Damn it!
Isn't this just a blank seal case?
Gu Chen was originally sitting cross-legged leisurely, but now he stood up suddenly, and the corners of his mouth kept twitching for a while.
Then he trembled and said: "Master Zheng, this is none of your business."
"You are from Yushitai, not from the Ministry of Household Affairs."
"Should the county magistrate himself send officials to Beijing to check with people from the Ministry of Household Affairs?"
Blank case.
What is a blank seal case?
Blank sealing means stamping a seal on a blank document in advance, and then filling in the specific content when needed.
The imperial court stipulated that each chief executive, prefecture, and county must submit money, food, fiscal revenue and expenditure, and tax accounts to the Ministry of Household Affairs every year.
The figures for the Ministry of Household Affairs and each Chief Secretary, Prefecture, and County must be completely consistent.
Only when everything is correct can the project be completed.
If there is any discrepancy in any item, it must be sent back to reconcile the account again, and then a new seal will be stamped, and that will be the end of it.
The capital of the Ming Dynasty was in Nanjing, and officials from all over the country had to go to Nanjing to submit their accounts. It was inevitable that there would be some losses during the transportation of grain.
Moreover, transportation was not convenient, and the emperor was a workaholic.
If too much time is wasted, the officials will be blamed for not paying attention.
So, officials came up with this method.
Moreover, as early as the Yuan Dynasty, those officials also did this. No one has ever said or explicitly prohibited this.
But Lao Zhu hated this practice deeply and began to crack down hard.
There are countless officials who have been implicated.
In history, Zheng Shiyuan was implicated in the Kongyin case and imprisoned.
That time it was Lao Zhu who raised a huge butcher's knife against officials for the first time.
Do you know how many people died?
Although there is no exact data, it can be estimated based on Wu Han's "Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang", "Outline of National History" and "History of Ming Dynasty·Criminal Law".
He was convicted and killed in the Kongyin case, and at least 30,000 to 40,000 people were implicated.
"Master Gu, what are you doing?" Zheng Shiyuan was a little baffled when he saw his reaction: "It's just a help."
"We are all colleagues. As long as there is no corruption, what's the matter with doing a little favor?"
What a fuss!
Although the other people did not speak, they looked at Gu Chen inexplicably.
Gu Chen sat down, looked at several colleagues, and suddenly asked: "What officer do you think our Majesty hates the most?"
The three of them looked at each other, then thought, and finally spoke in unison.
"Of course it's a corrupt official."
Emperor Zhu's corruption of corrupt officials was such that he wanted to drink their blood and eat their flesh.
"That's right." Gu Chen patted his thigh, and then continued to ask: "Then let me ask some adults, what are the disadvantages of the empty seal?"
The disadvantages are of course huge, it's like if you open a company and have to sign a contract, but you don't even see the content, so you just stamp it with the official seal first.
Another example is that you want to sign a divorce agreement with your wife, but the contents haven’t even been written yet, so you just fingerprint it and sign it with your name.
When the time comes, they will fill in the form and ask you to pay alimony of one million a month.
Can you afford it?
Isn't this a joke?
Disadvantages?
They thought for a while, then Gao Yiran with a gray beard said.
"In this way, what your Majesty saw was the number handed over by the Ministry of Revenue. However, your Majesty does not know how many places of origin there are and how much wastage."
For example, when His Majesty rescued Wenzhou Prefecture, he gave 10,000 shi of grain, but 100 shi of food rotted on the way there. When he arrived at Wenzhou Prefecture, he counted only 9,900 shi.
This leads to the fact that the actual quantity after arriving at the place is often inconsistent with the data determined in advance, and it will definitely not pass the review.
Take the blank stamp to check with the household department, and submit it directly after checking.
The emperor could only see that he had sent 10,000 shi of food, but he did not know how much was lost.
In other words, if there is someone like Zhang San and Li Si tampering with it.
Why did they use various excuses such as the rain and the rain to say that a thousand kilograms of food was lost on the road?
But in fact, was he greedy for this food?
You printed a blank document before verifying it. Then people can fill it out however they want. Can you deceive both the people and the emperor?
Everyone here is a Jinshi, and they all know Emperor Zhu's temper.
Almost instantly, everyone understood what Gu Chen meant.
Zheng Shiyuan looked at the blank document in his hand and suddenly felt hot to the touch.
"Master Gu, what should we do...?"
If His Majesty really wants to pursue the case, I don’t know if he will be implicated.
"I thought, Your Majesty is not that unreasonable person. I am just helping to bring documents, so you shouldn't blame me, right?"
Although he said that, Zheng Shiyuan obviously had no confidence.
"Find a reliable person and send it back to the county magistrate." Gu Chen walked to Zheng Shiyuan and lowered his voice: "Don't forget about Zhu Huan."
Although the crime was not serious, he knew that Lao Zhu would take the opportunity to retaliate.
That man who is both defensive and petty, you forced his relatives to death and caught his pigtails, it's strange that he doesn't deal with you.
"Masters." Little Pearl, who had been sitting obediently by the fire, said softly: "Let my uncle Sanhui deliver it."
"He is my mother's cousin. He is also on the boat escorting everyone back to Beijing. He will return to Pingyang after we dock."
Li Sanhui is an officer and soldier of the county government, and he can be relied on to eat from the government.
Zheng Shiyuan looked at the little girl, then at the blank document in his hand, and finally remembered His Majesty's face on the day he killed Zhu Huan.
After all, he still didn't dare to take risks and was ready to ask Li Sanhui to send the documents back.
Seeing that he was willing to listen to the advice, Gu Chen was relieved and continued.
"Although we, as censors, take pride in giving direct advice, we must also remember that we are lecturing officials, and lecturing officials only speak. We must not interfere with the clerical official's seal, otherwise we will be unable to speak clearly."
You know, many local censors were killed because of the Kongyin case.
After talking about business and drinking a lot of water, Gu Chen felt urgent and went out to urinate.
Unexpectedly, when he looked at the door, he saw Zhu Di looking at him with a half-smile.
"I have met His Highness King Yan."
I don't know how long he stayed at the door. Anyway, Gu Chen didn't say anything treacherous, and he wasn't afraid that Zhu Xiaosi would complain to others.
"Gu Yushi, you are a little too humble to be a seventh-grade Yushi."
In Zhu Xiaosi's view, the people at Yushitai, except Chen Ning, are all stubborn and do things in a rigid way and don't know how to adapt.
But this Gu Chen is a bit interesting, he can actually prepare for a rainy day.
"Your Highness is ridiculous, it's just that officials, big and small, all work for the common people."
Gu Chen said angrily: "As long as you can do something for the people, it will be the blessing accumulated by my ancestors for eight generations."
No, although he has a low official position, in the eyes of ordinary people, he is like smoke rising from his ancestral grave.
Not to mention being an official, in the eyes of ordinary people, if an ordinary person becomes a scholar, it is a great event, and it is a great joyous event.
"Don't do this with me." Zhu Xiaosi didn't buy it. He walked around Gu Chen several times and suddenly said with a smile: "Don't forget your original intention."
After saying that, Zhu Di turned around and left.
Time is still long, and there are countless forks in the road in a person's life.
Now it is too early to say that this official is good.
Whether it is good or not depends on the long-term perspective, at least twenty years from now.
When Gu Chen arrived home, he was almost frightened by his wife.
"Isn't it less than five months?"
"Why is this belly so big?"
Looking at the seven or eight hard vegetables of mutton, pork, chicken, and huge goose eggs on the table, Gu Chen couldn't help but turn green.
