Because of the cold weather, the imperial court held court in Fengtian Hall in the morning instead.
The civil and military personnel were divided into two groups, the left and the right, and knelt down and shouted, "Heaven is virtuous, Haiyu Xianning, Wan Blessings". After bowing, Eunuch Wu said in a long voice:
"Everyone is safe."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." All the officials stood up and stood in awe, stealing a glance at Boss Zhu who was sitting on the dragon throne.
Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's expressionless face and the prince beside him also looking serious, he knew that a storm was inevitable.
"If you have something to do, please report it early, but if there is nothing to do, retreat from the court." Eunuch Wu said again.
"I have something to ask Your Majesty," Hu Weiyong said loudly.
"Ask." Boss Zhu said.
"As far as I know, the night before yesterday, the pro-military Duwei Mansion arrested more than 300 local officials who came to Beijing to file tax returns. May I ask, Your Majesty, why?" Hu Weiyong asked in a deep voice: "Why are the Zhongshu Province and the Three Laws Division both
Haven’t heard about it yet?”
After hearing Hu Weiyong's question, the officials who did not know what was going on secretly praised that Prime Minister Hu was really tough. However, they were worried that it would offend the emperor and be counterproductive?
Fortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang was not annoyed and said calmly: "Prince, please talk to Mr. Hu."
"Yes, we received a report the day before yesterday that some local officials brought blank accounting papers to Beijing. Using seals on blank account books is really a serious illegal act." The prince said solemnly:
"Because it may involve large-scale fraud, in order to prevent collusion, my father ordered the Imperial Guard's Mansion to be responsible for the search. As a result, a total of 367 blank account papers were found.
"After the imperial trial, all the criminals confessed to their crimes and admitted that they had been repeat offenders for many years. This case involved 367 provincial and county government offices. It is actually an unprecedented major case in this dynasty!" The prince emphasized in tone.
road.
"Do you understand?" Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Hu Weiyong calmly.
"I understand." Hu Weiyong nodded.
"And we know very well that there are more than just these three hundred and sixty-seven yamen." Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly; "Like them, they use blank printing paper and come to Beijing to do the accounting on site. There are not a thousand yamen.
There are also eight hundred, right, Li Tai?"
Li Tai, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, took a deep breath, walked out of the queue and knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, there are local officials who, for the sake of convenience, use blank printed account books, but there are definitely not that many."
"So, you know?" Zhu Yuanzhang's voice turned cold.
"I have indeed heard something." Li Tai felt sweat on his forehead.
He can't say he doesn't know. Because he is the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Regardless of whether he knows or not, he will ultimately bear the overall responsibility.
If he says he doesn't know, then he will have to keep whatever other people tell him. If he meets someone who is innocent and confesses something that could cost his life, not only will he die, but the whole family will die.
They're all dead.
So it's better to do it yourself and defend yourself.
"Good, you are responsible." Zhu Yuanzhang praised and said: "Since you know about such internal and external collusion, why have you neither dealt with it nor reported it? Is this Minister of the Ministry of Revenue a decoration, or is he their backer?
?”
The following words started to hurt my heart. Li Tai wiped his sweat and kowtowed: "Your Majesty, the reason why I didn't resolutely prohibit it is because as far as I know, there is a seal on the empty account paper, and it is not
One print and one paper, so there will be no forgery of documents that the emperor is worried about."
"Fart!" Zhu Yuanzhang scolded: "Isn't the seal seal stamped by the official seal? As long as the official seal official colludes with the officials who come to Beijing to file tax returns, what's the difference between one seal and one paper and one print and two papers?"
"The emperor is right. If you allow them to use empty printing paper, the Ministry of Revenue will not be able to supervise local accounts!" Hu Weiyong also severely criticized, and by the way, he drew a clear line with the Ministry of Revenue.
"Your Majesty, please rest assured, Mr. Hu. The Ministry of Household Affairs has very high requirements for the review of each money-saving grain book. The specific amount cannot be finalized until the ministry, so there is no chance for local fraud." Li Taidun added:
"It is precisely because of the strict requirements of the ministry that the government must match the province, and the province must match the Ministry of Household Affairs in order to pass the customs. However, tax grains will inevitably cause losses during transportation. There are many reasons for losses.
There are various types, and the degree of loss varies, so it must be paid into the national treasury before it can be determined.
"The local officials had no choice but to bring blank sheets of paper to Beijing. After getting the actual amount put into the treasury in Nanjing, they could refill the account books. In this way, the Ministry of Accounts could eliminate the unrealistic balance and allow the local government to reconcile the accounts with the court."
"Li Shangshu, we have also been in charge of military supplies. You can't fool anyone." Zhu Yuanzhang asked with a cold smile:
"The Ministry of Household Affairs uses a four-post memorial book, right?"
"Yes." Li Tai's heart thumped.
"Then it's enough to just eliminate the meter consumption? Is it necessary to use blank printing paper to make new accounts?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.
"Yes, what the emperor said is..." Li Tai was speechless with sweat pouring from his forehead.
"Your Majesty, your Majesty," Wu Bingzhong, the minister of household affairs behind him, hurriedly came out to take over: "Li Shangshu has just arrived, and he is not very clear about the situation in the ministry. In fact, it is not that complicated, but it is inevitable that there will be some regrets during the reconciliation.
If the department made a mistake, it would be easy to fix it, just correct it.
"But if there is a calculation error or statistical error at the local level, it is supposed to be sent back to the local area for correction and then back to the capital for reconciliation. But Your Majesty, our Ming Dynasty has a vast territory, and the provincial capitals and capitals are as far as six or seven thousand miles away from Nanjing.
The closest one is three to four thousand miles away. If you send it back for revision, the round trip would take a year, which would be seriously overdue.
"But if the tax filing official brings a few blank sheets of paper to Beijing, he can modify them on the spot, which is much more convenient. Of course, this is only a temporary measure, but it has a long history. The local officials are just following the rules and do not realize that this is done.
The seriousness of it." Wu Bingzhong then said sadly:
"Of course, now that I know it, I would like to ask the Emperor to forgive me once and not do it again in the future."
"Okay, Minister Wu's level is higher than that of Li Shangshu." Zhu Yuanzhang gave another thumbs up and asked Hu Weiyong: "What do you think, Prime Minister Hu?"
"Back to the emperor, the empty seal is definitely wrong. Although both of your explanations are reasonable, there is indeed the possibility of fraud, and I firmly believe that with the current ethics of officials, there must be a lot of fraud.
." Hu Weiyong first followed Boss Zhu and said a few words, and then changed the topic:
"But I can't find a suitable crime to convict them. Looking back on all the laws promulgated since the founding of the People's Republic of China, there is no such crime as "empty paper with seals."
"This is an oversight by ministers and judicial officials, but when it comes to national legislation, laws and regulations must first be made public and known to everyone, and then they can be used to punish those who knowingly commit crimes.
"But since the founding of the country, there has been no law prohibiting empty seals. Each government office has also acquiesced to each other's practice of empty seals, so officials really don't know that this is a crime. If there is a way, those who don't know will not be guilty of it, and those who don't teach will be punished for abuse.
"Hu Weiyong raised his head and said:
"I dare to ask the Emperor to give him a lighter sentence this time. If he offends again, he will be severely punished! Of course, this ugly situation is caused by the prime minister's negligence. I take the blame and resign. Please punish the Emperor!"
After saying that, he took off his black gauze and kowtowed heavily.
ps. The Blank Seal Case is too difficult to write. It is the most difficult paragraph in my writing career. I was exhausted both mentally and physically when writing it. I wrote it first and then revised it.
