Zhu Yuanzhang, formerly known as Zhu Chongba, was born in troubled times at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and his family was poor. In order to avoid the fate of starvation, he first entered the temple and then joined the army. He became a foot soldier in the army to fight against the tyrannical Yuan Dynasty, and later changed his name to Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhang is a sharp weapon made of jade, which means "kill", that is to say, he is a sharp weapon to destroy Yuan. Finally, he became a peasant emperor from grassroots and established the Ming Dynasty. During his more than 30 years in power, because of his poor background, he also decided his special feelings for farmers and his incomparable hatred for corrupt officials.
Zhu Yuanzhang's measures to punish corruption are ruthless, and reading history is rare. In the history of China, Zhu Yuanzhang was the emperor who hated corruption most and dealt with it most mercilessly. In order to crack down on corruption, the unique punishment of peeling the last grass in the Ming Dynasty was frightening. Peeling the last straw is to peel off the human skin of a corrupt official, fill it with straw, sew it into a human shape, make it into a scarecrow, or stand at the entrance of the yamen or put it at the door of the local land temple, and hang it for public display to warn subsequent officials not to take bribes and bend the law.
On the road of punishing corruption, Zhu Yuanzhang's cruelty is recognized by the world. But there is also helplessness. In the face of corrupt officials who have been killed repeatedly, he once said helplessly: "I want to get rid of corrupt officials, but I can't kill them." In addition to torture, Zhu Yuanzhang also took some softening measures. He paid constant attention to the education of officials, and published the earliest anti-corruption textbook in the history of China, named "Wake Up the Corruption". In the textbook, he calculated in detail how much the official's salary is converted into rice, how much labor is needed according to the average yield per mu, and so on. It hopes to use these real data to educate officials and induce their sympathy.
One story: Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly asked his ministers one morning, "Who is the happiest person in the world?" Everyone has his own opinion, some say that being the top scholar is the happiest, some say that high officials are the happiest, and some say that being rich is the happiest in the world &; Hellip& amphellip has a variety of answers. Zhu Yuanzhang listened to these answers and shook his head. At this time, an old minister named Wan Gang said meaningfully, "I think people who fear the law are the happiest." When this statement came out, everyone was shocked. Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded frequently. Wan Gang's answer is concise and incisive.
Story 2: Zhu Yuanzhang once called officials to a well in the palace and warned them: "Leave the salary to Jingquan. Although the well is dissatisfied, it is inexhaustible every day. Although greed is rich, it will eventually draw water for the bamboo basket, and the family will be ruined and the head will be different. " In other words, as an official, being an official honestly and guarding his salary is just like guarding a "well". Although the well water is not satisfied, it can be used up every day, but it can be rich if it is corrupt, but it will be empty after all, and I am afraid it will be ruined in the end. Zhu Yuanzhang's account is quite philosophical and is called "one well" philosophy by officials. At that time, many officials were deeply inspired. After taking office, they dug a well in the courtyard and set up a stone tablet with the word "police" beside it.
The two stories of "People who fear Buddhism are the happiest" and "A well" are worth pondering. I admire Zhu Yuanzhang's affirmation that "he who fears statutes is the happiest", and at the same time, he admires his viewpoint of "keeping his salary as Jing Quan". "People who fear the law are the happiest" tells the essence of law, that is, depriving offenders of their freedom and even their lives. "People who fear the law" are often law-abiding. Nature will not be punished by law, nor will it experience the greatest tragedy and pain in life. Those who are "not afraid of the law" will often become offenders, and will eventually be punished by the law, lose their freedom, lose their relatives and friends, and even lose their lives. A well is an account. If it is accurate and can be kept, it is inexhaustible. On the contrary, if you are too greedy, you will not only enjoy the happiness brought by "a well", but also catch up with yourself.
Three Cases of Zhu Yuanzhang Punishing Corruption
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhu Yuanzhang had his own ideals. He wants to build a clean and efficient government with a clean bureaucracy. His important counselor Liu Ji once told Zhu Yuanzhang that the Yuan Dynasty lost the world and was insatiable. If you want to keep the world stable, you must strengthen law and order. There is a forest in Zhongshu Province, which was discovered because of greed and breaking the law. But who is the prime minister of Zhongshu Province? Li Shanchang and Li Shanchang held the Bing Lin, but Liu Ji said they could not protect it and reported it to Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang said: resolutely enforce the law! Execute Bing Lin. One of the heroes of the founding of the People's Republic of China is Tanghe. As we all know, Tanghe has made many contributions to the country. He has an uncle who hides his property in Changzhou and pays less taxes. This matter was discovered by Zhu Yuanzhang and should be punished. A minister like Chang Yuchun came to this uncle Tanghe to intercede, but Zhu Yuanzhang said no and resolutely punished him. Zhu Yuanzhang's punishment of corruption is merciless and there is no room for discussion.
* From these two little things, we can see Zhu Yuanzhang's determination to crack down on corrupt officials and eliminate corruption. If there are not many corrupt officials who were executed in these two cases, then in the following three major cases, there are countless corrupt officials who were beheaded and implicated.
One of Zhu Yuanzhang's three major anti-corruption cases, the empty seal case.
The first case, called the gas seal case, took place in the ninth year of Hongwu, 1385. What is a blank print? As we all know, a person needs a letter of introduction when he leaves his unit to work in another unit. This letter of introduction introduces your identity and the reason why you want to do something, so that you can do something with this letter of introduction. But sometimes you may encounter some unexpected things when you are on a business trip, and you may open a blank letter of introduction if you want to work in some unexpected units. If you don't write anything, you don't write it when you look up, but stamp it. This kind of blank letter of introduction with official seal was called "empty seal" in Ming Dynasty. There was a system in the Ming Dynasty, which stipulated that at the end of each year, it was necessary to check the money and grain accounts of all counties in the world to see if they were accurate, what was the statistics, how many fields there were, how many people there were, how much tax they could pay and how long-distance services were. This is a great event. Prefectures asked the Chief Secretary and the provincial government for instructions, and the Chief Secretary took the materials to Shi Jing for verification. What is the household department? The Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Forestry are in charge of money, which is called "money and grain examination".
In the Ming dynasty, it often took a long time to go back and forth from provinces to the capital. If the figures in the capital test are inaccurate and inaccurate, they need to be filled in again. You can't fill it out without an official seal. Fill it out with the official seal. If a place far away, a province far away, goes to Nanjing to take an examination of money and food, and the figures are not appropriate, go back and stamp the official seal. Several months have passed, and this year's work cannot be completed. Therefore, it has been a long-standing habit to use a blank seal and bring a stamped blank document to Nanjing to check money and grain. The number is wrong. It is convenient to fill it in again, and it has been stamped.
Zhu Yuanzhang found out about it, and Zhu Yuanzhang said there must be a mole. He will punish all those who use blank seals, all those who print blank seals will be put to death, and all those who participate in blank seal cases, not those who print blank seals, will be punished with a hundred sticks and sent to a distant place. There is an official named Zheng Shiyuan, a judge of Huguang, who also participated in the air printing case. My younger brother Zheng Shili wrote a letter to Zheng Shiyuan to express his grievances. How can I put it? Say that you are dealing with our empty seal now, but you don't know the details of this empty seal. We have only printed half of the blank print. What is half-printing? As we all know, you have a letter of introduction and a riding seal. When you tear it in half, you have half a seal in your hand and half a seal at the bottom, so you take half a seal instead of a formal and complete seal. He said that all the empty seals that are now punished are half seals, and this half seal cannot be used for other purposes, let alone be a traitor. This is the first one. And it took so long, no one said it couldn't be used. Secondly, he said that if you want to say it can't be used, you should say it in advance and make a rule that empty seals can't be used. It's unfair that you punished all these people before the regulations. But Zhu Yuanzhang said, no. So even this Zheng Shili and Zheng Shiyuan were punished together and sent to do remote service.
Many people were involved in the case of air printing, and all the people who used air printing survived. Did Zhu Yuanzhang do it right? I think so! Why? Can you fill in the figures of money and grain at will? He is related to hukou and taxes. Your figure is not suitable. When I see something wrong with the capital, I will change them. This kind of statistical data cannot be used as the basis of national taxation. No matter how the people's burden is shouldered or how the state finances are collected, it will not work. Obviously, blank printing cases should be managed.
* Investigating the anti-corruption actions of SEALs with such great efforts should make corrupt officials tremble with fear and dare not be greedy again. But there are still brave people in the world. The blood of killing corrupt officials in the air-printing case has not yet dried up, and officials have committed crimes against the wind. In the history of the early Ming Dynasty, an earth-shattering corruption case was about to be uncovered.
Guo Huan case is the second of Zhu Yuanzhang's three major cases of fighting corruption and punishing corruption.
Secondly, we are talking about the Guo Huan case. Zhu Yuanzhang cracked down on corrupt officials with severe punishment, but the effect was not obvious. In the eighteenth year of Hongwu, officials from all over the country came to Beijing for assessment, which was called "Hajj assessment". When you come to Beijing to appear before the emperor, at the same time, you should give him a review and inspection of your achievements. If he is qualified, what about this official? A * * * How many people are there? A * * * 4 100 people, only more than 430 people are qualified, and most officials are unqualified. So in the eighteenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang took severe measures and launched an anti-corruption campaign nationwide. Now let's talk about the campaign. The fuse of this incident was the exposure of corruption in Guo Huan.
Who's Guo Huan? He is an assistant minister of agriculture, an assistant minister of forestry, an assistant minister of finance and an assistant minister of the interior. What did assistant minister and vice minister Guo Huan do that led Zhu Yuanzhang to punish corruption on a large scale across the country? At that time, only a few items were listed in the big patents: first, the governments of Taiping, Zhenjiang and Guangde ordered Zhu Yuanzhang to reduce or exempt half of the official land money, but Guo Huan did not put any food in these places, so where did the money go? Guo Huan broke up, which was a ... Second, Guo Huan received autumn grain from western Zhejiang, which should be 4.5 million stones. In fact, he only handed in 600,000 stones, and also collected some paper money. In addition, the grain totaled more than 2 million tons, so more than 2 million tons were divided up by Guo Huan and others.
What is the third charge of Guo Huan listed by Zhu Yuanzhang? At that time, when grain was levied, it was possible to levy grain as it was or to fold grain. For example, if rice is not produced in this place, I can convert it into something else to pay taxes, or I can convert this grain into money, which is called paper money to pay taxes. When Guo Huan and others collect taxes, a stone of rice is converted into two dollars, two dollars, but besides these two dollars, what money does he want from ordinary people? First of all,
Water is enough money 100, that is, shipping, water is enough money;
The fare is 300 Wen, saying that you have to take a bus after shipment, plus 300 Wen;
The money for eating is 100, saying that this person has to eat from horses, plus 100;
Treasury money 100, take care of the warehouse, watch the warehouse, I have to watch it for you, no one can pour it, plus100;
The money in the basket is 100. This grain should be bagged and packaged, and100 should be added to the basket;
Bamboo basket 100, bamboo basket plus 100. I still have to pay for Yanhe.
Buddha's money is 100. If you want to transport it, you should go to the river and walk to the river, lest the ship capsize in the strong wind. For the sake of safety, you should worship God and Buddha along the way. Water costs money, and people spend money. 100. So a stone of grain has two bills, how much money is added! These taxes are all added to the people, just to make a name for themselves and increase taxes. These things were stolen by people like Guo Huan.
At that time, the government raised horses, and the grass for raising horses was collected by the people. Guo Huan accepted some bribes, and whoever bribed him was exempted. He shared these burdens with other areas where he didn't pay bribes, which was another sum of money. There are also grains in the water and natto in the water, that is to say, the grains are mixed with water and put in the warehouse when wet, and the collected beans are mixed with water and put in the warehouse. Finally, the food in the warehouse rotted a lot and there was no way to deal with it. The warehouse was demolished and a large amount of grain was buried.
Such a large-scale corruption alarmed Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to the Guo Huan case. He made a statistic. He said that Guo Huan's direct corruption figure is 7 million stone, plus various discounts and banknotes, one * * * is 24 million stone. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered a memorial service to be held all day. How to chase? Finally, the money was sent to the Ministry, Guo Huan's hand, and the Ministry; Where did it come from, from twelve chief secretaries, that is, twelve provinces at that time; Give me the provincial officials for questioning. Where did you say your money came from? Well, everyone said it was from the government. Ok, arrest the officials in the government and interrogate them again; The government official said that the money he stole came from the country, so he arrested the state official again; The country said, I sent it to me from the county; Bring the county magistrate for questioning. Who gave you the stolen money? Then it fell on these bribers, who were rich and unruly at that time. No matter where it is found, it will be punished, and no one will be spared.
But there are policies above and countermeasures below. These corrupt officials put the money in their pockets and couldn't pour it out. What should I do? They will go to various towns and villages to post posts, send notices, ask for apportionment, and the people will pay. It was originally intended to punish greed, but as a result, the people added a new burden. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered severe punishment, so this case involved the Ministry of Finance and the 12 th Chief Secretaries in the world. Anyone who paid bribes or concealed things was called "more than half of the middle-class families in the world went bankrupt." What is a family above the middle class? Rich people, these rich people collude with the government to do evil. So the scale of this case is very large.
* In order to punish corrupt officials, Zhu Yuanzhang cut off the heads of thousands of officials many times, and he did not hesitate to bear the huge grievances of officials. But this is only part of it. Zhu Yuanzhang not only dared to execute a large number of corrupt officials, but also created countless cruel and severe punishments that made people feel cold.
As I said last time, Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that anyone who embezzles more than 62 yuan shall be put to death and stripped of real grass. This official should be hanged as an example. Every local county has a skinning place called Pichang Temple. After the Guo Huan incident, Zhu Yuanzhang also used severe punishment. What severe punishment? At that time, some officials in charge of the warehouse were very junior officials. What did Zhu Yuanzhang do? Cut off his hamstring, he can't walk, his knee is cut off, and this person becomes disabled. But in less than half a year, this man continued to break the law. How can he break the law? At that time, I sent food to the warehouse, sent a batch of food and took a chip, probably a bamboo stick, and then paid my salary with this chip. People sent ten servings of food, but thirteen servings of potato chips appeared. Why? Because the warehouse keeper and the punished person stole the chip and took it out. Zhu Yuanzhang said, you see, the punishment I gave him was not serious. I cut off his tendon and his knee, and then he got a tattoo on his face. He didn't do it again in half a year. How can I keep them from taking bribes? Severe punishment.
There are two sentences in Zhu Yuanzhang's words. He said, "I think the punishment is cruel." I said it was cruel enough. "People who hear it will think that this is a warning." Everyone who hears it should be warned. "You mean to save some Kang Mingyuan and so on. And his limbs are broken, does it mean that he is destined to die and has endless worries? " He said that this man named Kang Mingyuan is physically disabled. Although his limbs are different, he is still alive and his bad habits have not changed. "If you still sell official grain, how will the country treat such a fierce and stubborn person?" How can I punish, punish, punish and kill? Therefore, many people criticized Zhu Yuanzhang for his harsh laws, which were actually forced out by corrupt officials. As we mentioned just now, the warehouse keeper was severely punished, with his knees cut off, his hamstrings torn, his body tattooed, his face tattooed, and his feet and hands cut off. Also called "washing", lying on an iron bed, pouring hot water on him, and then brushing off the meat layer by layer with an iron brush. But these tortures are not all effective, killing one batch and coming out another. We should analyze Zhu Yuanzhang's torture. What is this? The torture used by Zhu Yuanzhang is not aimed at good people, especially the people, but at officials, bureaucrats and corrupt officials. So when it comes to torture, say this Zhu Yuanzhang is really hateful, but he doesn't target the people, he protects them.
* After Zhu Yuanzhang personally investigated and dealt with these two major cases, civil and military officials in the Qing Dynasty were afraid to make a move. Zhu Yuanzhang seems to have no hiding place for corrupt officials all over the world. But just when he was secretly glad, he didn't expect another big case to be right under his nose.
In the thirty years of Hongwu (1398), another major case occurred. We say this case is big, not because it involves a lot of money or a wide range, but because Zhu Yuanzhang has shown his decisiveness and determination in this case. What case? Leno Yang Xu case. In order to control the minority areas in Xifan, the Ming Dynasty exchanged tea from the Central Plains for horses in Xifan, and regarded this tea as a strategic material, which was prohibited from being exported privately. Because you control the tea, you can restrict the minority areas to a certain extent, which is necessary for you. If you give this tea to it, you can get horses, which has several benefits for the country, so it is forbidden to go out without permission. Xu's husband, Lun Ouyang, used his royal family to let his men smuggle tea. These people use official cars in local areas, break through without authorization, pay no taxes, and refuse to take charge. They are arbitrary officials who fight against Chu and control customs. The local gatekeeper was unbearable and reported to Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang was very angry when he got this information. He arrested and killed Lun Ouyang and resolutely put him to death. Who is LUN Ouyang? Just now we said he was Xu. Who is this Xu and his beautiful princess? It's Princess Anqing. This princess is no ordinary princess. His mother is Ma Huanghou, the earliest married couple of Zhu Yuanzhang. Ma Huanghou gave birth to two children and two daughters in her life. Princess Anqing is one of them, the closest and most beloved person. No one can intercede, and Lun Ouyang will resolutely kill him. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang did not hesitate to destroy his relatives in order to establish the order of his own bureaucratic team, clarify the bureaucracy and consolidate his rule.
* After Zhu Yuanzhang experienced three major cases, Zhu Yuanzhang hid in his study and began to write books wholeheartedly in the atmosphere of national terror. So, what book is this? Why did Zhu Yuanzhang concentrate on writing this book at such a special moment?
As we said just now, Zhu Yuanzhang compiled many cases of corruption and evil he handled into a book called "Big Report". He asked every family to have this "great coat". If you hide at home, you can reduce the first degree of crime during the trial. In the year when Da Gao was released, tens of thousands of students came to Beijing to give lectures on Da Gao, saying that we all learned Da Gao, and the emperor rewarded us. Everyone went back. It was he who organized a publicity and education campaign to popularize the law. This commutation measure in Da Gao became a criminal law system in the Ming Dynasty. In the future, whenever a sentence is tried, it is said that the sentence has been reduced by one level. It can be seen that the purpose of Zhu Yuanzhang's heavy punishment is to protect people's interests from infringement and clarify official administration. After the publication of Daguan, there appeared cases such as Daguan Sequel, Daguan Three Series, Daguan Military Affairs, etc., which specifically targeted at military commanders and military attaché s breaking the law. What was Zhu Yuanzhang's intention in compiling Da Gao? Liu Sanwu, a bachelor, has Preface to the Big Coat, and there are so many words, he said:
"Japan, China and foreign ministers are ordinary, I don't know the sacred heart, and I am greedy for ink. The reason for the drawbacks began in Cao Liu and was the chief culprit, led by Guo Huan. "
Not long ago, many officials did not understand Zhu Yuanzhang's intentions. They did bad things, took bribes and perverted the law. The root cause is Cao Liu. Starting from six departments, starting from the center, not far below. As the culprit, why Guo Huan? Who is the boss? It is the deputy minister of the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Finance are its deputy ministers. It is said that Cao Liu was originally a far-reaching place. "It is illegal to take bribes, and the traffic will be returned, which will also harm the people." It is said that Zhu Yuanzhang could not bear "innocent outsiders" and could not let those people suffer such harm, but "forced by five punishments" and imposed various criminal laws on them. The following two sentences, "if you are guilty, you must live." Although you punished them, let them not do it again. "The emperor tried to rule the world, but he wouldn't waste his leisure time on eating. He is still a book, thinking that the world is a warning and loving the people deeply. " The emperor asked to govern the world, and he was too busy to eat. He also compiled this book, and he loves the people deeply. This is the preface written by Liu Sanwu to him. Zhu Yuanzhang is at the grassroots level. He was born at the grassroots level. He has suffered, and he knows what it is. He has a passage, he said:
"This book is not an official's words or a scholar's article. I'm afraid it won't save me. Let me get this straight. We should know the big and the small, and save the wise and the stupid. This book is beneficial to Guan Jun, not harmful. "
In my opinion, this book is not an article by scholars, nor is it written by officials or officials. It's true, my article is not malicious. Therefore, although every case in Da Gao is accompanied by cruel punishment, it is also accompanied by a heart of loving the people.
* In the early decades of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang used his strong determination to crack down on corrupt officials and his frightening harsh criminal law to purge the bureaucracy many times. Then, what did Zhu Yuanzhang's heavy punishment bring to the Ming Dynasty after the massive wave of anti-corruption and after a batch of corrupt officials were sent to the execution ground? Can the officialdom in the early years of the Ming Dynasty take on a new look?
At that time, many people were very dissatisfied with Zhu Yuanzhang's harsh laws. In fact, everyone is worried about themselves. As early as the ninth year of Hongwu, there was a subject called Ye Boju in Pingyao County School, Shanxi Province. He wrote to Zhu Yuanzhang and put forward several things that Zhu Yuanzhang did wrong. One of them is called "torture is too complicated", saying that you Zhu Yuanzhang used too many punishments. What exactly did he say:
"I have watched it for several years, so it can be said that it is of great benefit, and it makes it relevant. There is no distinction between good and evil, and there is no distinction between good and evil. Those who believe and guess at dusk have it, those who entered yesterday and those who kill today have it. So far, I have been looking for change, and I have been forgiven and redeemed. The subjects of the world are at a loss. "
What do you mean? You punish others every day. You just appointed him as an official in the morning and abolished him in the afternoon. What about these dough statues? I'm at a loss. This group of officials are afraid of everyone and can't live a down-to-earth life every day.
In the twenty-first year of Hongwu, a bachelor named Xie Jin wrote to Zhu Yuanzhang, and also raised the problem that his punishment was too complicated. He said that it has been more than 20 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China. "There are few unchanging laws, and there are always people who fail." He said that there is not a day when the law does not change, and there is not a day when no one makes mistakes. "Smell your anger, uprooted headland tendril, over its treachery. I have never heard of great kindness, I admire the court in the world, and I have always been like this when I returned to my hometown. " What do you mean? I often hear you punish this and that, but I don't hear you praise anyone. Very strict.
At that time, officials were very nervous. They often get up at work in the morning and say goodbye to their first wives, saying that they left today and don't know if they can come back alive. Fortunately, when I came home at night, I met my wife's face and said, I have lived another day today, and tomorrow will be more than that. In this way, although the corrupt officials were frightened, on the other hand, the management of officials in the early Ming Dynasty, especially in the Hongwu period, was clarified. In the History of Ming Dynasty compiled by Zhang in Qing Dynasty, there is a biography called Biography of Honest Officials, which specifically records the biographies of honest officials. The honest officials of the Ming Dynasty listed in Official Biography have lived in Hongwu for more than 30 years, accounting for two-thirds of all the people. This biography of officials has such a passage:
"For a while, I was afraid of the law. I was honest and loved the people, so I was able to be an official and my governance was completely changed." At this time, these local officials were all afraid of criminal law, leading an honest and clean life to meet Zhu Yuanzhang's requirements, and the management of officials changed a new look.
Who has the best effect, Zhu Yuanzhang or Yongzheng?
Personally, I think Yongzheng did better. Yongzheng began to crack down on Guo's corruption from the root, implemented the policy of returning envy to the public, and distributed support money to increase the income of the state and officials. There is less natural corruption, so there is a saying that there is no official in Yongzheng. At least Zhu Yuanzhang's punishment means and practices are much more hateful than Yongzheng. Even in the end, many prisoners saw the trial judge with instruments of torture.
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Zhu Yuanzhang's method is stronger than Yongzheng's, while Yong Zhengdi's method of punishing corruption is too peaceful. When the financial deficit was 8120,000, he only ordered corrupt officials to pay compensation, and the most severe punishment was just copying the office manager and his brother's home. Zhu Yuanzhang was born in poverty, his parents and eldest brother died of cruel exploitation and plague, and he knew more about corrupt officials than Yongzheng. He advocated severe punishment and strict laws, and all officials who embezzled 620 yuan (equivalent to 39,648 yuan) were skinned, which greatly dealt a blow to the arrogance of corrupt officials, deterred a large number of officials and greatly restrained their behavior.