Naturally, these corruption scandals will not just go away.

Xie Ji asked people to monitor them. Once corruption was discovered, they were immediately taken down. The consequences of this were that everyone was in danger.

Even if those officials want to go out for a drink after get off work, they don't dare to say anything, especially if it involves money.

However, Xie Ji also discovered some new types of corruption.

For example, the official who is responsible for buying materials buys the materials at a price higher than the market price and then gets a kickback. After all, it is the court's money.

For example, these stones cost 800,000 taels according to the market price, but the official wanted to quote a high price and told the stone seller that the price was too little and you would lose money. Then the stone owner quoted a price of 1.2 million taels, and the two of them

Everyone is happy.

Then the money from the treasury was delivered to the stone boss, and there was no corruption in the process. Later, in order to express his gratitude, the stone boss gave 300,000 taels to the official. In fact, the stone boss made one hundred thousand yuan.

The three hundred thousand taels were taken by officials, and the money lost was the treasury's money.

Xie Ji took a look and saw that this damn person dared to cause trouble and embezzle.

Therefore, he immediately ordered that the officials involved in that incident and the stone owner be arrested together.

"Prime Minister, stones are so expensive to begin with. One is willing to hit them while the other is willing to bear them. This is correct."

Those who were caught said that they had done this kind of thing too many times and could not find it at all. Is there anything wrong with fair trading?

Is it wrong for the stone quarry boss to give him money?

"That's right? Show him the evidence." Xie Ji said to one person. This time, his secret guard finally collected the evidence by chance.

That is to say, this person is stupid and actually left a paper agreement.

Agree on how the two of you will divide the money.

It wasn't two people. The 300,000 taels was not just pocketed by this official alone, but he was the one who came to make the agreement. Moreover, the 400,000 taels have not yet arrived, so there is no way to prove that other officials were also involved.

Xie Ji regretted that he should have waited until the money was divided among the officials before arresting him.

But this also gave him a wake-up call. He didn't expect that there were so many ways to commit corruption, and some of them were quite subtle.

It’s the truth that it’s hard to guard against a domestic thief.

"Send those two people to the Criminal Department."

Xie Ji said that in order to prevent this kind of behavior, he immediately set a rule that any purchase must not be higher than the market price, otherwise it will be punished as corruption.

What's more, this is the period when he has just announced his policy, so it must be strict. If it is loosened a little now, it is still unclear whether it will be looser by then.

Therefore, if something like this happens now, regardless of whether he was forced or active, intentional or unintentional, he will be severely punished.

Although it is a bit extreme, only in this way can people be shocked and frightened.

Xie Ji's investigation was quite severe this time, but Yu Ce was about to cry. Xie Ji, if you continue to mess around like this, there will really be no one left in our Ministry of Works.

Make me a human being.

"Prime Minister, the Ministry of Industry does not have enough manpower."

"It's not enough. Go to other departments and hire a few to come over. Anyone who wants to come to the Works Department will be arranged immediately and transferred."

Xie Ji said, and Yu Ce was even more heartbroken. According to the death rate of the Ministry of Industry, which official would want to come here?

If you come here and accidentally fall into hell.

There is a lot of money and money in the Ministry of Industry. In the past, there were a lot of people who wanted to come in. But now there are almost no people in the Ministry of Industry. Who dares to come in.

"Ask each department to send me ten people. I will see them in three days."

Xie Ji said, the officials in ancient times were not specialized in one thing. Some of them were from the Ministry of Rites, then moved to the Ministry of Personnel, or even to the Ministry of War, or local officials. All six could not leave.

Not even once.

Therefore, what Xie Ji said is not excessive at all.

In ancient times, one study was a comprehensive study, and even in the Ministry of Industry, people studied the Four Books and Five Classics, rather than being transferred from craftsmen. It is impossible for craftsmen to become officials.

Officials in the Ministry of Industry are not craftsmen, nor do they learn to be craftsmen. They learn to manage craftsmen, which is similar to other departments.

As soon as Xie Ji's order came out, it exploded instantly.

"What should we do? Who goes to that hell department now? The mortality rate is seven out of ten, and seven out of ten will be punished."

"Drawing lots, who gets who goes?"

"..."

Those officials avoided the Ministry of Works, and now they don't even dare to step in the door of the Ministry of Works, for fear of implicating themselves.

Since Xie Ji said that only officials of seventh rank or above were required, another quarrel broke out among those departments. The ministers couldn't stand it and said that it was fair to draw lots.

Those who didn't get the draw cheered for joy, while those who got the draw looked bitter.

"Don't be afraid, I'll find an opportunity to transfer you back when the time comes." Someone said to the person who was drawn. After the turmoil has passed, you can still be transferred back when there is an opportunity.

Although those people were comforted, they complained in their hearts and fell back. It would be nice not to die there when the time comes.

However, some people took this opportunity to escape from the department because they felt uncomfortable being squeezed out in that department, so they volunteered to go to the Ministry of Works, which was at least better than being squeezed out.

In this way, the Ministry of Works added fifty more people.

However, due to Xie Ji's troubles, there were many fewer officials, many seats were empty, and some people below were staring at those empty seats.

Everyone was wondering whether Xie Ji wanted to clean up people in the officialdom.

………………

Xie Ji was never idle for a moment. The recent project cost a lot of money, which caused him to lack sleep.

The itinerary is arranged like this. I wake up at five o'clock in the morning, go out to the Ministry of Industry at 5:30, and discuss with the people from the Ministry of Industry from 6 to 8 o'clock. If I want to go to court, I will go to Weiyang Palace after 8 o'clock.

If not, go to the Newspaper Department from 8 to 10 o'clock. Sometimes there are other incidents that delay the trip. From 10 to 12 o'clock, go to the Etiquette Department. From 12 to 1 o'clock, have a meal and lie down for half an hour. From 1 to 3 o'clock, go to the Etiquette Department.

Go to the palace to discuss it from three to five o'clock.

As for the Ministry of War, I had nothing to do for the time being, so I didn’t go. I went to the Ministry of Household Affairs from 5 to 7 o’clock, and it was already very late. At 7 o’clock, I got off work and returned to the Prime Minister’s Mansion. Then I ate, took a shower, and lingered until 8 o’clock. After 8 o’clock, I was still there.

It didn't stop, and there were still documents from various places. It would take about ten o'clock to finish processing. He had to make sure that no one would disturb him. If something happened, he would definitely not want to sleep tonight.

After correcting the documents, you still have to plan things. It is common to be busy until midnight.

Sometimes I even go to bed at one or two o'clock.

Xie Ji is asking for his own fault. He has endless tasks to deal with every day. It is easy for him, and he does it all year round.

The officials under him are not as tired as he is. They usually go to sleep around seven o'clock. Sometimes they will tell them that he is already asleep if they ask for something. If they want to sleep, Xie Ji will naturally wake them up. He won't sleep.

Don't even think about sleeping.

But sometimes I am really free when I have nothing to do. I don’t even want to go to the sixth department and often skip work.

Not during this time, most of the time is allocated to the Ministry of Works. The Ministry of Works has not been able to have any leisure recently, and is shrouded in panic. It seems that everyone is tired.

The above time is for reference only. He listed the time according to his original work schedule. But fortunately, he did not go to court often, only once every ten days, otherwise he would be really busy, and the time to go to court would be postponed to

Around ten o'clock, the reason was that the emperor wanted to sleep in, and the courtiers all agreed.

If it's like other dynasties, it's usually around five or six o'clock, which is really a nightmare, and I basically wake up at two or three o'clock.

Therefore, Xie Ji is lucky that he has traveled to a good era.

In addition, he can skip work at any time, so he will not die suddenly from overwork.

About a month later, the roads in Chang'an City were basically completed. Then more than 30,000 civilians were immediately dismissed, leaving only more than a thousand people to make final repairs.

The efficiency was very high this time because there were fewer manpower, and those people rarely gave orders or lectures to the people.

Moreover, after dealing with so many officials, those officials have become frightened by the news of corruption and do not dare to do anything in it. Even if there are, they are only a small number and will not be too arrogant.

Xie Ji's order to the supervisory officials was to report any corruption to the Ministry of Punishment immediately. Failure to report it would be an accessory offense.

If a person is found to be corrupt, the reward for the ninth grade and below is fifty taels, the eighth grade is one hundred taels, the seventh grade is three hundred taels, the sixth grade is five hundred taels, and the fifth grade is one thousand taels.

In this way, it will be increased layer by layer, so that no one will dare to report it.

Even if you are not a supervisory censor, you can report it as long as there is evidence, which scares those officials even more away from corruption.

Xie Ji walked to the street at this time and found that the street had a completely new look, and the roads were basically open. Several roads were opened, and the widest one was about a hundred meters wide.

Xie Ji followed some modern methods and set up left and right passages on the road. He stipulated that people on the road in Chang'an City should walk on the right side.

Go to the two passages.

If you dare to violate the rules, you will be warned for the first time. The carriage is likely to belong to an official, or some relatively wealthy family.

If you violate the rules for the second time, go directly to the newspaper. There will be a special column to write about the people who violated the rules. If you violate the rules, your names will be written in the newspaper for everyone to criticize.

"Your Majesty, the Prime Minister is really going too far. He even has to stipulate the direction of the carriage. The road is actually divided into two halves. He even has to stipulate the direction of walking. Xie Ji deliberately prevents us from living." Someone came to the emperor and cried.

"I won't let you live? Why don't you live well? Wait until you die before you say this to me."

Your Majesty, are you sure?

Wait until you are dead to say this? Are you not afraid to come and claim your life?

The official was stunned when he heard that the emperor actually said this. He just said it casually.
To be continued...