Rebirth of the Ming Dynasty: Sixth Generation of Glory, I don't want it

"If I was as good as I am now when I left Beijing, I would be able to defeat my mother!"

Zhang Xin pouted.

She played chess with Xu and never won.

Xu said that she was good at defense but not good at attack, so she was beaten by the opponent.

After she lost her sight, she had to change her fighting style and attack, attack and attack again.

Maybe there's a chance to win now?

"Hehehe, I'm still the second smartest person in the world. Mother never tries her best."

Zhu Gaochi laughed.

Zhu Di loved playing chess, but he always lost in private.

"Yeah, mother is unfathomable!" Zhang Xin thought about it and nodded in agreement, then said, "I don't know what father and mother are doing, and what Zhanji and Sai'er are doing?"

"It will be fun without us for sure."

Zhu Gaochi still smiled.

The days on the ship were indeed boring at the beginning.

Everyone was trapped on the boat, with limited space to move and nothing to do. All they did all day was eat and sleep, then get up and walk around, then eat and sleep again.

Zhu Zhanyong was fine. He was still young and would be happy just watching the sunrise and sunset on the deck.

Zhu Gaochi and Zhang Xin, who were used to being busy, suddenly had nothing to do. They stared at each other, and within less than three days on the ship, they both began to feel listless.

Zhu Gaochi could sleep until noon.

Zhang Xin can fall asleep before it gets dark.

The two of them slept in the same cabin, but they only had dinner together.

This situation continued until local officials began to intercept people along the river and tried to board their boats to pay their respects.

Since they came early in the morning, Zhu Gaochi had to get up early as well.

As the Crown Princess, Zhang Xin did not need to meet everyone, but if an official came with his family, she would also meet them.

Once you meet the first one.

There was an endless stream of people coming later.

These people corrected their work and rest habits and restored their healthy routines.

But meeting with officials soon brought about a lot of follow-up issues.

For example, gifts given by officials.

At the beginning, they all presented some local specialties and food, and Zhu Gaochi was quite happy to accept such things. This was a bit like the canopy given by the common people when Zhang Xin left Beijing, which was a reflection of the royal family's popularity.

But as the gift was given away, it changed its meaning.

From local food, they have become valuable items such as gold, silver, jewelry, jade, etc.

Zhu Gaochi was very angry.

In the capital, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Di would listen to the feedback from the six ministries in charge of local officials to determine whether they were honest and capable.

In the past year, there have been a lot fewer corrupt officials.

Even the impeachment of officials by the censors was not as intense as before, and they were all just trivial matters.

Zhu Gaochi originally thought that because he had increased benefits for officials across the country, everyone had no worries and the domestic officialdom was gradually becoming clearer.

Anyway, he was quite pleased with himself.

Nominally he was the crown prince and Zhu Di was the emperor.

In fact, he took care of most of the domestic affairs. Zhu Di's mind was on how to expand the territory and reorganize the military forces of the garrisons.

Therefore, this Qingming Festival was brought about by him.

He also boasted to Zhu Di many times, complaining that Zhu Di's management of the garrisons had caused the problems to resurface, and was chased by Zhu Di and had paperweights thrown at him several times.

Now that's great, as soon as I came out, I was slapped in the face.

Pa pa pa, so loud! So embarrassing!!!

At that time, he wanted to dismiss all the officials who gave expensive gifts, because the prices of most of the gifts were completely disproportionate to the ranks and salaries of these officials.

It was Zhang Xin who persuaded him.

I changed my mind and asked Ti Qi to go out and check it out.

So the people led by Wei Guan had work to do from then on.

They went ashore in batches and investigated the officials who had given the valuable gifts one by one.

Tiqi didn't spend much effort.

In fact, whether a local official is corrupt or not is very obvious to local people.

One check and it's accurate.

Among the summaries submitted, the number of truly honest local officials can be counted on ten fingers.

But there are not many people who are truly greedy.

Moreover, after investigation, it was found that the most corrupt prefect had managed the local security in an orderly manner and the local economy was booming. The common people praised this prefect whenever they mentioned him.

The Tiqi conducted open and secret investigations in the local area and found that there were not many beggars in the area.

Begging is a profession that exists even in the capital.

The imperial guards asked some local gentry, and they also said that the people in the yamen were greedy, but they also really worked.

In addition to this most corrupt local official, there are also many capable people among those officials who are corrupt but not too corrupt.

Generally speaking, those who are greedy are also capable.

They knew how to judge the situation, use the power of others to their advantage, and had good relations with local gentry. No matter what the court asked of them, they could do it and profit from it without harming the people.

On the other hand, in the counties and towns where those honest officials are located, everyone is extremely poor.

So, finish checking the first batch.

Zhu Gaochi didn't know what to do.

Although he increased everyone's salary and gave them official land, it was also calculated strictly.

Except for those officials who have powerful families or whose wives' families are wealthy, for an official who lives on salary normally, if his ability is average, his life can only be considered slightly more decent than that of ordinary people.

However, whether it is land tax, commercial tax, or other revenue, the imperial court now allows local governments to keep a certain proportion.

As long as local officials govern properly, the local government will have a considerable amount of welfare grain and silver.

This is especially true the further south you go.

Because the South is much richer than the North.