Chapter 14: The Beginning of Murder (4,000 words) Although he knew that he might not be able to escape this catastrophe, Li Mengling still made a last effort: "It was because Quanzhou Road was overused and the road surface was damaged, so the ministers rebuilt the ......."
Li Zhen's gaze became even colder: "As far as this palace knows, this road has only been built for less than three years, right?"
Quanzhou Road is the main road in Quanzhou, according to the design life, it should be used for at least 15 years, is Quanzhou Road used too frequently, or the quality of the road itself is problematic......
Which chamber of commerce contracted this road in the first place?
” Quanzhou Road is the main road of the city, at the beginning of the design Li Zhen was built in accordance with the highway specifications of later generations, although the official design service life is fifteen years, but if it is properly maintained, its practical fifty years are not a problem - after all, there are no heavy trucks in this era, the weight of the heaviest four-wheeled truck in this era plus the load capacity will not exceed a ton, even if a thousand cars are walked a day, where will it cause much damage to the road surface?
"That's it......
It's the South China Sea Chamber of Commerce that is building the road now......"
South China Sea Chamber of Commerce?
Li Zhen had never heard of it: "The person in charge of this chamber of commerce, as well as the person in charge of the construction work at the beginning, will arrest the palace, and don't let anyone go." ” Li Zhen's gaze was even colder, and his words made everyone feel even colder, thinking that Li Zhen was going to follow the example of the past and kill Lingnan officialdom.
But the guards hidden in the shadows don't care if you're cold or not, they immediately appear to answer the order, and divide into several parts to arrest people.
Looking at the silent crowd, Li Zhen said with a murderous aura: "This palace has emphasized many times that you can be corrupt, this palace is not afraid of your corruption, as long as you can do things, a corrupt official who can do things will definitely be more important here in this palace than a dim clean official."
But it's just that you are corrupt in other places, only the people's livelihood project is a taboo in this palace, whoever dares to do something on it, this palace will want his head - according to the design specifications, this road can be used for at least fifteen years, but now it has only been three years before there is a problem, and the stone road is not so short-lived......
Do you think such a person should be killed?
” Li Mengling knelt down with a puff: "Your Highness, the minister knows that he has done too much, but the minister is actually not the biggest person behind the scenes, in fact, the minister is just a small middle-level......
Li Mengling also understood that he was destined to die, but he was unwilling, he didn't want to die by himself, and the boss behind him was still alive, so in line with the idea that Lao Tzu can't live, don't think about it, without Li Zhen forcing him to ask, Li Mengling explained everything.
Similar to Li Zhen's guess, Li Mengling's plan was to turn their left hand into their right hand, and then grab a huge amount of profit - their idea was not just a single Quanzhou road, but almost the entire Lingnan road network.
You must know that even though cement is already the most famous new building material, especially in Lingnan, it has been popularized in almost every township, if anyone can use cement to build a house, it is a face-saving thing.
It's just that although cement is popular, this is not to say that cement is already a big road goods, on the contrary, even after more than ten years of cement appearance, the formula has been kept secret, only a few people know the correct formula, and the rest even the workers who fired cement do not know the specific composition of cement.
The reason why the imperial court did this, on the one hand, was for the sake of environmental protection - after all, the local method of firing cement is too polluting to the air, if the formula leaks out, the entire Datang will be a cement factory, and in less than ten years, Datang will never see the blue sky again.
On the other hand, it is also for the sake of war, although the cement is very mysterious, but those who know the details know very well that the formula of cement is not too simple, so simple that as long as there is a formula and materials, and then build an earthen kiln, the cement can basically be burned out.
Therefore, the imperial court is worried that the cement formula will go abroad, once the foreigners know the cement formula, and then use cement to build a city defense, then it will become very difficult for the Tang Dynasty to conquer there in the future - you must know that the cement poured city wall can not be exploded even by cannons, if you really want to let foreign countries know the cement formula, it will definitely bring great difficulties to the future conquest of the Tang Dynasty.
Therefore, although cement seems to be very famous, it is actually a scarce material, and it is also a planned material controlled by the government, which is basically in short supply, and the market is priceless.
According to what Li Mengling said, the boss behind his scenes has actually communicated with most of the government in Lingnan, and can turn a large number of intact roads into problematic roads through the method of Quanzhou City, and then apply for reconstruction, because they have already taken care of everything, so this matter can be done without knowing - the only problem is Li Zhen, fortunately, Li Zhen will return to Chang'an soon, as long as Li Zhen is not there, the whole Lingnan is their world.
In other words, they originally planned to wait until Li Zhen returned to Chang'an before they started, but the result may have been that there was a mistake in the middle, causing Li Mengling to do it in advance, and then before they could correct it, they happened to be bumped into by Li Zhen......
But because of this, Li Zhen felt that Li Mengling might not be a very formal group behind it—an organization that could even pass on orders wrong, and could not correct them in the first place, how powerful could such an organization be?
What's more, although the benefits of cement are huge, the profits of going to sea to do business are obviously greater, and it is not illegal, these years the powerful people have gone to sea, who will risk offending Li Zhen, and put his hand into Li Zhen's forbidden area, just to earn such a small profit?
Li Zhen estimates that behind Li Mengling must be a certain top nobleman in Datang, or simply a clan, this nobleman may have a very high status in Datang, so high that even Li Zhen does not dare to offend easily, but his strength is not very good, and he can only make money by playing side balls.
What's more, if the matter is really serious, then with Li Zhen's intelligence network all over Lingnan, it is impossible not to receive a little rumor - but if it is really according to what Li Mengling said, if the other party really colludes with local officials in the entire Lingnan, it also means that this person still has a certain amount of energy.
"Arrest them all." roughly understood the scale of the other party, Li Zhen put his mind at ease, but this also strengthened his belief that he wanted to clean the Lingnan officialdom - now that he is still in Lingnan, someone dares to do this, if he leaves Lingnan, God knows what they will make Lingnan look like.
"Wei Shuyu."
With a decision in her heart, Li Zhen began to name names.
"The subordinates are here."
"You don't have to go to sea with this palace this time, you stay here and deal with this matter - remember, this palace has only one request, that is, it will not be tolerated, and all the people involved will not be spared."
"The subordinates obey the order, and the subordinates promise that they will never let go of a criminal."
Wei Shuyu is Wei Zheng's son, although his ability is far inferior to his father, but his personality is very similar to Wei Zheng, iron-faced and selfless, and outspoken - that is, the kind of mediocre Qing official typical in Li Zhen's mouth.
Fortunately, Wei Shuyu is not as iron-headed as his father, and he himself knows that his ability is not as good as his father, so he is very modest in dealing with people, and he knows how to ask shamelessly when he encounters something he doesn't understand, so he is still very valued by Li Zhen - if he can always maintain such a character, then even if he can't be the prime minister, it's still no problem to be a party assassin or a yamen director.
Who is Li Zhen afraid of?
What he is afraid of is the kind of person who obviously has no ability, but his personality is still stubborn and rigid, and he doesn't listen to people.
Such an official, even the most powerful ruler, is not easy to punish him - after all, you have to say that people have mistakes, people have not taken a stitch from the people during their term of office, and their reputation is very good, even if they want to punish, the government and the opposition will not agree, but you have to say that he has no mistakes, although he said that he did not make any mistakes during his tenure, but he did not make any achievements, which can be called extremely incompetent......
Such a person is placed on an ordinary kind-hearted monarch, not only may not punish him, but will also be generous and rewarded, and then even if he doesn't like it anymore, he will be promoted to a level, and it is a big deal to throw him to a Qingshui Yamen for the elderly.
Perhaps in the eyes of others, such a person is very respectable, but it is absolutely intolerable to Li Zhen, because Li Zhen pursues no merit or fault.
Even in Li Zhen's eyes, these so-called 'clean officials' are even more hateful than capable corrupt officials, at least although the corrupt officials are greedy, they have done things after all, and after all, they have promoted the local economic construction, but such inactive mediocre officials occupy the pit and do not, they have not done anything, and they do not make way for young people who have made a difference, which is really hateful to the extreme.
Ji Yun told a story in "Notes on Reading Wei Caotang": after the death of an official, he reported to the underworld with his head held high, claiming that he only drank a glass of water wherever he went, although it was useless and there was no fault.
But the king of Yama rebuked: If you don't want money and goods, you can be considered a good official, then wouldn't it be better to set up a wooden man in the public court?
This story is worth pondering, the so-called good officials should not be "clean" who does nothing, but should dare to take responsibility and have the courage to do things.
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
Why does the country want to take the imperial examination?
Isn't it just for you to do things?
If you only ask to keep your heart, and you don't seek merit but no fault, then this official is too easy to be, right?
Where is the need for what imperial examinations are needed?
There are too many people who can keep their hearts in the people, and they may be able to smash one if they throw a brick, and they can be selected directly from the people.
Of course, the reason why Li Zhen has such a concept is not because he likes corrupt officials, but because everyone has bad roots, everyone has more or less such and such shortcomings, and Li Zhen's choice is also helpless - after all, people like Hai Rui have produced such a person in thousands of years of Chinese history, which can be called a moral benchmark for officials (even if it is a head iron like Wei Zheng, there are dozens of shops under the name of the family, Hai Rui is a real official model, and the poor can't even afford to eat meat), Li Zhen could not ask all the officials under his command to be like Hai Rui, which was really unrealistic, and he could only retreat to the next best thing and select talented people from among the corrupt officials to appoint.
"Your Highness spares your life......"
Just as Li Zhen was pondering, a scream woke Li Zhen up, and when she looked into her eyes, she found that the guards who had gone to arrest people had returned, and in their hands, they were each holding a person, tied with ropes, and among these people, there were old and young, and even children and women......
"Bastard, this palace asked you to arrest the mastermind, why did you even arrest the little ones?"
Li Zhen was furious, he is not the kind of person who likes to implicate his family, except for serious crimes such as treason, similar to this kind of collusion between officials and businessmen, corruption and bribery, Li Zhen generally only arrests the offender, as long as his family is not an accomplice or obstructs the handling of the case, he will not deal with it, even if it is a family crime, as long as it is not a capital crime, Li Zhen will not take their lives.
"Your Highness, this is really no wonder to your subordinates, Your Highness, look at the faces of your subordinates."
The guard who caught the woman was also very aggrieved, raised his face and said: "Don't you know how fierce this mother-in-law is, when she learned that we were going to arrest his husband, she actually blocked the door single-handedly, and scratched and scratched the brothers who forcibly rushed up to arrest people, I don't believe you look at our brothers' faces, they have become radish shreds, how can you marry your mother-in-law in the future?"
…… The brothers had no choice but to bring her back, and there were only three people in his family, and both of them were taken away, so their children were left without anyone to take care of them, so their subordinates also brought the child back. ” ......After seeing the faces of the three guards in front of him, Li Zhen was embarrassed, only to see that all three of them were broken, and the lightest one had at least five or more blood marks on his face, and the depth was not shallow, there was a wound Li Zhen obviously saw the meat strips that were pulled out, and the appearance was not miserable, if you didn't pay attention to the treatment afterwards, it would really leave a scar on the face.
"Ahem, let's not talk about this for now, you guys go down to heal first, don't leave a scar."
Li Zhen coughed twice and ordered: "As for this woman, check her details carefully, and if there is no problem, let it go with the child." ” "Yes, thank you, Your Highness, my subordinates are retiring." “…… Why don't you speak?
After dealing with this matter, Li Zhen suddenly felt that the atmosphere was a little cold, and turned her head to find that everyone, including Li Jingye and others, had their heads down, and no one was silent, so she couldn't help but ask a little strangely. “…… Your Highness, are these people going to be killed?
Wei Shuyu was also a little numb at this time, originally Li Zhen handed over this matter to him, and he was still very happy, because it meant that what he had learned for so many years finally had a place to use, but now, ......