Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 253 Super Argument

Because of the cold weather, Yumen listened to politics and changed to the early court in Fengtian Hall.

Civil and military were divided into left and right classes to kneel down, and after shouting Tian Fu You De, Hai Yu Xian Ning, Sheng Gong Wan Blessing, Eunuch Wu dragged his voice and said:
"All the gentlemen are flat."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Baiguan got up and stood upright, stealing a look at Boss Zhu who was sitting on the dragon chair.

Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's expressionless face and the prince's serious expression on the side, he knew that a storm was inevitable.

"Play early if there is something to do, and leave the court if there is nothing to do." Eunuch Wu said again.

"I have something to ask Your Majesty." Hu Weiyong said loudly.

"Ask." Boss Zhu said.

"As far as I know, the pro-army Duwei's Mansion arrested more than [-] local tax officials who went to Beijing to declare taxes. May I ask your majesty, why?" Hu Weiyong asked in a deep voice: "Why are the Ministry of Zhongshu and the Three Legal Departments both Haven't heard of it?"

Hearing Hu Weiyong's questioning, officials who didn't know where he was, secretly praised him, and Hu Xiang was really tough.But I can't help worrying, will it annoy the emperor and backfire?

Fortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang was not upset, and said lightly: "Prince, tell Prime Minister Hu."

"Yes, I received a report the day before yesterday that some local officials brought blank account papers into Beijing. It is a serious illegal act to use a blank account book." The prince said in a deep voice:
"Because a large-scale fraud may be involved, in order to prevent collusion, my father ordered the military commander's mansion to be responsible for the search. As a result, a total of 360 seven blank ledgers were found.

"After the imperial trial, all the criminals confessed to their crimes, and admitted that they have been repeat offenders for many years. This case involves 360 seven government offices in provincial capitals and counties. It is indeed an unprecedented major case in this dynasty!" The prince emphasized.

"Do you understand?" Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Hu Weiyong calmly.

"Understood." Hu Weiyong nodded.

"And we know very well that there are no more than these 360 ​​seven yamen." Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly; "Like them, they use empty printing account paper and come to Beijing to do accounts on the spot. There are not a thousand yamen, but there are eight hundred Oh, right, Li Tai?"

Li Tai, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, took a deep breath, came out and knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, there are local government offices that use blank account books for convenience, but there are definitely not so many."

"So, you know?" Zhu Yuanzhang's voice turned cold.

"I have indeed heard about it." Li Tai saw sweat on his forehead.

He can't say he doesn't know.Because he is the Minister of the Household Department, whether he knows it or not, he will bear the overall responsibility in the end.

If he said he didn't know, then he would have to take care of what other people confessed.If he meets someone who is neither deep nor shallow, and confesses something fatal, not only will he die alone, but the whole family will die.

So it's better to come by yourself and defend yourself.

"Okay, I have a responsibility." Zhu Yuanzhang praised: "Since you know about this kind of internal and external collusion, why have you neither dealt with it nor reported it? Is this Minister of the Household Department a decoration or their backer? ?”

Afterwards, I will start to punish my heart.Li Tai wiped his sweat, kowtowed and said: "The emperor told me that the reason why I didn't resolutely prohibit it is because as far as I know, there are seam seals on the empty ledger paper, and it is not printed one by one, so it will not cause any harm. The forgery of documents that the emperor is worried about."

"Fart!" Zhu Yuanzhang scolded, "Isn't the Zhengyin official stamping the seal? As long as the Zhengyin official colludes with the officials who go to Beijing to declare taxes, what is the difference between one printing and two printings?"

"The emperor is right, if you indulge them in using blank printing paper, the Ministry of Household Affairs will be unable to supervise the local accounts!" Hu Weiyong also severely criticized, and by the way drew a clear line with the Ministry of Household Affairs.

"Your Majesty and Prime Minister Hu can rest assured that the Ministry of Households has very high requirements for the review of the money-saving and food books. The specific amount must be confirmed at the Ministry, so there is no chance of fraud at the local level." Li Taidun said again:
"It is precisely because of the strict requirements of the Ministry that the amount of money and grain sent each year must be matched by the government with the province, and the province must be matched with the Ministry of Households to pass the customs. However, tax and grain will inevitably cause loss during transportation. There are many reasons for the loss. There are various types, and the degree of loss varies, so it must be entered into the national treasury to be settled.

"The local officials had no choice but to bring blank printing paper to Beijing. After getting the actual amount put into the warehouse in Nanjing, they filled in the account books again. Only in this way can the household department eliminate the unrealistic difference and allow the local government to balance the accounts with the imperial court."

"Li Shangshu, we have also been in charge of military supplies, and you can't fool us." Zhu Yuanzhang asked with a cold smile:
"Does the Ministry of Households use the Four-Pillar Playbook?"

"Yes." Li Tai thumped in his heart.

"Then it's enough to get rid of the rice consumption? Is it necessary to re-do the accounts with blank printing paper?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

"Yes, what the emperor said is..." Li Tai was speechless for a moment with sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Your Majesty," Wu Bingzhi, the servant of the household department behind him, hastily stepped out of the shift and said, "Li Shangshu is new here, so he doesn't know much about the situation in the department. In fact, it's not that complicated, but it's inevitable that there will be mistakes when reconciling accounts. If there is a mistake in the department, it is easy to handle, just change it.

"However, if the local calculations or statistics are wrong, it is said that they have to be sent back to the local area for revision and then sent back to the capital for reconciliation. But the emperor, my Ming Dynasty has a vast territory, and the provincial capitals and prefectural cities are six or seven thousand miles away from Nanjing. The nearest ones are three or four thousand miles away. If you send them back for revision, you have to go back and forth for a year, and it will be seriously overdue.

"However, if tax officials bring a few blank stamp papers to Beijing, they can modify them on the spot, which is much more convenient. Of course, this is only a stopgap measure, but it has been around for a long time, and the local officials just followed the rules and did not realize that it was done like this. seriousness." Wu Bingzhi went on to say sadly:
"Of course, all the ministers know now, and I ask the emperor to forgive me once, and I will not be an example."

"Okay, Wu Shilang's level is higher than Li Shangshu." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded again, and asked Hu Weiyong, "What do you think, Prime Minister Hu?"

"Returning to the emperor, the act of empty seal is definitely wrong. Although the two explanations are reasonable, there is indeed the possibility of fraudulent deception, and I also firmly believe that with the current conduct of officials, there must be a lot of deceitful situations. .” Hu Weiyong first said something along the lines of Boss Zhu, and then changed the subject:

"But I couldn't find a suitable crime to convict them. Thinking back to all the laws promulgated after the founding of the country, there was no crime of 'empty paper with seal'.

"This is the negligence of the ministers and the judiciary, but the country's legislation must first make the laws known to everyone, and then use them to punish those who knowingly commit crimes.

"However, since the founding of the country, there has never been a law prohibiting blank printing. The various yamen have also acquiesced in the act of blank printing, so the officials really don't know that it is a crime. There is a saying that those who do not know are not guilty of crimes, and those who do not teach are punished as torture. "Hu Weiyong raised his head and said:

"I have the courage to ask the emperor to give me a lighter sentence this time. If there is another offender, I will be punished severely! Of course, this ugly situation is caused by the dereliction of duty of the prime minister. I take the blame and resign. Please punish the emperor!"

As he spoke, he took off the black gauze and kowtowed heavily.

ps. The empty printing case is too difficult to write, and it is the most difficult paragraph in my writing career.I am exhausted writing this.Change first.

(End of this chapter)