Li Ze walked out of his major case, took a cup of tea from Li Peng, and handed it to a middle-aged official with a slightly gray temple.

The official was obviously a little shocked. He was stunned for a moment, then he bent down deeply, overturned his hands, and took the cup of tea from Li Ze.

"Thank you for your hard work, sit down!" Li Ze patted the official on the shoulder and said warmly.

The official was named Wu Jin, who had been in Cangzhou as the deputy of Hou Zhen. This time, he was transferred to Beijing.

The reason why Li Ze treated Wu Jin so well was entirely because of his own.

Wu Jin, whose family was originally rich and could be regarded as a middle-class family, but after a conflict with local gentry, his family was destroyed and Wu Jin, who had passed the scholarship, became completely destitute since then. This person was the first group to join the Yixing Society, and unlike most of the lowest-class people who were illiterate in the Yixing Society, he had a certain degree of knowledge. Therefore, after entering Yixing Society, he was the target of being trained.

And he did not let down his superiors' high expectations for him. With his achievements, he soon emerged and became a dazzling star in Yixing Society.

If it were just this, I wouldn't be able to bear to respect Li Ze personally for a cup of tea. What Li Ze values ​​this person is his integrity and integrity.

This may be related to Wu Jin's early experiences.

Cangzhou, where Wu Jin was located, is one of the richest areas in the Ming Dynasty today. Because of the existence of Haixing Port, the wealth of Cangzhou people is even more frustrated than that of Wuyi.

But Wu Jin was in Cangzhou and was in a high position, but he was honest.

This person is truly honest and does not take anything except his salary and due benefits. He does not buy any shops or invest in business. He has been an official for many years. The only time he bought property was to buy back his former ancestral property of fifty acres and a small yard.

In fact, this is not considered as a birth purchase, but more like an explanation to the deceased parents and relatives.

Not only in Cangzhou, but even in the entire Tang Dynasty official system, Wu Jin is a real alien, an alien who makes everyone look at him and scares everyone. He is an official who is respectful and afraid even his superiors.

The bureaucratic system under Li Ze's rule should be said to have achieved unprecedented results in its integrity. Li Ze's tolerance for corruption was extremely low. He would punish him if he caught one, he would never show mercy or ruthlessness. Even Chen Congxing, who was the first to follow Li Ze and belonged to Li Ze's confidant, could not escape death after the incident, let alone other people.

Therefore, the closer the officials under Li Ze were to Li Ze, the more they were to control this and at the most severe point.

But this does not prevent these officials from seeking more property for themselves through legal means.

For example, buying a store and investing in various businesses.

Whether it was under Li Anguo's command or many former Tang officials who later defected to Li Ze, they were all rich. After the land restriction order, these people withdrew from almost all the land that exceeded the policy's permission, they devoted their extra money to various businesses.

Li Ze acquiesced to this situation at that time.

Although merchants were rich in the past, they had always been a class that was discriminated against. The joining of these people effectively improved the status of this class. The rise of the merchant class was of great value to Li Ze's strategic purpose in attacking the landlord class.

Moreover, at that time, Li Ze also needed to use the prosperity of business to ensure the financial income of his regime. While greatly reducing the burden on farmers and winning the support of people in this class, Li Ze needed another class to make up for his financial losses, so the merchants became the best choice.

Stabilizing agriculture, promoting business and promoting industry are several core elements in Li Ze's policy.

However, such policies also have fatal weaknesses.

That is, collusion between officials and businessmen is almost impossible to avoid.

To put it bluntly, they don’t need to cheat and can easily obtain a large amount of resources. Now, behind the major trading companies that are important to the Tang Dynasty, are all the figures of senior officials from the Tang Dynasty.

Wu Jin hated this situation deeply. He publicly wrote a note to Li Ze, saying that if this situation continues for a long time, it will cause fatal damage to the Tang Dynasty.

This memorial made Wu Jin immediately an opposition to almost all officials of the Tang Dynasty court, making people look at him sideways. Li Ze also pressed down the memorial, and did not even let him enter the discussion process.

But Wu Jin's official career in Cangzhou also entered a great dilemma.

Almost all central departments put on another pair of glasses in the assessment of Cangzhou, which made Cangzhou complain. Although Cangzhou has ranked among the top in all aspects of political achievements, in the end, it never received the rewards and honors they deserve.

Under the suppression of openness and secretness, officials in Cangzhou complained about Wu Jinyi. Hou Zhen had already complained to Li Ze several times.

Li Ze has no way to deal with these suppressions. If you really want to call these officials to ask, keep them able to give you reasonable and evidence to make you speechless.

As long as you are doing things, where can you find faults?

If you really want to find fault with you, even if you do 99% of the perfection, then the imperfection of zero or 1 will still be found out with a magnifying glass and then write it out in a big way, becoming a negative example.

Only those who do not do things will not be faulted.

Li Ze knew that Wu Jin could not stay in Cangzhou anymore, and he could not stay anywhere. No place would welcome him, an alien.

But Li Ze knew that Wu Jin was right.

No one knows more about how harmful the collusion between officials and businessmen is.

But now is not the time.

He has more important things to deal with.

Wu Jin just brought up the right thing at a wrong time.

The transfer of Wu Jin and the removal of his current official position were not to punish him, but to protect him.

"This time I transferred you to Chang'an Zhengjin Economic Academy as a teacher. Do you feel uncomfortable in your heart? If you say it, if the law is not passed on to Liu Er, I will not tell others!" Li Ze said with a smile.

Wu Jin bowed and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Wu Jin is very grateful."

"Is it still a favor to let your official position go?" Li Ze said.

"Wu Jin is now surrounded by enemies." Wu Jin smiled bitterly, "Even the governor Hou, who has always taken good care of me, now he ignores me, let alone other people. Wu Jin is already very happy when he is not beaten up on the street. Now he has left the officialdom and is a gentleman. Thinking about those who hate Wu, he will just give me a fart."

"When I wrote this memorial, did you think of the consequences?" Li Ze asked.

"Of course I thought of it. Wu is not a fool either." Wu Jin said: "But Wu still wants to say that even if he is hated by everyone and his career is cut off, he must reveal this hidden danger as soon as possible. Li Xiang, the Tang Dynasty is in full swing and prosperity, and all the contradictions are covered up by victory after victory. But in the long run, these small hidden dangers that seem nothing now will inevitably become fatal abscesses on the Tang Dynasty."

"You seem to be inspired!" Li Ze asked.

"Of course. The Xiaguan will tell Li Xiang a real example, and this happened at the Xiaguan's hands." Wu Jin picked up the teacup and took a sip, moistening his throat: "I personally presided over the Haixing Port expansion project."

"Since you personally presided over it, why are there still problems?" Li Ze asked back.

"The officials are helpless." Wu Jin sighed: "At that time, six merchants entered the final bidding competition process. One of them had great power. The other five knew that they could not defeat them, so the five companies united to form an alliance. In this way, they were comparable to this company in terms of strength, and even more than technology."

"The bidding leaked?" Li Ze's brows raised.

Wu Jin nodded: "It was found out later. The bids of these five alliances were leaked, and the bids of that company's bid were also tampered with, which is exactly 10,000 taels of silver lower than the bids of these five alliances."

"If it were just like this, I would have endured this tone. Anyway, no matter who it is, in terms of quality, it would definitely not be able to bypass my level. But after the five companies went through this matter, the alliance collapsed, and two of them were pulled over by that company. Then during the construction process, various problems arose, and the construction cost increased again and again. The department price after the final completion was more than twice the estimated cost. But at that time, we were already in a difficult position and had to break our teeth and swallow it in our stomachs. Because no one could take over this matter." Wu Jin said angrily: "In the end, what we can handle is just two minor officials. Tell me, can this matter be done by two minor officials?"

Li Ze also frowned.

"I believe such a thing will happen not only in my Cangzhou." Wu Jin said angrily: "Li Xiang, how is it so great in the long run? They are not only embezzling state property, but also attacking merchants that compete with them. If these merchants are defeated by them, will the court let them hold them in the future?"

Li Ze nodded slightly. "I know all these things, but there are some priorities. At present, I can't take care of it. Wu Jin, you go to the Political and Economic Academy to teach books for a while and avoid this limelight. After a while, I will have a new appointment for you."

Wu Jin sighed: "Li Xiang, I have become the target of public criticism. No matter where I go, I can't do it. I will only do bad things and be difficult to accomplish. I am willing to teach at the Political and Economic Academy all the time. I believe that those students can still listen to what I said."
Chapter completed!