Chapter 2165 The Four Dimensions of the Country
"After investigation, there are illegal activities in various places in Sanfu..."
Zhuge Liang delivered a long list to Zheng Xuan.
Corruption is the most important thing. The hussars allocate money and food to resettle the refugees, and some take it for their own use, or pass it off as good quality, or deduct or reduce exemptions, all of which are different..."
One by one, like blood and tears.
?Perhaps for corrupt people, isn’t this little money just a small amount of money? Take a little and use a little, what''s wrong?
Is it worth such a big fanfare?
?Fei Qian has read all these materials, so Fei Qian drank tea slowly and then motioned to the guards to give Zhuge Liang a portion as well.
?Zhuge Liang thanked him with his hands, then shrank his head and didn''t say much.
Zheng Xuan flipped through the pages with trembling hands.
Even though Zheng Xuan has reached a certain level of self-cultivation, but after seeing such a list, some anger that cannot be concealed is still revealed.
Because of the influence of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, many officials in the Han Dynasty accepted bribes and the benefits of trading were almost blatant. Some even covered it up a little, and some didn''t even bother to cover it up. So Zhuge Liang easily collected a lot of bribes. All the questions were recorded in the notebook one by one.
?Fei Qian stood aside, his face neither sad nor happy. Facing corruption is not a pleasant thing after all. Perhaps there is such a saying that is discouraging. As long as Chinese civilization is, so is the history of corruption. The five thousand years of Chinese civilization has also been accompanied by Five thousand years of corruption!
?Of course, the same is true abroad, and it is even more serious.
As long as there is a political system, the problem of corruption seems to be an obstacle that can never be circumvented.
It is like a small cancer cell, which is inconspicuous at first. By the time people notice it, it has grown into cancerous tumors and grown geometrically. It won''t take long for each seemingly behemoth dynasty to be completely destroyed. The past dynasties also attached great importance to this and regarded the administration of officials as a top priority. Unfortunately, the effect was not obvious.
Even though the old dynasty perished due to corruption, the new dynasty rarely learned a lesson and embarked on the same path of destruction from the beginning.
There are three reasons for corruption. 』
Fei Qian said slowly, "First, we can''t make ends meet. 』
This is the most basic factor.
??Many officials may not want to take the path of corruption at the beginning. Many times it is because they find that if they are not corrupt, they will have no money to use...
?Except for the two Song dynasties, the salary of civil servants was generally not high, and the lowest was undoubtedly that of the Ming Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, the annual salary of the county magistrate was only 90 shi of rice, which was 7 and a half shi per month. It was generally enough for his family to eat. However, the problem is that we must pay attention to the fact that the salary in ancient times is not the same as the salary of later generations. These countries gave With the salary, a considerable part of it is often used to pay salaries to others.
Scholars have spent ten years studying the teachings of Confucius and Mencius. If it comes to classics, they are catchy, but when it comes to specific government affairs, it is a cudgel to deal with. Therefore, in addition to matters other than classics, most of these newly appointed civil servants have to find someone to do it themselves. Do it for them.
They are also called masters, and at least two of them must be hired.
?One in charge of punishment and prison is called Master Xingming; the other in charge of finance is called Master Qianliang.
The relationship between the master and the county magistrate is not between superior and subordinate, but an employment relationship. Naturally, the court does not pay for their salaries, and the county magistrate has to pay for them himself. At the same time, in order for the county magistrate to live a comfortable life, in addition to hiring masters, he also has to hire a team of secretaries such as clerks and accountants. Moreover, these masters also have their own families, so the total living expenses are a fixed consumption expense. .
The root cause is that the position is valued over the people and the people are neglected. ” Fei Qian said, “One person’s strength is diligence, night and day, and there will be a time when everything will be exhausted. Therefore, if you seek perfection and blame, it is better to retreat and seek the next best thing..."
?Because of lack of ability, we have to ask for help, and these temporary workers who help will not have any scruples. There is no such shop after passing this village. If you don’t have the right, are you still waiting to starve?
Even if one is highly capable, the number of hours a person can work every day is limited. In an average small village or town, one person may be busy enough. In larger counties or larger regions, one person, no matter how capable, can only do so much. It is impossible to cover everything. This is an objective fact and cannot be changed by personal efforts or lack of effort.
"Therefore...the county has four Cao Cao, households, farmers, workers and merchants, all of which are under the jurisdiction of the county magistrate, each with four hundred shi. In addition to these four Cao Cao, the county also has two Cao Cao for officials and soldiers, each with 400 Shi, under the jurisdiction of the prefect. . Fei Qian said slowly, "Newly appointed people will be trained by each Cao Cao. They will serve for three years. After completing the assessment, the best ones will be selected to be promoted to county magistrate. Those who are mediocre will be promoted, and those who are mediocre will be demoted." 』
Isn’t it impossible for one person to manage it?
Then simply split the original responsibilities and assign a series of deputies to the county magistrate and county magistrate, and also provide them with salaries from the court.
Zheng Xuan was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then sighed: "I''m afraid it won''t be easy." 』
Fei Qian suddenly smiled and said, "It wasn''t easy before, but it''s not difficult now." 』
Zheng Xuan was stunned, then shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Is this Zheng Beke''s Duan Yu Yan?" 』
Fei Qian smiled and didn''t answer.
In fact, when it comes to the issue of salary, sometimes these officials cannot be entirely blamed.
Attention, it is sometimes.
?For example, in the feudal dynasty, generally speaking, the avoidance system was implemented. Officials were not allowed to be in their hometown, but had to go thousands of miles away. Of course there are inns, but what are the conditions... So since there are inns, the court naturally doesn''t care about travel expenses. If you want to improve your life along the way, you have to rely on your colleagues to entertain each other. If you don''t pay to entertain others today, you can go somewhere by yourself next time. Or when a subordinate goes to a certain place to do business, he just waits to drink the northwest wind.
??Moreover, even if they pay for travel expenses, they are often deducted. For example, in the Ming Dynasty, grain and banknotes were used to settle transactions. The food was pretty good, and it was more or less hard currency, but if Da Meng paid cash, it would be a huge pit. Inflation was almost like waste paper, and he could only use it for firewood when he got home.
There are also financial difficulties in the court, or the department that distributes the salary is profiting from it, and then uses various things to replace the salary money and food that should be distributed. Sometimes salt, cloth, and even pepper are used. Anyway, If there is too much in the treasury, it will be taken out to replace the salary.
What’s even more tyrannical is that no matter what kind of support is used, it will not be based on the market price, but will be set by the court itself. For example, during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a shortage of food in various places, so the imperial court used coarse cloth instead of rice to pay officials a salary, one piece per stone. However, a piece of coarse cloth on the market only costs three or four taels of silver, and a stone of rice is worth at least 10 taels of silver. Do you want the officials to eat strips of cloth to satisfy their hunger...
How can the court keep the place honest if the court does not follow the rules and regulations?
“There are two reasons for corruption,” Fei Qian stretched out his second finger, “interpersonal interactions. 』
People definitely have social needs, but for an official, if the social needs are too high, it is definitely not a good thing. With the welcome and delivery, it is inevitable to express your gratitude after eating here. More or less depends on the specific official rank and power. Of course, it’s okay to be upright and not express anything at all. In most cases, you won’t force someone to express something openly.
But the consequences of not showing up may be that the office funds will never be paid in real terms, things will always go wrong during the year-end assessment, everyone in the officialdom will shake their heads when his name is mentioned, and gossip will always be inadvertently spread to the boss. In my ears, even if you want to go to the superior to defend yourself, you may not have a chance, because the concierge also requires respect...
It is not difficult to change all this, you just need to open your fingers a little. Colleagues who were originally hostile will soon become friends, the quality of life of their family members will increase exponentially, they will always be excellent in year-end assessments, and they will be recommended and reused in front of superiors intentionally or unintentionally.
?Furthermore, you are not afraid of being discovered by doing this. Even if you are discovered, no one will jump out to accuse, and there will even be others to defend each other...
Because this is a circle of communication, a circle of corrupt officials. Everyone in this circle is corrupt, everyone is corrupt, and corrupt officials are very willing to expand this circle, using normal "interpersonal interactions" as a cover to form a huge system.
Since he is an important minister in the court and is in charge of local people''s livelihood, can households be organized, farming can be profitable, workers can be useful, and business can be prosperous? Do you have time to do this? A literary meeting is held in three days, and a banquet is held in ten days of the month? Fei Qian said calmly, "For county offices, there are only two banquets in a year, the spring banquet at the end of winter, and the harvest banquet in autumn. One is the beginning and the other is the end. Apart from these two formal banquets, they are all classified as private banquets. Who is being entertained and how much money is spent, Zhiyin records it in the register and traces it for verification. 』
Zheng Xuan subconsciously wanted to object, but after thinking about it, he shook his head and said: "This method of riding a horse is easier said than done..."
『After all, there must be regulations first before rules can be followed. ” Fei Qian lightly knocked on the table.
Zheng Xuan knew that if an official held a banquet every now and then, he was obviously not a serious official. There was no problem with this. But if three or five people gathered together for a drink, was it considered a banquet? Doesn''t it count as a party? This is a very difficult boundary to determine.
??What Fei Qian wants is not to ban all banquets blindly, but to prohibit eating and drinking with public funds, take the public money, and then hold his own banquets, and by the way expand his corruption circle? Doesn''t this make it clear that Fei Qian is deceived and that Fei Qian is a fool?
Fei Qian stretched out his third finger and said, "The reason why corrupt people are so rampant is because they earn so much and commit so few crimes." Therefore, the crime of corruption cannot be sought first. It will be determined by three trials. If it is true, it will tell the world that a certain person of a certain clan has been corrupted for a certain thing and what he did! His wives are all working as laborers to pay for the money and food, and they will not be allowed to be officials for three generations! 』
Zheng Xuan suddenly felt a toothache and covered his cheek and stopped talking. The ruling class naturally protects the interests of the ruling class, but does it still need to protect the traitors who poach themselves?
??The key is that the people poaching his own corner are not just officials, but also the emperor...
??For example, Braid Chao''s stamped Crazy Demon Psoriasis.
??Psoriasis is too idle and too comfortable. He is in charge of such a large empire at a young age. His grandfather consolidates the country and his father enriches the treasury. He just spends money and money.
??However, the prodigal son was really good at wasting his family. In the late stage, he was almost ruined, so he cleverly created the crime-discussing silver. In other words, it meant that bureaucrats could use money to pay for their crimes.
Who dares to say no? I can only pay obediently.
?Who dares to gamble with his head? If you are knowledgeable, go to He Shen. Only He Shen knows what Psoriasis is thinking, but He Shen also has to charge an information fee.
??It seems like a win-win situation, the officials pass the test smoothly, the emperor gets the money for free, and he also gets the reputation of a "benevolent king". In fact, isn’t this money still counted on the common people? Drinking poison to quench thirst and shake the foundation of the country can only be thought of by this braided head and magical brain circuit.
This is why Fei Qian specifically pointed out that the crime of corruption cannot be forgiven for any reason.
Zheng Xuan sighed and said, "Hushi, you know, if this is really the case..." Zheng Xuan glanced at Zhuge Liang.
Fei Qian nodded and said, "That''s why I ordered Fei Zicheng to commit suicide." 』
Zheng Xuan shook his head, paused for a moment, then shook his head again, but said nothing.
Fei Qian said slowly, "Since the beginning of the Qin Dynasty, there have been inspections to deal with the corruption of officials. The Han Dynasty also has governors. The original intention is to monitor local areas and suppress corruption, but it backfires... The more people monitor, the more likely they are to become corrupt." …』
Generally speaking, these supervisory agencies have some effect at the beginning, but because no one can supervise the supervisory agencies, and in the face of such a force similar to imperial power, their own corruption is also the fastest, causing harm. Even greater than ordinary corruption.
In the end, in the feudal dynasty, these institutions that were originally used to fight corruption evolved into the largest nest of corruption. The greater the power and status of the anti-corruption institutions, the more corrupt they became.
It’s not that there were no supervisory agencies in the Chinese feudal dynasty, but the supervisory agencies were also corrupt. Therefore, anti-corruption was naturally impossible to succeed. Corruption and corruption became a means to buy peace under such a supervisory agency and spend more money. Buy peace, and then collect more people''s wealth.
??The emperor could not personally investigate the case and collect clues. He could only send an imperial envoy to do it on his behalf. This is tantamount to pitting the imperial envoy against the entire corrupt bureaucracy. Not everyone has the courage, and many times the emperor himself does not have the determination to fight corruption, and sometimes it is just a political deal. Therefore, except for a few imperial ministers, most of the imperial ministers came to ask for benefits with imperial decrees in mind.
Everyone understands this tacitly.
The world belongs to the emperor anyway, and you and I are both wage earners. It’s not easy to be an official in the same dynasty, so don’t do anything wrong. With the emperor, just write a memorial to fool him. He will only read memorials anyway.
As for the imperial envoys, they must be well entertained and filial piety must not be spared. Therefore, in feudal dynasties, it is often the court that fights against corruption, and the more it fights against corruption, the more corrupt it becomes. The greater the anti-corruption efforts, the more ruthlessly the people will be plundered. Corrupt officials who usually get a lot will be able to take care of things from top to bottom when something happens. Naturally, someone will help them speak up. However, those who get a little may not be able to handle everything, and they will be taken out to set an example. After all, the imperial envoy also has to Grab one or two for business.
In the feudal dynasty, very few corrupt officials were executed. The reason why many corrupt officials were found out was often not due to economic problems, but to failure in political struggles. The so-called corruption is just a bonus for his crimes.
To be honest, Feiqian even felt helpless when he thought about these things.
Even if Fei Qian opened the God''s perspective.
Sit back and do nothing, do nothing?
Corruption is definitely getting worse.
A thorough investigation like the one we are doing now?
That''s because of Zhuge, and this is only a small part.
?There are also Hanzhong, Sichuan, Shu, and even Beidi.
Fei Qian turned to Zhuge and asked, "Kong Ming, do you know what Duke Zheng means?" 』
?Zhuge Liang slightly arched his hands and said in a steady tone, appearing very calm, "I know. If this order is issued, Qiaoqi may be fine, but he will be the corrupt enemy in the world. If he falls into their hands, he will definitely die without a whole body..."
Zheng Xuan raised his eyebrows and said, "Little friend, then you...hey..." Zheng Xuan looked at Zhuge, his eyes full of complex emotions, and then turned to look at Fei Qian with a frown, as if he was worried about Zhuge. This realization makes me feel applauded and distressed, or I feel that Fei Qian is suspected of being a capitalist, using child labor with a black heart, and deceiving the innocent Zhuge Xiaoliangliang...
?Zheng Xuan is also a man who has become mature with age, so he is also very conflicted about these things.
On the one hand, Zheng Xuan has justice, but on the other hand, he also has selfish motives...
?Human beings are always like this, good and bad are mixed, and it is difficult to distinguish between black and white.
As long as Fei Qian expresses his strictness on corruption, the first people to be exposed will be the people around Fei Qian, or people close to him like Pang Tong Zhuge, or blood relatives like Fei He, they will definitely First there was such a person, who was caught with conclusive evidence, and then pushed Fei Qian''s nose down.
"Alas..." Zheng Xuan sighed slowly, then stuffed Zhuge Liang''s report into his arms, then looked at Zhuge Liang, and said gently, "...such things are like a fly and a dog, but my qualifications are very good. Could it be covered in dust? The days of old age are numbered... It is up to old age to do such evil people..."
『Zheng Gong! ” Zhuge Liang moved forward, left the table and bowed, “How virtuous and capable is this kid? How dare you trouble Duke Zheng? Absolutely not! 』
"This matter is somewhat related to Lao Chan... After all, he is also Lao Chan''s disciple..." Zheng Xuan motioned for Zhuge Liang to wake up, then turned to stare at Fei Qian, "I just have a word of advice for Hussar..."
Fei Qian straightened his clothes, sat upright and held his hands, "Mr. Zheng, please speak." 』
Zheng Xuan said in a deep voice: "If you don''t control the hegemony, you will be Xiaobai; if you win the world, you will be Duke Huan." This is how things always go! If he dies and declines, and his virtue is idle, then Hu Palace will not have it, and it will provoke the flow of bells and insects! Be careful when looking for a hussar. 』
?Fei Qian took a deep breath, then bowed his hands and said, "I would like to be taught." 』
Zheng Xuan nodded, then touched the book in his arms and stood up, "In the past, a certain person just said that he had the right words and enough reasoning to pass on to you. He knew that it was difficult to save him and could not save the disaster, but he could only help the time. ...Now that I have achieved this, I can be considered as having created a little method to help everyone! Fortunately! Fortunately! Ha ha ha ha…"
After Zheng Xuan finished speaking, he burst out laughing.
?The sky and the earth are pure white.
Zheng Xuan walked forward, and the snowflakes fell, leaving behind a line of deep or shallow footprints...
(End of this chapter)