As long as they can support themselves and their families.
Therefore, it's reasonable to assume that most officials would raise their standards significantly when faced with corruption and bribery.
The saying goes, "One thought can lead to heaven, and another to hell." This single thought can determine many things. And many officials, unfortunately, fall short precisely because of this one thought.
Therefore, they cannot allow their greed to take advantage of them. Thus, it is essential to increase their salaries.
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said:
"Since the Crown Prince has said so, then we agree. So, the Crown Prince, Yang Rong, Yang Pu, and Yang Shiqi, shall come up with a definite solution to this matter in the Wenhua Hall."
"When the time comes, show it to us according to the regulations. If there are no problems, then proceed immediately."
Zhu Yunwen immediately bowed to Zhu Yuanzhang:
"Thank you very much, Your Majesty."
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and nodded, saying:
"Go ahead and do it. We've always believed in you. We hope this will work as you said."
Zhu Yunwen, Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, and Yang Pu returned to the Cultural Hall and immediately began a heated discussion about the salaries and wages of officials.
They meticulously calculated the expenses, including almost all the reasonable basic expenditures of officials at all levels, and then determined their salary standards based on this.
In addition, to prevent some officials from spending money extravagantly when hiring servants.
Therefore, Zhu Yunwen proposed that the maids, servants, sedan chair bearers, and so on required for certain special officials should all be provided by the government at public expense, so that the officials would not have to pay for them out of their own pockets.
In this way, officials can save a direct expense and avoid the possibility of some officials spending more money to hire better servants and maids.
Because if some officials want to spend money to hire expensive servants and maids, then the money won't be enough, right? They will inevitably find other ways to make money.
Therefore, Zhu Yunwen believed that a set of regulations should be established for the standard equipment of these officials. Then, the expenses for all standard equipment should be covered by the imperial court and local government offices.
For example, according to Zhu Yunwen's regulations, a county magistrate, a seventh-rank official, could only employ one maid, one servant, four sedan chair bearers, one cook, and one old woman to clean and wash clothes.
So, by that calculation, there were already eight people serving the county magistrate and his family.
Moreover, the hiring fees for these eight people are fixed. In this way, the essential qualifications for these officials are fixed.
Not only do they not have to spend money, they can't even spend money on their own.
Then, on this basis, the government would reimburse officials for their daily expenses related to official business, as well as the county magistrate's daily living expenses.
After decreeing that all the mandatory requirements and expenses for officials would be reimbursed by the imperial court and government departments, Zhu Yunwen decided to reduce their original salaries.
For example, a county magistrate used to earn a little over two taels of silver a month. Now that most of the expenses are covered by the imperial court and government offices, it's impossible for them to still earn a little over two taels of silver; their salary has been reduced to one tael of silver.
However, this one or two taels of silver would go entirely into their own pockets; they wouldn't use it to pay wages to others.
It's actually better than before. At least one tael of silver a month is enough to buy clothes and support the family for other expenses without any problem.
Based on this set of welfare and salary standards, Zhu Yunwen and Yang Rong established a systematic salary standard for officials of different ranks in the imperial court.
Of course, even though some official positions may have the same rank, there are still differences in their benefits.
For example, even though they were both seventh-rank officials, local county magistrates could enjoy the company of servants and maids. This was because county magistrates were in charge of the entire county and had little time to deal with their daily life issues, so they needed someone to take care of them.
Moreover, the county is very large, and it is impossible to walk anywhere. A sedan chair is indeed necessary, but other officials of the seventh rank do not need such a thing.
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