When Qu Rukui heard Matteo Ricci say this, he smiled bitterly.

"Mr. Li, it is useless to say this. The court will not pay attention to you at all. The court has tasted the sweetness of gold and silver. If there is any news, I will definitely go find it. Your court will believe that there is really no gold and silver on Luzon Island, so the court will stop. But as you said, if there is really not, then you don't have to worry that the court will launch troops against Luzon."

Matteo Ricci was worried first, and then relaxed.

It is not difficult to prove that there is no gold and silver on the Philippines island. And when things come to an end, even if there is one, they will have to be changed to nothing. Spain occupies the Philippines mainly in the spice business, and gold and silver business is mainly in the Americas, not in the Philippines.

However, the Philippines is also a very important stronghold and an indispensable stronghold. The annual income from the spice business can greatly support the Spanish finance.

Otherwise, where would Spain get the confidence to go to war with Britain, France and the Netherlands at the same time? Wouldn't that cause trouble for oneself?

As long as China can prevent war against the Philippine Governor's Office, everything will be easy to say, so Matteo Ricci asked Qu Rukui urgently.

"Then, Tai Su, can you tell me what I should do to convince the Chinese emperor that there are no mountains of gold and silver on Luzon?"

Qu Rukui pinched his beard and smiled bitterly.

"It's not difficult, as long as you can spend some money to manage the relationship between the superiors and subordinates and let the officials in charge of this matter distinguish you from the court, it will naturally be useful."

Matteo Ricci was stunned for a moment.

"You said more about this kind of thing, but there is no way that this is the Ming Dynasty officialdom. The officialdom in your country is similar, right?"

When Matteo Ricci heard Qu Rukui say this, he remembered his childhood life and nodded involuntarily.

"It seems that the whole world is the same, only Myanmar is not like this."

Qu Rukui was stunned for a moment.

"Myanmar? You mean, where is Xiao Ruxun, the Marquis of Zhennan?"

Matteo Ricci nodded: "Yes, Tai Su, I have lived in Myanmar for three years and worked for General Xiao. This has not happened in the cities under General Xiao and his officials. I have never seen General Xiao punished his officials for embezzlement and bribery. Instead, he has punished many treacherous businessmen who were reported by officials for wanting to bribe officials. These businessmen have been beaten."

Qu Rukui frowned and said slowly: "I remember that Myanmar Town is a military town, and Xiaozhen Nanyong Town Myanmar is basically his private territory. If you want to say officials, they should be all the officials of the Marquis' Mansion. They are not formal officials of the Ming Dynasty, but at most they are officials. They are recruited and arranged by the Marquis' Mansion.

What? Xiao Zhennan was extremely strict in control, and his officials dared not embezzle. How strict can they be? The founding Taizu of our country treated officials like haters. He embezzled 60 taels of silver and then peeled off his cramps. In 31 years, he killed many officials than executed. He was different from being able to stop corruption?

Corruption has been happening since ancient times. Emperors of all dynasties hated corruption, but who can solve it? No one can solve it. As powerful as Taizu, they are only temporarily curbed. If a person dies, the government will be stopped. How powerful is Zhang Juzheng? The difference cannot be solved? I am afraid that only three generations of rule can rule the road without picking up the remains and not closing the door at night! The world is getting worse and worse, but people's hearts are not old!"

Qu Rukui sighed while sighing.

"Not that, General Xiao gave his officials in the Marquis' Mansion a very high salary, much more than what I got. Moreover, there are various rewards for every Chinese festival, and I have a lot of rewards. Let alone those officials, some officials with very good political achievements probably get more salary than some merchants earn."

Matteo Ricci would think about his comfortable life in Myanmar.

Although it is a little depressed, I really don’t have to worry about food, drink, or wear. Even ice cubes are available, which is very comfortable.

"Oh? Xiao Zhennan is quite rich. He studied the politics of the former Song Dynasty and raised officials with a generous salary. But it is not possible to do so just that? The salary of officials in the Song Dynasty was as high as that of ancient and modern times, and it was even more incomparable to the Ming Dynasty. However, the greed behavior of officials in the Song Dynasty did not decrease at all. This was too lenient. Xiao Zhennan was a military general after all, and he did not know much about political affairs. The people in Myanmar were suffering!"

Qu Rukui sighed while rubbing his beard.

"No, Tai Su. Although General Xiao gave a high salary, at the same time, an official office called the Audit Office was set up in each city to directly obey General Xiao. General Xiao told me that this official office was specifically used to audit taxes, and some people were specifically responsible for reviewing the income and expenditure of local officials.

Once these people discovered that the officials were corruption, they immediately reported it to General Xiao. This situation occurred three times in three years. The three officials suffered a tragic fate. Then there was no corruption in officials again, and those officials did not have the right to collect taxes.

The power of tax collection is in the hands of the Audit Office, and then the city administrator gives General Xiao a detailed list of the expenses that need to be spent. After General Xiao approves the Audit Office, the Audit Office will allocate funds to the Administrator. However, the administrative officials can send someone to supervise the entire process of tax collection in the Audit Office. If you find that the Audit Office has evasion in taxes, you can also report it to General Xiao immediately."

"This... this is a check and balance between the two parties. Local administration cannot control local taxes, and local taxes cannot control local administration. However, the two can supervise each other and report each other. Local administration needs to apply to Xiao Zhennan for money. Xiao Zhennan will only order to allocate funds to the Audit Office if Xiao Zhennan allows it. The check and balance between the two parties and the two parties will restrain the dominance and subordinate the dominance to Xiao Zhennan himself. This is a good system."

Qu Rukui was a little surprised.

"The use of taxes and taxes is completely in Xiao Zhennan's own hands, which controls the money, allowing local officials and the people from the Audit Office to supervise each other and refuse to give in to each other, and this controls people again. Xiao Zhennan's move is really a lit up in my eyes. This warrior is not simple, no wonder he can Yongzhen Myanmar."

Matteo Ricci smiled happily and said, "I think this is good, too. General Xiao also said that he thinks that the serious corruption problem in China is because the salaries of officials are too low and the salaries of officials are too low, especially some low-level officials, whose salaries are so low that they can hardly survive.

This is to force officials to corruption. Not corruption will even make life a problem. No wonder officials want to corruption. General Xiao also said that officials have high status in their own hands, but seeing that those businessmen who are not as good as themselves and even wealthy civilians have better lives than themselves, they are inevitably unbalanced. In addition, they are often asked for power, so corruption is inevitable.

If the salary of an official is high enough to make the official live a good life, then the officials will naturally have a higher resistance to corruption, but this is not possible, because if the supervision is not enough, the officials are fearless, and if they hold power, they will be lawless over time, which is even more terrifying.

However, if officials are allowed to provide strong supervision while having a sufficiently affordable life, so that officials know that corruption will not only lose their current affordable life, but also lose their lives, then officials will naturally have a stronger resistance to corruption."
Chapter completed!