Chapter 33: Embezzlement also has its rules

  "Yin Zhen came to Shanghai for the purpose of building an ocean-going fleet and local government affairs, I will not interfere arbitrarily. The two adults have this idea, Yin Zhen is very pleased." Yin Zhen said, turning his words, "Xu Zhixian, tomorrow morning, I will inspect along the river, arrange a few familiar yamen to follow in the next few days."

  "I understand, I will go and make arrangements." Xu Shi-zhen bowed and said: "To report to the 14th Master, five missionaries have come from Jiangning, saying that they were ordered by you..."

  Min didn't expect Ming's movements to be so quick, and he said carelessly: "It's like that, let them come over."

  Xu Shi-zhen hesitated for a moment, looked at Zhu Yan-zhi and then responded with a "yes" before bowing his head slightly and turning to leave.

  After Xu Shi-zhen left, Zhu Yan-zhi spoke up: "From the moment the 14th Master got off the carriage, he was swift and decisive, which made this humble official feel ashamed. However, regarding the matter of the missionaries, it would be better for the 14th Master to be cautious. As early as the fourth year of the Holy Emperor's reign, there was an edict that Western missionaries were only allowed to be active in Guangzhou."

  Is there still this matter? Yin Zhen was shocked, and later the Westerners and missionaries who came to Shanghai would definitely become more and more numerous. If they were impeached by someone with ulterior motives for "deceiving the emperor and disobeying orders", although it didn't seem like a big deal at the moment, when the time came, it would be a serious crime. "Lord Zhu's reminder is indeed timely." As he spoke, he looked at Zhu Yan with satisfaction, this man was indeed a seasoned official, and he really needed someone familiar with the law by his side. He wondered if any of the several teachers he had hired were such talents, but on the way, he was in a hurry to rush along and didn't have time to investigate their backgrounds.

  Seeing Zhen's humility, Zhu Yan's heart was also delighted. "The emperor sent the 14th brother to preside over Shanghai, which is indeed a blessing for Songjiang."

  There are too many things to do at hand, and Yu Zhong didn't have the time to beat around the bush. He opened the door and said directly: "Let's not talk about those clichés, what happened to you?"

  Zhu Yan Zhi did not expect that Yin Zhen would keenly detect that something was amiss with just a few words, and he secretly admired him, indeed worthy of being from the capital city, so young yet having such discernment. He knew that his matter wouldn't pass for much longer before the other party found out, since he wanted to rely on this big tree, first and foremost he had to be sincere, so he immediately "thudded" down onto his knees.

  Yu Zhen saw him kneel down and felt that things might be a bit serious. He immediately shouted out: "Da Chun, disperse."

  "Roger." Da Chun responded with a single word, waved his hand and led the men to disperse and stand guard.

  "Get up and speak." Yin Zhen slightly furrowed his brow.

  Zhu Yan Zhi got up and sat down, then told in detail what he had done on his trip to Jiangnan.

  Before arriving in Shanghai, I had a general understanding of the officials in Jiangsu. As soon as I heard that the impeached and dismissed officials were the Governor of Jiangsu, the Provincial Treasurer, the Provincial Judge, and four other officials, all seven of whom were Han Chinese officials, which was the highest-ranking Han Chinese official in Jiangsu Province. How dare Gali be so arrogant and domineering from the beginning of his term? Is it his nature or is there a hint of Kangxi's intention behind him?

  The two rivers are the foundation of the imperial court, can Kangxi really use Manchu people to control the two rivers? It's impossible, Kangxi is not so short-sighted, this also does not match with his advocacy of Manchu-Han unity. The most famous and face-saving one cannot go back on his own words. If it was not ordered by Kangxi, then it must be a problem with Gali. When Gali first arrived in the two rivers, he had a dispute with the governor over power, which is known as the "Dufu dispute". This situation is inevitable, but an ordinary Dufu dispute has never seen such a big handwriting, what does Gali rely on to dare to sweep through the Jiangsu officialdom?

  "It seems that the embezzlement of grain rations and the deduction of river management funds are indeed true." Yinzhen sighed lightly.

  "I won't deceive you, Master." Zhu Yan Zhi unknowingly knelt on the ground, his face flushed with shame as he said: "In recent years, Jiangsu Province has been blessed with good weather, no floods or droughts. The annual allocation of river management funds has also been distributed layer by layer. This is not due to my own abilities, nor is it unique to Jiangsu. In fact, the entire Jiangnan region is like this. I am just a humble official who has been lucky enough to be part of it."

  Yongzheng originally also knew that the officialdom was corrupt at the end of Kangxi's reign, but he didn't expect it to be so corrupt. Not a single official had a clean bottom, no wonder Gali had the audacity to sweep through Jiangsu's official circles. After a while, he said with hatred: "Harmony and light are the same as dust, what a harmony and light are the same as dust! This world will probably be ruined by these four words."

  When Zhu Yan Zhi heard these heart-piercing words, his whole body went limp and he knelt down on the ground. These things would eventually be exposed anyway, so speaking out wouldn't make him regret it; instead, his entire body felt an indescribable sense of relief.

  The governance of officials is a big issue, and Emperor Kangxi was not unaware of the corruption among officials. However, why didn't he take action to rectify it? Yin Zhen couldn't figure out what Kangxi was thinking, so he thought to himself that he should first focus on building up his naval fleet, and deal with the governance of officials later when an opportunity arose. At this moment, he suddenly remembered a decree issued by Kangxi in October, exempting Jiangsu's Huai, Yang, and Xu, Shandong's Heze, and Henan's Guangde from paying land taxes for the next year. Is this guy trying to deceive me?

  "You said Jiangsu was disaster-free, but the Emperor issued a decree in October to exempt Huai'an, Yangzhou and Xuzhou prefectures in Jiangsu from paying land tax next year. What's going on?"

  Zhu Yan Zhi did not expect that one sentence would reveal such a big loophole. Hearing Yin Zhen's icy voice, he felt a chill of fear. However, things had already come to this point, and he couldn't hide it anymore. He gritted his teeth and said: "The three prefectures of Huai, Yang, and Xu have indeed suffered small disasters, but not to the extent that they need to be exempt from taxes. The reason for reporting it in such a way is simply to use the head tax of the three prefectures to make up for the deficits accumulated over the years. Even if we embezzled 80% of the funds allocated for river management, it was also used to make up for the deficits accumulated over the years. We only took 20% as our own gain."

  What a huge deficit was left behind? Yin Zhen became curious, did the officials of the Qing dynasty have such high awareness that they used 80% of their private bribes to fill the deficits of their predecessors? This is truly a wonder of the world.

  Seeing Zhen Fan's disbelieving face, Zhu Yan continued: "The 28% opening is a long-standing convention. This kind of thing is almost public in the entire Jiangnan officialdom. Everyone knows the cat's claw, but no one says it."

  He was thoroughly speechless, corruption still has a standard, is this opening a precedent in history? He couldn't help but ask: "What's going on with the previous deficits you mentioned?"

  Hearing this, Zhu Yan Zhi was taken aback. This young master did not believe him, so he hastily explained: "Jiangnan is rich and the officials are corrupt, but they do not embezzle public funds, so the deficits in Jiangnan are different from those in other places. The main reason for the deficits is misappropriation of funds, which was mainly caused by the emperor's southern tour and previous military campaigns. These deficits need to be filled year after year."

  So that's it, Kangxi's six southern tours, which two Jiang officials didn't want to fawn on and flatter, not to mention whitewash the peace to cater to the emperor's will. After all, it was the silver from the imperial treasury, who would feel heartache? That silver was spent like splashing water. Pacifying the three feudatories, conquering Taiwan, three times attacking Galdan, twice fighting against Russia, which time were the two Jiang not a disaster area? Apart from normal taxes, there must have been temporary requisitions. No wonder Kangxi knew that the governance had begun to deteriorate and didn't want to rectify it, the root cause was here.

  It seems that I have to make some money, first help Kangxi clean up the tail account of his southern tour, and then this official career can be put on the agenda. Otherwise, it would be self-inflicted. Thinking of this, Yin Zhen looked at Zhu Yanqi who was kowtowing on the ground. This person's moral character is neither good nor bad, not a good official, but can be called an able official. He is just a poor guy who stands in the wrong team and is a victim of the struggle between the governor and the governor-general. It is easy to protect him, a fourth-rank official, it is just a matter of one sentence. However, if he doesn't get beaten up, he will not have any achievements in the end. Moreover, since I am in Jiangnan, pulling him over can bring myself closer to the Han officials in Jiangnan, which is more beneficial for my development in Shanghai.

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  Are there any recommended tickets? Tomorrow's competition for the home page is a bit stressful.