Meng Yin's words were like a heavy hammer that struck Zhu Yuanzhang's heart.
He thought carefully and felt that Meng Yin's words were not entirely correct.
Since ancient times, corrupt officials had been the source of disasters.
Compared to picking someone from the corrupt officials.
Killing was the most direct method.
Zhu Biao and Zhu Xi fell silent.
For a long time, no one spoke.
The words Meng Yin said in a calm tone earlier revolved in everyone's hearts, but it inexplicably made people feel a trace of majesty inside.
In the silence.
Meng Yin pointed at Zhu Yuanzhang with a normal expression, but the words he said were unexpected.
"I can see that you hate corrupt officials just like the current emperor.”
"However, what I want to tell you is that the formation of corrupt officials is not that simple.”
"The vast majority of officials do not become corrupt officials the moment they become officials.”
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned. It was obvious that he still hated corrupt officials.
Meng Yin was somewhat helpless.
She thought to herself that this old man was too stubborn and only insisted on his own ideas.
Meng Yin sighed and said," There are many people who have obtained official titles in history. They once had great ambitions and wanted to be good officials. They wanted to be famous for thousands of years.”
"But only after entering the officialdom did I realize that it was actually a big dye vat.”
At this point, Meng Yin stopped and asked Zhu Yuanzhang,""Do you know why they are greedy?”
However, he did not expect Zhu Yuanzhang to give him a good reply.
He continued,"Most of the reason is that the salary of the imperial court is low, and they can't even afford to eat."”
"When they can't afford to eat, what's greed?”
Meng Yin originally wanted to say that in all the dynasties, only the Ming Dynasty had the lowest salary for officials.
Zhu Yuanzhang hated corrupt officials since he was young, so he thought that as long as the officials had enough to eat, the salary was just enough.
However, he did not know that there was no such thing as an official who did not need to be dealt with from top to bottom.
Therefore, in history, there were indeed honest officials in the Ming Dynasty. They were honest and did not covet anything. In the end, their families were destitute and their lives were poor. Their lives were not as good as some ordinary people.
Meng Yin didn't say anything. He was afraid that if he said so, the old man in front of him, as a hardcore fan of Zhu Yuanzhang, would be anxious again.
He could only give another example.
"For example, Kuang Heng of the Western Han Dynasty. We are familiar with his childhood stories."”
"The idiom 'chiseling a wall to borrow light' refers to his poor family when he was young, but he was eager to learn. He could only borrow books for others to read when he was doing farm work."
" But there was not enough time to read during the day, and there was no oil lamp at home at night. He found that there was a lamp in the house next door, so he dug a hole in the wall and used the light to read.”
"Later, Kuang Heng joined the officialdom and changed his fate. He rose all the way to the top and became Marquis Le 'an.”
"But later on, he still couldn't keep his original intention and became a corrupt official. When he was still in a low position, he also used the classics to govern the country.”
"In the end, it was a sad ending.”
Meng Yin said with some regret.
Then…
He raised the second example.
"There is another person, Li Shen of the Tang Dynasty.”
"His family was poor since he was young. He ran to the temple to study, but he was bullied by the monks in the temple. The only one who supported him was the old abbot.”
"Later, Li Shen passed the imperial examination and became an official. Because he was a farmer when he was young, he witnessed the hardships of the farmers and wrote a poem,'Pity the Peasants.'”
"Hoeing the crops at noon, sweat dripping into the soil. Who knew that every grain of food on the plate was hard work.”
"Li Shen, who sympathized with the peasants, eventually became a corrupt official.”
"In the beginning, Li Shen also wanted to benefit the people.”
"But he found that because of his integrity, he was alienated by others in the officialdom.”
"He knows that if this continues, he won't be far from losing his official position.”
"He has already lived a good life. He doesn't want to return to the poor days of being a farmer.”
" So, he started to collude with corrupt officials and formed cliques. He never came back. Even the villagers in his hometown were scared to move when they heard of his reputation. From then on, Li Shen became a corrupt official who took advantage of the people."
Meng Yin finished speaking.
He looked at Zhu Yuanzhang, who was silent, and continued to ask,"Do you know what I said?”
Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a moment, but he still said,"They are corrupt officials."
Meng Yin nodded." That's right. Without them, how would the Emperor do things?"”
Zhu Yuanzhang stared at him and said unhappily,"Even so, not every emperor will put corrupt officials in an important position.”
"Our Great Ming's Emperor definitely wouldn't!”
Zhu Yuanzhang adjusted his attitude.
Anyway, no matter how reasonable Meng Yin's words were, he still could not overcome that barrier in his heart.
This was also his principle.
Meng Yin also knew that this old man had a stubborn personality, so he continued to express his opinion.
"In my opinion, corrupt officials are not scary. The main thing is what they do.”
"A person is greedy, but he can let the people under his jurisdiction live a good life.”
"A person who is not greedy and is an honest official can only manage a group of poor people.”
"Between the two, which should I choose?”
After Meng Yin asked this question.
Zhu Yuanzhang fell silent again because he couldn't find a reason to refute.
Meng Yin saw that the old man's thoughts seemed to have been shaken by him.
He smiled and took Liu Qin's resume. As he flipped through it, he said,"Another example is this Liu Qin. He went to Xiao County.”
"Isn't it good for him to transfer the business of the cloth shop over and drive the local economic development?”
"Moreover, Liu Qin's family is a businessman.”
"Instead of letting him covet the small profits of that poor place in Xiao County, it's better for him to go back and inherit his family's business.”
"Not only will I earn more money, but it's also not that complicated and troublesome.”
Speaking up to here, Meng Yin's face revealed a trace of emotion.
"After all, his family is really rich.”
"This official is also extremely happy to be friends with such a person. Taking thirty thousand silver from him is already a friendship price.”
Zhu Yuanzhang's face twitched.
Not only was this kid greedy, but he also felt that he was greedy.
Meng Yin smiled and said,"Of course, Old Master, you are relatives of Empress Ma's family. I am also very willing to make friends with you."”
Hearing this, the princes could not help but want to laugh.
Meng Yin patted Zhu Yuanzhang's shoulder.""Old Master, after hearing so much from me, I'm sure you'll understand.”
"Now you should know what kind of corrupt officials there are. Are they corrupt officials who can do things for their masters or useless corrupt officials?”
Meng Yin's expression became somewhat serious.
"If you still think that corrupt officials deserve to die, then you have wasted so much of my precious time.”
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。