My Ming Dynasty, I have the final say

Chapter 22 If we want to reform the law, we must first fight against corruption.

Looking at the three people below, Zhu Youxiao considered his words.

"Bi Aiqing, I heard earlier. I heard earlier that you are particularly good at arithmetic, and you are also good at abacus. No matter how complicated the account book is, you can figure it out?"

"Your Majesty is so complimentary, but I am so ashamed that I cannot live up to it."

Hearing Zhu Youxiao talk about his strengths, Bi Ziyan bowed humbly.

"Yuan Aiqing, in the 22nd year of Wanli, you were not afraid of power and tried the Huzhou case. In the same year, you also tried the fake Japanese pirate case in Ryukyu. In the winter of that year, you killed the jester in the capital again. At that time, my father praised you: you must obey the strict punishment and enforce the law. I heard about it."

Looking at Yuan Keli, who was a little thin, Zhu Youxiao said in a deep voice.

"Time flies, 25 years later, I wonder if I have the same ambition as before to avoid power?"

"The blood in my heart is still warm, but it is still not cold."

After hearing the emperor's words, Yuan Keli quickly expressed his intention.

"Wang Aiqing is upright and treats evil as hatred. I wonder if you would like to be my Wei Zheng?"

"Thanks to Your Majesty for not giving up, I am willing to do your best for Your Majesty."

Hearing this, Wang Sanshan quickly spoke out.

After hearing Zhu Youxiao's words, the three of them looked at each other and nodded at the same time.

"The first thing I have to do is to catch corruption."

"I know that the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty are too low, especially those in the capital. Therefore, some people have to be greedy, otherwise they will not be able to survive."

"I plan to solve this problem by first increasing the salary of the officials in the capital, and ensuring that the salary can be effectively distributed to every official."

Looking at the three people below, Zhu Youxiao said thoughtfully.

The prerequisite for catching corruption is sufficient salary. Otherwise, it would be untenable for the emperor to catch him for corruption.

Zhu Yuanzhang also wanted to go beyond the Han and Tang Dynasties, and he especially liked to imitate the Han and Tang Dynasties.But the Han Dynasty is too far away, so let’s use the Tang Dynasty as a template.Therefore, he also followed the Tang Dynasty in formulating his salary.

Take the seventh-rank county magistrate in the Tang Dynasty as an example. The annual salary of a county magistrate in the Tang Dynasty was seventy dan, while in the Ming Dynasty it was ninety dan.

As for the rest of the grades, the Ming Dynasty was basically higher than the Tang Dynasty.

This led to Zhu Yuanzhang often wondering, did I give too much?
But this is obviously Zhu Yuanzhang's narcissism, just like the organization of later generations. Who cares about the salary? It all depends on the treatment.

In addition to being exempted from corvee service and taxes, Ming Dynasty officials had all the benefits that Tang Dynasty officials should have been cancelled.

Let’s take the Qipin County Magistrate of the Tang Dynasty as a chestnut. In addition to the official salary, the county magistrate also has a salary of 25 taels, 20 acres of professional land (official land, only enjoys the harvest), and a servant subsidy of about [-] taels. .

By conversion, the salary in the Tang Dynasty was about three times that of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, ninety dan a year was enough for a magistrate in the Ming Dynasty to live a healthy life and ensure that the family would not have to worry about food and drink.

However, people are social animals and they all need to socialize. Coupled with issues such as entertainment, staff salaries, appearances, etc., this little money is obviously stretched.

Then, there is something even more deceitful, or even more immoral.The Ming Dynasty liked to calculate official salaries. The higher the official position, the more severe the calculation.

Common converted materials include treasure notes and pepper.

The person who converted the treasure banknotes was Zhu Yuanzhang, who promoted the use of Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes.

The person who calculated pepper and other spices was Zhu Di.

During Zhu Yuanzhang's time, pepper was still very valuable, and you could buy ten taels to 20 taels per pound.

During the Zhu Di period, Zheng He went to the West and brought back a large amount of pepper. What if there was too much pepper to sell?I don’t know if that unscrupulous guy came up with the idea of ​​directly converting pepper to the market price at that time and using it to pay salaries to officials and others!

It was also deserved that the Xishan Mountain where Zhu Di was buried was mined for coal.

A large amount of pepper poured into the market, which directly drove down the price of pepper in the Central Plains and severely exploited it.

As for the conversion of treasure banknotes, the proportion of conversion is getting larger and larger in the end, and some simply convert all the money into treasure banknotes.But since the Zhengtong period when the emperor was called the emperor, the price of treasure banknotes has dropped as low as waste paper, which is equivalent to not paying salaries to officials.

These measures directly led to the unprecedentedly low salary of officials in the Ming Dynasty, making it impossible for officials to even support themselves.

What should I do if I can’t support myself?
Be greedy.

Among them, the person who did the most ruthless thing was the official from the capital.

It directly led to the emergence of cliques for private gain in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and bribery with different names such as Zuo Shiyin, Bing Jing, Tan Jing, etc. appeared.

Local officials and Beijing officials colluded with each other, venting their anger through the same nostril, forming partisan factions and wearing the same pair of trousers. They came together because of their common interests.

Moreover, these people are greedy for justice and fairness!
During the Hongwu and Yongle years, the Ming Dynasty had millions of soldiers, and the value of the Ming Dynasty treasures did not drop to wiping paper. The emperor paid officials sufficient salaries in accordance with the Ming Dynasty laws, so he was quite justified in killing people.

After the Tumubao Incident, the Ming Emperor had been in an embarrassing situation.

We need soldiers but no soldiers, we need money but no money, and we can only turn a blind eye to the problem of corruption.

Zhu Houcong, the Minister of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty, conducted 27 inspections in the capital in his life, but he still could not solve the corruption problem.

When they heard that the emperor wanted to increase the salary of officials, the three people present were not happy, but frowned.

Finally, Bi Ziyan spoke up.

"Your Majesty, I dare to report."

Standing up from the chair, Bi Ziyan glanced at the emperor carefully.

"I'm afraid the money in the national treasury is not enough to pay salaries to the officials of the Ming Dynasty."

　The keyboard is broken. Another chapter will be completed tomorrow.

　　Ask for a recommendation ticket, ask for a collection.

　　


(End of this chapter)