Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 298 Increase Officials' Income
The Hanlin Academy and Guozijian continued to remain the same, and Zhu Youjian never thought of making major changes to them.

The Ming Dynasty, which restored China for more than [-] years, revived Chinese culture, making today's Ming Dynasty still at the forefront in this era in terms of prosperity and openness in the field of social sciences.

Although Europe had just ended the Middle Ages at this time, religious oppression still existed.

In the Ming Dynasty at this time, although many scholar-bureaucrats still insisted on taking Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism as the orthodoxy, they did not deal a brutal blow to Xinxue and other ideas derived from it.

What's more, Zhu Youjian is not too enthusiastic about the transformation of the ideological field, because he is the emperor and the dictator of the empire after all, and the current ideological field is nothing more than democracy and the rule of law.

In a blink of an eye, it was the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month.

Daming now has a long Spring Festival holiday from the 24th of the twelfth lunar month to the [-]th of the first lunar month, so once today is over, there will be nearly a month of vacation time today.

Daming just defeated Jiannu this year, and the officials of the entire Ming court have not had a good day of rest since June 17, so it is not easy for Zhu Youjian to take another official rest this year.

In addition, he himself needs to rest for a period of time. After all, next year will still be a year of wind and rain, and no one knows what changes will occur.

But at least this year can be a good one.

On this day, Zhu Youjian woke up early, and Dongyang poked out half of his head from the edge of the snow-capped Jinling City with interest, making the entire Forbidden City red.

Officials entered from the left and right gates one after another, and everyone's face was filled with joy that the New Year was coming. As long as there were no foreign troubles and social conflicts did not intensify, the monarch and his ministers could still live in harmony.

Not everyone is willing to put on a bad face every day, especially now that everyone no longer has to worry about the Qing army going south to wipe out Daming.

Zhu Youjian, wearing a Yishan crown and a uniform, with his hands folded on his chest, sat on the throne of a dragon and looked at the officials in front of him.

And the officials also looked at their emperor, His Majesty Zhu Youjian, and they were both respectful and afraid of the current emperor in their hearts. Everyone knew that the emperor of Ming Dynasty at this moment was no longer the one before Chongzhen 17 years ago. Although he was moody, it was easy to understand. People with his own nature, and the current Emperor Chongzhen, they can't figure it out, and they don't dare to think about it anymore.

Because it was just an ordinary gathering a year ago, Zhu Youjian did not wear a crown, and the etiquette was not so strict.

Zhu Youjian also naturally stood up after sitting for a while, with a smile on his face: "The 18th year of Chongzhen is about to pass, counting from the beginning of Chongzhen's 17th year when I moved to the south in June, and now the Ming Dynasty is in the line. After staying for a year and a half, this year and a half, everyone is not easy. Daming has finally passed the most difficult period. The country and the country have not been defeated. Although the northern capital is lost, there is still half of the country. The Ming Dynasty will definitely reorganize the rivers and mountains and regain the northern capital, and I hope that all lovers will follow me and make persistent efforts;
Some people say that I want to be Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty, but I want to say that these people's words are deceiving people's hearts, and their crimes should be punished!I dare not forget the matter of the Northern Expedition and the recovery of the Northern Capital for a single day!Do you dare to forget? "

Zhu Youjian shouted and asked, and the officials present replied in unison: "I dare not forget!"

"Very good. Although we are trying to overcome the trend of Jiannu going south, we can't take it lightly, thinking that the world will be peaceful! You know, Jiannu still occupies half of the northern mountains and rivers! Jiannu still has soldiers who can fight, and the power to conquer the south Therefore, the road to revitalize Daming in the future is still a rough road, and there must be no slack in the slightest. Therefore, I have successively issued requirements to the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of War. Next year, Daming will continue to prepare for war, accumulate material and financial resources, and develop business. Agriculture, peace of the world, stability of the people of the world!
I hope that by this time next year, there will be no more people who died of freezing and starvation in the existing places of Ming Dynasty, no more children who have not entered school, no more officers and soldiers who have not completed their military certificates and pensions; the Ministry of Households must remember to encourage commercial development , the policy of increasing taxes, and the Ministry of Industry must keep in mind the two major things of building water conservancy and improving technology. Future wars will focus on firearms and food, and what you have to do right now is closely related to these two things, and you must not make mistakes; The Ministry of Rites must stabilize people's hearts, guide them, and promote the way of enlightenment; the Ministry of War must continue to train elite soldiers and be ready to fight the Tartars at any time!
In a word, I hope that you will remember my instructions next year, and continue to fight for the great cause of Ming Zhongxing, and in recognition of your love, you have been willing to follow Daming and follow me to fight against the establishment of slaves since June 17, even at the expense of I don’t hesitate to offend my family’s wealth. I decided that starting from the first month of the 19th year of Chongzhen, the salaries of officials at all levels in the Ming Dynasty, regardless of the central government or the local government, will be increased by [-]%. If the tax of the Ming Dynasty is increased by [-]%, the year-end silver reward will be increased by [-]% of the half-year salary! "

After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, he asked Shi Kefa to announce the decree, which became a rule.

At present, the treasury of the Ming Dynasty is overflowing, and business still only accounts for [-]-[-]% of the national economy, and the scale of lending is not large. In order to promote the consumption capacity of the market, speed up the currency circulation and increase the enthusiasm of officials, Zhu Youjian implements official income in a disguised form. A tax-linked reward system is equivalent to a high salary to support honesty.

After all, the official salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty are too small at present, and it is possible to meet the basic needs of life, but not everyone wants their quality of life to get better and better, and the same is true for officials, otherwise they will not have the motivation to work hard.

Although the current officials of the Ming Dynasty can already rely on unspoken rules to obtain a large amount of supplementary income from irregular salaries, there are always some people who want to obtain rich material conditions and at the same time want to have higher spiritual requirements for life. Zhu Youjian Give such a person a chance to be an upright official.

According to the official salary standards of the Ming Dynasty, the annual salary of a seventh-rank official is twelve shiliang and more than 27 taels of silver. Now that the Ming Dynasty has changed it to more than 70 silver dollars in silver coins, it will be enough to reissue half a year of silver rewards. Nearly 1000 silver dollars, which is equivalent to about 20 taels of silver in the past. This is an era when a family of four used less than 1000 taels of silver in the Ming Dynasty even after the war, and the annual salary of [-] taels It is considered very high, and there is not much difference from the Yanglian Bank of the county magistrate in the Qing Dynasty.

But the difference here is that Zhu Youjian also added a link to the tax revenue of the imperial court. If the revenue of the imperial treasury increases, the income of officials will also increase.

Now the tax revenue of Ming Dynasty is mainly commercial tax, and the biggest problem of commercial tax is tax evasion, tax evasion and tax evasion. Zhu Youjian's move is undoubtedly to stimulate officials to collect commercial tax more actively.

The officials were quite shocked, they didn't expect to get half a year's salary reward, and it would become a routine.

No one doesn't like their income more, so the court officials at this time feel that this should be the best news they have heard since they became officials, except for their promotion.

This time, the ministers really saluted Zhu Youjian from the bottom of their hearts: "Thank you Lord Long En!"

(End of this chapter)