Because of the cold weather, the imperial gate listened to the government and changed to the early dynasty in the Fengtian Temple.

After the civil and military forces knelt down in two shifts on the left and right, chanting Tianfu Youde, Haiyu Xianning, and Holy Bow Wanfu, Wu Gonggong dragged a long voice and said:

"Zhongqing is flat."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Baiguan stood up and stood solemnly, peeking to look at Boss Zhu on the dragon chair.

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang's face was expressionless, and the prince on the side also looked serious, he knew that a storm was inevitable.

"If there is something to do, it will be played early, and there will be nothing to retreat." Wu Gonggong said again.

"If you have something, please ask Your Majesty." Hu Weiyong said loudly.

"Just ask." Boss Zhu said.

"As far as the minister knows, the night before yesterday, the pro-army Governor's Mansion arrested more than 300 local tax officials who entered Beijing to file taxes. May I ask your Majesty, why? Hu Weiyong asked in a deep voice: "Why haven't the Zhongshu Province and the Three Law Divisions heard of it?" ”

Hearing Hu Weiyong's questioning, the officials who didn't know what to do secretly praised Hu Xiang when he heard it, and Hu Xiang was really tough. But I can't help but worry, will it annoy the emperor and backfire?

Fortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang was not annoyed, and said lightly: "Prince, you talk to Hu Xiang." ”

"Yes, the day before yesterday, I received a report that a local official had brought empty stamp account paper into Beijing. It is a grave offense to put a seal on a blank account book. The prince said in a deep voice:

"Because it may involve a wide range of fraud, in order to prevent collusion, my father ordered the Governor's Office to be responsible for the search, and a total of 367 blank account papers were found.

After the royal trial, the convicts confessed to their crimes and admitted that they had been repeat offenders for many years. The case involved 367 provincial and county yamen. This is an unprecedented case! The prince said in an accentuated tone.

"Do you understand?" Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Hu Weiyong calmly.

"Understood." Hu Weiyong nodded.

"And we know very well that there are more than these three hundred and sixty-seven yamen." Zhu Yuanzhang said unexpectedly; "Like them, they use empty printed account paper and come to Beijing to do accounts on the spot, there are not a thousand yamen, but also eight hundred, right, Li Tai?"

Li Tai, the head of the household, took a deep breath, knelt down and said: "Back to Your Majesty, there is a local government, and for convenience, empty printed account books are used, but there are definitely not so many. ”

"So, you know?" Zhu Yuanzhang's voice turned cold.

"The minister has indeed heard of it." Li Tai sweated on his forehead.

He can't say he doesn't know. Because he is the head of the household, whether he knows it or not, he will be responsible for it in the end.

If he says he doesn't know, he will have to carry whatever comes out of the mouths of others. If he encounters someone who is neither deep nor shallow, and confesses something that will kill him, not only will he die alone, but the whole family will die.

So it's better to come on your own and defend yourself.

"Okay, responsible." Zhu Yuanzhang praised and said: "Since you know about such internal and external collusion, why haven't you dealt with it or reported it all along?" Is this household book an ornament, or is it their backer? ”

Later, I began to punish my heart. Li Tai wiped his sweat and kowtowed: "The emperor is tolerant, the reason why the minister did not resolutely prohibit it is because as far as the minister knows, there is a seal on the empty seal account paper, not one print and one paper, so it will not cause the forgery of documents that the emperor is worried about." ”

"Fart!" Zhu Yuanzhang scolded: "Isn't the riding seal stamped by the official seal?" As long as the official who is printing and the official who enters Beijing to file taxes colludes, what is the difference between one printing and one paper and two printing? ”

"The emperor is right, if you indulge them in using empty printing paper, it will make it impossible for the household department to supervise the local accounts!" Hu Weiyong also criticized harshly, and by the way, he drew a clear line with the household department.

"The emperor and Hu Xiang rest assured that the Ministry of Household has very high requirements for the examination and approval of the money and grain books of the provinces, and the specific amount must be finalized by the ministry, so there is no chance of fraud at the local level." Li Tai paused and said:

"It is precisely because of the strict requirements of the ministry that the number of money grains sent each year must be sent by the government to the province, and the province must be to the ministry of the household in order to pass the customs. However, tax grain will inevitably cause loss during transportation. There are many reasons for attrition, and the degree of attrition varies from severity, so it must be put into the national treasury before it can be determined.

"The magistrate had no choice but to bring empty printing paper into Beijing, and after getting the actual amount in Nanjing, he filled in the account books again. In this way, the household department can eliminate the difference that does not conform to the reality, so that the local government can settle accounts with the imperial court. ”

"Li Shangshu, we have also been in charge of military supplies, and you can't get any of us." Zhu Yuanzhang smiled coldly and asked:

"The household department uses a four-pillar sales book, right?"

"Yes." Li Tai chuckled in his heart.

"Then just get rid of the number of meters consumed, right? Is it necessary to redo the accounts with blank paper? Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

"Yes, what the emperor said is ......" Li Tai's forehead was like sweat, and he was speechless for a while.

"Your Majesty," Wu Bingcheng, the household servant behind him, hurriedly took the shift and said, "Li Shangshu has just arrived, and he is not very clear about the situation in the ministry. In fact, it's not that complicated, it's inevitable that there will be something wrong when reconciling, if it's the department's mistake, it's easy to do, and it's changed.

"However, if there is a calculation error or statistical error in the local government, it is said that it must be sent back to the local government for revision and then sent back to the capital for reconciliation. But the emperor, my Ming Dynasty is vast, the provincial capitals and capital cities are six or seven thousand miles away from Nanjing, and the nearest ones are three or four thousand miles.

"But if the tax official brings a few pieces of blank paper into Beijing, he can revise it on the spot, which is much more convenient. Of course, this was only a stopgap measure, but it has been around for a long time, and the magistrates have only followed the rules and are not aware of the seriousness of this practice. Wu Bingxin then said bitterly:

"Of course, now that the ministers and others know, I also ask the emperor to forgive me once, and I will not take the next example."

"Okay, Wu Shilang's level is higher than Li Shangshu." Zhu Yuanzhang praised it again and asked Hu Weiyong: "What do you think of Hu Xiang?" ”

"Back to the emperor, the empty seal is definitely wrong. Although there is some truth in their explanations, there is indeed a possibility of fraud, and the minister firmly believes that with the current ethics of officials, there must be a large number of cases of fraud. Hu Weiyong first said a few words along with Boss Zhu, and then changed his words:

However, the ministers could not find a suitable crime to convict them, and recalled that all the laws promulgated after the founding of the country did not have the crime of 'printing on empty paper'.

This is the negligence of the ministers and the lawyers, but the legislation of the country must first make the law public so that all people know about it, and then it can be used to punish those who knowingly violate it.

"However, since the founding of the country, there has never been a law prohibiting empty printing. The yamen also acquiesced to each other's empty seals, so the officials really didn't know that it was a crime. There is a way that those who do not know are not guilty of sin, and those who do not teach are punished for abuse. Hu Weiyong raised his head and said:

"The minister has the courage to ask the emperor to be lenient this time, if there is a repeat offender, he can be severely punished! Of course, the reason for this ugly situation is because the prime minister is derelict in his duties, and the minister resigns, and asks the emperor to punish him! ”

As he spoke, he took off the black veil and kowtowed heavily.

P.S. Empty Seal is too difficult to write, and it is the most difficult paragraph in my writing career. I'm exhausted writing it. First issue and then change.

(End of chapter)