Do you know: I am Qi Heng

The next morning, as soon as it was light, the servants of the Duke of Qi's mansion began to busy themselves.

Just after the hour of Si (9-11 AM), the angel arrived.

The family of three went out and politely welcomed the angel to the Central Court.

An incense table had been prepared in the courtyard, and Qi Heng, along with his father and mother, knelt before it.

The eunuch who was delivering the imperial edict unfolded it and began to read it aloud. The edict began with words of praise for the Qi family and Qi Heng.

Qi Heng listened for a while, and found that almost the entire imperial edict was nonsense, with only one useful sentence.

Feng Qiheng was appointed as a civil official of the sixth rank, Chengzhilang.

A very interesting phenomenon in the official system of the Great Zhou Dynasty was that the official rank and position were completely separate.

Chengzhilang had rank and salary, but the position was called "Chaqian," which had no rank or salary, only a small position allowance.

In theory, a first-rank official can also serve as a local county magistrate.

Even a ninth-rank official could serve as prime minister.

Of course, this is only in theory; in reality, as one's rank increases, the position one receives will also be higher.

Unless one is a noble son like Qi Heng, who is granted a civil official title early on, there will be a situation where the rank is high but the position is not high when one comes of age and is officially appointed.

However, there is another situation in which this situation may also occur.

That means being demoted.

In most cases, demotion actually refers to the removal of one's official position; only in cases of serious offenses will the official position be demoted as well.

For example, Han Zhang was demoted to a local post as a prefect, but his actual rank was only second grade.

Although he had no real power, he received a considerable salary and benefits, and officials of lower rank than Qi Heng had to bow to him.

Qi Heng remembered that Sheng Hong was Cheng Zhilang, which meant that he didn't work now and enjoyed the same treatment as Sheng Hong.

It sounds pretty cool.

After the eunuch finished reading the imperial edict, he left with the reward money given to him by Princess Pingning.

"Quickly, place the imperial edict in the ancestral hall and offer sacrifices to our ancestors!"

After seeing the angel off, Princess Pingning urged.

The family went to the ancestral hall to worship their ancestors and offer sacrifices to the imperial edict. After all that, it was already noon.

"Heng'er, go to bed early tonight. You must come with me to the palace to express our gratitude first thing tomorrow morning!" Princess Pingning said.

"I understand!" Qi Heng nodded.

Receiving a reward and then going to the palace to express gratitude is an inevitable procedure.

"My lord, this is such a joyous occasion, I'm going to prepare a feast to celebrate," Princess Pingning said with a smile.

Rewards were given to Qi Jia every year, but this time was different; the reward was given to an official.

Qi Heng was only a minor official of the eighth rank before. Although he had no real power, his early career would be very smooth.

"We definitely need to celebrate properly," Qi Xuan nodded in agreement.

"Father, Mother, the Emperor values ​​frugality. While a grand celebration might not displease him, it's still not appropriate. Let's just celebrate at home," Qi Heng advised.

Princess Pingning simply wanted to show off, but since Qi Heng had received a reward and was going to throw a big banquet, she would inevitably be dragged into showing off as well.

That was too much trouble.

"Heng'er's words make sense."

Princess Pingning calmed down a bit. After thinking it over carefully, she realized that Empress Cao had only just become pregnant, and the future was still uncertain. It was indeed inappropriate to celebrate now.

……

The next day, he went to the palace to express his gratitude, and nothing major happened.

Empress Cao was all smiles, and looked ten years younger.

The Emperor was similar, saying that when the princes went to school in the future, Qi Heng would serve as their tutor.

It should be noted that only the emperor and the crown prince could have the position of imperial tutor.

Although I'm not a teacher, strictly speaking, we're pretty much the same.

The scholars who taught the crown prince were all great Confucian scholars. These people could only teach him on a daily basis and could not stay with him all the time.

The duty of the tutor was to teach the prince classics and history, guide his learning, and undertake part of the educational responsibility.

Simply put, any questions the Crown Prince had about his studies outside of class would be answered by his attendants.

Generally speaking, those who served as tutors were highly learned individuals.

The Emperor made this promise so that Qi Heng would become a close advisor to the Crown Prince in the future.

Duties are secondary; the relationship with the Crown Prince is the most important thing.

Princess Pingning was overjoyed to hear the news. Empress Cao had only recently become pregnant, and if she gave birth to a prince, he would be nearly fourteen years younger than Qi Heng.

Qi Heng has been by the Crown Prince's side since he was a child, and he will surely trust Qi Heng very much after he ascends the throne.

By the time he is in power, Qi Heng will be quite old, and he may well be able to become prime minister.

Qi Heng was not happy; on the contrary, he was deeply worried.

Empress Cao's pregnancy gave the Emperor great hope.

Although the Emperor had experienced the pain of losing several sons, he was more grief-stricken than ever when the young prince passed away two years ago.

It wasn't because he had a deeper affection for that son; the reason he was more grief-stricken was that he not only faced the pain of losing a son, but also the problem of having no heir to inherit the throne.

The Emperor was grieving the loss of his son, but he was still young and not worried about having no heir to inherit the throne.

But when the young prince died two years ago, the Emperor was already quite old.

The current government is like someone who has been walking in the desert without water for a long time.

Just when he was about to give up, he saw an oasis.

He unleashed boundless potential and headed towards the oasis.

If he finally arrives at the oasis only to find that there is no water there, how could he not break down?

If Empress Cao hadn't become pregnant, the Emperor would still have held onto hope, but deep down he had gradually accepted reality.

In case Empress Cao gives birth to a daughter in the end, or the child is not born normally.

The emperor might have collapsed and died of anger.

He had no one to confide in about these worries.

…………

"Yuan Ruo, congratulations!"

Qi Heng entered the school, and Sheng Changbai smiled and stood up to congratulate him.

The news of Qi Heng receiving a reward had already spread, but the reason was unknown to the outside world.

Many people speculate that it was because Empress Cao was pregnant, and the Emperor was happy.

Princess Pingning was able to frequently enter and leave the palace, which is why she received the reward.

"He's just a minor official." Qi Heng smiled and shook his head.

From a personal perspective, getting a sixth-rank official position, where you get paid but don't have to do any work, is definitely a good thing.

It should be noted that the salaries of officials in the Great Zhou Dynasty were not low.

The miscellaneous benefits of a sixth-rank official, when converted into cash, would amount to roughly thirty to fifty taels of silver.

However, officials of the sixth rank could obtain two to four qing of official land.

One qing is a hundred mu, which means between two hundred and four hundred mu.

Because grain production is not fixed, it is difficult to calculate how much rent a farmer can collect.

However, based on a normal year, the annual income from official land ownership is around one hundred taels.

The total annual salary is conservatively estimated at four or five hundred taels.

At first glance, it doesn't seem like much, but that's only because Qi Heng has an official position but no real power.

If there were assignments, there were various subsidies, and many officials had multiple assignments.

Although only one of them is a real difference and the rest are fictitious differences, there are still subsidies.

So the various titles that officials hold aren't just for show; they come with real money.

From a personal perspective, giving him money and social status for free is definitely a good thing.

But from the perspective of a single country, it's not a good thing.

The Great Zhou Dynasty typically admitted two to three hundred people to each imperial examination, with some times reaching nearly four hundred.

In addition, there were special imperial examinations and supplementary imperial examinations, resulting in a large number of new officials each year.

However, the imperial court did not have that many official positions. Many were like Qi Heng's, where he was given a nominal official post, received a salary, and did not need to do any work.

Over time, the imperial court's expenditures became too great.

Sheng Changbai clearly understood Qi Heng's implied meaning, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Some things are beyond our control!"