A river of spring water, yellow flowers on both sides, between the verdant and brilliant yellow, several white sails flow down the river.

The bow of Wu'anguo's independent ship, watching thousands of sails pass by, clouds and mist pass by.

"Mr. Marquis, the wind is cold in the river, please put on some." Dad Mei walked out of the cabin and gently placed a cloak on Wu'anguo's shoulder.

Wu Anguo turned around and smiled at the official who had always hoped to be with him to become successful, and asked in a low voice: "Let's go out for a day, how long will it take to get there?"

"If you go back to the Marquis, you will be here tonight. The wind and waves on the river these days are so strong that the brothers are afraid of shocking the little princess, so they dare not hang the sails." Dad Mei replied carefully. From his lonely figure these days, it can be seen that Marquis Wu is not happy, so everyone is careful.

"Dad Mei, send us to the place, just go back. I will write a letter of recommendation to the prince and ask him to arrange a relaxing errand for you at the customs." Wu Anguo patted Dad Mei's shoulder friendly, and his broad big hand patted Dad Mei three points shorter.

"Mr. Marquis, you are a young man who is not good at serving him well. Do you want to drive the young man away?" Dad Mei was stunned for a moment, and his face turned pale. Since he followed Wu'anguo, the Marquis of Pingliao has always treated him as a courtesy, and his salary is higher than that of the guard. Now he is going to send him away. Dad Mei is reluctant.

Seeing that Mr. Mei was anxious, Wu Anguo smiled and comforted, "Where have you been thinking about? In the past two years, you have helped me plan, which has saved me a lot of effort in the officialdom and offended many people less. However, this time I left Beijing, I may not be able to go back for a while, and I may not be trusted by the emperor as before. If you follow me, there is no time to stand out, so it is better to find a background as soon as possible."

"I won't leave, I won't go anywhere except you," Dad Mei raised his head and looked at Wu Anguo's clear eyes. "I'm so young that I'm not promising. I really have the heart to take the shortcut to Zhongnan when I followed Marquis Wu back then. But I have gained some knowledge about being by the Marquis all day in the past two years. This capital is full of dangers and is not fun. I don't have a backstage. I can't tell you when I will lose my head, but I'll be with you. Besides, Marquis Wu is unwilling to stay in the capital to dye his official clothes with human blood. Can I hurry over and embarrass you?"

"Old Mei, why bother? Go to the customs office to be a minor official, no one will force you to kill people." Wu Anguo's voice was a little moved. At this moment, he left the capital, and he kept asking himself whether this was right or wrong, especially when he asked Zhu Yuanzhang for leave, Zhu Yuanzhang's questioning him, which made him unable to answer at all.

"No one forced the marquis to kill someone, why didn't the marquis leave?" Mr. Mei whispered. "The marquis is sincere to the young man, and the young man doesn't hide it from the marquis. Your actions this time have disappointed the emperor. The road from now on will definitely become more and more dangerous. I will stay with you and have more eyes."

The road ahead is dangerous, so why don’t I know that, so I hope you will leave. Wu Anguo saw that Dad Mei had made up his mind and couldn’t bear to give him a good intention. The guest and host smiled at each other, stood at the bow of the boat and looked at the scenery. The sky was a little cloudy in the distance, and a storm was brewing deep in the red clouds.

On the 22nd day of the first lunar month this year, Liu Ling gave birth to a daughter. Queen Ma came to see her and loved her very much. She was given the title of princess when she was in her infancy. Wu Anguo also took leave because of her happy love, and accompanied her wife to see her daughter at home. She hadn't attended court for a few days, and something big happened in court.

On the first day of the second month, the imperial envoy Zhang Yan and others again impeached officials of the Ministry of Revenue to embezzle corruption. In his tenure, millions of coins disappeared out of thin air and appeared out of thin air. More than 20 people jointly requested Zhu Yuanzhang to punish the country for corruption. Wu Chen, a Grand Secretary who had a good relationship with the Minister of Revenue Guo Heng, was ill in bed. Fei Zhen, a Grand Secretary from the Ministry of Revenue, avoided the convention according to the practice. Several other Grand Secretary of Longyuan Pavilion refused to stand up for Guo Heng. However, the Prince Zhu Biao and the Chief of Customs Zhu Jiangyan believed that the matter should be handled carefully and found out in detail before making a conclusion. During the day, the Minister of Revenue Guo Heng committed suicide by taking poison at home that night, and asked Prince Zhu Biao to treat his family well on his death.

Zhu Yuanzhang was furious when he heard the news and issued an order to confiscate Guo Heng's family and send more than 60 servants of the Guo family to Liaodong to reclaim the land. Fei Zhen, a senior secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, apologized for the crime. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and actually agreed, demoted him from the capital and sent him to Guangdong to be the county magistrate. Soon, the Jinyiwei found out that the corruption case of the Ministry of Revenue was true, and he was ordered to be tried strictly. He actually brought the entire Ministry of Revenue in, and all the officials were detained in prison and interrogated every day. Later, the involvement became more and more widespread, and some people in the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Justice were successively caught, and the situation was out of control.

Wu Anguo was unwilling to interfere in this matter and took leave to Zhu Yuanzhang and returned to Liu Ling's hometown to visit relatives. As soon as he finished speaking, he saw endless disappointment in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes.

To be honest, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't want Wu Anguo to take care of this matter. The son-in-law and his son-in-law killed people without blinking, but he was a living Bodhisattva above the court. He had long been expected by his expectations. Zhu Yuanzhang even thought about how to take the opportunity to teach his compassionate heart. However, Zhu Yuanzhang never expected that Wu Anguo's choice was to ignore it and avoid it without a sound. This made him feel lonely and lost. In such a large court, except for those envoys, there were no strong supporters in this anti-corruption campaign.

"Wu Da charity, do you think these bastards shouldn't die this time?" Constrained his mind, Zhu Yuanzhang asked calmly. The weather was still warm and cold, and he was wearing cotton coats inside. The little eunuchs in the imperial study still felt a hint of coldness penetrated into their bones. The old eunuch stood behind Zhu Yuanzhang, and while sweating, he winked at Wu Anguo.

"I dare not. Your Majesty also knows that I have few relatives in this world, so I want to take my daughter back to the princess's hometown to see. My father-in-law is sincere and knows that if I know Boquan, I will drink a few more drinks. The things in front of me are not in use, and I have no idea about them." Wu Anguo carefully explained his thoughts to Zhu Yuanzhang. His hatred for corrupt officials is no less than that of Zhu Yuanzhang. In his memory, the sufferings that those officials have imposed on the country and the people are no less than those of the Qing Dynasty and the Japanese pirates. The question is, how should the standard of sentencing be grasped? The country's laws should be standardized, and they will not decide their leniency based on the will and joys and anger of a certain person, otherwise it would be equivalent to the law that does not exist. Moreover, these officials should be damned, but their families may not be damned. He can't bear it.

"You have no idea. I think you have a big idea. I'm afraid you can't find a suitable reason, so you can't say anything about pleading for them." Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly in his nostrils and whispered to scold.

"Your Majesty, I am not able to bear it. I just feel that the crimes committed must be consistent with the punishment, and it is too lenient and too strict will be biased. If the people in the world feel that it is difficult for me to be an official in the Ming Dynasty, it will block the road to becoming a wise man." In this case, Wu'anguo can only slowly persuade him.

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted again and laughed, "So, that's it, you're still afraid that no one will do my official position. Look at this memorial, look at this official position that no one is a man. How many people are waiting in line for you ministers who think the salary is low." After that, he grabbed a memorial on the desk and threw it heavily in front of Wu'anguo.

That was the report sent by the son-in-law Li Qi who was ordered to go on a tour in Zhejiang to investigate several villages and was killed by the family. Wu Anguo briefly reviewed it. From this memorial, we can conclude that several villages were destroyed by collusion between local officials and bandits, rather than by the White Lotus Sect. What surprised Wu Anguo was the number of local officials. According to the statistics of the son-in-law Li Qi, a county in the local area actually raised more than 600 "managers", "take responsibility", and "doing".

Some people do not receive their salary and do errands for the yamen for free. "Superior" gets acquiescent from the government and arranges "Superior" to carry out the execution. "Superior" gathers "Superior" from the streets of "Superior" who are rogues and rogues, and runs rampant in the villages, or frames them, or make a name for charges. All the money is then distributed by the yamen and these non-staff officials in proportion. According to local people's estimates, the annual income of a "Superior" is approximately 1,000 taels of colored silver, which is more than twenty times the salary of a county magistrate.

If you do evil and don't live, you can make your son-in-law Li Qi want to kill. These white-handed officials must have done all the things that hurt the heavens and the reasoning. As the son-in-law Li Qi said in the memorial, Zhejiang is rich and officials have a big appetite. All the bad things that the government does not conveniently do in front of the government will be done by the "managers". These non-staff personnel caused trouble and alarmed the superior departments. As long as the local government pushes the responsibility on the "managers" who cause trouble on the day, breaks them or punishes them, they can calmly push the responsibilities of the supervisors. In the end, several "managers" were investigated in the Wujia Village family destruction case, and several non-staff personnel committed suicide collectively, and the clues were interrupted halfway.

The officials are not interested in doing anything else, and there are so many tricks to harm the people. They read the memorial carefully from beginning to end. Wu Anguo knew that he could not convince Zhu Yuanzhang to give up the killing. Shouldn’t these people die? I made the bad things they did to the public and then removed the protection of the court from the court. I guess the angry people would tear these people apart without waiting for Zhu Yuanzhang's order. He shook his head and replied with a wry smile: "Long live, I know that corrupt officials should die, but I suggest that Long live, not involve too much. After all, they are all officials of my Ming Dynasty. If they kill them all, they have to choose another group, and the newly selected ones may not be greedy."

"Then I will kill again. I will see how many people are not afraid of death." Zhu Yuanzhang's answer was very straightforward. With his life experience, corrupt officials and officials harmed the country and the people the most. The great reason for the ten thousand miles of the Yuan Dynasty was that they were destroyed by corrupt officials. The Ming Dynasty must not repeat this.

Wu'anguo was speechless. Can corrupt officials be killed? He doesn't think so. As long as officials are appointed by their superiors rather than elected by the people, they cannot stop them from being corruption. Because only if they embezzle enough money can they have the ability to bribe their superiors, and some people are watching for their abuse of the people. Zhu Yuanzhang is not the first emperor to severely punish corruption, and he will definitely not be the last one.

Sighing, Zhu Yuanzhang turned his back to Wu'anguo and said, "I'm not going to do anything for you this time. You have to go out to avoid the limelight. I'm up to you. You are staring at the misfortune of those corrupt officials, but you can't see the tens of thousands of people who have been harmed by them. I've misunderstood people and have nothing to say. I just hope that you can answer me honestly before leaving the capital. Can you find a reason why those corrupt officials cannot be killed for me?"

Both the father-in-law and son-in-law were in deep thought, and the imperial study room became even colder. Wu Anguo suddenly felt that he was a little sorry for the emperor in front of him. Although his actions of peeling off the corrupt officials were a little cruel, he safeguarded the interests of most people while safeguarding the Zhu family's throne. In contrast, the high-ranking officials who shouted anti-corruption and integrity in his era, but secretly accepted bribes were not as good as this feudal emperor. Can Zhu Yuanzhang accept the election system that was not accepted in China in the 21st century?

With the idea of ​​trying it out, Wu Anguo gave a bold suggestion. "Long live, according to the opinions of my ministers, killing may not stop corruption. After all, the promotion of officials depends entirely on protecting their superiors. If they do not embezzle, they will have no money to manage their own affairs and their official fortune will not last long."

"Being an official is for the sake of the official fortune. It is rare that there is no interest in the people in their eyes! Worry about the world before worrying about the world..." Zhu Yuanzhang's rebuttal stopped abruptly, worry about the world before worrying about the world, and enjoying about the world after joy. What a famous saying. Many officials regard it as their motto. Two days ago, the Guo Heng family copied out such a central hall. It is said that it was the work of famous calligraphers of the Song Dynasty, and most of them came from Cai Jing.

"Long live, please listen to me. If the people themselves can choose who they are their parents, at least the officials will be restrained." Wu Anguo whispered tentatively.

"I'm afraid it may not be. You have heard of the filial and honest person who is not aware of the book. A few years ago, I allowed fellow villagers from all over the country to collect taxes for the court without having to deal with officials. As a result, those guys distribute their own share to others, but they also added layer by layer behind their backs." Zhu Yuanzhang's anger was a little less, and he said helplessly. (See the Ming Dynasty's Great Edict)

Wu'anguo was silent. This was a paradox of democratic methods in the era of poor communication. In ancient China, there might not be any democratic thinking like Greece, but it had never failed to try democratic supervision. However, all of them ended in failure, and finally made layers of autocracy and legitimate prevail. He didn't know how to disassemble this paradox.

He did not dare to raise the salary and maintain integrity in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, because the facts proved that it would not work. There were no follow-up supervision measures. The result of high salary and maintain integrity was greed with high salary and the more he raised, the more greedy he became. Zhu Yuanzhang told everyone more than once that officials were like the men hired by the emperor. He thought that the salary was low and he could quit his job, but if he was caught stealing the boss’s things, he would definitely be punished severely. Otherwise, the guys would follow suit, and the shop would have the only end of bankruptcy.

"You go and go out to relax. It's okay. You are not a minister yet. You just have a heart of fist and don't even take this opportunity to eliminate dissidents. I'm really surprised that you have been in the court for so long. I hope you can take a closer look at the people and think clearly. I'll give me a clear answer. First, do you kill these corrupt officials for me, or let these corrupt officials harm the people. Once you figure it out, you will come back, otherwise you won't have to come back to cause trouble for me."

Maybe I am too naive or too sympathetic. If Mr. Li is there, what will he do? Will he help me seize the opportunity and arrange a group of new blood to support the government of Peking in the court. If Guo Pu is in the court, what will he do? Why did he choose to remain silent this time? Wu Anguo stood at the bow of the ship and thought silently that the implementation of the new policy is getting smoother and smoother, but the road ahead is getting more and more confused.

Dad Mei accompanied him silently. In a sense, Wu Anguo was not a qualified politician, and Dad Mei was not a qualified aide. If they had Wu Chen's master Zhou Chongwen, they should have seen a little further. Seeing that the anti-corruption campaign in the court also included the competition and reshuffle of the political forces between the old and the new forces. In this regard, Wu Anguo was far inferior to Cao Zhen and Guo Pu. They saw the opportunity but were unwilling to take further action because they were unable to figure it out. However, Wu Anguo had never thought about this opportunity carefully. Unfortunately, his good brother Cao Zhen thought that his passive escape was because he was also unwilling to push the political situation into the quagmire of party struggles.

If they had Li Shanchang's political vision at this time, they would have seen a potential danger in the process of handling this matter, that is, the role of the Jinyiwei as a royal special force is becoming more and more important in the court, and has surpassed the normal judicial and administrative procedures of this era and is independent of the court. For the new and old forces, this is probably a sharp axe hanging behind the neck, which can be cut off at any time.
Chapter completed!