Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 504 Great Changes in Official Salaries
In a sense, the provincial examination is the plunder of personnel rights at the prefectural and county levels.

The central government takes over the power of the localities, and the provinces take over the power of the counties, and they are suppressed layer by layer. This is the bureaucracy.

The provincial examination has many benefits, and the advantages outweigh the disadvantages for the imperial court. The cabinet ministers agreed one after another, but they were controversial about the content of the provincial examination.

But this small matter can be solved casually.

The emperor opened his mouth and came: "Take arithmetic and Mingjing as the topic, not obscure and difficult, but concise and clear."

"There are a hundred questions, fifty for each, and one hour is the limit. Each question is worth one point, and the one with the highest score is taken from the bottom."

To put it bluntly, the job of a scribe does not have high requirements. The memorization of the Mingjing test and the calculation ability of the arithmetic test are all practical abilities.

In a few years, this group of scribes will take root in various yamen.

Similarly, the emergence of the provincial examination means the end of the hereditary subordinate staff, which is of great significance.

However, this is only the number of clerks in each county stipulated by the imperial court, that is, the number of officials in the economic system, and each county is no more than 30 people.

There are also a large number of white servants, that is, temporary workers, who have been dispatched, and the court had to pinch their noses to recognize them.

Because there is really not so much money and food to support people.

The launch of the provincial examination caused huge waves in Nanjing and directly suppressed the Qingtian incident in Jiangsu.

After learning about the provincial examination, Wang Yingxiong, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and Gao Hongtu, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, came together.

Facing the two people's requests for an audience, the emperor took his time and received them slowly.

The first is Gao Hongtu. As a native of Shandong, he has a burly figure, a slender and gray beard, a Chinese character face, and a serious face.

It's no wonder that the Donglin Party accepted him and took the lead in splitting up the Donglin Party. Who would have thought that Gao Hongtu, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, would do such a thing?
"Your Majesty, the provincial examination is beneficial to the country and the people, and I agree with it with both hands."

After saying that, Gao Hongtu said solemnly before the emperor could breathe a sigh of relief:

"Since the salary reform, the district has changed from nine ranks to ten silver dollars a month, and has expanded the number of officials and salaries. Although each person is no more than two dollars, the local burden has become increasingly serious."

As he said that, fearing that the emperor would not believe him, Gao Hongtu took Jiangning County under the rule of Nanjing as an example:

"Dianshi, patrol inspector, postman, gate official, tax ambassador, Hebo ambassador, the head of the fourth class of yamen servants, and other unpopular positions, plus the six-room scribe, are all awarded the ninth-rank position, the second and third The number is ten, so each county spends nearly three or four thousand silver dollars a year."

"And Your Majesty, if you count the officials of the economic system and the lenient salary you give, it will cost at least thirty to forty thousand silver dollars a year for one county."

"Jiangning County is a Shang County. Last year, it was only more than 900 silver dollars. After the [-]% split, the county government only has [-] yuan left, which is enough to support the salaries of the county government officials."

"Except for the patrol camp, the rest of the work, such as building rivers and paving roads, and relieving victims of disasters, is unavoidably stretched."

"This is still a place in the south of the Yangtze River such as Yingtianfu. If it is in the north, Yunnan, Guizhou and other remote places, I am afraid it will not be able to afford it at all."

The silver coin salary reform policy was implemented by Zhu Yixi in the Huguang area. Considering the inconvenience of distributing grain, silver dollars were used to distribute salaries to officials.

In terms of salary, it has increased a lot. For example, in terms of monthly salary, the monthly salary is 20 yuan for the ninth rank, 60 yuan for the ninth rank, and [-] yuan for the first rank. When it reaches the county magistrate of the seventh rank, its monthly salary is [-] yuan.

The annual salary reached 720 silver dollars.

Of course, this is not too high considering the high prices in troubled times and the period when stones and rice are in twos and fours.

Gao Hongtu said earnestly: "Although the salary change has not spread to the south of the Yangtze River, it has already made the local people miserable."

He was also in a hurry and had no choice.

"Nowadays, prices are stable, and the high salaries really make it difficult for the local government to afford it. The increase in officials will increase the burden even more. Your Majesty, think twice!"

"I don't think you're here to come to the official examination, but to persuade me to change my salary."

Zhu Yixi was filled with emotions when he heard the words, but in the end he only uttered one sentence.

With the stabilization of prices and the return of food prices to normal, the high salaries established during the shogunate seemed out of date.

"Your Majesty is wise, it's just that the world is peaceful and the price of food is stable, so the high salary is naturally out of date..."

Gao Hongtu said earnestly.

"I understand." Zhu Yixi waved his hand, and said indifferently: "If there is a mistake, correct it. I wonder if the Qing family came prepared?"

When the emperor asked, how dare Gao Hongtu hide it, and said directly: "Your Majesty, although silver coins are good, food is a necessity, and the salary can be half silver and half grain."

"And the monthly salary is too frequent, which will only increase and become complicated. It is better to return to the annual salary."

"As for the standard, the new dynasty and the new atmosphere, while waiting for His Majesty's mercy, don't dare to be greedy, that is, from the ninth grade annual salary to 30 yuan silver yuan, thirty stone grains, and then increase by ten yuan, ten stones..."

Gao Hongtu asked tentatively.

"In this way, the magistrate of the seventh rank has an annual salary of 90 yuan silver dollars, and [-] stone grains..."

Zhu Yixi did the math in his head, and immediately came up with the number.

Hongwu's salary standard for 25 years, the monthly salary of a seventh-rank official is seven stones and five buckets, and the annual salary is ninety stones.

But he just added 90 yuan more silver dollars, and his salary has doubled or tripled, but it is still shabby.

"Too little."

The emperor shook his head and said: "From the ninth rank to the eighth rank, I will follow your increase, and from the seventh rank, the annual salary will increase to 200 yuan silver dollars, and the grain will be two hundred stones."

"After that, 20 yuan silver yuan and [-] stone grains will be added for each level."

"Up to the third rank and the second rank, the annual salary is 500 silver yuan and [-] shi grains, and the second rank and [-]nd rank is [-] yuan silver dollars and [-] shi grains."

"One rank and two ranks, that's two thousand."

The higher the official rank, the fewer the official positions, and the lower the rank, the more, so the annual salary of the low rank should not be too much, and the higher the rank, the better.

Concentrating on calculating the numbers, Gao Hongtu clapped his hands for a long time and said, "This is the best. Each county can only use a maximum of 7000 yuan silver dollars, which is enough."

Hearing this, Zhu Yixi showed a smile: "However, although the white servant is humble, he is a person who is supported by the yamen. How can he let others use it for nothing?"

"Here, take half of the money from the imperial court, which is called public money, and the white servants will be given at least one silver dollar and five buckets of grain every month, which will be controlled by the county government."

The reason why it is allowed to control freely is because the circumstances of each county are different. A county in Guizhou can have at most a hundred white servants, while counties with large populations in the south of the Yangtze River are not too many.

In this way, the ratio of money and food to the imperial court and the local government is [-]% and [-]%.

Local finances can be looser.

This is also due to the collection of commercial taxes, otherwise Gao Hongtu would not want to give up so much money and food.

Libu Shangshu Wang Yingxiong was blunt and said directly: "Your Majesty, these officials who passed the provincial examination must be of high quality, such as Cang Ambassadors, although they are small officials, they still have to go through the inspection of the Ministry of Officials!"

(End of this chapter)