"Han Yiliang, what's the matter with you? This donation is for the safety of the Ming Dynasty. What's the purpose of donating only one tael?" Zhou Daodeng, the Minister of Rites, scolded
In today's Ming Dynasty, corruption is rampant and unspoken rules have been rampant for a long time. Everyone is conducting various "reasonable" transactions under these unspoken rules.
Even if Zhu Youjian killed many corrupt officials, he still could not change the situation.
But in this environment, Han Yiliang is like a lotus flower that emerges from the mud and remains unstained.
During the Tianqi period, Wei Zhongxian's arrogance was at its peak, and shrines were built for him across the country. Henan Governor Guo Zongguang and Inspector Bao Qimou built Dade Temple and Ande Temple, and all the officials offered money to get Wei Zhongxian's attention.
Only Han Yiliang turned a deaf ear to him and refused to do so even if he sent someone to urge him. Therefore, despite his outstanding political achievements, he was not promoted for seven consecutive years.
In the first year of Chongzhen, Wei Zhongxian's forces were constantly cleaned up, and only upright officials were ranked first and promoted to the Ministry of Household Affairs.
As soon as he arrived at the Ministry of Household Affairs, he wrote "Correcting Civil Service Officials' Love of Money".
"Where is the place where money is not used? Isn't an official a person who loves money? Buying an official requires money, getting promoted requires money, officials require money for socializing, and taking exams requires money. "This money does not fall from the sky, nor does it come from the earth. "Out", all come from Sonaka.
Han Yiliang also gave an example: He is only a seventh-grade Sesame Officer, and he is usually not good at socializing, but he has refused to accept five hundred silver taels in gifts in the past two months.
By analogy, you can imagine the high-ranking officials. In order to promote the anti-corruption work, Han Yiliang suggested that Zhu Youjian first attack the big "tiger" to frighten all officials.
However, Zhu Youjian focused all his attention on the army and Liaodong. In order to avoid the anti-corruption work from affecting the situation on the Liaodong battlefield, he ignored it.
However, Han Yiliang also officially entered Zhu Youjian's eyes.
After multiple confirmations and investigations by secret guards and Jin Yiwei, it was discovered that Han Yiliang was indeed an upright person, an honest official, abhorrent, upright, and very capable.
Even if Zhu Youjian did not immediately give Han Yiliang an important task, he had already accepted Han Yiliang as the best candidate for the future anti-corruption captain.
How can such a person be casually reprimanded by a small Minister of Rites?
"Master Zhou is really devoted to the country. He is willing to donate 30,000 taels of silver to relieve His Majesty's worries. He is such a rare loyal minister!" Wang Chengen, who was standing by, saw Zhu Youjian blinking at him and immediately guessed that Zhu Youjian was blinking at him. Checking his thoughts, he hurriedly came out to help Han Yiliang out of trouble.
"30,000 taels, I clearly... As the Minister of Rites of the Ming Dynasty, how can I not take the lead?"
Seeing Wang Chengen's look of wanting to eat him, Zhou Daodeng hurriedly changed his words.
At the same time, I cursed Han Yiliang a thousand times in my heart. If it weren't for this boy, I wouldn't have lost 30,000 taels.
"And Mr. Zhang and Mr. Liu, they are both good officials who serve the country and the people..."
. . . .
Zhu Youjian on the stage was already very happy at this time. These ministers are really good at making troubles. They knew that they had no money, so they sent the money quickly. If you were not all corrupt officials, I would really be reluctant to part with it. What about liquidation later?
There has always been a method called pig raising that has been popularized in various dynasties and generations to deal with corrupt officials.
That is to ignore it for now and let the corrupt officials be as greedy as possible, and then kill them after the corrupt officials have fattened up.
If you do this, you can get a lot of money on the one hand, and gain the hearts of the people on the other. It can be said that it kills two birds with one stone.
That sounds good.
But actually?
If you keep it up, all civil and military officials in the dynasty will become corrupt. By then, will you be able to tell who is a corrupt official and who is a good official?
Even if the distinction is clear, all civil and military officials in the entire dynasty are corrupt. How do you kill them? Is it possible for corrupt officials to kill corrupt officials?
From ancient times to the present, countless dynasties have been destroyed. Many people always like to attribute the final cause to the last emperor. Little do they know that the current dynasty has already been hollowed out by corrupt officials?
There are corrupt officials all over the court, what do you want the emperor to do?
If we want the country to have long-term peace and stability, we must not stop killing corrupt officials.
In this case, no matter how stupid the last emperor is, he will only cause harm to the vicinity of the capital and very little harm to other places.
The entire dynasty was full of corrupt officials, both civil and military. Even if the last emperor had extraordinary abilities, it would be difficult to reverse the situation.
Take now for example.
Zhu Youjian has millions of elites in his hands, but he still dares not to start killing corrupt officials. To put it bluntly, there are too many corrupt officials. Who will do the work after killing them?
Indeed, the most indispensable thing in the world is people who want to be officials. Even if Zhu Youjian kills all the officials, he can replenish them in a short time, but wanting to be an official and being a good official are two different things. a concept.
Humanity is a large group made up of many small groups.
Although human beings have morals and laws to restrict their behavior in production activities and daily life, there are still times when disputes arise. At this time, someone must come to persuade or rule for them, judge right from wrong, and mediate to resolve them. contradiction.
This kind of role is now an official.
In addition to enjoying one's own rights, being an official also has the responsibility to resolve conflicts for the people and balance relationships among all aspects.
This ability cannot be developed overnight. It's not like just one person can do a good job.
If an official does well, he will naturally benefit the people; if he does poorly, it is the people who will suffer in the end.
This is also one of the most important reasons why Zhu Youjian still tolerates these corrupt officials.
Although these corrupt officials should be killed, even if they are replaced by someone, they still need to be tempered. If the Ming Dynasty is stable and there are no disasters, it will be okay to slowly adjust.
But Zhu Youjian knew that in the next few years, there would be no shortage of natural and man-made disasters in the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the Liaodong issue must be resolved this year. If we want to solve the Liaodong problem, logistics is indispensable.
Logistics cannot be lacking, and these officials cannot act arbitrarily.
When the Liaodong problem is solved and Ming Dynasty has no foreign troubles for the time being, will corrupt officials be left to their own devices?
At that time, whether it is following the ancestral system, greedy for 60 taels, ripping off the skin and using it as grass, or cutting into pieces with a thousand cuts, or using the waste, etc., it all depends on your mood.
