If at this time, there are still people who have not understood County Uncle Li’s intention of standing up just now, they are not worthy of standing in the court today.
Of course, it is impossible for Your Majesty to put all the corrupt officials in the court into jail or drag them out to behead them. In this case, not only the court would collapse, but the entire Jingguo official system would also collapse.
However, corruption does exist. Your Majesty cannot pretend that you have not seen it. If you expose it lightly, I am afraid that this phenomenon will become more serious in the future.
Your Majesty needs a step, and some officials in the court also need a step, or a chance to forgive their sins.
Now this opportunity has arisen.
After an official from the Ministry of Household Affairs came out, another official stood up and said with a serious face: "Your Majesty, the students of the School of Arithmetic are the future pillars of the imperial court. I am willing to donate five thousand taels to the School of Arithmetic."
As soon as he finished speaking, someone followed him: "I would like to donate eight thousand taels to the women's college."
"I donated ten thousand taels to the Academy of Sciences."
"Your Majesty has worked hard for the country and did not hesitate to reduce the expenses of the internal government. I feel deeply ashamed and am willing to donate half of my family property..."
…
…
Officials of the Manchu Dynasty have never been so patriotic and loyal to their emperor. They would donate thousands or even thousands of taels to "share the emperor's worries". They will definitely be remembered in the history books in the future.
During the Jinghe period, the emperor was merciful and exempted and exempted many disaster-stricken prefectures from taxes, resulting in an empty treasury. In February of the third year of Jinghe, the courtiers generously donated nearly one million taels of silver in one day, and even more.
Donating half of the family wealth was indeed a role model among officials, and was used by many kings in later generations to motivate their ministers...
Above the Golden Palace, Emperor Jing sat firmly on the dragon throne, the expression on his face was much more relaxed than before.
I don't know when a table was moved in front of me. The censor Ma Zhongcheng was sitting there, writing down notes. The courtiers lined up one by one, vying to donate their family wealth.
For them, this is not about losing money, it is about earning their lives.
The officials here have now left a record with His Majesty. Your Majesty seems not to want to pursue the case at this time, but in this case, if someone pretends to be stupid, the end will not be much better than those of those who were dragged out just now.
Even some officials have no idea how much they have been greedy. At this moment, they have to roughly estimate a number, which can only be more but not less. If the family does not have enough money, they have to scrape together everything to make up for it, just in case.
After comparing it, His Majesty found that the number was wrong, and he might have used their official positions or brains to make up the number.
I really can't raise it, so I can only donate most of my family wealth to impress His Majesty with sincerity.
Ma Zhongcheng sat in front of the desk and wrote in regular script. He looked up at the official who came over and said with a smile: "Mr. Xu, how many tens of thousands taels?"
"Twenty thousand."
"Master Zhou?"
"Ten thousand..."
"guard……"
"Five thousand."
…
…
"Boy, tell me honestly, did you come up with this idea?" General Xue stood behind the pillar and looked at Li Yi and asked.
"Mr.
Old General Xue had a look of disbelief. If this kid didn't collude with His Majesty... or collude with His Majesty, how could he remind them to seize the opportunity just now?
Li Xuan was about to walk over there when Li Yi grabbed him, looked at him and asked, "What are you doing?"
"Donate money..." Li Xuan looked confused and asked: "So many people have donated, don't you plan to donate some?"
General Xue shook his head. Li Mingzhu glanced at him but said nothing.
Li Yi sighed, waved his hand and said, "Go ahead..."
Li Xuan looked at his expression, immediately stood still, and said, "No, is there something going on here that I didn't expect?"
Li Yi pointed to the dozens of officials chatting aside and asked, "Why don't they donate?"
Now he really began to wonder if this guy was really weak-minded and had no political sensitivity at all. In this regard, Her Royal Highness the Princess was better than him as a woman.
After a while, Li Xuan finally realized, "It's really high. Who the hell came up with this method? If those corrupt officials find out, why don't they hate him to death?"
"Thank you, County Uncle Li." When a strange official came over, he stayed beside Li Yi for a moment, cupped his hands, and whispered.
In Li Xuan's surprised eyes, another person came over and said in a low voice: "Master Li's kindness, I will keep it in my heart."
…
"I'll give you a suggestion." After dealing with a few people, Li Yi looked back at Li Xuan and said, "After you go back, eat more walnuts and remember not to use door jams..."
Her Royal Highness the Princess walked over from there, frowning slightly, and said: "I didn't expect that there are so many moths in the imperial court. Even the fifth- and sixth-grade officials are like this. If they go higher, wouldn't they be even more daring?"
Li Yi shook his head and said: "Small officials are extremely corrupt. The higher you go, the less common this phenomenon becomes."
The higher the official rank, the more attention will be paid to reputation, and countless people will watch every move. What's more, for them, tens of thousands of taels of silver are not worth it. At that level, which official does not have someone behind his back?
With such a huge family and power, how stupid a person would be to delay his or her official career just for money.
Most of the purges in the court targeted middle-level officials, above the third rank, and were not involved. On the one hand, these officials could not be easily touched. On the other hand, Li Yi had checked the results of the accounting inspection, except for a few.
Except, the rest are relatively minor and innocuous.
After all, Jingguo's annual tax revenue does not exceed ten million taels, and the old emperor is not blind. He has disappeared so much that he cannot miss it.
Of course, this is Kyoto, and the situation outside Kyoto at the feet of the Emperor must be much more serious than here.
The old emperor really got into money's eyes, and today's morning court took a long time to break up.
Today's morning meeting was beyond everyone's expectations. There was thunder, but it didn't last long. It was more of a breeze and drizzle. The difference is that if someone is ignorant, the drizzle may be followed by thunder again.
I still have some idea of how much I have been greedy for. This time His Majesty showed mercy beyond the law and only dealt with a few typical cases. If the rest of the people donated money on their own initiative, they would not be held accountable, but it was just this time.
If you escape this time, you may not be able to escape next time. From now on, some people in the court will have to be careful in doing things. If there is any violation again, the old and new accounts will be settled together...
Of course, in the eyes of those officials who were not affected, His Majesty's move was extremely clever.
After today, the situation in the entire court has changed drastically. All the forces have been reshuffled, especially the King of Shu, which has suffered heavy losses. Among them, the Qin family, Chen family, Cui family and other big families have suffered considerable losses.
But it cannot shake the fundamentals, but for those officials with a shallow foundation, if your Majesty takes advantage of it, they can only ask for blessings in the future...
It is foreseeable that in the future, His Majesty's control over the entire court will reach the peak of the past, and even reach a peak that none of the emperors of Jingguo have reached...
…
…
"Your Majesty, what about the college's lake construction..." In the back hall, Li Yi looked at Emperor Jing and asked tentatively.
"Thirty thousand taels." Emperor Jing seemed to be in a good mood. He waved his hand and said, "I will only give you thirty thousand taels. You can figure out the rest by yourself."
After Li Yi was stunned for a moment, he immediately raised his hands and said: "Thank you, Your Majesty, I will leave first!"
Seeing his decisive move, Emperor Jing's expression froze and he asked: "How much money did you originally plan to ask me for?"
Li Yi had already stepped out of the palace door with one foot, and turned around and said: "Back to Your Majesty, I originally planned to ask for fifty thousand taels, but the national treasury is tight, so I should find a way for the remaining twenty thousand taels by myself."
"Should I have said ten thousand taels just now?" After Li Yi disappeared, Emperor Jing touched his chin and said with regret.
Changde thought for a while and said: "Looking at how decisive County Uncle Li was just now, five thousand taels is okay."
