ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 642 Treasury and Salary

"Lord Sesta, not all elders can be accustomed to an ordinary life like you. The key is that they only pay without receiving anything, and there will definitely be an imbalance in their hearts, so it will be difficult to resist the temptation." Sedorum Said something next to him.

"Then don't be a senator, it's better to go into business!" Cesta replied.

"Okay, I called you here to discuss and solve the problem, not to argue." Davos's gentle words made the room quiet again.

His eyes swept across everyone's faces and saw that Melses looked nervous. He knew what he was worried about. He smiled slightly in his heart and kept his eyes on Antaolis. After entering the king's office, Antaolis Rhys just kept quiet.

Of course, Vespa is also an equally quiet person. As one of the rotating presidents, a Lucanian, except when it comes to safeguarding the interests of the Lucanians, he will hardly be seen in the Senate at other times. Silently, he was privately criticized as a "puppet" and believed that his abilities were far inferior to Hermon's. He was able to sit in this position entirely because of his son Bagule's glory.After Weispa heard about it, he remained the same without any change.

As a veteran who just became the rotating chairman, Antaoulis has been keeping a low profile in the past few months, but Davos did not want him to be silent, so he asked directly: "Antaoulis, do you have any questions about this?" What do you think?"

Antaoris was stunned, then straightened his body, his quiet temperament immediately changed, and he said in a solemn voice: "Your Majesty, a senator is the best person in a country, and his position is also noble. This should be The pride of the senators, but now the people look at us senators like criminals, full of doubts, 'Who will be the second Polyxian? Who will be the second Laodicean?' We are gradually losing The trust of the people, the foundation that gives the highest power to the Senate of the Kingdom, is collapsing. This is a very terrible thing! Therefore, we must prohibit the senators from accepting any gifts and gifts, regain the trust of the people in us, and make us worthy again Get that dignity!——"

"But, Lord Antaoris," Cornelus interrupted.

But before he could continue, Antaoris said quickly and rudely: "Dear Lord Cornelus, please listen to what I have to say!"

Cornelus suddenly looked a little embarrassed.

"However, the most noble senator does not mean the poorest. When the poor stand in front of the rich, they have no confidence to speak, and the same is true for the senators who live in embarrassment when facing rich citizens. This not only reduces our senators Our prestige also makes the citizens look down on us and have other ideas, which is not conducive to the governance of the people and the kingdom.

While the kingdom gives honor to the senators, it should also give them corresponding wealth.Because it was their efforts that created today's prosperous kingdom, and the senators should enjoy the wealth they deserve!Therefore, I suggest that the veterans be paid, and the salary is high enough! "

After Antaoris finished speaking impassionedly, everyone was a little moved.

Davos remained calm. Before he could speak, Merses shouted: "No! No! There is not much money left in the treasury to pay other officials! It will not be possible to pay the senators anymore." No!…

"Don't be impatient, Melses." Davos nodded to him, and then said to everyone calmly: "Antaoris said it well, and I think so too. Make laws and prohibit The senators accepted gifts and were supervised by censors, local councilors and tribunes. At the same time, they began to pay salaries to the senators, and they were paid enough to enable the senators to live like real senators... What do you think? "

"Your Majesty wants to give us money, how could I disagree?" Sedorum said jokingly.In fact, the lack of salary and the prohibition of gifts did not have much impact on him and Vespa. Their other identity was the leader of the tribe. Although the young and middle-aged men in the tribe had basically gone independent, they owned a large area of ​​the tribe. Land, many slaves, a large number of cattle and sheep, there is no shortage of money at all.Therefore, Davos mainly consulted other people.

When Cornelus faced Davos' proposal, he still had his usual attitude: "Your Majesty, I agree with your proposal. But, what is the appropriate salary? Where does the money come from?"

"It seems that everyone has reached a consensus on the proposal of 'banning senators from accepting gifts and implementing remuneration'." Davos said, looking at Lysias and Mariji, both of whom also nodded.

"Next, let's talk about what the specific salary should be?" Davos's eyes fell on the nervous Melses again: "Merses, tell me, what is the next job of the city administrator? What is the approximate salary of a grade-level officer?”

"Officials at the lower level of the city administrator?" Once he got down to business, Melxishi regained his composure. He thought about it carefully and said: "Deputy chief executive, mid-level construction officer, mid-level inspector, mid-level agricultural officer, Intermediate judges...etc., these can all be regarded as officials of the same level, but their salaries are more or less different. For example, agricultural officers and construction officers have to travel outside for a long time, so their salaries will be higher. Judges, The work of the Ombudsman is relatively easy, but the salary is a little less... On average, it is about... about 40 drachmahadis silver coins." Melses counted on his fingers and finally spit out the number.

The Hades silver coin he was talking about, since the establishment of the kingdom, the pattern of the silver coin has been changed to have the head of Hades on one side and the head of King Davos on the other. The people of Dionia also call this silver coin "Davos" Sri Lankan silver coins".In addition, the kingdom also mints copper coins, with the patterns on both sides being Persephone and the Great Senate Hall or Heracles and the Great Senate Hall, and stipulates that the exchange ratio of copper coins to silver coins is 6: 1. This is almost the same as the exchange ratio between Obol and silver coins. Therefore, in Dionia, copper coins have replaced Obol's original status.These two currencies have become the only currencies in circulation in the Kingdom of Dionia due to their high purity and exquisite patterns, and have also become one of the currencies mainly used by other countries in the Western Mediterranean.

"40 silver coins...about the price of one and a half cows." Davos was not surprised by this number. He had already had a detailed understanding of it beforehand. This was just using Merses' words to let everyone present. Everyone knows it.In fact, this salary is not low. A citizen with five acres of land can only earn three times this amount from harvesting grains in a good year, and this is only the middle-level salary of the Kingdom of Dionia. One month's salary for officials.Because the kingdom is rich in cattle and horse resources, the price is relatively low, generally ranging from 25 to 30 silver coins. If it is in mainland Greece, a cow costs at least 50 silver coins.

Davos tapped his fingers on the table and said slowly: "I suggest that the salary of the elders be set at one hundred Hades silver coins. In addition, if the elders have positions, their salaries should be increased according to their positions. For example, a city administrator , his total salary should be the elder's salary of one hundred silver coins plus the chief executive's salary... Well, since the deputy chief executive's salary is about 40 silver coins, then the chief executive should be about 50 silver coins. Calculated like this After that, his monthly salary should be 150 silver coins.

For example, Sesta, you are a senator and the top prosecutor. Your position is the same as that of the city administrator, and your salary should be about 150 silver coins.And like Cornelius, you are the rotating chairman, the rotating chairman is different from ordinary elders, and you also need to take on some extra work, and you should also have extra salary..."

Everyone carefully digested Davos's proposal, and everyone looked relaxed.No one would object to having too much money, not to mention that this salary can reflect the noble status of the senators in the kingdom. In this way, even if the "prohibition of gifts" bill is promulgated, I believe the senators will not have many complaints.

Only Melses shouted dissatisfied: "Too much! Too much! Even if the more than 100 senators in the Senate are paid according to the salary of one hundred silver coins per senator, the treasury will have to pay more than two towers every month. Special, I don’t have that much money there!”

Before Davos could speak, Cornelus asked doubtfully: "I remember that the Finance Department earns hundreds of talents every year just from the lottery of various ball games. In addition, now in the country, Trade is booming, and merchant ships gather in the ports of various cities. The monthly commercial tax is almost a hundred talents. Not to mention that the kingdom’s population is now as high as 180 million, the land tax is also a huge figure, and there are also the annual redemption of slaves. Fees, postage fees at the post office, fleet escort fees... are also quite a large sum of money, how could the treasury run out of money?!"

"Lord Cornelus." Melses sneered: "You only saw the treasury taking in money, but you didn't see the treasury spending a lot of money. You have to know that now the middle-level officials of the kingdom There are more than 1000 people, and the monthly salary paid to them by the treasury reaches more than a dozen talents, not to mention the jailers, patrols, sentries... and other low-level public officials who also need to be paid as you mentioned before. , counting all these, there are tens of thousands of people, and they have to pay a total salary of more than 50 Taranto every month!
In addition, the cost of building new roads, bridges, ports, temples, libraries and other public buildings, as well as the maintenance costs of maintaining old roads, city walls, temples and other public buildings, must be carried out every time the military department calls in soldiers and warships. The cost of military training, the cost of building and maintaining military equipment and warships... not only do these require money, but they are also a lot of money.

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(End of this chapter)