In theory, Zhu Youxiao called it "rewarding honesty." In other words, as long as you are honest and not greedy, you can get double the salary.
The low salaries of Ming Dynasty officials have long been a fairly established fact in historical records. This is followed by arguments that Ming Dynasty officials were poor, that corruption was excusable, and that poverty was "a reason to become a corrupt official."
In fact, compared with the Tang and Song dynasties, the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty were relatively low, but they were not so pitiful that they could not eat enough or wear warm clothes.
Taking a seventh-rank official as an example, he would receive seven stone of rice per month, which is more than a thousand kilograms, enough to support a family of five, and there would still be a lot left over.
But why did Ming Dynasty officials cry out in despair, complaining about being poor and not having enough meat to eat? Moreover, they were indeed living in poverty relying solely on their salaries.
The reason is not that simple, just like what you think is not necessarily what you think.
First of all, officials were definitely different from ordinary people, mainly because of the large number of people in their families. In addition to parents, wives, and children, there were also servants and maids. It was normal to have more than ten people, right?
As an official, you can't just have one wife, right? There's nothing wrong with having a few concubines, right? Even Hai Rui had two, let alone other officials.
It would cost about a hundred or eighty taels of silver to take in a concubine, and you would have to build a few more rooms, and then you would have to add a few more people in the future, right?
The second reason was the court. If the salary was full, it would be fine. But in the middle and late stages, they began to issue increasingly worthless treasure notes, and sometimes even used things like sumac, pepper, and silk to replace their wages, which caused widespread complaints.
Zhu Youxiao eliminated the long-standing malpractices, paid salaries in silver, and doubled the wages.
If you still complain that your salary is too low and not enough to spend, then don't do it. You want to live a life of luxury and extravagance, and have three wives and four concubines, so why should the court pay for your extravagance?
What's more, isn't it a preferential treatment and favor that the court exempts you from corvee labor, taxes, etc.?
While the imperial edict on "rewarding integrity" was still under discussion at court, Zhu Youxiao issued another imperial decree to the cabinet. This time, it was not to increase salaries or rewards, but to require officials to conduct self-examination and self-correction.
The scope of self-examination and self-correction mainly covers the land owned by officials. If there are any illegal activities such as encroachment, seizure, donation, or false mailing, they must be cleared up within three months. The court will not pursue the matter and it will not be included in the performance evaluation.
Before the court had finished discussing this imperial edict, another imperial edict reached the cabinet, requiring local officials to re-check and compile the Yellow Book and the Fish Scale Book within the year and report them to the Ministry of Revenue.
What is the Yellow Book? It is the household registration, equivalent to a population census; and the Fish Scale Book is a map that marks the shape, boundaries and ownership of cultivated land, which is equivalent to the land ownership certificate in later generations.
In the 14th year of Hongwu, Zhu Baba ordered the first national census to be carried out and compiled into a yellow book to facilitate population statistics and provide a basis for the allocation of taxes and labor service.
After compiling the Yellow Book, Zhu Taizu ordered the measurement of the land across the country and compiled it into a fish scale book.
In light of the lessons of past dynasties, in order to prevent the recurrence of land annexation and concealment, Zhu Yuanzhang required that a population and land census be conducted every ten years so that the government could always obtain the most accurate data.
But in reality, this policy was not fully implemented. By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the ten-year review had become a mere formality, and the Yellow Book and Fish Scale Book had become useless tools used to deceive superiors and subordinates.
Local officials often compiled a separate book to serve as the basis for levying taxes and labor service. Because it was compiled privately and not submitted to the Ministry of Revenue, it was called the "White Book," also known as the "Real Collection Yellow Book" or the "Tax and Labor White Book."
Zhu Youxiao certainly knew that the Yellow Book and the Fish Scale Book could no longer be used as the basis for levying taxes and labor service, but he still wanted local officials to conduct a re-inspection and use it as one of the indicators for performance evaluation.
You continue to falsify and fabricate, continuing to collude with the gentry to commit fraud. These are all crimes, and we will catch you sooner or later. When that happens, your property will be confiscated and you will be exiled. We need manpower to develop the "Eastern Barbarians"!
The imperial edict continued to be issued, this time targeting the officers of each garrison.
They were treated the same as civilian officials, and as long as they returned the embezzled military land within a certain time limit and reported the number of soldiers under their command, they would be forgiven. Otherwise, they would be severely punished.
Obviously, this imperial edict shows that the emperor was well aware of the acts of the garrison officers, such as embezzling military land, enslaving military households, and drawing salaries without working.
Precisely because these actions are excusable and have become extremely common, the emperor gives you another chance, the so-called "leniency to those who confess, severity to those who resist."
If you do as I tell you, we'll pretend nothing happened and start over. Otherwise, you can decide for yourself how severe this punishment will be!
In fact, this was just the order sent to the cabinet.
The secret decree, unknown to others, had already been delivered to Shaanxi Governor Zuo Guangdou, Henan Governor Fang Zhenru, and the new Shanxi Governor Yang Lian. The order was simple: these three fearless and stubborn men were required to carry out the "clearing the military bases and replenishing military funds" campaign to the end.
The main social contradiction in the late Ming Dynasty was land. Massive annexation and occupation caused landless peasants to flee from place to place, and military households also fled in large numbers, suffering the same tragic fate.
These refugees and fleeing military households have become a huge destabilizing factor. They can be maintained for now, but when the full-scale outbreak occurs, it will be difficult to deal with.
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao firmly grasped this key point, strictly controlled all aspects, and took back the land bit by bit.
Of course, Zhu Youxiao also took ruthless measures against the princes of the royal family who occupied the most land.
…………
Prince Fu's Palace, Luoyang, Henan.
The obese Prince Fu Zhu Changxun sat in a chair, his eyes moving around, apparently thinking quickly and finding it difficult to make a decision.
The governor of the East Factory, Wei Laogong, drank his tea leisurely, looking up from time to time to survey the magnificent palace.
Prince Fu Zhu Changxun was born to Concubine Zheng and was loved by his parents from the moment he was born.
However, because the ministers were worried that the Wanli Emperor would depose the eldest son and enthrone the youngest, Zhu Changxun was extremely disliked by the ministers since he was a child.
In fact, Zhu Changxun was quite innocent in the matter of appointing the crown prince. It was his own fault for putting him in such an embarrassing position!
After Zhu Changxun arrived in Luoyang and became a fief, he was probably relatively honest and did not do anything bad in Luoyang.
As for the historical records that he indulged in sensual pleasures and was a heavy drinker, there was nothing that could be done about it. Since the Yongle Emperor, the Ming Dynasty princes had to treat themselves like pigs. Otherwise, the emperor would have been worried.
The two princes were forbidden to meet, the royal family was forbidden to marry nobles, the royal family was forbidden to serve in government, the royal family was forbidden to come to the capital to pay homage and report on affairs, and the princes were forbidden to leave the city without permission...
With all these restrictions placed on them, what else can the princes and royal family members do except stay in their mansions, eat and drink, and take in a few beautiful women?
"Your Majesty, do you really allow me to leave the city at will?" Zhu Changxun decided to start testing the waters with this question, even though he did not agree with the suggestion made by the emperor's nephew.
Uncle Wei nodded and said with a smile, "As a prince, you don't even have the freedom to leave the city. What kind of talk is that? The emperor said that as long as the prince is willing, he can go anywhere as long as he reports to the authorities."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
