Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 218 Taichang Salary System: Inner Court

The door to the quiet room opened and closed again. The temperature difference between inside and outside brought a short gust of wind, stirring the candlelight.

After Wei Zhongxian's footsteps faded away, Cao Huachun approached Wang An and said, "Godfather, I don't understand the Zhang family's affairs." The rouge, powder, silk and colorful silks sent to the Zhang Mansion were personally handled by Cao Huachun. After that, these things did not even enter the imperial city, but were parked outside the city.

"That's all." Wang An turned and faced Cao Huachun. "What's there to understand?"

"Aren't you going to carry Zhang Shirui into the palace? Why do you want to kill Zhang Xianyong?" Cao Huachun asked.

Unless the emperor was determined to crown Zhang Shirui as his successor, he could simply open a side door and bring her to the palace in a sedan chair. Even the Ministry of Rites wouldn't need to be alerted.

"Having the best of both worlds, isn't that great? It's just killing someone everyone thinks is unnecessary. Wei Zhongxian is still capable of getting the job done." Despite his instability and tendency to mess around, Wang An still had confidence in Wei Zhongxian's work ability. "If he can't even accomplish this little thing, he won't be in the Emperor's good graces."

"Wouldn't it be better to keep Zhang Xianyong? This matter won't be difficult to suppress." Cao Huachun was referring to summoning Zhang Xianyong to the capital. "After all, Lü Xian'an and the Duke of Wei only impeached Zhang Xianyong for feigning illness and not attending court. The palace can allow him to go north to the capital while sending people to Nanjing to appease the situation."

What Cao Huachun called appeasement was, in reality, a "collusionary approach." Specifically, he dispatched agents to Nanjing under false pretenses to investigate the case, then solicited and accepted bribes, pocketing a fortune. With the money and evidence, everyone was on the same page. This would immediately quell the unrest in Nanjing. Then, Zhang Shirui would be brought to the palace, bringing the whole affair to a perfect close, a perfect example of "raising high and letting go gently."

"Your Majesty is not only interested in the Zhang family, but also their wealth." Wang An chuckled and asked, "Besides Empress Renxiao and Crown Princess Jingyi, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, which other imperial ancestor's concubines were of noble birth?"

Empress Renxiao, also known as Empress Xu, was the first wife of Emperor Chengzu Wen. She was the eldest daughter of Xu Da, a founding hero. Crown Princess Jingyi, also known as Empress Chang, was the first wife of Crown Prince Yiwen Zhu Biao. She was the eldest legitimate daughter of Chang Yuchun, Prince of Kaiping. In the first year of the Jianwen reign, Emperor Jianwen posthumously honored his mother as Empress Xiaokang. In the first year of the Yongle reign, Emperor Chengzu abolished the Jianwen reign and the title of Crown Prince Yiwen, restoring Chang's title to Crown Princess Jingyi. Aside from these two, whose lineages were undeniably noble, the Ming Dynasty lacked other consorts of distinguished ancestry.

In addition, in the 23rd year of the Wanli reign, Emperor Shenzong issued an edict to restore the Jianwen era name, which was the first step to restore the name of Emperor Jianwen.

"Is that so?" Cao Huachun felt that although his godfather's perspective on this issue was a bit strange, it was also reasonable.

"Why are you overthinking so much? Just do the job I've assigned you." Wang An didn't want to discuss the emperor's thoughts anymore. After all, if you followed the emperor's orders and were impartial, you couldn't go wrong.

"Okay." Cao Huachun shrank back, away from Wang An's sight. Then he asked, "Son, I saw the record sent by the Jinyiwei saying that the Zhang family has hired a female doctor. Should the palace also send someone to take a look?"

Wang An raised his eyebrows and glanced at Cao Huachun. "Are you free?"

"My son is just asking," Cao Huachun said. "It's common knowledge that female doctors out there aren't very capable. If someone dies and we don't even ask, wouldn't that ruin our job?"

Wang An thought this made sense, so he frowned and said, "There are no female doctors in the palace."

Of the six imperial harem departments, the Imperial Food Department was responsible for the harem's medicine. The Nei She (Inner House) had two medical officers, two medical officers, and two medical officers. In the early Ming Dynasty, female medical officers were in charge of the harem's medicine, but after the Yongle reign, all these positions were filled by eunuchs.

"Why don't we go to the Imperial Hospital and ask which girl has learned the skills from her family?" Cao Huachun suggested.

Wang An, the Imperial Hospital official, nodded and said, "Let's ask for permission."

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"Let's leave the Zhang family's affairs for now. Let's talk about the situation in the palace." Wang An stood up and prepared to leave the quiet room and stroll somewhere else.

"According to the order of His Majesty. From procurement to use, the Imperial Household Department has sent two or more supervisors to supervise all government offices related to food and medicine." Cao Huachun used two buckets of water to extinguish the charcoal fire used for heating, then strode to Wang An and opened the door for him.

"Identify the available people as soon as possible and fill the positions of heads of government offices at all levels as soon as possible. Then pay salaries according to the new rules and stabilize the inner court." As Wang An spoke, he took Cao Huachun to the Liancaifang.

According to the pre-planned plan, after the complete purge of the inner court was complete, all official positions within the twenty-four yamen, the six bureaus of the imperial harem, and the various independent treasurers would see a substantial salary increase. Some positions that had already received a secret salary increase would see further increases after their duties were restructured and their importance was assessed.

Although the salary increase affected the entire palace, the difference between high and low was still very obvious.

After the reform of the internal official salary system, the salaries of the eunuchs in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the Imperial Horse Department would be the first tier to be systematically increased to 5,000 taels per year. The specific payment method was: 400 taels per month for the first eleven months, and 600 taels in the last month.

The salaries of the eunuchs in charge of writing in the Imperial Household Department and the chief eunuch in the Imperial Horse Department would be raised to three thousand taels of silver per year as the second tier. Since the amount was divisible, they would receive two hundred and fifty taels of silver per month.

The eunuchs in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the eunuchs in charge of the Four Guards and Warriors Battalions of the Imperial Horse Department received salaries in the third tier. They received 200 taels of silver per month, which translated to an annual salary of 2,400 taels.

Then there are the two thousand taels. Those who can receive this level are in the Imperial Household Department, including the Junior Supervisor of the Liancaifang Finance Department, the Junior Supervisor of the Internal Studies Hall, and the General Manager of the Six Departments of the Junior Supervisor's Office. In the Imperial Horse Administration, it is the eunuchs guarding various prefectures under the name of the Imperial Horse Administration. In the West Factory, it is the Director of the Inspection Bureau and the Director of the Execution Bureau. In the East Factory, it is the Director of the Foreign Office Bureau and the Director of the Ministry of Justice. If these positions are held by higher-level eunuchs, they will only be counted once according to the senior salary. For example, the Director of the Executive Bureau of the West Factory was concurrently held by Wei Zhongxian, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, so the two thousand taels of salary for the Director of the Executive Bureau of the West Factory would not be paid. The same applies to the Director of the Foreign Office Bureau of the East Factory.

Next down was the 1,000-tael salary bracket. This was the final tier of high-ranking salaries. Within the Imperial Household Department and the East and West Factories, salaries were determined not by position but by rank; anyone holding the rank of Junior Supervisor received this salary bracket. Within the Imperial Horse Administration, salaries were paid to all but the Chief Assistant Secretary and the Superintendents of the three major horse farms.

Below the high-ranking salary level, the old system is used to divide the ranks and the new system is used for salary distribution. The fourth-rank eunuch has an annual salary of 800 taels, and the fourth-rank junior eunuch is next, with an annual salary of 600 taels. The fifth-rank eunuchs, secretaries, and bureau chiefs have an annual salary of 400 taels. The fifth-rank deputy secretaries and deputy bureau chiefs have an annual salary of 200 taels. From the fifth rank and below, the basic salary without rank is gradually increased according to the ladder growth method. In short, the core idea of ​​this salary increase is a slight increase at the bottom, a moderate increase in the middle, a large increase at the top, and a huge increase at the top.

According to ancestral law, the annual salary of a fourth-rank eunuch was only 22 taels of silver. With this increase, the salaries of ordinary eunuchs increased by 36 times. And the salaries of Wang An and Han Benyong, two top eunuchs, increased by 227 times. Despite the significant increase at the top and upper levels, the biggest increase in expenses did not come from these areas.

The biggest increase in expenses was on the most basic personnel: soldiers in the Defense Department, craftsmen in the Construction Department, and menial workers in the Customs Department. Even if each person received an additional two taels of silver per year, the total would still have to rise to at least 100,000 taels.

But aside from the exception of confiscations of property, the palace's annual revenue was essentially fixed. This included: gold and silver sent to the Imperial Transport Treasury for the imperial household's expenses; high-quality grain known as "white grain" (百齋) specifically for the palace's use, which was designated to be delivered by the five Jiangnan prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Jiaxing, and Huzhou; the output of palace properties such as imperial farms and stores; tributes of materials and miscellaneous labor collected in kind or converted into silver; tributes of porcelain, silk, and other items sent to the palace by local weaving and porcelain factories; and revenue from local banknote customs since the Wanli period.

Many of the incomes, such as gold and silver, had to be obtained through negotiations with the outer court offices, especially the Ministry of Revenue.

Therefore, when there will be no institutional growth in total income in the short term, if institutional expenditures are increased, in order to maintain a basic balance of income and expenditure or even to achieve a surplus, it is necessary to increase temporary but long-term non-institutional income and cut non-essential expenditure items.

The so-called temporary but long-term non-institutional income was to turn the tributes and regular fees that were once collected by eunuchs into palace income. The original purpose of the emperor's decree to establish the Liancaifang was for this purpose.

When Wang An and Cao Huachun pushed the door and entered the Liancai Room, Tang Zhong, the financial supervisor of the Liancai Room, was calculating accounts with an abacus in the last rays of the setting sun.

The noise caught Tang Zhong's attention. He quickly put down everything he was doing and brought all the eunuchs from the Liancai Room to pay their respects to Wang An and Cao Huachun. "Son, I bow to you, godfather!"

"We bow to our ancestors, our young ancestors." The eunuchs also bowed. Although they were all Wang An's godsons, only the eldest son, Cao Huachun, was given the title of "young ancestors."

"Get up." Wang An said with a smile.

"Greetings, Senior Brother." After standing up, Tang Zhong bowed to his Senior Brother Cao Huachun in a proper manner.

"You're welcome, junior brother." Cao Huachun returned the greeting.

Kneeling was generally not done between peers, unless one held absolute precedence in rank. For example, the godsons of the late Li Jian, the eunuch in charge of the Ciqing Palace, were required to kneel before their eldest brother, Han Benyong. Positions were bestowed by the emperor, and this rule trumped all others.

"It's getting dark, let's pack up and go." Wang An waved his hand to signal the eunuchs that they could go back.

In the days before electric lighting, clerical work done by candlelight could easily lead to fires. The damage caused by fire was so terrible that even the charcoal stove used for heating was guarded by someone with a bucket of water. If a piece of paper flew over and caught fire, this person would immediately pour water to extinguish the charcoal fire.

The eunuchs returned to their workstations and quickly sorted and organized the books and papers before bowing and leaving.

As the superior government office to the Liancaifang, the Silijian headquarters was responsible for reviewing the account books and budgets submitted by all internal and external government offices. The Liancaifang's work was relatively light, as they were solely responsible for compiling statistics for the internal government offices and supervising the income and expenditure of the internal transport warehouses.

Previously, when the Liancaifang system was being piloted within the Silijian, the remittance of gray income and the proportional return of it were handled directly by the Liancaifang. Following the reshuffle, these two tasks will be handled by the Neichengyunku, with Liancaifang staff stationed there solely responsible for stamping and approving. In other words, the Liancaifang headquarters has been stripped of all revenue and expenditure responsibilities, now solely responsible for accounting. This is similar to the Palace General Accounting Office, which was under the Silijian, but included some auditing functions.

"How's the mission going?" Before the eunuchs left, Wang An naturally took over the vacant seat. That was the position of Wei Chao, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the head of the Finance Department, but Wei Chao only looked at the ledger.

"In reply to godfather, the salary expenses of officials above the fifth rank after the reform have been calculated. I'll show it to you right away." Tang Zhong was about to turn around to get the general ledger, but was stopped by Wang An.

"Let's finish it first." Wang An waved his hand and said, "Send the notice tomorrow."

"Will the notice be issued tomorrow?" Tang Zhong was a little surprised. He thought he would have to wait a little longer.

Wang An narrowed his eyes and said, "Cui Wensheng's case has been going on for over half a month, and some people have started committing suicide. It's almost time to end it."

Cui Wensheng, as always, used the arrested individuals as a scapegoat to expand his reach. This caused widespread panic within the inner court. Everyone tried to find a backer, at least a way out, but it was virtually impossible.

Because the core personnel of every government office involved, from the Imperial Household Department to the two factories, all came from the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace. Those of the older generation, who once held real power and influence, either received clear guarantees from the very beginning of the Emperor's reign, like Zou Yi, the previous eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the head of the Eastern Factory, and were subsequently dismissed early. Or, like Shang Jingying, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Horse Department, and Yang Songquan, the chief eunuch of the Imperial Horse Department, they were targeted at the start of the purge. Or, they were simply the targets of this purge.

When the Imperial Household Department, the highest executive branch of the inner court, and the Imperial Horse Administration, the core security agency, were both firmly in the emperor's hands, and food and medicine were strictly controlled by the eunuchs dispatched by the Imperial Household Department, the eunuchs in other government offices had no chance to struggle. They could only wait in fear and trepidation for their execution.

The brutality of the Eastern Depot's Criminal Division and Cui Wensheng's "selfless and iron-faced" demeanor, which was cultivated by the Western Depot, have even forced several people to commit suicide by hanging.

Compared with the various tricks developed by the East Factory, death is too easy.

(End of this chapter)