These words were very impactful. Many people did not expect that there was such a person in the court who was not afraid of death, and he actually dared to say these words blatantly.

Emperor Chongzhen was frightened when he heard this. He did not expect that after the removal of the eunuchs, the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty did not improve as he expected, but was rotten to the core.

Emperor Chongzhen was even more anxious now. He had not received orthodox emperor education, so he was not familiar with the affairs of the imperial court. Now he met a remonstrator who dared to speak out and asked for advice.

Han Yiliang told the young Emperor Chongzhen that the officials of the imperial court and the common people of Li said that the lack of connection between state and county officials was the reason for the prevalence of corruption. In fact, this was wrong.

In fact, they imposed this crime on state and county officials because these officials were the farthest from the court but closest to the people.

Little do they know that state and county officials cannot be honest at all.

Their salary is not much. In addition to family expenses, they also have to deal with the demands for bribes from superior officials. When these low-level officials pass through Fucheng and Daotai Yamen, they must submit gift orders to pay a visit. If they want to get rid of them to do things, they must also submit thank you money. These

Xie Yin can easily earn fifty taels or one hundred taels, which is enough for a family of five to live for a lifetime.

Frequent requests for bribes not only make them unable to manage state and county government affairs, but also find ways to obtain money to deal with superior officials.

However, once a person comes to the capital for pilgrimage after passing the examination, officials along the way will ask for bribes. In addition, officials at all levels in the capital need to visit and present their appearance, which will require three to four thousand taels of silver.

In other words, low-level officials in a state or county have an annual expenditure of about five or six hundred taels of silver, but their salaries do not even have one-tenth of the silver in cash. If they do not corrupt the silver taels, how can they maintain this stable position?

Official? How can I be promoted?

As for the officials who dare to point their fingers at the emperor and curse, these officials who consider themselves to be the most honest officials in the world are called rags by the officials in the court and central government. The hidden meaning is that they "keep others clean and do not care about their own reputation." It is really dirty.

Very dirty.

Han Yiliang also used his own appearance to speak. He said that he declined the gift of 500 taels in two months because he rarely interacted with people. The other Yanguan was able to collect nearly 1,000 taels in bribes in a month.

.

Han Yiliang's words are a dead remonstrance.

He was not afraid of the hatred of the courtiers, and he dared to beg the emperor to vigorously punish corruption and deal with the most corrupt officials as soon as possible, so as to serve as a warning to others and make other officials not dare to commit corruption.

Emperor Chongzhen was deeply moved, and he valued this outspoken official even more. He summoned the ministers to discuss opinions on punishing corruption, but the process did not go smoothly.

For example, cabinet minister Liu Hongxun pointed out that Han Yiliang's remarks were inappropriate, because these were not corruption, but gifts for communication, which could not be regarded as corruption.

Chongzhen ignored Liu Hongxun at all and directly asked Wang Yongguang, the Minister of Civil Affairs, to promote Han Yiliang to an unusual promotion and appointed him as the censor of Youqiandu.

However, the courtiers did not give in because of Emperor Chongzhen's pressure. While Wang Yongguang accepted the order, he began to attack Han Yiliang.

He asked Han Yiliang to point out several officials who were most corrupt and bribery in public.

You need to know how Han Yiliang dared to directly target the officials who were most corrupt and bribed, that is, the most powerful officials.

Wang Yongguang is a villain. Han Yiliang directly exposed corruption in the officialdom, and the greatest harm was done to his officials. Therefore, he did not want to let go of this bold and arrogant official, and had to force Han Yiliang to point out such corrupt officials.

, putting Han Yiliang into a crisis situation.

Han Yiliang was frequently ostracized by the courtiers after he first went to the throne. Now he was forced by the Minister of Civil Affairs to offend important ministers. He was nervous and extremely frightened for a moment.

Thinking about his family and future, Han Yiliang's originally unswerving heart was shaken. He chose to retreat and used some eunuchs to deal with Emperor Chongzhen.

Emperor Chongzhen was disappointed and became very angry.

He was too young and had no experienced people around him to help him, so he suddenly lost his temper and insisted on getting to the bottom of the matter.

Han Yiliang knew that the emperor wanted to take the opportunity to clean up corruption, but some officials in the court put pressure on him and were unwilling to let him expose corruption. Han Yiliang finally gave in and kept silent under the pressure of Emperor Chongzhen.

I just said that what I played before was just something I had heard about, and there was no real evidence.

Emperor Chongzhen originally valued Han Yiliang very highly and wanted to appoint him as the censor of the capital to help him clean up corruption. But now his wish failed and he was very angry at Han Yiliang who betrayed him.

Not long after, Han Yiliang was excluded and framed, and was dismissed from his post to serve the people.

After this, an upright minister who touched the current ills and wanted to help the emperor clean up corruption left the court.

Thinking about this, Zhang Fengxiang couldn't help but lose consciousness for a long time.

When he came to his senses, he found that Wang Yongguang had left. He couldn't help but feel uneasy and could only force himself to enter the Wenhua Hall.

After entering the Wenhua Hall, Zhang Fengxiang found that all the court officials had arrived.

The Cabinet, the Six Ministries, the Five Governments, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the General Administration Department, Dali Temple, the Science and Technology Officials and the Imperial Academy Annotators were all present in the court. What made Zhang Fengxiang even more frightened was that the Imperial Guards Officer was also in the court.

Seeing that the emperor had sent out the royal guards, Zhang Fengxiang became even more nervous. He turned around and looked at the engineering department who was ordered to inspect the factory under the Ministry of Industry for the royal capital, Shaanxi Dao Yushi Gao Benming.

The ministers saluted and lined up on the left and right sides.

This time the courtiers all knew what they were going to discuss, so they all stood quietly and meditated.

Zhou Yanru raised his head and looked at Emperor Chongzhen who was sitting high on the throne. His expression was dull and he stood quietly with his eyebrows lowered and his head lowered.

In March this year, Emperor Chongzhen summoned him to the palace to discuss matters. What he discussed was unknown, but all the officials knew that the emperor thought highly of Zhou Yanru.

Emperor Chongzhen looked a little tired as always, but his eyes were extremely bright.

All the courtiers knew that the emperor had found another reason to rectify his officialdom, so they were so excited.

Zhou Yanru secretly sighed in his heart, the emperor is indeed smart and wise, but the corruption in the imperial court has been too deep-rooted. From the cabinet ministers to the lower officials, there is no one who is not corrupt. If you want to cut the knot quickly, such urgent rectification may be too serious.

It will be counterproductive and will not end well.

Zhou Yanru kept these words deep in his heart, and Zhou Yanru did not intend to warn the emperor. Because he knew that although the emperor was young, he was still young and energetic, so it was impossible for him to listen to his advice.

Emperor Chongzhen said loudly: "In the capital, Gao Benming goes out to kneel down."

Having been prepared for a long time, Wang Du and Gao Benming still trembled, hurriedly walked out, and knelt in the hall obediently.

Emperor Chongzhen looked solemn and said sternly: "I ordered you to inspect factories and warehouses, check for corrupt officials, and rectify corruption. How did you do it?"

Gao Benming bowed his head and knelt down, and Wang Du said: "I have fulfilled my duties loyally and do not dare to slack off. Please observe carefully, Your Majesty."

Emperor Chongzhen shed tears when he saw that the two men had not seen the coffin, and said sternly: "The merchants were allocated a thousand taels of silver for the purchase, but why were they only given three to four hundred taels? Where did the other six to seven hundred taels go? Did you divide it up?

Already?"

Emperor Chongzhen pressed forward step by step, but he was too young and went into battle in person. The king was not afraid of him and said bluntly: "Your Majesty is aware of it. The Jieshen Treasury that I inspected is full of one thousand taels, and it is full of one hundred taels."

One hundred taels, as for what happened, I don’t know about it.”

When Emperor Chongzhen saw that the king was still so stubborn, he was even more angry and said: "Without the approval of you two, who dares to divide this silver? There are only three or four hundred taels from one thousand taels. Why didn't you discover it during your inspection?"

Why didn't you report it if you found it?"

Gao Benming, who was kneeling aside, was nervous. Seeing the emperor pressing forward step by step, he hurriedly explained: "Your Majesty, please calm down. The merchants and craftsmen received the silver from the treasury, which involved the loss of money through the yamen. It was the custom of appointing officials, and the ministers inspected the purchases before they were made."

It can be confirmed, but further investigation is needed, so I didn’t want to file a lawsuit, and I didn’t want to hide anything.”

Emperor Chongzhen said sternly: "I have known about this matter for so long, and you still haven't investigated it clearly? If Zhang Fengxiang hadn't reported it to me, and other officials had reported it, I would still have been deceived by you in the valley. How dare you still dare to do it now?

Argument?"

The king straightened his back and wanted to say more, but was interrupted by Emperor Chongzhen, who said sternly: "Stop arguing, where are the Jin Yiwei? Take these two."

The Jinyi guards who had been prepared for a long time stepped forward, held down the arms of Wang Du and Gao Benming, and dragged them outside.

At this time, Wang Biao, Qian Longxi and other cabinet ministers came out to plead for mercy.

Wang Biao bowed and said: "Your Majesty, this matter has not been investigated clearly, so we cannot make a conclusion on the spot."

Emperor Chongzhen said solemnly: "The facts of this matter are clear, and the witnesses and material evidence are all there, so why is it so unclear?"

Qian Longxi quickly said: "Your Majesty, even if the two Wangdu people are guilty, they should be handed over to the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dali Temple for trial. How can they be imprisoned?"

Emperor Chongzhen snorted coldly: "I have my own thoughts on this matter. Please step aside first."

Emperor Chongzhen was upright and did not hesitate at all because of his ministers' pleas.

All the ministers in the court understood that the emperor originally planned to use this case to rectify the administration of officials, but how could he stop now.

Sure enough, after Emperor Chongzhen asked the Jin Yiwei to capture Wang Du and Gao Benming, he said to the scientific officer next to him who was responsible for inspection: "The Ministry of Industry has had this serious malpractice for a long time, why don't you report it?"

The science and technology officials were speechless, because they were also part of the profit-making group, so how could they be willing to report it?

Emperor Chongzhen was usually pointed at and scolded by these officials, but now he was very happy after questioning these sanctimonious hypocrites. He continued to shout: "You are responsible for your duties, why are you not reporting such a big shortcoming?"

All the scientific and technical officials lowered their heads, hid their necks in their clothes, and acted like turtles with their heads shrunk.

Emperor Chongzhen had a proud smile on his face, but his tone was still harsh: "What? Have you got nothing to say?"

Chen Liangxun, a science and technology officer, said tremblingly: "I... I don't know about this. It's normal to ignore the rules. I... I..."

Chen Liangxun hesitated for a long time, unable to say a complete sentence.

Emperor Chongzhen saw that they were still justifying the matter and did not want to strengthen supervision. He couldn't help but become even more angry and shouted: "No need to say anything, go down."

Chen Liangxun trembled and returned to the train obediently. He no longer looked as arrogant as before.

After punishing officials who neglected their duties, Chongzhen did not forget Zhang Fengxiang who had made meritorious service.

He calmed down and said loudly: "Where is Zhang Fengxiang?"

Zhang Fengxiang hurriedly left the office, bowed and said: "I'm here."

When Emperor Chongzhen saw that Zhang Fengxiang was very respectful to him, he felt happy and said kindly: "Many ministers have mentioned this disadvantage. I have heard about it a long time ago, but unfortunately there is no real evidence. This time, you have spoken uprightly for the country and the people.

The ministers of the country and the dynasty can hold their posts with peace of mind from now on and don’t have to worry.”

Before today, Zhang Fengxiang would have been ecstatic when he heard this sentence.

But when he met Wang Yongguang this morning and was ridiculed, he suddenly realized that he had made a big mistake by blindly flattering his superior.

I thought I was just mentioning the current problems in the Ministry of Industry and not implicating other ministers, but I didn't expect that the emperor would be unforgiving and wanted to take the opportunity to rectify the administration of officials and shake up the entire officialdom. In this way, he was the instigator, the court minister.

They don’t hate themselves to death.

Zhang Fengxiang was even more frightened than Han Yiliang when he accidentally caused public outrage, and he knelt on the ground with a thud.

Emperor Chongzhen was slightly stunned and said, "Do you have anything else to say?"

Zhang Fengxiang was thinking a lot, paused for a moment, then kowtowed immediately and said: "Your Majesty, the evils of corruption have been exploited for a long time. It is understandable that Wang Du and Gao Benming failed to report and verify the matter in time. I hope that the Emperor will be generous and forgive the king.

Du, Gao Benming and two others."

Emperor Chongzhen finally made a breakthrough in rectifying the administration of officials. How could he give up so easily? He said with a serious expression: "I have my own thoughts on this matter."
Chapter completed!