Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 266 Salary increase?Increase salary!
a few days later.

Fengtian Temple, early dynasty.

"I have three things to announce today."

After Zhu Gaoxu accepted the bowing ceremony from the ministers, he stood up slowly, stood with his hands behind his back, looked down at the ministers above the hall, and said loudly.

"The first thing is that I think that the ministers in the world are busy with affairs and do not have enough time to take care of the public land allocated by the imperial court, so I decided to reform the public land system."

"To put it simply, the cash silver converted from the highest annual rent of public land last year is used as the standard, which is determined as public land silver and incorporated into the annual salary. In the future, the annual salary of ministers and workers at all levels will be paid according to this."

In the Ming Dynasty, the Baiguanzhitian, that is, the land for official positions, also known as "public land", was rented to supplement the salary.

However, the real situation is as Zhu Gaoxu said. Many officials cannot take care of it themselves. They rent it to others or their subordinates for farming, resulting in limited income from public land.

Furthermore, even ministers like Yu Yanzhao, the Minister of Rites, who hold multiple positions, can only receive their salary according to the official position with the highest salary.

In the middle period of Hongwu, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang considered that the salaries of grassroots officials in the Ming Dynasty were relatively low, so he reformed official salaries in the 14th year of Hongwu.

In addition to increasing the salary appropriately according to the official grade, Lao Zhu also increased the "salary allowance" in different amounts.

However, this system cannot permanently solve the problem of low official salaries, because after decades of development in the Ming Dynasty, the economic level and price level are no longer what they were in the Hongwu years.

Especially after the 20th year of Yongle, with the depreciation of copper coins, silver yuan, and gold banknotes, prices soared, but the salaries of Ming officials did not keep pace with the times, which caused many contradictions.

Therefore, Zhu Gaoxu formulated public land silver and incorporated it into the official's annual salary based on the highest annual income of the officials' public land, which was an honest and fair way to increase the salary of officials all over the world.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!"

Above the court hall, all the civil and military officials knelt down and bowed in a very solemn manner.

Although Zhu Gaoxu has canceled the regular kneeling ceremony, and it is said that all the ministers can bow and express their gratitude, but the habits developed over the years and in the face of such an order that is beneficial to officials, the ministers must express something.

In fact, Zhu Gaoxu was very satisfied with the reaction of the ministers.

After all the ministers stood up, Zhu Gaoxu said again: "The second thing is that I decided to reform the ranks and ranks of civil and military officials."

As soon as these words came out, all the officials in the court pricked up their ears.

"Emperor Taizu used official grades to determine the rank of casual officials, which is clear, simple and clear at a glance. But casual officials are still casual officials after all. Although they can be regarded as a supplement to the assessment system, they have nothing to do with actual salary."

Zhu Gaoxu continued: "As far as I know, in the officialdom, many officials compete for this false title, and they actually have grudges with each other, which seriously affects the atmosphere of the officialdom."

"Therefore, I decided to unify the ranks of civil and military officials into medals that can be worn on the chest, and imitate the system of Qin and Han Dynasties, allowing officers with medals to erect medals on both sides of the gate of their residences to highlight their merits."

"My Holy Emperor! I approve of this move!"

Jian Yi, the Minister of Civil Affairs, bowed his head and took the lead in expressing his stance.

"My minister agrees."

Yu Yanzhao, the Minister of Rites, followed Jian Yi and bowed out of the procession.

"My minister agrees."

Song Li, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Xiong Gai, the minister of the Ministry of Justice, all expressed their stance one after another.

The other ministers also expressed their approval.

The current result was completely within Zhu Gaoxu's expectation.

After all, the original rank is an honor that reflects meritorious service. Replacing it with wearable medals and conspicuous badges will make meritorious ministers more dignified, dignified, and have a sense of honor!
Zhu Gaoxu continued: "Regarding the innovation of the civil and military casual ranks, I decided to rename the civil and military casual ranks as official titles, and set the official titles as three levels and ten grades, namely provincial officials, prefecture officials, and county officials, from high to low...( Three hundred words are omitted here)…”

"In order to encourage grassroots clerks and officials to work diligently, we have specially set up official titles that belong exclusively to grassroots officials, which are divided into three grades and nine grades, from high to low... (Three hundred words are omitted here)..."

He also briefly explained the criteria for conferring official titles, and then also briefly described the change of military attache rank to military rank.

"What do you think?" Zhu Gaoxu sat back on the dragon chair and asked loudly.

"Your Majesty, I believe that reforming the civil and military ranks in this way will only make the relationship between official positions at all levels clearer, facilitate the establishment of superiority and inferiority, and maintain the majesty of the court. Therefore, I agree with your Majesty's proposal."

Jian Yi, the Minister of Civil Affairs, once again expressed his position.

"The minister waits for a second opinion."

Yu Yanzhao, the Minister of Rites, Xiong Gai, the Minister of Punishments, Song Li, the Minister of Works, and others said in unison.

"The minister waits for the second opinion!"

Wei Guogong Xu Huizu, Cao Guogong Li Jinglong, Licheng Duke Sheng Yanyi and others continued.

Today's six ministers and nine ministers, as well as the ministers headed by Wei Guogong Xu Huizu, have long read Zhu Gaoxu's manuscript on the civil and military reforms.

At this time, they were just cooperating with Zhu Gaoxu to go through a process of discussion between the emperor and his ministers to finalize the matter.

When other courtiers saw this, why didn't they understand the situation before them?

As a result, there were endless voices of "secondary opinions" in the court.

After the ministers calmed down, Zhu Gaoxu said again: "I thought that even if the ministers and workers in the world were supplemented by public land silver, the annual salary would still be low, even lower than the annual income of those who go to sea to do business. Therefore, I decided to set up a bank with the title of silver." System, so that officials all over the world no longer have to worry about low salaries."

"As for the specific amount of silver that should be distributed for each military rank and official rank, the Ministry of Revenue, together with the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of War, and the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion, will draft a charter as soon as possible and submit it to me for my approval."

"The minister waits for the order!"

Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Hubu, Qitai, the Minister of War, and all the governors of the Fifth Army Commandery Mansion bowed and went out.

Most of the other courtiers who heard "holding silver" for the first time began to have their hearts beat faster and their faces turned red.

From the Hongwu to Yongle period, a total of 56 years, during this period, any upright Ming official had a miserable life!
Now, the officials of Ming Dynasty finally came forward!

Emperor Qianxi was not ordinary generous. Not only did he incorporate public land silver into his salary, but he also issued an additional amount of title silver.

This is really a great thing!
"Your Majesty is merciful!"

Among the ministers, someone shouted loudly.

"Your Majesty is merciful!"

Afterwards, many officials echoed loudly.

For a time, voices shouting "Your Majesty is merciful" were heard one after another in the Fengtian Palace.

Zhu Gaoxu stroked his beard with satisfaction, with a smile on his face that said "the plot succeeded".

But his smile, in the eyes of the officials, was a smile of satisfaction and happiness.

After Zhu Gaoxu completed the personnel adjustments of the six ministries, nine ministers and cabinet, he began to implement his Qianxi New Deal.

However, considering the need to establish the concept of "father and son inheriting the country" for future generations, he decided to implement some policies that were beneficial to officials, scholars, farmers, craftsmen, and businessmen before the third year of Qianxi.

In this way, on the one hand, he can create an image of a "benevolent monarch" who is "friendly to the people". On the other hand, he can set up several pilot counties during this period to conduct trial and error for his subsequent reform of the official system and other court systems.

After all, the reforms Zhu Gaoxu wanted to implement were all-round, which would have an extremely far-reaching impact on the Ming Dynasty, so he had to be cautious.

Increasing the salaries of officials all over the world is a good move for officials.

Next, the third thing he announced was a major event that could make the participants famous in history and cause a sensation in the entire Shilin (cultural and educational circles), just like the establishment of "Punctuation Marks".

(End of this chapter)