Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The imperial meeting was attended by the first and second leaders of the cabinet.

The court bosses seemed to have a positive attitude, but in fact they were not in a very high mood.

This major corruption case is being investigated more and more widely. If you pull out the carrot and bring out the mud, one person can involve a lot of people. Although the number of officials punished was far less than when Zhu Guoxiang was in office, more mid-level and senior officials were dismissed this time.

Even Zhang Guangdao and Li Bao's old subordinates had six people beheaded because of the Ningxia rebellion and subsequent corruption of military assets. There were also more than 20 middle and low-level officers who were stripped of their military power and their families were exiled to Shazhou and Guazhou to serve as soldiers.

Zhu Ming said: "Compared to the previous Song Dynasty, the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty are not low. Even for officials at prefecture, county and below, the salaries are far higher than those of the previous Song Dynasty! Of course, you are all important ministers, and your life is definitely not as good as that of the previous Song Dynasty."

"The salary is enough." Li Hanzhang said on behalf of everyone.

Did all civil servants in the Song Dynasty live a happy life?

Of course not. To be precise, in the Song Dynasty, only high-ranking officials and corrupt officials lived a prosperous life.

The middle and lower classes in the Song Dynasty, as prices continued to rise for hundreds of years, and income from jobs and fields were converted into money, if they were not corrupt, they would be really poor - they would be fine by themselves, but it would be difficult if they had to support their families and servants.

Wang Anshi used these ten words to evaluate the living conditions of state and county officials: "Although we have to live together, we are still embarrassed by this."

Even poorer are those middle- and low-level officials serving in big cities.

Especially when working as an official in the capital, prices are frighteningly high, and rent is a huge expense.

The huge burden of official salaries in the Song Dynasty mainly came from senior officials and redundant officials. There are a lot of redundant officials, most of whom are filling their posts and only receive salary but do no work. There are also senior officials who receive several salaries, each of which is terrifyingly high.

In the new Ming Dynasty, redundant officials no longer were allowed to receive only one salary, and the treatment of senior officials was reduced.

At the same time, the salaries of middle and low-level officials and staff were increased.

Take the county magistrate as an example.

The formal salary of a county magistrate in the Ming Dynasty was more than three times that of a county magistrate in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Of course, county magistrates in the Northern Song Dynasty received more welfare subsidies. If all benefits are added up, the overall income of the county magistrate of the Ming Dynasty is two-thirds more than that of the county magistrate of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Properly high salary, but it is difficult to maintain integrity, it can only make honest officials live a better life.

Ju Ming knocked on the table and said: "There have been natural disasters in recent years, and food prices have increased. Let's raise the salary again. For officials of the fourth rank and above, the monthly salary will increase by 10 guan. For officials of the fifth rank and from the seventh rank, the monthly salary will increase by 5 guan. For officials of the eighth rank, the monthly salary will increase by 5 guan. For officials of the ninth rank, the monthly salary will be increased by 3 guan.

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

All the ministers became happy and sang praises.

Although they don't care about the extra 10 pounds a month, who doesn't like a salary increase?

The salary increase of senior officials has been much higher, while the salary increase of lower-level officials has been less. This is not because Ju Ming neglects the grassroots. It’s that the number of senior officials is smaller, and if they increase more, they won’t actually make much money.

Officials of the seventh rank and below account for the bulk of salary expenditures, and there are so many of them. Regardless of the monthly increase of only 3 guan and 1 guan, the overall increase in salary expenditure is countless times that of senior officials!

Ju Ming continued: "The money earned by Shishi Feng has increased from 30 Wen to 50 Wen."

As soon as this was said, all the gentlemen present smiled.

The Ming Dynasty continued from the previous Song Dynasty. Eating a town was purely an honor, and a small amount of money was given for eating.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, a household was granted a food seal, which was converted into 25 Wenyi coins per month. In the Ming Dynasty, it was raised to 30 Wen per household, and now it has been raised to 50 Wen, which is equivalent to doubling in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Take Yue Fei as an example. He currently has 2,800 households and can receive 140,000 qian per month, which is approximately 140 guan. In addition, there is also the title of Marquis, which is given according to rank. There is also military salary, which is paid according to military rank.

Not counting various welfare subsidies and adding up the salary, town money, and military salary, Yue Fei's total monthly salary is about 900 guan.

Is this less?

Already a lot!

As for senior civil servants, although they are no longer allowed to receive double salary, they will receive additional salary when they increase their official position.

For example, Third Division, Third Young Master, Zhu Guo, Te Jin, etc., no matter how many of these promotions there are, only one will be given, and the salary will be based on the highest ranking promotion. In addition, if a civil servant also has a title, he cannot receive it together with the official salary. He will receive whichever rank is higher.

In other words, senior military generals receive official salary and official salary, and senior civilian officials receive official salary and additional official salary. In fact, they can receive double wages.

There are not many civil servants and military generals who receive double wages. The corresponding financial expenditure of the court is not large, and it can make the senior civil servants and military officers live a wealthy and honorable life.

After Qin Hui was promoted to special position, he was able to earn double salary, and his total income was higher than that of Yue Fei!

Now, Ju Ming has raised his official salary and raised his real income. It is nothing more than giving him a stick and a sweet date to appease the civil and military hearts of the world.

The confidence that can improve the overall salary is that the Sichuan-Shaanxi iron money has been basically recovered, and the court no longer has to frantically subsidize Sichuan's finances.

Starting next year, the court will issue an order: within the next three years, if you continue to use iron money to pay taxes, the iron money can only account for half of the tax payable by that household. Three years later, iron money was completely invalidated, and the government no longer collected iron money when collecting taxes.

After catching dozens of gangs that secretly forged iron money, no one dared to use iron money to steal government money anymore.

If you dare to do that thing, you will directly receive the whole family bucket package, and all the men of the main culprit family will have their heads chopped off. The female relatives of the main criminal family and the entire family of the accomplices were all exiled to southern Sichuan and Guizhou.

The cumulative number of people who were implicated and exiled for illegally casting iron money has exceeded 5,000!

Zhu Ming was still speaking alone: ​​"I know that you have been complaining that the relatives of the guilty officials are too heavily implicated. Everyone should be held accountable for their own actions, so why implicate parents and brothers? Today I will tell you clearly that one is to reverse the corruption left over from the former Song Dynasty, and the other is to force those officials from big families to divide their property."

The ministers participating in the meeting did not know how to respond.

"Generally speaking, the situation of rampant corruption has been curbed in the more than ten years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Although there are still corrupt officials everywhere, at least they dare not expose them in public," Zhu Ming said, "This time there is an official named Li Yu, the father-in-law of Qin Hui's brother-in-law. He is an honest official. Because his eldest and second sons did evil, in order not to affect the career of his youngest son, he actually committed suicide in the prison of the Ministry of Justice!"

Li Gang sat up immediately. He witnessed this with his own eyes.

Zhu Ming continued, "Since the corruption has been stopped, the Ming Dynasty Law should be revised to prevent such things from happening again. When a person commits a serious crime, only his parents, wife and children will be implicated, and his brothers will not be implicated. Of course, when recovering the stolen goods, the family will be confiscated, and if the brothers do not separate, they will be confiscated together."

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Hu Anguo flattered him hurriedly. He always felt that the law of collective responsibility was too severe, which made many officials suspicious.

Now it's good, brothers will not be implicated.

As long as you are an honest official, you don't have to worry about being implicated for no reason because of your brother's violation of the law.

Cancelling the provision of collective responsibility for brothers is Zhu Ming's real compensation to Li Qiu. Modifying the Ming Dynasty Law because of Li Qiu's suicide can make all officials in the world feel Li Qiu's kindness.

Zhu Ming said: "Parents, wives and children will still be implicated by corrupt officials in the future, so you officials should keep this in mind. Also, write into the Great Ming Law that the crimes committed by the princes, princesses and grandchildren are the same as those committed by common people. If they commit serious crimes, there is no need to implicate their parents."

When these words were spoken, all the ministers were shocked.

Based on their understanding of the emperor, as long as the Great Ming Law was written in, the princes and princesses would really be punished!

Of course, in the specific implementation, no one would dare to really investigate.

Unless a prince or princess has caused such trouble that the heavens are angry and the people are resentful, the censor will report the truth to the emperor.

For ordinary cases, who would be crazy enough to investigate the princes and princesses?

The ministers' brains were working quickly. There were only three purposes for writing this article into the Great Ming Law: first, to show the attitude to the people of the world; second, to restrain the princes and princesses; third, to provide a legal basis for dealing with the notorious royal family at a critical moment.

The meeting ended and the ministers went back to work.

They actually wanted to remove the punishment of corrupt officials for their parents, but they had to do it step by step.

No longer punishing brothers together is already a big step forward. And the emperor took the initiative to make concessions, so there is no need to make trouble at this time.

Hu Anguo sighed: "The Qin and Wang families are notorious this time. I heard that next month's "Da Ming Monthly" will describe their crimes in detail, and the people of the world will know that these two families are all corrupt and law-breaking."

"It's a pity for Li Yu," Chen Dong said, "An honest official actually committed suicide to save his young son's career."

Li Hanzhang said: "This man will definitely be included in the biography of famous officials of the Ming Dynasty. Because of him, the "Da Ming Law" was revised, and finally brothers will no longer be punished together."

Pan Lianggui said:

"Your Majesty's harsh laws are not impulsive, but have deep meaning. Just like the arrogant and domineering military men since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the trend must be reversed in the early Song Dynasty. Your Majesty's harsh laws on corrupt officials Severe punishments and severe laws are also used to reverse the corrupt atmosphere of the former Song Dynasty. "

"Correcting a wrong must be done in an extreme way, otherwise it will be difficult to reverse. But after the atmosphere is reversed, it is still corrected. The former Song Dynasty did not correct the wrong, which led to the decline of military power. With your majesty's wisdom and power, can't he see the harm of severe punishments and severe laws? The trend of corruption has been curbed, and severe punishments and severe laws will be slowly withdrawn. "

"Li Qiao is just an excuse. Without Li Qiao, there are Zhang Qiao and Liu Qiao. This time, the joint punishment of brothers is cancelled, and the joint punishment of parents will be cancelled next time. "

Wei Liangchen said: "The joint punishment of parents may be cancelled, but the joint punishment of wives and children will probably continue to exist. Otherwise, how to deter corrupt officials?"

Everyone nodded and agreed with Wei Liangchen's statement.

He Su didn't want to talk about this, smacked his lips and said, "What do you think? If there are no more disasters, will the alcohol restriction be lifted? The price of rice wine is getting higher and higher, and there is a limit, and the monthly salary can't buy much. Those white wines are too strong, I really can't get used to it."

"Hahaha," Qian Chen laughed, "I can't get used to white wine either. But even if the alcohol restriction is lifted, white wine will definitely become popular, just like fried tea replaced steamed tea. White wine is not only cheap, but also can be stored longer, and ordinary people are more willing to drink it."

As the ministers chatted, they turned the topic to wine and tea, and seemed to have completely forgotten this year's major corruption case.

(I recommend "Humble Uncle" by the great god Tianzi. Lao Wang grew up reading the books of the great god Tianzi.)