Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 144 New Deal
Since Chongzhen crossed over, after several efforts, although the national treasury is much more abundant than before, most of it is still given to the army, especially the Liaodong warlords.

The military expenditures of Lu Xiangsheng and Hong Chengchou are worthwhile. They are trying their best to suppress bandits, and they have achieved brilliant results with little expenditure.

Liaodong's huge annual military expenditure is too worthless. This is not spending money to raise soldiers, but raising pigs.

Although they knew they were cheated, Chongzhen could not move them for the time being, and Liaodong had to hold on.

Although these 10,000+ troops rarely made military exploits, they at least kept Jiannu out of Shanhaiguan.

If Chongzhen had too much money to spend, he would spend it with Jiannu like this, and Jiannu would be exhausted to death in less than ten years.

Of course, the premise is that the Jurchens can't break into the customs from other places to plunder.

If the Jurchens didn't plunder, how would they support themselves?Just relying on the Han people snatched from Daming to farm the land?That's only enough to make ends meet, can farming produce gold, silver, treasures, silk and satin?Therefore, Liaodong should bear with it.But it can no longer be like before, where the warlords give as much as they want, but let the Ministry of War and Liaodong fight a few more times, and distribute some in between, so as to stabilize the military leaders.Between coming and going, a year passed.Chongzhen intends to solve the Liaodong issue within two years, and now try to delay the transfer of money as much as possible, without making the military leaders irritated, Yang Sichang will have a headache.

Now Chongzhen no longer has to worry about small money like tens of thousands of taels of silver.

Gong Fanwu has successfully dried salt in the Changlu salt field, and now the new salt in the Gyeonggi area does not need to be transported long distances from Shandong.

In this way, a lot of costs have been reduced, and a lot of manpower, material and financial resources have been saved. Changlu's new salt is also sufficient to satisfy the northern market, and the transportation distance has a great advantage.

The Shouguang Salt Field has been steadily expanding production, and new salt has piled up like a mountain, which is why Shandong salt was dumped to the south.Without him, the northern market tends to be saturated and can only go south.

Under Chongzhen's instruction, the new salt sold in the Lianghuai salt area was sold to local small and medium-sized salt merchants at a price of [-] cents per catty. Although the profit was greatly reduced, the most important thing was to seize the market.

The price is so low that it is profitable for marketers.Then coupled with Jin Yiwei's threat and intimidation, how can these salt merchants have a lot of power to contend with monsters like Jin Yiwei?Besides, the salt they sell is of high quality and cheap, much better than the original large-grain bitter salt, and the market will definitely be better, so why not do it?
Chongzhen made a rough calculation, and Xinyan could bring him at least 50 taels of income every year in the capital city with a population of one million.

If you count the millions of people in other prefectures and counties in Beizhili, it will be 50 times X.

Even if there is another discount, it will be around 150 million taels per year.

Now the new salt is being promoted and sold in Shanxi, Henan, and Huguang areas, but due to the unstable situation and road transportation problems, the progress is relatively slow.

The new salt has gradually occupied the market in various prefectures and counties in Shandong, because the Shouguang Salt Farm has been focusing on opening up the Jingshi market before, so it has never occupied Shandong nearby.

After all, the output was limited at the beginning, and it was just right for the capital area.

Now that Changlu has taken over the north, Shouguang salt can fully supply the local area, taking into account the Huaihe River area.

Now that you have a stable income in your hands, and you can see more and bigger income, you can't be a miser.It is necessary to spend money and let the money flow, so that it can directly or indirectly drive the progress and development of society.If you want to stimulate consumption, you must find another consumer group. There are nearly 2000 officials in each yamen, involving the same number of families, and their influence is worth vigorously cultivating.

Judging from the information provided by Dongchang, most of the officials in the capital's yamen are indeed not living well.

There are many yamen in the capital. In addition to the well-known cabinet, six departments, and inspectorate, there are mainly six departments, five temples, Shuntianfu, factory guards and other departments.

In addition to officials such as Shangshu and left and right servants, the six departments also have chief officials such as Langzhong, Yuanwailang, and chief officials of each division.Under each division, there are also specific office staff such as book offices, officials, and attendants of varying numbers, as well as miscellaneous staff such as grooms, cooks, and watchmen. These people add up to hundreds of people.

All in all, the number of officials and miscellaneous servants in the capital is almost 2000, which does not include the factory guards and the 24 prisons in the inner court.

There are too many people eating imperial food in the entire capital. There are more than 2 people in the Beijing camp, 1 in the Yongwei camp, more than [-] in the Jinyiwei, and more than [-] eunuchs and maids in the inner court. These people all rely on Chongzhen's internal funds. feed.

After Chongzhen became rich, he was very generous and greatly increased the monthly salary and treatment of these 8 to [-] people, because this was directly related to his safety, so the money must be spent wisely.

Although the army and the inner court have surplus money in their hands, firstly, their identities are restricted, and secondly, many soldiers are orphans who fled from the north and have no relatives in Beijing, so it is difficult to spend abroad and cannot promote economic development. role.

But the officials in these yamen are different. They are all locals of the capital, their families live in the city, and all their expenses are in the capital.

If these people have enough money, their daily expenses will become another main consumer.

Although serving in the imperial court sounds very beautiful, many officials are aware of their own hardships.

With the deteriorating financial revenue, the treasury is also empty. How can there be extra money to pay the monthly salaries of the officials?

Since there is no natural color, then use folding color.

As a result, every month when salaries are distributed, a large group of people holding cloth, silk, rice, noodles, pickled vegetables, salt, and stacks of treasures will appear in front of the gates of each yamen. The officials who are on the ground, the supplies they hold are this month's salary, and many people have to count on these things to support their families.

These materials are taxes paid by various places, and they have been piled up for a long time in the inner carrier warehouse, Guangying warehouse, and Guanghui warehouse.A lot of cloth has begun to rot and cannot be made into clothes at all, and it is worthless when pawned. The treasure banknote is also a piece of waste paper, and many merchants have long refused to accept it.

Many of the distributed rice has become moldy, and the pickled vegetables are also covered with green hairs. The salt was originally a large grain of coarse salt from Lianghuai, but it was recently changed to new salt.

Don't dislike it, if you don't want it, you don't even have these things.

Most of these officials are the same as a certain class in later generations. Not everyone has the opportunity to be greedy and accept bribes. Most of them do not hold real power in their hands. Who would spend unjustified money to give you gifts?Don't live by counting on that poor monthly salary?

These officials are responsible for the heaviest official duties of each yamen.Although they are also scholars, they are basically failures in the examination field after repeated trials. In desperation, they took the Tuomen road and entered the Yamen, which is regarded as a job to support their families.However, under the strict hierarchical system, the ascension channel for officials without fame has been blocked, and they can only hang out at the lowest level for the rest of their lives, and are often reprimanded, scolded or even beaten by the Jinshi master.In fact, this bowl of rice is not easy to eat, and it is far from the enviable and glamorous appearance.

The result of the poor treatment is that many people are perfunctory in the court affairs assigned by the masters, and many people even try to make profits from it.

For example, the officials of the Ministry of War will collude with the local generals, deliberately give more when allocating armored ordnance, and then report it to the chief officer in the name of drifting away, and finally collect kickbacks from the receiving party. care.

This kind of problem is common in all ministries, and the superiors naturally benefited from it, so they adopted the method of acquiescence, which led to a serious loss of the interests of the court.

If you want to solve these problems that directly damage the interests of the court, you have to have a big stick and a carrot in one hand.

After Dongchang and Jinyiwei were revived, they sent personnel to various temples one after another, and successively arrested some silverfish who were not long-sighted and sent them to the imperial prison. After that, their family properties were confiscated and their relatives were exiled.From the top of the yamen to the officials with real power, all of them hated and feared the factory guards. Those officials who could only count on their salaries were indifferent.

He hates him for cutting off people's wealth, like killing his parents; what is even more fearful is that once he enters the imperial prison, he will die without a life, and his family will be implicated.

Now that the stick has fallen, it's time for the carrot.

A few days later, the imperial decree was passed down to the yamen of the capital through the cabinet. The content was very simple: the emperor sympathized with the difficult life of the officials, and specially used internal funds to raise the salaries of everyone, including the lower-level officials, and regarded it as a routine.

A salary increase is of course a great thing, but there is no free lunch in the world, and a salary increase is conditional.

The monthly salary of the yamen officials is divided into two, three, and four taels according to the importance of their positions and responsibilities. Every year, each person is given ten taels of Qinzheng silver and 20 taels of Yanglian silver.

The monthly salary and the hard-working and honest bank are all paid in their own colors and will take effect from the current month.

At the end of each year, under the leadership of the cabinet, the Ministry of Officials, the Inspectorate, and the Factory Guard will send a review team to each department to check the work of each official and official during the year. People live a fat year; if there is a problem, I'm sorry, your farewell to the old and welcome to the new will be carried out in the imperial prison.

This account is very simple. If every official officer passes the examination in a year, the lowest one will have an income of more than 70 taels of silver, which is enough to feed a large family, and the living standard is not low.The position is important. I can get more than [-] taels a year, and it's all in silver, not the usual miscellaneous things. This is a huge income.

The income of the chief officials of various temples is even higher.

The official second-rank ministers of each ministry have a monthly salary of 100 taels, and a clean government silver of 600 taels.

The servant of the third rank or so has a monthly salary of 80 taels and 500 taels of Lianzheng silver.

As a fifth-rank doctor, the monthly salary is 60 taels, and the clean government silver is 300 taels.

From the fifth-rank Yuanwailang, the monthly salary is 40 taels, and the clean government silver is 200 taels.

The head of Zhengliupin, the monthly salary is 30 taels, and the clean government silver is 150 taels.

For the rest of the seventh-rank to ninth-rank officials, their monthly salaries ranged from 100, 60, and [-] taels, respectively, and the clean government silver ranged from [-] taels to [-] taels.

Officials of the big and small Jiuqing and Shuntianfu are implemented according to the standards of the six departments.

As soon as the new policy came out, it caused a huge commotion among the yamen in the capital, and most people warmly welcomed the emperor's move.Especially the middle and lower level officials, many people cheered and their excitement was beyond words.

The reason is simple, the salaries of Ming officials are appallingly low.

The old man Taizu was born at the bottom of the society, and he had deep-seated hatred and hostility towards corrupt officials. Therefore, after he became the throne, he set extremely low salaries for officials at all levels, and he also plausibly said: "Officials are highly paid by the court, Still not satisfied, unwilling to benefit the people, dedicated to corruption and breaking the law, is it possible to complain about the death of the family?"

For example, when a native of Hai Rui served as the county magistrate in Chun’an, he could only get about twelve shi of rice and a salary of less than 30 taels a year. This amount of money and food was enough for a family of five to maintain their daily lives, but Don't forget that he is Bailihou of the seventh rank.

No wonder a county magistrate once wrote to the court to complain: "Outside of the banknotes folded by the big and small officials, the moon is no more than two stones of rice, and it is not enough to feed several people. They rely on things and look down on them, and they communicate with the roads. Fei'an borrows money?"

Lao Tzu worked hard to care for you, managed tens of thousands of people, old and young, and in the end, he didn't have any money in his hands. How could you let others do his best for you?

It is precisely because of the low salary and the lack of effective supervision that corruption and bribery have become commonplace in the entire Ming Dynasty officialdom, and it has intensified, seriously affecting the efficiency of the imperial court and its image in the hearts of the people.

　It is well known that the wages of Ming officials are low. You can search for information on this aspect.

　　Thanks to the book friend SHAJIA for the reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)