After Zhang Ximeng said these words, the ball was naturally sent to Zhu Yuanzhang's feet.
In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang was also reflecting. When Tao An said those words, he did not want to be like the common people. Zhu Yuanzhang had the idea of killing the old man and wanted to execute the old man. Let the people below see it. If you want to be polite and decent, we will help you be decent.
!
But Lao Zhu did not kill anyone. After all, Tao An still did a lot of things, and he was just talking about it, and he didn't really do anything bad.
The most important thing is that Zhu Yuanzhang has not yet wiped out the Southern Region, and at least Tian Wan still has considerable strength. At this time, the pressure is too tight, and it is indeed possible to defect to others.
As a king, you still have to win over people's hearts and maintain stability below.
Moreover, Tao An's quick talk can be regarded as meritorious, and it is equivalent to giving Zhu Yuanzhang a wake-up call.
Don't think that the people you govern are of the same mind as you.
It can even be said that most people don't agree with Zhang Ximeng's ideas. They just follow the wind and flatter him, and they just shout about it, but they don't really remember it in their hearts, and they don't have the courage to put it into practice.
Too many people still feel that they are extraordinary and should enjoy better treatment. Ordinary people should be honest and driven by them and carry their sedan chairs obediently. This is a peaceful and prosperous age and a saintly king and wise master.
If you can't even meet this small requirement, you are undoubtedly a fool.
Even if it is beneficial to the country, we will arrange it for you.
When Zhu Yuanzhang realized that there were some people who couldn't be raised well, he really wanted to take action, really, really wanted to... But at this time, Ma dissuaded him.
Ma's reasoning is also very simple. Tao An jumped out and he had a reason not to kill. Those people were just thinking about it in their hearts, so why did they use the knife?
If you insist on dealing with it, you will inevitably kill a good person by mistake, and in turn, your own prestige will be shaken.
A person's decisiveness in killing does not depend on how many people he can kill. It depends on whether he will be merciful and open-minded to those who must be killed.
Take Hu Sanshe for example. His crime is clear, and his father is leading troops in front of the army. This is a difficult problem. If you kill Zhu Chongba, it will be enough to tell the world who you are.
As for civil servants like Tao An, who had the habits of scholar-bureaucrats, unless they were really corrupt and perverting the law, and the evidence was conclusive, the knife could be used. Otherwise, it would be easy to scare those scholars who wanted to join them, and the gains would outweigh the losses.
There are not many people in the world who can change Zhu Yuanzhang's mind. There is only one person who dares to name Zhu Chongba directly and tell him what to do.
Lao Zhu naturally followed the good deeds, but he was still a little unhappy in his heart, feeling that the civil servants were alienated from him and were not of the same mind.
Today, Zhang Ximeng came up with a new plan.
Zhu Yuanzhang was very satisfied and finally had the opportunity to step down.
"We know in our hearts that there are many people who look down on the poor people and think that these farmers who dig in the soil are worthless and just ants on grass... But we want to say that your superior position is from this group of people.
The few of our generals who came out all came from such miserable backgrounds, and our soldiers are a group of honest people who have been poor for many generations."
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at the audience and said coldly: "You guys, do you still think that a poor stick is worthless?"
This time there was no need for Zhang Ximeng to express his position. Li Shanchang took the lead and knelt down directly. He expressed his sincerity and said with emotion: "Your Majesty, before I became a minor official, my family was quite embarrassed. I didn't have enough to eat and didn't have warm clothes. When I was studying in winter, my palms
I have frostbite all over, and I also want to go to Beijing to take the Jinshi exam and honor my ancestors. But there is no way. My family can't afford the money, so I can only work as a small official and suffer. If I hadn't met a superior, I, I would have been in this life.
It’s over.”
Li Shanchang's words were reasonable and touching, and Zhu Yuanzhang nodded in praise. Zhang Ximeng, on the other hand, seemed to remember that Li Shanchang said that the conditions at home were not bad, otherwise how would he have the opportunity to study?
He also once regarded himself as a scholarly family, which means you, Zhang Ximeng, should not be too proud.
Why did he become a poor man again in the blink of an eye?
Could it be that Li Shanchang and his family also belong to Schrödinger?
Is poverty or wealth a metaphysics?
But you can't say that Lao Li is lying. After all, among these civil servants, there are indeed people who have miserable backgrounds and have a hard time studying... such as Song Lian!
He agreed very much with Zhu Yuanzhang's statement, and he did not make any trouble about salary.
Now Zhang Ximeng's salary design has made Song Lian very satisfied.
"When you are in power, I thought that the official salary was five times more than that of ordinary people. Since you are in the middle of the court, you don't have to worry about anything. God's grace is already great. You must know that people like Zhao Song, who wanted to empty the treasury and support scholar-bureaucrats, are not doing enough.
It is reasonable to say that people's livelihood is in decline and uprisings continue. Since we want to redefine the rules and rebuild the world, we should decisively abandon the bad policies of the previous dynasty, take the laws of nature and people's hearts into consideration, and put the people first... This is how we draw up the regulations
Only the system can last long and bring peace to the world for thousands of years!"
Finally, there was a civil servant who understood the general situation, and Zhu Yuanzhang's anger was reduced by three points.
"Scholar Song is right. We have seen the Yuan Dynasty fall apart with our own eyes, and we also know the rise and fall of China for thousands of years. The Zhou Dynasty was destroyed because of the emperor's wanton behavior, asking for and taking. Zhao and Song died because of extravagance at the top and greed at the bottom, and the emperor was stupid.
, the officials and gentry have to pay too much, the people are in dire straits, and foreign invaders invade... These lessons are not without bitterness. We can tolerate officials getting more salaries, but we will never allow you to dominate and treat the people as fish and meat. We hope you will remember it.
As for today, the salary matter will be discussed by Prime Minister Zhang and Prime Minister Li and announced as soon as possible. From now on, we will also strictly investigate all officials. Once corruption and perversion of the law are discovered, we will not be lenient!"
Lao Zhu accepted his wife's persuasion. It is wrong to kill people casually, but we have reasons and real evidence. No one can stop us!
Look, we must deal with the habits of those scholar-bureaucrats who do not treat the common people as human beasts and kill them without mercy. If we do not deal with a few corrupt officials properly, we will simply not be able to explain to the common people and we will not be able to feel comfortable!
However, this matter was not something that Zhang Ximeng and Li Shanchang could interfere with. Zhu Yuanzhang planned to ask Guo Ying to arrange it and ask the Arch Guard to investigate.
It is no exaggeration to say that Lao Zhu has sharpened his skills.
On the other side, Zhang Ximeng also came to see Li Shanchang.
After the meeting, the atmosphere was not so harmonious. Li Shanchang just looked at Zhang Ximeng and smiled, and then he poured a glass of water for Zhang Ximeng.
"The tea is gone. This is the only one left. Please forgive me, Mr. Zhang."
Zhang Ximeng looked at the water glass, then looked up at Li Shanchang.
This old Li is blaming himself!
"Brother Li, do you think I should tell you my salary plan in advance so that you can have an excuse to deal with all the officials and avoid being in such an embarrassing situation? Right?"
"No!" Li Shanchang said coldly: "Prime Minister, to be honest, I don't agree with your plan. It is based on grain prices and adjusted every two or three years... Don't you know that official salaries can only be increased?
Don't let it fall! If you let me say, after the superiors plan to stipulate the salary, it will never be changed, maybe it is a better way. After all, everyone wants to be greedy, it is better to make the regulations stricter. If anyone takes bribes and bends the law, it is clean.
neat!"
Li Shanchang was impassioned, but Zhang Ximeng found it funny... I still don't know what you are like, Li Shanchang? Isn't this just because you are angry, expressing your anger, and using words to attack me?
good!
If your surname is Li, you are considered worthy.
If I can't make you kneel down with just a few words, I will surrender and let you make the decision in everything!
"Brother Li, you really hate evil as much as you hate evil. How much corruption do you think you can afford to do?"
Li Shanchang said angrily: "It's not good to have too many, just sixty taels will do!"
"Okay! Sixty taels is sixty taels. I collected two kilograms of Longjing from Brother Li a few days ago. Do I need to peel it?"
Li Shanchang was puzzled, Longjing? There is such a thing, but the dragonjing was given to him by the people below, saying it was a local product of West Lake, so that he could try it.
Although the best Longjing tea is very expensive, it will never cost sixty taels. After all, the most expensive tea at the moment is Xiaolongtuan. Green tea is not valuable enough, but Zhang Ximeng just likes to drink it.
"Prime Minister Zhang, your integrity is well known to everyone. If even you are stripped of your integrity, there won't be many people in the country who can speak out!"
Zhang Ximeng smiled and said, "Thank you for your love. I am lucky to survive. But on the shore of the West Lake, there are two renovated Song Dynasty manors and a hundred acres of tea garden. How much are they worth? How many layers of skin should be peeled off? I don't know."
knew!"
After saying this, he directly placed a bag of tea, a pawn ticket, and a wooden box in front of Li Shanchang. After unfolding it, it was the house deed and land deed that Zhang Ximeng mentioned. On top, there was a letter,
It says Li Xiangqingqi.
After saying three sentences, Zhang Ximeng sat aside, looked at Erlang's legs, and drank some water.
Looking at Li Shanchang again, he was surprised at first, then trembled all over, and a strong uneasiness surged into his heart. He picked up the tea leaves, looked at them carefully, and found that they were indeed the package given to him!
Look at the pawn tickets again... Lao Li understands everything!
broken!
Someone hid the pawn ticket in a tea bag as a gift of tea.
As a result, I was negligent and didn't take it seriously, so I passed it on to Zhang Ximeng.
It just so happens that this bag of tea contains something fatal. A pawn ticket can be exchanged for a manor and a tea garden... What a guy! The person who gave this gift is really thoughtful and well-designed.
Li Shanchang is the head of the civil service. Who would dare to touch the tea brought to him?
What’s interesting is that the tea leaves don’t contain tacky gold or silver, but pawn tickets!
You have to hold the pawn ticket to exchange for the box, and there are generous gifts hidden in the box.
One by one, the heavy gift was delivered to Li Shanchang silently.
What a great idea!
Simply ingenious and cleverly laid out.
But this person didn't expect that Zhang Ximeng came to visit Li Shanchang, took bribes for the first time in his life, took away the tea, and held this thing in his hands that outsiders could not know.
"Xiang Zhang, I, I was wronged!" Li Shanchang knelt down in anxiety, "I, I honestly didn't know, but someone framed me!"
Zhang Ximeng laughed and said, "Brother Li, if I think there is something wrong with you, I will send these things to the lord!"
"Ouch!"
One sentence made Li Shanchang almost burst into tears. Thinking of the strange anger just now, he wanted to tear off one side of his old face and do such a shameful thing. This face...don't forget it!
Li Shanchang has realized that Zhang Ximeng didn't communicate with him because he actually wanted to see who was causing trouble with him and wanted to replace him... Prime Minister Zhang, you have really good intentions!
Lao Li grabbed Zhang Ximeng's arm and didn't know what to say.
My parents are the ones who gave birth to me, Zhang Xiang is the one who saved me!
Actually, Li Shanchang is also a self-indulgent person. Zhang Ximeng knows that Li Shanchang is innocent in this case, but only God knows whether he is innocent or not.
At this moment, there is nothing wrong with giving Lao Li a big showdown.
"Brother Li, if you can use this method, it must be no small matter. If you stab the lord, I don't know what will happen!"
Li Shanchang cried. Don't mention Zhu Yuanzhang now. I have a chill in my neck now.
What kind of beast is it that framed us like this!
"Xiang Zhang, I'm confused right now. Please tell me, what should I do?"
Zhang Ximeng smiled, "Actually, this matter is not difficult to handle... I have heard of people who do good deeds without leaving their names, but I have never heard of people who give gifts without leaving their names. This person does one thing after another, and there may be a story hidden in this manor of mine.
What! Let’s do this, I will accompany Brother Li to take a look, and I will act as a witness to see who is behind it and plans to bribe Brother Li!”
Li Shanchang took a deep breath and said, "Okay! Mr. Zhang saved me!"
Lao Li stood up, picked up the land deed, and asked him to put the other items, including the two kilograms of tea, into a box. He even put a seal on it and sealed it as evidence of guilt.
"Prime Minister Zhang, watch and wait until everything is clear before handing it over to the superiors!" Lao Li said through gritted teeth.
