As we all know, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was the ruler who hated corrupt officials the most in history, and Zhu Yuanzhang's anti-corruption policy was not a joke, and he used a series of tortures such as "peeling the skin and grass" against corrupt officials.
However, throughout the nearly three hundred years of Daming's reign, the number of Qing officials was very few, and there were many corrupt officials, and Lao Zhu's policy did not seem to play a substantive role. Even Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant minister of the Wanli Dynasty, was not an incorruptible official, and when he was raided, the official sent a stolen money of 200,000 taels of silver from The Zhang Mansion. Even a powerful minister like Zhang Juzheng was corrupt and bribed.
So, what is the cause of this?
Back then, Zhu Yuanzhang once said something to the ministers with his heart and lungs: "In the past, when I was in the people, I saw that many prefecture and county officials did not sympathize with the people, often greedy for money and lustful, and excessively drunk. The sufferings of the people are indifferent to them, and their hearts are really angry. Therefore, it is strictly forbidden today, but those who encounter corruption and harm to our people by officials will not be punished. Obviously, Zhu Yuanzhang was once a victim. Now that he has turned himself into a master, he will naturally have a deep hatred for those corrupt moths.
Although this set of anti-corruption laws promulgated by Zhu Yuanzhang when he came to power had a certain element of showmanship, this set of laws was the most severe anti-corruption law ever issued. Those who have embezzled more than sixty taels of silver shall be beheaded. What is the concept of sixty-two pieces of silver? At the current price of silver, one gram of silver is equivalent to four yuan, one or two pieces of silver is two hundred yuan, and sixty-two is equivalent to twelve thousand yuan. In the Hongwu Dynasty, embezzling twelve thousand yuan would cost you a head, a standard that was unmatched by successive dynasties.
At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang also has a set of theories of "honest government", and he exhorts those prospective officials who are about to enter the career: "Honestly live on salary, this kind of life is like guarding the well water, although the well is not filled, but the well water is inexhaustible." If the embezzlement of stolen funds is reported and exposed, it will be imprisoned and in a different place, and then all the stolen money from embezzlement will fall into the pockets of others, and the gains will outweigh the losses. Zhu Yuanzhang did not have much ink in his stomach, in order to let this theory spread, Zhu Yuanzhang also let the imperial literati interpret this passage repeatedly, and even rose to the height of "Shoujing philosophy".
In order to suppress greed, Lao Zhu can be described as painstaking. However, in the final Ming Dynasty, was the problem of corruption solved or improved?
Not really.
Even in Zhu Yuanzhang's Hongwu Dynasty, the problem of corruption was still repeatedly prohibited. Just like Zhu Yuanzhang's own sigh, he killed a group of corrupt officials in the morning, and in the evening several groups of corrupt officials popped out. One corrupt official fell, and ten corrupt officials stood up, like cutting leeks, stubble after stubble, cutting endlessly.
So, why did Zhu Yuanzhang's decree have a counterproductive effect?
Zhu Yuanzhang spent a lifetime without being able to figure it out.
In fact, the reason is very simple: the key to anti-corruption lies not in killing chickens and monkeys, but in a clean and honest political environment. Zhu Yuanzhang's laws are harsh, and his philosophy is also very reasonable, but these are divorced from reality after all. During the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court practiced a relatively conservative bureaucratic system in which the "annual salary" of each minister was very low.
In addition, if officials want to have a smooth career, they still have to rely on personal dependence, and social interaction is essential. What's more, Zhu Yuanzhang carried forward the centralized rule to the extreme, and the officials had unlimited "greed opportunities." Everything provides a breeding ground for corrupt officials to grow.
According to the salary and treatment given by Zhu Yuanzhang, a local county official can receive ninety stones of rice per year. Looking at it now, the official's annual salary is about 30,000 yuan. In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, the annual salary of 30,000 yuan a year is already a high salary. As everyone knows, Zhu Yuanzhang is measuring the salary level when he was a monk, which is obviously out of touch with reality.
Just imagine, a county-level official who works in the local area cannot solve everything alone, but also has to find someone to give advice. Whether it is a recruiter or a mr. accounting room, it needs a lot of expenditure, and this money will not be reimbursed by the imperial court, and can only be reimbursed by itself. In fact, these expenses are nothing, the most important thing is the "welcome to send" between the superior and the subordinate.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang is the boss, the so-called county officials are not as good as the current management, and the direct superiors determine the promotion path of the officials. Every New Year's Day, you always have to come up with a sum of money "meaning". In addition, the small officials under the county officials worked hard for a year, and even if they did not send them some hard money, they had to put two tables to treat them.
In this way, isn't the salary of 30,000 yuan a year equivalent to letting the county officials do rice cooking?
Therefore, even though Zhu Yuanzhang killed one batch after another of corrupt officials, corrupt officials were still repeatedly forbidden. Leaving aside the moral qualities of corrupt officials, looking at the political environment during the Ming Dynasty, officials who could only receive meager salaries every year could only take risks, otherwise they would not be able to gain a foothold in the official arena, and even eating enough was a big problem.
Resources:
[Records of Emperor Gao of the Ming Dynasty" and "Ming Shi Vol. 1, Benji No. 1"]