Chapter 266: Appointed to go, arriving to act

Since the establishment of the state after the Three Emperors, the alienation of power that moves against the trend of the times, and the corruption phenomena it manifests, have begun to lurk and breed, eroding politics and harming customs, reaching everywhere.

Because public power based on violent coercion has implied from its inception the possibility of deviating from public attributes, manifesting a trend of gradual deterioration and corruption.

Out of the need to maintain the country, or out of the simple emotions and ideals of those in power, successive dynasties have more or less implemented suppression and impeachment.

However, the corruption of the entire political system often cannot be thoroughly eradicated because of the existence of the economic base of the ownership of the means of production on which each relies for survival.

Since the founding of the Great Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu Gao has hated corrupt officials deeply, and even went so far as to use cruel punishments like skinning, but the results were minimal.

Two hundred years have passed, and no better way out has been found.

Up to now, with the Wanli Emperor standing on the stage, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet Zhang Juzheng initiating, and the Hai Yushi-in-Chief Hai Rui investigating the Huai Salt Administration case as the starting point, the Wanli New Deal has once again raised the banner of anti-corruption—facing the autumn of change in the Great Ming Dynasty, that is, the corrupt officials in the period of social transformation, the imperial court will inevitably be merciless and curb them.

Then some people will ask.

What is the difference between the current anti-corruption and the previous dynasties?

In other words, the foundation of the New Confucianism established by the Eight Great Masters in the second year of Wanli lies in the words "fairness" and "progress." Since it is anti-corruption under the New Deal guided by New Learning thought, where is the fairness? Where is the progress?

For this reason, the Wanli Emperor once made a statement in the Wenhua Hall.

He said that anti-corruption under the New Deal is not about the difference in severe laws, but about the fundamental distinction in intent.

In terms of the starting point, it is no longer to regulate the internal interest conflicts of the imperial court officials, but to escort the transformation of the distribution of wealth in the world—anti-corruption is part of solving the problem of distribution.

In terms of the entry point, it abandons the "temporary expediency" of concentrating on handling major cases once and for all and collecting wealth for the country, and requires adapting to the autumn of change, normalizing and institutionalizing anti-corruption, which is a problem to be solved in development.

Therefore, in the Xuzhou River Transport corruption case, venting the Wanli Emperor's temporary anger is not the end point. Digging deep into the cause and effect of Xuzhou's corruption, perfecting the river transport system, and improving the lives of the people are the foothold of this anti-corruption work in Xuzhou.

The former can be done with hands, and one feels comfortable after venting; the latter is the serious business and major event of checking for omissions and filling gaps. The censors walking in the Censorate have been sleepless and tireless on Mount Yunlong for several days, and still haven't seen the end.

"This is the statement of the Xuzhou Water Affairs Branch and the Prefectural Yamen regarding the daily operation of the Yamen. This is the archived file of the Yamen such as the Military Defense Circuit and the Ministry of Revenue Branch, and there are also some interrogation records of gentry, sages, and small river merchants—"

In the early morning, in a Zen room of Xinghua Temple on Mount Yunlong, stacks of files were piled up on the desk.

Everyone's voices were very tired, obviously sleepless all night.

Vice Hai Yushi-in-Chief Chen Wude held his glasses with one hand, and licked his fingers from time to time with the other to turn the pages.

"Chaotic, too chaotic!"

As he read the text carefully, Chen Wude's eyes got closer and closer to the files, and his brows frowned tighter and tighter.

The Signatory Hai Yushi-in-Chief Luo Zun, who was sitting in the lower seat, echoed: "It is indeed chaotic. At first, I thought the Ministry of Works Water Affairs Department was also involved, but I didn't expect them to be completely unaware."

The Water Affairs Department of the Ministry of Works has one Director, one Vice Director, and seven Directors.

It looks decent.

But there are more officials outside the Water Affairs Department, such as the Tonghui River, North River, Zhonghe, and South River River Management Branches, Spring Management, Lock Management, and Flood Management Branches, as well as the Inspection Office and the Extraction Factory. The permanent, promoted, and highly matched ones are a bunch of Directors, which is completely strong branches and weak trunks.

In other words, as Directors of the Ministry of Works, why should the stationed Directors be dogs for the Directors of the department? Are they still talking about officialdom rules?

In addition, as one of the "Four Departments" under the Ministry of Works, the Water Affairs Department is in charge of rivers, ponds, springs, floods, roads,

bridges, boats, weaving, utensils, measurements, etc., and has a lot of business.

A Director of the Ministry of Works Water Affairs Department is too busy to handle it, and has no time to seize power from the branch.

Therefore, regardless of how the work process is stipulated, in reality, any strong stationed Ministry of Works Director will directly summarize and report to the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works.

Chen Wude rubbed his eyebrows and asked back: "Since this is the case, do the hall officials of the Ministry of Works have any problems?"

Today is not better than the past.

When the Salt Administration case in Nanzhili was handled, the Emperor had already spoken. Things before the first year of Wanli should be reformed, and things after that will never be tolerated. Even in order not to be wrapped up, he did not hesitate to issue a self-blame edict.

Then the Censorate doesn't care about Wan Gong or Pan Jixun—isn't the Emperor taking people by his side to help Wan and Pan avoid suspicion?

Signatory Hai Yushi-in-Chief Luo Zun shook his head: "Checked, no problem."

At this time, Xu Fuyuan, a Director of the Ministry of Personnel, suddenly interjected and explained: "In the early years, Pan Jixun impeached Lin Shao and others for not being in their positions, but could not produce evidence, and was instead bitten back by Lin Shao."

"Zhu Heng looked down on Pan Jixun's ability. He was afraid that he would delay river control and was afraid that he would be calculated, so he informed the Ministry of Personnel to let the latter not ask about river inspection matters and focus on river control."

"At that time, Grand Secretary Lu had not yet retired. It was he who nodded and let Wan Gong be responsible for supervising river work."

As soon as this was said, the people in the Zen room had strange expressions and looked at Luo Zun one after another.

The bad relationship between Pan Jixun and Zhu Heng is well known, mainly because of the huge differences in technology.

In the 44th year of Jiajing, the Yellow River flooded. Zhu Heng advocated opening a new river, while Pan Jixun insisted on restoring the old Yellow River path; in the 45th year of Jiajing, Pan Jixun requested to survey the upper reaches because the Yellow River was silted in the upper reaches, but it was abandoned because Zhu Heng opposed it.

But the formation of factions in the Ministry of Works, besides the two people themselves not getting along, also had the pushing of colleagues.

For example, in the 5th year of Longqing, the River Inspection Supervising Secretary Luo Zun impeached Pan Jixun for incompetence in water control, and did not forget to step on him, saying that in terms of river work, no one was better than (Zhu) Heng. Pan Jixun has been holding a grudge until now, determined that Luo Zun was instigated by Zhu Heng.

Zun had no expression on this, and had no consciousness of fueling the faction, and explained along Xu Fuyuan's words: "Wan Gong knew that Zhu Heng and Pan Jixun did not get along, and was afraid of being a knife for others, so his impeachment of river affairs—was quite cautious."

"Therefore, the problem of Xuzhou river transport still falls on the Zhonghe Branch, especially Director Li Minqing."

The so-called caution is actually letting river work check and correct itself more, and offending no one, anyway, it was not the business that Wan Gong was in charge of.

Chen Wude rubbed his eyebrows, his expression serious, and shook his head: "The Emperor once pointed out that behind the nest case, there must be an unsound ritual system."

"Just like this Zhonghe Branch, letting Li Minqing take advantage of the loopholes, turning public power into private power, and operating in a closed manner, then it is not just a problem of the Zhonghe Branch."

"Investigating its root cause, it is still the negligence of the Ministry of Personnel in the design of official ranks!"

What kind of small fish and shrimp is Li Minqing, and is it his turn for Chen Wude to supervise it personally?

On the contrary, the institutional design problem—the dispatched agency of the Ministry of Works should not be on the same level as the headquarters, so that the main responsible department lacks supervision—this is what should be seen standing in the position of the Right Hai Yushi-in-Chief.

Xu Fuyuan is not a hall official of the Ministry of Personnel, and a mere Director cannot take Chen Wude's heavy words.

He could only represent the Clean Official Department and play Tai Chi: "In the 29th year of Hongwu, when the Ministry of Personnel considered the Water Affairs Department, there was no cabinet consultation after all, and it is normal to lack consideration."

This sentence is a bit subtle.

The current Ministry of Personnel is not the Ministry of Personnel of the Minister of Personnel, it is the Ministry of Personnel of the Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng. If there is merit, it is someone else's, and don't leave it behind when throwing the pot.

Everyone looked at Xu Fuyuan one after another, and Chen Wude's face was particularly unkind.

Xu Fuyuan is no longer the unlucky guy who followed Gao Gong. He has become much more sensible over the years. He coughed lightly and expressed his position: "The subordinate will make a report on the Water Affairs system with the Ministry of Works Supervising Secretary as soon as possible, organize it into a file, and present it to the Emperor."

Whether it is the official system design of the Ministry of Personnel that is problematic, or the operation of the Ministry of Works that has gone wrong, he will definitely not take it.

At most, let the Emperor define it himself.

Chen Wude did not make things difficult for Xu Fuyuan, a mere Director, nodded lightly, and recognized this retreat.

Subsequently, he looked at Chen Xingjian, the Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, and dragged the latter into the problem of the unsound system: "The Ministry of Revenue branch is also to blame."

"Why didn't the Ministry of Revenue Water Warehouse Branch report to the Governor of the Ministry of Revenue Warehouse?"

"Why did the former Governor of River Transport Wang Zongmu, who was in charge of river transport, know nothing about it?"

The problem of the grain for river transport in the water warehouse has also gradually surfaced in the past few days.

The grain for river transport in the Guangyun Warehouse is only contributed to the north, not to the local area. However, Beijing's intake is limited, so every year there will be a large amount of grain for river transport rotting in the warehouse in the accounts.

But in actual management, Guangyun Warehouse has long ignored this rule. The moldy grain that cannot be digested is misappropriated to Yongfu Warehouse, used for prefectural Yamen financial expenses, and issued to corvée laborers and government soldiers, just to balance the accounts.

And the good grain saved by Yongfu Warehouse is of course divided directly by all parties.

Later, they even wished that the rice and grain would rot, so that they could be cashed out after being inspected by the above.

This is why Lu Shanji cried in "Ren Zhen Cao" that the ground foundation of Guangyun Warehouse was damaged, the wooden walls were rotten, causing moisture to invade daily, while superior officials never worried about reinforcement and repair—every time I read Guangyun Warehouse, I see a lot of damage, every time there is a board that should be pulled, the above has no worry about clamping, soaking and rotting, how long will this be poor.

Over time, these people became bolder and bolder, simply misappropriating between the two warehouses, and even between stored grain and transported grain.

Up to now, even the people in the Ministry of Revenue branch of the water warehouse don't know how big the hole is.

Chen Xingjian was scolded in the face, his face flushed.

He hurriedly stood up and retorted: "Our Vice Minister Fan went back to the horse gun today and went to inspect the water warehouse. Hai Yushi Chen cannot take advantage of people's absence to buckle hats."

"The Ministry of Revenue warehouse department is separated north and south. Xuzhou is originally under the jurisdiction of the Nanzhili warehouse department, and the investigation and audit are also decided by the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue."

"As for Governor Wang, he is a great hero of opening the sea appointed by the two dynasties. Do you want to kill the donkey after the mill?"

Although it is said that Chen Wude is a pure minister, Chen Xingjian, like Xu Fuyuan, is very sensitive to this kind of naming and criticizing, and refuses to admit it.

Of course, the reason is also a serious reason.

Nanzhili has managed the Xuzhou water warehouse, and it is unlikely that Fan Yingqi, the Governor of the Warehouse, will send someone from Beijing to check it again.

It is okay to say that it is an institutional defect, but it cannot fall on Fan Yingqi himself.

And Wang Zongmu is even more innocent.

The opening of the sea in the Longqing reign was not only the advocacy of the former Emperor and Gao Gong, but also the path insisted on by the current Emperor and Zhang Juzheng. For more than ten years, it has always been the focus of the New Deal.

From the department to the River Transport Yamen, from conscripting river transport soldiers to dredge and open the sea, to more than ten shipping experiments, I don't know how much manpower and material resources have been paid.

Wang Zongmu almost lived in the Huai'an seaport.

With his body divided and his skills lacking, where could he take care of the problem of the Xuzhou water warehouse?

Chen Wude didn't have so many thoughts, he replied seriously: "This is the ritual defect of the Ministry of Revenue. Supervising Secretary Chen also needs to organize this matter into a file and present it to the Emperor for review."

Chen Xingjian was unwilling to take the hat, but he was not exclusive to the task.

He cupped his hands and expressed his acceptance of the retreat.

Chen Wude nodded lightly again and skipped this matter.

A pure minister is of course not just looking for trouble for others. Chen Wude immediately looked at Luo Zun: "Where is the statement of the Censorate? Why has the Hai Yushi never impeached the corruption of river transport?"

Luo Zun stood up silently and turned out several copies from another stack of files.

He handed it to Chen Wude casually with one hand, and explained: "The Censorate also lacks supervision, and the problem is no smaller than the Ministry of Works."

【Blank line】

"During the Yongle period, officials such as the Hai Yushi and the Embroidered Uniform Guard were set up to patrol the river."

"But after the establishment of the Salt Patrol Hai Yushi in the third year of Zhengtong, the Salt Patrol Hai Yushi began to manage the river patrol on behalf of the river. In the first year of Honghong, the two Huai Salt Patrol Censors were ordered to manage the river section south of Jining, and no special River Patrol Hai Yushi was set up."

"In the past, it was not a problem, but since the salt administration reform that year, the functions of the two Huai Salt Patrol Censors have gradually increased, and they have to frequently report their duties to the Salt Administration Yamen far away in Shandong, so the river patrol matter has gradually been unable to be taken care of."

"In the past, there was no chaos in river transport, so the Censorate did not submit a memorial to add it."

As a part-time River Patrol Hai Yushi, it is the same reason that local river chiefs and lake chiefs are concurrently held by prefects and county magistrates.

The river section in Tongzhou and Linqing was customized in the eighth year of Chenghua to be managed by the Changlu Salt Patrol Hai Yushi; the canal north of Tianjin was delegated to the Warehouse Patrol Hai Yushi in the seventh year of Jiajing.

There was no Hai Yushi who patrolled the river as his main job.

Chen Wude sighed softly: "Downsizing and supervision, it is difficult to have both."

Central supervision of the local area requires manpower, a lot of manpower.

But this is not in line with the general direction of streamlining troops and simplifying administration under the two hundred years of the country, especially the corruption.

At the beginning, the Censorate took the initiative to submit a memorial to abolish the River Patrol Hai Yushi in order to comply with the general direction of removing redundant officials.

If it is requested to add it now, it is inevitable that it will look like the Censorate is fickle and has no direction or perseverance—adding flour when there is too much water, and adding water when there is too much flour, but it is damaging to authority.

At this time, the Right Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Works, Wan Xiangchun, interjected: "So the Emperor asked us to research well, draw inferences from one instance to other problems, base on reality, seriously perfect, and initially draft a complete official system for the River Transport Water Affairs Office."

"At that time, the increase or decrease of official positions must be viewed as a whole. Whether to cut or increase is still between two possibilities."

On the issue of institutional defects, the three ministries of Personnel, Revenue, and Works and the Censorate cannot run away.

I have redundant officials of the same level here, you have a lack of supervision there, everyone discusses the plan to perfect the system and mechanism together, so it will not violate the general direction of the imperial court to remove redundant officials.

On the perfection of the system, the officials of the ministries in the Zen room all felt tricky.

It is not just the contradiction between increasing and downsizing, but also the problem of the division of power between water conservancy and river transport, and even throwing away historical burdens to strive for more power for the ministries—and so on, arguing is not clear, only everyone can sit together and negotiate.

Everyone eats in the same pot of the New Deal, so naturally no one has any opinion on this.

Zun saw that no one spoke, and continued to talk about the problems exposed by the Censorate in the Xuzhou case: "As for the Fengyang Patrol Hai Yushi Li Shidi, the specific situation is not very clear."

"The Yamen side said he was far away, easy to fool; but the Water Affairs Office side rumored that Li Minqing is a distant relative of his, and there is some collusion."

"Oh yes, someone just came and said that Li Shidi has arrived and is waiting in the Daxiong Treasure Hall."

Luo Zun stood up and took the initiative to ask for orders: "Should the subordinate come forward and interrogate him first?"

Not only Chen Wude, but even Xu Fuyuan, Chen Xingjian, Wan Xiangchun and others stood up and called Luo Zun.

"Not suitable."

"Don't be reckless!"

Luo Zun saw this and sat back in his seat in a sullen manner.

The Right Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Works, Wan Xiangchun, saw this and comforted him in a low voice: "We called people over in the name of a meeting. If we take the opportunity to arrest them, the impact is really not good, and it is easy to be talked about by the people in the street."

"Let's wait for the Emperor to come back, or wait until the meeting is over in name."

"Connect as much as possible."

Trying a case is not an urgent matter, and there is no reason to bring Zhang Jianzhi's style into the daily work of the Censorate.

Although it is said that calling the local main official away for several days, everyone knows that there is a problem, but the serious process that should be taken must be taken.

Taking a step back, among this group of Xuzhou local officials, not all of them are corrupt elements. If you don't do superficial work, it is unfair to the remaining 30% of the clear stream.

Chen Wude nodded: "The Emperor has almost finished surveying Xuzhou. At that time, we will be open and honest, and investigate the case with great fanfare."

Trying a case or something, actually there is no need to call people to Mount Yunlong for house arrest.

Isn't it the Emperor's willfulness, who must inspect it personally?

The ministers couldn't twist the Emperor, and were afraid that the corrupt officials would jump over the wall in a hurry, so they had to take this inferior strategy, and put the local main officials who had the ability to threaten the Emperor under house arrest for the time being.

What kind of leaderless, convenient interrogation of assistant officials and registrars, that is all incidental.

These people are now waiting for the Emperor to finish the survey and come back, carrying the pot of abnormal house arrest of officials, and they can catch people and try cases openly.

After a small episode, Chen Wude continued to ask: "The Water Affairs Yamen stops at Li Minqing, and the Patrol Hai Yushi Li Shidi is suspicious, what about the prefectural Yamen and the Military Defense Circuit?"

Speaking of this, Zun's face was not very good.

He snorted coldly: "Prefect Wu Zhipeng and Military Defense Circuit Vice Envoy Chang Sansheng must not be able to get rid of the relationship, but whether there is any involvement behind it, it is still hard to say."

"The interrogated thousand-household, judge, and registrar, these people are all full of confidence, saying that they have someone above them, but they don't know who it is."

Zun is a dignified fourth-rank Hai Yushi-in-Chief, who has handled many major cases, even the scarlet-robed officials have to tremble, when has he been looked down upon like this?

o￠O

The reaction of those who really have someone behind them will not be like this.

If you are a mute and hide the person behind you, you still have a glimmer of survival, but if even the person behind you is in prison, these gangs will all die.

These small fish and shrimp are either ignorant and fearless, or they only know a little bit.

This made Chen Wude unable to do it.

He looked at the people in the Zen room with some lack of confidence, and humbly consulted for opinions: "Minister, Governor, Premier, Vice Minister, none of them were easily let go, what other prominent figures can there be?"

Everyone looked at each other.

Xu Fuyuan, a Director of the Ministry of Personnel, seemed to remember something and was about to speak.

Just at this time, there was movement outside the door.

Knock!

Knock knock!

The Zen room door was knocked, and everyone tacitly stopped discussing.

"Junior Hai Yushi, Jinshi of the 35th year of Jiajing, former Ministry of Revenue Director Wang, led a group of sages and elders to seek an audience outside, saying that there are bandits roaming Xuzhou, cruelly poisoning gentry and officials."

"I implore the Junior Hai Yushi to release the Prefect, Military Defense Circuit Vice Envoy and other main officials, so that they can send troops to suppress the bandits."

This is the voice of Xiao Liangyou, the Tanhualang of this subject, the editor of the Hanlin Academy, and the Zhongshu Sheren in the traveling palace.

Luo Zun stood up and opened the door.

Xiao Liangyou cupped his hands and bowed, and only entered the Zen room after completing the etiquette: "In addition, the Imperial Envoy supervising the Guangyun Warehouse, concurrently managing the Yongfu Warehouse and the accumulated transport Eunuch Sun Dexiu, and the Eunuch Ke Yong, who is in charge of Zhonghe water conservancy and concurrently managing river transport, brought people to block the gate of Xinghua Temple."

"Saying that we detained the Xuzhou officials, affecting official business, and asked the Junior Hai Yushi to release people immediately."

The new soldiers in the officialdom are not very polite, don't understand the old rules of going to the deputy title, and they are one Junior Hai Yushi after another to the Right Hai Yushi-in-Chief, and they don't know how to call the General Hai Yushi.

Fortunately, Chen Wude didn't mind, but was a little surprised.

He looked at his colleagues in the Zen room. The matter of the Emperor roaming and committing crimes, they don't have the conditions and mood to remonstrate now.

Instead, the eunuch's request for an audience reminded everyone.

Chen Wude took off his glasses lightly, revealing a look of realization: "Almost forgot, how can such a pickled thing be less than the middle envoy?"

He pointed to the Daxiong Treasure Hall, signaling Xiao Liangyou to bring people over, and immediately stood up, preparing to meet these unexpected guests. ===== CHAPTER 267 =====