Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 34 Excessive sweating in the examination room, two good trees

"Master, the examination room has been set up!" Liu Jin came to the side of the throne and reported respectfully.

Zhu Youtang looked at the officials of the household department who had been kneeling for a long time, and then raised his hand to let them talk, and then said to the three heads of the household department: "Li Shangshu, Li Shilang and Ye Shilang, you are exempted from the test!"

"Thank you, Lord Long En!" Li Min realized that Zhu Youtang still saved himself some face, so he immediately thanked him.

The sky outside the Huagai Temple is still gray, but there is no sign of rain.

There are already 31 tables and chairs in the square here, with paper, pen, ink and inkstone on the table, and enough distance between the tables and chairs, it is already a temporary examination room.

"The exam for the [-]th Division of the Household Department lasts up to an hour. The exam starts!" Liang Fang announced with a blank expression when he saw the officials of the [-]th Division who were getting ready.

The officials of the Thirteenth Division who were present did not dare to be sloppy. In addition to the final elimination in this exam, the exam results will also be related to their official careers.

If you can move from Lang Zhongchao to Shi Lang, then your life will be perfect.

The principal wants to be promoted to Yuanwailang, Yuanwailang wants to be promoted to doctor, and the thirteen doctors also want to work hard to complete the craziest jump.

"Get off!"

Zhu Youtang didn't want to waste his rich time in invigilating the exam here, so after arranging Liu Jin to invigilate the exam here, he drove back directly to Qianqing Palace.

The development of the situation made him feel a little uneasy. Since his enthronement can be denied, then Wang Yue's appointment may not be smooth.

Originally, he had already confessed that he would leave the position of deputy capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to Wang Yue, but Wang Yue was a guilty body after all, and now he has to be rehabilitated by the Ministry of Criminal Justice.

Judging from the current situation, I don't know whether Wang Yue's matter will be stuck in the Ministry of Punishment, or whether it will be pushed by Jiu Qingting in the end.

Zhu Youtang couldn't help but secretly sighed, he may have pushed Wang Yue to be the Prime Minister Yanzheng, maybe he was a little too hasty, so that the three parties might work together to deal with him.

"Master Zhengtang, let's go back!" Ye Qigong suggested to Li Min as he sent His Majesty away.

Li Min realized that he couldn't see through the young emperor at all, but he still nodded slightly and said, "Okay, let's go!"

When passing by the edge of the examination room, he couldn't help but glance at it, but he was standing far away, so he couldn't see the content of the test questions clearly.

Li Si also glanced over there, but felt regretful in his heart.

Unlike the two next to him, he has the experience of being the head of the household department, so he is far superior to these two in terms of arithmetic.If I take the exam this time, I am afraid that His Majesty will know who is the most suitable speaker for the household department.

The square in front of Huagai Hall is very large, and the examination room only occupies a small area.

Since this is the land of imperial power, there is only "imperial land" and no trees are seen, and the actions of all of them are exposed to the sight of the invigilator.

At the beginning of the exam, an atmosphere of competition permeated the audience.

The officials of the Thirteenth Division could barely gather under Li Min's command, but the pie drawn by His Majesty was too big, and everyone wanted to win this honor.

Among the thirteen doctors are the ones who have the best chance of being favored, and a feeling of competition quietly unfolds.

In fact, what Zhu Youtang said is quite right, the household department does need certain professional skills, so the household assistant is usually promoted from the head of the household department.

Among the thirteen doctors now, except for the two who are related, the remaining eleven are all real officials who are capable of managing a province's finances.

"An antique dealer bought an antique at the price of five guan, and then sold it to a customer at the price of ten guan. Afterwards, after the incident, the shopkeeper of Mihang came to the door and said that the banknotes were counterfeit, how much did the antique dealer lose?"

Originally, many people were worried that His Majesty's questions were too simple to reflect his level, but when they saw the first arithmetic question, they couldn't help being dumbfounded.

Where is this all going on? There is such a life-threatening problem in the world, why don't people live?

Liu Jin stood in front and observed, and found that His Majesty's questions seemed to really stump these self-esteem officials from the household department, so she couldn't help but feel complacent.

Compared with their masters, these rookies are simply weak, and they dare to fight against their masters.

After several calculations, Guangdong Secretary Chen Kun came up with the answer, and immediately smiled like a Maitreya Buddha.Although I don't know where such an exquisite topic came from, it is enough to weed out a group of people.

After writing down the correct answer, he proudly dried his handwriting, but he suddenly caught a glimpse of Liu Zhong, the nemesis on the left, Guangxi Division member Wailang Liu Zhong writing, and his heart suddenly became unhappy.

As the name suggests, Liu Zhongren adheres to the word "loyalty", but he is the only fifth-rank official who does not participate in the small tricks of the household department. Facing this tricky question, he also answers step by step.

It's just that when I saw the next question, I couldn't help swallowing and spitting, realizing that the exam this time was more complicated than I imagined.

"How much was the annual salt tax income during the Shenzong period of the Northern Song Dynasty? How much is all the salt tax in this dynasty converted into silver? Discuss the pros and cons of the salt tax in the two dynasties!"

Chen Kun also started to look at the second question, with the same dignified look on his face, but he soon turned relieved, and immediately began to write to answer.

Regarding the salt tax situation in the Song Dynasty, you only need to open the relevant records to see accurate data. The highest record is 6000 million guan, and it remained at 1200 guan during the Shenzong period.

It may have been difficult to calculate the salt tax revenue of this dynasty in the early days. After all, the court’s "opening the Chinese law" did not use silver for settlement, but since the court allowed the remaining salt to be converted into silver, it has been possible to calculate.

Since the price of surplus salt converted into silver set by the imperial court is "one lead of regular salt is converted into silver for seven qian", the amount of Daming's salt tax income can be obtained by multiplying this price by the output.

"About 120 million taels?"

Liu Zhong obtained the result through calculation, and seeing that it was only one-tenth of that of the Song Dynasty, he couldn't help but gasp.

Fortunately, this is just a hypothesis, and the method of opening Chinese made by the Great Ancestor would not be so stupid.

The essence of Kaizhong method is to exchange transportation capacity for salt quotations, that is, the salt merchants transport ten stones of rice and grain to the granary on the nine sides, and the Ming court will give a salt quotation.

It's just the fact that you can't get a merchant to help you transport ten stones of grain to the granary on the nine sides by spending seven coins, but you can do it with a piece of salt.

The reason is that the value of a piece of salt quotation is more than seven coins, and now the "transportation capacity" of the salt tax under the Chinese law is far more than 120 million taels.

Although I don't know that the price of Zhengyan's salt quotation is set so low for money, but in the interests of the Ming court, it is natural to follow the method of opening China formulated by the Taizu. Using salt quotations for silver will only make profiteers cheaper.

Every time Chen Kun finished answering a question, there would be a Maitreya-like smile on his face, but when he looked up and saw Liu Zhong finished answering, the smile on his face disappeared instantly.

Soon, the exam came to the last question: "What is the price of salt in the capital today?"

This is undoubtedly the easiest question in this exam. It does not require complex calculations, nor does it require a wealth of knowledge reserves. It is only necessary to understand the price of salt in today's life.

It's just that when faced with such a simple question, the few people who were in a hurry just now are all scratching their heads and sweating profusely.

If he caught a random peddler outside, he would definitely be able to know the price of salt, but now it has already stumped the well-educated officials and gentlemen present.

The low salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty mainly refer to the Hongwu period, but through the unremitting efforts of the civil official group, their income has already risen with the tide.

Because the Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang added "then is a permanent system" to the official salary, the emperors and officials of all dynasties did not dare to touch the basic salary, but they made a big fuss about allowances and benefits.

Taking Chai Xin Yin Zao Li Yin as an example, each person can get one tael of Chai Xin Yin per month, and the number of Zao Li can range from two to twelve. That is to say, senior officials can get 12 taels of silver every month, plus one tael in leap years. It is raised by the Ministry of War and the local Chief Secretary through the Ministry of Households.

In addition to allowances, there are "ice warnings", "charcoal warnings" and "don't watch" from the localities, and it is even more beneficial to keep wives and children.

As for salt and tea, they have already been distributed by the yamen in the capital, and many officials even took the opportunity to reap the benefits. "Since ancient times, the salary of hundreds of officials has been so thin, there has never been such a person", this sentence is no longer applicable to the current Ming Dynasty.

Not to mention that they don't need to worry about salt at all, even if they really have to spend money to buy salt, they don't need to take it seriously with their current income.

"carry out an assignment!"

While other household officials were still scratching their heads, Guangdong Secretary Chen Kun and Guangxi Secretary Liu Zhong raised their hands almost at the same time to signal for the submission of the paper.

Liu Jin looked at Liu Zhong and Chen Kun in surprise, and stepped forward to check, only to find that they had completed the questionnaire.

He first took Liu Zhong's test paper, but when he took Chen Kun's test paper, a piece of silver ran into his cuff like a magic trick.

(End of this chapter)