"I want to see Your Highness! I want to see Your Highness! I'm a student of Yanshan! I'm an official of Yanshan! ”

"Palm!"

On May 27, the eighth year of the Apocalypse, when the sound of torture and begging for mercy continued to be heard from the prisons of the Supervision Department in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, and other places, the entire north fell into an atmosphere of self-endangerment.

In the officialdom, no less than 10,000 people were beheaded by the Yellow River, no less than 30,000 officials were implicated in the crime, and more than one million family members were affected.

Even the Yanshan officials who were regarded as disciples by Zhu Youzhen had their homes robbed and beheaded, and the gentry who were constantly being raided by the people were strong and strong, and there were more than 200 grain merchants and shoddy dealers.

There are 271 families, and nearly 40,000 people are implicated.

To be precise, when the raid on these 271 merchants and shoddy dealers was over, there were 38,432 people on Zhu Youzhen's desk......

Holding the note in his hand, Zhu Youzhen was sitting in the carriage at this moment, rushing to the southernmost Daimyo's mansion in Beizhili.

Looking at the criminal document in his hand, his eyes narrowed from time to time, and he raised his head after a while, and in front of him was Lu Wenzhao kneeling in the car, Wang Chengen, the eunuch of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, and Bi Ziyan, the head of the cabinet, and Gu Bingqian, the head of the cabinet.

"This supervision found that there were 2,967 officials who committed crimes, more than 32,000 officials who committed crimes, more than 4,600 Yanshan scribes, and 271 merchants and shoddy dealers, implicating a total of more than one million people."

"Tell me, these more than a million people, should they be exiled or distributed to the factory......

When Zhu Youzhen said this, the people in the entire carriage couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts.

As the first assistant of the cabinet, can Gu Bingqian not know his Royal Highness?

Although Zhu Youzhen is lenient on the inside and strict on the outside, there is a limit to the leniency, and the officials and gentry this time have obviously touched the bottom line of their Royal Highness.

Since he mentioned the words "distribution workshop", it is obvious that in the heart of His Highness, this choice is greater than exile......

However, the number of people involved in this major case is indeed too much, and if nearly a million people are all assigned to the workshop, then later history books and people may think that His Royal Highness is a murderer.

Therefore, Gu Bingqian had to make a fuss and said:

"Your Highness, there are many people involved this time, and I have only 10,000 people in the Ming Dynasty, but there are millions of people involved this time."

"If all the workshops are distributed, then even if these people deserve it, it will make the people panic."

The people in Gu Bingqian's mouth are not just farmers who are digging in the fields, but also the gentry and merchants in other places.

"Millions of people, this is calculated according to the standard of the nine clans, but according to the opinion of the lower officials, in fact, the three clans can ......"

Gu Bingqian calculated that even if only the three clans were counted, the number of people involved in the case would be as high as 200,000.

The reason why the number has plummeted so much is also because among the people involved in the case, only the tens of thousands of officials who were killed are qualified to involve the three clans, and the rest of the officials and gentry are powerful and powerful, and the merchants and vendors are just involved themselves.

But even so, the case involving more than 200,000 people can definitely be ranked among the top ten major cases in history books.

"As for the three ethnic groups, all the main criminals were sent to the local cement labor camp for 15 years, and the rest moved to Nanzhou and Xiaoxiyang Supervision Envoy ......"

Zhu Youzhen decided the case for all the people who have been found out so far, but everyone knows very well that these more than 200,000 people are just people who have been found out in the case, and there are still many people who have not been found out hidden under the water.

"What is the result of this raid ......" Zhu Youzhen turned his head to look at Lu Wenzhao, and Lu Wenzhao immediately replied:

"Confiscated mansions and courtyards, more than 26,400 shops and villas, and 31,654,327 acres of land, of which more than 6 million acres were annexed military tun fields."

"In addition, 534,200 taels of gold, 14,320,000 taels of silver, more than 5,000,000 taels of copper coins, more than 7,700,000 stones of grain, and countless pieces of salt, iron, and jewels were also seized......

But speaking of this, Lu Wenzhao also looked up at Zhu Youzhen and said: "These are the last officials involved in the Sanniangzi case and the Shaanxi civil uprising case. ”

After saying one sentence, it also means that the civil official handle that can be used in Zhu Youzhen's hands has been exhausted.

However, the number of officials involved in the Sanniangzi case is nearly 18,000, and the Shaanxi civil uprising case involves more than 3,000 officials.

The original number of 90,000 civil and military officials in the Ming Dynasty started from the Sanniangzi case, and so far, there are only less than 70,000 civil and military officials left.

After this blow, I am afraid that the team of 2 million officials will only have less than 1.4 million people left.

The only thing that made Zhu Youzhen feel a little tired may be the nearly 5,000 Yanshan students who were also found to be corrupt.

In three years, among the 150,000 Yanshan students who graduated, one-thirty of them became the corrupt officials they had always hated in their studies, which undoubtedly made Zhu Youzhen feel a little embarrassed.

This is still found out, if you count the non-found, how many corrupt officials and corrupt officials are among the 150,000 Yanshan students? No one knows this.

Zhu Youzhen's appearance was clearly seen by Gu Bingqian, and he also said carefully:

"Your Highness, you have been rejuvenating the country for the past few years, and you are not at fault, the fault is that these people take what they shouldn't take, do what they shouldn't do, and can't resist the temptation."

"When Xia Guan first entered the official career, he also thought about doing something for the people, but everything was very difficult to do."

"At first, the lower officials didn't know why, but gradually the lower officials understood."

"Things are difficult to do, it is nothing more than because the court is not right, and there is no right or wrong in the officialdom."

"Those who do meritorious work will not necessarily be rewarded, but those who do wrong will be severely punished."

"Later, if you don't do well, it is a means for hundreds of officials to protect themselves, and this is the reason why hundreds of officials stick to the rules."

Gu Bingqian had a rare heart-to-heart relationship, and even vaguely admitted that he was also a member of the temptation that could not be resisted.

He dared to say this because he knew that His Highness had a mirror in his heart.

The imperial court's finances were insufficient, and the officials were low, so they could only make money by "moistening the pen silver" and various means.

Zhu Youzhen knew this, so although he was clamoring for the abolition of "Moistening Silver" every time, he still did not really implement it, because he knew that it was useless to abolish "Moistening Silver".

If you want to reduce the corruption of officials, you have to increase the income first, and every time the income of hundreds of officials doubles, it is an expenditure of millions of taels.

This may not sound like much, but if it is really calculated, it is a little embarrassing.

According to the standard of Yulu established in the 25th year of Hongwu, the Ming Dynasty was a first-grade official with a monthly salary of 87 stones, from the first grade to the third grade, decreasing from 13 stones to 35 stones......

Twenty-six stones from the third grade, twenty-four stones from the fourth grade, twenty-one stones from the fourth grade, sixteen stones from the fifth grade, and fourteen stones from the fifth grade......

is six products and ten stones, from six products and eight stones, from seven products to five buckets from nine products, to five stones for the ......

In the year of the Apocalypse, Zhu Youxiao followed Zhu Youzhen's words and converted the officials' money into cash.

After that, Zhu Youxiao felt that it was a little bad to fold the color all the time, after all, the price of grain had been floating, so he simply set a permanent quota according to the high price of 500 wen and one stone, and only found silver.

In this way, the monthly salary of the first-grade officials of the Ming Dynasty is forty-three taels of silver, and the nine-grade officials are twenty-two and five-dollar silver.

In this way, it seems that after the color is folded, the official's fortune is not too bad, but compared with the officials of other dynasties, it seems that it is difficult to get into the elegant hall.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen said to Bi Ziyan:

"Have you thought carefully about how to mention the matter of Yulu?"

"Your Highness, the lower officials think that my court is not low......"

Bi Ziyan's response made Zhu Youzhen frown, and Bi Ziyan also continued:

"My official of the Ming Dynasty, after the adjustment of His Royal Highness, the Zhengyi product has reached five hundred and twenty-two taels of silver a year, from the ninth grade to thirty taels of silver, and the scribe of the second ninth grade has also reached ten taels of silver."

"After calculation, it doesn't seem to be high, but my court's Yulu is not only Zhenglu, but also has rules and exemptions."

Bi Ziyan talked about "the rules and regulations are excellent rabbits", and the meaning of this word is tax exemption and exemption from military service.

That is to say, after becoming an official in the Ming Dynasty, you can not pay field tax, and you don't have to be an errand soldier.

Endowment and service are the main form of income in the Ming Dynasty, and in addition to being an official, people and talents are also exempt.

Because even if they are not officials, they are by default to be alternative officials by the imperial court, which is different from ordinary people.

Xiucai can obtain "food and food", and call up the government and private school students in various places, and the government will distribute a certain amount of food and daily necessities, which can generally meet the needs of personal life.

When you reach a certain number of years, or if you are desperate for fame, you can go directly to the local yamen to mix up officials, and there are quite a few.

However, the official in this life may not be too big, and if he doesn't enter the stream, the seven or eight grades will come to an end.

And when it comes to the preferential exemption of Huilu, this thing is not capped, but has its own level.

According to the standard of the Apocalypse, the first grade of the Beijing official is preferential and exempt from 30 ding, that is, there are 30 people in the official's family who do not need to go to the yamen to serve as an errand and serve as a servant.

In addition, Jingguan Yipin can also get 1,000 mu of "preferential exemption field", that is, 1,000 fields do not need to pay taxes.

However, this "preferential exemption" is because Zhu Youzhen often does things to officials, so the officials who are always worried that the court has no money and attack themselves will also give a little meaning to a greater or lesser extent when they are afraid of Zhu Youzhen.

In addition, in addition to preferential exemptions, there are also many gray incomes from the imperial court, including soap silver.

The so-called "soap silver" is the silver that officials hire for many years, and this errand is not the one that is generally requisitioned to be carried by the people, but the silver hired by the yamen, the squad service, and the official book.

In the Ming Dynasty, under normal circumstances, a yamen servant was given by a local official, such as the magistrate.

However, although this silver was given by the magistrate, this silver was actually given by the imperial court.

How much to give, this is given by the imperial court to the local government according to the quota.

Generally speaking, the court gave a full amount, and the silver was distributed after passing through the hands of the chief official, so it was not necessarily how much to give.

If there is a surplus, it is the gray income of the official.

For example, this year, the imperial court issued 100 taels of silver according to the number of county officials who were originally formulated, and 5 taels of silver per person, a total of 20 people.

However, since this quota was set many years ago, in fact, there were only ten servants in the county government, so the magistrate could only pay fifty taels of silver, and the remaining fifty taels of ink.

This "soap silver" is owned by Beijing officials and local officials, and the local officials' embezzlement of this silver, in fact, the imperial court also knows, but the emperors of all dynasties have turned a blind eye.

All of the above things are some of the income methods of officials that Zhu Youzhen is very clear.

However, the gray income of "soap and silver" is being killed by the "second nine grade scribes" system formulated by Zhu Youzhen, which is why he is busy raising the salary of hundreds of officials.

Bi Ziyan, who had always supported Zhu Youzhen before, suddenly stood up and sang the opposite tone this time, which made Zhu Youzhen a little puzzled, and Bi Ziyan explained:

"The lower official carefully looked through the records of the household department and the internal government in recent years, and only then did he find that my Ming officials' fortunes were not meager."

"His Royal Highness's innovation of the hundred officials is because the income of the soap and the silver has decreased sharply, but after the investigation of the lower officials, the income of the hundred officials is not only limited to the "soap and the silver""

In addition to the "soap silver", there are also "firewood", as well as the "straight hall silver" of each yamen

"Zhitang silver is different from firewood silver and soap silver, it is not issued according to the personal grade of officials, but according to the yamen."

In addition, the hundred officials also have "regular money", "annual money" and so on......"

Speaking of this, Bi Ziyan said: "Although Emperor Taizu Gao said that he would never increase his salary, my previous emperors of the Ming Dynasty have been adding money to hundreds of officials. ”

"The silver of hundreds of officials does not need to be added, but needs to be distributed as a whole, so as to facilitate calculation and monitor whether there is corruption!"

Bi Ziyan's words made Zhu Youzhen's brows tighten, and he asked: "In your opinion, from the Beijing officials and foreign officials of the ninth grade, what is the actual salary?" ”

"This is not a good calculation, but after the Jingguan Yulu from the ninth rank ordered the distribution of real silver by His Royal Highness, it should not be less than sixty taels, and the official from the ninth rank should not be less than forty taels."

Bi Ziyan responded very well to Zhu Youzhen's truth, that is, corruption is not corrupt and there is no absolute relationship between the level of salary, and there are many embezzlers raised by high salaries, and the income of officials in the Ming Dynasty is actually not low.

Just as Bi Ziyan said, what Zhu Youzhen wants to do now is not to increase the salaries of these officials, but to make overall plans for the distribution of salaries, and put an end to the chaos of the distribution of salaries, so that even Zhu Youzhen and Bi Ziyan need to investigate and explain the situation to figure it out.

The finance of the Ming Dynasty was a confused account, which Zhu Youzhen had known for a long time, but he didn't expect that the Ming Dynasty officials' fortunes would also be so confused.

Thinking of this, he took a deep breath before speaking:

"From today onwards, the rewards such as soap silver, firewood silver, straight hall silver, regular money, annual money, etc., will be abolished, and the household department will re-determine the salaries of hundreds of officials at all levels."

"Take the second nine grades and ten taels as an example, and gradually improve upwards, and hand over the music before the distribution of the hundred officials at this year."

"The subordinate officials receive the order...... Bi Ziyan responded, and Zhu Youzhen also wanted to see how much income this group of poor officials wept.

"Your Royal Highness, Xu Shangshu and Wang Shangshu ask to see ......"

Just as Zhu Youzhen and a few people were discussing the matter of the hundred officials in the carriage, Cao Bianjiao rode his horse back from the front and opened his mouth to Zhu Youzhen in the carriage.

"Xuan ......" Zhu Youzhen's originally slightly happy mood instantly sank, and he spit out a word lightly.

"Yes!" Seeing this, Cao Bianjiao immediately ordered Tang Qi to summon him, and at the same time, Zhu Youzhen also said to Wang Chengen and Lu Wenzhao:

"In three months, I want to see the brand-new Imperial Horse Supervisor and the Brocade Guard......"

"Slaves and maids obey!" The two men responded, and the carriage stopped.

Zhu Youzhen got up, Gu Bingqian and others also got up, and the group got out of the carriage, and after getting out of the carriage, they saw a big river surging down.

In his previous life, Zhu Youzhen had seen the Yangtze River, but he had no chance to see the Yellow River.

He didn't know whether the desertification in the Ming Dynasty was more serious than in later generations, or because the Ming Dynasty was in a low temperature period and was now in the Xiaoice River, the Yellow River's first feeling to him was actually inferior to some tributaries of the Yangtze River.

Seeing the rolling Yellow River flowing southward, Zhu Youzhen also saw more than a dozen officials on horseback.

They walked under the surveillance of the Xiao cavalry guards, and then turned over and dismounted, led by Wang Shunding, who had been sorry for the Qi Wang Party, and Xu Guangqi, who had a vicissitudes of life.

"His Royal Highness Chitose ......"

In the face of Zhu Youzhen, more than ten people turned over and dismounted, and except for the people of Xu Guangqi's faction, the people of Wang Shunding's faction were extremely worried.

After all, Wang Shunding and his faction are all Zhejiang Party, and the Zhejiang Party and Zhu Youzhen have a lot of grievances.

At present, the matter of the civil uprising in Shaanxi has not yet ended, and in fact, there are many tricks in the Yellow River combing project, and they are naturally a little afraid of Zhu Youzhen.

But after all, they underestimate Zhu Youzhen too much, Zhu Youzhen is not the kind of person who will kill one or a group of people who are beneficial to the country because of personal preferences.

He really doesn't like Wang Shunding and the Zhejiang Party, but he is dealing with politics with the mentality that if he can use it, he can't use it or can't use it.

Wang Shunding and the Zhejiang Party, for the time being, still have a certain amount of surplus value, and he naturally will not declare personal vendettas.

"You have done a good job of supervising the Yellow River, and I came here this time to hear how you are going to control the Yellow River, and by the way, to see how the Yellow River is being governed."

In the face of Xu Guangqi and others, Zhu Youzhen did not shy away from praising and saying the purpose of his trip.

The matter of the people's uprising in Shaanxi and the embezzlement of the people's wages by officials is not much of a problem with Xu Guangqi.

Because the wages are paid to the people by the yamen of each prefecture and county, and then a sum when the people arrive at the Yellow River, and finally the people go home to pay the last payment at the end of the construction period.

Although Xu Guangqi and Wang Shunding were responsible for the management of the Yellow River, they were actually only responsible for the overall management of the Yellow River and how the local government built the embankments.

In an easy-to-understand sentence, Xu Guangqi and Wang Shunding are more like designers and supervisors, while the provincial capitals and counties are the engineering teams.

Therefore, under the situation of corruption in the political secretary, they did not panic in the face of Zhu Youzhen's inquiry, but said honestly:

Xiaguan and others governed the Yellow River in accordance with Pan Shaobao's "method of restraining water and flushing sand", and built a total of 1,234 embankments on both sides of the Nanzhili River in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, such as a near-embankment used to bind water and flush sand, a remote embankment to prevent flooding, a lattice embankment used to hold back water and attack sand, and a moon embankment that played a role in reinforcing the river. ”

"At present, the Nanzhili section of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River only needs to be rebuilt and strengthened on the original Pan Shaobao's embankment, so that the flood control and drainage efficiency is higher, which can benefit the people on both sides of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and avoid the blockage of the canal."

Wang Shunding's word-by-word introduction and explanation made Zhu Youzhen nod with satisfaction, but he still asked Xu Guangqi:

"The river sand washed downstream, but if you can't stop the upstream, then the congestion of the Yellow River is still a matter of time."

"Is the governance of the upstream honestly carried out in accordance with Lone's suggestion?"

Xu Guangqi presided over the combing project of the Yellow River from Xining to Luoyang, and as early as before the project began, Zhu Youzhen spent a few days writing a copy of "Controlling the Upper Reaches of the Yellow River", and at the same time handed it to Zhu Youxiao, he sent it to Xu Guangqi for reference.

In the recital, Zhu Youzhen emphasized some factors that need to be paid attention to in the management of the Yellow River.

The first is the climatic factor, then the soil factor, and finally the human factor.

These were some of the factors he could remember a little, and they were some of the reasons and solutions he had jotted down in his geography class.

Zhu Youzhen didn't say too much about the climate and soil factors, because he felt that even if he did, Xu Guangqi and they couldn't solve it, but it was better to talk about human factors.

As far as human factors are concerned, to control the Yellow River, the Loess Plateau must be governed first, and the Loess Plateau has been defeated mainly because of the climate, followed by man-made, or both have the same proportion.

Before the Han Dynasty, the Loess Plateau was still a forest, but from the Han Dynasty, the forest began to gradually disappear, and by the Tang Dynasty, the number of forests had plummeted, and the huge northern Shaanxi had become a grassland.

By the end of the Tang Dynasty, the nine surnames of Zhaowu who moved inwardly grazing and indiscriminately grazing, even the pastures were destroyed, and the climate began to gradually change from the warm period of the pre-Qin period to the low temperature period, and the Loess Plateau, which did not have a large number of forests and grasslands, naturally gradually became Gobi and sandy.

Of course, indiscriminate grazing can only destroy the grasslands, and the disappearance of the forests is caused by the need for iron smelting and building civil houses in the Guanzhong Plain.

When forests degenerate into shrubs, hungry people have to destroy vegetation and cultivate fields on steep slopes in order to survive.

Therefore, in order to prevent the Hetao from becoming like a loess high slope, Zhu Youzhen first issued an order that the people should not cut down trees at will.

But if the people don't cut down the trees, they don't have firewood and materials to build their houses.

So in order to solve this problem, Zhu Youzhen's plan was to issue honeycomb coal tickets, and use criminals to make cement in the local area, and use cement and masonry to build houses.

Zhu Youzhen had tried his best to create some favorable conditions, so he wanted to know what Xu Guangqi had done on the basis of such conditions.

However, it is not surprising that although Xu Guangqi is not very good at politics, his ability in water conservancy is relatively good.

Faced with Zhu Youzhen's inquiry, he replied:

"According to His Royal Highness, the lower officials ordered the upstream governments to clean up the silt of the Yellow River to fill the local potholes, and ordered Shuofang, Jiuyuan, Wuyuan and other prefectures and counties to clean up the silt of the Yellow River to compost the sandy land, raise chickens, ducks and livestock in the sandy land, compost it, and plant trees."

"Since this year, the upstream management has begun to bear fruit, and the Yellow River, which turned yellow after the beginning of the year, has moved back several miles compared with previous years, and is gradually moving back."

Xu Guangqi's words made Zhu Youzhen nod slightly, although he didn't think that just three years of curing Huang would be able to show initial results, but there should still be some appeasement:

"It is not a year's work to control Huang in the upstream, and it takes diligence to do it......"

Saying that, Zhu Youzhen also began to take Xu Guangqi, Wang Shunding and others, under the arch guard of the Xiao cavalry guard, stepped out of the boundary of Beizhili, entered the boundary of Henan, and began to observe the Yellow River at close range......

(End of chapter)