Murong Chong originally thought that Lin Ruo would let Leng Shu, who had already been photographed, come to the palace to deliver the letter, and according to the news that Wu Yi had sent back from Wuxian and Wumo, among the three, Lin Ruo obviously trusted Leng Shu the most. However, so far, Murong Chong still hasn't figured out that the second killer in the world with blood on his hands would be willing to become a woman's escort - although this woman's courage is not comparable to ordinary people.

Lin Ruo already knew the identities of Traceless and Inkless, and Murong Chong was sure of this. As for whether the two brothers were tricked by Lin Ruo without knowing what clues, he was not worried. Therefore, he did not ask in detail why Wumo was sent by him.

After opening his heart and talking in detail that day, he had much less hostility and prejudice towards Lin Ruo, but his curiosity about Lin Ruo became deeper and deeper.

Wumo waited aside, without Murong Chong's order, he didn't ask more, and he didn't take a second look.

The study was extremely quiet, except for the sound of Murong Chong tearing open the brown brown brown paper envelope.

But when the envelope was opened, there were two letters inside, one with "a radical cure" and the other with "a perfunctory method". When weighed, the two letters were about the same thickness.

Murong Chong unconsciously had Lin Ruo's playful smile in his mind, and after a little thought, he put aside the envelope with "Perfunctory Method" written on it, and first opened the envelope of "Radical Cure Plan".

Shaking off the thick letter paper, there was only one sentence written on the first page: I knew you would read this letter first!

Murong Chong was stunned in his heart, he didn't expect his mind to be guessed by this girl! Curious, I turned the first page and began to read the official content:

"Mencius Xingwang said: 'The people are precious, the community is secondary, and the monarch is light.'" Water conservancy is the foundation of people's livelihood and a major matter of the country. If the water is prosperous, the country will be prosperous; If the water conservancy, the country will die. In all dynasties, the Holy Lord Yongjun has known this way. The matter of water conservancy is related to the social welfare of thousands of years, but it is also an important channel for the ministers and officials to enrich their private pockets. ”

Murong Chong nodded as he watched. What Lin Ruo said, in one sentence. Everyone knows that Haiba and Haitang are related to a century-old foundation, and the imperial court will never allow it to be lost. But it is precisely because of this that officials at the bottom either took the opportunity to make false reports to defraud the state treasury of money, or cut corners to enrich their own pockets, resulting in continuous accidents in the sea dam and sea pond. The imperial court spent a lot of money on building and repairing, but it was always fruitless. If someone really counts the accounts of the sea pond and sea dam from the date of construction to the present, they will find that the silver money filled in this bottomless pit of the national treasury is enough to build a series of pure silver sea dams and sea ponds.

However, no one has ever calculated this account, and even if the emperor is determined to check it, it will end up without a problem because of the complicated and cumbersome accounts.

But in the final analysis, the greed of officials in power everywhere is only one of the important reasons, and another important reason lies in the political structure of the country as a whole.

Not only the Donglu Kingdom, since the formation of the long feudal era, the political structure of all dynasties in the land of China has been the same: the emperor who holds the power of the state at the top, the officials at all levels who serve the emperor and maintain the operation of the empire at the next level, the common people at the bottom, and an extremely large political group sandwiched between officials and the people: officials.

Before Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms and established the first feudal centralized state, there was no such a large number of "officials". Because under the feudal system, Zhou Tianzi did not have a relatively centralized royal power, and each prince and doctor had their own fixed hereditary territory, and the one who managed the land and the people for the doctor was the retainer, and the retainer had more personal dependence on the doctor, and the doctor's control over the retainers was usually very strong, and the relationship between the officials in later generations was very different.

But Qin Shi Huang changed all that. He "fought for the sixth time, vibrated the long strategy and won the universe, swallowed two weeks and died the princes, performed the supreme and controlled the Liuhe, and whipped the world by beating and fluttering", and then "abolished the way of the first king, burned the words of a hundred schools", "the famous city, kill the heroes, collect the soldiers of the world, gather the Xianyang, sell the Fengdi, cast the twelve golden people, and weaken the people of the world" (1). From this point on, the official system began to be institutionalized, systematized, and functional, officials were no longer hereditary, and the power of local rulers began to be short-lived.

At the same time as the power of officials weakened, in order to strengthen the emperor's ruling power over the locality, he inevitably needed another class of troops to assist the officials in the management of the locality.

As for the classification of officials, it is quite complicated, and each functional organization has a variety of official positions to deal with the daily affairs of the organization.

Some people say: For a feudal empire, officials discuss politics in temples, and officials govern in rivers and lakes.

The operation of the state administrative organs cannot be maintained without the huge group of officials, such as taxation, military service, social security management, and various state policies, and the ultimate implementers at the grassroots level are all grassroots officials.

But such a large and important political group had a very low social status, and in some cases was even inferior to the common people they governed: for the elite at the top of the power, they were treacherous and cheating villains; For the people at the bottom, they are the minions of the tiger. The petty officials usually become rats who wear bellows, and the two ends are not people. There is no hope of jumping into the official class, and the economic income is also very low, so there is no future and no "money". Not only that, but they also have to bear many responsibilities, urging taxes, arresting bandits, and so on, and so on, which often leads to the absurdity of agricultural work, a serious drag on the family, and the separation of wives.

The "Errand Law" has been in force for thousands of years, and although there have been slight changes, and petty officials have a small chance of entering the officialdom, the entire system has not been greatly innovated. It was not until later that Wang Anshi of the Song Dynasty changed the law and proposed to replace the "errand service law" with the "conscription law", which brought a great change. However, after Wang Anshi stepped down, the "Errand Service Law" was restored, which is of course a later story.

So, selfishly wanting to live a better life, those little officials with flexible brains began to use the power in their hands to turn themselves over.

For example, the officials in charge of dredging the waterways were able to get more oil and water only if they had such envoys frequently, and the local officials could also ask the imperial court for more appropriations. As long as the matter is not serious, such gray income can continue forever. It's a pity that people's hearts have always been insatiable, and they have been using this method for many years to make money, and one day, even if they want to dredge the waterway, it will be difficult to reach the sky. At this time, a heavy rain and a high tide will cause a tragedy of waterways collapsing, dams destroying fields, and destroying lives.

If you want to cure this problem, you must make an example of the chickens and monkeys, so as to set an example.

Murong Chong looked at the words on the paper intently, turned another page, and the third piece of paper was illustrated with pictures and texts about how to punish this group of deceitful officials:

Cast two ten-pound copper locks, and after the officials who dredged the waterways entered from one end of the waterway, they locked the iron railing of the waterway with the copper locks, so that the officials could not escape from this end. Then he ordered the servants to walk in the waterway, and the inspector walked on the ground with the servant who carried another brass lock, and reached the exit at the other end of the waterway, and locked the exit. If the waterway is clear, the servant will surely be able to get out of the exit smoothly; If the waterway is blocked, then the officials will suffer the consequences when the next water dynasty hits.

Everyone explains that they are greedy for money and profit, but if all this is compared with their lives, these death-fearing officials will definitely choose the latter - their lives are gone, what is the use of money?

In this way, first, we can pull out the cancer of corrupt officials and corrupt officials to defraud the treasury of money, second, we can reduce the man-made floods and man-made disasters, and third, if the prince can rectify it with an iron fist, he will be able to win the hearts of the people and remove the impeachment of King Ye. Kill multiple birds with one stone, benefit the country and the people.

Note: (1) From Jia Yi's "Treatise on the Passage of Qin".

(2) For the interpretation of "officials", refer to "The Life and Death of an Empire"