I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 255 The Current Situation of Officials

Li Tian saw that so many people were ashamed, how could he not know that this might be a means of making money that everyone tacitly agreed to.

I wanted to deal with it in a low-key manner, but, after all, he is now an emperor and the lord of a country. If he does not deal with this kind of thing that is detrimental to the country, it will further encourage this unhealthy trend.

Moving his body slightly, leaning forward, Li Tian said solemnly,
"Shiqi, tell me clearly what's going on!"

Yang Shiqi shook his head with a miserable expression, as if he didn't want to say more.

Yang Rong and others were even more ashamed and did not dare to look up at Li Tian.

After hesitating for a while, Yang Shiqi said slowly,

"Your Majesty forgive me. I failed to report this matter to Your Majesty in time. It is my fault. I am willing to be punished."

Seeing that he still refused to speak out, Li Tian was a little annoyed, raised his eyebrows and said,

"Whether you will be punished or not, we will talk about it later. I want you to clarify this matter."

Yang Shiqi had no choice but to stare at Li Tianzhuozhuo, so he said reluctantly,

"Your Majesty, even if I don't say anything, you should probably know that the salaries of officials in the country seem to be quite a lot, but in fact they are not enough at all!"

Li Tian has only been emperor for a month. After charging and cramming supplements during this period, although he has roughly figured out how to be an emperor.

But that doesn't mean he knows everything.

There are some open secrets that it is impossible for him to know if no one reports or tells him.

Just like this matter, he really didn't know.

In fact, Li Tian can't be blamed for this. After all, he was just a clerk in his previous life, and most of his understanding of the Ming Dynasty came from online novels and history textbooks when he was in school.

But whether it is a history textbook or a novel plot, how can it cover everything.

Moreover, there are still a lot of content that he doesn't care about, but he basically just scans it and skips it. In this case, the things he can remember are actually very limited.

As for the low salary of officials in the Ming Dynasty, he only knew that the salary was low, but he didn't know how low it was.

He is even less clear about the means that those officials use to support their large families, servants, bearers, coachmen and other idlers.

After hearing Yang Shiqi's words, Li Tian was completely let go.

Even if this matter has already brought trouble to the court, then simply, make it clear, and find a solution.

"Hehe, this is quite new, Shiqi and Zirong, please tell me why the court's salary is not enough! Don't hide anything."

Li Tian seemed to have a bad tone, but in fact he probably understood something in his heart. The reason why he behaved so unkindly was actually just to dig out more useful information from their mouths.

The emperor's anger was no small matter. No matter who he was, his head might be decapitated in the next moment, even a cabinet minister like Yang Shiqi, the chief minister of the cabinet, was no exception.

He trembled twice, trying to explain to Li Tian,

"Returning to Your Majesty, the current salary of Guochao is that the first-rank officials can receive 87 stones per month!"

"Sixty-one stones of the second rank, ... sixteen stones of the fifth rank..."

"It seems like a lot. It should be no problem to feed a family of three or five."

Having said that, Yang Shiqi changed the subject and continued with some excitement,

"However, as an official of the fourth rank and above in the current dynasty, there are only three or five people in the family."

"Parents, brothers, and children, just relatives, far exceed this number, and there are always the same number of servants, bearers, coachmen and coachmen at home."

"If Your Majesty doesn't believe it, you can ask someone at will, how many people are there in their family at this time."

"Everyone of them eats horse chews, but they all have to use them from these salaries."

"This is just an ordinary loss. If you count the entertainment and the New Year's Eve, the salary of tens of stones is really not enough, Your Majesty."

Hearing this, Li Tian roughly understood the actual situation of the officials at this time.

After so many days of understanding, he also roughly knows their actual income status.

At this time, one stone in the Ming Dynasty was about 120 catties, and the Ming Dynasty adopted the 16 tael system, so one stone was about 180 catties in modern times.

According to the price at this time, a stone of good rice is about half a tael of silver.

That is to say, for an official whose salary is around ten stones, a salary is probably between five taels and eight taels.

It stands to reason, it should not be less.

But this is an algorithm on superficial data.

Just like what Yang Shiqi said, there is no such thing as a dignified fourth-rank and fifth-rank official in the imperial court who does not have a big family, three wives and four concubines, and the number of relatives' servants is four to fifty.

Based on 40 people, each person consumes half a catty of grain a day, which is [-] catties a day, and [-] catties a month, which is about three and a half stones.

This is only the consumption of staple food, and everything else needs money.

Coupled with their daily travel, dressing, rewards and other complicated consumption.

With an income of only five taels of silver a month, maintaining a minimum consumption is only enough to survive starvation.

If you want to eat a meal of meat, you may have to suffer from pain for several months.

You must know that they are officials, they are the most powerful and prestigious people in Ming Dynasty.

It's not as good as an ordinary rich businessman or an ordinary small landlord.

This kind of life, not to mention they can't bear it, even if it is placed on Li Tian, ​​a later generation, he will find it unbearable.

After pondering for a while, Li Tian's attitude slowed down, and he said lightly,

"I understand the situation Shi Qi said, but I have never heard of it. When an official is unable to eat, is it possible that all officials use this method to get money to supplement!"

Hearing the word "Lancai" from Li Tian's mouth, Yang Shiqi and others trembled.

"Is Your Majesty really planning to get to the bottom of it? You actually used such a word."

Not daring to lie, Yang Shiqi had no choice but to tell the truth,

"Returning to Your Majesty, it seems that this kind of conversion of labor labor into money does happen often. But not all officials are like this. Those who have no chance to be released have no chance to get in touch with slave labor."

With a smile, Li Tian said mockingly,
"That means, you have other ways to earn money, right?"

As soon as this sentence came out, all civil and military officials in the Manchu Dynasty were so frightened that they knelt down.

Hastily argued,
"Your Majesty has made a thorough investigation, and the ministers are absolutely not suspected of corruption!"

Corruption cannot be eradicated no matter in any dynasty.

Even though Li Tian had just caught a large number of officials in the court following the Taicang water case some time ago, once this kind of atmosphere is formed, it will be difficult to eradicate it.

(End of this chapter)