In the evening of the same day, a holy decree was sent to Nanchang, asking them to escort all the criminals who had been shuanggui to the outside of the Fengtian Hall the next morning, and after Sun Gang received the decree, he informed Liu Ziguang, Liu Ziguang said in his heart: It seems that the box of confessions still works, I am afraid that tomorrow the emperor will be angry with thunder and kill, and at that time, he will definitely not dare to persuade the hundred officials to come forward, and persuade the emperor to kill a hundred people, catch a hundred people, and let go of the small corrupt officials, so that the normal operation of the court can still be maintained, and these people will be grateful to the Marquis of Zhenwu in the future, and they will be in awe of Dade.

The next morning, the square outside the Fengtian Temple was full of prisoners, in addition to the high-level corrupt officials escorted by Nanchang, there were also a large number of middle and low-level officials detained by Dali Temple, all of whom were taken off their black yarns, stripped of their robes, their faces were blue and white, and their buns were scattered and sluggish.

Now there are not many officials who can stand on the main hall, and several high-ranking officials who were originally qualified to stand on the Fengtian Hall are kneeling outside the hall at this time, Qian Qianyi is standing in the civil official class, his handsome eyebrows are locked, and the other civil officials also have a serious face, Liu Ziguang stood in the queue of military attachés opposite, second only to Wei Guogong, but his face was full of hesitation, and he waved his mouth after the emperor ascended the palace.

When the civil and military officials arrived at Qi Zhu Youxiao, he ascended the palace in a dragon robe and a golden crown, and at this time, the accompanying eunuch beside him had been replaced by a fifteen or sixteen-year-old little doll, although he also had a clear eye for talking and doing things, but in the eyes of everyone, it was still not as neat as the former little Wei Gonggong, and then he thought that such a powerful Wei Gonggong had been completely disgraced by Liu Ziguang, and he had thought about it all day long, and everyone looked at Zhenwu Houhou's gaze, and they were a little more afraid.

The emperor ascended the throne, and the little eunuch shouted at the top of his voice: "If there is something to do, it will be played early, and there will be nothing to retreat." As soon as the words fell, Liu Ziguang and Xu Jiujing came out at the same time and said: "Your Majesty, the case of fraud on the river embankment has been basically ascertained, involving a total of 490 officials from seven yamen, including 15 people who embezzled and accepted bribes of more than 100,000 taels, 78 people who took bribes of more than 100,000 taels, 78 people who were between 10,000 taels and 100,000 taels, and the amount involved in the case was between 1,000 taels and 10,000 taels. ”

Zhu Youxiao nodded slightly and said, "The two Aiqing have worked hard, and I have my own reward when I come back." When the accompanying eunuch heard this, he threw the dust and shouted outside the hall, "Carry it in." Then I saw four royal guards carrying in a large box, which was the confession box that Liu Ziguang brought into the palace yesterday.

"I am very sad, there are so many corrupt officials in the Ming Dynasty, yesterday Liu Aiqing sent the confession into the palace, I casually read a part of it, shocking, I can't believe that this is what the officials of the Ming Dynasty can do, the river embankment project money is the money donated by the people of the world for the victims, there is also my internal money, I hope that this money can be used well in the reinforcement and new construction of the river embankment, for the people of several provinces along the river for a hundred years of safety, but such silver, they can also reach out! Do you really think I wouldn't dare to kill? ”

Speaking of this, Zhu Youxiao also slapped the armrest of the throne fiercely, and the ministers hurriedly persuaded each other: "Your Majesty, it is important to calm the anger of the dragon." Of course, Liu Ziguang also followed along to persuade him, thinking that it would be time for me to speak up immediately, and persuade the emperor to take those officials who are less corrupt lightly.

But Zhu Youxiao didn't give him this opportunity, he continued: " I thought a lot, and slowly the anger disappeared, the Ming officialdom is so dark, I also have the responsibility, I am pro-government, but two years have been busy with the southern expedition and the northern expedition to collect Shandong, Taiwan, Pinghu, Guangke, Jiangxi, change the land and return to the stream, for the officials to grasp the clean government work is not enough, the current Ming officialdom and the former eunuch party was in power, there is no difference, bribery and bribery are commonplace, it seems that bribery can not do things, this habit is cultivated, naturally any silver has to reach out, big officials are greedy, small officials are greedy, even the officials at the door of the door have to collect the door bag, only willing to pass on for the guests, this is the status quo of the Ming Dynasty。 My people are so mercenary, and I, the emperor, have to bear a certain responsibility. ”

As soon as these words came out, the ministers were shocked, and they all thought that the emperor was going to kill and cut off a group of heads, but they didn't expect people to shake their heads to learn from the sage, and the sage made an edict for himself. The emperor said that he was responsible, and the following officials naturally couldn't push 625, so they knelt down one by one and said: "The ministers are also responsible." ”

Liu Ziguang was a little depressed when he watched the monarchs and ministers enthusiastically carry out criticism and self-criticism, according to his understanding of Zhu Youxiao, he knew that this young brother-in-law couldn't say such clever words, there must be someone behind him to guide him, and see how he proceeded next.

Seeing that the atmosphere of the scene was mobilized, Zhu Youxiao said again: "After pondering all night, I also figured out a fundamental problem, that is, the officials of our dynasty are too low, and now the implementation is still the old Hongwu system, the monthly salary of the first-class officials, but eighty-seven stones, four, five or six officials, the monthly income from twenty-four stones to ten stones, seven or eight grades of officials are even less, and now the grain has been harvested year after year, and the price of grain is cheap, and the price of grain is even less, and sometimes the dignified officials are not as good as the officials who are not registered in the yamen and take the cash and monthly money, and the income of the officials in Beijing is better, and there are some foreign officials with ice charcoal and silver, especially the officials in the areas who do not reach the level, and the income is too small, so that it is difficult to support their families without corruption, so it is also a major cause of corruptionTo the cause. I decided to use the cash money in the future, the specific amount of money will be studied by the company, not too little, to be able to raise a large number of talents, now our Ming Dynasty's treasury is still full, spend money to support the Qing Dynasty, and can support this high-salary and incorruptible countermeasures, what do you think Aiqing? ”

The main hall suddenly shouted long live, the emperor is so holy is really beyond everyone's imagination, several old ministers are excited, their beards are cocked, and they can't stop praising His Majesty's virtue, saying that it is also the Ming Dynasty, the salary level of the officials is really not high, and they can't support so many wives, concubines, and maids without relying on extra money, and the corruption of servants is inevitable, not to mention the silver for repairing the river embankment, that is, the military food and military salaries to the front line are not the same, and they are not one to two percent as usual.

The salary increase is very happy news, but what is even more unexpected and surprising is still to come, Zhu Youxiao smiled reservedly, waited for the mood of the ministers to calm down a little, and said: "I have never liked killing, this Jiangdi fraud case involves a wide range of people, there are nearly 500 officials in the six ministries who are corrupt and bribed, although I am angry, but I am not ready to kill, in line with the principle of punishing the former and treating the sick and saving people, I decided to ......."

Zhu Youxiao waved his hand, and the four Imperial Forest soldiers carried the big box containing the confession out of the Fengtian Palace, opened the snowflake-like confession and poured it out, and piled it up into a small mountain in front of the main hall, and the Imperial Forest Army lit the pile of paper with torches, and the flames burned to the old height, and in less than a moment, they all turned into ashes, and the gray-black confetti flew all over the sky like an evil butterfly.

Zhu Youxiao burned the confessions that Nanchang and Dali Temple had worked hard to sort out, showing that he had pardoned the crimes of the corrupt officials, how to not make the corrupt officials grateful, and how not to let the bigwigs in the court deeply feel the maturity and wisdom of the emperor. If the 490 officials kneeling below are really cut down, then the vitality of the officialdom in the capital will be injured, and there will be no three or five years to recover, besides, there are many people who receive money according to the routine, and they are not deliberately extorting bribes, if they make themselves spotless, they will not be able to mix in the officialdom, so they are very worthy of sympathy.

Originally, the bigwigs were holding back their strength today, ready to persuade the emperor to take these people lightly, they were afraid that the emperor would repeat the old things of Hongwu in the past, wantonly kill ministers, and hurt the foundation of the imperial court. But the emperor's decision was more perfect than they expected, listening to the sound of crying with joy outside the hall, the bigwigs exchanged glances with each other, secretly picked their thumbs in the sleeves of their robes, and praised the sage of today, Zhu Youxiao was also very satisfied when he saw this scene, and shook his head complacently, saying in his heart that Mr. Huang is really a master, and the idea of helping me is good.

The only thing that was depressed was that Liu Ziguang didn't catch a word of the lines he prepared, saying that all of them were robbed of the limelight by Zhu Youxiao, he originally planned to be a good person, but now he has no chance, since he can't be a good person, then he simply does the wicked person to the end, forget it, he went out of the class and said: "Your Majesty, there are extenuating people among the criminals, and there are also people who are extremely evil, how can they all be pardoned, so doesn't it encourage the atmosphere of corruption." ”

Zhu Youxiao said: "Liu Aiqing, Mo is anxious, I haven't finished punishing the past before, it's not that the past is not to blame, among the 490 criminal officials, the corruption is more than 100,000 taels, and the Dali Temple will strictly deal with the corruption in accordance with the law, and the officials who embezzle less than 100,000 taels will hand over the stolen money and be fined ten times, and then sentenced to the corresponding sentence according to the law, but they don't have to serve their sentences in prison, and they can be reinstated with shackles, and they can be regarded as doing their best for the court. ”

Liu Ziguang thought to himself, but this hand was playing beautifully, he had nothing to say, and could only say perfunctorily: "Your Majesty, Shengming." ”

Seeing Liu Ziguang eating deflated, Qian Qianyi secretly sneered on the other side, and at the same time nodded with satisfaction: Mr. Nan Lei is really a master.