My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 525: Not afraid of problems being exposed!
Liu Rong's decision to raise the salaries of officials across the country naturally caused cheers.

However, the specific salary increase plan has become the focus of attention inside and outside the court.

——According to Liu Rong’s original plan, all officials in the world will continue to receive money and grain corresponding to their original ranks.

The only difference was that the food was changed from millet to wheat flour, while the money was kept constant at five times the price of millet.

For example, the prime minister, grand marshal and other officials at the level of ten thousand dan, whose actual salary was four thousand dan. After Liu Rong's salary increase, they could receive two thousand dan of wheat flour every year, as well as the market price of millet: thirty coins per dan, multiplied by two thousand dan, and then multiplied by five - that is, three hundred thousand coins.

Among the Nine Ministers, those at the rank of 30 dan have an actual salary of 1080 dan. In the future, they will be able to receive 5 dan of wheat flour every year, plus ××, which is coins.

The real salary of 2,000 dan was 1,920 dan, which was 960 dan of wheat flour, plus 144,000 coins.

Two thousand dan, the actual salary is one thousand six hundred and eighty dan, which is eight hundred and forty dan of wheat flour, plus one hundred and twenty-six thousand coins.

The actual salary of 2,000 dan was 1,400 dan, which was 700 dan of wheat flour, plus 105,000 coins.

——Officials at the rank of Qianshi and above had an annual salary that was enough to feed their family, plus at least 100,000 coins.

Moreover, it was not affected by fluctuations in grain prices. It was a constant amount of grain and money - wheat flour and five-zhu coins.

But this raises a question.

——Salary increase, how exactly is it increased?

Should we just follow the original distribution method, replace millet with wheat flour, increase the money fivefold, and simply say: His Majesty has given you a raise?

Or is it a little more troublesome to first distribute millet to the officials, and then allow the officials to use the millet to exchange for wheat flour from the Shaofu; first pay the officials according to the original standard, and then use the Shaofu's treasury to pay the additional salary?

Obviously, this is related to the impact that Liu Rong's salary increase can have on the Han Dynasty's political arena and the political reputation he can gain from it.

Liu Rong is naturally not a good man who does good deeds without leaving a name and simply wants to benefit the people of the world or the officials of the world.

With tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars spent every year, Liu Rong wanted all the officials in the world to know whose bowl they were holding and whose food they were eating.

Therefore, it is very important to decide the model of this salary increase.

——In this era, there was no Weibo, no Internet, no television or radio.

The only channel for local officials to learn about central government policies is official documents issued by the court and oral statements from superiors.

Liu Rong was very sure: If the Chang'an court had not issued an official document bluntly pointing out that "the money for this salary increase was paid by Your Majesty out of his own pocket, from the treasury," there would have been countless officials who would have taken advantage of the situation to make concessions.

For example, a county governor told his county magistrates: Ah, I paid for your salaries by replacing millet with wheat flour out of my own pocket, and I also added some more money.

Do your best~
I won’t let you suffer any loss.

Further down the line, the county magistrate also told his subordinates: This rice subsidy was exchanged for wheat flour by the county governor;
But the extra salary is given to you by this county magistrate!

If you don't work hard, you will be sorry for the kindness I, the county magistrate, have shown to you, the clerks...

If this really happens, Liu Rong might as well stop working and not increase the official salary.

Since the salary has been increased, the officials must be informed - every official whose salary has been increased - that the salary increase was His Majesty's idea;

The millet for the salary was replaced by wheat flour from Taicang at the order of the Minister of the Imperial Household.
The several times extra salary is also paid out of Your Majesty's own pocket as a reward for our hard work, or as a maintenance fund.

If I have to thank someone, I have to thank His Majesty!

Even if we have to be grateful, we should be grateful to the Liu family!
Even if we have to work hard, it should be for the grace of Your Majesty, and to repay Your Majesty's ancestral temple and country!
But it is obvious that: whenever possible, the outer court will certainly strive for it.

What are you fighting for?
Try to make Liu Rong be vague and increase the official salaries without knowing it.

In this way, the support can be passed down layer by layer, and every official can gain the support of his subordinates.

If possible, it would be best if Liu Rong didn't realize this;
By the time I realized it, my salary had already been increased.

So, only one day after Liu Rong decided to increase the salaries of officials across the country, Prime Minister Dou Ying, Marquis of Weiqi, appeared in the Xuanshi Hall of the Weiyang Palace.

Dou Ying’s purpose was very clear.

——In the past short day, Dou Ying quickly drafted this imperial edict regarding Liu Rong increasing the salaries of officials across the country.

This time he entered the palace, he also wanted to try to fight for it and see if he could make the matter a fait accompli before Liu Rong could react or realize it.

But unfortunately: this salary increase was not Liu Rong’s impromptu idea.

In other words, Liu Rong's motivation for increasing the salaries of officials was to make himself "famous" among officials and gain their gratitude.

Therefore, just by taking a quick glance at the edict drafted by Dou Ying, Liu Rong already understood Dou Ying's intention.

——What does it mean that "the court officials are so busy that their lives are miserable"?
What does "the joint request of ministers and officials" mean?
What Liu Rong found most ridiculous was that at the end of the edict, Dou Ying even added a sentence for no apparent reason, as if to cover up the truth: "With such honor and kindness, I hope that the county officials and clerks in all places of the world will do their best and live up to the high expectations of our country."

It sounds like there's nothing wrong with it.

But in Liu Rong's eyes, everything was flawed.

Don’t let down the expectations of your country and the world?

——So this salary increase is given to officials by the country and the world?
No need!
Liu Rong does not need officials from all over the world. He is grateful to his country, the world, and even to the Chang'an court as the 'representative' of his country and the world!

Injustice has its head, and debt has its owner.

It was Liu Rong who asked for the money, and it was also Liu Rong who made the decision to increase the salary.

If they want to express gratitude, all officials in the world only need to thank Liu Rong!
As for the future, the rulers of later generations will continue to pay extra salaries to officials from the treasury of the Shaofu. Officials all over the world should naturally be grateful and thankful to the rulers of later generations.

But now, the emperor of Han is Liu Rong.

Although Liu Rong saw through Dou Ying and the "sinister intentions" of the outer court headed by Dou Ying, he did not expose Dou Ying's little thoughts to his face.

——After all, Dou Ying is the current prime minister of the Han Dynasty. In terms of etiquette, he is basically on par with Liu Rong.

In addition, Dou Ying is the most and only capable one among the relatives of Empress Dowager Dou in the Eastern Palace. Therefore, even if Dou Ying has ulterior motives, Liu Rong would not want to embarrass Dou Ying too much.

He didn't point it out, but just replied in a questioning tone: Keep it and don't send it out.

Although it seems tactful, the attitude is actually very clear.

In this era, if a minister submitted a memorial and the emperor ordered "keep it in the palace and don't send it out", there were only two possibilities.

Either this memorial is too advanced and not feasible at the moment, but will have great value in the future!
Therefore, "keeping it in the library and not publishing it" is, firstly, to keep it confidential, and secondly, it can be regarded as sealing the plan for the future.

Or, the memorial is shit, but the person who submitted it has some status and position, so the emperor can't reject it directly due to considerations, or he directly expresses "not accepting" and "not approving".

So they said "keep it in the house and don't send it out" to give each other some dignity.

——I will not give you direct instructions or reject you directly, to save your face;

You also understand what I mean, so don't bother yourself by repeatedly submitting this kind of rubbish memorials. However, I don't know whether Dou Ying really didn't understand Liu Rong's intention of "keeping it in the palace without sending it out", or whether he really wanted to insist on it.

After hitting a wall on the first day, Dou Ying went to the palace to ask for an audience for three consecutive days and submitted three more memorials.

It was still a draft edict, and it was still filled with phrases like "the court will study and decide", "officials all over the world should be grateful", and "work hard", etc. It seemed ordinary, but in fact it infinitely downplayed Liu Rong and infinitely elevated the court in Chang'an.

As for Liu Rong's increasingly dissatisfied attitude, it only made Dou Ying change the wording to be more silver-gray and gentle.

But the essence remains unchanged.

——This salary increase was decided unanimously by the court in Chang'an.

As for where the money for the salary increase would come from, the treasury of the prime minister's office or the internal treasury of the ministerial palace - the edict did not mention a single word about it.

Who proposed the salary increase plan, who supported it and who opposed it - all of these were also glossed over.

After being treated like this by Dou Ying for several days in a row, Liu Rong finally became a little annoyed.

He did not care about giving Dou Ying the dignity of being the prime minister of the Han Dynasty and the representative of the Dou family's relatives. When Dou Ying came to the palace for the fifth time to ask for an audience and handed over the fifth draft of the edict, Liu Rong also took out a roll of the draft edict from his arms.

Compared with the draft edict handed over by Dou Ying, this one by Liu Rong was undoubtedly much more straightforward.

——The article begins in the first person with Liu Rong, starting with "I have heard".

The subsequent content is basically the style of Liu Rong writing an open letter to officials all over the world in the first person.

In the letter, Liu Rong mentioned the slavery case that had caused a sensation in the country in the past period of time, and incidentally, he criticized the officials in the country.

After the warning, he changed the subject and laid out the plot of increasing salaries on the basis of "following the example of Emperor Taizong who kept them honest so that they would not have to engage in corruption and accept bribes again".

Liu Rong also wrote down in detail the specific salary increase method and the new salary payment model.

——From now on, officials’ salaries will no longer be paid directly to officials from the prime minister’s treasury.

Instead, the prime minister's treasury first transferred the rice, salary, and list of officials - that is, the salary list - to the Shaofu according to the original salary standards.

After receiving the millet, money and salary distribution list sent by the prime minister's office, the salaries of officials throughout the country were distributed using the treasury of the Shaofu.

This is different from the past when salary was divided into two parts: rice and money.

From now on, the salaries of Han officials will be divided into four parts: salary, stipend, reward and gift.

——The first part: Lu, naturally, is the wheat flour corresponding to the rank.

For example, the prime minister’s salary is 10,000 dan, but his actual salary is 4,000 dan, and the “salary” is 2,000 dan of wheat flour.

——Salary is the same as before, and the salary corresponds to the rank.

Taking the prime minister as an example, his actual salary was 4,000 dan of millet, and the salary was based on the market value of 30 coins per dan of millet, which corresponded to a salary of 60,000 coins for 2,000 dan of millet.

As for the extra rewards and gifts, they are the key.

The reward was clearly defined by Liu Rong as a reward for maintaining integrity.

The amount is twice the salary.

Liu Rong described the word "ci" as a reward or subsidy.

The salary is also doubled.

Specifically, a prime minister with a food salary of 10,000 dan and a real salary of 4,000 dan, in addition to receiving 2,000 dan of wheat flour as "salary" and 60,000 coins worth of 2,000 dan of millet as "salary", could also receive 120,000 coins each as "rewards" and "grants".

Sixty thousand in salary, one hundred and twenty thousand in reward, plus another one hundred and twenty thousand in gift, the total was three hundred thousand coins.

The same goes for going down.

At the lowest level, 100 shi, the "salary" was also 50 shi of wheat flour and 1,500 coins worth 50 shi of millet as "salary".

In addition, there was a 'reward' of 3,000 coins and a 'grant' of 3,000 coins - all together, the total was 7,500 coins.

According to this operation mode, officials can clearly understand why the grain they receive is changed from millet to wheat flour.

What is the extra part of the money you got, who gave it and why it was given.

Only with such an operating mode can Liu Rong achieve his core demand of increasing salaries for officials all over the world out of his own pocket to the greatest extent possible.

When such an imperial edict that clearly stated his intentions and exposed the "sinister intentions" of the outer court was produced, Dou Ying immediately understood: the current Liu Rong is not so easy to fool.

But to Liu Rong's surprise, after learning that he was "not easy to fool", Dou Ying did not stop.

To be precise, it was the outer court represented by Prime Minister Dou Ying that did not choose to give up even after the plan was exposed.

——The soft approach, deception and sneak attack failed, so the outside court started to play its cards openly.

At the beginning, he was still a little evasive and talked about other things, saying to Liu Rong, "Your Majesty, it's not good to show off your talents like this," and "Emperor Taizong never boasted about his own achievements, but this did not affect the people of the world's love for Emperor Taizong."

In the end, they were unable to do anything to Liu Rong, and the outer court began to play tricks.

The attitude is non-violence and non-cooperation - if Your Majesty does not agree with our suggestion, then we will not agree to the salary increase.

After hearing this, Liu Rong immediately became happy.

--Hey!

——Do you think I was brought up by fear?

——Or do you think that I was frightened into the throne of the Han emperor?

After being fooled like a fool again and again, Liu Rong no longer maintained respect for the outer court.

It's just like cutting off the firewood from under the cauldron - great!
No pay raise, right?
If you don’t want to add it, then don’t add it!
Then, Liu Rong drafted a notice in his personal name.

The content is also very simple - it is to tell all officials in the world: I originally wanted to give you a raise, but the opposition voices inside and outside the court were too loud, and I really couldn't persuade them, so I had to give up.

It was just a draft and not officially released, but the outer court was already in shock.

Everything that happened afterwards went unexpectedly smoothly.

It was just another major change, and the court in Chang'an was inevitably noisy and busy again.

Along the way, a series of problems that did not exist originally, or existed but were not exposed, began to appear in front of Liu Rong one after another.

But Liu Rong is full of energy to deal with these increasing and more troublesome problems.

——Feudal dynasties were never afraid of problems being exposed!
Rather, it is a problem of fear that it will not be exposed for a long time, or even fear of exposing it.

(End of this chapter)