Great Tang Southern Emperor

Behind Li Xuan, a person who was about the same age as him, but thinner, stood up and said, "Chenquan Governor Shi Li Mengling has seen His Royal Highness, and I am in charge of this matter."

"Oh? Tell me the specific reason?" Li Zhen glanced at him lightly, causing Li Mengling's heart to twitch violently. He hated Cheng Chuliang to death in his heart. If he hadn't reminded Li Zhen, how could Li Zhen have noticed this? no big deal?Li Zhen is leaving tomorrow, and the road will be repaired long ago when he comes back. Everything will be done without anyone noticing, but now that it's healed, I guess I'm doomed...

Thinking about Li Zhen's harsh methods against corrupt officials before, Li Mengling didn't feel that he had a chance of surviving.

Chapter 1067

Chapter 14 Killing Heart ([-] words)

Although Qing knew that he might not be able to avoid this catastrophe, Li Mengling made a last-ditch effort: "It is because Quanzhou Road was overused and the road surface was damaged, so I rebuilt it..."

Li Zhen's eyes became colder: "As far as I know, this road has only been built for less than three years, right? Quanzhou Road is the main road in Quanzhou. According to the design life, it should be able to be used for at least 15 years. Is it Quanzhou?" Is the road used too frequently, or is there a problem with the quality of the road itself... which chamber of commerce contracted this road?"

Quanzhou Road is the main road of the city. At the beginning of the design, Li Zhen built it according to the road specifications of later generations. Although the official said that the design life is 15 years, if it is maintained properly, it will not be a problem for 50 years. There are no heavy-duty trucks. The weight of the heaviest four-wheeled carriage in this era plus the load will not exceed one ton. Even if a thousand vehicles are driven a day, how can it cause much damage to the road surface?

"It's just... the South China Sea Chamber of Commerce that is currently building roads..."

South China Sea Chamber of Commerce?

Li Zhen had never heard of it: "The person in charge of this chamber of commerce and the person in charge of the construction work were arrested by this palace. Don't let anyone go."

Li Zhen's gaze became even colder, and his words made everyone feel chilling, thinking that Li Zhen was going to follow the example of the past and kill Lingnan official circles.But the guards hiding in the dark don't care if you are chilled or not, they immediately showed up and responded, and divided into several parts to arrest people.

Looking at the silent crowd, Li Zhen said with a murderous look: "I have emphasized many times that you can be corrupt, and I am not afraid of your corruption. As long as you can do things, a corrupt official who can do things is definitely better than this palace." The previous incompetent and upright official could be reused even more.

But it’s fine for you to embezzle in other places, but the people’s livelihood project is a taboo of this palace. Whoever dares to do something about it, this palace will have his head—according to the design specifications, this road can be used for at least 15 years. Years ago, but now something went wrong after only three years of walking. The lifespan of the stone road is not so short... Do you think such a person should be killed? "

Li Mengling knelt down with a thud: "Your Highness, I know that I have gone too far, but I am not actually the biggest behind-the-scenes person. In fact, I am just a small middle-level person..."

Li Mengling also understands that he is doomed, but he is not reconciled, he doesn't want to die, and the boss behind him is still alive, so he thinks that if I can't live, you don't have to think about it, don't ask Li Zhen to ask, Li Mengling Just explained everything.

Similar to what Li Zhen had guessed, Li Mengling's plan was to turn his left hand into his right hand, and then grab huge profits—their idea was not just a mere Quanzhou Road, but almost the entire Lingnan road network.

You must know that even though cement is already the most famous new building material, especially in Lingnan, it has spread to almost every village and town. If someone can build a house with cement, it will be a matter of face.

It’s just that although cement has been popularized, this does not mean that cement is already a popular product. On the contrary, even today, more than ten years after cement appeared, the formula has always been kept secret. Only a very few people know the correct formula. Even the workers who burn the cement don't know the specific composition of the cement.

The reason why the imperial court did this was partly for the sake of environmental protection-after all, the local method of firing cement is too polluting to the air. If the formula is leaked out, the entire Tang Dynasty will be full of cement factories. If this continues for less than ten years, everyone Don never saw the blue sky again.

On the other hand, it is also for the sake of war. Although cement is very mysterious, those who know the details know that the formula of cement is not too simple. burn out.

Therefore, the imperial court was worried that the cement formula would flow abroad. Once foreigners knew the cement formula and used cement to build city defenses, it would be very difficult for Datang to conquer there in the future—you must know that even if the cement-poured city wall Even cannons can't be exploded. If foreign countries really want to know the cement formula, it will definitely bring great difficulties to Datang's future battle of conquest.

So although cement seems to be well-known, it is actually a kind of material that is in short supply, and it is a planned material controlled by the government. Basically, it is in a state of short supply, and the market is priceless. If anyone can get cement, Not only does it have more face in front of its peers, but it can also earn huge profits if it is resold - it seems that this time someone put their minds on this matter.

According to what Li Mengling said, his boss behind the scenes has actually communicated with most of the government offices in Lingnan. They can turn a large number of good roads into problematic roads through the method of Quanzhou City, and then apply for reconstruction, because they have already taken care of everything. , so this matter can be done without anyone noticing - the only problem is Li Zhen, but fortunately Li Zhen will return to Chang'an soon, as long as Li Zhen is not around, the whole of Lingnan will be their world.

That is to say, they originally planned to wait until Li Zhen returned to Chang'an before making the move. As a result, there may have been a mistake in the middle, which caused Li Mengling to make the move ahead of time, and before they could correct it, Li Zhen happened to run into it...

But also because of this, Li Zhen felt that the group behind Li Mengling might not be too formal - an organization that could even pass orders wrong, and couldn't correct it immediately, how powerful could such an organization be?What's more, although the benefits of cement are huge, the profits of doing business at sea are obviously greater, and they do not break the law. These days, powerful people are all going to sea. Who would risk offending Li Zhen and put their hands into Li Zhen's restricted area? , just to make a small profit?

Li Zhen reckoned that behind Li Mengling must be a certain top aristocrat of the Tang Dynasty, or simply some clan. This nobleman may have a very high status in the Tang Dynasty, so high that even Li Zhen would not dare to offend easily, but his strength But it's not very good, I can only make money by playing around the corner.

What's more, if the matter is really serious, it's impossible that Li Zhen's intelligence network spread all over the whole of Lingnan without receiving some rumors - but if it is really according to what Li Mengling said, if the other party really colludes with the whole of Lingnan If it is an official, it means that this person still has a certain amount of energy.

"Catch them all." After roughly understanding the size of the other party, Li Zhen was relieved, but this also strengthened his belief in cleaning up Lingnan officialdom—now that he is still in Lingnan, there are people If you dare to do this, if you leave Lingnan, God knows what they will do to Lingnan.

"Wei Shuyu." With a decision in his heart, Li Zhen began to roll the roll.

"Subordinates are here."

"You don't have to go out to sea with me this time, you stay here and deal with this matter - remember, I only have one request, and that is to never tolerate, and don't let anyone involved. "

"My subordinates obey orders, and my subordinates promise that I will never let a criminal go." Wei Shuyu is Wei Zheng's son. Although his ability is far inferior to his father's, his personality is very similar to Wei Zheng's. The mediocre and upright official in the mouth.

Fortunately, Wei Shuyu is not as strong-headed as his father. He also knows that his ability is not as good as his father's, so he is very humble in dealing with others, and knows how to ask questions when he doesn't understand, so he is still highly valued by Li Zhen Yes - if he can always maintain this kind of character, even if he can't be a prime minister, it is still no problem to be a governor or a yamen supervisor.

Who is Li Zhen afraid of?

What he is afraid of is the kind of person who obviously has no ability, but is still stubborn and rigid, and doesn't listen to others.

Such an official, no matter how powerful the ruler is, it is difficult to punish him - after all, if you want to say that he made a mistake, he did not take the people's stitches and stitches during his term of office, and his reputation is so good, even if he wants to punish him, Neither the government nor the opposition will agree, but you have to say that he made no mistakes. Although he said he made no mistakes during his term of office, he did not make any achievements. He can be called extremely incompetent...

If such a person is placed on an ordinary and kind-hearted monarch, not only will he not be punished, but he will be leniently rewarded, and then even if he doesn’t like it, he will be raised a level, and at worst, he will be thrown into a Qingshui yamen for retirement. That's it.

Perhaps in the eyes of others, such a person is very respectable, but it is absolutely intolerable for Li Zhen, because what Li Zhen pursues is that no merit is equal to demerit.

Even in Li Zhen's eyes, these so-called "honest officials" are even more hateful than capable corrupt officials. At least although corrupt officials are corrupt, they have done things after all and promoted the local economic construction after all. Occupying the latrine and not shitting, doing nothing on his own, and not giving way to young people who have done something, is really abhorrent to the extreme.

Ji Yun told a story in "Yuewei Thatched Cottage Notes": An official reported to the underworld with his head held high and his chest held high after his death, claiming that he only drank a glass of water wherever he went, although it was useless and no fault.King Yan Luo reprimanded him: If you don't look for money and goods, you can be regarded as a good official, so wouldn't it be better to set up a wooden man in the court?

This story is worthy of deep thinking. The so-called good officials should not be "clean" who do nothing, but should dare to take responsibility and take responsibility.Why does the country need imperial examinations?Isn't it just for you to do things?If the only requirement is to maintain one's original intentions, and not to seek meritorious deeds but to be free from faults, then it would be too easy to be an official, right?Where is the imperial examination needed?

There are too many people who can keep their hearts like this in the folks. If you throw a brick down, you might be able to hit one. You just choose from the folks. How can you use high-ranking scholars like you?

Of course, the reason why Li Zhen has such a concept is not because he likes corrupt officials. In fact, people have bad roots. Everyone has more or less shortcomings. There has only been one like this in thousands of years of Chinese history, which can be called the moral benchmark of an official (even if it is a leader like Wei Zheng, there are dozens of shops under his family name, Hai Rui is the real model of an official, Poor people can’t even afford meat), Li Zhen can’t ask all the officials under his command to be like Hai Rui, that’s really unrealistic, so he can only settle for the next best thing and choose talented people from among the corrupt officials to appoint them .

"Your Highness, please forgive me..."

While Li Zhen was in deep thought, Li Zhen was awakened by a scream, and when she looked into her eyes, she found that the guards who had gone to arrest the person had returned, and each of them was holding a person in their hands, tightly tied with a rope. Yes, there are old and young among these people, even children and women...

"Bastard, I asked you to arrest the mastermind. Why did you even arrest him?" Li Zhen was furious. He is not the kind of person who likes to implicate his family, except for serious crimes such as treason. Like this kind of collusion between government and businessmen, corruption and bribery, Li Zhen usually only arrests offenders, as long as his family members are not accomplices or obstructing the case, he will not deal with it, even if it is a crime committed by family members, as long as it is not a capital crime, Li Zhen will not Killed them.

"Your Highness, I really can't blame this subordinate. Your Highness, please look at your face." The guard who caught the woman was also very wronged, and raised his face and said, "You don't know how fierce this woman is. When we were about to arrest his husband, we blocked the door single-handedly, and the brothers who rushed up to arrest him forcibly scratched and scratched. If you don’t believe me, look at our brother’s face, it’s turned into shredded carrots. How can we marry in the future? Mother-in-law?... The brothers had no choice but to bring her back, and there were only three people in his family, and two of them were taken away, so their children would have no one to take care of them, so the subordinates decided to take care of her. The child was brought back."

"Eh..." After seeing the faces of the three guards in front of him, Li Zhen was ashamed. All three of them were disfigured, and the lightest one had at least five bloodstains on his face, and the depth was not enough Shallow, there was a wound. Li Zhen could clearly see the sagging sliver of flesh. It looked very miserable. If she didn't pay attention to the treatment afterwards, it would really leave a scar on her face.

"Ahem, let's not talk about this, you go down to heal your injuries first, don't leave a scar." Li Zhen coughed dryly twice, and ordered: "As for this woman, check her details carefully, if there is no problem , just let it go with the kids."

"Yes, thank you Your Highness, this subordinate will leave."

"...Why don't you talk?" After dealing with this matter, Li Zhen suddenly felt that the atmosphere was a little cold, and turned around to find that everyone, including Li Jingye and others, had their heads down, and no one said anything. She couldn't help but feel a little strange asked.

"...Your Highness, are these people going to be killed?" Wei Shuyu was also a little numb at this time. Originally, Li Zhen handed over this matter to him, but he was very happy, because it meant that what he had learned for so many years was finally There is a place to use it, but now...

Chapter 1068 Establishment of the Independent Commission Against Corruption ([-] words)

Chapter 15 Establishment of the Independent Commission Against Corruption ([-] words)

"This is more than 100 people." Wei Shuyu's voice was trembling when he said this. Although he has been with Li Zhen all the time, he has never been on the battlefield because of his civil service, and he has never seen a dead person. What's more, this is more than 100 lives, are they going to be killed now?

You must know that even the corruption incident that Li Zhen dealt with in those years only killed more than 130 people, which has already shocked the entire government and the public. Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, this is the first time that such a large-scale massacre of officials has occurred. Although there have been examples of beheading criminal officials before, there are only three or five people at most. How can more than 100 people come at once?

When this news reached Chang'an at that time, Li Zhen was greeted with verbal criticism from the court. Even people who had a good impression of Li Zhen on weekdays were quite critical, and even the common people were frightened, so that that one The income of Yue Lizhen's chamber of commerce is much less than before.

Through this incident, Li Zhen's murderous nature also made many officials feel chilled - it seems that His Royal Highness is not only ruthless to outsiders, but also merciless when dealing with his own people.

Especially thinking that their butt is not clean, and there may be such a day in the future, which makes some people feel even more terrified.