People in Hongwu, from heavenly master to emperor master

Chapter 508: Find something for them and expose the empty seal case
After Zhang Yi finished speaking, Zhu Yuanzhang's pupils shrank violently.

He looked at Zhang Yi suddenly, wondering why this guy knew?
This idea was just an immature idea of ​​Lao Zhu. He didn't even think about it himself, but Zhang Yi had already guessed it.

But he soon understood that Zhang Yi didn't guess, he saw...

Explain that he really did this.

Is it good or bad to abolish the prime minister system?
Lao Zhu asked instead:

"Did you see something?"

Zhang Yi said:
"I just saw a fragment..."

"Is it good or bad……"

Zhu Yuanzhang hurriedly asked.

Ever since he came up with the idea of ​​abolishing the position of prime minister, he has been unstoppable.

Lao Zhu also understands that once he wants to do something, he will definitely implement it seriously.

But no matter how wise a person is, he is not sure that the decision he makes is correct, especially when it involves future generations.

Zhang Yi: ...

As expected, Zhu Yuanzhang had already thought of abolishing the prime minister system.

Moreover, Zhang Yi extremely suspected that in history, Lao Zhu allowed Hu Weiyong to form a party for personal gain, which was itself a fishing method.

He raised Hu Weiyong to the point where tigers were in danger, and then got rid of Hu Weiyong.

Then let nature take its course and abolish the prime minister system.

Although there are legends of Hu Weiyong's rebellion, this incident did not happen at least when Lao Zhu captured Hu Weiyong.

The evidence about Hu Weiyong's rebellion was investigated later when he was dissatisfied with the Hu Weiyong case.

In this matter, there are two possibilities. One is that Hu Weiyong really wanted to rebel but was too late.

The second is that Lao Zhu framed him, leaving him with a stigma in history.

No matter which one represents the truth, these differences are indistinguishable.

Returning to the prime minister system itself, it is difficult to say whether its abolition is good or bad...

Zhang Yi thought for a while and decided to give Zhu Yuanzhang advice based on his own understanding:

"There is no conclusion on this matter!
Your Majesty wants to abolish the Prime Minister because the Prime Minister is the head of officials!

If the world's scholars are like five fingers, then the prime minister is like their clenched fist!

Your Majesty's removal of the prime minister is equivalent to dispersing the power of the scholars, who will no longer be able to resist the monarchy..."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.

Facing Zhang Yi, he would always feel a little uncomfortable with being seen through.

But at the same time, he also believed [-]% in Zhang Yi's judgment.

After Zhu Yuanzhang admitted this, Zhang Yi continued:

"But has your Majesty ever thought about the meaning of the Prime Minister's existence?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned. Why did Zhang Yi raise this question?

He lowered his head and pondered, what is the meaning of the Prime Minister's existence?
"Wei Chen feels that the essence of prime ministerial power is that the king transfers part of his power to the managers of the world in order to govern the world!

It can be said that the power of the prime minister comes from the king, and the prime minister is the bridge between the king and the officials!

It is impossible for His Majesty to distribute power to everyone, and it is also impossible for all officials to directly communicate with His Majesty!

Prime Minister, this is the position!

Now that His Majesty is ready to demolish the bridge, I wonder, what will His Majesty do next?
You should have abolished the prime minister and then raised the status of the six ministries. This is equivalent to equally distributing the power of the prime minister to the six ministries, right? "

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, this was indeed his initial thought.

"Then His Majesty's workload will probably be increased many times..."

"Then what's the problem? It's not like I can't stand it!"

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly, Zhang Yi doubted his ability?

"The so-called weighing of pros and cons, since I have decided to abolish the prime minister, I have made these preparations!

As a king, you will naturally bear what you have to bear! "

"But has your Majesty ever thought that there are only twelve hours in a day?"

Zhang Yi's eyes formed a line of laughter.

Before Lao Zhu had time to answer, he said again:
"Then has your Majesty ever thought that not everyone is you?
You can work seven or eight hours a day, surely His Highness the Crown Prince can?
If His Highness the Crown Prince can do it, can the Emperor’s Grandson do it? What about the Emperor’s Grandson? "

Zhang Yi's series of questions made Zhu Yuanzhang fall into deep thought.

He really wanted to refute Zhang Yi righteously, but he also understood that this kid dared to question him like this. He must have seen a lot of bad things before he did this.

"Actually, let's go back to the previous question, what is the meaning of the prime minister's existence?"

"It's the emperor who gave up part of his power and let him share his worries!

If the emperor takes back this power, he will naturally have to bear this responsibility himself!

Your Majesty works diligently, but you cannot guarantee that everyone will follow you and work diligently...

You can manage the prince and grandson, but how can you control the emperor below?
Your Majesty never leaves any room for error when doing things!
But this lack of room is precisely the source of turmoil..."

Zhang Yi took courage and gave Zhu Yuanzhang a warning.

This is what he thinks is the most demanding thing about Lao Zhu. He likes to judge others by himself, so he sets the standard too high.

It was also because of his self-righteous attitude that later emperors did not have enough room to move due to his ancestral system.

The Ming Dynasty actually fell in XXX. This sentence is often used for Emperor Wanli, but sometimes it is also used for Zhu Yuanzhang.

It means that the dynasty fell to Lao Zhu, which is naturally a very biased statement.

But since someone named Zhu Yuanzhang, he naturally had something to say.

Lao Zhu was not angry. He and Zhang Yi had said even more unpleasant things before they recognized each other.

If someone else was talking about him, he would probably be annoyed.

But for Zhang Yi, he knew that the other party had no bad intentions.

"The prime minister is not just a position, he is also a job. Since this job has been handed down since ancient times, it has its reasons!
And if His Majesty wants to take this job, the workload will be on him!

Your Majesty doesn't care, but you also have to think about whether your descendants can bear it?
If they can't stand it, so what? "

Zhang Yi continued to guide Lao Zhu's thinking.

A flash of light flashed in Zhu Yuanzhang's mind, and he was about to answer.

Zhang Yi chuckled:
"I guess your Majesty's solution is to do the work of the prime minister alone or with a few people, and set up a cabinet similar to the Ministry of Education!
However, the chief of this cabinet has the authority of a prime minister, but does not have the rank of a prime minister..."

Lao Zhu was speechless. As soon as his idea came to him, Zhang Yi guessed it.

The emperor was a little angry:
"Just tell me the conclusion..."

“The conclusion is, it’s useless!

Anyway, the strength of the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty was the highest in all dynasties...

If you do all the hard work, you will actually become lonely!
The power of the cabinet will not be worse than that of the current prime minister, and...

Even bigger! "

Zhu Yuanzhang felt uncomfortable in his heart as he listened.

Zhang Yi's conclusion gave him a critical blow.

"So, my idea of ​​abolishing the prime minister was wrong?"

"It's true that Wei Chen doesn't know, history has no final conclusion, and there are no ifs!
It's just that Wei Chen feels that since the demand is here, His Majesty can't achieve anything by messing around like this...

It’s true, it’s all in vain! "

Lao Zhu was so angry. After he became emperor, he thought about how to centralize power day and night.

Zhu Yuanzhang had seriously thought about moving the prime minister, but Zhang Yi said that his idea was worthless as soon as it sprouted.He suddenly felt strange and disgusting.

But he was angry, and he also knew that Zhang Yi saved him huge administrative costs.

The implementation of a policy, especially something like changing the prime minister system, not only depends on him, but also whether it will be beneficial to the continuation of the Ming Dynasty.

Lao Zhu knew that he had made many wrong decisions, such as the tax system and the clan system.

Since Zhang Yi said that changing the prime minister system would cause a series of turbulence, he had to think about it.

Of course, Zhang Yi didn't say anything about disturbing the prime minister system, so it must be wrong.

At least Lao Zhu has not found a better way to replace the system of prime minister.

Zhu Yuanzhang put this matter aside for the first time, and asked Zhang Yi:

"You said that my temper is too extreme, but what mistakes have I made because of this temper?"

"But there are too many..."

Zhang Yi blurted out, and when he noticed that the emperor was glaring at him, he quickly changed his words:
"Actually, not many..."

Zhu Yuanzhang was upset:

"Say the point!"

"Actually, His Majesty's extreme temperament is mainly manifested in two things!
The first thing is internal, you are too confident in your abilities, so you always feel that you can handle everything.

So you have made a certain decision, but you are afraid that your descendants will violate your decision, so you insist on establishing an ancestral system..."

This can be regarded as Lao Zhu’s dark history. Zhang Yi brought up old stories again, Lao Zhu felt uncomfortable!

He almost said to Zhang Yi, it's changing, it's changing...

Zhang Yi did not dwell on this topic and continued:
“When it comes to external affairs, especially when it comes to taxation, His Majesty doesn’t like to leave any room for leeway!
In fact, to a certain extent, His Majesty forced your subordinates to lie to you..."

Zhu Yuanzhang's expression suddenly became serious. What did Zhang Yi mean?
Does it mean that people are still lying to him?

"Tell me the details!"

Zhang Yi asked the emperor:
"Your Majesty, have you ever heard of Kongyin?"

Empty seal?

Lao Zhu was stunned. He had indeed never heard of this matter.

"Although in the Ming Dynasty, there have been some examples of converting taxes into materials and silver, in many places, taxes are still paid in grain!

According to His Majesty's original rules, each Chief Secretary, Prefecture, and County must submit money, food, fiscal revenue and expenditure, and tax accounts to the Ministry of Household Affairs every year.The figures of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Chief Secretaries, Prefectures and Counties must be exactly the same before the project can be closed.If there is a discrepancy in one item, the entire account book will be rejected, re-entered, and re-stamped with the local government's seal. "

Lao Zhu nodded, this was indeed the rule he had set.

Zhang Yi said:
"But how big is our Ming Dynasty?
Have you ever thought about paying taxes with food?

The journey is long, windy and sunny!

Food will be damaged...

Ten thousand shi of grain was transported from Fengyang, and another [-] shi might be delivered to Yingtian!

But if it were sent from Guangdong or Shanxi, ten thousand shi of grain would probably cost several hundred kilograms even if it was water loss!
If you include road damage, the number could be even greater!

So the question is, who is responsible for the food loss on the road? "

Zhu Yuanzhang's face turned dark. Although he said nothing, Zhang Yi also understood that it was definitely not his fault.

Zhang Yi smiled and said:

"If it's local, that's fine, but under normal circumstances, who will make up for local losses? It must be the common people, right?
Therefore, the losses on the road are invisibly returned to the people!
But today we don’t mention this matter, but another issue!
Since the grain shipped from Guangdong will definitely be lost, if the local government brings [-] shi of grain to Beijing, will they not be able to reconcile it with the Ministry of Revenue? "

Zhu Yuanzhang lowered his head and did not reply!

If the physical objects and the ledger didn't match up, according to his rules, he would naturally have to go back and change the accounts again.

but……

“According to His Majesty’s rules, the local magistrate will naturally have to go back and correct the accounts!

However, they went to Guangdong, Sichuan, Yungui, Shanxi...

How long does it take!
If you go back and forth this time, most of the local officials you raise will be busy traveling back and forth!
But, has your Majesty heard of this? "

Zhu Yuanzhang had a dark face and shook his head.

If the grassroots level really operated like this, resentment would have skyrocketed.

But if the rules don't turn like this, it means they have found a way to the ending that they don't know.

any solution?
Empty seal!

Lao Zhu looked at Zhang Yi, who had already given the answer from the beginning.

"Because this rule is unreasonable, local officials usually have blank books with stamps in advance for use. If they find that the accounts are not correct when they arrive in the capital, they will use the blank books to fill in on the spot..."

"Bold!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he grabbed the box with the Go game and threw it on the ground.

The imperial study room was filled with old Zhu Senran's murderous aura.

"These people actually use the power I gave them so much. Aren't they afraid that I will kill people..."

The emperor paced back and forth in the study, growing more and more angry as he walked.

Zhang Yi, on the other hand, acted like a normal person, sitting there and drinking tea leisurely.

The Kongyin case, one of the four major cases in Hongwu that would break out sooner or later, was deliberately exposed by Zhang Yi.

He could already see that many people were expecting disaster.

However, Zhang Yi still will not regret his choice, because this matter will break out sooner or later.

If it explodes at the right time and in the right way,

Maybe a few fewer people would die.

This is also the case. After careful consideration, Zhang Yi took the initiative to detonate the empty seal case when Zhu Yuanzhang mentioned it.

Lao Zhu on the side was already planning how to kill and how many people to kill.

Zhang Yi understood his feelings. Zhu Yuanzhang came from a humble background. After coming to power, what he paid most attention to was whether the power in his hands was abused.

The empty seal case is not a big deal!

But it just hit Lao Zhu's reverse scale.

The point is not whether these officials are corrupt, but that they have opened a door to corruption in a way they are unaware of.

Therefore, whether you do it or not is not the key.

Lao Zhu didn't know, which was the dead end of this matter.

Zhu Yuanzhang would not allow situations beyond his control to happen. Unfortunately, in the past historical time and space, those who tried to defend the Kongyin case did not know about it.

Of course, even if they knew, they would not be able to convince the emperor.

Zhang Yi wanted to try to change the outcome of the empty seal case, at least to involve fewer people.

Of course, Zhang Yi also has a little selfishness.

Wasn't Hu Weiyong just staring at him?
If the matter of the empty seal case is thrown out, it is estimated that the civil service group will have no intention of keeping an eye on itself.

Zhu Yuanzhang on the other side finally recovered from his violent state.

When he saw that Zhang Yi was still calm, his mood also became calm.

Lao Zhu sat down opposite Zhang Yi again:

"What else do you want to say?"

"Didn't I say that your Majesty must also take responsibility for this matter..."

Zhang Yi ruthlessly dumped the blame.

(End of this chapter)