"This Li Tengjiao really dares to ask for it. As soon as he opens his mouth, he asks me to add a thousand people and increase the office expenses by 26,000 taels per year. Huh! How dare a mere department dare to ask like this? If there are eleven departments and five There are more than a dozen departments, all of them imitating others. The little fortune I have accumulated over the years of reform will be lost!"
In the Qianqing officialdom, Zhu Hengjia looked at the memorial written on Li Tengjiao and was so angry that he threw the memorial to the ground.
"Long live Grandpa, there is also an attached copy of this memorial written by Mr. Li." He Liang, the director of the rites department, picked up the memorial. Unlike his predecessor Ma Huanxi, this one had a gentle temper and often acted for upright ministers who had offended the emperor. Huan, if Ma Huanxi saw the emperor angry, he would never talk too much, and would deliberately keep a distance from Shangshu's ministers who had offended the emperor.
"Hmph, you slave, you are so meddlesome! Show it to me," Zhu Hengjia snorted.
He knew He Liang's temperament, so he didn't blame him much. As he grew older, the emperor began to feel nostalgic. There were not many old people in the palace anymore. If one of them died, one would be missing. I couldn't bear to kill him. Otherwise, who would accompany me? Let’s reminisce about the past together?
"Yes", He Liang handed over the attached document. Zhu Hengjia took a closer look, but it was an instruction sheet for applying for personnel and funds. The purpose of the additional personnel funds was written clearly and clearly one by one.
After looking at it, the old emperor's expression softened, "This Li Tengjiao is a thoughtful person. He clearly lists the expenses and expenses. What a talent!"
He would not do such a thing if he wanted the horse to run and not eat grass at the same time. After all, he was the emperor on horseback. He knew that food and grass should go first before the troops and horses were moved. With a stroke of his pen, he gave a big " "Accurate" word.
??
Quanzhou Prefecture in Fujian Province is the core of the Golden Triangle in southern Fujian. It is separated from Taiwan by a river. It is known as the "Buddha Country in Quannan" and "Zou Lu on the Seaside".
Qiao Qiao Xi, the prefect of Quanzhou, has been in office for nearly four years and is at a critical point in his official career. He is moving around, hoping to find a position in the Fujian Customs Department.
If you want to be promoted, you must have political achievements. Quanzhou is a place that thrives on maritime trade, and the amount of shipbuilding is directly related to political achievements.
Qiao Qiaoxi frowned when he looked at the statistical data reported by Xu Renhuai. Other data was just that. But with this shipbuilding data, how come the number of newly built ships last year was only 108,000 tons (one material is about 0.28-0.33 tons)?
"Come here, bring Xu Jingcheng to me." He ordered people to summon Xu Renhuai.
Seeing the summons from his superior, Xu Renhuai did not dare to neglect and hurriedly came to see Qiao Qiaoxi. This official position is roughly similar to that of a clerk, in charge of paperwork and various statistics.
"Master Fu, are you looking for me?" he asked cautiously.
"Well", Jon took a sip of tea and said slowly: "Experience Xu, I have read the statistical data you reported, and it is quite informative. There is only one section, how come the number of shipbuilding materials is only one hundred and eight thousand?" Materials? I heard that Fuzhou Prefecture has 260,000 materials, and Zhangzhou Prefecture also has 150,000 materials."
"Master Fu, the data reported by the official is based on the shipbuilding data from the Kinmen Institute, Fuquan Institute, Yongningwei, and Chongwu Institute. There is absolutely no falsehood." Seeing that the Shangguan suspected that his data was wrong. ,Xu Huairen quickly explained.
Seeing that he was not enlightened, Qiaoen was very angry and funny, and suggested: "Experience Xu, my Quanzhou has been a place of maritime trade since ancient times. Shipbuilding is related to people's livelihood, so there is no reason to lag behind others. This shipbuilding data does not necessarily only count the ones that have been built." Good ships, those that are being built or planned to be built in the future, can be counted. In short, I in Quanzhou cannot be second to others."
The superior officer spoke so clearly that he would be a fool if he did not understand. Xu Huairen took the order and left, and soon returned, "Your Excellency, after verification by the inferior officer, I built a new ship in Quanzhou last year with 300,000 yuan of materials, and the materials are among the highest. First in the province.
"First in the province?"
Qiaoen raised his eyebrows in joy and encouraged him with a smile: "Thank you for your hard work, Xu experience. You did a great job on this matter!"
??
Xiangcheng County, Kaifeng Prefecture, Henan Province, is located in the southeast of Henan Province, in the middle reaches of the Shaying River. It has always been an agricultural county.
The county magistrate Wen Huazheng was discussing with the chief bookkeeper Zeng Mingqi about reporting grain data.
"Your Excellency, this county has 2.08 million acres of grain fields, with an actual production of 690 trillion jins of grain (one hundred thousand is one billion, one billion is one trillion), should we report based on this data?" Zeng Mingqi asked Wenhua.
"Brother Zeng Xian, you have been an official for many years. You should know that good or bad political performance depends entirely on reporting. If you report according to the truth, how can you show our contribution. In my opinion, just report 2110 trillion catties." Wenhua smiled Say.
Zeng Mingqi's eyebrows trembled and he said worriedly: "Master Fu, the number of acres of farmland in the county is clearly recorded in the fish scale atlas and cannot be changed. If this data is reported, the yield per mu in Xiangcheng County will exceed a thousand catties. What if the above If you are suspicious, send someone to check, but you can’t hide it."
In this era, even if the south can grow good paddy fields for several seasons, the annual yield per mu is only more than 300 kilograms (one kilogram in the Ming Dynasty was 596.8 grams). The yield per mu exceeds 1,000 kilograms, which is really an astonishing figure.
"Verification?"
Wenhua laughed loudly, "The officials above are all old masters who are industrious and don't distinguish between grains. How can they have the time to check? Don't worry, if something goes wrong, Brother Fool will take care of it."
??
The superiors really sent people to verify. Li Tengjiao, who has been a commoner for more than sixty years, knows the virtues of local officials very well, and does not believe the data reported by the subordinates at all.
He ordered the Inspection Section of the Statistics Department to organize capable personnel to go to various provinces to verify the authenticity of the data reported by various places. Each province has an inspection team, led by the chief of each department. He and Peng Ren also personally led the team to verify, especially the data. Prefectures and counties with doubts will focus on verification.
Unfortunately for Qiaoen, the Fujian inspection team was personally led by Li Tengjiao. The old man was so motivated that he went to Fuzhou at the first stop and then to Quanzhou at the second stop.
The investigation was very detailed. Kinmen Institute, Fuquan Institute, Yongning Guard, Chongwu Institute... all the shipyards in Quanzhou were visited one after another to verify the information for last year's shipbuilding of hundreds of thousands and nine thousand, and Quanzhou Prefecture overreported the information by 190,000. Nothing is hidden about the data.
Although Wenhua did not encounter Li Tengjiao for personal inspection, the Henan inspection team also conducted very detailed inspections, and the myth of a thousand kilograms per mu was quickly shattered.
After the verification, Li Tengjiao impeached one chief envoy, fifteen prefects, ninety-three county magistrates, and a total of 239 officials of various types for allegedly falsifying statistical data.
When Zhu Hengjia saw the memorial, Long Yan was furious. With a stroke of his pen, he ordered that all 239 officials be dismissed from their posts.
Wang Huacheng, the Minister of Civil Affairs, was shocked when he heard the news and hurried to the Qianqing Palace to see the emperor.
"Your Majesty, the sudden dismissal of 239 officials has a huge impact, and I'm afraid it will affect the administration of various places. Besides, some of the officials have good evaluation results, so the sudden dismissal seems to be too harsh."
To say that the emperor is harsh, only a Conglong veteran like Wang Huacheng dares to do so.
Zhu Hengjia was always kind to these old ministers from Conglong, and patiently explained, "Wang Qing, these statistics are related to the national economy and people's livelihood, and they are presented to me. Those officials who dare to lie on this matter are deceiving the emperor. They are deceiving the emperor. Your crime is just dismissal from office, am I serious?"
"This~"
Upon hearing that the emperor elevated the matter to the level of bullying the emperor, Wang Huacheng did not dare to say anything more. He could only kneel down and plead guilty, "I have not thought carefully, please punish me."
"It doesn't matter, I won't do anything to you and live in peace."
Emperor Guangwu gently ordered Wang Huacheng to stand up, and suddenly said coldly: "There are only 239 officials. There are many people who want to be officials in the Ming Dynasty. I don't believe that if these people are dismissed from their posts, the sky will fall." .
