Chapter 98 Reexamination of the world’s accounts! (Please subscribe)
Zhu Yuanzhang grinned.
The more he looked at these zigzag lines, the more pleasing they became to his eyes.
Zhu Yuanzhang held this memorial in his hand, looked at Zhu Biao, and said, "Biao'er, what kind of official position do you think we should have for Hua Lun?"
"Mr. Hubu (Mr. Hubu)" Genuine fifth grade)?”
Zhu Biao smiled bitterly, knowing that this was his father's temper. If he liked something, he would never hesitate to reward him.
This kind of thing is not uncommon in Ming Dynasty.
When the Ming Dynasty was just established, Gao Qi and Xie Hui, the editors of the Hanlin Academy (the seventh rank), were very knowledgeable. Whenever my father asked questions, they could answer fluently. My father was overjoyed and promoted Gao Qi to the right of the Ministry of Household Affairs in public. Shilang (the third rank), Xie Hui is the doctor of the Ministry of official affairs (the fifth rank).
These two people have good natures. They know that there are too many grades to skip, and they are afraid of disturbing the order of the officialdom, so they dare not accept the appointment.
Then he continued to stay in his original position. It took him two years to reach the reward official position.
The speed of promotion can also be described as rapid.
In addition to these two people, there is also Fang Keqin, a survivor of the Yuan Dynasty. He was originally the county magistrate of a local county, but because of Zhu Yuanzhang's appreciation, he was directly promoted to the prefect of Jining and became a parent official.
Love the house and the bird.
His son Fang Xiaoru was also appointed exceptionally.
Zeng Lu, the current head of the Ministry of Rites, discovered that Annan’s past uncle Chen had hidden tricks in the memorial, and safeguarded the diplomatic interests of the Ming Dynasty. He was directly promoted by his father to the minister of the Ministry of Rites, and he skipped it in one breath. Six steps.
There are many officials in the Ming Dynasty who appreciate and promote officials quickly.
In addition to individual promotions, there are also batch promotions.
In the eleventh year of Hongwu, my father promoted ninety-five officials at one time.
In the fifteenth year of Hongwu, twenty-four selected students were appointed as chief officials of local governments, prefectures, and counties. In addition, there were 860 scholars recommended by various places. , and were directly promoted to officials at all levels of the six ministries, chief envoys, prefectures, prefectures, and counties in one fell swoop.
The intensity of promotion of officials is rare in ancient and modern times.
This is the great courage of my father in employing people.
Rewards for merit and punishment for delinquency.
However, it is still somewhat inappropriate to directly reuse flower fiber.
Zhu Biao cupped his hands and said: "Father, I know that my father cherishes talents and loves talents, but Hua Lun has only been in the Hanlin Academy for two months, has not taken over many political affairs, and is not that proficient in handling political affairs, and He is too young, two years younger than Xia Zhibai, and I think a reward of a hundred golds is enough."
"Wait until Hua Lun becomes familiar with political affairs in the Hanlin Academy before promoting him."
Zhu Yuanzhang dropped his smile, clasped his hands behind his back, thought for a moment, and nodded, saying: "You are right, this Hua Lun is too young, and it is indeed inappropriate to let him enter the court too early, but he did it This move is indeed interesting.”
“It looks very pleasing to me.”
That’s it.
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes moved slightly, and with a wave of his hand, he shouted outside the palace: "Come here, call Hua Lun from the Hanlin Academy. We have something to ask him."
Zhu Yuanzhang put this memorial on the table, a cold light flashed in his eyes, and he said coldly: "Boss, what do you think will happen if we let officials from the Ministry of Revenue sort out all the world's accounts?"
Zhu Biao's face changed slightly.
How could he not understand what Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking.
Obviously he wants to use the data screening that Hua Lun came up with to clarify the accounts of the world.
In the past, it was difficult for the court to audit the accounts. The main thing to check was whether the upper and lower accounts were consistent. As long as there were no major problems, the court would not delve into it too much. However, the emergence of this line chart It's different.
Because of comparison.
People are most afraid of comparison, and they are also afraid of things.
If the accounts submitted to the court by the six ministries, chief envoys, prefectures, and counties are compared with each other, or if they are compared with their own previous years, there will be large fluctuations, and the six ministries, chief envoys, and If the relevant officials of the department, government, state, and county cannot give a reasonable explanation, it must involve falsifying the accounts.
In the fifteenth year of Hongwu's reign, there had already been an empty seal case.
If my father continues to investigate more closely, I am afraid that a larger-scale 'empty seal case' will appear.
Zhu Biao looked a little solemn.
He knew Zhu Yuanzhang, and his father was not asking.
But I want to support myself.
And once my father has made up his mind, it is not something that ordinary people can persuade.
Zhu Biao also knows that his father is very hostile to the 'fraud' left over from the Yuan Dynasty, and even hates it. Once discovered, he will crack down extremely severely, and if he really re-examines the world's accounts, he will not be responsible for the Ming Dynasty. Clearing up the world's situation is actually of great benefit.
But Zhu Biao was also worried about whether it would involve too much.
A single blank seal case resulted in the murder of dozens of local officials, and the confiscation of nearly 10,000 people's homes.
If the accounting books of money, food, fiscal revenue and expenditure, and tax accounts submitted from all over the world are re-examined, I am afraid that the scale will be unprecedented, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands are likely.
Zhu Biao was also a little undecided for a while.
There was a long silence.
A flash of resoluteness flashed in Zhu Biao's eyes, as well as a flash of ruthlessness, and he said in a deep voice: "I think it should be investigated, otherwise the local officials at all levels would still deceive them, thinking that the imperial court had nothing to do with them. Methods, these corrupt officials should be found and punished one by one.”
"But Erchen thinks we can't act too hastily."
"We can't be too arbitrary."
"The idea of auditing the accounts presented by Hua Lun is indeed good, but will there be any problems? Erchen thinks , it is better to make a decision after asking clearly. If there are too many loopholes or major hidden dangers, it may be appropriate to stop."
"Please be careful, Father."
Check it out.
But there must be a certain limit to the investigation. If there is a sudden and comprehensive investigation, I am afraid that many officials will get into trouble.
He is not worried about anything happening in the world, but he is worried that too many official positions will be vacant, which will affect the normal operation of the court.
If this were not the case, my father would not have directly recruited recommended scholars without inspection.
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.
Of course he knows this.
Although he dealt with officials very harshly.
But they are all measured and not really without worries.
However, he also knew that the data displayed in the Hualun diagram were all data submitted by the six ministries and other government agencies. So what would happen? If something really happened, it could only be that the data sent by the officials below were falsified.
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "We know it well."
"We will ask clearly first, and then conduct an inventory of the world's accounts."
"My father is wise." Zhu Biao said quickly.
Not long after.
Hua Lun arrived quickly.
He entered the hall cautiously, not daring to take a breath, and even more uneasy in his heart.
He had already guessed why His Majesty called him to come.
Already prepared.
But after all, I am still a little timid and scared when I really have to face this emperor who has conquered the world.
As soon as he entered the hall, Hua Lun felt his legs go weak, and he knelt down directly and said: "Hua Lun, the editor of the Hanlin Academy, kowtows to Your Majesty."
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said: "There is no need for so many courtesy. , I have nothing else to do with calling you here this time. I just saw the memorial you submitted and felt that the lines on it were very good, so I just wanted to ask you how you came up with the idea of using this method of painting. ”
"And what is the use of this thing and where can it be used."
"Please tell us carefully."
Zhu Yuanzhang's tone was very calm.
But there is an unquestionable and strong feeling between the lines.
Hua Lun nodded and said quickly: "Back to Your Majesty, what I submitted is called a 'line chart'. As the name suggests, it is to connect some data with lines at certain intervals for more intuitive judgment. Data situation.”
"I was appreciated by His Majesty and compiled for the Hanlin Academy."
"I was able to dabble in many memorials."
"The imperial court stipulated that every year, each chief minister, prefecture, and county must submit to the Ministry of Household Affairs Accounts of money, food, fiscal revenue and expenditure, and taxes. "
"The figures of the Ministry of Accounts and the various chief departments, prefectures, and counties must be completely consistent, and only if there is any discrepancy, the entire account book can be closed. It will be rejected, re-submitted, and re-stamped with the seal of the local government.”
“What the Ministry of Household Affairs examines every year is mostly the data submitted by the local government offices, whether the upper and lower data are consistent. .”
"In the horizontal latitude and vertical longitude, it is equivalent to only reviewing the 'vertical longitude'."
"Therefore, I boldly submitted the data submitted by the various chief secretaries, prefectures and counties, especially the data from the year before and last year, After some horizontal comparison, it was found that many of the data had no problems in the 'vertical longitude' direction, but there were great fluctuations in the 'lateral latitude'. "
"Original Chen. I didn’t care, I just thought it was an accident.”
“But a few days ago, when His Highness asked me to review the relevant financial accounts of Shouzhou and Chuzhou, I tried again out of curiosity, and it turned out that it was. Many things were discovered.”
“I was frightened and did not dare to hide it, so I submitted the memorial that was ‘not in compliance with the regulations’.”
"Your Majesty, please punish me."
Hua Lun did not follow Zhu Yuanzhang's words.
But apologize first.
Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said: "We don't mean to blame you."
"We think your idea is very good and wonderful. It's right in both horizontal and vertical directions."
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"We felt that the imperial court's audit was a bit too thin and too simple before, but we never understood the reason. After listening to your explanation, we finally figured it out."
"We checked too much. It’s so simple.”
“I only checked the top and bottom, and as long as the accounts are in harmony, I won’t bother with it.”
“But we ignored it to a large extent. It is relatively stable, that is to say, local accounts are unlikely to fluctuate too much. As long as there are no natural disasters, the local trends over the years will be similar.”
“We just ignored this. ! ”
"Let me ask you, if we compare the data reported by various chief secretaries, prefectures, and counties over the years, if there were no major natural disasters that year, but the reported data has changed significantly, is it true that someone has falsified the data? ?”
Hua Lun’s eyes narrowed slightly and he nodded seriously.
He said in a deep voice: "According to my current opinion, this is indeed the case."
"Now the sea is at peace, the people live and work in peace and contentment, the world is stable, and the Ming Dynasty is in order under your majesty's governance. Everything is moving in a positive direction, and it is unlikely that there will be major fluctuations in a certain period of time. Even if there are, it will not be limited to one county or one prefecture.”
“If there is a problem with the horizontal data, Someone must be cheating.”
"It's just that in the past, the data was mixed and the trial was not easy, so few people would bother to do it."
"What if we want to re-examine the world's accounts?" Zhu Yuanzhang said suddenly.
(End of this chapter)