In the study room of Qianqing Palace in the imperial palace of the capital, Hongzhi Wasteland, Liu Jin, Zhong Zhong, Wang Shouren, Han Wen, Yang Yiqing and Liang Chu were discussing national affairs.
"Your Majesty, the officials of the Immigration Bureau of Xiayun Town, Black Earth Province, together with the officials of Xiayun Town, embezzled 2 million taels of silver, 5,000 horses, 1,000 cattle, and 30,000 sheep from the resettlement funds."
Wang Shouren took out a memorial and reported to Hongzhi Huangdi on the immigration affairs of Black Earth Province. He was the cabinet minister responsible for immigration affairs. When such a thing happened, he felt that there was no trace of brilliance on his face.
Speaking of the past, the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty were indeed low. If everyone lived on that salary, they would starve to death. Therefore, there are many unwritten rules in the officialdom, such as collecting filial piety, writing fees, etc.
This is something that everyone turns a blind eye to. Even Emperor Hongzhi knows about it, and Liu Jian, the chief minister of the cabinet, is also trying to contain it.
But it is different now. The income of officials in the Ming Dynasty is already quite high. Even the income of seventh-grade officials has exceeded 200 taels of silver. In addition, there are subsidies, food, cloth, tea and other physical goods distributed by the court. The income It is far beyond ordinary people.
The annual income of ordinary people is only fifty or sixty taels of silver. Calculated, the income of seventh-grade officials is five or six times that of ordinary people.
With this kind of income, coupled with the extremely low prices in Ming Dynasty, it can be said that there is no problem at all in supporting a large family, and there is no need to talk about being greedy.
But people's hearts are not enough, and corruption is still an important problem. Every year, a large number of officials are investigated and punished for corruption.
"Hmph~"
"Immigrated thousands of miles to the Black Earth Province, responded to the imperial court's call, and immigrated to the border. However, no matter how much settlement expenses were paid, and the property they deserved were stolen by these people, it was simply unconscionable."
Emperor Hongzhi read the memorial carefully and immediately threw it to the ground in great anger.
The immigration issue has always been the issue that Emperor Hongzhi was most concerned about.
In the view of Emperor Hongzhi, emigration was not easy. He left his homeland and wandered to a foreign land, with confusion and panic about the future. He was willing to emigrate solely because he believed in the imperial court.
Now such a problem has arisen. The resettlement allowance has been corrupted, and even the cattle, sheep and horses distributed to immigrants have also been corrupted. The top and bottom collude together, thinking that everything can be done seamlessly.
"Your Majesty, the immigration policy is related to the long-term peace and stability of our Ming Dynasty, and is related to our Ming Dynasty's rule and management of remote territories. It must not be affected by these moths."
"I think these corrupt people should be dealt with seriously."
Liu Jin stood up and said with a serious face.
Corrupt officials have existed since ancient times. Some corrupt officials know what can and cannot be corrupted. For example, when a famine occurs, money and food for disaster relief cannot be corrupted, because once they are corrupted, there is no telling how many victims will die. .
However, there are some officials who are just like plucking their feathers. No matter how much money they have, they dare to be greedy, and they have a huge appetite. They want to become fat in one bite and swallow everything in their stomachs.
Such corrupt officials have no moral bottom line. They only care about money and don't care about anything else. They are like a dregs of a project for future generations. Once something goes wrong, no one knows how many people will be killed.
Liu Jin deeply hates such people, and has always been merciless. He will punish every one he finds out, and he will regret it for the rest of his life.
"Your Majesty, I also believe that these corrupt officials should be dealt with seriously. They will never tolerate adultery, and they will be published in newspapers so that they will be reviled by thousands of people and serve as a warning to officials all over the world."
Zhong Zhong also stood up to express his support.
In fact, these officials who went to Black Earth Province to serve as officials were not only promoted faster than those in other places, but also received salary subsidies and the like.
They can also be rewarded with large tracts of land. Even ordinary seventh-grade officials can obtain thousands of acres of land, as well as a lot of cattle, sheep, horses and slaves.
It can be said that in this regard, the imperial court has formulated a complete set of perfect systems, which not only attracts ordinary people to immigrate there, but also allows these officials to govern in these places with peace of mind.
Unexpectedly, some people still engage in corruption.
"Your Majesty, these corrupt officials must be severely punished!"
Wang Shouren also expressed his stance.
"Your Majesty, I believe that this matter must be investigated thoroughly and the relevant supervision mechanisms must be improved."
Yang Yiqing also said.
He is the Minister of the Ministry of Industry. Now the Ming Dynasty is engaged in infrastructure construction. The Ministry of Industry handles hundreds of millions of money every year. This is a very huge wealth. Countless railways, highways, rivers, ports, reservoirs, etc. are started to be constructed every year.
, the interests involved are very huge.
It is also a key area of investigation every year, and a large number of corrupt officials are bound to be found. There is no way it has been like this since ancient times. Engineering is the same thing in ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad, and it is extremely easy to go wrong.
Yang Yiqing was also troubled by this. He was in charge of a large number of infrastructure projects, had great power, and had a lot of money. However, if problems always occurred, he, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, would always be impeached.
Those officials and censors, they don't care whether you, Yang Yiqing, are innocent or not. As long as someone below is corrupt, they will impeach you together and stuff yellow mud into your crotch. If it's not shit, it's shit. Jump in
You can't even clean the Yellow River.
In the past, Liu Jin was often impeached and criticized because everyone was jealous of Liu Jin, but gradually everyone found that impeaching Liu Jin was of no use.
Emperor Hongzhi had great trust in Liu Jin, and Liu Jin was not a bad person. Zhang Cai is still watching polar bears in Beibing Mansion.
What's more, Liu Jin is now the chief minister of the cabinet, the head of the civil servants in the world, with deep roots and a big tree, so everyone gradually stopped impeaching Liu Jin and started impeaching Yang Yiqing instead.
It is because Yang Yiqing, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, has handled too many projects, and the amount of money he has handled is hundreds of millions every year, there are always all kinds of corrupt officials at all levels under the Ministry of Industry.
When we impeach these corrupt officials, we will naturally also impeach Yang Yiqing, the Minister of Industry.
He is now an ant on a hot pot, with countless pairs of eyes looking at him.
Since ancient times, money has attracted people's hearts.
Therefore, he has been thinking about how to effectively prevent these corruptions, especially when projects are of great importance.
If the embankment built here is a shoddy project, and when the flood comes, the embankment will suddenly burst and people will drown, then it will be over.
If the quality of the bridge being built is not up to standard and it collapses within a few years, it will be impeached.
There are also cement kilometers. If potholes start to appear within a few months, the relevant officials will also be held accountable.
The engineering of the Ming Dynasty was very different from that of later generations.
That is, whether it was building city walls or bridges in the Ming Dynasty, the names and place of origin of the officials and craftsmen who undertook the project were engraved on the side.
Even every brick used in the building must be engraved with the name, place of birth, date, etc. of the craftsman. If something goes wrong, these officials and craftsmen will be directly blamed.
This is a system that has been implemented since Hongwu and Zhu Yuanzhang.
To put it simply, everyone knows who built this road and this bridge. If it is not built well, you will be stabbed in the back.
Therefore, during the Ming Dynasty, the quality of engineering construction was quite good. The city walls and the Great Wall were all well preserved. The Great Wall that can be seen in later generations was actually built in the Ming Dynasty, not during the Qin Shihuang period.
built.
From this point of view, the quality of the Ming Dynasty's projects was definitely quite good, because both the officials who built these projects and the civilians who were recruited were working with their own lives and did not dare to be careless.
"Well, since all my dear friends agree that this matter must be severely investigated and punished, then let us pass on the order to investigate and deal with this matter severely!"
After hearing what the ministers said, Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly.
Immigration is of great importance.
The current prosperity of the Ming Dynasty is inseparable from immigration.
First of all, because of the large number of immigrants, the contradiction between man and land in the Ming Dynasty was greatly alleviated. In the past, the contradiction between man and land was extremely acute. The gentry and landlords, royal family members, powerful families, etc. wantonly annexed land, causing the common people to gradually
They lost the land they relied on for survival, and at the same time they had to bear taxes.
Taking Henan as an example, the large and small clan princes in Henan alone account for almost a quarter of the land in Henan. Coupled with the gentry and landlords, etc., the land conflict in Henan is extremely acute.
And a large number of people migrated out, and at the same time these princes, big and small, were also moved out. A large amount of land in Henan appeared barren and uncultivated. .;
Secondly, a large number of immigrants also increased the grain output of the Ming Dynasty. The development of Liaodong, Hezhong, Nanyang, Central Asia and other places, and the use of mechanized farming of a large amount of fertile land, greatly increased grain production, allowing the Ming Dynasty to truly get rid of the problem of famine.
, this is the foundation for the prosperity and stability of the Ming Dynasty.
In addition, immigrants also consolidated the border areas and turned the border areas into a prosperous land for the Ming Dynasty. They enriched the border areas and allowed the Ming Dynasty to avoid any border problems.
It can be said that immigration has many benefits, and it is also a policy that the Ming court has always adhered to. Even though the Ming Dynasty is now short of manpower, the court still insists on immigration.
Relocate people from mountainous areas, relocate people from areas with harsh natural conditions, and allow these places to slowly restore their natural environment, etc.
"Your Majesty, the Yangtze River dredging project plan has also been formulated!"
After talking about the immigration of Black Earth Province, Yang Yiqing also submitted a memorial regarding a plan to dredge the Yangtze River.
p: Ahem, is there anyone who is a big shot in engineering? Can you tell me about the situation~
