Chapter 12 If you do this, all the court officials will become lambs to be slaughtered!
Are there any corrupt officials in Qing State? Is the seemingly incorruptible Prime Minister Lin engaged in clique-building activities?

For Emperor Qing, this is not a problem at all, but a method to control the court.

Corrupt official?

It doesn’t matter. As long as staying in office can make Qing Kingdom stronger, Emperor Qing can totally tolerate it.

Even when his two sons behaved in a similar way during the fight for the throne, Emperor Qing remained indifferent.

After all, for the emperor, all he needs to do is control the overall situation.

On this point, the thoughts revealed by Li Chengde are completely consistent with those of Emperor Qing.

It is impossible to avoid corruption, we can only prevent it and try to reduce it.

But Li Chengde is more radical than Emperor Qing.

Instead of stopping corrupt officials from making money, he encouraged them to increase their efforts!

This idea is simply difficult for ordinary people to understand!
If that were all, that would be fine. Li Chengde's opinion doesn't have much reference value.

Because if this indulgence continues, even if only capable ministers who can get things done are promoted, the atmosphere of the entire court will be completely corrupted and difficult to curb.

At that time, Emperor Qing would not have to think about unifying the world. The wrangling in the court alone would be enough to make him exhausted and he would have no energy to deal with the threat from Northern Qi.

But Li Chengde came up with an extremely innovative idea, which was to confiscate the property and exterminate the clan in order to enrich the national treasury!
Of course, emperors of all dynasties have done such things, but they were all for the purpose of rectifying the court.

But Li Chengde is completely different. He treats everyone equally. No matter what the other party has done during his tenure, as long as a certain period of time has passed, they will all be thrown into jail!

This is really cruel!
This is simply an act of tyranny!
But you know what, this method might actually be effective.

Allowing court officials to engage in corruption will undoubtedly lead to an empty treasury and leave the people with no money.

But as long as the emperor can recover all the money through coercive means and use it for various expenses of the court, the previous worries will naturally no longer exist!
Of course, the biggest problem here is that it is impossible to determine how much money each official has embezzled.

This seems to be an unsolvable problem.

After all, corrupt officials are not stupid, they don't hide all their money in their homes.

This would make tracking down the person very time-consuming.

But Li Chengde’s angle to solving the problem was very clear. He directly asked the people from the Supervisory Commission to keep an eye on all officials!
In other words, all the court officials were treated as traitors, leaving them no room for privacy!

This method is even more brutal than the unreasonable confiscation of property and extermination of the clan!

In his eyes, the court officials were no longer pillars of society, but lambs to be slaughtered!
"By the way, considering that those people in the Supervisory Council may also be involved in corruption, I propose to set up another agency, called the Eastern Investigation Bureau."

"The East Factory is jointly commanded by Eunuch Hou and Eunuch Hong. The people in this agency are specifically used to keep an eye on the Supervisory Council!"

Li Chengde added with a calm expression.

Emperor Qing cast his gaze towards Eunuch Hou standing beside him, a hint of interest flashing in his eyes.

The latter quickly lowered his head, as if pretending not to hear the voice here.

Chen Pingping's eyes were calm and he remained silent.

But soon, he immediately smiled and said, "Your Highness, this policy is indeed a good policy for governing the country. Once implemented, our Daqing will no longer have the problem of corrupt officials. I congratulate Your Majesty!"

"Okay." Emperor Qing said decisively, "If that's the case, let's implement it starting today."

He cast his gaze towards Eunuch Hou, "You will be the governor of the Eastern Investigation Bureau, and the location will be set up at Donghuamen."

Eunuch Hou could no longer pretend that he hadn't heard it, and immediately knelt on the ground, "I accept your command and thank you!"

The two biggest characteristics of Emperor Ling of Han, eunuchs interfering in politics and selling official positions, are now complete. Although the functions of the East Jishi Factory of Qing State are few, it can even be said that there is only one, that is, the undercover Supervisory Office.

But the Supervisory Council itself has a very special status in Qing Kingdom and is not among the hundreds of officials. Now there is an institution that restricts the Supervisory Council. Things are going to change in Qing Kingdom!

"Your Majesty, I would like to add one more sentence."

Li Chengde suddenly spoke again at this time.

Emperor Qing nodded slightly, "Speak!"

Li Chengde said without hesitation: "I want to emphasize again that the surveillance of the Supervisory Office is not limited to Kyoto, all officials in the entire Qing Kingdom are under surveillance!"

If it was just Kyoto, then it wouldn't be a big deal.

But if the scope is expanded to the entire Qing Kingdom, it means that the Supervisory Office and the East Factory will become the two institutions with the most secret agents in history!

This huge number of secret agents represents extremely terrifying expenses!
This is equivalent to doubling the existing staffing!
What is this concept?
The expenditure on salaries was enough to support a court the size of three Qing kingdoms!

"..."

The entire hall fell into silence.

Li Chengde’s method is indeed good, but it seems a bit expensive?
"Let's start in Kyoto first, and you will take the lead." Emperor Qing threw the question directly to Li Chengde.

"Your Majesty, I accept your order." Li Chengde did not refuse. "How to set the price of official positions at all levels, please decide."

Emperor Qing was more direct about this question, "Go back and sort it out, and hand it over to me later."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Chengde took out a memorial from his sleeve and said, "I have already written it. It is all here. Please have a look, Your Majesty."

Emperor Qing took it but did not open it. Instead, he looked at Li Chengde with a playful look.
"Very well, what else do you want?"

Li Chengde was not in a hurry and said calmly: "I really have one thing I can't make up my mind about."

The smile in Emperor Qing's eyes became more intense. "You are so brave, is there anything you dare not do? Tell me about it."

Li Chengde said without hesitation, "On the day I moved into the Prince of Wei's mansion, the Crown Prince, my second brother, and the eldest princess came to my house to congratulate me. Here is the gift list."

As he spoke, Li Chengde took out another memorial.

But this time, Emperor Qing did not take it over. "You have just made a great contribution, and you are also celebrating your new home. It is normal for them to go to your house to celebrate."

Upon hearing this, Li Chengde put away the gift list and continued, "The eldest princess wants me to force the crown prince and my second brother to revolt, so that I can reap the benefits."

Emperor Qing didn't seem surprised. "Oh? So what do you think about this?"

Li Chengde looked righteous and said calmly, "I think it would be better to let the Crown Prince, my second brother and Your Majesty die together. This way, the benefits can be maximized."

"This is extremely treasonous. Please punish me, Your Majesty."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire hall fell silent.

Eunuch Hou was lying on the ground, his body trembling slightly.

Chen Pingping's eyes were filled with shock and some disbelief.

After a brief silence, Emperor Qing laughed up to the sky, "Ha, ha, ha, Li Chengde, what crime have you committed?"

"From now on, I order you to set up the Tongwen Academy to recruit talented people for the country, and allow you to attend government meetings. Please accept my order."

"My son, take the order!"

(End of this chapter)