With Huang Zicheng, Qi Taizhengfa, Zhao Mian, the Minister of Household Affairs, committed suicide, Prince Consort Ouyang Lun was executed, a large number of officials were implicated in the case and imprisoned, and the situation in the court also changed a lot.
The increase in commercial tax was finally implemented.
Almost overnight, the commercial taxes collected by the imperial court skyrocketed.
However, the taxes that many small businesses and hawkers need to pay have been reduced by more than half.
In the tea shed on the pier, the shopkeeper was very busy.
Only after Taisun's private visit incognito was published in the newspapers did he know that the people who came that day were actually His Highness Taisun and his entourage.
Taisun personally came to investigate and deal with the commercial taxes and killed Ouyang Lun, the consort. The commercial taxes levied on his tea shed were also reduced from thirty taels a month to thirty taels.
And because His Highness Taisun had been here, it attracted countless people to visit.
Let’s review the tea that His Highness Taisun once drank.
The tea shed business is naturally booming.
There are legends about Taisun everywhere in the market.
The establishment of newspapers and periodicals reversed the situation in which literati and poets controlled public opinion.
Nowadays, the high ground of public opinion has been firmly occupied by People's Daily.
The direction of public opinion naturally shifted based on Zhu Yunxun's will.
With the new army in hand, plus newspapers and periodicals, pen and gun barrels were grasped tightly in both hands, he no longer had any scruples.
On the 18th, the scholar Yang Shiqi, who was a commoner, had meritorious service in trying the Qi Tai case. He was promoted by the grandson Jian and was given the position of walking in the advisory office and counselor of government affairs.
Although the counselor had no rank or real power in Zhu Yunxian's design, he only served as an adviser to the emperor.
But after all, if you can enter the Counselor's Office, you will work in front of the emperor.
Although His Majesty is currently recuperating away from home, the political affairs committee is entrusted to the Grandson.
But everyone knows that Taisun's current position is unshakable.
After Lao Zhu died, there was no doubt about his succession.
There is no difference between working next to him and working next to the emperor.
It could be even better.
After all, after the new king ascends the throne, he will be the minister of the dragon.
Promotion and advancement are natural principles.
The people who had gone in before, except Yao Guangxiao, the demon monk, were all well-known ministers in the court.
Now that Yang Shiqi has entered the advisory office in civilian clothes, he naturally attracts the attention of both the government and the public.
But after Yang Shiqi entered the Counselor's Office, he was very cautious and never said a word or talked lightly about state affairs. He just stayed silently and listened, studying hard, and he was not excluded too much.
At the same time, His Royal Highness Taisun decreed the establishment of a People's Supervision Department, and Yang Shiqi was also awarded the first general manager of the People's Supervision Department.
This was decided by Zhu Yunxuan after careful consideration.
He considered using Jinyiwei directly.
But there are three problems. First, the Jinyiwei is also responsible for guarding the palace. If Jinyiwei is used to investigate officials, his power will be too much.
Second, Jinyiwei is essentially a military household. According to Ming law, military households are hereditary.
As a result, it is inevitable that one generation will not be as good as the other.
Of course, this is something that will happen in the future. At least today's Jin Yiwei can still be regarded as the elite among the elite.
The third reason is even more critical. Jinyiwei had an extremely transcendent status when it was first established.
To be able to enter the palace as a royal guard, one must ensure the absolute loyalty of the candidate.
Therefore, most of the people who were initially selected to join the Imperial Guard were descendants of aristocratic families, or had achieved considerable military exploits, and had received favors from the court. Only in this way could they be safely allowed to stay in the imperial palace.
But precisely because of this, these people actually have relatively close contacts with officials in the DPRK and China.
If they are allowed to exercise their power to supervise the integrity of the government, it will be fine for big things. But if it is a trivial matter, they will inevitably resort to favoritism.
The People's Supervision Department established by Zhu Yunxian is to start from a small start and prevent the slightest mistakes.
Official corruption, bribery, and various illegal activities all start from small things.
Lao Zhu's punishment was very severe.
Most of the newly appointed officials do not have any thoughts of corruption when they first become an official.
Even if I have such an idea, I am still frightened and dare not go even half a step beyond the thunder pool.
But as time goes by, ideas will slowly change.
Start taking advantage of your position to seek some minor personal gains, and then you will become more and more courageous.
The same principle applies to what later generations would call "sugar-coated bullets."
What Jin Yiwei investigates has always been major and important cases.
They don't investigate ordinary cases.
Moreover, due to long-term habits, it is inevitable that small cases are not worth investigating and are too fussy.
The establishment of the People's Supervision Department is to prevent and cure this situation.
In a sense, preventing corruption is more important than punishing corruption.
The most important thing is not to allow corruption to occur.
Otherwise, even if you keep killing and killing, you can only treat the symptoms but not the root cause.
Once there is any slack, the tide of corruption will retaliate with greater intensity.
It is different from other yamen in Ming Dynasty.
All personnel in the Civilian Supervision Department were recruited from scratch, including the general manager Yang Shiqi, who were all civilians.
Zhu Yunxuan even ordered that any descendant of the nobles in the dynasty or an official in the dynasty would not be allowed to join the Civil Supervision Department for three generations.
The Department of Civilian Supervision requires everyone to be ordinary citizens and come from civilian backgrounds.
Officials of the Department of Civil Supervision, big and small, are not given grades, nor do they enjoy the privilege of not paying taxes like the scholars who have obtained the title.
But the reward given was very generous.
At the same time, the People's Supervision Department is completely independent from many agencies of the imperial court. Financial payments are directly made, approved by the grandson himself, listed separately, and no longer apply for funds from the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Personnel is independent, and all personnel appointments are determined by the general manager and reported directly to the grandson, and are not subject to the assessment of the Ministry of Officials.
Handling cases independently, the Civil Supervision Department has independent powers of investigation, arrest, and interrogation.
In fact, in the early Ming Dynasty, Lao Zhu gave the common people the power to escort unjust officials.
But this system is, to some extent, only formal.
How easy is it for the common people to persuade officials?
During Lao Zhu's period, it didn't happen a few times.
Later, this system existed in name only.
The People's Supervision Department transferred this system to a controlled institution.
The People's Supervision Department has no rank, but it has the power to handle cases.
However, Zhu Yunzhen also stipulated that the People's Supervision Department should not use torture.
If the arrest is made at a local level, in principle, after interrogation, the case will still be handed over to the local Yamen Judicial Department for handling.
If it is really necessary to escort the capital, the local government must be notified and permission from the superiors must be obtained before the escort can be carried out.
For those arrested in the capital, the maximum time limit shall not exceed two days.
After two days, he will either be transferred to the Ministry of Justice or released.
Exceptions can be made unless there is a special order from the grandson.
In other words, the Civil Supervision Department only has the power to investigate and handle cases, but it does not have the power to convict people.
The final prosecution and trial must be handed over to the judicial department.
In addition, as soon as the People's Supervision Department was established, it set up an internal anti-corruption agency and strictly warned all personnel not to embezzle a single penny.
The recruited personnel were first trained.
Zhu Yunzhen personally lectured them many times. Because of the special nature of the People's Supervision Department, the methods should be as gentle as possible when handling cases.
The second is not to let go of any little thing.
Because what is a small thing in the eyes of officials may be a big deal in the eyes of the people.
At the same time, he ordered the People's Daily to create public opinion and publicize the People's Supervision Department, so that ordinary people could come here to report the illegal behavior of officials.
Before that, if people wanted to sue an official, the prerequisite was that the crime committed by the official must be very serious.
In general, people can only endure it.
If you sue an official over a trivial matter, you will only be considered "tough".
The establishment of the People's Supervision Department directly reversed this situation.
It can be as small as collecting a few cents in taxes, or even as government officials asking for bribes of a few cents from businessmen, or as large as officials building mansions or buying fields... they are all within the scope of the supervision of the Civil Supervision Department.
Lao Zhu once killed many people and shed rivers of blood, but there were still many officials who lorded it over the people.
But with the deepening supervision of the People's Supervision Department, this phenomenon gradually disappeared.
No one wants to be reported by the people or invited to "drink tea" by the People's Supervision Department because of a trivial matter.
Although you won't lose your head, you won't even get slapped on the wall, but you will be scolded severely, and you will also be marked down.
When taking merit tests, one's merit will be rated at a lower level, and his career will be hampered from then on.
Who could be so stupid?
As a result, everyone from the first-rank court officials to the unranked government servants became more behaved.
I no longer dare to be too arrogant and domineering in front of the people.
The atmosphere of Jinling officialdom has changed.
In the past, when the imperial court killed corrupt officials, the people would just watch and watch.
After all, most of the time, we don’t actually have much interaction with them.
They hate this behavior, but personally feel a little numb.
Nowadays, the changes in the officialdom, especially the attitude of the officials with whom we deal daily have changed drastically, but they are more visible and tangible.
Everyone can feel that the official master has changed and the official difference has changed.
They no longer dare to bully people at will, because they are really afraid that people will report to the People's Supervision Department.
For a time, the people of Jinling City all praised him.
…
Yangshan.
Although Lao Zhu left the court.
But he knew everything about Jinling's movements.
"They executed Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai without complaining to us. They cared about their flesh and blood. We really did not misjudge him."
"Okay! What a great Civil Supervisor!"
"We have enacted so many severe penalties and killed so many people, but the more corrupt officials we kill, the more we kill them."
“Be on guard against the slightest change, and don’t neglect doing good deeds because they are small.”
"Instead of waiting until someone has been greedy for sixty taels of silver and then beheading him, it is better to start punishing someone for being greedy for just one penny."
“Start from a small start and put an end to petty corruption, and the social atmosphere will be great.”
"If the atmosphere is good, it will be difficult for the soil of great greed to survive! Even if it cannot be eliminated, it can be reduced to nine out of ten. This is the fundamental solution!"
Lao Zhu looked at the information he received in his hand and suddenly burst into tears.
He has fought against corruption all his life, but as he gets older he feels increasingly powerless.
I just found out today that this is the case!
(End of chapter)
