Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Li Jin with red eyes, looking like he was choosing someone to devour, and asked loudly:
"Fart, what the Emperor hates most today is corrupt officials. How could the emergence of corrupt officials originate from the Emperor?"
"As long as the emperor discovers a corrupt official, he will never be lenient and will definitely peel him off and make a warning to others."
"We see that you are deceiving the public with your lies and talking nonsense!!!"
"If you don't explain it clearly to us, I will give you endless punishment today!!"
Zhu Yuanzhang rolled up his sleeves as he spoke, and made constant gestures at Li Jin with his sandbag-sized fists, apparently intending to beat Li Jin.
When Li Jin saw this, he knew that he had met a die-hard fan of Zhu Yuanzhang, so he couldn't help sighing and said:
"I would like to ask you, according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, how much is the monthly salary of a ninth-rank official in the Ming Dynasty?"
Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned and reflexively said:
"The annual salary of a ninth-grade official is sixty dan, so the monthly salary is five dan. What?"
"That is to say, my monthly salary is only five taels of silver. According to the current food prices in Shanghu County, it is only less than 3 taels of silver per month."
"Now can you see what's wrong?"
Li Jin started converting silver coins directly in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, and then looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with a speechless expression.
"What's the problem? As a ninth-grade official, isn't 3 taels of silver per month enough?"
Zhu Yuanzhang looked confident.
"And you, a county magistrate, don't have to deal with the wind and rain every day. You can get so much money just by working in the yamen. Isn't it enough?"
Li Jin was immediately speechless by Zhu Yuanzhang's analysis and said:
"Old man, you are just like today's Holy Emperor, you don't treat officials as human beings."
"The Holy One now hopes that all the officials in the world will not eat and work for him all the time. You are similar to him."
"Don't we officials stop wearing clothes? Stop eating? Stop getting sick? Stop supporting our parents?"
Zhu Yuanzhang was a little annoyed and said:
"Isn't the monthly salary of 3 taels of silver enough for you to see a doctor?"
"Zheng Shize, the imperial censor of this dynasty, is also a ninth-grade censor, but he can stick to the rules and never take bribes or bend the law. Can't you learn from him?"
Li Jin shook his head and denied:
"Not enough, far from enough!"
"Zheng Shize is an honest censor. Even I have heard of his name in Shanghu County. For this reason, the emperor even rewarded him with twenty taels of silver as a reward."
"But, old man, do you know how Zheng Shize's mother died?"
Zhu Yuanzhang was very proud at first, but at the end, he was a little confused. Is Zheng Shize's old mother dead?
Li Jin did not wait for Zhu Yuanzhang's reply and said to himself:
"Zheng Shize's mother died of illness. It was because of Zheng Shize's integrity that when Zheng Shize's mother was seriously ill in bed, the family had no money to treat his old mother."
"But Zheng Shize didn't dare to use the silver rewarded by the emperor. It was an honor that he was proud of. How could he dare to spend it?"
"This is the fate of an upright official, this is the treatment of being an official in the Ming Dynasty."
"Are these corrupt officials corrupt from the beginning? They have been familiar with the books of sages for decades. Do they have no ambitions and ideals from the beginning?"
"They have just entered the officialdom. Which one is not ambitious and wants to do things for the people? What is the result?"
"The result is that the old wife is still impoverished."
"They did not fail the court, the court failed them."
"It's nonsense. It's clear that these corrupt officials have given up on their ideals and morals and failed to resist the temptation."
Zhu Yuanzhang directly reprimanded him and said angrily:
"It is because they have forgotten the words of the saints that they have fallen into ruin."
Li Jin responded tit for tat and shouted:
"They also resisted temptation in order to stick to their ideals."
"But when they see their children who are crying for food, and their mother who is seriously ill and dying."
"Looking at their ninth-rank official position and their families who are still in poverty, what reason do they have to persevere?"
"In order to change their own destiny and give their families a better life, they did this."
"In the final analysis, the emperor's requirements for officials are too harsh and he does not regard officials as human beings at all."
"Although the emperor's starting point is to make officials all over the world know how to be honest and honest and reduce corrupt officials for the Ming Dynasty, the direction of governance is wrong."
"This is the saying that if you go in the wrong direction, your efforts will be in vain."
"Now that the emperor has set this level of salary, it will only doom the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty to corruption in the future, because when officials cannot survive without corruption, then corruption will naturally become the norm."
As soon as these words came out, Zhu Yuanzhang fell into silence, because he suddenly felt that Li Jin's words seemed to make sense.
Liu Bowen next to him was staring straight at Li Jin, his eyes shining brightly.
Since entering the house, Liu Bowen has been paying attention to Li Jin. Although Li Jin does not know Zhu Yuanzhang's identity, Li Jin's various views are quite novel.
In Liu Bowen's view, these views can even be said to criticize current ills and will play a huge role in the future anti-corruption efforts of the Ming Dynasty.
Thinking of this, Liu Bowen couldn't help but ask:
"Then from your perspective, how should we prevent corruption?"
Li Jin said calmly:
"Anti-corruption and combating corrupt officials are very complex matters and cannot be rushed."
"But you must not treat officials harshly like the emperor did."
"On the contrary, I advocate high salary and integrity."
"High salary to maintain integrity?"
Zhu Yuanzhang muttered, and then said angrily:
"Those corrupt officials are already very rich, why should we give them more salary?"
“Wouldn’t this encourage corruption?”
Li Jin shook his head and said:
"Some of the corrupt officials do not necessarily want to be corrupt. A large part of them are forced by life."
"As I just said, even making a living is difficult, do you still expect him to stick to the bottom line and not engage in corruption?"
"What the court should do is to minimize the depravity of this group of people."
"Increasing salaries will allow truly honest officials to live a decent life, and their ability to resist temptation will be greatly increased."
"After all, who would become a corrupt official unless absolutely necessary? Today's emperor hates corrupt officials to the core. This is a deadly job."
"Being discovered is like peeling day lilies. In this way, there won't be so many people taking risks and having to take bribes."
Zhu Biao nodded in agreement with Li Jin's explanation.
Compared with Zhu Yuanzhang's brutal killings, Zhu Biao is more accepting of this quiet way of moisturizing things.
But Zhu Yuanzhang still said stubbornly:
"That's a good point. These people are afraid of power and have no morals. It's just to make them afraid, so they will be afraid."
“That’s why you don’t dare to reach out for money when you are involved in corruption!!”
