Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang has always been the most disgusted with corruption, once he knows that someone has made such a mistake, only their heads will fall to the ground.
To what extent is Zhu Yuanzhang absolute? Even the bricks on the city wall he asked officials and responsible persons at all levels to engrave their names on them.
Why is the name of the person in charge engraved? Because then you know which brick is responsible for whom. Once a brick rots and breaks, these responsible people will suffer.
In order to save their lives, officials did everything they could to cast the bricks to be strong and durable. This responsibility system, called "material and work names," is designed to prevent officials from engaging in "tofu scum" projects.
It is also because of this order issued by Zhu Yuanzhang that the Ming city wall, which has lasted for centuries, is still impregnable.
When I go to Nanjing to visit the former site of the Ming City Wall, I still have to be shocked by the project at that time.
In addition to the above, Ming Taizu did not cut off the heads of corrupt officials in order to punish corruption.
When the documentary "General History of China" mentions "corruption", it specifically mentions the "empty seal case" that occurred during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty -
"In the fifteenth year of Hongwu, all the more than 1,300 officials involved in the empty seal case were dealt with. Three years later, the grain embezzlement case of household officials was confirmed, and more than 30,000 people were sentenced to death, from the six or so servants to the magistrates. ”
Zhu Yuanzhang's punishment almost swept away the officials in the court. However, corruption still cannot be eradicated, but during Zhu Yuanzhang's reign, remarkable results were achieved in rectifying corrupt officials and corrupt officials.
What about the "empty seal case"? This is one of the "four major cases" in the early years of the Ming Dynasty that shocked the four people. In addition to the "empty seal case", the other three major cases are: the Lan Yu case, the Hu Weiyong case, and the Guo Heng case.
The empty seal case occurred during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty. An empty seal is to pre-stamp a seal on the document, and fill in the specific content when needed. This case was taken seriously by Zhu Yuanzhang, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty at that time.
Zhu Yuanzhang believed that officials could use blank books to cheat, so they should severely punish those who used blank books with official seals, because a large number of people were implicated.
Zhu Yuanzhang can be described as an emperor who implements the principle of "when things go wrong, there must be greed" to the end.
The rectification of corruption is related to the emperor's determination, and the determination is great, and the results will be great, but the consequences of doing too much will be borne by the emperor himself in the end. Emperor Chongzhen also hated corruption very much, but in the end, there was no official by his side, and he ended up in a lonely and helpless situation.
Not only did Zhu Yuanzhang punish the "empty seal case" and the grain corruption case, but even Zhu Yuanzhang took care of the city wall.
The names of officials can still be clearly seen on the Ming city wall of Nanjing. This was also done to prevent local corners from cutting corners, and the name of the person in charge of the 11th floor was engraved on a city wall, and the person in charge of the top was found if it was broken.
With this system, who would dare to cut corners? This is also one of the reasons why the Ming city walls have been preserved for centuries and are still intact.
So why did Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang hate the word "greed" so much?
This is also related to "taking history as a mirror", and the serious corruption in the late Yuan Dynasty gave him enough vigilance. At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang was also from the bottom, sympathizing with the vast number of suffering and oppressed people, so he hated official corruption even more.