Dengzhou Port is becoming more and more lively now. Even the sea gate of Shuicheng has been expanded to accommodate larger ships. The small sea surrounded by Shuicheng is full of ships. Even because it cannot accommodate it, another part of Shuicheng is now
Two more water villages and docks were built on the side.
In addition to Fucheng and Shuicheng, a new earthen city and a bastion were built, and many forts were added.
It was a hot day in July, but Zhao Gui didn't feel any coolness at all. The sky was still as hot as a stove, and even the wind from the seaside couldn't dissipate the steaming heat.
Shenwu Town is responsible for guarding Dengzhou. As officials of the General Logistics Office of Shenwu Town, the Zhao Gui brothers have been busy here in Dengzhou. They are not only responsible for the logistics and food payment of Shenwu Town, but also coordinate with the Royal Camp General Logistics to dispatch the troops arriving in Hong Kong.
Grain payment, sorting and transshipment, etc.
It's always good to be busy. Because of the success of the Northern Expedition and his diligent work, he has been promoted from the eighth grade to the seventh grade and changed into a dark green official robe.
Even my cousin Zhao Fu was promoted to the eighth rank.
Today is another special day, when wages are paid at half-month.
At this time, it is always the busiest time for the General Logistics officials. Fortunately, the money has been counted in advance. I have money in my hand and I don't panic. Otherwise, I don't know how to deal with the brothers who are owed wages.
"Still the old rules, distribution is in order from the head of the battalion. As each battalion comes, the general town, deputy town, director, general staff, and all the guerrilla guards from each association will come together to supervise the distribution, so that no mistakes are made."
Now Zhao Gui is able to stand alone. He is responsible for finance in the General Logistics Office of Shenwu Town. Under the General Logistics Department there are finance, transportation, food and grass, medical care, and barracks departments. Finance is naturally the most important.
Gui is in charge of the town's money bag, while Zhao Fu is in charge of the food and grass. The two brothers are the right-hand men of Lao Zhang of the General Logistics Department.
If we were in the army during the Chongzhen period, if we were a civil servant in charge of logistics, food and wages, he would be a fat and oily errand, responsible for the food and wages of more than 10,000 people. If he could persist for one or two years, he would make a windfall and return home.
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However, Zhao Gui neither dared nor wanted to be greedy for a penny. It was not because of how noble he was, but because the entire imperial camp had this kind of atmosphere and there was no such environment. Besides, he was the emperor who rescued him when he was about to starve to death.
Although he was killed, he can still settle down in eastern Zhejiang now. He will not do such stupid things.
In fact, even in the logistics department of the imperial camp, there has always been no shortage of such fools. There are many people who stretch out their hands, but they have never reached out without being caught or chopped off.
The emperor is ruthless in this area. If an officer dares to deduct soldiers' pay, or if a logistics officer dares to embezzle, they will all die.
Every cent of money embezzled and embezzled will eventually be recovered.
There was a guy who was corrupt before. His official position was not low, and he was already in an important position. Because he was from the Kong family in Shandong, he took the initiative to apply. He had also served as a prefect before, so he arranged a post in Shandong.
Come to the Qingling Branch for inspection. This is a small governor with great power. He supervises military affairs, manages food and wages, and is also responsible for providing relief to the victims. He handles a lot of money, food and materials, and then this guy actually embezzles money.
In the end, it was found that he had embezzled a total of more than 70,000 taels of silver, food and materials. The emperor personally interrogated and all ministries held a joint trial. The final evidence was conclusive. The emperor personally issued an order, regardless of what kind of saint he was, and ordered him to be executed and even ransacked his home.
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Although Qufu was still under the control of the Qing army, the Kong branch patrol also had a large number of farms, houses, merchants, money, etc. in Denglai, Shandong and other places. In the end, they confiscated everything they could, and even confiscated more than 490,000 taels of silver.
property comes.
During the inspection of Confucius, there were many officials and subordinates who were involved in this case, and used various methods to seize the property of the Confucius family. It was obviously nearly 500,000 taels of property, but they finally reported more than 5,000 taels.
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As a result, this incident triggered a larger round of thorough investigation by the emperor, which implicated a large number of newly demoted officials in Shandong and even local powerful people in collusion. In the end, the nearly 500,000 taels of property that Kong Fen inspected were recovered and confiscated, implicating those daring people in the investigation.
The corrupt officials were also punished together and a large number of copies were made.
More than one million taels worth of property was also confiscated, but even so, there were still people who dared to take action on these people's property, and then they were uprooted and swatted with flies.
After this Kongfen patrol, it can be said that it was a great shock to the officialdom in Shandong. These newly attached officials were also extremely shocked, especially the Kong family who had a special status in Shandong.
Who would have thought that this emperor would be so determined and even so tough.
They thought they could work together, work together, and deceive superiors and subordinates. Who knew that the emperor was extremely capable in the field of intelligence? The traditional factory guards are still active today, and departments such as the Detective Department, the Editorial Office, the Military Intelligence Department, and even the Staff Department are also
A good intelligence expert.
They think they can hide it, but they don't know that they have control over every move.
After this crisis, the situation of corruption in Shandong is much better, but it cannot be eradicated. There are always those who are greedy for money and not afraid of death, and the court is doing its best to crack down on it.
The general inspection office of the imperial camp, the local governors, governors, sub-inspectors, and even the specially appointed censors were all watching, and they would deal with each one they found without mercy.
The emperor said something very straightforward. This is a time of war, so military law is used. This is the front line. Soldiers hold their heads high and sacrifice their blood to fight for the country. We must not allow those officials to embezzle and deduct the money and food from these bloodshed and sacrifices.
No matter whether you are a military commander or a civilian official, there is zero tolerance.
Nowadays, the military salaries of the royal camp are directly distributed by the logistics. The town's logistics receive the salary from the camp logistics, and then distribute it to each battalion directly to the soldiers. Other officers cannot have direct contact and can only supervise.
So now the imperial camp wants to live on empty wages like before, it is difficult to deduct the wages, and the money is no longer available.
Before payment.
Zhao Gui once again inspected the silver warehouse, looking at the silver boxes with seals and even lead seals on them, which were sealed layer by layer to ensure the safety of the money.
Every time you go through the process, you must carefully check and sign for acceptance. If anything is not right, the person who went through the previous level will be fully responsible.
In the past, during the Chongzhen period, the imperial court allocated additional military pay to local areas. Local officials took the opportunity to increase all kinds of expenditures, such as fire expenses, freight charges, and even high expenses, etc. The original levy was two cents of silver per acre, but in the end the actual levy was three, four or even four cents.
Five cents, but the money finally paid into the imperial treasury was not enough.
When the imperial court wanted to appropriate some more, some were finally transferred to the army. As a result, before leaving the capital, there were already many fewer and were divided by convention. Some were used for other purposes, some were openly reduced, and many were directly used.
separated.
The silver was plucked one level at a time, and it was constantly embezzled and deducted. In the end, the court took away two million taels of silver, and by the time it reached the frontline army, it was probably less than 200,000 taels.
In the end, the officers even had to withhold money, so very little money actually went into the hands of the soldiers.
The people borne everything, even more than the burden, and as a result, the money did not reach the hands of the soldiers.
This is an important reason for the collapse of the Chongzhen Dynasty. The taxation was unreasonable and did not go to the people who should be levied. It was all over-burdened by the common people who could not afford it. Then the money collected was seriously corrupted, and in the end there was not much left.
It has fallen into place.
In comparison, Yuying is much better.
In the final analysis, the Shaotian court behaved like a large warlord. The rebellion in Taizhou, Zhejiang was initiated by the emperor. From the beginning, it got rid of the framework of the court and the kidnapping of the bureaucratic group.
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To put it simply, the imperial court has special officials, namely the Ducha Yuan and the Liu Ke. The Du Cha Yuan is the official who mainly supervises the officials, while the Liu Ke is mainly responsible for holding titles.
The right to refute.
The memorial was submitted to the Cabinet by the Six Ministries and other Economic and General Affairs Departments for drafting, then submitted to the emperor, approved by the Secretary of Ceremonies, and then handed over to the Cabinet, which in turn handed it over to the Sixth Section.
After approval by the Sixth Section, it will be copied to the Sixth Department for execution.
In this process, the power held by the Six Sections is actually equivalent to the power of the Menxia Province in the Three Provinces and Six Ministries system of the Tang Dynasty. They have the right to refute the emperor's will, that is, if they feel it is wrong, they can reject it and refuse to issue it for execution.
Have to change.
If the change doesn't work, it's still rejected.
This power is very powerful, because it directly refutes the imperial edict, and the Ming Dynasty's cabinet voting system and the handling model of Zhu Pi, the Superintendent of Ceremonies, actually exercise the decision-making power of the emperor on behalf of the emperor.
Precisely because the Sixth Rank had great power, in the party struggles in the late Ming Dynasty, these Sixth and Seventh Ranks were always able to stir up troubles and troubles in the court.
Even the emperor can't do anything to these people.
Because they are scientific officials and admonishers, and because they hold the power of refutation in their hands. If they disagree, they will refute the emperor. The imperial power is greatly restricted. If these people start a party dispute, then they will
It even gave the emperor a headache.
But in Shaotian Dynasty, it was completely different.
Zhu Yihai held great power everywhere. For example, the most important decision-making power was on the surface, the cabinet and the Supervisor of Ceremonies. They still had the power to vote and approve red papers. But in fact, the real central decision-making power was made by Zhu Yihai himself.
He established a Prime Minister's Office, recruited some close ministers to confer titles, and discussed major matters with them. Then the Prime Minister's Office could directly draft edicts and pass them on to the six cabinet ministries.
What does this amount to?
It is equivalent to the political affairs hall in the Tang and Song dynasties, equivalent to the subordinates of Zhongshu, equivalent to the power of issuing imperial edicts to the ministers of Zhongshu. The decision-making and imperial edicts are all in the hands. The cabinet and the ceremonial supervisor have actually been eclipsed, and the emperor's power
Unprecedented concentration.
Although the Six Sections are still there, Zhu Yihai also stipulated that the Prime Minister's Office drafts an edict based on the emperor's decree and can directly issue it to the six ministries, provinces, localities, the army, etc., which means there is no need to go through the Six Sections to refute it.
They have no right to refute the decree issued by the Prime Minister's Office.
The Liu Ke Yan officials lost their most important right to refute, so they no longer had the capital to restrict the imperial power and dare to speak harsh words to the emperor.
Now the Sixth Section can only focus on the implementation of the Cabinet and the Sixth Department.
In addition, the emperor directly controlled the imperial army he had established, so the method of kidnapping the court and the emperor that had been tried and tested by Ming officials in the past was completely out of reach in Zhu Yihai's case.
Just like taxes in various places, traditional land taxes and dingyin are still collected by local governments, but industrial and commercial taxes, customs duties, and taxes have been collected by specialized tax departments.
New tax bureaus have been established in each province, tax bureaus have been set up in each government, and tax offices have been set up in counties.
They even have their own tax police.
This is equivalent to the change from the previous salt law road, grain supervision road, water conservancy road, etc. In the past, there were separate patrols and coastal defense roads, which were directly changed to separate patrol roads, raising the level, strengthening the power, and making them the management of several prefectures.
The junior governor was completely above the prefect.
Some other original miscellaneous departments were reorganized into various specialized departments, which were directly subordinate to the governor and were vertically in charge of the professional affairs of the prefecture and county.
Local officials, in terms of taxation, can only directly collect and manage land taxes. Other taxes are directly managed and collected by the taxation department, forming two systems of local taxation and national taxation.
Part of the tax collected by local officials is retained for use, and part is transported and turned over.
As for the national tax, the local tax bureaus are directly under the jurisdiction of the tax collection. With the strong guarantee of the tax inspection camp, the tax collected is no more than the local government. It is shipped directly. Even the special customs duties and taxes are collected directly by the army.
All these have weakened the local government's ability to intervene in taxation. Taxes and money are not in their hands, and it is difficult for them to be greedy.
As for the taxation bureaus, they are specially dispatched yamen in each province and are managed vertically. Accordingly, the collection situation is much better than that of the original prefectures and counties.
The collection, payment, and then transfer and distribution of these taxes are a different model from the past. The reason why the emperor can implement all of this is that he has the real power.
What is real power?
Just like although Chongzhen was the emperor, he actually did not hold real power. His power had to be exercised through the bureaucracy, and the entire bureaucracy of the Chongzhen Dynasty had formed a powerful interest group. Even if they fought among themselves, they would not
They are still a class, not one with the emperor.
Zhu Yihai has real power, because he worked from the bottom up and rebuilt the power level bit by bit by raising troops from the bottom. First, he established the imperial camp himself, which gave him real military power. The officers were all promoted by him.
Many of them come from ordinary backgrounds and do not have such a complicated network of connections.
With the army, territory was occupied, and then a new local official system was replaced.
This is like when Chongzhen said in Beijing that he would increase taxes by two cents of silver per mu, and countless people would oppose it. In the end, more money was levied, but the court did not see the money, and the soldiers still did not receive pay.
But if a mountain king who occupies a mountain as king asks the villagers at the foot of the mountain to collect two cents of silver per acre as a protection fee, he can often do it.
You can even set up some new rules.
Speaking more broadly, in the late Chongzhen period, warlords such as Zuo Liangyu, Liu Liangzuo, and Gao Jie were very effective in allocating money and food to the local area, and even abolishing and establishing new regulations. In the final analysis, they had mastered the real
power.
This power has broken the constraints and the old balance pattern.
