The end of the Ming Dynasty swept the world

Purpose of Chapter 812 Law

Zhang Xin just nodded, the emperor is right, no one like these people collects taxes and measures the fields, where does the court get the food and silver?

Think about it, there were only a few officials and dozens of officials in a county in the past, and it was really impossible to do things.

With these dozens of people, how can we measure the fields in the whole county?How to pass the following news to the capital.

People like Zhang Jinyan are actually very concerned about commercial taxes. After all, these officials have shops in their homes.

Ding Yi said before that Beijing officials don’t care about it, but now it’s all written in the reform, and Beijing officials also have to pay taxes.

Fortunately, none of them, including Ma Shiying, came from a wealthy businessman in the south of the Yangtze River. The shop at home is also a small shop, and they can't pay much tax money. After seeing it, they don't have any opinions.

The second major reform is the evaluation and promotion of officials, which has been mentioned before.

Then the third major reform is the village and township management system.

The Baojia system used by the Manchu Qing Dynasty was used by Ding Yi, and the later village system was used by Ding Yi.

According to the current village as a unit, there is a village head, [-] households in each village, and a group leader.

The village head is appointed by the county, but there is no salary. The term of the village head is four years, tax-free during the term, and cannot be re-elected.

The team leader can be re-elected, and half of the tax is exempted during the term.

Village leaders are given priority by retired soldiers and retired officials. If there are no soldiers or officials, the villagers themselves will elect them.

Seeing that the leaders of the village groups were returned by soldiers from the army, Zhang Xin had to admire Ding Yi. With such measures, the ruling power of the imperial court will be stronger than ever.

The era when rural gentry were more useful than county magistrates will no longer exist.

Because if the villagers are allowed to choose, they will definitely not be able to choose gentry.

Unless this gentry is always willing to do good and is a great benefactor.

The fourth reform is the retirement and welfare system of officials and generals.

Under the second rank, retire at the age of 66, those who enter the cabinet (or have titles) above the second rank retire at the age of 63, and those who have not entered the cabinet retire at the age of [-], the same as for military officers.

When retiring, he will receive twice the salary of the year before retirement at one time, and the imperial court will no longer support him.

Seeing this, the officials were in an uproar.

The Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not have a retirement system, but two stones of rice were distributed to retired officials every month, which was equivalent to a pension.

Now Ding Yi pays twice the annual salary at once, regardless of the pros and cons.

What if the money runs out and there is nothing to eat?Some people are old and have no one to take care of them. Wouldn't they starve to death?

"Your Majesty--" Lu Daqi, Minister of the Ministry of Justice, suggested that it would be better to distribute two stones of rice every month. The Ming Dynasty also did the same.

Ma Shiying retorted, wouldn't it be more than two shimi for two months to get a one-time salary for two years?

Retirement like Ma Shiying can take more than 3000 shi at a time, and 100 shi can be eaten for [-] years a year.

Of course, now that Ding Yi’s salary is mainly in silver, isn’t it nice for him to get more than 3000 taels of silver at one time?

Lu Daqi insisted on two stones a month, and the officials looked at him strangely.

Ding Yi had no choice but to say: "Let the retired officials choose by themselves, three stones per month, or two years' annual salary at a time."

"The emperor is wise." Lu Daqi said happily.

Ma Shiying waited and gave him a few blank glances.

Then there is the matter of raising the salaries of officials and soldiers. This matter was mentioned once when he was enthroned, and the whole world celebrated it.

This time, it is written clearly and will be implemented from next month.

It is basically double the original size of Daming.

For example, the current cabinet members are all counted as first-rank, and the annual salary has risen from 888 shi in the Ming Dynasty to 1700 shi in Daqian, and officials receive food or money at will.

Of course, these salaries were placed in the Ming Dynasty in the past, and some people may not be enough.

Because some high-ranking officials have many people in their families, such as staff, servants, maids, and even servants and guards.

But Ding Yi specifically pointed out that my palace has been reduced from tens of thousands to only more than 2000 people, and no more slaves are allowed in the world. Why do you still support so many people?
So now everyone has no servants and maids.

Even if there is, it is only an employment relationship, not a prostitution relationship.

Ding Yi stipulated that for officials of the third grade and above, the total number of servants and maids in the family should not exceed ten. The court will give another [-] stones of grain every month, and only grain will be used to support servants and maids.

No aides are allowed, what kind of aides do you want, the purpose of raising aides is to give advice, do you want to rebel?

You don't have the ability, and you have to give advice from your staff. What kind of official are you?

From the fifth rank to the third rank, the total number of servants and maids in the family cannot exceed five, and the imperial court will give ten stone grain subsidies every month.

From the seventh rank to the fifth rank, there can be no more than three servants, maids and servants in the family, and there is no subsidy.

All generals are the same.

In addition, the homes of cabinet members are guarded by the imperial court, and the imperial court pays for them.

The total number of servants and maids in the cabinet family cannot exceed 15, and the imperial court will give a monthly subsidy of [-] shi.

Ding Yi's reduction of the employment of officials' families is tantamount to reducing the expenditure of officials' families in disguise.

There are no slaves now. If you want to hire a few more people, you must pay money in addition to food. Is your salary enough for expenses?

So after that, there were fewer and fewer servants and maids in the officials' homes, and many officials didn't even have any.

Like the current cabinet member Lu Daqi, he has always been a family member, with only one old servant in his family, and his expenses are very small.

There used to be more than 40 people in Zhang Jinyan's family, Minister of the Ministry of War. After the reform, they were quickly dismissed and dismissed, leaving only four people.

All the officials' families, including the officials and generals in Dongjiang Town, were given the land by Ding Yi. With the income from the land plus the salary of the court, life must be relatively rich.

Of course, the brothers who fought the world had to take care of them. Ding Yi hadn't formally entrusted him, so there would naturally be other rewards to benefit the brothers who fought the world together.

"Are all the officials divided into houses?" At this time, Lu Daqi, Minister of the Ministry of Justice, saw the following reform.

In order to reduce the expenditure of officials, Ding Yi also decided to divide the house.

As before, officials from other places who were transferred to the capital could only rent houses. Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, guild halls composed of fellow villagers or colleagues appeared, which were specially rented out to officials.

Officials already have low salaries and have to pay rent, so they naturally have to find ways to increase their income.

After Ding Yi pacified the world, he confiscated a large number of real estates of the clan, and the real estates of the nobles of the Ming Dynasty could not be divided up.

Like Jinan City in Shandong, more than half of Jinan is the property of the royal family. It has not been divided yet, and Ding Yi rents it out to make money.

So he decided to allocate houses to officials, those who were transferred to the capital from other places would be allocated by the capital, and those who were transferred to other places would be allocated locally.

But this house belongs to the imperial court, and officials only have the right to live in it. After retirement and transfer, it will be returned to the imperial court.

This saved a lot of money for the officials.

"There are as few as five hundred officials in various places, and as many as thousands of officials. Do any counties have so many houses?" Ma Shiying asked.

Because Ding Yi even the officials have to divide the room.

"If you don't have one, build it. The Ministry of Communications and Construction will be responsible." Ding Yi said in a deep voice, "Every county and state capital must prepare thousands of public housing units."

It is too easy to build a house in this era. Ding Yi designed it according to the community of later generations. Everyone's house type is similar, and they are gathered in one area, which is specially used as public housing.

Regarding the whole reform matter, the ministers and Ding Yi discussed it for a whole day, from morning to six in the evening.

If some people raised objections, appropriate corrections should be made.

Everyone can feel Ding Yi's sincerity in the end.

After such reforms, a large number of matters were centralized to the ministries themselves, except for some relatively important events, such as the appointment and dismissal of officials above the third rank, the transfer of the army, and important expenditures of more than 10 taels.

Most things can be dealt with at the ministries and provinces.

As the emperor, Ding Yi obviously had less things to do and was much more relaxed, but at the same time, his power was also weakened a lot.

As soon as Ding Yi came to the throne, he began to lose his power. In the eyes of everyone, it was unbelievable. Everyone felt that if Ding Yi really continued to do this, he would definitely be the number one virtuous king in the future.

After the meeting, many people left. Ding Yi told them that these reforms cannot be completed in one step. It takes time to start slowly and do them one by one. For the time being, they can blow the air to the outside world so that officials can predict it in advance and have a look. The reaction of the world.

In the end, Ding Yi left Lu Daqi, Minister of Justice.

Lu Daqi's evaluation in history is as follows: he is honest and honest by nature, he is honest and upright, he is honest and upright.

Therefore, he offended a large number of officials and was at odds with hundreds of officials.

Ding Yi left him alone, Lu Daqi was still very surprised.

After seeing the officials leaving, he suddenly knelt down with a plop, and said again: "The sage is wise and wise, and will be passed down from generation to generation."

After saying that, two lines of hot tears rolled down.

He has never flattered him in his life, and today he was finally convinced by Ding Yi.

Ding Yi took various measures to reduce the imperial power for the sake of the people.

The founding emperor for thousands of years is the only one, and there is no second one.

For the founding monarchs throughout the history, the first thing they did was to reduce the military power of their subordinates and eliminate the generals who commanded the army.

Only Ding Yi did the opposite, devolving a large amount of power to weaken the power of the royal family.

"Lu Qing, you get up and talk, flattery and flattery are not your specialty." Ding Yi laughed.

"I'm telling the truth, you dare to say that in front of the world." Lu Daqi said loudly.

Ding Yi thought for a while, and his face straightened: "You all only see that I am reducing the imperial power, but you don't know that I am trying to save my life."

"What I protect is my great cadre, for generations to come, and the safety of our children and grandchildren."

Lu Daqi nodded as if realizing something.

"But it's not enough to just do this, and you need your support, Lu Qing." Ding Yi said: "What does Lu Qing think the court laws are for?"

Lu Daqi thought for a while: "The laws of the imperial court are used to rule the people and protect the rights of the royal family and officials."

He is also really straightforward, pointing out the essence of the law without hesitation.

Ding Yi smiled and said: "Almost, what I have learned before is that the law is the embodiment of the will of the ruling class, and it is a ruling tool for the country and the dynasty."

"Lu Qing, have you ever thought that just because there are laws in the world, no matter who you are, you can't be free and you have to follow the laws."

Lu Daqi thought about it again, and sure enough, he said: "It used to be useless to the royal family, nobles and even high-ranking officials." It was even more straightforward.

Ding Yi smiled and nodded: "Then have you thought about it in a different direction?"

"If everyone obeys no one but the law, is he free?"

"The purpose of the law is not to restrict freedom, but to protect and expand freedom. If everyone only needs to obey the law, it is fair to everyone and everyone is free."

(End of this chapter)