilling wells, extracting oil, or distilling and refining kerosene, there seems to be no technical problem.

Maybe you should set up an oil extraction company and then build an oil refinery to refine kerosene for lighting.

How many whales can be caught in a year and how much whale oil can be refined in a year? But how much oil can be produced in a year when an oil well is drilled? And kerosene is definitely cheaper than whale oil, and the lighting doesn't smell too much.

It's easy to make a kerosene lamp.

"Your Majesty!"

Yuan Jixian said and found that the emperor was smoking a cigar but was in a daze.

"Oh, what did you say, I just thought of something else, you go ahead?"

Yuan Jixian was a little helpless, "Your Majesty, the old minister wants to ask, do you approve and agree to those officials who are resigning now?" ”

Liu Jun nodded, "As long as they resign, they all agree." ”

"Don't follow up on their problems?"

"Don't be in a hurry to check first, and after the assessment, it's too late to check again. If there is corruption and malfeasance, what should be done or what should be done, handed over to the judicial department. Of course, if it's not a big problem, just some gray income, as long as they resign, it's almost over, and there will be no fish when the water is clear. If it is really a comprehensive investigation after the fact, I am afraid that people will panic, which is not conducive to stability. ”

Those officials who resigned were more or less able to find out the problem, and in fact, as long as they were seriously investigated, there was not a single official who could not find out the problem.

But there was no need for that.

Those who are corrupt and embezzle public funds and accept bribes are relatively huge, of course, they cannot be spared, let alone resign, they will run away, and they will be arrested.

However, the vast majority of the resigned officials are not serious, and most of them are not even bribes, but can only be regarded as gray income from all kinds of side-kicks.

Now that these officials have resigned, Liu Jun can also turn a blind eye to let them go, whether they go to business or buy land, they can launder their gray income.

What Liu Jun wants to focus on is still the officials in the officialdom.

The emperor expressed his position, and Yuan Jixian had nothing to say.

On the same day, Liu Jun's decree was transmitted to all ministries, and then those officials who reported their resignation immediately received approval and agreed to resign.

Suncheonfu.

Li De sat under his porch, a little absent-minded, and today his colleagues in the yamen came to inform him of the resignation procedures. When I heard that my resignation was finally approved, I couldn't help but be overjoyed, and I was relieved, but on the other hand, I felt a little empty, and the Li family's successive generations of officials ended in his hands.

The Shuncheon Mansion is very large, and they are not all working in the same courtyard, in fact, now the Shuncheon Mansion has also divided into several sets of teams, all of which are on one side, each with its own government.

Li De belongs to the civil administration sector, and there are quite a few officials in this area, and there are also many resignations this time, and there are more than 50 resignations in their yamen alone, mainly officials.

At the beginning, there were only a few resignations, but in the past two days, there have been a lot more, and after it was reported today that they could resign, and there was no other post-liquidation and investigation, there were more than 30 resignations at once.

The above does not retain, those who come do not refuse, and anyone will resign.

Anyway, it's almost the New Year now, and it was originally going to seal the Guan Ya holiday, but now it should be that these people are on holiday in advance, and after the year, they can naturally make up for the newcomers, and they are not afraid that there will be too many people for a while, delaying things.

Everyone sat there silently, waiting for their names to be called and go in for the formalities.

"Li De!"

His name was called, and Li De hurriedly got up and walked towards the house.

The person in charge of the formalities is an old official, and he is also an old colleague with Li De.

"Brother, are you really decided?"

Li De nodded, "It's decided." ”

"Don't think about it anymore?"

Li De nodded again.

"Then sign it, then stamp the private seal, and then press the handprint." The old official handed over a few forms, and Li De took them and looked at them, all of which were some handover orders, as well as his resignation report.

Li De signed one by one, stamped it, and pressed his fingerprint.

When the handprint on the last list was pressed, Li De felt as if his body had been hollowed out all of a sudden. From now on, he is no longer a member of the yamen.

"Lao Li, hand over the keys and cards in the Yamen public house."

Li De demanded that he hand over the keys and others.

"Okay, your resignation procedures have been completed, now you can go to the financial settlement to settle your salary, there is an order above, although there are still a few days before the holiday, but you will be paid a full salary of December, and the salary bonus of one month at the end of the year will not be less, that is, the fruits and fish prepared by ourselves in our yamen do not have your share of these year-end benefits, but I believe that you are not rare in this thing, right?" The old official said with a smile.

Li De also smiled, "Then I won't continue to bother my brother, and when you are free during the New Year, I will go to your house to pay New Year's greetings and have two drinks with my brother." ”

"Okay, that's it, go slowly." The old official waved. (To be continued.) )