Chapter 563: The method of punishment, from top to bottom!

Chapter 563: The method of punishment, from top to bottom!

Being far away from the political center, those who were not calm enough began to be greedy and longed for more power and wealth. Gao Yao actually had two different attitudes towards these people.

On the one hand, Gao Yao really needs to use these people. After all, ambitious people are often more motivated and energetic. In order to achieve their goals, they can often play an unexpected role. This is just like the famous saying: "A soldier who does not want to be a general is not a good soldier." Whether it is the army or the officialdom, it is the same. If you don't advance, you will retreat. If a person has no desire to make achievements and get promoted, then he will lose the motivation to move forward. If the entire court is full of such people, Gao Yao will probably have a headache.

On the other hand, Gao Yao could not let these people's ambitions expand too much. He had to ensure that these people had generous basic salaries and good welfare benefits, but at the same time, he could not let most people lose their confidence in making progress. This balance point was very difficult to grasp, and if he was not careful, the situation could get out of control. For this reason, Gao Yao chose to let Han Xin do it himself, and the same was true for Xiao He and others.

The person who failed miserably in this regard was none other than Zhu Yuanzhang, who managed a vibrant new dynasty into one fraught with crises and hidden dangers.

Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely harsh towards corrupt officials, to the point of zero tolerance. Even if they embezzled only a few dozen taels of silver, they could be sentenced to death - beheading. As the founding emperor, his influence was indeed not to be underestimated, and his harsh attitude towards the outside world also made countless people admire him. However, when it comes to the political measures after the founding of the country, it is really hard to describe in words.

He restored the system of burying people alive with their dead, which was undoubtedly a historical regression. Moreover, he also set strict limits on occupations, which hindered the development of society to a certain extent.

In particular, the measures he took against corrupt officials were simply pathological. The salary of a county magistrate, if converted into silver, was only five taels per month. But these five taels of silver were not something that the county magistrate could control alone. He not only had to support a large family, but also had to pay the salaries of many people in the county government, such as the examiners, the court attendants, the seal bearers, the cooks, and the legal advisors. How could such a meager salary meet the living needs of these people? This undoubtedly provided a breeding ground for corruption.

It was incredible that so many people had to rely on the county magistrate's annual salary of only 90 shi to make a living! What's worse is that even this meager salary may not be paid in full and on time. During most of Zhu Yuanzhang's reign, officials often received only % of their salary, which was considered a very good ratio.

Passing the imperial examinations should have been an enviable thing, but during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, it became synonymous with living on coarse food. Following Zhu Yuanzhang's rules, the lives of officials were extremely bleak.

Not only that, Zhu Yuanzhang also abolished the prime minister system, which made the problem of power dispersion particularly prominent. In contrast, after Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he was extremely generous to his family. He made all his sons princes and all his daughters princesses, and they were all of the first rank.

Not only Zhu Yuanzhang's sons, but also his grandsons, as long as they are legitimate grandsons, are all named princes; if they are not legitimate grandsons, they are named county princes. But whether they are princes or county princes, their ranks are all first-class. It can be said that as long as you have a little relationship with the old Zhu family, you can basically live a life without worries about food and clothing. On the contrary, those who work hard for the old Zhu family have to live cautiously.

If the military power was not highly centralized at that time, I am afraid that the situation of border rebellion would continue to grow like mushrooms after rain. After all, the dispersion of power often leads to the growth of local forces, which in turn leads to various unstable factors. During Zhu Yuanzhang's reign, the crackdown on corrupt officials was ruthless. According to incomplete statistics, he beheaded at least more than 20,000 corrupt officials, and these people were all officials!

After the restoration of the imperial examination system in the Ming Dynasty, the imperial examination was held only once every three years, and only 1,400 people had the opportunity to become officials in each examination. Moreover, this does not mean that all these people could become officials smoothly. Zhu Yuanzhang actually beheaded more than 20,000 people in total. Even if some officials' subordinates were removed, this number is at least equivalent to the number of all officials that could be produced by the imperial examination in 30 years!

It seems that Zhu Yuanzhang's severity is beyond imagination. On the one hand, he requires officials to work hard, but on the other hand, he does not allow them to have enough food. Under such a harsh system, the life pressure of officials can be imagined. And this may be the reason why corrupt officials under Zhu Yuanzhang are so rampant.

With such a precedent, Gao Yao naturally saw it very clearly. He knew the drawbacks of this harsh system very well, so how could he repeat the same mistakes?

Therefore, from the very beginning, Gao Yao gave officials very generous treatment in terms of salary because of the existence of the system. Even the lowest-ranking officials had salaries that were enough to support their families and enjoy welfare policies such as old-age care. Gao Yao also introduced the concept of "iron rice bowl" into the officialdom system for the first time, clearly stating that as long as one became an official in the southern border, the court would be responsible for him until the end, regardless of life, old age, illness or death.

Moreover, the higher the rank of an official, the better the treatment he or she will receive, not to mention other benefits.

However, under such favorable conditions, some officials still wanted to enrich themselves, and even secretly made some small moves. Gao Yao absolutely could not tolerate such behavior. But Gao Yao also knew that it was far from enough to insist on his own opinion. This intolerable attitude must be implemented from top to bottom among everyone. Only in this way can we truly put an end to the corruption of officials and maintain the integrity of the officialdom.

The next morning, just after Gao Yao got up and had breakfast, Xiao He had already arrived outside Gao Yao's residence and was waiting. Gao Yao naturally knew the purpose of Xiao He's coming, but Gao Yao did not have the same patience with Xiao He as he did with Han Xin.

"Go ahead and tell Xiao He that I don't have time to see him. Let him make his own decision. I just want one result!"

"Here"

Following Gao Yao's order, the guards quickly rushed to the gate of the mansion and told Xiao He Gao Yao's order in detail.