Daming: Mixed in Dangzhi County, Beiping

Chapter 425: An upgraded version of Jingcha?

"..."

Zhu Di frowned slightly, thought about it for a long time, and then said in surprise: "Our scribes in Prince Yan's Mansion, the combined salary for one year is not much less than that of a fourth-rank official in the imperial court!"

"Your Majesty Shengming!"

Guo An replied with a slight smile.

Zhu Di felt a little distressed and said: "We never knew that the salaries of the scribes in Prince Yan's Mansion are so high!"

Guo Andao: "Your Majesty, the salaries of those scribes are actually not high!"

"not tall?"

Zhu Di couldn't help but stare at Guo An.

Guo An said calmly: "Your Majesty, how many shops and caravans do we, the scribes in Prince Yan's Mansion, need to take care of, and how many account books do we need to read?"

"Moreover, Wei Chen feels that compared with the official salaries in the Han, Tang, and Zhao and Song dynasties, the salary in our Ming Dynasty is really too low!"

Zhu Di couldn't help but look angry, staring at Guo An closely, "Does Guo Qing think that our Ming Dynasty has treated those officials badly?"

Guo An quickly explained, "Your Majesty, please calm down. I have no intention of doing so. Moreover, I am very grateful to Your Majesty for being able to be granted the title of Marquis and receive the title of fief!"

Zhu Di was only subconsciously annoyed, not much angry.

"You deserve this!"

Guo Andao said: "I would like to thank your majesty for your kindness."

"Ok!"

Zhu Di nodded slightly.

"Those officials are just greedy!"

Guo An also echoed: "What your Majesty said is absolutely true. Eight out of ten officials in the world are corrupt!"

"Ok?"

Zhu Di was startled.

"how can that be?"

Guo Andao said: "Your Majesty, if a person becomes an official and his relatives and friends from his hometown ask him to do something, can he refuse?

If someone from his wife's family comes to ask him to do something, or if a teacher's friend or a well-known local wealthy person comes to him to do something...

Can he say no to even a small thing? "

Zhu Di said coldly: "As long as it is not allowed by Ming law, they should refuse!"

Guo Andao: "Your Majesty, if what they are doing is known to their colleagues in the same yamen, they all have a tacit understanding. They will not make any announcements or report them. They will give them face when they deserve it, and everyone will make money together!"

Zhu Di couldn't help but said with hatred: "These corrupt officials!"

Guo An said helplessly: "Your Majesty, no matter how honest an official is, he cannot escape the sophistication of the world!"

Zhu Di couldn't help but look at Guo An, "So, Guo Qing is also greedy?"

Guo An shook his head repeatedly, "Your Majesty, it is clear that Wei Chen was just a small official in the palace before, and he had no relatives or friends looking for Wei Chen.

Nowadays, although Wei Chen has been granted the title of Marquis by His Majesty, he is only a noble and has no real power, so no one comes to look for Wei Chen! "

"Sure?"

Zhu Di was a little suspicious.

Guo An nodded quickly, "Your Majesty, you also know how much money Weichen's family has.

I have already been rich and prosperous my whole life, why do I need a little money to do illegal things? "

"is also like this!"

Hearing this, Zhu Di nodded slightly.

"So that means there will never be an end to all corrupt officials in the world?"

Guo An nodded, "We can't get rid of them all!"

Zhu Di asked again: "Corrupt officials also involve money, so Guo Qing doesn't have any good ideas?"

Guo An said helplessly: "Your Majesty, during the Hongwu period, how many corrupt officials did the late emperor kill?
so what?Corrupt officials are still popping up all over the world! "

"Ugh!"

Zhu Di sighed heavily, squinted his eyes, and said with helpless hatred: "Are we just going to let those corrupt officials do whatever they want? Let honest officials become aliens?"

Guo An thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, we can actually curb the number of corrupt officials."

"Oh?"

Zhu Di's face lit up and he stared at Guo An closely, "We knew that Guo Qing must have a clever plan."

Guo An continued: "Your Majesty, the core issue is actually the issue of official salaries."

Zhu Di said with confusion on his face: "Didn't Guo Qing say that the salary of a fourth-grade official is enough for them to live a good life?"

"Wei Chen said it!"

Guo An nodded and said: "But Your Majesty, the salaries of sixth-, seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade officials are very small.

If their family has a large number of people, it will only be enough to feed them.

However, I don’t have money to buy other things such as the house I live in, the clothes I wear, the meat and condiments I eat, the pens, ink, paper and inkstones I use...

It’s also very poor! "

Zhu Di was startled.

“So, Your Majesty, many of his officials also have consciences and they didn’t initially want to be corrupt.

However, when they think about how hard they studied for so many years, finally got into high school, achieved fame, and lived a very miserable life.

In addition, they are surrounded by merchants and gentry who live a wealthy and luxurious life. If they are tempted by some corrupt officials, in comparison, wouldn't these officials be extremely unbalanced in their hearts?

Over time, how many officials will be able to withstand the temptation?

Even if they can withstand it, can their wives, children, and children be able to withstand it? Zhu Di said in a deep voice: "Do you want me to increase their salary?" "

Guo Andao said: "Your Majesty, I wonder if the Ming Dynasty's tax revenue can afford to increase the salaries of these officials?"

"I can't afford it!"

Zhu Di shook his head repeatedly. There were nearly 3 officials in the Ming Dynasty. Even if each official was increased by a few dan, it would add hundreds of thousands of dan of food a month.

Guo An sighed slightly and said, "Your Majesty, can you give them treasure notes?"

"Ok?"

Zhu Di frowned slightly, "Guo Qing thinks that only by increasing his salary can he solve the problem of corrupt officials?"

Guo An said: "Your Majesty, corrupt officials are a stubborn disease. This method can only alleviate it, but it cannot completely eradicate it."

"Is it possible to alleviate this problem by increasing the salary?"

Zhu Di asked again.

Guo An slowly shook his head, "Your Majesty, just increasing the salary will achieve very little effect."

Wei Chen feels that the salary of these officials should be treated like the lords of various regions. In addition to increasing the basic salary, there should also be another year-end bonus.

As for the size of the year-end bonus, it depends on how much taxes and property are available next year.

As for how much bonus those officials can receive, it depends on how those officials are evaluated.

If a ninth-rank official has a monthly salary of five stones and five dou..."

"Your Majesty, the monthly salary of a ninth-grade official is only five stones and five dou?"

Zhu Di snorted coldly, "Humph, enough to feed a family of eight!"

Guo An smiled slowly and apologized quickly, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. It was the humble minister who made the fuss!"

“Now when it comes to assessment and year-end bonus, it is an upgraded version of Jingcha.

If a ninth-grade official has a monthly salary of five stones and five dou... As long as his assessment is Grade A, his year-end bonus can be ten times his monthly salary, which is 50 taels of treasure!

If he is in Grade B, he will only be given 35 taels of banknotes;

Level C is 15 taels of banknotes;

As for Ding, there is no year-end bonus...

If the rating goes down further, His Majesty should dispatch the Supervisory Censor and the Imperial Guards to thoroughly investigate all the circumstances of this official!

Did someone frame him, or was this official corrupt, perverting the law, and acting recklessly? "

"Of course, this is just the speculation of a minor official. Your Majesty can let a group of cabinet ministers or all the court officials jointly discuss it.

Specific divisions, such as subdividing assessment levels, or formulating assessment content, what major cases have occurred under those officials?Or maybe someone among his colleagues was embezzling and exploiting people, and he knew about it and chose to hide it?

Or, as a local magistrate, the case was unfairly judged?Do nothing when things happen?Doing favors...

These year-end bonuses are justifiable rewards given by His Majesty to these officials. Whether they are honest officials or corrupt officials, they are very tempting.

Can this money even allow some officials to solve their livelihood difficulties?
In this way, even if someone wants to turn a blind eye to those officials, or drag those officials into trouble, those officials will have the confidence and reason to refuse! …

In this way, many officials may choose to turn against each other and stop collaborating for the sake of year-end bonuses.

As long as officials from various places do not collude, there will be a lot more fear among them, and there will be a lot less cliques for personal gain.

Moreover, for the sake of year-end bonuses, those officials will inevitably focus more on their work in order to improve their performance! "

"hiss……"

Zhu Deleng took a breath, widened his eyes, and looked at Guo An in shock.

Although there were so many, Zhu Di was still a little confused for a moment.

However, it felt a little familiar, similar to the situation in Prince Yan's Mansion.

And when he thought that when he was in Prince Yan's Mansion, even if he didn't supervise them very much, all the officials in Prince Yan's Mansion were doing their best, he couldn't help but tremble slightly with excitement.

If the officials in the entire Ming Dynasty were really like the officials in Prince Yan's Mansion, wouldn't it be true that the officials in the Ming Dynasty governed the Qingming Dynasty better than those in the Han and Tang Dynasties?
but……

Zhu Di frowned again, "Guo Qing has calculated that he has to increase salaries for officials and set up year-end bonuses. Even if we use all the silver dug out of the Japanese silver mines, our Ming Dynasty will not be able to sustain it for a few years."

Guo An smiled confidently and said, "Your Majesty, you can increase business taxes!"

"Business tax?"

Zhu Di frowned, "How much money can you collect from business tax?"

Guo Andao said: "Your Majesty, the late emperor looked down on merchants, so he set the commercial tax at thirty tax per one, but the minister thought that the commercial tax could be set at fifteen tax per one!"

"so much?"

Zhu Di said: "In this case, can those merchants agree?"

Guo An asked: "Your Majesty, do you think that based on the situation in Peiping, those merchants can make money with a tax of [-]% per [-]%?"

"It's worth it!"

Zhu Di nodded slightly, then thoughtfully.

"But how could the officials in the court agree to such a big change?"

Guo Andao: "Your Majesty, the money raised from business taxes is all used to increase their salaries and year-end bonuses. Which official would dare to disagree?"

Zhu Di: "..."

Guo An continued: "Moreover, once the sea trade opens, I don't know how many merchants and gentry will go to sea for trade. The commercial taxes on sea trade will be doubled or tripled. Maybe these commercial taxes will not only cover the salaries of those officials." And year-end bonuses, as well as the salaries and year-end bonuses of feudal princes and clans from all over the world!"

"The salaries and year-end bonuses of the lords and clans in various places..."

Zhu Di couldn't help but feel excited again, and then began to think slowly.

And the more I thought about it, the more feasible it became!

……

(End of this chapter)