I'm really not King Jing of Zhongshan

Chapter 446

Plus salary!

After Liu Sheng finished his talks with Yushi Zhongcheng Chen Jian, Tingwei Zhao Yu, and Prime Minister Liu She, the news spread throughout the small half of Guanzhong in just a few days.

It is foreseeable that under the premise of Liu Sheng's laissez-faire, or even deliberate connivance, this news will spread throughout the Han family in the future visible to the naked eye.

For this news, the reactions of all parties are not intriguing.

"Your Majesty wants to increase the salaries of officials?"

"——These high-ranking officials and nobles have already lived a life of rich food and clothing. Your Majesty doesn't want to think about us farmers, so why should you give them more salary?"

"Your Majesty is not such a person?"

"I'm afraid that in the middle of the court, there is Xiao Xiao who is making trouble, treacherous and reckless, and bewitched His Majesty???"

For Liu Sheng's intention, the people at the bottom expressed their incomprehension.

After all, in the eyes of these hard-working people, the life of officials is already extravagant beyond their cognition.

What is a good day for ordinary people?
——There are enough grain seeds when sowing in spring, enough irrigation water after sowing, enough precipitation in summer and autumn, and satisfactory harvest after autumn;
After the harvest, pay the tax, pay off the grain arrears, and then set aside the rations and fixed expenses for the next year, and there will be some money left over, which can make the whole family have a good year!

This is the most ideal state of life in the perception of the bottom masses.

It is not difficult to explain why the emperor has the image of "plowing the field with a golden hoe" in the hearts of these simple and kind people.

- Cognitive limitations.

From the perspective of such a group, officials have buses to go in and out, official robes on their bodies, and rice porridge for meals;
On weekdays, there is no need to work under the bright sun at all. You only need to go to the county yamen on time to get a fixed salary.

Half of the salary is rice, which is basically enough for the family to eat, which is regarded as 'no shortage of food';
The remaining half is money, and if you take out a small part, you can make a few new clothes for your family. This is "no shortage of clothes".

There is no shortage of food and clothing, and there is also a considerable amount of spare money, especially all of which do not require working in the fields, but can be obtained by sitting high above the county government or county government;
What else is there to say?

Just this day—just this fairy-like day, what else is there to be dissatisfied with?
If you were an old farmer, you would not change gold and silver in this day!

Compared with the old peasants, the reactions of the merchants and literati were relatively more sensitive.

Especially after the rumor of "raising honest money" came out, the two groups quickly realized that Liu Sheng's increase of officials' salaries was actually screening.

——Using increased salaries to screen out most of the officials who have embezzled and accepted bribes, but they do not wish to do so, but are forced to do so because of their helplessness;
After that, it is natural to carry out targeted cleanups of those stupid people who have to be greedy regardless of their salary.

In the words of a great man of later generations, this is Liu Sheng's version of uniting the majority and attacking the small group...
"The increase in salary for officials shows that His Majesty has lost much patience with corruption and bribery."

"This salary increase is the last remaining patience of His Majesty."

"After your majesty has increased his salary, if he is still imprisoned for corruption and bribery, I'm afraid there will be no good end..."

After reaching this conclusion, the businessmen and literati groups all frowned, obviously not in a good mood.

For the merchant group, bribery is almost the foundation of this group in any era.

Because of the huge interests of business, this group will always attract onlookers, envy, and even covet;
Therefore, whether it is to protect themselves or to protect their own wealth, businessmen are naturally groping to rely on officials and in the direction of power.

In such a game and transaction, the bargaining chip for officials is power, and the bargaining chip for businessmen is money.

The businessman group expressed their reassurance that they could use money to get the protection of power—at least favor and friendly treatment.

Buy a safe one!
Especially if you buy peace with the powerful, the sense of security is simply overwhelming!
And the trend of corruption and bribery is about to be curbed, which naturally means that in the future, it will be difficult for businessmen to easily exchange their money for the protection of power as in the past.

For businessmen, especially in this era, this is undoubtedly a problem worth worrying about.

Businessmen are distressed because they are the main body of bribery;

The literati are distressed because they are the subjects of bribery.

——In this era, except for those second-generations who were born with golden keys in their mouths, and only need their father to be thick-skinned, they can earn a thousand or eight hundred shi for an official position, the background of most other officials is actually the same. Can be traced back to the literati.

Some are talented in writing and have been recommended;
Some are strong enough to pass the exam;

Or start from the low-level officials and climb up a little bit to get to the position you want.

No matter which one is the above, it is undeniable that in this era, in addition to emerging in the army, most of the time, if you want to be among the ranks of Han officials, or even occupy a high place in the temple, you need the identity of a literati.

Although the Han Dynasty is now "Wufu is the country", the decision-making level is basically controlled by military aristocrats, and the literati and bureaucrats have not even formed a united front, but as the bright era before the founding of the country gradually fades away, the literati are now in the political arena of the Han Dynasty. The status has also risen with the naked eye.

Up to now, as a group of reserve officials, the literati of course claim to be "I can become an official directly after I finish my studies";
For such a group of people, the treatment of officials is their future treatment;

The difficulties encountered by officials are also the difficulties they will encounter in the future.

As a result, the literati got drunk as if they were mourning, and then got together with their friends.

"Your Majesty's increase in salary is said to be related to corruption and bribery."

"Those who dare to embezzle and commit corruption after their salary has been increased will be scrapped alive outside the East City!"

"——This, this, what is it?!"

"My generation of scholar-bureaucrats has read the books of sages and sages, so how can they do such dirty things as corruption and bribery?"

"Your Majesty, it's clear that you can't trust me, and treat us as villains with no strength of character and no self-esteem!"

When someone complains, everyone around listens;

After listening for a long time, I didn't understand why, so I simply interrupted the man's chatter by inviting wine.

It's just that as I talked more and more, I drank less and less alcohol, and the topic gradually began to turn in a slightly dangerous direction...

"Officials are high-ranking officials, how can they increase their salaries?!!!"

There was a sudden yell, which made everyone present dumbfounded, and looked at the person who was howling with a tone like looking at a fool.

I saw the man's cheeks were slightly red, but his eyes were clear;
Full of heroism, he took another sip of wine, and slammed the wine reward in his hand on the table!
"boom!!!"

"——My Han family takes agriculture as the foundation and business as the end!"

"Farmers in the head of Guizhou worked hard, but their income was nothing more than a hundred grains of grain, and nothing else."

"The salary of officials is actually divided from the rent and tax paid by farmers. In other words, officials are supported by the people with agricultural taxes."

"With the support of the people, you can sit in the classroom and receive your salary without being exposed to the wind and the sun. Are these dog officials not satisfied?"

"Do you still want to force His Majesty to increase your salary?"

"—This is really tolerable, what can't be tolerated!"

"—These dog officials are really bullying the farmers in Qianshou!!!"

There was another burst of bewildering noises, everyone's drunkenness had already woken up, but they looked at the person who made the sound, as if they were looking at a fool.

Hey, wake up!

You are not an old farmer, you are a literati!
From now on, we will be the "dog officials" in your mouth!
But soon, someone had a clever reaction.

"That's right!"

"Officials have high salaries to support their wives and children, and farmers work hard every year, but they only have half-satisfied food. This in itself is very annoying!"

"Your Majesty actually wants to increase the salaries of officials. This clearly doesn't take farmers into consideration!"

"——His Majesty has forgotten the national foundation of the Han family!"

"We should go outside the palace and remind His Majesty: The Han family is based on agriculture!!!"

···
···
······
Quiet.

After the words of the second person came out, the originally noisy banquet became quiet for an instant.

Everyone frowned.

Everyone is thinking about the deep intention revealed in these words and the feasibility of this plan.

Going to complain that Liu Sheng doesn't trust officials, can't trust officials' morality, or even question the character of Han officials?
——Although Liu Sheng is young, he is not a fool...

Something like 'As long as you trust the officials, the officials will not disappoint your trust', perhaps you could have fooled the Shaodi brothers more than 40 years ago;

But now, it is absolutely impossible to deceive this young man who is only [-] years old but has already secured the throne by himself.

But after that person's kind 'reminder' just now, things seem to have become more interesting.

Putting on the skin of an old farmer, taking the position of an old farmer, coercing the old farmer to criticize Liu Sheng for favoring one another, treating officials who are already well off, and treating old farmers who are living in hardship...
I have to say that apart from being a bit scary, this plan is still very feasible.

There is no doubt that this statement and position will definitely be highly endorsed by the old farmers;
And if someone takes the lead, there is a high probability that the old farmer will follow outside Weiyang Palace and vent his dissatisfaction inside the palace walls.

As for the 'leaders', everyone here, it's a big deal, and the dust is gone, and the merit and fame are hidden...
It is the same as the literati and bureaucrats in every period of history: this time, the literati are still living in their dreams.

But as the saying goes: if a scholar rebels, he will fail in three years;
Or the ideal is very happy, but the reality is very skinny.

When these literati took to the streets full of righteous indignation and tried to incite the people with the words "Your Majesty wants to increase the salaries of the dog officials", they found out in confusion that today's Zisheng, who is only in his early 20s, has already become popular in the hearts of the people. such a high prestige.

"Your Majesty wants to increase salaries for officials, but didn't you say that you want to increase taxes for us farmers?"

"Agricultural tax is still set by Emperor Taizong to take one out of thirty, and the oral tax has been reduced from three people (120 yuan) during Emperor Taizong's reign to six people today."

"As for His Majesty's own money to increase the salaries of officials, what are you doing to us farmers?"

——This is still relatively indifferent towards Liu Sheng;
In the process of inciting the masses, the literati even heard such words.

"Your Majesty is very good~"

"At the age of only in his early twenties, the Huns have already run away with their heads in their arms, and they dare not go south easily!"

"This is something that Emperor Taizong and Emperor Xiaojing have never done."

"——Let's make do with it, hey~"

"Your Majesty is in court, the life of our old farmers is no worse than that of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Xiaojing."

"If you can live on, why do you still care about the officials' salary increase?"

The literati were puzzled.

why?
Why are these ignorant people not responding to their incitement?
Why did the "extravagant life" of the dog officials not arouse the disgust of these farmers, but an attitude that they have nothing to do with themselves?

They don't know that in China, there is an old saying that never changes, that the people should not fight with the officials.

Unless life is really hard to live on, and it is really to the point where "you will die if you act righteously, and you will die if you do nothing, is it possible to die a country?" Otherwise, the people at the bottom of China will always have an option called "make do with it". ·····

The literati failed to instigate the people, and they really didn't dare to go outside the palace to force the palace without old peasants acting as cannon fodder. This turmoil that might have caused political turmoil was still born like this.

The literati who failed to get what they wanted could only go back to their homes full of doubts, and then began to ask all the people they could ask for advice.

But it's hard for them to get an answer.

Because those who can see through this matter, their status is not enough;
Most of the people they can get in touch with are just like them who are outspoken about world affairs, have not been honed in the officialdom, and still have idealism and romanticism.

Not long after, another incident happened in Chang'an, which completely calmed down the public opinion.

——On the day when it was decided to increase the salary of officials, change the method and composition of the salary distribution, and add a new pension, Tingwei made a move.

In just three days, an unknown number of prison cars for detaining criminals poured into Chang'an from all over Guanzhong.

The speed was fast, as if these prison cars had been waiting outside Chang'an city long ago, waiting for an order to start driving into Chang'an.

Moreover, after these prison cars drove into Chang'an, they didn't mean to go to the Tingwei's yamen at all, but directly passed through Chang'an City, left the city gate from the south of the city, and entered the Southern Camp where the Southern Army was stationed outside the city.

why?
Why did the prison van enter the barracks?
And why Nanying?

Why is it the South Camp where the Confederate Army was stationed, not the back where the Northern Army was stationed?
The answers to these questions will be revealed on this day.

——In the second year of Tianzi Shengxin Yuan, on the first day of the fifth lunar month in summer, 490 local officials from Guanzhong counties made a public display on the west bank of Bashui!
Records of the Historian: This is the day, Bashui is one of the red...

(End of this chapter)