In the Ming Dynasty, the imperial history and the matter belonged to the officials, who had the responsibility of supervising the **. The most serious cases of corruption often occur in the middle of the matter and in the imperial history. Therefore, people call them "rags", because the function of the rag is to wipe the table clean, but it is very dirty. As soon as these imperial histories and things are given to them, they will attack them as soon as they see a problem, but they themselves are the dirtiest!
There is no trace of a really powerful abuse of power for personal gain, it is quiet, and it is difficult to find out.
In ancient times, a ** stepped into an important post, and a distant relative made an accident and came to his house for help. This ** has always been honest and attaches great importance to his reputation. So after greeting this relative for a while, he let him live in his own house, eat and drink well, and let the servants take them around the city, but he did not ask the relatives about the details.
Relatives are in a hurry, we are here to do errands, not to play.
Who knew that after a few months like this, the relatives got the news that their affairs were done.
What's going on?
It turned out that the relatives had lived in **'s house for a long time, and **'s servants also took them out to play, and some of the officials below knew about this relationship and took the initiative to handle this matter.
During the whole process, ** never greeted anyone, and did not give anyone money.
A real master, success is invisible, leaving no traces at all.
Corruption in large-scale projects has always been the hardest hit area.
The control of the Yellow River has always been an important project of the Qing Dynasty, and the river administration in charge of the management of the Yellow River has too much money to use. However, it is not possible to report that there is too much money to be used, because in that case, the next year's appropriation will definitely be reduced.
After the frost falls every year, the water level of the Yellow River decreases, and there is no possibility of a breach. At this time, the River Department will organize the annual "Qing'an Lan" activity, to put it bluntly, it is to eat and drink, hold a flowing water banquet, and invite famous actors from Suzhou to perform. This activity runs from September to November until the money runs out.
Qing Anlan "also has a purpose, which is to put the money into the pockets of the **. For the use of guests, it costs one dollar to buy 10 toothpicks, and when the bill is reported, it becomes hundreds of taels. And the reimbursement content is varied, even the footwraps of the ladies and ladies are also reimbursed.
So no one has reported or rectified this situation?
During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the two palaces of Qianqing and Kunning were to be rebuilt, and Langzhong He Shengrui of the Ministry of Industry was one of the people in charge. He strictly investigated corruption in his work, and the eunuch falsely reported the number of workers, which he refused;The timber was eaten by kickbacks, and he found out and asked for rectification. At the end of the project, he saved a total of 920,000 taels of silver for the country, but he was soon dismissed, and the reason for his dismissal was, of course, to cut off other people's financial routes. You saved 920,000 taels for the country, but it was 920,000 taels snatched out of your pockets, if you are not dismissed, who will be dismissed?
The most feared thing about corruption is, of course, that the imperial court sends people to inspect it.
In response to these inspections, there were ways in ancient times.
During the Ming Dynasty, the Jiangning area was relatively wealthy, and the imperial court attached more importance to it, and often sent ** to inspect. The prefect of the prefecture knew his assistants and took special care of them, and often gave him some fat shortages. When he comprehended and made a windfall, he didn't forget to give a generous gift to the prefect, but this prefect refused sternly every time.
When the inspector of the imperial court went to the local area to inspect according to the imperial history, he quickly found out that there was a problem with Tongzhi, and continued to dig deeper, but found that the prefect was not in the same league with Tongzhi at all. In the end, Tongzhi was imprisoned, and the governor was promoted because he cracked a corruption case, and reported to the imperial court that the prefect was clean, and the prefect was also promoted.
Corruption cannot be dug deep.
In 1974, Hong Kong established the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and began to crack down on corruption, starting with the police station. But none of the JCs were clean at the time, and the incident eventually led to thousands of JCs and their families besieging the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
There was no way, the Independent Commission Against Corruption could only take January 1, 1977 as the boundary, and the previous past was not to blame, so that the situation could be temporarily stabilized.
In the Ming Dynasty, Hai Rui proposed to restore the severe punishment of ** during the Zhu Yuanzhang period and restore the system of peeling and filling grass. This proposal immediately attracted the unanimous opposition of all the **, and the reason for the opposition was: This is a harsh government, how can we civilized people do this?And you, Hai Rui, do you want to give the emperor a bad reputation for harsh government?
Hai Jui's proposal will certainly not be implemented.
Even if the corruption is serious, there is one thing that must be done, that is, to establish an image of a clean official, in order to show our yearning for political clarity and hatred of corruption.
The Song Dynasty was Bao Zheng, the Ming Dynasty was Hai Rui, and the Qing Dynasty was Shi Yonglun.
These three men are undoubtedly honest and incorruptible, and they are considered to be models of their time. But what is very strange is that the emperor and the head of the government have a somewhat unexpected evaluation of them.
Song Renzong said Bao Zheng: The words of loyalty are bitter and contrary to the ear, and it is beneficial to cover it, and it is not beneficial to set it up, and it is harmless, so why refuse to blame it. Song Renzong believes that Bao Qingtian is a "harmless" but not necessarily "beneficial" **. Bao Zheng's Book of Rites was posthumously awarded.
Hai Rui of the Ming Dynasty was more "clear", more "upright", and more unsociable than Bao Zheng, and his popularity was so bad that his colleagues respected him. After he was repulsed, the people kept calling for Hai Qingtian to make a comeback, and later even the ** group asked Hai Rui to make a comeback. But Zhang Juzheng, who was in power, was not interested in Hai Qingtian and repeatedly refused to allow it. He said, "We should use more followers and less clear streams." ”
Hai Jui is honest and fair, but in Zhang Juzheng's view, he is not suitable for actual government affairs. And Emperor Wanli directly rebuked Hai Rui for being naïve.
Although Hai Rui is an official and a governor, he is just a vase.
And Emperor Kangxi said when evaluating Shi Shilun: "Shi Shilun knows it very well. His ethics are honest, but he is paranoid when things happen: if the people sue with the living, he will protect the people;If the student and the gentleman sue, he will protect the student. How can a husband be partial when he only seeks to get in the middle?If Shi Shilun is entrusted with the matter of Qian Gu, it is appropriate to hear. ”
That is, Kangxi thinks that Shi Shilun's personal ethics are fine, but he is paranoid and always likes to protect the people, so can this work?It is better for people like Shi Shilun to take care of money, grain, grain and grass, and they are not suitable for judicial work. But isn't justice the most important thing to do?
The fundamental reason is that Kangxi wants Shi Shilun's image as a clean official, not his specific work.
Officialdom is a system, and this system has its own balancing function, and interests are equal.
In the Qing Dynasty, the magistrates were fat and shortage, because the place could be directly looted. There are many officials in Beijing, and corruption is relatively troublesome. Therefore, the Beijing officials had to rely on the local officials to share some of the corruption they received for themselves, and this situation became an unwritten practice, which was called "Bing Jing", "Tan Jing" and so on. That is, charcoal is sent in winter and ice is sent in summer, of course, the ice and charcoal here are replaced by silver, and the physical goods will not be sent.
In order to consolidate their position, the local officials also made friends with the local officials, and the Beijing officials escorted the local officials, and the two sides had a very tacit understanding.