When the confrontation at Danhan Mountain had just ended, the New Year had passed. Liu Bei had completed his duties and led his army back to Jinyang. Chen Chong took this opportunity to implement a new policy in Beijing while the spring plowing had not yet begun and old matters had been settled.
The government order implemented this time is not complicated, it is just one thing. That is, the Sili Xiaowei Mansion will investigate the wealth of officials in Xijing who are worth more than a hundred stones.
Chen Chong expressed his gratitude to the emperor in this way: "Since Emperor Xiaohuan, the eunuchs have been in power, the government offices are incompetent, the country has lost its trust, and the people have deep resentment. First, they suffered from the misfortune of the party's imprisonment, and the scholars were wronged. Later, the Yellow Turban chaos occurred, and the head of Guizhou was in difficulty. There is so in Xiyuan
Neglect in government continues, corruption and covetousness continue to prevail in both the government and the public, filthiness becomes common, and fat is scraped away like a disease."
"The late emperor was in the imperial court, and often his attendants threw themselves into rivers. The party imprisoned him anyway, and Dong Zhuo died. There were great chaos in the palace, and the culprit has been eliminated. However, although the culprit has been eliminated, it is especially poisonous. If the poison is not peaceful, and as time goes by, the incident in the West Garden will happen again.
There is a saying in "Shu" that the way of a sage is to guard against the slightest and the slowest. First, cultivate one's character through learning, and then work hard to govern the country. The people also say: "To promote talents, they don't know how to write. If you look at filial piety and integrity, your father lives apart. If you are cold and pure, white and turbid as mud, you will be high."
A good general is as timid as a chicken.' It can be seen that the evil of doing things untrue has been going on for a long time, and the people's distrust has been going on for a long time. It is urgent for the palace to conduct a thorough inspection."
"Someone once said: Nothing can be accomplished in a day, and the wind cannot clear up in one year. However, every step of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and the great ancestor's foundation was founded in ten miles. How can it be too late for a foolish old man to move a mountain? You can first check the assets of the officials in the capital. The former
I didn't check it, thinking it was a private property, and then listed the regulations and submitted them to the emperor and distributed them to the people. From then on, I checked them every year and compared the profits and losses. It can be seen that the dirty ones will become dirty and the clean ones will become clear. In this way, if you choose honest people, you can judge whether they are dirty or not.
, it will become a great virtue for three generations and win the sincerity of all people."
Due to the late emperor's request, the emperor had always had the idea of eradicating the late emperor's bad government, so he immediately agreed to the matter.
But as Chen Chong said in his letter, since the Eastern Han Dynasty, the country has been out of power for too long. After the Ming Dynasty, most of the country was ruled by young people, which led to the fact that relatives were in power and the officials were not checked. In addition, during the reign of Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling, the two emperors were close to each other and often served as servants.
, and often asked for bribes and embezzled themselves, leading to official corruption and political corruption. In this way, it has been almost a hundred years since the country had completely rectified the administration of officials. Therefore, Chen Chong only made a brief investigation at this time, and then caused a huge stir in Chang'an.
Wave.
First of all, Dong Chengfuwan and others. They are relatives of the country and share weal and woe with the emperor. Naturally, they often have ministers and nobles coming to interact with each other on weekdays, flattering and giving gifts. If Chen Chong implements this order, they will bear the brunt.
Therefore, after Fuwan learned the news, he went to the emperor that night and said that as the leader of the clan, his family assets were not just the property of one person, but related to hundreds of people.
, isn’t it a loss of national integrity? How can we govern with the people?
Next are Chun Yujia, Yang Biao and other ministers from generation to generation. These people have been in officialdom for decades, and they have long been in the same dust. Their so-called ambitions and ideals have been wiped out, and most of their thoughts are just the rise and fall of one family and one name. How is the officialdom on weekdays?
The same goes for them. They occupied high positions in the past few years and were somewhat greedy. Even though they have restrained themselves a lot in recent years when Chen Chong was in power, they still have all kinds of collusion behind the scenes.
However, they knew that their family reputation was important, and they did not dare to speak out against the financial inspection, so as not to taint their innocence. Instead, they instigated the government officials to write to the Chancellor, expressing extreme difficulties in administration. After all, the world is unstable, people are confused, and many places are violating the law. Chaosing legal affairs, even if it is tried in Xijing, will alienate the prefectures and counties. It is better to unify it first and then talk about other things.
Finally, there are the petty officials at all levels in Chang'an. Officials with more than 600 shi have many savings and can still communicate as usual even if they are not corrupt, but these officials with 100 shi cannot. If they don't use their hands to embezzle money, they will have no gold and silver to manage. Secondly, food and beverage expenses will also be greatly affected. If Chen Chong rectifies the officialdom, they will be affected the most.
Although these petty officials had no way to speak out, someone in the capital added fuel to the fire and actually signed a petition with a thousand names and handed it over to Sili Xiaowei's house. In order to cause chaos in the country, as if Chao Cuo was the reason, he begged Chen Chong to withdraw his order and issue another order. He is.
The influence on the government and the opposition is so great that it really exceeds Chen Chong's expectation. This time, he has greatly delayed the time to rectify the government. He tried to implement it in Beijing for a period of one year, but he did not expect to encounter such a rock-like opponent. There was so much resistance that the emperor hesitated and asked him if he wanted to postpone the matter. Even many of his students were hesitant.
For example, Xu Qian, when he was in Taixue, he always followed Chen Chong to the countryside to collect folk customs, compiled those folk songs that criticized corrupt officials, and distributed them widely in Taixue. After Chen Chong came to Beijing, he also served as Jingzhao Xu Qian was engaged in literature and brought several of his clan brothers to Beijing to work as clerks in the Guangluxun Mansion. Even with such a position, their names were written on the Thousand Persons Book, which greatly frightened Xu Qian.
But Chen Chong knows very well that the more difficult it is to do a big thing, the sooner it must be done. If you look forward and backward in everything, and live in ignorance in the name of preserving the overall situation, you will really harm the overall situation and bring disaster to the future. He received the roster The next day, an ordinary court meeting was held, and all officials with more than 300 stone in the capital were ordered to attend the meeting at Lingtai.
There were more than 2,000 officials attending this meeting, and even though the memorial platform was large, it was a bit crowded. In addition, Chen Chong sent people early to spread the news to the people around him, saying that there would be a purge of officials and other matters at the meeting. Farmers immediately gathered, People were crowded up and down the coffin, asking about the rumors inside the coffin.
When everything was ready, Chen Chong slowly walked to the stage. The officials looked over and found that Chen Chong was not wearing court clothes, but a military uniform. The weather was freezing, but Chen Chong was wearing a plain cashmere cloak and holding a thousand statues in one hand. , holding a green sword in one hand, wearing buckskin boots on his feet, and a tiger flower crown on his head. Even the last official looking from a distance can detect a somewhat chilling atmosphere.
There were four men standing under the stage of Chen Chong. Every time Chen Chong said something, they would repeat it loudly so that everyone around could hear it. As the beginning of the political instruction, Chen Chong did not discuss the matter first, but only said hello to the ministers and then reviewed it. Bring back the past.
He said: "I am thirty-four years old this year. Although I am younger than most of the senators and ministers present, I have been an official in the court for nearly twenty years, so I can be considered an old man. Twenty years ago , I left Yingchuan, went to Tokyo for a study tour, and entered Taixue. It happened that the late emperor was giving lectures in Taixue. Because of my family ancestors, I was able to participate in the society and was fortunate enough to be awarded the title of doctor. From then on, I entered the official world until today. ”
Next, is what everyone is familiar with: "I still remember that Luodu was prosperous at that time. I debated with He Xuehai for fifteen times in Taixue. There were as many strangers as stars in the sky, far better than today. But all the people in the world are worried about the failure of the imperial court and hundreds of officials.
I am ashamed to be among them, so I wrote to His Majesty and asked for permission to leave the capital. I traveled to various counties to collect stories and wrote a book to express public opinion."
"Later he returned slowly, and he and Sun Po defeated the Jinghai troubles, and defeated the Yellow Turbans with the general, with few achievements. Following the order of the late emperor, he served as the prefect of Xihe. He first surrendered to Baibo, and later pacified the Xiongnu, and repeatedly defeated Xianbei. I thought that the border areas would be cleared.
The world is at peace. Unexpectedly, the late emperor was in power and Dong Zhuo was harmed. Therefore, I fought three battles with the Liang people and finally settled Guanzhong and returned it to Your Majesty. However, in recent years, there has been great chaos in Guandong, and there is still no peace."
After reviewing the past twenty years, Chen Chong asked everyone: "Since Chang Shi has been eliminated and Dong Zhuo has died, why has the world not been peaceful yet?"
When Chen Chong said this, he paused. Seeing that everyone in the audience was listening attentively, he continued: "The country is falling apart. First, the governors of prefectures and counties lead their own troops, horses, food and grass, and the emperor's orders are difficult to control, so local governments do their own thing. Second, the emperor's orders are difficult to control.
God's will is unkind, and the Central Plains is hit by disasters every year. During the Guanghe period, there were even three disasters a year. It was difficult to collect taxes and troops. Third, officials were corrupt. They deceived the government and the common people. They did not love the people and did not respect ghosts and gods. Therefore, the Han Dynasty
If someone loses his heart, he will often be rebellious."
All the ministers present here, from Situ Chunyujia to the officials of various governments, were touched when they heard this, and they held their breath and listened to Chen Chongkang's impassioned talk.
Chen Chong turned to talk about this financial inspection. He raised the joint list in his hand and said to everyone: "I ordered the financial inspection this time. In the short term, as this letter said, it may make Guandong
The officials are disappointed. But if I don't do anything, can the people's hearts in Guandong be saved? Although the world is big, it is built on a piece of earth and a tree. People's hearts are rare, but they are only a penny or a millet. Even if they can travel north and south, they have lost their hearts.
How can the country be stable?"
Although there were people talking in the audience, it was generally quiet. Even though most of the officials were expressionless, Chen Chong knew what they were thinking, and he had no intention of continuing to quarrel with them. The growing age made him no longer happy.
If you express it in words, you are more willing to do it directly. The memory rarely leaves the words you told others, but more about what you have done.
He finally held his sword and said: "Chen Chong has gone through thirty-seven battles so far, and he has not yet been defeated. Don't worry, gentlemen. If there is rebellion in Guandong, I can put it down."
There was silence under the mourning platform. When the news came out, people outside the mourning platform cheered like thunder.
After the meeting, Chen Chong immediately led people to inspect the mansion, and brought angels and people to watch, to show that he had no selfish intentions. In the end, he found a total of 600 volumes of books, 900 acres of dry land, a servant woman, Yanxing 50,000 baht, and gold cakes.
30. This servant girl was also invited because Cai Yan was pregnant, so Chen Kui proposed to invite her. The Sili Xiaowei was the third one to sit alone, and was in charge of Sili and lawless affairs. The three officials and nine ministers were all under his control. Chen Chong also acted as the minister.
All government affairs in the world pass through his hands, and the power he holds is so great that it is only different from the emperor's title. But the only assets in the family are just like the ordinary three hundred Shi family. When everyone hears this, they may be amazed.
, some with admiration, some with laughter, all kinds of reactions.
Chen Chong has not always been like this. When he was a doctor offering wine, Chen Chong set up a paper mill in Taixue to sell paper. He earned a hundred gold a year and made a lot of money. But now that he is a minister of the auxiliary country, it is not appropriate for him to do this anymore. All paper mills are
He was made an official and all the money he earned was sent to Jinyang Bafu.
But no matter what, Chen Chong demonstrated first and set an example, and finally implemented the financial inspection order. As for whether it was right or wrong, no one can predict.