I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 464: Ming Dynasty officials, you are on shore!
Zhu Yijun was reading the "System of Central and Local Officials of the Ming Dynasty in the Third Year of Longqing" jointly submitted by the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites in the Qinzheng Hall.

It took Zhu Yijun more than an hour to read the entire memorial. The last part was the cabinet's draft, "It's feasible."

The first part determines the official rank.

According to previous discussions, the new official ranks of the Ming Dynasty were set at eighteen ranks, starting from the first-rank Ronglu/Guanglu Dafu and below, divided into Zide/Zhengfeng, Zhengyi Dazhong, Zhongshun Chaoqing, Fengyi Fengzhi Dafu, and further divided into Chengde Chengwu, Chengshi Congshi, Digong Xiuzhi, Dengshi Jiangshilang.

Official rank is the standard for payment of salary.

Theoretically, if you have a higher official rank, you will receive a higher salary than your colleagues of lower rank even if you hold the same position.

Zhu Yijun turned to the back, wanting to see what the Cabinet, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Ministry of Revenue had finally agreed on, and how much the salaries of Ming officials would be increased.

what?
Just this little money?
Emperor Taizu was treating beggars well, how good are you?

Taizu stipulated that the monthly salary was rice, which was 87 shi for the first rank, and decreased by 13 shi for each rank, reaching 35 shi for the third rank.

Then for the third rank, it is twenty-six stones; for the fourth rank, it is twenty-four stones; for the fourth rank, it is twenty-one stones; for the fifth rank, it is sixteen stones; for the fifth rank, it is fourteen stones; for the sixth rank, it is ten stones; and for the sixth rank, it is eight stones.

From the seventh rank to the ninth rank, each level decreases by five dou, and the ninth rank is five shi.

When Emperor Chengzu came to power, in order to build the city of Beijing, he had the idea of ​​increasing the salaries of officials. He announced that the first and second ranks would receive four percent rice and six percent cash; the third and fourth ranks would receive half rice and half cash; the fifth and sixth ranks would receive six percent rice and four percent cash; the seventh and eighth ranks would receive eight percent rice and two percent cash.

The rice had to be transported from the south, and the banknotes only had to be printed.

This stingy father and son directly lowered the salaries of Ming Dynasty officials to the lowest level in all dynasties.

It can be seen from the memorial that Zhang Juzheng, on behalf of the Ministry of Personnel, hopes to increase the salaries of officials across the country.

On behalf of the Ministry of Revenue, Gao Gong hoped that officials across the country would bring their own dry food and contribute to the revival of the Ming Dynasty.

Different positions lead to different opinions, which Zhu Yijun can understand.

After much wrangling, the two sides only increased the previous salary by half, such as 130 shi for the first rank, of which 60 silver yuan was converted. Then the allowance was only half of the salary.

It seems that the salary has increased a lot, but compare it with the salaries in the Song Dynasty.

The salary in the Song Dynasty was 300 strings of cash per month for the first rank, along with 40 pieces of gauze, 60 pieces of silk, one piece of gauze, 100 taels of cotton, and 100 dan of millet as clothing.

The monthly salary of the second rank official is 200 strings of cash, and he is given 20 pieces of silk, 30 pieces of satin, 50 taels of cotton for clothing, and 100 dan of millet as an allowance.

In addition, there were seventy servants' food and clothing, one thousand two hundred bundles of firewood and straw per month, one thousand six hundred weights of charcoal per year, seven stones of salt, etc.

The seventh-rank county magistrate and registrar received 15 strings of cash and 4 shi of rice and wheat as monthly allowances; the eighth-rank clerk and county lieutenant received 12 strings of cash and 3 shi of rice and wheat as monthly allowances.

Comparing the salaries in the Song Dynasty and the salaries of Ming Dynasty officials, it is so heartbreaking to hear about them.

Not only that, the meager salaries of Ming Dynasty officials also had to include the expenses of hiring staff and servants, as well as welcoming and seeing off guests.

Is it possible not to be greedy?
If you are not greedy, you will starve to death!
what?
You said that if someone passed the imperial examination and donated his land to the government, he could become rich.

Haha, you think too much.

The latest "Regulations on Privileges and Exemptions" promulgated in the 24th year of Jiajing detailed the privileges and exemptions for officials and Jinshi candidates at all levels.

The first-rank official in Beijing is exempt from 30 shi of grain and 30 ding of people.

The second rank is exempt from 24 shi of grain and 24 people.

The amount of exemption decreased gradually, all the way down to the ninth rank officials, who were exempt from six shi of grain and six adult persons.

The number of officials from other provinces was halved.

Instructors, students, candidates and students were exempted from two shi of grain and two men. Officials who retired normally were exempted from seven-tenths of the tax according to their corresponding ranks.

The "Regulations on Exemptions" also clearly stipulate that exemptions only apply to miscellaneous duties, not regular duties and taxes.

For example, a first-rank official in Beijing is exempt from 30 shi of grain, which means he is exempt from the corvée labor assigned for one thousand acres of land. However, the tax for the one thousand acres of land still needs to be paid.

There has never been any talk of reducing or exempting taxes on the land of officials and gentry in the Ming Dynasty.

Emperors Taizu and Chengzu were such stingy people that they were so stingy with their regular salaries. How could they allow you to get big advantages in other aspects?
When you pass the exam and become an official, the villagers enthusiastically offer their services to you, not to avoid taxes, which you cannot avoid as long as you have it in the fish scale book. The villagers offer their services to you to avoid menial duties, that is, the random assignments made by the government.

Regular labor and taxes will only make you poor and hungry; random levies and miscellaneous taxes will make you lose everything and your family will be destroyed.

When Zhu Yijun was serving as a "fairy boy" for his grandfather, the Emperor Jiajing, in Xiyuan, he came into contact with the financial and taxation information of the Ming Dynasty. He witnessed the account information of the thirteen provinces and six ministries that were settled at the end of the year by his grandfather, who was also the chief accountant of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, he had only one thought.

The Ming Dynasty's finance and taxation system is a mess, it is even more crude and unrestrained than the agency store at the village entrance.

When Emperor Taizu formulated it, he was only thinking about collecting land tax and did not consider commercial taxes.

When setting salaries, they only thought about saving money and never considered how much it would cost to run a huge state machine normally.

Officials received meager salaries and made contributions to the Ming Dynasty out of loyalty to their parents. However, the court required them to bear most of the operating expenses of government offices at all levels.

In the former Song Dynasty, government offices at all levels at least had official land, but in the Ming Dynasty, government offices had to rely entirely on imposing miscellaneous duties and taxes on the people.

The government offices at all levels in the Ming Dynasty collected taxes and spent them themselves, which was undoubtedly letting wolves herd the sheep.

Officials of all ranks, clerks, and servants took advantage of the situation, and then the gentry and wealthy families colluded internally and externally to pass the burden on to the common people.

As a result, the miscellaneous labor imposed by the government was dozens of times more than the taxes and regular labor. It was horrible and could make you lose everything in a matter of minutes.

Those who pass the examination and become officials can be exempted from these random levies and miscellaneous taxes, and fellow villagers who donate money to support them can also be exempted from this.

But why did the Kong family and the Xu family occupy so much land? If they really followed the preferential exemption rules, they would have to pay taxes to death.

There are policies and measures to counter.

In reality, the scope of exemptions for local gentry is getting wider and wider. Why?
Because this presents a paradox.

Most of the random levies by the government were illegal, and few of them were innocent enough to withstand investigation. The gentry were all Jinshi and Juren, and had served as officials. They understood these principles, and they also had official relationships such as classmates and fellow students.

If the local government dares to make things difficult for them, these people will explain all these things to you and accuse you of oppressing the people and being cruel to the people in your hometown.

So the government responded according to the situation. They were especially reasonable with the gentry and other official households, exempting them from or reducing their miscellaneous labor and levies under the banner of "special exemptions from the imperial court."

Local aristocratic families support their younger generations to study hard and pass the imperial examinations, all for the sake of "power" that can make sense.

Later, the gentry and wealthy families would use various means, such as colluding with county officials and clerks to conceal their land and population, and simply refuse to perform regular military service and pay taxes.

As a result, most of the assigned chores and some of the taxes and duties were concentrated on the poor peasants who did not own many acres of land.

Soon, there will be a large-scale exodus of poor peasants and people from the area.

Farming will sooner or later drive you to death due to taxes, but running away might offer you a chance to survive.

After the poor peasants fled, the gentry and wealthy families openly occupied their abandoned land, then colluded with government officials to hide the land and shifted the levies and taxes to other people who still had land and held on, thus causing more poor people to flee.

The root of everything is that the Ming Dynasty’s financial and taxation system is a mess!

He wanted to standardize and improve the financial and taxation system of the Ming Dynasty, and he had to start with the salaries and allowances of officials, as well as the operating expenses of government offices at all levels. Zhu Yijun thought about it, picked up his pen, and made changes to the salaries and allowances.

The salary of the first rank was increased to 200 yuan per month, and the salary of rice was 100 dan. The salary of the first rank was reduced by 20 yuan, and the salary of rice was 10 dan. The salary of the third rank was 100 yuan per month, and the salary of rice was 50 dan.

Then the fourth rank received a monthly salary of 90 yuan and 40 dan of rice. The first rank received a monthly salary of 10 yuan and 5 dan of rice. The seventh rank received a monthly salary of 20 yuan and 5 dan of rice.

The monthly salary for the eighth rank was 16 silver yuan, and the annual salary was 4 dan of rice; the monthly salary for the eighth rank was 14 silver yuan, and the annual salary was 3 dan of rice; the monthly salary for the ninth rank was 12 silver yuan, and the annual salary was 3 dan of rice.

For grassroots civil servants in the Ming Dynasty, the monthly salary for those with a high rank was 10 yuan, and the allowance was 2.5 dan of rice; the monthly salary for those without a high rank was 8 yuan, and the allowance was 2 dan of rice.

Regardless of whether you are an official in Beijing or outside the capital, the Ministry of Personnel will pay you a salary according to the rank you are assigned.

The official rank from the lowest rank to the eighth rank was changed every three years, and if one passed the examination, one would be promoted to the next rank. In other words, if you wanted to get a monthly salary of 40 yuan from 10 yuan, it would normally take 15 years.

For ordinary officials, their career end is at the eighth rank.

Only those above the eighth rank were called officials, and ordinary Jinshi also started from the eighth rank.

The promotion is every three years, but under normal circumstances, the promotion to the sixth rank is the end.

In other words, even if you are lucky enough to become an official, you can only climb to the sixth rank by accumulating experience.

For officials above the fifth rank, one needs to have an official position to drive the official rank, and there must be a breakthrough in the position in order to move up to a higher rank.

The allowance is determined by the specific position. Officials from other places have higher allowances than officials in the capital, officials from upper counties have higher allowances than officials from middle counties, and officials from middle counties have higher allowances than officials from ordinary counties.

Emperor Taizu classified the prefectures and counties in the world into categories: those with high taxation were considered complex, while those with low taxation were considered simple.

Zhu Yijun changed it to traditional, simple, border and important.

"Fan" means a large population, developed industry and commerce, and numerous administrative affairs; "Simple" means an ordinary prefecture or county; "Bian" means located in the border area, or a port for trade, or a place with the system of aboriginal people being replaced by Han Chinese; "Yao" means located on a major road and has an important location.

If the characters "繁", "边" and "要" are all present, or two of them are present, it means the prefecture or county is superior.

The county that has the three characters "Fan", "Bian" and "Yao" occupying one character is Zhongfu County.

The worst one is the one with only one simplified character, which is Pingfu County.

With the salary and allowances, a low-ranking official could support a family of three or five people in the local area.

A ninth-rank official could provide his family with food and clothing in the local area, with a little surplus.

He is just a small rich man from the eighth rank.

If you want a horse to run fast, you have to at least keep it well fed.

As for whether he will steal grass at night, that is another matter. There are other systems and laws to control him. You can't stop eating because of choking, and then not let the official eat enough because he will steal grass at night.

I wrote it down so quickly that there was not enough space left to write on it.

"Qi Yan!"

"Your Highness, I am here!"

"Cut out some white paper. My ideas are flowing like a spring today. Nothing can stop them. I'm going to write to my heart's content today!"

Qi Yan immediately cut a piece of white paper and pasted it on the memorial, while Zhu Yijun continued to write.

"Officials are appointed for their abilities, and ranks are awarded for their merits. In the new system, official positions are given to those who do things, and official ranks are awarded for their work.

This is the key principle of the Ming Dynasty official system.

Therefore, the Cabinet Minister was granted the official rank of the second rank, the six ministers and the chief ministers of various temples were granted the official rank of the second rank, the Left Vice Minister and the Left Junior Minister were granted the official rank of the third rank. There was only one such person in each ministry and temple, and they were the chief assistants to the ministers and chief ministers.

The Right Vice Minister and the Right Junior Minister were awarded the rank of third grade, and each ministry and temple had two to three. The Langzhong of each department was awarded the rank of fourth grade. The Deputy Staff Wailang was awarded the rank of fifth grade.
The governor of a local government was granted the rank of the third grade, while the governor, provincial governor, and military commissioner were granted the rank of the third grade. The governors of Shuntian and Yingtian prefectures were also granted the rank of the third grade.

The prefect of Shangfu was awarded the rank of the fourth rank, the prefect of Zhongfu was awarded the rank of the fourth rank, and the prefect of Pingfu was awarded the rank of the fifth rank. The magistrate of Shangxian was awarded the rank of the sixth rank, the magistrate of Zhongxian was awarded the rank of the sixth rank, and the magistrate of Pingxian was awarded the rank of the seventh rank.

Zhu Yijun wrote as if possessed by a god, and the more he wrote, the more he wrote.

He had already made up his mind about the new official system of the Ming Dynasty. Before that, he had been asking the Cabinet, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Guanglu Temple to discuss it. He did not say anything because he wanted to think about the new official system from different angles and standpoints.

Each official has his or her own stance, which has its pros and cons.

Having your own stance has its pros and cons.

If we think about them separately and now put them together and compare them, we will find that the cabinet has considered some aspects more thoroughly than we have.

Some are really rigid and stubborn.

Now it is a matter of integrating my own plan with the cabinet's plan by eliminating the inferior and retaining the superior.

"From now on, officials at all levels are strictly prohibited from recruiting staff as assistants. Officials exercise public power, handle public affairs, and serve the country and the people, but they privately recruit staff to assist them, failing to distinguish between public and private affairs, and it is difficult to understand state and family affairs."

Zhu Yijun hated officials hiring private staff the most!
This is clearly a private affair with a public function and there is no official status. Nine out of ten of those staff members will commit corruption and will try every possible means to "generate revenue" for Dong Weng.

If you are short of manpower, just select and promote people directly from within the system. Haven't you seen that I have set up the positions of chief secretary and chief clerk in government offices at all levels, which means I have given you secretaries general.

As long as you are within the big basket of Ming Dynasty civil servants, I can use the system and laws to restrain you. If you want to jump out of this basket, I have to find other ways and set other rules.

No, this kind of nonsense must be stopped.

"From now on, the central government and local government offices will compile budgets. Each government office will have a number of chief officials, a number of deputy officials, a number of branch offices, a number of chief officials, deputy officials, and a number of subordinate officials. All of them will have budgets.

The county government needs to report the increase in staffing to the governor and file it with the Guanglu Temple.

Each province's three departments need to report to the Guanglu Temple if they want to increase their staffing. Based on the staffing, the monthly expenses such as staff salaries, paper, and maintenance are calculated as the budget.

The Chief Secretary allocates funds according to the establishment and budget, and the Ministry of Audit and Supervision is responsible.”

Officials of the Ming Dynasty, I officially announce that you have come ashore and are all on the civil service track with a stable job!

Oh, I'm really worried about you.

Zhu Yijun quickly filled two whole sheets of white paper with vermilion.

After the memorial was sent back with Zhu Yijun's comments, the cabinet had to reorganize it, incorporate Zhu Yijun's opinions, and then rewrite a draft memorial.

After further approval, it will be announced to the world through an imperial decree. After a trial period of three to five years, it will be slightly modified and the important parts will be written into the "National Law" and officially become the "law of our ancestors."

Zhu Yijun drank water with his left hand and gently shook his right hand.

Writing with a brush is really tiring. My wrist starts to ache after just a few thousand words.

Looking at the full page of red words, I feel a sense of accomplishment and am in a good mood!
"Your Highness, Master Pan and Minister Zhu of the Ministry of Works are waiting for your summons at Nanhua Gate."

"Please come in quickly."

(End of this chapter)