My God, I am the emperor, the lord of mankind.

Chapter 140 Red Scale
Although the Ming Empire now has occasional flaws in its actual governance in order to maintain its rule and conquests in the four realms, it cannot be as flawless as she once promised its people.

But this is by no means the reason why officials from various places dare to use this to defy the imperial court and collude with local powerful people.

It was the imperial court who spent money to support you and selected you from countless scholars who longed for fame through assessment of knowledge and morality.

I give you the right to protect the people of the Ming Dynasty within our four borders and on the land that the central court in the capital cannot directly control.

But you have colluded with local powerful people, disregarded human life, regarded the teachings of sages as nothing, and trampled into the mud the expectations of the emperor and the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty.

He also dared to utter arrogant words and openly stood with the powerful local clans.

How can such a person with such a bad heart, no father, no king, and corrupt moral character call himself a scholar?

Of course people know the difference between real bureaucrats and ideal bureaucrats in this world.

But knowing is one thing, being able to admit it is another.

Corruption and perversion of the law occurred every year, and the court repeatedly banned it.

But because there are too many corrupt officials, can we give up sending censors to various places to investigate unjust cases and bring corrupt officials to justice?
Of course not!Even if the country is about to be destroyed in the next second!If no taxes can be collected, the country relies on these corrupt officials to provide money to continue to maintain the operation of the state machinery.

The imperial court still will not change its requirements for bureaucrats or the original intention and direction of the establishment of this country.

"Why should my superior be so unreasonable! This is a sacrifice within the Li family, and I just happened to be invited here to watch the ceremony."

Don't know anything?
Zhu Houcong looked at this group of county civil servants. They were so familiar with the roads. They must have been like this every year for a hundred years. They had become an unwritten system for dividing the spoils between the government and local powerful people.

So much so that it only takes a short time for the county magistrate who has just been deposed by the imperial court to be taken out of the water and become a beneficiary.

Those who do not want to go into the water are either driven away, or simply find an opportunity to let them die in the line of duty, allowing the county magistrate to fill the vacancy first, and then continue to win over the new county magistrate after he takes office.

This world is full of evil spirits and thieves. It is not surprising that anything happens.

"Where is the commander of the Qingzhou Guard?"

Zhu Houcong took out a gold medal and showed it to everyone.

On it, the four characters "Like I am here in person" shine brightly in the sun.

Zhao Wenhe wanted to say something more, but when he saw the gold medal in Zhu Houcong's hand, his expression suddenly changed.

Fall on your knees and obey the hadith.

"The commander went to patrol the coast a few days ago as ordered by the imperial court. He just returned last night and is not here."

There will be soldiers in the crowd to answer.

Zhu Houcong glanced at him. He was a young man in his twenties, with a fair complexion but thick calluses on his palms.

He is not from a commoner background, but his family is probably not very wealthy.

Zhu Houcong took out the Jinyiwei's token and the military talisman from his arms and threw them to this person.

"Immediately order him to bring the officers and soldiers of the guard station to wait for the order, and go quickly."

The man accepted the order and knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to escape, so he immediately mounted his horse and galloped away.

Zhu Houcong turned his head, glanced at everyone, and said in a deep voice.

"I was on an inspection tour of Shandong under the emperor's order. Qingzhou County Magistrate Zhao Wenhe violated the holy order and defied the imperial edict. He is now dismissed——"

After hearing Zhu Houcong's words, Zhao Wenhe's face turned earthy, while the face of the county magistrate beside him couldn't help but reveal a look of ecstasy.

Once a county official is dismissed, the county seal is usually handed over to the county magistrate.

As the head of the hundreds of officials in the county government, the county magistrate is Qingcheng County's own person compared to the county magistrate who is directly parachuted by the imperial court.

But Zhu Houcong's next words made him fall into the abyss the next second as if he had ascended to heaven.

"All officials from the six departments below the magistrate of Qingcheng County have withdrawn their seals and returned home to wait for summons from the court. The administration of the county will be temporarily taken over by the Qingzhou Guard."

"Absurd! Absurd!"

Following Zhao Wenhe's angry voice, the county government officials behind him were equally aggressive.

"In the more than [-] years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, I have never heard of a ridiculous incident of dismissing a county official!"

Following Zhao Wenhe's questioning, hundreds of officials behind him echoed at the same time.

"This is not in compliance with the regulations of the imperial court, so forgive me and we will never accept it." "An official from Qintian Prison, even if he has the emperor's order, is just to slay demons and subjugate demons. How can he care about the affairs of our state capital!"

"Yes, write a memorial to the state government and fight him to the end!"

As the saying goes, the county magistrate with flowing water.

The terms of office are generally only three to five years, but in these county offices, the chiefs and captains who are in charge of many petty officials in each office gate are hereditary from generation to generation.

There is no establishment in the imperial court, and there is no food and salary.

But people don't care about the little money and food distributed by the court at all.

They all came from local wealthy families, but they failed to pass the imperial examination and were unknown in the civil service department. They had just become civil servants and were the spokespersons of the local aristocratic families in the government.

They are the real strength of this place.

As the saying goes, you can't beat the dragon but not the local snake. The local snake is not only in the countryside, but also in the government.

"Well--"

Seeing the public outcry in front of him, the man in front of him actually laughed.

"Indeed, in our Ming Dynasty, there was no case of deposing the civil and military officials of a county at one time, but there was a precedent of the entire county officials abandoning the city at the risk of death!"

"Since you speak so bluntly, it saves trouble!"

……

Seeing the swords and guns shining in front of them, the county magistrate and other officials and civil servants could only walk into the county jail that they were all too familiar with with tears in their eyes.

In the 18th year of Yongle's reign, Emperor Taizong Zhu Di was furious when he heard that Tang Sai'er, a white lotus demon from Shandong, had gathered a crowd to cause trouble. The government could not resist him along the way, so he fled away and became furious.

So in the name of "allowing thieves to cause chaos without speaking out", he ordered "all thieves who cross the county and county officials will be killed."

For a time, Shandong was buzzing with people.

People in the official circles were shocked, and they no longer dared to abandon the city and flee.

The momentum of Tang Saier's rebellion has just been stopped.

"Don't let them go to the dungeon yet. I have something to ask him -"

Looking at the Li clan members in front of them, including Li Changge, the leader of the Li clan was all there.

Later, Gao Xiang, the commander of the Qingzhou Guard, will be taken back to the county government for interrogation one by one.

Guilty and conviction, acquittal.

After all, in this matter of sacrifice, some people in the Li clan are sacrifices, while others are spare sacrifices, and they cannot be confused.

What is surprising is that this kind of sacrifice should be presided over by a respected old man in the clan.

But among the Li clan present, the oldest ones are the head of the Li family and the two brothers Li Liwen, who are only forty years old.

"Where is the body of the carp spirit you sacrificed?"

Looking at Li Liwen, who was much more honest in front of him, Zhu Houcong looked around, understood in his heart, and asked.

In front of him, Li Liwen lowered his head. When Gao Xiang saw that the envoy did not answer the question, he immediately raised his stick and whipped him.

"The envoy asked a question! Why don't you answer it?"

Who would have expected that when the stick hit Li Liwen's back, the sound of gold and iron could be heard.

After peeling off the clothes on his back, he saw that his body was already covered with large blood-red fish scales.

"Uncle! What's going on?"

Li Changge looked at all this in disbelief. Although his uncle was usually a bit violent, he was fair in dealing with the clan, but he didn't know that he was still practicing such evil methods.

But Zhu Houcong's next words made the hairs on his back stand up.

Zhu Houcong looked at the burnt red carp in the river, and then at the Li family in front of him, as if confirming something.

"Send an order to take off all the shirts of the Li clan members present and seal off Qingcheng to see how many evil and evil party members are mixed in!"

(End of this chapter)