Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors-Chapter 479 - 261: Stirring Up a Major Prison Incident!_4

"Just send someone to investigate, and they will certainly find evidence of this person’s corruption and abuse of power!"

Having said that, Emperor Taizu of Sheng seemed still unsatisfied, "Such corrupt wrongdoers, who knows how many there are in the court!

"It’s no wonder that the Qi Dynasty’s accumulated malpractices grew heavier over the years, falling at the first blow!

"Civil officials love money, military officials fear death, it would be strange if they were competent!"

To Fan Cun, these memorials appeared to be filled with empty praises and clichés, but in Emperor Taizu of Sheng’s eyes, they revealed the Qi Dynasty as a sieve, rotten to the core.

After all, Emperor Taizu of Sheng had risen from the grassroots, working his way up step by step, what kind of tricks hadn’t he seen?

These civil officials could easily manipulate figures and deceive an emperor like Emperor Qihui, who only knew calligraphy and playing ball. But to deceive Emperor Taizu of Sheng was akin to seeking death by lighting a lantern in a latrine.

Fan Cun was curious, "Eh, I heard that the Qi Dynasty was a period of high salaries maintaining integrity. The officials’ wages were the highest throughout history, and as for the Jingping Incident, it was just a sudden death, its lifespan not yet fully spent, so how come the current governance has already shown signs of utter decay?"

Emperor Taizu of Sheng chuckled, "High salaries maintaining integrity? That’s an interesting idea.

"Do you really think high salaries can maintain integrity? I have never believed that!

"Young man, think about it. If you’re an ordinary citizen dealing with an official, and if that official earns only two taels of silver a month, how much would you have to spend to settle matters? On the other hand, if an official earns ten taels of silver a month, how much would you have to spend then?

"If so-called high salaries were to maintain integrity, and a sum of money was specifically allocated for that purpose, then these lower-level officials and clerks could completely afford to hire people to do their work! In the past, even if they extorted, they did so covertly, but now they can openly hire others to distribute the costs, adding layers of fees, introducing many unnecessary procedures, and the common people at the bottom suffer even more from extortion!"

Fan Cun suddenly realized, "So, low salaries are more likely to maintain integrity?"

Emperor Taizu of Sheng shook his head, "That’s not necessarily the case either. High salaries cannot maintain integrity, and low salaries definitely cannot maintain integrity! After all, whether officials are honest or not doesn’t have much to do with the amount of their salaries.

"Officials are part of the ruling class of the state, inherently possessing privileges! How much silver can you use to fill their insatiable appetite?

"You give them ten taels, and they will covet thirty taels; you give thirty taels, and they will covet three hundred taels!

"No matter how much silver you give to maintain integrity, they will get used to it, and their personal desires will inflate, always wanting to multiply that number by several."

Fan Cun nodded, "Indeed. So how can integrity be cultivated?"

Emperor Taizu of Sheng said sternly, "It’s simple, the executioner’s blade can maintain integrity! All officials and clerks who commit crimes and are corrupt should be dragged out and executed without mercy!

"Although this measure cannot address the root cause, it can provide a temporary solution.

"Reform with each generation, and each generation will be pure and clear; if neglected in one dynasty, long-standing customs will prevail, resulting in irreversible chaos and decay."

Fan Cun nodded, gaining a new understanding of the current situation.

Of course, what Emperor Taizu of Sheng said wasn’t entirely correct. If the officials’ salaries were really so low that they couldn’t maintain a normal life, even struggling to buy vegetables and meat, then they too would be forced into corruption and embezzlement.

So in reality, high salaries maintaining integrity is simply one part of a multi-faceted approach. Strict laws and a separation of powers to allow for easier detection and harsher punishment of corruption is needed first, and then high salaries can be used to ensure officials’ basic livelihood.

Only when all three aspects are in place, can high salaries truly achieve some success in maintaining integrity.

This might be hopeful in modern society, but in ancient society, hope was very slim.

Emperor Taizu of Sheng, an emperor of humble origins, harbored a deep-seated hatred for these officials, which is why he sometimes overcorrected in this area.

But regardless, the bureaucracy during Emperor Taizu of Sheng’s reign was the cleanest.

Many people used the fact that corrupt officials still emerged after Emperor Taizu of Sheng had executed many to argue that killing corrupt officials was useless, which is obviously wrong. The truth is, corrupt officials can never be completely eradicated, but killing them is still better than not killing them.

Attempts like "integrity silver" were made later on, but the end result was that officials stopped working altogether, farming out their duties layer by layer, essentially becoming pure exploiters. The more they tried to nurture integrity, the more helpers the officials hired, to the point that even a lowly county official could have a staff of two thousand. And with higher salaries, these people’s standard of living went up while their exploitation of those below increased significantly.

No matter how well a system was designed at the beginning, it completely changed in the later stages.

The situation in the Qi Dynasty at that time was actually even more serious.

Because the Qi Dynasty had a curious system called "hereditary favor," which allowed officials’ offspring to enter the bureaucracy directly without going through layers of selection or taking the imperial examinations. This was indeed a good method to win over the scholar-official class, making officials universally sing praises of the Emperor of Qi, but the result was an excessive number of officials not doing their proper duties and an intensifying problem of redundant officials.

Wang Wenchuan thought about addressing this issue during his reforms, but in the end, it was completely unresolvable.

After all, to change this, one would have to oppose the entire literati bureaucratic group in the court, risking a direct snub similar to Wen Jun’s ideal of "sharing power with the scholar-officials."

Fan Cun fell into a deep contemplation, "The situation with official corruption is very serious, and the problems of redundant officials and idleness are also extremely urgent.

"Even... with so many officials, it feels quite a headache to investigate them one by one. There are too many!

"How should we deal with this?"

Emperor Taizu of Sheng let out a cold smile, "Isn’t it simple? Enact a grand purge!

"Find a significant pretext and involve all the officials in the court! Then conduct a thorough investigation!

"For those found to be redundant or idle, fabricate a reason to connect them, strip their titles and remove them from office; for the corrupt, behead them; for those in critical positions that can’t be moved yet, use both kindness and severity, letting them work for a while longer!

"Launch several grand purges, have heads roll!

"When enough have been executed, reform the official system and eliminate all redundant positions. Then hold imperial examinations, select officials in large numbers from the common people to fill these vacancies, and use them to counterbalance the old party officials!"

Fan Cun pondered for a moment, "This matter probably can’t be rushed, after all, the Jin troops are still lurking menacingly outside the city. If too many officials are killed and the court becomes unstable, wouldn’t that be dangerous?"

Emperor Taizu of Sheng sneered, "What danger! They’re just a bunch of incompetent scholars; if they were really capable of accomplishment, how could the Jingping Incident have happened?

"Those with ability will naturally be put to good use, to restore order from chaos and rectify the court. But those who jump the highest are surely the most cowardly on the inside!

"At that time, you can let the Western Army fight the Jin troops while naturally taking control of the entire capital under martial law, use the Wude Bureau to gather intelligence within the city, and incidentally discover these officials’ corruption.

"Those who disobey, kill without mercy!

"When heads start rolling in the capital, the common people will actually applaud, praising our Emperor’s sagacity.

"To put it bluntly, as long as you have the knife in your hand, you can act without restriction, cutting through chaos with swift justice!"

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