This horrifying thing that Wang Chengen exposed was the current situation of selling official positions during the Chongzhen period.

Since the early years of Chongzhen, because the officials of the Central Beijing or local officials in the court were vacant, in addition to being selected by the new Jinshi, they were also selected by the officials of prefectures and counties who had served for a certain period of time. Therefore, the sale of officials also emerged.

Lu Mai, the doctor of the Ministry of Rites, was a relative of his children and Zhou Zhengyi, who was a relative of the children with the younger brother of Zhou Tingru, relying on this relationship, he set a price of "Seven thousand seeking Ci Lin (Hanlin official), five thousand seeking academic qualifications (subsiding minister), and three thousand seeking Taoism (supervising censors)" and accepted bribes publicly and went on his own to seek officials.

Just imagine, if such things are made public, what does it mean? The officialdom of the Ming Dynasty was already colluding with each other, and the fraud in favoritism reached an extreme.

In the Ming Dynasty, this should not have happened because there were factories and guards there.

In fact, at the beginning, the factory guards did impeach such fraud. But their purpose was not to correct the trend and severely punish the crime, but to participate in a share of the pie.

Therefore, during the assessment and selection every year, the Ministry of Personnel would send 20,000 taels of Dongchang, and then the Dongchang no longer manages the assessment and selection of the Ministry of Personnel. Of course, the Jinyiwei is also indispensable.

The Ministry of Personnel has no supervision and openly bids. The Ministry of Rites has two thousand taels of officials, and the Ministry of War has not much oil and water to make, only eight hundred. And it is very market-oriented and often bids. Those with higher prices will get it. Some people bought an official position with a large sum of money, but before they even took office, they were snatched away by others at a higher price!

The purchase of officials was quite common in the late Ming Dynasty. Even Song Yingxing, who was famous in later generations, was a juren, but because of the money to buy officials, he had a county magistrate to be a county magistrate. Song Yingxing had no money to buy it, so he could only be the county magistrate who was the least wanted.

The saying that having money can make the devil pushing the mill was very well confirmed in the Chongzhen Dynasty. No matter what, as long as you have money, there is nothing you can't do. But if you don't have money, then I'm sorry, even if you have the ability, you can't do anything! Anyway, at this time, everything is looking at money!

In this context, let’s talk about those who bought officials. After they took office, will they wholeheartedly serve the people? Most officials still have to make money back, and it is conceivable who will suffer in the end!

All the yamen are trying to make money, ignoring what the money is going to do! To put it bluntly, this is much more fierce than the stock markets in later generations! After all, the stock market has risen and fall, and in the Ming Dynasty, when the money flows out, without waiting for the final destination, it is definitely a fat man who becomes thinner and a thin man becomes a skeleton!

Although Emperor Chongzhen had a psychological expectation of the administration of the late Ming Dynasty, he did not expect that it would have reached such a point. Can this Ming Dynasty be saved?

At this moment, he couldn't help but fall into deep thought!

But soon, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but smile bitterly again. Regardless of whether he was saved or not, since he had become the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he had to go and save him!

If you have difficulties, you will be able to overcome difficulties, prescribe the right medicine and solve the problem step by step!

Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen slowly regained his fighting spirit. This is actually his personality. Even in later generations, he still has this unyielding personality!

Live for another lifetime, fight for another lifetime!

As a person from later generations, there are naturally examples for this situation. For example, the Independent Commission Against Corruption Office has a good reference value before and after its establishment.

Emperor Chongzhen thought about this matter deeply and even missed some of the things Wang Chengen said.

At this time, he was still thinking about how to rectify the administration. At some point, he suddenly realized that it seemed that Wang Chengen had finished speaking and was waiting for his will.

So, he put aside what he was thinking in his mind and decided to continue to solve Cao Huachun's affairs as planned before. At the same time, he rectified the Dongchang, which was to re-hard the rust knife hanging on the heads of all officials!

Emperor Chongzhen stood firm, turned to look at Wang Chengen, and said with a hint of relief on his face: "You haven't disappointed me after all, it's great!"

In fact, he only heard about selling official positions.

Wang Chengen actually didn't say everything, and was a little nervous. When he heard the emperor's affirmation, he couldn't help but feel relieved. He quickly apologized and said, "I used to be lard, but I deserve to die!"

"Just have this understanding, get up and talk!" Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand and said lightly.

However, when Wang Chengen stood up as he said, he suddenly said, "Now the court is extremely short of money, military pay, disaster relief, etc., all costs money. Since you have not disappointed me, I will no longer care. However, you still have to hand over the amount of money you have left in illegal income to me. I need money in urgent need, do you understand?"

Before Wang Chengen could speak, Emperor Chongzhen added: "Actually, if the Ming Dynasty hadn't been short of money, it would have been fine if the past was not the case, and everything started from a new beginning. I had no choice. I had the illegal gains, as much as I could. What I wanted was this attitude. As long as I took it out, I would never pursue the past matters!"

In fact, there was a concern here that if all the illegal gains of the previous ones were taken out, the amount would be large. Wouldn’t it mean that the illegal things in the past were very serious? If the number was small, what should I do if the emperor knew about it and pursued it again?

Even Wang Chengen had such concerns. However, he heard Emperor Chongzhen repeatedly stressing that he was short of money. As the people around the emperor, he did know that the court was very short of money. However, although the emperor said he would not pursue the matter, should he believe this?

Emperor Chongzhen seemed to know what he was thinking, so he said, "I actually understand that my salary in the Ming Dynasty has been very low after more than two hundred years. I am sorry to everyone when I do things for the court but cannot support my family. What I say has been said is because of this reason. Those who have been used up before are treated as compensation for everyone. I will not investigate it carefully! After I reform the government, the court will become rich, and everyone's salary will increase! I will never treat everyone badly when doing things for me!"

It would be unfair to say this to a few honest officials. If I had known this, wouldn’t it be a honest official?

However, in the late Ming Dynasty, there were too few honest officials. As long as you become an official, you will definitely gain benefits directly and indirectly and passively through the power of becoming an official. This is precisely the biggest reason why everyone wants to become an official.

However, what Emperor Chongzhen said now is for corrupt people, but for them, it is reasonable and somewhat a reassurance.

It was not until this time that Wang Chengen had the opportunity to reply: "I deserve to die for ten thousand times, and I must take out all the money!"

Emperor Chongzhen did not believe this, and he would take out all the money. But no matter what, it would be enough to take out the money.

Thinking of this, he said to Wang Chengen again: "Cao Daban was the old man when I was in the residence and my confidant. Although he was sorry for me, I still wanted to give him a chance. If you send someone to tell him, let him follow your example, and I will let you go without any blame!"
Chapter completed!