Emperor Changping couldn't help but be furious when he received such a detailed explanation of the corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Emperor Changping sent personnel from the Criminal Department to detain the relevant people of the Internal Affairs Office, interrogate them in detail, and once they were verified, they began to raid the homes of these corrupt people. As a result, just what was confiscated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs shocked the entire government and the opposition.

Emperor Changping was talking to Qin Mingyue and Xiao Rui in the Imperial Study's Heart Cultivation Palace.

Emperor Changping was a little emotional: "Mingyue, look at it, how excessive the people of this internal affairs office are, for so many years, they have been in charge of palace affairs, as well as all kinds of expenses in the palace, and they have actually got so many silver coins and treasures." During this period of time alone, the things found and raided from the house added up to more than 10 million taels of silver, which was comparable to the total amount of taxes paid in the entire Lunar New Year. ”

Qin Mingyue glanced at Xiao Rui, Xiao Rui hurriedly poured him a cup of tea, and asked him to moisten his throat and dissipate his anger. At this time, Qin Mingyue spoke: "Your Majesty, the Internal Affairs Office has not been under the control of the imperial court for many years, and it is all managed by the queen of the Middle Palace. In the past, it was managed by Empress Yang, which was naturally full of loopholes, looking at the confessions of these big heads of the Internal Affairs Office, they actually embezzled more money from the palace every year, but they only took a small head, and the big head was contributed to Queen Yang, the Yang family and the abolished prince. ”

Emperor Changping was stunned for a moment, and then remembered his eldest son who had just passed away, and he had no words.

Qin Mingyue said: "If the Yang family is still there, then it is natural to take the Yang family under the knife." However, the Yang family had already been exterminated by the emperor. Didn't the remaining property of their Yang family have already been received by the emperor into the inner treasury? What else is there to be angry about? ”

"In the past few years after Empress Yang, the middle palace has been empty. However, everything in the palace is in the hands of Concubine Li Xian. Oh, it's not Li Zhaoyi anymore. Li Zhaoyi was in charge of the Internal Affairs Office at that time, but firstly, she had been in office for a short time, and secondly, she was not an official queen, so those people in the Internal Affairs Office only gave the small head to Li Zhaoyi, and the big head was taken away by a few families of the Internal Affairs Office. That's why they were able to accumulate so much wealth. ”

"Today, the queen mother manages all the affairs of the middle palace, the internal affairs office, and the harem. Niangniang, she is kind and generous, fair and strict. I was not blinded by these things sent by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but wrote to the emperor to know. Let the emperor find out these pests of the Internal Affairs Office. This is something that should be appreciated by the emperor? ”

Emperor Changping said: "Well, Mingyue, what you said makes sense. The queen is indeed good. I want to reward the queen. ”

Qin Mingyue continued: "Actually, some of the circumstances of the Internal Affairs Office are known to the ministers. Back then, the Queen Mother rewarded the ministers with everyone in the fourth child of the Internal Affairs Office. At that time, the Queen Mother was not in good health, and she had long been concerned about palace affairs, and the palace affairs were under the management of Queen Yang. Empress Yang appointed the new four families of the Internal Affairs Office and squeezed out the four families, making the four families in a difficult situation, and the Queen Mother had no way to shelter them, so she gave them all to the ministers. The minister knew some things about the Ministry of Internal Affairs from them. ”

"The Ministry of Internal Affairs manages the expenses of the harem, and only buys it, and distributes the affairs of the palace, and there are many cases where the palace concubines are shoddy and deducted. This also makes the atmosphere of the entire harem bad, and the concubines form parties for some things, and even do things to murder the emperor's heir. ”

"Now, when the queen takes office, she wants to tidy up the harem well, first of all, to bring over the atmosphere of the Internal Affairs Office, so that the harem concubines are no longer forced by some petty profits, and then they can manage the harem concubines well. Without profits, there will naturally be fewer cases of forming parties for personal gain. The palace can also be stopped, and the previous dynasty can also be smoother. If it is managed well, not to mention anything else, just in the harem, it will be able to save hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year. ”

"Actually, not only the harem, but also the former dynasty, there are also many drawbacks. It has been 200 years since the founding of our Great Zhou. Politics is deeply ill and officials are seriously corrupt. Therefore, the minister gave the emperor a note before. The first is to give officials a raise. Officials at all levels, especially some petty officials, their salaries are too low, so that they cannot rely on them to support their families, which forces them to be corrupt, or can they still drink the northwest wind? If they are given a high amount of money, then they will naturally have no excuse for corruption, and only by solving corruption can they take shape. ”

"Second, we need to deal with bloated institutions. Now there are too many bloated institutions, too many officials, and too many people in various parts of the Great Zhou, but no one has done anything. It also brings great problems to the government's expenditure. Therefore, this step is also a must. ”

"Third, it is necessary to collect taxes on the fields and businesses in the names of officials. In our Great Zhou Dynasty, like all dynasties, those who have achieved fame by studying and those who are officials will not be taxed on the land and business under their names. This makes many businessmen and large landowners in order to avoid taxes, hang their properties in the names of officials, and then the officials defend each other, take care of each other, and finally compete with the people for profit. This is not only bad for the people, but also bad for the tax revenue of the imperial court. ”

"If we tax the property of the officials in the same way, then the money that will be given to the officials will come out. High salaries and incorruptible pensions can be formed. This is a great thing that benefits the present generation and has merits for thousands of years. ”

Emperor Changping pondered for a while and said, "The three points you said are all big things. However, when it comes to the entire official level and the entire scholars, the opposition will be very loud, and it is still necessary to think about it slowly. Anyway, there is still money in the court all these years. Not to mention anything else, last time, the raid on the prince's remnants got more than 20 million taels of silver, and there were more than 10 million taels of silver left, this time, the internal affairs office of the investigation had more than 10 million taels of silver, with more than 20 million taels of silver as the foundation, although Ruier wants to reorganize the armament and use up one-third of the training, the rest should also be able to support the expenditure of officials with high salaries and honest pensions for several years. You let go first and boldly ask Xie Xiang and Yu Tianguan to work together to handle the matter of high-salary, incorruptible, and bloated institutions. After a few years, when everyone has money in their hands and is accustomed to this system, they will start to collect taxes on the property of officials, so that the opposition will be much smaller. ”

This is the old way of seeking the country. I have to say that Emperor Changping's level of governance is really extraordinary. Qin Mingyue nodded and said, "Emperor Shengming." This is indeed the right way. Well, by the way, there's one more thing. The affairs of the inner palace should be handled by the queen mother. But this court matter also has to be dealt with. The Jianyang Junwang family has left the capital. The Empress has also moved into the Middle Palace. Is it time for the emperor to censor the officials of the Jin Dynasty? These people are different from those rebels who followed the prince to rebel before. Some of these people are still talented, such as Qu Shufei's maiden father Qu Yushi, and Fei Fei's maiden father Fei Shilang. Some are purely villains, such as those of the Li family, such as when Fang. For those who are talented, the minister will be transferred to a position to continue to appoint them to see the after-effects. For pure villains, who can only be corrupt and form parties for personal gain, they must be investigated. Perhaps, the emperor's inner treasury can be more abundant. ”

Speaking of this, Qin Mingyue couldn't help laughing.