One day, Zhu Di and Yao Guangxiao went to Zhixing Academy privately together to discuss things with He Qiu.

After He Qiu got the news, he rushed back to his courtyard and looked at the two people sitting in the tea room, Zhu Di's face was solemn, Yao Guangxiao was still wearing the black monk's robe, the old god was at ease, and people couldn't figure out his thoughts.

He could serve good tea to the three of them, so he went out, leaving only the three of them to chat in private.

He Qiu took a sip of tea, put the teacup down, pursed his lips, and said, "What happened?" ”

Zhu Di was silent, and Yao Guangxiao could only reply to He Qiu by himself, "The imperial court has now promulgated several new policies, among which the situation is unpredictable, and King Yan is a little uncertain, so I came to ask you." ”

He Qiu was dumbfounded, "I don't know the situation between the DPRK and China as well as your Monk Yao, ask me, ask me if I have a fart." ”

Yao Guangxiao said lightly: "Isn't this reform exactly what you said to Your Majesty?" ”

After speaking, he glanced at He Qiu, meaning that you caused the matter yourself, solve it yourself.

He Qiu was a little embarrassed, "Then you can tell me first, what's going on." ”

"Well, one is that Your Majesty will promote the good seed you have offered in the border areas to replenish the military rations."

"This is good governance, and there should be no one against it, right?"

"Second, send officials from the Imperial History and Criminal Department to inspect the place and carry out an investigation."

He Qiu was a little confused, "From the Criminal Department?" And do you want to carry out an inventory? What to inventory? Land? Haven't you been making the fish scale book for a long time? ”

Yao Guangxiao replied: "Naturally, it is a matter of investigating the misdeeds of local officials. ”

Isn't this the inspection team of later generations?

But at this time, how can local affairs be so easily clarified by central officials in a single inspection.

Not to mention, most of the imperial historians of the Imperial History Observatory are young people who have just entered the Jinshi, although they are enthusiastic enough and have ideals, they generally have no skills, and they are easily fooled.

Unless it is a local official who makes people angry, it is difficult to find out anything, no matter how much they investigate and covertly visit.

To put it bluntly, it is impossible for the officials of the Ming Dynasty to have any intersection with the people, these are completely two classes. They can only visit the first floor of the gentry, if the gentry and officials collude, hehe.

He Qiu said bluntly: "I'm afraid that this investigation won't find anything, at most a group of fools will be investigated and punished." ”

When Zhu Di heard this, he couldn't help but retort: "Mr. He can't help but underestimate my father and emperor, according to the report of people in Beijing, hundreds of officials in the provinces near Beijing have been involved in this inspection. ”

also deliberately gave an example, "For example, the prefect of Suzhou Prefecture bought and sold women, expropriated and extorted violently, and even dared to attack the Qincha who went down to investigate, but now it has been taken down by my father and dismissed from his post for investigation." ”

He Qiu just looked at him calmly: "Is this a very glorious thing?" And this is still near Jingshi, which is the closest place to the Son of Heaven, and there are so many corrupt people here, so you can imagine how the people's livelihood is in remote areas. ”

Zhu Di's face turned red at what he said, but he was powerless to refute it, so he could only snort heavily and slapped the table hard.

He Qiu hurriedly reassured: "Drink tea, drink tea, you dissipate your anger." ”

Yao Guangxiao said coldly: "The intensity of this investigation is so great that I am afraid that tens of thousands of people will be killed." Even those who went down to investigate, I'm afraid there will be a lot of them. ”

He Qiu and Zhu Di fell silent together, tens of thousands of people, if they fight against the Northern Yuan, the death of 10,000 people seems acceptable, after all, it is a battlefield.

But now tens of thousands of people can die just because of the anti-corruption in officialdom, which shows the corruption of the Ming Dynasty, and of course, it may also be that Zhu Yuanzhang's tolerance for corruption is too low.

This is still a "Hu Weiyong case" just set off two years ago, otherwise more people may have died.

Well? Hu Weiyong's case?

He Qiu's face became serious when he thought of this, "This inventory, can it involve honorable nobles?" ”

"Naturally, the military inventory and the local inventory were carried out together."

"Who is the Governor of Beijing now?"

"Fu Youde."

Such a dialogue made He Qiu completely understand, it seems that Zhu Yuanzhang is going to handle Li Shanchang's case in advance, but whether it will involve Li Shanchang this time is still two words.

He Qiu sighed: "Your Majesty has a benevolent heart." ”

Yao Guangxiao echoed: "Not bad. ”

Zhu Di is a little confused, what are you two playing dumb riddles?

Yao Guangxiao saw the confusion on Zhu Di's face, and said: "Ying Guogong, Gu Chen, was originally a general on Chen Youliang's side, and he was incompatible with Huaixi Xun Quaker, and there are few close generals in the army.

This time, he was promoted to the governor of the capital, on the one hand, to avoid Huaixi Xungui's private plea, and on the other hand, to make the prince and Ying Guogong more close, the prince naturally has to support Ying Guogong more, and he can balance each other with Lan Yu.

Since then, the East Palace has been in contact with the three generals of King Kaiping, Cao Guogong, and Ying Guogong to maintain the status of the East Palace, and the prince can also have generals available after His Majesty's great trip. ”

He Qiu bowed slightly, speaking of which, the treatment of the crown prince Zhu Biao is really unprecedented, and there is no one to come. Since the Qin and Han dynasties, the emperors and princes of which dynasty and generation have been father and son, monarchs and ministers, and enemies.

Even the talented Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had the scourge of witchcraft; Tang Taizong also had heirs competing for succession and had to abolish the crown prince.

And Zhu Yuanzhang's trust in Zhu Biao has reached the point of no return.

While he was still in the East Palace, he was equipped with a super-first-class martial arts group, Chang Yuchun, Li Wenzhong, Lan Yu, Fu Youde and so on.

If he were replaced by any other emperor, the crown prince had such a huge military force, and he would have long been eager to abolish the crown prince in a false name.

After listening to Yao Guangxiao's words, Zhu Di felt even worse, "The prince has such a team, how can I ascend to the great treasure." ”

Yao Guangxiao's eyes showed a gleam: "I don't think the prince is a long-lived person, King Yan should not be discouraged." ”

He Qiu smacked his tongue a little, is this a comfort, or is it a true immortal? If he hadn't come from the afterlife, just looking at Zhu Biao's ruddy face and full of spirit, he would never have imagined that he would collapse in his prime.

He Qiu diverted the topic and said bluntly: "I think this investigation, in the end, if it is not done, it will be another Hu Weiyong case." ”

Zhu Di was a little surprised: "Does my father still want to clean Xungui?" ”

Thinking of the bloody storm when Zhu Yuanzhang set off Hu Weiyong two years ago, Zhu Di's scalp was a little numb, his father was too ruthless.

He Qiu said: "That's natural, it's only been a long time, the nobles of the family have already fallen, and if they don't work hard to clean up, how can they be handed over to the prince with confidence?" ”

"What's more, Your Majesty is not only the Majesty of the Huaixi people, but also the Majesty of the people of the world, how can the Huaixi Lords be an exception, and now the King of Changping, the King of Zhongshan, the Duke of Cao and other generals have all died of illness, isn't it a good time to start?"

Zhu Di was moved by He Qiu's previous sentence that His Majesty is not only the Majesty of the Huaixi people, but also the Majesty of the people of the world.

And judging from the reaction of the East Palace, this prince is afraid that he is also the prince of the world. Knowing that the army was purging the nobles, the people of King Changping and Cao Guogong couldn't escape, so they still started directly.

That's where I'm not as good as the prince!

He Qiu ignored Zhu Di and continued to ask, "What about the others?" But what else is going on? ”

Yao Guangxiao put down the teacup and said: "This is a trivial matter compared to the above two, Your Majesty wants to open the sea ban, vigorously collect commercial taxes, and the commercial law set by the Ministry of Households has been beaten back and reformed, I heard that Your Majesty is now extremely dissatisfied with the Ministry of Households." ”

"Oh, it seems that those ministers have said something that should not be said and done something that should not be done, right?"

"Mr. Ho has a high opinion. It is rumored that when the court first discussed, the policy of opening the sea ban was actively passed, especially the ministers in the Jiangnan area, who tried their best to implement it, and even almost fought with the ministers from the north. ”

However, when it came time to negotiate the commercial law, many ministers persuaded His Majesty not to compete with the people for profit, and His Majesty was furious and issued an order to dismiss the officials and confiscate their homes. But this obvious opposition is gone, and the first draft of the commercial law given by the Ministry of Household Affairs has a low tax rate and a small tax scope......"

Yao Guangxiao couldn't help but shake his head when he said this.

He Qiu knew at a glance that he was afraid that this commercial law was too outrageous.

Zhu Di couldn't help but ask when he heard this: "Mr. He, what do you think of these ministers of the household department, if the imperial court has more taxes, aren't they the first to benefit from the household department?" Why do you have to be so disobedient? ”

He Qiu just wanted to laugh when he heard this, and unhurriedly refilled the tea for the three of them, and then spoke: "Before they were officials of the household department, they were first of all local gentry, and there were probably a lot of business people in the family. And the commercial tax that His Majesty wants should be levied together with the officials, right? ”

Zhu Di nodded.

He Qiu laughed even more: "The low level of officials in this dynasty is really rare, if officials at all levels really live only on it, I am afraid that they will starve to death long ago." ”

"You can do the math, a county magistrate of the seventh grade has more than seven stones, which is almost enough for his family to barely eat. But the salaries of the local officials are all paid by him, and the county is low, and there are at least dozens of small officials, and they can't afford to support them if they rely on money. ”

"This is not counting the welcome and send-off of officials, attending the same year's party, etc., so many officials took goods with them when they took office, evaded tariffs, and more directly embezzled and corrupted with local gentry and officials."

"Moreover, all the taxes of the Ming Dynasty have been withdrawn to the central government, and the local government has not withheld them, at least not on the surface, if the officials intercept part of the taxes for local use, according to today's regulations, it can be regarded as corruption."

"If the business tax is repaid to them, those officials who are honest will not be able to do it, and I am afraid that they will have to join other corrupt officials in the end."

Speaking of this, He Qiu glanced at Zhu Di, who was surprised, "I'm afraid this is the reason why some ministers who are aware of the local situation are opposed."

As for the other part, it is nothing more than someone in the family doing business, colluding with officials and businessmen, relying on someone in the family to be an official, tax evasion, and now Your Majesty's knife is cut on people's heads, and others are not allowed to scream twice? ”