"Please take a look at these first..." Liu Che took the paper still stained with blood and handed it to Zhi Du. "
After Zhi had finished reading, although he remained silent on the surface, Liu Che could clearly see the exposed veins on his hands.
Liu Che looked at it and nodded slightly in his heart.
Zhidu's character has always been jealous of evil.
In the previous life, Zhidu was in charge of Nanyang. In just two or three years, he killed all the powerful landlords in Nanyang. Everyone was in danger. They were transferred to lieutenants and went on a killing spree. All the officials in Chang'an called them "Goshawks".
Now, seeing the local officials of Henan County acting like this, it's strange that he can endure it!
However, on this issue, Liu Che knew very well that all he had to do was report the issue. As for how the emperor would consider it and decide, that had nothing to do with Liu Che for the time being.
"Please, sir, please secretly submit these materials to your father..." Liu Che sighed lightly.
In fact, now Liu Che also vaguely guessed that local bureaucrats in Henan County collected taxes privately and what they did with them after collecting them.
Liu Che is not stupid. Think about the time when the Great Celestial Empire apportioned unified funds. What was the use of the reserved funds?
It's nothing more than paying the wages of subordinate officials in the yamen at all levels, and then sharing some benefits among the top and bottom, using public funds to feed, drink, and support mistresses and so on.
This principle remains the same throughout the ages and will not change due to the changes of the times!
Therefore, Liu Che knew very well that this lid could not be lifted for the time being!
However, Liu Che was rather curious. Judging from what Yang Feng recorded, local officials in Henan County and other places would never have received a tax at least once.
They call for payment almost every spring, summer, autumn and winter.
Henan County, according to last year's census and census, has a total of 247,000 households.
It is calculated based on the normal tax payment of 600 yuan per household per year.
Officials in Henan County have to collect tens of millions of dollars in extra tax every year.
With so much money, it is obvious that a small county guard's ability cannot be concealed, even if his surname is Dou.
In this officialdom, even a small matter may be used by political opponents to make a big fuss, let alone a business worth tens of millions of dollars every year!
The Yamen of the Imperial Censor, the Yamen of Tingwei, and the Yamen of the Prime Minister all became mute in this matter. Liu Che had never even heard of anyone saying that such a thing happened.
Hehe, isn't it strange?
The surname Dou is not a talisman!
The Dou family is not popular in the court. Those who don't like the Dou family will be caught in large numbers!
Otherwise, when the news of Dou Guangguo becoming prime minister had just been released, how could the political debate between the government and the public be so intense?
So, after seeing off Zhidu, Liu Che dove into the Shaofu's archives and squatted until nightfall before coming out.
Liu Che walked out of the archives room with a look of helplessness on his face.
Data will never lie!
Liu Che now almost knows what's going on here.
In the archives of the Shaofu, Liu Che discovered that the ten feudal counties assigned to him, the prince, actually had the calculation of tax, land tax and cud tax put into the treasury as usual, not a penny less!
This shows what?
This shows that the old Liu family themselves are also participants in this feast!
The prince's food expenses of two hundred yen per household, which should have been deducted from the rent, tax, and custard tax, were instead divvied up on the peasants.
This is still Guanzhong!
Liu Che felt extremely heavy at this time.
Even the highest level of the country, the top of the pyramid, are participating in this feast. How can you still expect the officials below to have moral integrity? Will they not follow suit?
However, at this moment, Liu Che, who had found out the truth of the matter, had only one thought - he was digging his own grave!
Liu Che didn't know whether the emperor himself knew about this, or whether someone was behind it.
Both possibilities exist!
A creature like the emperor should never expect to have a lower limit to its integrity!
The so-called Ming Jun Holy Lord loses his moral integrity and even tyrants will be frightened!
But Liu Che felt that with the personalities of his father and the late emperor, it was probably impossible for him to do such a thing.
Otherwise, wouldn't this be a slap in the face?
As soon as the front leg finished shouting "light corvee and small tax" and exempted from a lot of land taxes, the back leg gave itself a slap in the face. The Liu family is not so stupid!
Then there is only one possibility left...
For the sake of political performance, there is nothing that bureaucrats cannot do!
The performance appraisal held in October every year is like a rope around the necks of officials in the Han family.
Population, number of households, acres of land, and taxation are all assessment targets.
For the sake of the black gauze hats on their heads, these guys dare not do anything!
Don't say it's just apportionment, but it's forcing farmers into bankruptcy, selling their sons and daughters, or even forcing them to die. What does it have to do with them?
With the current situation of apportionment and distribution all over the country, Liu Che feels that not all officials like to do this.
Otherwise, the attitudes of Chao Cuo, Zhao Yu and even Zhang Tang would not be so strange.
only……
If you don’t do it, others will!
It's like being in an exam room and all the other candidates are cheating. If you don't cheat, you'll have to wait to be eliminated!
An obvious example is that the former prime minister, Gu Anhou Shen Tujia, was clean and honest throughout his life and hated corruption the most.
However, in the face of the widespread trend of bribery throughout the dynasty, it even flourished in the palace.
Even though he is the prime minister, he is powerless and can only ensure that he will not be greedy or take anything.
Thinking this, Liu Che took a deep breath, looked back in the direction of the Ancestral Temple (Temple of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen), and Liu Che shook his head.
Speaking of which, his imperial grandfather must bear at least half of the responsibility for the development of officialdom and worldly affairs to the situation it is today.
At the beginning, General Zhang Wu was involved in corruption and bribery, and the evidence was conclusive, and both the people and the people took the stolen goods.
As a result, out of considerations of winning people's hearts and showing his magnanimity, the late emperor did not severely punish Zhang Wu. Instead, he gave him gold and said that he would "disgrace his heart."
After all, he is just a protector!
Zhang Wu was an old minister who followed the late emperor from Dai to Chang'an. He had served him for decades, and he had no credit but hard work!
Liu Che didn't know whether Zhang Wu was "ashamed", "guilty" or "regretful".
But Liu Che only knew that from then on, the bribery trend became more and more intense.
From the officials of the Sangong and Jiuqing to the officials in various yamen, who has not taken money or accepted bribes?
Even the eunuchs in the palace were confident in accepting bribes.
Everyone is thinking - a monk can touch it, but a poor Taoist can't?
Zhang Wu can be greedy, so can Brother Zi!
Besides Zhang Wu, Deng Tong is another role model.
Deng Tong, a favorite of the late emperor, acted as a eunuch and supervised the royal family's coinage. In the end, half of the money minted in the world were surnamed Wu and half were surnamed Deng...
With two role models like this, officials who are neither greedy nor willing to take will feel stupid...
Liu Che shook his head. The situation has developed to this point, and even he, for a while, has no rules.
"I can only wait until I ascend the throne to slowly clean up these messes and problems left over from history..." Liu Che thought in his mind.
Now, all Liu Che can do is severely punish the people in Henan County and kill the chickens to scare the monkeys. He hopes that officials in other places can restrain themselves a little.
With this idea in mind, Liu Che got on the carriage, escorted by the prince's guards, and headed towards Zhang Wuhou's Mansion under the night.
Now, Liu Che didn't just want to communicate with Zhang Wuhou about Dou Quan's problem.
He even hoped that the late emperor's think tank could teach him a way to at least make the officials not dare to be so unscrupulous again (to be continued, please search Piao Tian Literature, the novel is better and updated faster!
ps: Ahem, sorry for updating so late...
Mainly because I took another amino acid shot today...
Because the weather was too cold, I couldn't inject quickly. As a result, a bottle of amino acid infused for more than ten hours, almost one drop per minute...
But in this case, I can probably guarantee that I won’t be bothered by colds or anything like that next year...
