Chapter 178 Not sharing the world with scholar-officials 7)
Alchemist Yong's expression changed and he opened his mouth, but still couldn't think of anything to say.
What Chu Ge said was very clear, and it was difficult for him to refute it.
The operation method of empty seal is originally a bad habit left by the northern barbarians.
The Northern Barbarians' local management was actually a very loose model, as was the so-called "forgiveness to lose the world".
The Northern Barbarians didn't care about local mischief, as long as they paid a certain amount of taxes regularly. Therefore, in this extremely relaxed environment, local officials came up with the innovative operation method of "empty seal".
In this way, it doesn't matter how much the local government wants to collect, as long as it pays its fair share to the court.
This is why the Northern Barbarians were driven back to Mobei within a few decades, and why there are still many local aristocratic families who consider themselves subjects of the Northern Barbarians.
It was because they lived so comfortably under the rule of the Northern Barbarians.
At the beginning of the Great Sheng Dynasty, many local officials were ministers of the Northern Barbarians.
Since the north was still using troops and there were numerous local affairs that needed to be dealt with, the Great Sheng Dynasty could only roughly follow some of the systems of the Northern Barbarians, and could not overthrow them all as soon as they came up and have to slowly figure them out.
Later, various rules and regulations were slowly formulated and implemented nationwide.
But obviously, the hidden rules of empty printing are not among them.
Many local officials still wishfully use the old operating methods. In fact, it is because the decades of rule by the Northern Barbarians have made these officials live too loosely and lawlessly, so this problem arises.
The empty seal case itself is to stop this evil trend.
Alchemist Yong was still a little dissatisfied. He thought for a while and then said: "But Your Majesty, since the founding of the country, there has never been a law of empty seals or officials. The prime minister does not know his crime. Now if he is arrested and executed, why should he be punished?"
Are you willing but have no words to say?"
What he meant was very clear, that is, the court had no relevant legislation in advance and could not rely on it.
Since there has never been a law stipulating how to deal with empty seals, the relevant departments do not know how to judge the crime, so they cannot judge the crime.
Chu Ge looked at Alchemist Yong and nodded slightly.
Finally, this third point finally has some lethality.
But it is not difficult for him to refute this point.
Chu Ge asked back: "There is indeed no provision in the law on how to deal with the empty seal. From this point of view, what you said does seem to make some sense.
"Then I ask you, when I customize the account, how do I create a record of the accounts and how do I compare them? Are the relevant details clear?
"Does the stipulated practical link have anything in common with the empty printing operation method?"
The alchemist was stunned for a moment: "This..."
Chu Ge made it very clear that the law did not stipulate the penalty for empty seals, but he made it clear how to create local accounts, how to submit them to the Ministry of Accounts for data verification, and how to deal with problems when verification occurs.
.
After all, if this kind of thing is not explained clearly, it will be difficult for officials to act in accordance with relevant regulations.
The operation method of blank printing is obviously completely inconsistent with the previous clearly required registration and verification process.
Sheng Taizu has stipulated that all levels must truthfully report the tax figures paid, and finally get it to the Ministry of Household Affairs for verification. Only after verification is correct can it be stamped. So if the operation is done with a blank seal, all levels must truthfully report the figures.
What's the meaning?
In the end, it depends on how much each locality has handed in. Shouldn't the Ministry of Household Affairs and the local government discuss filling in the numbers and be done with it?
In other words, although there are no clear provisions on how to punish the behavior of empty printing, it is clear that this behavior strictly violates the relevant regulations, which is unquestionable and irrefutable.
Chu Ge continued: "You said that the empty seal is just a trivial matter. There is no clear provision on the crime of the empty seal, so it shouldn't be punished. Don't you think it's ridiculous?
"Let me ask you, when you are an official, can you do what you do if the law does not prohibit it, or should you do it if the law does not have a clear written code?"
The alchemist was stunned for a moment: "This... naturally can be done without any prohibition by law..."
Chu Ge's face turned cold and he slammed the table: "Nonsense!
"What can be done if the law does not prohibit it? There are so many legal provisions, how can it be possible to cover all the behaviors of officials? If there is no prohibition of the law and can do it, and officials at all levels can make up excuses to exploit the people, then it is not against heaven?"
The alchemist was still dissatisfied and said: "Your Majesty! The emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats govern the world. This has been a tradition since ancient times..."
Chu Ge said coldly: "I do not rule the world with scholar-officials, but use scholar-officials to rule the world! Scholar-officials cannot rule the world. I can rule the world myself, but I can also use others to rule the world!"
The alchemist couldn't help but be stunned. After a long time, he was shocked and said: "How is your majesty's words different from those of a lonely man?"
Chu Ge shook his head slightly in disappointment: "Pull it down!
"It is decreed that for officials involved in the Kongyin case, the chief seal officer will be beheaded, and the deputy seal officer will be punished with a stick and exiled!"
After the dust settled, a series of scenes appeared in front of Chu Ge like a revolving lantern.
Hundreds of officials were beheaded, and hundreds more were beaten with sticks and exiled.
Alchemists are also among the officials who are in charge of the staff and are in exile.
Many of the officials involved in the Kongyin case did not commit much corruption and were considered good officials according to ancient moral standards. For example, the alchemist Yong.
There are many people who support the use of alchemists. It is foreseeable that many scholars will definitely complain about the use of alchemists in the future and regard the empty seal case as an unjust case.
But for Chu Ge or the real Sheng Taizu, it is no longer important.
In front of Chu Ge, a line of writing appeared.
【Zuo of the Great Sheng Dynasty: Two Hundred and Eighty Years】
Seeing this line of handwriting, Chu Ge finally had a smile on his face.
efficient!
Compared with the real Guo Zuo in history, it is slightly longer.
Although the extension was very limited, it was finally extended.
During the previous North-South Ranking Case, Chu Ge also tried his best to make some operations, but the number of Guo Zuo in the Dasheng Dynasty did not increase at all.
Guo Zuo's reaction was very real after he knowingly and intentionally made wrong operations several times, and he was immediately cut in half.
This shows that the operations he thought were useful were all trivial and had no meaning at all in extending Guo Zuo.
But this time the situation is different.
Chu Ge's overall handling of the Kongyin case was similar to Sheng Taizu's handling of the case, but some detailed adjustments were made. This may be the key to Guo Zuo's slight extension.
"I have formulated a strategy of returning wealth to the public. This strategy is obviously somewhat improved compared to the tax calculation method used during the reign of Emperor Taizu Sheng. However, no matter how good the strategy is, it will gradually deform after more than a hundred years.
"In addition, the conversation I had with the alchemist should also have some influence.
"Because what I said on behalf of Sheng Taizu at this time can, to a certain extent, represent Sheng Taizu's governing ideas, which will affect the governing ideas of future emperors.
"Although it is still inevitable that there will be a faint king, this subtle influence should be able to prolong the country a little bit.
"It seems that the role of the emperor is indeed similar to what I thought.
"How to deal with these cases is important, but more importantly, we must clarify the situation in the court in the early years of the Dasheng Dynasty, figure out why Taizu Sheng did what he did, and then answer it based on the specific circumstances at this time.
"If I hadn't thought this through clearly, I would have been at a loss for words when it came to refuting the alchemist's use.
"If the alchemists cannot be persuaded to use it, it naturally means that Sheng Taizu's philosophy of governing the country is not clear enough, and the final result of the country will definitely be greatly reduced."
After Chu Ge analyzed it, he became more and more sure of his thoughts.
The argument he had with the alchemist actually had only two core issues.
The first is whether the emperor knows enough about the situation at the grassroots level. If he doesn't know, he will easily be fooled by officials. For example, what the alchemist said about "going back and forth every year", if the emperor doesn't know these places, he will go to the capital.
In fact, it only takes less than a month, and it is easy to be circumvented, so you can only use the method preferred by the officials.
Officials have indeed saved time, but over time, how much fraud will be revealed behind this "saving time"? It's hard to say.
The second is, who does the emperor share the world with?
The emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats share the world. Is there anything wrong with this statement?
In fact, there is a big problem.
When many people discuss this issue, they choose one of the two options: "The emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats share the world" or "The emperor and the common people share the world."
But in fact, both options are wrong.
Although sharing the world with the people sounds good, it actually does not conform to the basic laws. The people are the ruled class, and the emperor and scholar-bureaucrats are the ruling class. How can the emperor share the world with the people?
it's out of the question.
Therefore, many scholar-bureaucrats shouted openly and openly that "the emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats share the same world" to deceive the emperor.
If running the country means cutting leeks, then the request of the scholar-bureaucrats and landlords is that the country can only cut the poor, not the poor.
For the emperor, if he believed this sentence, the country might not be able to survive for a few years. Because the poor people did not have much property, and after the landowners cut off the country, wouldn't it only lead to a civil uprising if the land was cut again and again?
Therefore, for a clear-minded emperor, he has never shared the world with the scholar-bureaucrats. A dynasty that cannot cut off the scholar-bureaucrats is basically not far from destruction.
To put it bluntly, the previous reforms were intended to cut leeks from the hands of these scholar-bureaucrats and let them spit out some of their vested interests.
Some dynasties failed because the entire bureaucracy composed of scholar-bureaucrats was too powerful, and the emperor could not move it. So he could only continue to bully the people with these scholar-bureaucrats, and in the end the country collapsed.
The correct approach should be "the emperor uses scholar-officials to rule the world." In other words, scholar-officials are just tools to rule. If the scholar-officials become powerful and seriously oppress the people, then as the emperor, they must cut off these scholar-officials so that the people can
Rest and recuperate normally so that the country can be stable.
As a feudal emperor, Sheng Taizu also regarded the people as his own private property, and could not have thoughts such as freedom and equality. But at least compared with other feudal emperors, he was more aware of the difficulties of the people and knew how to let the people recuperate and live a happy life. The principles of a good life.
If these scholar-bureaucrats were really allowed to do what they did, and if they really shared the world with the scholar-bureaucrats, the Great Sheng Dynasty would never have survived for more than two hundred years.
But unlike those emperors who wanted to change but couldn't, Sheng Taizu had a way.
Other emperors had only one way to deal with the uncooperation of the bureaucrats, and that was to give in.
What if you kill everyone and leave no one to work? Then you can only make do with it.
But for Sheng Taizu, this problem would not exist.
If you don’t cooperate? Then kill!
So what if we kill all these officials? I can handle it all by myself!
As a result, the unconvinced officials met the emperor, a model worker who was extremely capable in governing the country and extremely energetic, and this ended up happening.
For the officials and landowners, of course they were dissatisfied. We have been the masters in all dynasties. We lived together in the fish and meat village. Why should we be the grandsons in your prosperous dynasty?
And Taizu Sheng's answer was: If you are not your grandson, then the people will have to go through the tragedy of exchanging sons and eating them again!
Therefore, in Sheng Taizu's mind, he certainly did not think that he was still a common people. As a representative of the ruling class, the emperor could not really stand on the same side as the common people.
But this kind of way of governing the country will indeed allow ordinary people to live a relatively good life.
But the price is that the scholar-bureaucrats who hold the pen will definitely describe it as an unprecedented dark dynasty, ruled by tyrants.
Chu Ge shook his head slightly and continued to immerse himself in the pile of memorials, looking for the next case.
