Zhu Youxiao waved his hand directly: "No need to mention it again!"
Then, Zhu Youxiao lectured Liu Hongxun in a low voice: "Can you be a little more polite?"
"Old minister!"
As soon as Liu Hongxun said two words, he choked back again.
Zhu Youxiao shook his head and asked: "Do you still remember that in Chen Que's letter to the eldest son of the emperor, the Deputy Inspector Song Zhibi came to the county for a banquet and spent a full 30,000 yuan in silver coins? thing?"
"Remember."
Zhu Xieyuan replied first at this time.
Zhu Youxiao said because of this: "I can't get out the 30,000 yuan pension, but the prostitute dares to find 30,000 yuan, and the county government has to pay the bill! The style of these officials is really good!"
"What His Majesty said is that work style improvement is very necessary!"
Liu Hongxun therefore replied.
"There is also the problem of deficit. A newly established county in Kashima actually has such a huge deficit. I'm afraid that other places have even greater deficits. The imperial court allocates part of the tax money to the local areas. Its original intention is to make local finances abundant and facilitate the maintenance of local stability. , manage the place better, but I didn’t expect that old habits are still hard to change, and if there is a disaster or civil unrest, the court will have to spend money to wipe their butts!"
Sun Chuanting replied.
"Deficits must be investigated strictly! But once a deficit occurs, it is really difficult to trace who spent the government funds. After all, it is impossible for Dongchang to keep an eye on which officials will cross the border in a county, and it is difficult to get cards. How much has been done, and how many false accounts have been made by the subordinate staff, how much has been deceived, the only way to hold the officials and assistant officials accountable for the shortfall is to hold them accountable. If the county has a shortfall, the magistrate and the county prime minister will be held accountable. If the government has a shortfall, the prefect and the prefect are held accountable. .”
Liu Hongxun replied.
"But now the imperial court has to know how serious the provincial deficit is, so that the imperial court can prepare for a rainy day. It cannot wait until disasters and civil unrest occur before trying to investigate. Selfish local officials will ignore the lives of the people, but the imperial court Can’t ignore it.”
Wen Tiren also replied.
"Then let the censors of each province examine the deficit situation of each province first, and report the truth! If there is any concealment, once it is found out, he will be punished for the crime of deceiving the emperor, his family will be executed, and his relatives will be exiled!"
Zhu Youxiao said.
"yes!"
Liu Hongxun replied.
"In addition, all provinces, prefectures, prefectures, and counties are ordered to self-examine their deficits and report them truthfully. If there is a deficit reported, it will be assumed that the deficit was not caused by him during his tenure, but by officials in the previous few days. In the first year of Tianqi As a guideline, every official from now on has to make up for the shortfall according to the situation, and if he refuses to pay, his house will be confiscated! How can people's money be spent casually, even if it is not spent by themselves? As caretakers, they have improper supervision. Responsibility!"
Zhu Youxiao said.
"If this is the case, provinces, prefectures, prefectures and counties will not dare to hide it, but honestly report the truth about their shortfalls. It is also a good time to take a look at the local officialdom situation in recent years."
Liu Hongxun replied.
"That's right, we have to look at the real situation in the local provinces after the state treasury has been abundant in these years and they have not asked for more money from the local governments. We cannot fully believe it just by relying on the test scores reported by the local officials themselves. Who knows what's going on here Are there any officials protecting me?"
Zhu Youxiao also knew that shortfalls were a very common phenomenon in ancient times. After all, no one would feel bad about spending public funds. Unless they were really enlightened, especially during the Taiping era, shortfalls would not be too obvious. The harm caused by this situation also makes local officials easy to relax and take chances, so it will intensify the deficit.
He also knows that this needs to be strictly investigated by politicians at all times.
First of all, as an emperor, I cannot relax, keep investigating, and hold people accountable seriously.
The only way to hold people accountable is to confiscate the homes of officials who caused the deficit, and in serious cases, use their heads to intimidate serving officials.
This method is naturally very harsh and will destroy many bureaucratic families.
But there is no way. If he, the emperor, is a little more merciful and allows this deficit to continue, the deficit in that place will always be a bottomless pit, and no matter how much national money is filled, it will be filled.
Having said this, Zhu Youxiao looked at Liu Hongxun: "You have to do it quickly. Didn't I give you the power to enact administrative laws in the political hall? As long as it does not involve punishment, put more tight spells on the officials of this dynasty, and you can't The pressure is only on local officials, and Beijing officials also have to take care of it."
Therefore, Liu Hongxun hurriedly put aside his thoughts of persuading the emperor to make the emperor's eldest son the prince, and replied: "Your Majesty, I have already made plans for officials at all levels to have standards for traveling and banquets at official expense. If the amount exceeds the standard, compensation will be required at least. The most important thing is to dismiss the people from their posts after confiscating their homes and never use them! In addition, officials at all levels have regulations on clothing, housing, and travel, and they must not violate them. Etiquette needs to be restored, but etiquette is not for the common people, but for the scholar-bureaucrats. , once a scholar-official engages in prostitution, arrogance, or even shows off his wealth, he will be dismissed from his post to serve the people and will never be used again, or his fame will be revoked and he will not be allowed to be employed!"
"Is this too much? Should I be given a chance to change my ways?"
Wen Tiren asked at this time.
"It's not too much. In governing the country, we should be strict rather than lenient with the scholar-officials, because the scholar-officials are originally role models for the four people. Once the scholar-officials are not strict in self-discipline, it will affect the whole clan and the township; and the people should be lenient rather than strict. Once the people do evil, they will not be punished. It only affects my family!
The reason why previous dynasties failed to escape the three-hundred-year curse of national destiny was that they were too lenient towards the scholar-bureaucrats and too strict towards the common people. There is nothing wrong with benevolent government, but the fault lies in the wrong objects of benevolence. "
Liu Hongxun said and added: "In addition, there are too many scholar-officials in this dynasty, like crucian carp crossing the river. Only by having higher requirements for scholar-officials can we select those who can truly set an example for the four people!"
After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao nodded: "This makes sense! This is how Confucianism should be used, to be strict with yourself and your own class, treat others with kindness, and be lenient to other classes, instead of being strict with others and others." Classes are kind to themselves.”
As Zhu Youxiao spoke, he looked at Liu Hongxun and other assistant ministers and said: "I and the people have very high requirements for you. You must be able to keep yourself clean and be good at governing! In a word, you must not only work for the country, but also work hard." To find a career! If you can only do one thing, resign as soon as possible, be greedy for life and afraid of death, get promoted and get rich, don't want to be a scholar, be a businessman, a citizen, a craftsman or a scholar."
"Please keep this in mind!"
Liu Hongxun waited and replied.
Then, Liu Hongxun really announced a series of edicts related to internal affairs, which were basically aimed at the unhealthy tendencies of the scholar-bureaucrat class.
Although the extravagance of the common people was also very serious, after the imperial court imposed a higher luxury tax, it no longer made any demands on the common people. Instead, it only made more demands on the scholar-bureaucrats, especially the officials in power, whether they were civil servants, military generals, or The nobles of the clan and even the royal family have corresponding rules, such as how much they can spend on business trips, what they can take when traveling, what they can wear when it comes to clothing, how many servants they can keep, etc.
"Common people can overstep their bounds and disrespect the etiquette and laws, but meat-eaters are not allowed to overstep their bounds and disrespect the etiquette and laws! The world has gone the other way. At first, it was just the collapse of etiquette and the destruction of music, but now it's better, it's a direct reversal of respect and inferiority!"
When Liang Ming received this series of decrees, he spoke to Yang Ming, the official who was also in the Liu Ke Gallery.
Yang Ming couldn't help but sigh and said: "Sign it, otherwise what else can you do? Do you still dare to deny it like the former court?"
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