My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 522 Salary increase!
Time flies, and soon it is the autumn of the fourth year of Emperor Rong Xinyuan's reign.

In the past six months, the Han family has done two things.

——Externally, after the Han Dynasty was able to control Gaoque and almost cut off the geographical connection between the grassland and the Hetao and Hexi regions, it began to infiltrate the Hexi region and attack Gou Jian.

The fulcrum is naturally the Xiutu Lake, which once belonged to the Xiutu tribe, but was later "stolen" by the Hunxie tribe and presented to the Han family.

The specific process will be described later.

Inside, it was a slavery case that unexpectedly triggered a great thinking around the world.

Just when everyone thought that this was a warm-up for the anti-corruption storm, Emperor Rong of Chang'an unexpectedly carried out the first adjustment of officials' salaries since the founding of the Han Dynasty.

This adjustment is worthy of discussion.

Why do officials’ salaries need to be adjusted?
the reason is simple.

As the price of grain, the medium of officials' salaries, gradually fell from a high price of around 97 coins at the beginning of the founding of the country, and in extreme cases could reach 99.5 coins per dan, to coins per dan and completely stabilized, the value of the legal income obtained by Han officials through salaries shrunk by an average of %-%.

To put it in a way that is easier for future generations to understand, the original daily salary of over 10,000 yuan has become a monthly income of 3,000 yuan;
The original annual salary of one million has become eight hundred per month.

The decline is extremely exaggerated.

To be precise, in the early days of the Han Dynasty, the salaries of officials were ridiculously high, but now, their salaries are pitifully low.

Take the example of a prime minister whose salary is 10,000 dan but whose actual salary is 4,000 dan.

Before and after the founding of the Han Dynasty, the prime minister's annual salary was 2,000 dan of millet, plus money worth 2,000 dan of millet.

At that time, the grain price was stable at around 1,500 coins. This 4,000-stone salary could bring the prime minister an income worth 6 million coins.

At the same time, several prime ministers such as Xiao He and Cao Shen each had a fiefdom of marquis with 10,000 households, and their annual rent and tax income was at least 20,000 shi of grain, with a value of up to 30 million coins.

In other words: Before and after the founding of the Han Dynasty, Han prime ministers such as Xiao He and Cao Shen could receive rent from their fiefdoms + prime minister's salary every year, totaling 36 million coins.

Now, the price of grain in the Han Dynasty - at least the price of grain in Guanzhong - was completely nailed down by Emperor Rong at less than 40 coins.

Most of the time, the price was just over 30 cents per stone. In a good year, the price might drop below 30 cents, and in a bad year, it would be close to 40 cents.

But Liu Rong had already given a death order without any room for negotiation to the chief marquis who was in charge of the official grain camp.

——In the land of Guanzhong, no matter where, if a commander dares to sell grain at the price of 41 coins per stone, all the commanders, from top to bottom, will be executed!
How scary is this iron rule?

The current Lord Commandant is the maternal uncle of the current Emperor Rong and the only prominent figure in the family of foreign relatives in history: Li Cang, the foreign relative of Longli Marquis.

In other words, if the chief marquis sold even one grain of rice at a price higher than forty coins per stone, the relatives of the current Empress Dowager Li would also be exterminated!

That is why it is said that the grain price in the Guanzhong region of the Han Dynasty was so high that it almost cost the emperor Rong his mother, the Empress Dowager Li, and even his own life, is anchored at the red line of 40 coins per dan.

The salaries of officials were calculated based on the price of 40 coins per stone, and the example of the prime minister was still used;

The actual salary was still 4,000 dan, but its value had shrunk significantly from 6 million coins during the founding period to a mere 160,000 coins.

The drop was more than 97%.

At the same time, the prime ministers of the Han Dynasty were no longer Xiao He, Cao Shen and other marquises of the founding period;
Instead, they were replaced by middle-level marquises like Liu She and Dou Ying, who had fiefs of 3,000 to 5,000 households and annual rent and taxes of around 10,000 dan.

This caused the rent and tax revenue of Han Xiang's fiefdom to plummet from 30 million coins in the founding years to 400,000 coins today.

The drop is nearly 99%!

From the above two data, it is not difficult to find that the decline in food prices not only caused a significant reduction in officials' salaries - it almost completely shrunk them.

Even the nobles with the theme of Chehou were facing a significant reduction in actual income due to the drop in food prices.

Take the prime minister as an example: in the reign of Liu Rong, even though the prime minister was still a marquis of ten thousand households, the rent and taxes of his fiefdom + the prime minister's salary also plummeted from 36 million coins in the founding years to no more than 600,000 coins.

It has shrunk sixty times.

This is scary!
Because this is the Prime Minister!

He should be the richest prime minister who least needs to rely on salary!

If the prime minister is like this, the situation of his officials must be even more miserable.

For example, among the Nine Ministers, the rank of two thousand dan had an actual salary of 2160 dan, and an annual income of less than coins.

——As a core figure in the decision-making level of the Chang'an court, one of the top 15 officials of the Han Dynasty, and a serious national-level cadre with real power, his annual income could not even buy him a decent horse!

Taking into account that the Nine Ministers often traveled in carriages, brought their families with them, and had dozens of servants - it is no exaggeration to say that the Nine Ministers of the Han Dynasty could not even support their daily living expenses with salaries and fixed wages alone, let alone social interactions.

As we go further down, the situation will only become more shocking.

The actual salary of a county magistrate at the 1440-dan level was dan, with an annual income of less than coins.

For important occasions such as the birthdays of the empress dowager or the emperor, high-ranking officials at the level of county magistrate would need to prepare gifts whose value would usually not be less than 60,000 coins.

Well, the total income for a year is not enough to give birthday gifts to the boss.

The situation is even worse for county officials at the lower levels.

——The county magistrate of the six hundred stone rank, the local official, the 'county magistrate' that the common people always talk about, has an annual income of only 20,000 coins!

You should know that at the beginning of this year, in the Han-Xiongnu Battle of Gaoque that took place in winter, even those civilians who had gained nothing and merely carried food for the army received rewards ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 coins!
The county magistrate's annual income of 20,000 yuan can only be regarded as giving alms to beggars...

do not forget.

Six hundred stones means a county magistrate, not a petty official.

A real petty official - that is, at the level of Baishi, with an annual income of a mere 4,000 coins.

Not to mention houses, carriages, or slaves and livestock;

Even when adding some poultry such as chickens, ducks, and geese to the house, the number must be controlled.

——Now in the Han Dynasty, a pound of chicken costs thirty coins!

A laying hen weighs at least 2.5 jin (Han jin, equivalent to kilograms in later times), and it is impossible to buy one without three or five hundred coins.

In other words, an official of the Baishi level, a serious state cadre - the kind with a seal on his waist, has an annual income that is only enough to buy about ten chickens from the market.

There is absolutely no need to discuss the so-called "no rank" people below 100 dan of grain whose annual salary is less than 100 dan of grain.

Some people may say that this situation is very similar to the situation during the Zhu Ba Pi period before and after the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

But there is still a difference between the two.

—Before and after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, officials were truly poor, and they were poor from beginning to end and never became rich.

However, the officials of the Han Dynasty were truly wealthy before and after the founding of the country.

——Nowadays, a prime minister with an annual income of 160,000 coins, at the beginning of the Han Dynasty, his salary could pile up two mountains!
A mountain of grain and a mountain of money!
——At that time, the nine ministers who earned less than 100,000 coins a year needed to build warehouses outside Chang'an City to store their copper coins! And no matter how big the warehouse was, it was only enough for them to store the salary for that month.

If this month's salary is not spent, next month's salary will be paid out and the warehouse will not be enough!
——Now, a county magistrate of two thousand stones whose annual income is less than 60,000 coins and whose salary is not enough to prepare gifts for the empress dowager and the emperor, had to use a convoy to send food and copper coins to the court in Chang'an to obtain his salary in that era.

Often the first month's salary has just been received, the second month's salary is on the way, the third month's salary has also started, and the fourth month's salary has also been allocated by the treasury.

You can’t spend it all, you can’t spend it all.

——At that time, the county magistrate and the local official with an annual income of about 20,000 coins were able to take concubines with their legal income and could afford to support several beautiful concubines!
As for now?

Not to mention the betrothal money for taking a concubine and the support for the beautiful concubine - the market price of a female slave who was covered in dirt, pale and skinny was more than 20,000 coins.

The most miserable Bai Shi level, in those days, also had an annual income of more than 100,000 coins. This one year's salary income was enough to turn a penniless family into a respectable middle-class family.

Now?

With an annual income of four thousand coins, he is still less than a low-class merchant. He can earn more by making a trip from this county to the next county for business.

It is true that one is respectable, but respectability cannot be eaten...

Maybe this isn't intuitive enough.

But if we compare it with other industries, everything becomes obvious.

——Officials at the Baishi level are the backbone of the current Han Dynasty official system, and they make up the "vast majority" of the group.

The income of this group of people best reflects the income level of officials.

But in the Han Dynasty today, an official with a salary of 100 dan had an annual income of 4,000 coins, or just over 300 coins a month.

An ordinary businessman can earn the same four thousand coins in a few days, and a blacksmith or carpenter with some skills can earn it back in a month at most.

This is scary.

——The annual income of grassroots officials is not as high as the net profit of ordinary stores and convenience stores in three to five days!

It’s not even as high as the labor fee of a craftsman for a month!
With this salary level, there is nothing else worth mentioning except that it is decent and stable.

This time, Liu Rong used the slavery case and the subsequent trend to adjust the salaries and incomes of officials. It can be said that it solved the immediate problem of excessively thin salaries for officials, and it also solved it once and for all, basically preventing the officials' salaries from fluctuating abnormally again in the future due to changes in food prices.

——In the past, the salary of Han officials was half grain and half money equivalent to grain.

Taking the Nine Ministers as an example, their official salary was 2160 dan, and their actual annual salary was 180 dan, and their monthly salary was 90 dan, which is 90 dan of millet plus money worth dan of grain.

The adjustments made by Liu Rong, for the first level of the Nine Ministers at the middle two thousand stone level, became: a monthly salary of 90 stone of wheat flour, plus coins.

The original 90 shi of millet were replaced with 90 shi of wheat flour, which was a slight improvement in the food of the Nine Ministers - at least it showed that the court and the emperor were willing to improve the food for the Nine Ministers.

The original "money worth 90 shi of millet" was directly set by Liu Rong at a fixed amount of coins, which was completely decoupled from the price of grain. This guaranteed the income of the Nine Ministers. In addition to enough food for the family, there was also enough money for the family's daily life.

The specific value also increased five times from the original 3,600 coins.

Although it is still compared with the early days of the founding of the country, when the monthly income was tens or even hundreds of thousands of copper coins, it is much better than in the past years.

As for the reason for doing this, Liu Rong also found an extremely just, even great excuse.

——The price of food is kept down to take care of my people.

But I cannot allow my right-hand men and officials to be unable to support their wives and children just to take care of my people.

Therefore, the two parts of the official salary, the salary, and the grain were changed from millet to wheat flour, because I wanted the real officials to eat better;

As for money, it is calculated uniformly at a discount of 'two hundred coins per stone'. This is because I do not want real officials to be forced into corruption and bribery because they have no money or cannot afford to make a living.

This adjusted salary structure will naturally increase the pressure on the prime minister's treasury and the prime minister's office which controls the treasury.

Liu Rong deliberately ignored it.

Because this is related to another plan of Liu Rong.

——In the past, the Han Dynasty collected agricultural taxes, which were millet.

Agricultural taxes are collected in the form of millet, and officials’ salaries are also paid in the form of millet.

Now, Liu Rong, relying on the power of the emperor, changed the grain part of officials' salaries from millet to wheat.

And it is finished wheat flour!
Liu Rong was very sure: within a month, the Prime Minister's Mansion, and even the entire outer court represented by the Prime Minister's Mansion, would come to Liu Rong to cry.

Your Majesty~
Take back your life~
Officials really can’t afford to distribute wheat flour as part of their salaries…

But how could Liu Rong change his mind overnight and take back his order?
The distribution of officials' salaries in the form of wheat and flour will inevitably become an established fact that cannot be reversed.

This would force the court in Chang'an to change the agricultural tax from millet to the raw material of wheat flour: old wheat, or even directly collect wheat flour.

In this way, wheat will truly replace millet and become the first staple food of the Han people in the true sense.

As for millet, it must naturally be planted.

At least before high-yield rice was introduced from Lingnan, millet was still the staple food cultivated by the Han people in spring, summer and autumn.

However, the low nutritional value of millet means that it can only exist as a strategic reserve grain.

——It doesn’t taste good and has no nutrition, but it can satisfy hunger and provide a safety net for the world.

As for the officials' salaries, they increased five times from the original amount. Liu Rong did not expect the prime minister's office to be able to afford it.

Since the Han Dynasty, the treasury of the prime minister's office has always been hovering between deficit and surplus.

Official salaries have always accounted for the bulk of the prime minister's treasury's financial expenditures.

This means that even if the salaries of officials are increased by only 10%-20%, it could cause a devastating blow to the prime minister's treasury.

Originally, they were barely able to make ends meet and pay salaries;

You want a pay raise, isn't that asking for my death?
They couldn't even afford 20%, let alone this time, Liu Rong increased the officials' salaries by 400%.

Even if the prime minister's residence was sold off, the national treasury still could not afford this amount of money.

Since the national treasury is unable to bear the cost, the Shaofu treasury will naturally have to intervene.

This gave Emperor Liu Rong the opportunity to interfere in the finances of the outer court and the salary system of officials.

——Officials’ salaries are different when paid from the national treasury and when paid from the internal treasury.

It is issued from the national treasury. It is given by the state and supported by the people of the world.

The money from the imperial treasury is the "maintenance fund" that the emperor pays out of his own pocket to support officials...

(End of this chapter)