Although King Zhou died, the turmoil did not stop.
The Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the heads of the six departments of the imperial court, and the ministers all wrote letters one after another, demanding that Zhu Yunwen severely punish the rebellious ministers, impeach the family members of the king of Zhou, and use clan punishment to make the world known.
Clan punishment is the death penalty system for the whole family or even the entire clan.
The three Yi tribes and the extermination of the nine tribes all fall into the category of clan punishment.
Of course, when these officials proposed clan punishment, they did not intend to kill everyone in the Lao Zhu family, but wanted the Zhou Palace to pay a greater price to punish them for their unforgivable crimes.
When Zhu Yunwen saw these memorials, he just threw them aside coldly without saying a word.
Clan punishment originated in ancient times. It was an inhumane era. At that time, if you won, you would kill the opponent's whole family in order to save a mouthful of food.
By the Zhou Dynasty, the level of legal concepts was quite high. It proposed the concept of "clear virtue and careful punishment", opposed the implication of "criminals according to their clan", and advocated "the crime should be punished".
This is almost the same as the law of later generations.
It was only later that rituals collapsed and music collapsed, and during the Spring and Autumn Period, the struggle for hegemony and the annihilation of clans and countries became a habit, the "three clans punishment" became commonplace and has been passed down.
Many people believe that the clan punishment is total annihilation, leaving no old, weak, women, children, chickens, ducks, dogs, or rabbits alive.
In fact, this understanding is not entirely correct. For example, during the Sui Dynasty, its "Kaihuang Code" stipulated: "Those who rebel or rebel will have their father, son, and brothers beheaded, and their family will have no official position."
That is to say, if someone conspired to rebel and only killed himself, his father, son, brothers, his mother, daughter, wives, concubines, sisters, and male relatives, they would all be alive, but they would just become slaves of the government.
"Tang Lv Shu Yi" stipulates:
Anyone who plots rebellion or serious rebellion will be beheaded regardless of his subordinates. His father and his son who are over sixteen years old will be hanged, and his son who is under sixteen years old, as well as his mother, daughter, wife, concubines, brothers and sisters will not be official slaves, and their family property will be confiscated.
Therefore, whoever wants to rebel in the Tang Dynasty had better do it when the child is not yet sixteen years old.
Funny to say, the Yuan Dynasty was the only dynasty that did not have a clan punishment system...
Don’t believe it. Although the Yuan Dynasty was not good and they were not Han Chinese, the penalties in the Yuan Dynasty were very lenient. The reason is very simple:
They don’t know much about the law and don’t pay attention to using the law to solve problems...
The Yuan Dynasty's way of solving problems was very simple. Clan punishment was too low-level. They used massacre...
Zhu Yuanzhang believed that the Yuan Dynasty was "forgiving the world" and used "heavy codes" in the laws of the Ming Dynasty. Skinning, castration, and punishment of three tribes all appeared.
Zhu Yunwen did not agree with clan punishment from the bottom of his heart. This kind of inhumane torture was too dark. Besides, the impact of killing King Zhou was already great enough. If Zhu Youdun and Zhu Youyi were removed, King Yan and King Dai could not be protected. In order to avoid being "clan-punished" one day, others made trouble everywhere.
However, the courtiers were well-founded and kept submitting memorials over and over again. Zhu Yunwen was tired of this. As it was true that Zhu Youdun and Princess Zhou were protecting him, he demoted him to a commoner and kept him in the capital. At the same time, he issued an order to take back the king of Zhou's fiefdom and transfer it to him. The land was sold, which stopped the turmoil.
As for Zhu Youyi and other people in the palace, they were all placed in the palace of Prince Zhou in the capital and were banned for one year.
On this day, Ming Dynasty ushered in a special court meeting.
Zhu Yunwen did not deal with government affairs, nor did he ask officials to report specific matters. Instead, he asked all officials to think about a question: Why is corruption repeatedly banned?
“Since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, corruption has been rampant and prisons have been filled with people.
Taizu ruled for thirty years but failed to cure the root cause. Now that I want to implement a Qingming government and prohibit corruption, you have carefully thought about where corruption comes from, why it exists, and how to prevent it. "
Zhu Yunwen asked hundreds of officials for advice.
Zhu Yunwen also has a headache when it comes to the management of graft and corruption. In an era with telephones, the Internet, high-speed trains, and airplanes, this problem has never been solved. How to control corruption in this backward Ming Dynasty?
High salary - Yang Lian?
Forget it, look at the civil servants of the Song Dynasty, all of them were fat and oily. As a result, those who should be greedy are still greedy, and those who should be taken are still greedy.
The Hongwu Dynasty also proved that maintaining integrity with low wages was unworkable.
Zhu Yunwen felt that it was unrealistic to rely solely on personal consciousness. A few hundred taels could take away a county magistrate, and a magistrate could be taken over with three thousand taels. Where was their consciousness?
But it is impossible not to control corruption. All states and counties are the cornerstone of the Ming Dynasty. The collapse of the officialdom of Kaifeng Prefecture is serious enough. If the collapse continues, the palace of the Ming Dynasty will be classified as a high-risk building.
"Everyone has his or her own opinion. If anyone doesn't get it right, there is no need to go to court. I have plenty of time to wait!"
Seeing that everyone was silent, Zhu Yunwen set the tone.
When the officials heard this, they immediately began to whisper.
Huang Guan, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, came out and said: "Your Majesty, the root cause of corruption lies in a weak nature, failure to remember the teachings of the saints, and feeding off the people's fat and anointing to enrich one's own desires. The strategy for good governance should be to strengthen the teachings of the saints and cultivate one's character to serve the court. …”
Zhu Yunwen frowned and asked: "Who will tell them the saint's teachings? Is it possible that he would go to the hall every day and salute Confucius and Mencius first, then cultivate himself for a while, and then do business?"
Huang Guan was speechless.
Dong Lun stood up and said: "What Huang Shilang said about corrupt people is to feed off the people's wealth and enrich their own desires. I think it is extremely true. Looking at all corruption, it is caused by desire and is driven by desire. . Therefore, we should vigorously promote Neo-Confucianism, preserve the principles of nature, and eliminate human desires, so as to reshape the atmosphere of the court."
"Can Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism really cure corruption?"
Yao Guangxiao stood up and retorted: "In the final analysis, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism is a science, and it is not the essence of preventing and controlling corruption. I believe that corruption rebels against greed, but to cut off greed, two knives are needed, one is One sword is the imperial decree, which is used to clarify what can and cannot be done, so as to distinguish the guilty and the innocent. The other sword is supervision. The lack of supervision and over-trusting in the words of one or two people is a huge flaw..."
As soon as the discussion started, the court became lively.
In the words of the ministers, Zhu Yunwen looked for ways to control corruption to ensure that the imperial power could not only leave the capital, but also reach the cities and countryside. He was not naive to expect that corruption would be completely eliminated, but he hoped that corruption at the bottom would be reduced. Some.
"Your Majesty, the failure of the country is due to official evil. To deal with official evil, we must attach great importance to supervision, and the responsibility for local supervision lies with the Metropolitan Procuratorate. I request an order to expand the Metropolitan Procuratorate and add twelve more censors."
Dai Deyi, the newly appointed censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, said solemnly.
Zhu Yunwen looked at Dai Deyi and asked: "The Metropolitan Procuratorate wants to hire more supervisory censors. How many more people do you plan to hire?"
Dai Deyi said: "Your Majesty, there are too few supervisory censors, which is the reason why the Metropolitan Procuratorate has failed in its duties. Taking Henan as an example, there are Kaifeng Prefecture, Henan Prefecture, Weihui Prefecture, Huaiqing Prefecture, Guide Prefecture, and Zhangde Prefecture. The prefecture, Runing Prefecture, Nanyang Prefecture, and Ruzhou are directly under the jurisdiction of nine prefectures. In one prefecture, there are many counties. Kaifeng Prefecture governs 17 counties including Xiangfu County, Chenliu County, Qi County, and Yuanwu County. "
"And Ducha
The courtyard has twelve supervisory censorships, each with a maximum of five and a minimum of three. Henan is an important place, and there are only five supervisory censors. How can five people get a glimpse of the entire state, and how can they clearly observe the entire province? I request each supervisory censor to set up a separate supervisory censor based on the prefecture and prefecture to use the system of supervision to curb the root causes of corruption. "
Zhu Yunwen said nothing.
What Dai Deyi said makes sense. Strengthening supervision is the way to prevent and control corruption.
But when he opens his mouth, he will turn the Metropolitan Procuratorate of more than 100 people into a large team of more than 300 people.
The sudden increase of more than two hundred people is a bit excessive.
Huang Zicheng left his post and objected: "Although I think it is feasible to increase the number of supervisory censors, it is not appropriate to set them up according to prefectures. Adding an extra two hundred people may bring a lot of expense, and the supervisory censor is not a local official. As an official of the capital, there is no need to stay in a certain place for a long time, and he can return to the capital as soon as his mission is completed."
Dai Deyi insisted: "Master Huang, the supervisory censor is just a seventh-grade official. How much more salary can the court spend by adding two hundred people? If these censors catch corrupt officials in the local area, their income and property are confiscated into the national treasury. Is it possible that we still can’t afford the salary of two hundred people?”
Huang Zicheng, who was in charge of the Ministry of Household Affairs, knew how huge the gains from investigating and dealing with corruption were. The income gained from investigating and dealing with corruption in Kaifeng Mansion was enough to support two hundred censors for twenty years.
Jian Yi, the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, came out and said: "I agree with Mr. Dai that if you want to govern the local area, you should supervise it. However, there are too few people to supervise the local area. If the Metropolitan Procuratorate adds more personnel to investigate local problems, I think it is feasible."
Seeing that Jian Yi and Dai Deyi were standing on the same front, Zhu Yunwen couldn't help but nodded.
From the immediate point of view, the addition of more than 200 seventh-grade officials will increase the court's expenditure. However, in the long run and the overall situation, if they do something to improve local political clarity and reduce corruption in Fuzhou and counties, this will be a good deal. s arrangement.
Besides, the Minister of Household Affairs and the Censor of Zuodu of the Duchayuan are both newly appointed. They plan to do something, and the emperor should support them.
"In that case, then as you said, we will set up supervisory censors according to prefectures. I only want to mention one point. Supervisory censors cannot be permanently stationed in one place. They need to be rotated to other prefectures every year or half a year. If there is no political performance, Or collude with the local government, deceive the imperial court, no mercy will be given!"
Zhu Yunwen said solemnly.
Dai Deyi said: "I am determined to manage the Metropolitan Procuratorate well and live up to my supervisory duties."
Seeing that it was already noon, the officials' stomachs started to get upset. Zhu Yunwen had just listened to everyone's memorials and said: "I have thought carefully about what you said and found that they all have some similarities. I will solve them for you in terms of law and supervision." However, no one can tell us how to stay true to our original aspiration, serve the people, and aim for a prosperous world instead of coveting enjoyment and satisfying our own selfish interests."
"I believe that whether local officials are corrupt or not depends largely on a popular proverb: the upper beam is not upright and the lower beam is crooked. In the final analysis, it is the inaction of the capital and the imperial court, and the officials have forgotten the aspirations of the Qingyun! To solve this problem, we should also pay attention to Think, grasp the will, grasp the true heart! From this, I hope that the cabinet will take the lead, and the Hanlin Academy will assist, to build a school of thought and politics for officials in the capital!"
Xie Jin, Yu Xin and others looked at each other, not knowing why.
"Your Majesty, what is the Institute of Official Ideology and Politics?"
Xie Jin asked with a frown.
Zhu Yunwen explained: "The so-called Institute of Official Ideology and Politics is the Imperial College for officials! But here, what you study will no longer be the Four Books and Five Classics, but how to become an honest, outstanding, and capable official!"
