I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 405: Honest officials do not need to be corrupt, and corrupt officials dare not be corrupt

The main pattern of the one-yuan note is the Fengtian Hall
The main pattern of the 5-jiao denomination is Chengtian Gate
The main design of the one-cent note is the Temple of Heaven.
Although Zhu Houxuan did not explicitly state that these banknotes would be one of the official legal tenders of the Ming Dynasty,
But the pattern has already shown it all.
The designs on each banknote are very exquisite, and a lot of color is used. Some of the designs are the same as those on the silver coins, which makes Zhou Abao feel relieved.
This was the first time Zhou Abao had seen such a beautiful pattern. He suddenly rubbed his hands vigorously on his blue work clothes twice, fearing that the oil on his hands would contaminate the paper.
There was very little on these pieces of paper, only the face value and the words "Ming Royal Bank" were written on both sides.
Looking at this familiar font, Zhou Abao felt more relieved.
Out of trust in the factory, the other workers suppressed their doubts and left, and no one thought about the Ming Dynasty's treasure notes.
The next day, Machinery Factory No. 1 held a general staff meeting, and the factory director focused on introducing the silver dollar notes.

It is said that because ordinary silver coins are troublesome to use, in order to facilitate the employees of the Royal Group, the Royal Bank launched this silver dollar certificate. The silver dollar certificate can be used as the same as the silver coins of the same face value, and can also be freely exchanged for silver coins of the same face value at the Royal Bank’s outlets. At the same time, there will be discounts when using the silver dollar certificate to purchase various products produced by the Royal Group.
The factory manager's patient explanation dispelled many people's doubts, and those who still had doubts went to the Royal Bank's branch overnight to exchange the silver dollar certificates for silver coins.
The Royal Bank of course readily exchanged all of them, and many people soon discovered the convenience of using paper money.
Coupled with the fact that paper money is very good for purchasing various products, the proportion of Royal Group workers exchanging silver coins at Royal Bank outlets is decreasing.
The results after one month of pilot testing at the Royal Group far exceeded Zhu Houxuan's expectations.

The workers of the Royal Group were much more accepting of the silver dollar notes than expected, but this was normal. Their lives had undergone earth-shaking changes because of the existence of the Royal Group. They were the group of people who trusted the Royal Group the most, so they were the group of people who supported the Royal Group the most.

Zhu Houxuan was very surprised by the result of this pilot project, and he immediately ordered the printing of silver dollar notes with a total face value of 10 million silver coins.

At the beginning, the silver yuan coupons were tentatively issued among the people in Beijing, but the effect was much worse among the people in Beijing. The well-informed people in Beijing had a low acceptance of the silver yuan coupons, and most people would directly exchange them for silver coins after receiving them.
Zhu Houxuan had no choice but to use various preferential policies to lure the people in the capital to use silver dollar coupons and cultivate their habit of using silver dollar coupons.

In addition, the Royal Group also announced a series of measures, such as only issuing silver yuan coupons to conscripted laborers for work; the Royal Group's flagship products only accept silver yuan coupons for settlement.
However, to Zhu Houxuan's relief, the partners of the Royal Group were much more receptive to the silver dollar notes.
Merchants always know the nature of currency better than ordinary people. And judging from the series of measures taken by the Royal Group, the Royal Group is prepared to spend a lot of effort and cost to promote the silver dollar coupons. With the size of the Royal Group and Zhu Houxuan's management methods, the silver dollar coupons will not collapse in a short time.
In addition to using economic means to promote silver dollar coupons, Zhu Houxuan also began to use political means to promote silver dollar coupons.

Zhan Bin successfully became the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture in May.

Zhu Houxuan also announced the change of the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture Yin, and also announced the establishment of the Jingcheng Te District.

Just when everyone was confused about what the Beijing TE District was.

Zhu Houxuan announced that the policy of high salary to maintain integrity would be tried in the special districts of the capital. The salaries of all officials with ranks in the 24 prefectures and counties under Shuntian Prefecture would be multiplied by five on the original basis.
This policy caused a great uproar among the people. No one expected Zhu Houxun to launch such a policy. All kinds of voices came out at once, but gradually the voices of opposition prevailed. After all, although the financial situation of the Ming Dynasty has improved a little, the increase in salary by Zhu Houxun is too large.
This is a big step, and some people are afraid of getting hurt.
"My goal is very simple, which is to make honest officials not have to be corrupt and corrupt officials dare not be corrupt!" Zhu Houxun stood high in the Fengtian Hall, looking at the ministers below and said in a deafening voice.

"The high salary policy can be tried out in the special district of Beijing for a few years, and then promoted nationwide," Zhu Houxuan continued.

The ministers had different expressions. Zhu Houxun had something to say. It was easy to understand that he wanted honest officials not to be corrupt. He wanted to pay high salaries to maintain integrity. After all, integrity has a price to pay. Zhu Houxun wanted more officials to be honest without worries.
This principle is used by everyone present, but the fatal thing is that corrupt officials dare not be corrupt.
The ministers present were all very clear about what Zhu Houxuan meant.

Because the most important thing in the court recently is that the case of false reporting of disaster last year has finally come to an end after more than a year of investigation and trial.

But he got stuck at this step. The reason was simple. Zhu Houxun thought the sentence was too light.
More than 200 officials were involved in the case, making it the largest corruption case since the Hongwu Emperor. The heaviest sentence was dismissal and exile to the southwest, while most were dismissed and fined. A small number were even demoted and allowed to serve their sentences.
This directly made Zhu Houxuan very angry. In such a serious case, not even one person was sentenced to death.
Zhu Houxuan asked the Minister of Justice what law they followed in sentencing. It turned out that they followed a law from the time of Emperor Hongzhi, and they said it was a law passed down by their ancestors.
After careful inquiry, Zhu Houxuan discovered that this law was just an oral instruction from Emperor Hongzhi.
This made him even happier.
As interpreters of the system, civil officials are particularly good at salami-slicing power grabs. Anything that benefits them will be retained in the name of ancestral law. Anything that does not benefit them is considered bad governance and must be corrected.

Zhu Houxuan did not indulge them at all. You told me that this matter is the law established by our ancestors, right? Then I will show you what the law established by our ancestors is!

What the Ming Dynasty lacks the least is laws to punish corrupt officials!

Zhu Yuanzhang has written the cruelest punishment for corrupt officials into the Ming Dynasty Law.
Zhu Houxuan didn't even skin him and stuff him with straw, he just drew a line - anyone who embezzled more than 60 taels of silver would be executed immediately.

The ministers could not accept this at all. According to this standard, these more than 200 people would have to die.
The relationship between these two hundred people is complicated and they have connections with many people in the court, so the sentence is so light.
Zhu Houxuan did not really want to kill these 200 people. The laws set by Zhu Yuanzhang were still too harsh and no longer suitable for this era. Moreover, they could not really curb corruption.
He just wanted to use this as a bargaining chip to make political deals with the ministers in exchange for what he wanted.
I decided to speed up the plot.
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(End of this chapter)