Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

"Ma Mingpao said that your monthly salary will be ten taels." Chongzhen glanced at Wang Wei, Fu Shan and others, and asked again, "Do you think it's enough?"

"Return to the Holy Master, the monthly salary of ten taels of silver is enough."

Wang Wei, Fu Shan and others quickly replied to the matter.

"But I think it's not enough, and it's far from enough!" Chongzhen waved his hand and said again.

"Ah?" Hearing this, Ma Mingpao, Wang Wei, Fu Shan and others were a little confused by the matter. What's going on?
They originally thought that the Holy Majesty would think they wanted too much, but they never expected that the Holy Majesty would think that the monthly salary of ten taels of silver was too little?What does this say?

As an emperor, do you still feel that officials get too little salary?

Emperor Taizu Gao wanted to let officials work for the court for free.

It can only be said that the sparrow knows the lofty ambitions, or that the times have limited Ma Mingpao's vision.

History has fully proved that low salaries are not advisable. The original intention of Zhu Yuanzhang to set low salaries for officials was to save the country's financial expenditures, but the result was counterproductive. Instead, it led to a great waste of national financial expenditures. The financial expenditure can only do five taels of silver.

Of course, a simple high salary is definitely not advisable.

The salaries of officials in the Tang and Song dynasties were dozens of times those of the Ming Dynasty, and officials were also corrupt.

Since Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty, the system of raising honesty and honesty was set up, and the quota of raising honesty and honesty can even reach a hundred times the salary, but local officials should still be greedy.

Therefore, it must be a high salary plus a strict supervision mechanism and a severe punishment system.

Corrupt officials must understand that the benefits of corruption may be far less than the benefits of being an honest official, which includes huge economic benefits.

In this case, corrupt officials have to weigh it before reaching out, is it worth it?

Of course, when Chongzhen did this, he also had an ultimate goal that was not humane, and that was to bind the interests of the royal family with the interests of all the scholars in the Ministry of Internal Affairs through this salary system.

From now on, all the scholars of the royal family and the Ministry of Internal Affairs are a community of interests, and all are prosperous and all are harmed.

"The salary paid on a monthly basis is according to what you asked just now, seven grades and ten taels, and Ma Minglu is the master of the sixth grade, so he will get twelve taels." After a short pause here, Chongzhen said again, "But apart from getting a monthly salary In addition, you still have an annual salary to receive, and you will also have an official salary when you reach the age to serve as an official!"

"Ah, there is still an annual salary to receive?"

"After you become an official, is there any scholarship money?"

The senior officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs present here suddenly became interested.

Silver is undoubtedly a good thing, no one would dislike it.

When Ma Mingjue thought about it, he asked directly: "Your Majesty, what about the annual salary? What about the official salary?"

"That's right." Chongzhen tapped the beauty behind him lightly with his fingers, and then asked, "Ma Qing, first give me an estimate of the current assets of the Ministry of Internal Affairs?"

"How many assets does the Ministry of Internal Affairs have?" Ma Minghao said in amazement, "Your Majesty, I haven't counted this, because there are cross-shareholdings in various yamen under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. For example, the Royal Bank holds shares in the Industrial and Commercial Bank. Also, the Exchange also has shares in the Bank of Industry and Commerce and the Bank of Shipping and Shipbuilding, so it is difficult to calculate.” …

Chongzhen smiled and said: "I didn't ask you to calculate accurately, so you can simply estimate it."

"Estimate?" Ma Mingpao nodded and began to calculate, "The Ministry of Internal Affairs holds [-] shares in the Royal Exchange, equivalent to [-] million shares, and holds [-] shares in the Shipping and Shipbuilding Bank. Ten million taels of silver, and the shares held in factories such as the arsenal, gunpowder factory, lead factory, Huangming Times, etc., are worth about five million taels of silver."

"There is also Royal Bank's shares in Industrial and Commercial Bank worth [-] million yuan."

After saying this, Ma Mingpao said again: "The last one is the Royal Silver Number, but how much the Royal Silver Number is worth, this minister really has no way to estimate."

The Royal Bank is also the property of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and it is fully controlled.

Chongzhen said: "Although there are more than [-] million taels of silver deposited in the account of the Royal Bank, the silver belongs to the depositors, so it cannot be simply counted as the assets of the Royal Bank, let's convert [-] million taels of silver first. "

Ma Minglu said: "In this case, the Ministry of Internal Affairs now has assets of about [-] million taels. In addition, there are about [-] million taels of cash in the account of the Royal Bank, and about [-] million taels. There are no bonds sold."

Hearing this number, Zheng Sen, Huang Zongxi, Chen Zilong and other scholars were a little confused, so many?
Unknowingly, the Holy Majesty's House of Internal Affairs has expanded to such a terrifying scale?

Chongzhen pondered for a while, and then said in shock: "I plan to let the existing scholars of King Qin and the scholars who graduated from the Imperial College in the future all take up shares in the Ministry of Internal Affairs."

"Ah?" All the scholars present were pale.

Let them take shares in the Ministry of Internal Affairs?I really didn't expect this.

Even Ma Mingpao and Ruan Dacheng cast envious looks at Zheng Sen and the others.

Wang Wei, who is the editor-in-chief of the Huangming Times, is even more envious and jealous. He is not a son of Qin Wangshi.

He said in his heart that His Majesty really did not give ordinary favor to these Qin Wang Shizi, they are really disciples of the Son of Heaven!

"Ma Qing, Wang Qing, and Ruan Qing, you don't need to be jealous." Chongzhen smiled and said, "You guys will also have a share in the Ministry of Internal Affairs."

Ma Mingpao scratched his head in embarrassment, and asked again: "My lord, merchants have to give real money when they enter the stock exchange. Do you want to take out silver when you buy shares in the Ministry of Internal Affairs?"

"Of course it's not necessary." Chongzhen smiled and waved his hands, "You only take dry stocks."

"If this is the case, it would be pretty good, hehe." Ma Mingpao was happy, and said again, "Otherwise, if you need to take money to invest in the shares, the minister can only take out a hundred taels of silver at most, so it won't be very interesting. "

Fu Shan smiled wryly and said, "Master Ma can still give out one hundred taels, but I can't even give out ten taels."

"Me too, I can't get even ten taels." Wang Wei also smiled, "You can't embezzle the newspaper's money."

"You don't need to pay a tael of silver." Chongzhen waved his hand, "I plan to divide the Ministry of Internal Affairs into [-] shares. As long as they are officials or scholars belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, they must be officials. The officials below are not counted. As long as you are an official or a scholar, you can occupy a share in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the corresponding dividends will be distributed according to the profit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs every year. In addition, with the increase in the number of years of service in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the improvement of the grade, there will be a certain increase.” …

Having said this, Chongzhen asked Ma Mingpao again: "Ma Qing, how much did the Ministry of Internal Affairs make last year?"

"Last year's profit?" Ma Mingtao asked, "My lord, can the proceeds from the bond sales at the stock exchange count as profit?"

"Of course, this is of course the profit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs." Chongzhen said without hesitation, "The bonds sold by the market are not sold out of thin air, but the cultivated land of Kaifeng Mansion, Guide Mansion and Xuzhou as collateral. , Prince Qin and the soldiers of the frontier army threw their lives and blood to defend Xuzhou, and took back Guide Mansion and Kaifeng Mansion, which of course is the profit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs."

"Is this considered a profit?" Zheng Sen said, "Your Majesty, won't it also be a profit for the Ministry of Internal Affairs when Shandong, Beizhi, and Liaoxi and Liaodong are restored in the future?"

"Zheng Damu, you might as well look further." Chongzhen smiled and said, "Your father is Zheng Zhilong, he must have told you about Nanyang, if one day the Shiziying can lead the army to seize the entire Nanyang , then all the land in Nanyang is the profit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.”

Having said this, Chongzhen went on to say: "So you don't have to worry about the profitability of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at all. It is impossible for the Ministry of Internal Affairs to not be profitable. The stronger our Ming Dynasty is, the stronger the profitability of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be! Right now our Ministry of Internal Affairs His total assets are only [-] million, but in the future, [-] billion or even [-] billion may be possible!"

Hearing this, the eyes of Zheng Sen, Huang Zongxi and other scholars lit up.

This business can be done, I have to tell Yan Yingyuan and Xu Yingwei later.

At this time, Ma Mingpao interjected and said, "Your Majesty, if issuing bonds is considered a profit, then the Ministry of Internal Affairs' profit last year was more than [-] million taels of cash deposited in the Royal Bank's account."

Chongzhen said: "More than [-] million taels, divided into [-] shares, each share is more than [-] taels of dividends."

Having said this, Chongzhen said to everyone: "Tell other people later, those who have accounts don't need it, and those who don't have accounts, go to the Royal Bank to open an account, so that the Ministry of Internal Affairs can distribute last year's bonus to you."

This is the logic of Chongzhen, to do something or not to do it, and to do it must be done to perfection.

With regard to the matter of interest binding, ninety-nine steps have been taken, and the last trembling is not far behind.

There are more than 120 Qinwang scholars, each of whom is nearly [-] taels, which adds up to [-] million taels!

For such a large sum of money, it would be a lie to say that Chongzhen didn't feel sorry for him, but he thought it was worth the money.

Because through this sum of money, more than [-] Qin Wang Shizi and the royal family were completely bound together, and the two sides became an interest group for honor, disgrace and sacrifice.

Chongzhen's move was obviously beyond everyone's expectations.

Even Ma Mingpao said dumbfounded: "My lord, last year's profit should also be distributed as dividends?"

"Of course, it must be divided!" Chongzhen said, "I told you a long time ago that I will not pick you. The reason why I didn't give you salaries before was just to test you. Now you should believe what I say."

"I believe it, I believe it now." Ma Mingpao nodded repeatedly like a chicken pecking at rice.

Wang Chengen, Lu Jiude, and Gao Qiqian who were guarding outside the Yilun Hall were deeply moved.

The Holy Majesty is extremely picky about the ministers of the court, us servants, and even the clan. …

But the Holy Majesty is really generous to these Qin Wang Shizi, and he will give more than one million taels of silver.

"What's more, I haven't finished yet." Chongzhen smiled and said, "In addition to the annual dividends, you can also receive a salary when you get old and retire. This salary is your equity capital. For example, the total assets of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are about [-] million taels, and the capital of each share is [-] taels of silver!"

"Certificate gold is equity capital?" A group of scholars were completely uneasy.

Gao Qiqian outside Yilun Hall's eyes were even redder, Long live you are too partial.

After a short pause, Chongzhen said again: "That is to say, if you take office now, each of you can receive one thousand taels of salary from the Ministry of Internal Affairs! If you wait decades before you become an official, the assets of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will expand to two thousand taels." One billion, you can receive [-] taels of salary! With this amount of silver, it is enough for you to enjoy your old age in peace."

Hearing this, the scholars present couldn't hold back their surprise.

However, Chongzhen changed the subject and said again: "However, Emperor Taizu Gao once said a word, and I will give this sentence to you today, and you will also pass it on to all other scholars after you go back."

After a short pause, Chongzhen went on to say: "The golden cup will drink with you, and the sword will not spare you!"

Hearing this, Ma Mingpao, Ruan Dacheng, Wang Wei and all the scholars suddenly looked solemn.

Chongzhen said again: "There is no good thing in this world that only takes benefits without taking responsibility. I have given you such a generous salary, and when you are retired, I will give you such a large amount of salary. You have to get it." Take out your own responsibilities, first, don’t be corrupt; second, don’t hang out with the light and the corpses!”

Having said this, Chongzhen said to Huang Zongxi again: "Huang Zongxi, the supervision is left to your supervision department. Although your supervision department belongs to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, it is not subject to any restraint by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. As long as you think it is necessary, you can Investigate anyone in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, including Ma Mingpao."

"I would like to listen to the hadith." Huang Zongxi stood up and solemnly agreed.

Chongzhen went on to say: "If the Supervision Section finds out who is fooling around, once it is found out, the dividends of the year will be deducted; if it is found out twice, it will be dismissed immediately and the salary will be deducted! If corruption is found out, it only needs to be found out once, and immediately Dismiss the case, and deduct the bonus and salary of the year, and recover the stolen money and accept the corresponding punishment.”

Chongzhen has reason to believe that with this high-pressure policy, no one dares to commit corruption, but at least most people will shrink back after weighing the pros and cons.

Hearing this, Ma Mingpao and others all had awe-inspiring expressions.

At this time, Fan Zhongjie, the left servant of the Ministry of Officials, hurried to the outside of Yilun Hall.

Wang Cheng'en outside the hall said: "Long Live Lord, Fan Zhongjie, the left servant of the Ministry of Officials, asks to see you."

Chongzhen's response quickly came from inside Yilun Hall: "Let him in."

Wang Chengen then sang loudly: "Xuan, Fan Zhongjie, the left servant of the Ministry of Officials, has an audience."

Fan Zhongjie straightened his clothes, carried the wat board into the Yilun hall, and paid homage to Chongzhen.

"Stay flat." Chongzhen asked again with a sullen hand, "Is the court push going to start soon?"

The first assistant of the cabinet, Shi Kefa, was sent to the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice because of coercion. The second assistant of the cabinet, Xie Xuelong, unfortunately slipped and fell into a well last night while watching the moon and was drowned.

This situation is definitely not acceptable, so Ting's promotion of a new cabinet minister has become a top priority.

"Yes." Fan Zhongjie said respectfully, "This court referral is of great importance, and the Holy Majesty is invited to preside over it in person."

"I won't go." Chongzhen said, "Let Fan Qing preside over it."