Chapter 769 Use heavy scriptures in troubled times
The chief envoy was suspected of murder, which immediately caused an uproar in Guizhou.
Taking advantage of this chaotic opportunity, Jin Yiwei quietly sealed off his home and obtained the crucial account books.
Zhang Keyou did not dare to be negligent, so he arranged people openly, but actually sent Jin Yiwei to secretly escort him, for fear that something would go wrong.
After arriving in Beijing after all this busy work, the cabinet was completely speechless.
The entire Guizhou Province is completely in ruins. Disaster relief supplies worth hundreds of thousands of yuan are still available. The key is that there are still shortfalls over the years, and all of them have been used to provide relief to the victims.
A rough calculation puts the value at over one million.
What an exaggeration.
You must know that the total tax revenue of the entire Guizhou Province is only about one million per year. These corrupt officials directly eat up the annual tax revenue of Guizhou people.
"Kill, the only option is to kill."
The atmosphere in the side hall was quite silent.
The cabinet ministers lowered their heads one after another, occasionally raising their eyes to look at the emperor. Their lips moved, but they did not dare to make a sound.
At this time, the emperor had no expression on his face and looked at the memorial with cold eyes.
From above, from the governor down to the county magistrate, almost nothing is missed, and everything is covered.
The governor alone takes 30,000, the chief envoy 25,000, the inspector 25,000...
The magistrate has ten thousand, and the county magistrate has five thousand.
A salary equivalent to several years was blatantly swallowed up.
Moreover, in the officialdom and up and down, it seems particularly peaceful:
A group of local people are in chaos and have only been restored to peace for a few years. They are not worthy of the government's aid and appeasement.
In this account book, the situation in Yunnan is still recorded.
Of the 100,000 silver coins and 200,000 dans of grain transferred from Kunming, only 90% was actually received, and 10% was lost.
Even this is considered a reasonable price. If it were during the Chongzhen period, it would be considered good to get 60% to 70%.
This bad habit from the previous dynasty still exists.
However, what pleased the emperor was that the Guizhou garrison was not involved.
Although there are reasons why the warriors have no right to participate in this feast, the main reason is that the civil servants still look down upon these warriors.
Although he is the commander-in-chief, Wang Xiang is only from a martial arts background, and he is also Wang Yingxiong's domestic servant, standing at the lowest end of the contempt chain.
This personal dependence relationship will not diminish as the latter's official position and status rise, but will become more restrictive.
For example, in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, even though Yue Fei was based in Jinghu, he had to greet the Han family respectfully when they passed by.
Without him, he was born as a tenant of the Han family. He just rented and cultivated the land of the Han family and was labeled. He will never be able to get rid of it in his life.
When we get to Wang Xiang's place, we have three festivals and two birthdays, ice respect and charcoal respect. This is unavoidable.
A domestic slave also wants to share the money with us, which is pretty cool.
And because Wang Yingxiong was the Minister of Household Affairs, he did not dare to engage in such corruption.
However, does Wang Xiang really not know?
"Zhang Keyou said that all the women and children in Guizhou know about the corruption and food disaster. I'm afraid they also know it, but they just don't dare to say more."
Not to mention the different paths of civil and military affairs, let's just say that in his position to pursue political affairs, Wang Xiang, as the commander-in-chief, mainly guarded the place.
It is not his mission to impeach civil officials for corruption. Even if he succeeds, he will not get much benefit. Instead, he will offend the relatives and friends of those corrupt officials.
After flicking the string with her index finger, Zhu Yixi uttered one word: "Know what's appropriate."
That's good, it saves a lot of trouble, and it won't be easy to cause chaos if the army suppresses it.
"Let the staff prepare to serve as officials and go to Guizhou."
"Yes!" Zhao Shu agreed, just raised his head and asked, "How many people are there?"
"all."
The emperor sneered: "All the palm seal officials are fully prepared for me."
"Your Majesty, how will these people be sentenced?"
Zhang Shenyan raised his hands and asked the question that everyone was most concerned about.
"Is the Ming Law just a decoration?"
Zhu Yixi said unhappily: "Grandfather Taizu has made everything clear and clear. Whatever crimes are punished, just follow them. Do you still want me to teach you?"
"I don't dare—"
The four-member cabinet immediately knelt down and buried their heads in silence.
If the punishments in the early Ming Dynasty were really followed, these people would have to be skinned and cramped, and they would not die a good death.
But except during the Hongwu period, even the cruel Emperor Yongle never used such cruel methods. It was too inhumane.
After all, since Hongwu, laws and prohibitions have been abolished, corruption and corruption are not a problem at all, and being caught is nothing more than demotion.
This situation of abolition of laws and regulations reached its peak during the Wanli period. Merchants could wear silk openly, and even ordinary people could make bright yellow clothes.
Turtle boys don’t even have to be cuckolds anymore…
If everything was imitated in ancient times, and even handled according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, in the Ming Dynasty at this time, more than one million people would be involved in beheading?
The laws of the Ming Dynasty are out of date...
Several members of the cabinet had long expected this situation, so they just lowered their heads and remained silent, expressing their attitude indirectly - it was not appropriate.
Because they understand that if they object at this time, they will add fuel to the fire and make the situation worse.
"Um?"
Zhu Yixi frowned unhappily and looked at the people sideways: "What do you mean? You want me to put a knife on your necks to write?"
Several people still didn't speak.
"That's it, we'll all be executed and Jiajuan will be exiled to Yunnan!"
The emperor suddenly calmed down his expression and said calmly.
With this look, a few people didn't understand that the emperor had no intention of skinning and cramping, and only thought about the death penalty from the beginning.
Zhu Yixi can be sure that if he asks the Ministry of Punishment to determine the sentence, he will be sentenced to exile at most. This is still the result of being considerate of the king and dealing with it sternly.
And from skinning and cramping to beheading, it seems that each side takes a step back, which is easier for both parties to accept.
If demolishing the roof doesn't work, then open the windows.
"The legal prohibitions are abolished!" Zhu Yixi sighed: "In troubled times, heavy laws must be used."
Of course, skinning and cramping is a bit inhumane. Although it is a relief for the common people, for the ruling class, the losses outweigh the gains.
The emperor never rules the world alone, he must rely on a bureaucracy composed of civilian officials.
For the common people, corrupt officials must die, and the more miserable the death, the better, in order to relieve their hatred.
For the monarch, corrupt officials are not terrible as long as they can do things well. What is terrible is cowardly officials.
Because a cowardly official is bound to be a corrupt official, and he is even more capable of doing bad things, and the damage caused is several times that of a corrupt official.
In the Ming Dynasty, gentlemen in official circles were even more terrifying.
"Civilian officials are not greedy for money, and military officers are not willing to die. I, the Ming Dynasty, have committed both."
The emperor suddenly sneered and said to several people: "This is where the previous dynasty collapsed."
Swinging his sleeves, not leaving a gust of wind behind.
The whole cabinet can only wipe the emperor's butt.
Across Guizhou, the number of officials who were executed for their crimes reached 357, including 89 seal officials. They were wiped out in all prefectures and counties of Guizhou.
They were raking grass and hunting rabbits, and a group of local officials also killed a lot of them.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs urgently dispatched hundreds of people to serve, and even ordered many people to temporarily act as their officials.
All the officials were escorted to Caishikou and executed in batches.
In an instant, there was a sea of people, and the people cheered and said that the holy king was coming to the court.
The next day, the Ming Dynasty Gazette published a front-page headline: Civilians love money, military officers are afraid of death. How could the Ming Dynasty not be destroyed?
Then he changed his voice and threw the blame on Donglin Party. Guizhou is all the remnants of the Donglin Party...
In addition, the cabinet also took advantage of this opportunity to implement strict reforms in Guizhou, preparing to completely cut off the soil for the chieftain rebellion.