How can you make all the officials in the world think that this is a warning?

In the face of Chen Mingfu's suggestion, Zhu Mingzhong chose to remain silent.

In the silence, he felt a little red-faced, because the source of all this was him, because it was all caused by him.

After being silent for a long time, Zhu Mingzhong asked again.

"Is it that all the officials are enriching themselves with this?"

"Back to Your Majesty, as far as the current investigation is concerned, the increase in official rents with grain is often not for officials to fill their own pockets, but for the expenses of local officials and yamen, although the income of officials in our dynasty is quite high, and there is cheap silver, but the expenses of government officials, as well as other expenses of the government, only rely on local stores and miscellaneous taxes, which is extremely difficult to maintain, such as the cost of patrolling houses and raising horses, and although there is a court subsidy for social studies, in order to encourage enrollment, the local government will reward excellent students every time, and these silver money need to be spent by the government, so, The local officials started to make a fuss about the grain rented in the official fields......"

In Chen Mingfu's explanation, Zhu Mingzhong naturally thought of the old "fire consumes silver", the old Ming and Qing officials were low, and the normal income was difficult to meet the needs of daily expenses. Fire consumption silver, also known as consumption envy, is a kind of additional tax in the Ming and Qing dynasties in addition to the regular tax grain or tax. The term "fire consumption" originally referred to the loss of fragments of silver that were cast into silver ingots or ingots by fire. Those who are transferred to the central government by the provinces must take 50 taels of silver ingots as a unit, so the loose silver collected by the provincial yamen from the people must be cast into 50 taels of ingots that meet the specifications before they can be handed over. The silver taels lost in the casting process are called fire consumption, and usually all these fire losses need to be attached to the original taxpayer and attached to the tax before payment.

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the consumption of silver by fire was 20%-30% of the positive tax. In the late Kangxi period, the fire consumption silver collected by the provinces generally reached three or four percent of the positive tax, and the highest reached seven or eight percent. The fire consumption silver collected by the government is generally used for the consumption of officials of all sizes and the distribution of allowances. Some officials saw the flaws in the process, reaped great benefits from it, and wantonly amassed wealth. The consumption of silver by fire not only increases the burden on the people, but also breeds corruption among government officials.

It is precisely because of this that Zhu Mingzhong directly abolished the consumption of silver by fire through the issuance of silver yuan in Jiangbei, but he never thought that without the consumption of silver by fire, those people turned their brains to "grain color".

“…… The grain originally collected is generally used for the normal distribution expenses of the local government. However, some officials saw the flaws in it, reaped great benefits from it, and wantonly amassed wealth. Naturally, the depreciation of grain has increased the burden on the people, made them unbearable, and also bred corruption among officials. ”

Plugging a loophole will create another loophole in another place, and now Zhu Mingzhong even has to admire the "flexible brains" of those people, they actually saw the opportunity to make profits so quickly, these people......

When Zhu Mingzhong was pondering, Chen Mingfu saluted again.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that this matter cannot be left alone. Based on the evidence in the hands of ministers and others, at present, no less than 100 officials can be prosecuted for corruption. But the minister can assure His Majesty with a head that there are far more officials in the Ming Dynasty who benefit from official land than these people, and even if they subsidize the government expenses with grain, it is also a violation of the laws of the Ming Dynasty. The minister thinks that if he does not severely punish the evil officials and corrupt officials, the world will definitely be harmed by them! ”

Chen Ming's righteous and stern admonition did not resonate with Zhu Mingzhong. Although in private he also hated corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and knew that it was those people who destroyed the foundation of the Ming Dynasty, but he also knew that if it was expanded, it would also severely damage the foundation of the Ming Dynasty.

After all, when it comes to all the local governments, even as an emperor, Zhu Mingzhong can't cut off the heads of all the prefects or exile them overseas.

Sometimes...... Law, I really don't blame the public!

Shaking his head helplessly, Zhu Mingzhong said.

"This incident, on the surface, is that the local government suffers from the people with food, but it is also a reason, after all, the local government is insufficient, and the expenses are numerous, which is also a fact. However, some local officials saw the opportunity and profited from it, and naturally they had to punish these people severely, but before the truth was clarified, if they were severely punished, it would only complicate the whole incident. Therefore, the immediate priority in this matter is not how to punish, but how to put an end to it! ”

If it was a few years ago, maybe Zhu Mingzhong would have frowned and ordered a thorough investigation of this matter, but now, he has to become "mature", as an emperor, he must take into account the stability of the country, not just personal pleasure.

"Your Majesty, if you throw a rat because the severe punishment will complicate the incident, then what about similar incidents in the future? Could it be that they are all rat traps? In Yichen's opinion, this kind of thing should be investigated to the end when it happens in the local area, and it must not be tolerated and treacherous. If it is a case of being hampered because of the wide range of involvement, it will only lead to the constraints of doing things, so why is it necessary to set up an investigation office? ”

Chen Mingfu's expression twisted, and he retorted directly, without the slightest intention of backing down because he was facing His Majesty.

In addition, the duty of the Investigation Office is to investigate and punish corrupt officials in order to clean up the officialdom. As for putting an end to this matter at the root, that is a matter for the officials of the DPRK and the Central People's Republic of China, and it has nothing to do with the Investigation Department! ”

Chen Mingfu's answer made Zhu Mingzhong's brows frown slightly, and there was immediately some unhappiness in his eyebrows.

In the face of his unyielding and knowing that what he said was also extremely reasonable, Zhu Mingzhong had no choice but to slow down, and then explained helplessly.

"This matter must be investigated and dealt with, but there must be a distinction, and if it is a person who benefits from it, it must be severely punished, but if it is not distinguished, it is very inappropriate to punish all officials involved in the issue of food and color as corrupt......

Without waiting for Chen Mingfu to finish speaking, Zhu Mingzhong stretched out his hand to stop him.

"Commissioner Chen, don't forget, the Investigation Department only has the power to investigate, and whether to prosecute or not will ultimately be decided by the Criminal Division!"

Regarding the move of using grain to trap the people and bring disaster to the people, Zhu Mingzhong has long had his own opinions in his heart. Emotionally, he naturally hated what was happening now, after all, it was his reputation that those people ruined. But the reason in his heart told him that the matter should still be handled through judicial channels.

After Chen Mingfu retired, again, Zhu Ming glanced at the newspaper, if it weren't for the news of "suing the emperor", maybe he wouldn't know about it at all, and even if he knew, he would probably have to wait until a few years later.

Newspaper...... It's not a bad thing, especially a newspaper like the "Gongyi Daily", which always sings against the imperial court, at least it exists, and can give itself some warnings from time to time.

"Your Majesty, this article in the "Public Opinion Daily" is full of disrespectful words, and in the opinion of the minister, in addition to seizing this newspaper, it must also be handed over to the criminal envoy to severely punish him."

Perhaps Yan Ermei will tell the officials in the department to obey the law carefully, but in front of His Majesty, he will still make suggestions from others - severe punishment!

After pondering for a moment, in the face of this suggestion, Zhu Mingzhong spoke.

"Severe punishment,...... It really should be, but it's so disrespectful...... There is some truth to it, too. ”

Suing him Zhu Mingzhong for "robbing the people's property" is really a crime to add to it, when did anyone dare to accuse the emperor with such words?

In the face of such accusations, Zhu Mingzhong didn't even know whether he should be relieved or angry, on the one hand, he had always hoped that the Chinese scholars could recover some backbone, but on the other hand, he couldn't help but be angry, because he simply made something out of nothing.

But at the same time, Zhu Mingzhong can also understand Zhao Minggong, after all, for the people, the land is his lifeblood, and his mood of wanting to get the land back from the government is understandable.

"I look at it this way, this is tried by the Dali Yuan in advance, if he has evidence that he is the old landlord, he should return it, after all, I am not a Manchu Qing Dynasty, and I can't plunder the people's property, but there must be evidence for this. As for the so-called "prosecution" of me...... Whether this matter is "disrespectful" or not, we must first see if there are provisions in the Daming Law, if not...... Let's take it as a warning. As for the newspaper, it is still left to the Information Department to deal with, and I will make a decision, but in my opinion, this matter should be said to be a mistake in the law, involving royal news, how to deal with it? This gives us a wake-up call! ”

Listening to His Majesty's words, although it seemed to be handed over to justice on the surface, Yan Ermei still heard that His Majesty was excusing those people, and now, the future ownership of the Zhao family's land is no longer a problem, who is the real biggest winner? It must be the "Communion", with this news, the "Communion" can be said to be out of the limelight, and more importantly, they hardly need to bear any consequences, because His Majesty has exonerated them of most of the responsibility, at most, that is, a penalty.

But now that His Majesty has already made a decision, it is naturally difficult to say more. I had to secretly think about how to get the Information Department to compile a press law to prevent similar things from happening again.

After Yan Ermei left, Zhu Mingzhong was still in the imperial study to deal with official business, according to the past habit, he would work until midnight before going to rest, although the cabinet can handle most affairs, but in the end, there will still be some special folds sent to him, these special folds need to be decided by him.

More often than not, Zhu Mingzhong is like this because he has been dealing with insomnia in recent months, and in recent months, his eyes have often lit up again before they have closed for a long time. Over time, I have gradually developed the habit of working late at night in the middle of the night and catching up on sleep during the day.

When it was close to noon, as before, Zhu Mingzhong slept directly in the imperial study, and then, as in the past, he was busy until the early hours of the morning......

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