"Prison..."

These two words pierced Li Banghua's heart like needles, making him extremely uncomfortable.

But no matter how uncomfortable he felt, he was powerless in the face of this situation.

Seeing that Chongzhen and Li Banghua were silent, Wang Chengen blinked and whispered, "Lord Li, can you ask those gentry and landlords to reduce or exempt the land rent for the people in the name of the court?"

Li Banghua did not answer the question, but asked Wang Chengen: "Do you still remember what His Majesty said? He said not to touch the interests of the upper class, and not to touch the ideas of the lower class."

"Remember."

"Well, allowing the gentry to exempt the common people from land rent is breaking two taboos at the same time!"

"No...I can't."

"Yes!" Li Banghua said affirmatively, "It is natural for the people to pay land rent just like they pay back debts. If the court intervenes and asks the gentry to exempt the people from land rent, it will not only affect the interests of the gentry, but also the people's ideas."

"People will think that no matter how much money they owe, they can be forgiven with a written document from the court. Once this idea spreads, the order of the Ming Dynasty will be in chaos."

"So, unless the gentry are kind enough to waive the land rent, there is no other way."

So that's how it is. Wang Chengen shrank his neck, retreated to the wall and didn't dare to continue speaking.

The emperor and his minister discussed for a while, and as it was getting dark, Li Banghua got up and left.

Chongzhen did not go back to the harem directly, but sat on the dragon throne and thought quietly.

He hadn't thought like this in a long time.

The Ming Dynasty had so many enemies that he couldn't even count them on his fingers.

In addition to the bandits and the Jiannu who are the obvious enemies, there are also many enemies hiding in the dark.

Princes, nobles, court officials, merchants...

It would be bad enough if the princes just eat and do not work, they also affect the tax collection of the imperial court; the nobles are too powerful to be removed, and they make money by relying on the merits of their ancestors without giving anything in return; the court officials form cliques and engage in corruption, colluding with gentry and merchants; and the merchants take the opportunity to sell out the country!

Which one should I start with?

These people are not individuals, but a complex and intertwined whole.

After thinking for an unknown amount of time, Chongzhen ordered, "Ask Wang Zhixin to come over. I have something to tell you."

After receiving the order, Wang Chengen turned and left.

A quarter of an hour later, Wang Zhixin walked into the palace gate of the Qianqing Palace, knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you."

“Have all the brochures been printed?”

"Your Majesty, the first batch of 50,000 copies has been printed. Please review it."

Wang Zhixin took out a palm-sized manual from his arms and handed it to Wang Chengen.

Wang Chengen did not dare to delay. He walked quickly to Chongzhen with the book in both hands and handed it to him.

Chongzhen took the manual and looked through it slowly.

There are seven characters written on the cover of the booklet: "Guide to Life in the Ming Dynasty"

The first part is about the common people.

This part contains a lot of content, and everything that the people do with the court is explained.

From weddings and funerals to taxes and corvee labor, to land purchase, sale and leasing procedures, and methods of reporting officials.

The second part is about officials.

The content of the officials section is very short, mainly describing how lower-level officials report their superiors after being persecuted.

The departments that accepted reports included the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, the Censorate, the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

After reading the contents of the booklet, Chongzhen nodded with satisfaction.

It is not enough to rectify the administration of officials by relying on people alone; a system is needed.

What is the system?

Ming Dynasty Law!

Before the Ming Dynasty, common people would be beaten with dozens of sticks before reporting officials!

In the Ming Dynasty, people could file a complaint with the Censor-in-Chief if they wanted to sue an official. After receiving the complaint, the Censor-in-Chief would send the case back to the superior government office of the "defendant official" or to the Censorate of the same level for trial.

In addition to filing a complaint with the Censor, one could also file a complaint directly with the emperor through the "Dengwen Drum". In the Ming Dynasty, a "Dengwen Drum" was set up in front of the imperial palace. The person filing a complaint would go and beat it, and a drummer in charge would come to question and accept the complaint.

These measures were effective in the early Ming Dynasty, but gradually became obsolete in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

The purpose of making this manual is to tell the people that the channels for citizens to sue officials are now open!

"Wang Zhixin, this booklet is well done. It seems that you put a lot of effort into it." Chongzhen said calmly.

"Your Majesty, you are too kind. This is what I should do." Wang Zhixin knelt on the ground, flattered.

Chongzhen stood up and dismissed his attendants. He came to Wang Zhixin and stopped. "I will arrange for you to do something important in a few days. I hope you will not let me down."

event?

Good thing! As long as there is a job, you can make money. Just like making these booklets, he made a lot of money from it.

Wang Zhixin did not hesitate at all and immediately expressed her loyalty: "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will do my best and fulfill my mission."

Chongzhen looked at Wang Zhixin's head, and after thinking it over again and again, he finally made up his mind: "The court is discussing disaster relief recently, and I plan to let you participate in it."

"I wonder what your majesty wants me to do?"

"The Ming Dynasty has a lot of problems. The court has its own problems, and the prefectures and counties have their own problems. Especially in the counties, there are no fewer problems than in the court."

"But I have thought about it, and there are only two kinds of problems in the local area. One is that officials are corrupt and pervert the law, and the other is that local gentry and powerful people rely on various relationships to do evil in the village."

"I want you to take this opportunity of disaster relief to solve these problems. The officials' problems will be solved by the disaster relief officials, and the gentry and powerful people will be solved by you."

Wang Zhixin lowered his head and thought for a while: "Your Majesty, can you kill someone?"

Chongzhen did not answer directly, but said: "Don't go too far."

Don't! Too! Much!

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!