funbook-pk Chapter 672 The road to Shu is no longer difficult.
Chapter 672 The road to Shu is no longer difficult.
The officials present trembled even more when they heard this.
There was an old man who was so frightened that he could hardly sit still. He was swaying in his chair and was about to wet his pants.
Ye Kun stared at the old man and asked, "Sir, are you feeling unwell? What's your name?"
Feng Youtie smiled and said, "This is the Cao official of Hanzhong School, who is in charge of school work. His name is Han Lin. He is from the Han family of Yizhou and is the cousin of Master Han Chun."
Han Lin stood up, tears streaming down his face: "Yes, yes, yes... I am Han Lin, a native of Chengdu..."
"So you are Han Lin. You are on the list."
Ye Kun snorted and opened the book of Hades: "Last June, when Xinchengnan Primary School was built, you colluded with suppliers and embezzled 35,000 red bricks and other building materials to build six tiled houses for your brother-in-law. You deducted the school's sanitation management fees and building maintenance fees. You even sold the feces in the school toilets privately, right?"
Han Lin collapsed to the ground: "Your Majesty, I deserve to die..."
"You are so old, you are going to die soon."
Ye Kun held up the notebook and said with a smile: "Half of the gentlemen present here are clean. But the other half are somewhat unclean. I will give you a chance. Hand over the stolen money and I will not pursue any of you.
Tomorrow morning, I will set up a large tent outside the city gate, sealed. Each of you will have a carriage and put the stolen money in a box. Enter the tent alone, stay there for three minutes, throw the stolen money in the tent, and drive the carriage out.
If you are shy, just let your family members and servants do it. I promise to do it behind closed doors and not supervise you on the spot, so as to save your face.”
Everyone clasped their fists and nodded.
Ye Kun instructed Feng Youtie: "You arrange the tent for tomorrow. It must be sealed to prevent prying eyes, and to take into account the face of the adults."
Feng Youtie smiled and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I will set up the tent tonight."
Ye Kun smiled and nodded: "Let's adjourn the meeting."
Back at the inn, Wen Axiu said with a smile, "Your Majesty, are you really letting these corrupt officials go?"
Ye Kun sighed, "There are only three big corrupt officials in Hanzhong. The rest are petty corrupt officials, so I just turned a blind eye. The nine ministers all reported that the local officials have a hard time. I let those small fish and shrimps go, just as a welfare."
After Ye Kun came to power in the Central Plains, he has been working to rectify the administration of officials.
With the supervision of Mohist disciples across the country, the grassroots level is basically clear.
If Ye Kun really practices zero tolerance, no one will be an official.
If the water is clear, there will be no fish.
The next morning, Ye Kun climbed up to the city wall and looked at the tents below the city.
Very lively.
Hundreds of officials from Hanzhong drove horse-drawn carriages into the tent one after another, stayed for a while, and then came out.
When it came out, the carriage was carefully inspected and had to be empty.
As to whose carriage contained the stolen money, no one knew.
I did this in one morning.
After the activity, Ye Kun went down from the tower to check the results.
Very good, officials at all levels contributed more than 30,000 taels of silver, as well as a pile of jewels and jades.
Ye Kun burned the small notebook in public and said with a smile:
"Thank you all for your generosity. The tens of thousands of taels of silver here are just right for repairing the canal and benefiting the people. This is called taking from the people and giving back to the people. The little book has been burned. I will not hold you accountable for the past. I keep my word."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Ye Kun said, "There are several particularly honest officials in Hanzhong. I want to commend them. Xue Tai, the agricultural official, was devoted to developing agriculture. When his parents died, he was unable to show filial piety by their bedside. He used his salary to buy plows and waterwheels for poor farmers. He was dressed in rags and often demonstrated to farmers in the fields.
Lord Xue, please accept my greeting. "
After saying that, Ye Kun bowed deeply to Xue Tai.
Xue Tai hurriedly returned the greeting: "I am also a farmer's son. I am where I am today because of the court's cultivation..."
Ye Kun smiled and said, "I will allocate 50 taels of silver from the stolen money to build a house for you. I will also reward you with 200 taels of silver. You must not give it to others and make sure you spend it yourself."
"I accept the order and thank you."
"It is right to reward honest officials." Ye Kun nodded, and named and praised other honest officials, rewarding them one by one.
Only then did everyone believe that Ye Kun really had the means and could observe every move of the grassroots.
Finally, Ye Kun said, "I know it's not easy to be an official, especially in places with difficult conditions. But don't worry, the court will adjust its strategy in the future and pay you high salaries to maintain integrity. That is, we will increase your treatment and salaries, so that you can have no worries about food and clothing, and be an honest official with peace of mind."
In the past six months, the salaries and benefits of local officials have been adjusted twice in succession, which has begun to have a flavor of high salaries to maintain integrity.
After retiring, officials will receive pension money and land until their death.
Ye Kun felt that if this still failed to clean up the bureaucracy, then there was nothing else to do.
Ye Shoucheng asked Ye Kun: "Your Majesty, what should we do with the jewels and jades?"
"Count and register, seal it, and hand it over to the Finance and Taxation Department."
Ye Kun has no interest in jewelry and jade.
Wen Axiu smiled and said, "Your Majesty, the court's jade and jewelry have already filled four large warehouses and are being sold at a low price. It would be better to auction these small things on the spot and use the proceeds to repair the canal."
Over the years, countless tons of jadeite from Yunmian and mutton-fat jade from the Western Regions have entered the imperial court's large warehouses through trade.
A few years ago, glass mirrors were used to exchange for Western Region mutton-fat jade, one pound for two pounds.
And it also requires good quality and large pieces.
Low-quality mutton-fat jade is not wanted in the Western Regions and is found everywhere, just like pebbles.
The agate and jadeite from Yunmian are cheaper, and can be exchanged for fine porcelain at a rate of one pound for one pound.
Last year, Yunmian presented nine jade dragons as tribute, each weighing more than 200 kilograms and carved from a single piece of jade.
Ye Kun didn't like jade and didn't need it, so he ordered the jade dragon to be taken into the national treasury and sent to a museum for exhibition.
The imperial court had mountains of jade wares with no place to put them, so every once in a while, they would select a batch of the lesser-quality ones and put them up for public auction.
The proliferation of jade artifacts led to a trend of wearing jade among the people, and also promoted the development of the jade carving industry.
Ye Kun did not prohibit it. Instead, he instructed the Science and Technology City to research jade craftsmen's tools, create new tools and fine steel engraving knives, and guide the healthy development of the jade manufacturing industry.
Wen Axiu was right. If this batch of jade wares were sent to Zhuo County, they would probably be treated as garbage. It would be better to auction them on the spot to avoid trouble.
Ye Kun laughed and agreed to Wen Axiu's suggestion.
Two days later, on May 20th, Ye Kun left Hanzhong and headed for Yizhou.
This time we took Migang Road.
Feng Youtie escorted us throughout the journey, led the way and introduced the road conditions.
Because there was no war, Feng Youtie's troops were almost entirely responsible for road construction in recent years.
Looking at the split mountain pass, the towering mountains on both sides, and the endless abyss below the plank road, Ye Kun suddenly felt inspired to write a poem:
"Alas, how dangerous and high it is! The road to Shu is more difficult than climbing to the sky. Cancong and Yufu, how confused they were when they founded the country. For 48,000 years, there has been no human traffic with the Qin frontier. To the west of Taibai there is a bird path that can cross the peak of Emei Mountain. The ground collapsed, the mountains were crushed, and the warriors died. Then the ladders to heaven and the stone planks were connected..."
Xie Baochan heard Ye Kun's recitation and asked, "When did the emperor write this poem? It is magnificent and majestic, a masterpiece of Shu Mountain!"
"Oh, the poems of Anonymous, I have read them in an ancient book..."
Ye Kun was too embarrassed to plagiarize, so he attributed Li Bai's masterpiece to the ancient anonymous person and said with a smile: "The ancients walked the dangerous road of Shu Mountain and survived nine deaths, so they wrote this poem. But now, we have countless pioneers, and the Shu Road is no longer difficult!"
Now, crossing the southern section of Migang Road saves three days and is much safer than before.
Feng Youtie built several cliff-hanging roads to replace the previous shaky plank roads.
He also has a plan to abolish all the ancient plank roads and convert them all into cliff-hanging roads within two to three years!
Jiang Yourong's carriage entered the cliff road and he was also amazed: "What kind of skill does it take to carve out a cliff road like this? It's incredible."
Feng Youtie replied:
"My lady, this cliff road was carved out by soldiers who tied long ropes around their waists and chiseled footholds halfway up the cliff, then used fire, water or iron spikes to forcibly dig it out.
We invested 2,000 men in three years to dig a 13-mile cliff road. On average, each soldier broke more than 100 hammers and more than 500 iron chisels. In addition, more than 100 brothers died of exhaustion, illness, or fell off the cliff..."
At the end of his speech, Feng Youtie burst into tears.
Jiang Yourong's eyes also turned red, and she said to Ye Kun: "Your Majesty, General Feng should be rewarded. It's just like the ancient Yugong moving the mountain."