Now he wants to do the opposite.
The current Ming Dynasty law only punishes corrupt officials and does not punish those who pay bribes.
Without waiting for them to think about it, Chongzhen looked at Qiao Yunsheng, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment: "Qiao Aiqing, please communicate with the Jinyiwei from the Ministry of Punishment and start revising the Ming Law, especially for those who pay bribes.
Those who take the initiative to bribe 10 taels shall be punished with a fine of a hundred times and ten strokes of the cane; from 10 taels to a hundred taels, for each additional tael, an additional rod shall be imposed...including but not limited to excessive fines, cane punishment, imperial examinations, promotions, beheadings, lingchi, and executions. Nine tribes and so on,
You should make specific revisions based on the statistical data of Jinyiwei, and be quick! "
"I obey the decree!"
Qiao Yunsheng responded immediately, but continued: "Your Majesty, although this move is good, I think it will cause some other disadvantages. Based on my experience as a local official, sometimes it is not the gentry and wealthy businessmen who want to pay bribes, but the bribes as a last resort.
For example, some merchants need to open a road to the local area for business, but the road guide and Sichuan-Tianjin officials will not open it for various reasons. The wealthy businessmen can only pay bribes, and there are many similar things. The officials below would rather not do anything than do something wrong. . "
"Your Majesty, what Shangshu Qiao said is that when I was in the local area, the officials did not say they were diligent, and they did not even sweep the snow in front of their homes.
Turn a blind eye, turn a deaf ear, pretend to be deaf and dumb, discuss but fail to make a decision, make a decision but fail to act, push back if you can, and delay if you can't, etc.
Wealthy businessmen and gentry had no choice but to pay bribes. In the final analysis, officials were lazy and inactive. If they could do good things without spending money, I believe few people would take the initiative to pay bribes. "
"Your Majesty, I think it is better to strengthen the supervision and cultivation of officials. Otherwise, we will only punish those who pay bribes. It will treat the symptoms but not the root cause. In the end, it will be the people who are in trouble."
…
Listening to the thoughts of the ministers, Chongzhen said with a smile: "Of course I have thought about what you all mentioned. After the Ming Dynasty law was revised to address the crime of bribery, I will set up an inspection team to travel around the Ming Dynasty, make secret visits, and listen to people's opinions from the people. Officials' comments.
The members of the inspection team may be officials, ordinary people, businessmen, etc., and implement the four-no-two-direct strategy, that is, no notification, no greeting, no reporting, no accompanying, no need to accompany, go straight to the grassroots, and directly investigate the target.
It is not certain when the secret visits will be conducted, how many times they will be visited, and who will be conducting the secret visits. Some counties may go there for three to five years in a row, or even once a quarter or permanently, and some may not go there for three to five years.
Officials who are lazy and inactive will be given a warning or dismissed, and those who seriously neglect their duties will be cut off.
And joint and several punishments will be implemented. If officials below the county magistrate do not act, the magistrate will jointly and severally punish him. If the magistrate does not act, the prefect will jointly and severally punish him. If the magistrate does not act, the chief envoy will be jointly and severally punished;
In addition to punishment, those who excel in assessment include but are not limited to promotion, salary increase, admission qualifications for future generations, etc. "
Fuck...
After listening to the emperor's words, the ministers cursed in their hearts.
This shit is killing the officials. The inspection team is like a sharp knife hanging over the officials' heads. The key is that they don't know when to cut it off.
But they have no reason to refute. They don't tell you how diligent you are, and they don't need you to work hard and work hard. As long as you complete your job on time, the inspection team will be useless to you.
In other words, if you can't even do your job well, why should you be an official?
What’s even more frightening is that they don’t know who is conducting the secret visit. It’s probably someone close to them. Even if you accidentally know who is conducting the secret visit, can you guarantee how many times they will come?
All merchants, tourists, and common people in the entire Ming Dynasty are people who make secret visits. They are more willing to become officials if they can.
The expressions of the officials were naturally seen in Chongzhen's eyes, and he also knew what the officials were thinking.
What is being stifled now is bribery, as well as active corruption and poverty. There are also ideas on these two points.
In his vision, multiple strategies such as strict punishments, strict supervision, high salaries to support integrity, supervision by public opinion, institutional reform, supervision of various industries, etc. can be implemented together to reduce corruption as much as possible.
What he is doing now is the first two points. As for high salary to support integrity, he also has some ideas, such as increasing salary, or developing the economy in the county, and retaining part of it as a year-end reward. In this way, officials may receive thousands of taels of silver.
As long as they focus on development and lead the people to get rich, officials will be rewarded and will not be greedy.
But it is not appropriate to develop the economy now. This depends on the tax mechanism, Daming Department Store, commercial banks, overseas trade, etc. Otherwise, officials will have nowhere to go even if they want to promote local high-quality specialties.
System reform must wait until the imperial examination is reformed, public opinion supervision must wait until the imperial examination is reformed and be reflected in daily teaching, and industry supervision must be established by associations from all walks of life.
These things may be difficult in later generations, but in this feudal society where the imperial power is divinely authorized, military power is concentrated, heads can be beheaded at every turn, and the Yi tribe is a feudal society, it is still relatively easy to do.
If you're obedient, that's it. If you're not, you'll be cut off and replaced by someone who's obedient. There's never a shortage of people who want to be officials in this world.
It might take a long time to reach his expectations, but he has plenty of time.
After thinking about it for a while, Chongzhen looked at the ministers: "Fang Aiqing, Qiao Aiqing, you, the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Punishment, will discuss and revise the Ming Code according to what I said.
After making the first draft, he will work with the six ministries, nine ministers and the cabinet to listen to their ideas and submit the final version to Dongnuan Pavilion.
Remember two points. First, don’t just sit in the government office and make decisions. Laws must be supported by data and cases. Go to the private sector to understand people’s thoughts, and ask corrupt officials about the circumstances of their corruption in the first place;
Second, there should be no one-size-fits-all approach. The laws should be detailed and various factors should be considered clearly so that there are laws to follow and evidence-based checks.
The essence of the law is not to punish officials, but to urge them to perform their duties. Give me a deadline to complete the above content! "
Shangshu Fang of the Ministry of Personnel exchanged a few words with Qiao Yunsheng in a low voice. Qiao Yunsheng said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, because we need to investigate a large number of cases and visit, I estimate that it will take at least three months."
"I hope it will be issued before the opening of the official press next year. Whatever is needed, you can consult with the cabinet."
"I obey the decree!"
Qiao Yunsheng responded directly.
PS: The law of the Ming Dynasty is just a general term. The law of the Ming Dynasty is divided into six laws according to the responsibilities of the six ministries. It serves as the standard for the implementation of each department. Because Zhu Yuanzhang established the ancestral system of "changes become law", the Ming Dynasty has never revised the Ming Dynasty. The laws were revised several times in later generations, but they were all issued in the form of edicts, regulations, auxiliary laws, etc.
"Now that we've talked about it, Bi Aiqing, please talk to Jin Yiwei and hear what the wealthy businessmen and gentry in Suzhou have done, and see if we need to revise the household law."
"I obey the decree!"
"Let's get here today and withdraw from the court!"
After Chongzhen finished speaking, he got off the platform and left the Huangji Hall.
After the emperor's back completely disappeared from everyone's sight, the entire Huangji Palace became lively.
