Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 265 Officials’ Salaries (Part 2)
"Your Highness, colleagues, in the past three days, the Ministry of Revenue has conducted a very detailed investigation. The survey samples are mainly officials in the capital, officials at all levels in Shuntian Prefecture, officials at all levels in Daxing County, clerks, runners, etc. A total of 600 people were interviewed and investigated. Among them, there was one second-rank official, five third-rank officials... 136 people were not in the official ranks, and 155 people were serving...
In general, after visiting and roughly calculating by the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Revenue believes that if the salaries of officials across the country are to be raised, the general suggestions are: First, the various errands will not be considered. Second, each clerk will be given a monthly salary of 3 to 4 yuan according to the number of years he has worked in the government. Third, the Ministry of Revenue has made a table of the salaries of officials at all levels, please review it, Your Highness and colleagues. "
After receiving the proposal submitted by Xu Honggang, Zhu Youdong turned directly to the end and roughly glanced at the Ministry of Revenue's opinions on the new salaries of officials at all levels:
The first rank, monthly salary is 300 yuan. The junior rank, 270 yuan... the seventh rank, 20 yuan... the junior rank, 5 yuan.
After so many years of traveling through time, Zhu Youdong has a good understanding of the prices of both eras. Therefore, he actually has a conversion ratio in mind. Generally speaking, after the Ming Dynasty implemented currency reform, the purchasing power of one silver dollar issued now is roughly equivalent to 250 RMB in later generations.
If converted according to this ratio, the monthly salary of a first-rank official in the Ming Dynasty was equivalent to 75,000 yuan. A county magistrate had an income of 5,000 yuan. The lowest-ranking ninth-rank official had an income of 1,000 yuan, while the income of a low-ranking clerk was between 750 and 800 yuan.
"Hmm~~" Zhu Youdong thought for a while and then said, "Gentlemen, what do you think?"
But after this question was asked, the officials attending the meeting did not speak for quite a long time.
Zhu Youdong was stunned for a moment, then he immediately reacted.
The person who made this plan was Xu Honggang, who was a senior official and had a crooked butt. Therefore, his plan set the monthly salary of officials above the third rank extremely high - 180 yuan for the third rank. However, starting from the fourth rank , the monthly salary suddenly dropped to 100 yuan - almost halved.
Those who can sit here today are basically officials of the third rank or above.
How can they speak?
After taking a deep breath, Zhu Youdong said, "Grand Situ."
"I am here."
"I will make a slight adjustment to this plan. Starting from the fourth rank, the monthly salary of each official will be increased by 5 yuan. The monthly salary of the lower-ranking clerks will be increased by 1 yuan each. Then you can use this slightly adjusted plan to calculate how much money my Ming Dynasty will spend on paying salaries to officials every month if this is implemented."
"Yes, Your Highness, please wait for a moment. I will be back soon."
The Ming Dynasty now has about 80,000 officials, including about 23,000 civil officials and more than 56,000 military officials. The reason why such a situation still occurs in an environment where civil officials are respected and military officials are suppressed is of course because of the guard system - the various levels of small flags and general flags of the guards are all considered military officers - military officers are also officials.
Among the more than 23,000 civil servants, there were of course very few high-ranking officials of the first and second ranks, and most of them were low-ranking officials of the seventh, eighth and ninth ranks. As for the lower-ranking clerks, even the Minister of Personnel probably didn't know. But a rough estimate would be at least 50,000.
"Your Highness, I have recalculated according to your request. If we count civil officials, not including military officers, according to this new plan, the court will have to pay 575,000 yuan per month, which is 6.9 million yuan per year. For civil servants, based on 50,000 people, it will be 175,000 yuan per month, which is 2.1 million yuan per year. The total is 9 million yuan."
"Hmm..." He stood up and walked around the meeting room with his hands behind his back. Zhu Youdong spoke in the hopeful eyes of the ministers: "This is a major matter involving the fundamentals of the country. I have to report it to the emperor. But don't worry, I agree with this plan in principle."
"We thank Your Highness for your consideration."
"Your Highness?"
"Hmm? Da Sima, what do you want to say?"
"Your Highness, I strongly agree with this salary adjustment. It only adjusts the salaries of civil officials and clerks, what about the military officers? Even if the garrison soldiers are not paid according to the ancestral system, should the salaries of the generals and soldiers of the military garrison be adjusted as well?"
"Yes, that's what the Grand Marshal reminded me of. In this case, the Ministry of War must issue a notice in advance, and the salaries of the military garrison soldiers must be adjusted. But you have to eat one bite at a time, and do things one by one. Let them be patient."
His Royal Highness is deeply rooted in the hearts of the army, so he dares to say such words. Besides, let's put aside those guards that have fled and only a frame is left. Even the military garrisons of the Ming Dynasty now have a high monthly salary: a recruited soldier can get 1.5 silver dollars per month, and the generals naturally get more. Moreover, even the military garrisons have their own garrisons, and they have some output. Therefore, the salary increase of the troops can be delayed a little.
"Grand Situ."
"I am here."
"In this plan, apart from the civil servants and clerks, I have not seen how much the monthly salary of the civilians who serve is."
"Ah? Your Highness, it is the ancestral system that the people serve the country . There is no remuneration. I really don't know whether Your Highness still has the intention to pay these people."
How could I not want to pay salaries to these guys? They are the people closest to the people. The people have the most direct impression of the government through them.
There were 23,000 civil servants and 50,000 clerks. There is no doubt that with the low and slow administrative efficiency in the Middle Ages, these less than 80,000 civil servants could not effectively manage more than 100 million people. Even though the government agencies in the Ming Dynasty had a lot less work than modern governments (such as public works, environmental protection, health, social security, etc.), even so, this number of civil servants was still too small.
Therefore, there were more runners (Xu) in governments at all levels throughout the Ming Dynasty.
(Li is a fixed position, Xu is a rotating position.)
For example, the runners of the county yamen at all levels were neither officials nor clerks, but civilians. They were just civilians who came to the county yamen to perform corvée labor.
According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, corvée labor was performed once every ten years, for one year each time. Moreover, during this year, not only could you not take care of your family and your own fields, but you also had to bring your own dry food to work for the country.
Therefore, for ordinary people, serving in corvée was a major obstacle to the maintenance of their families and their own survival. However, if they could serve in the county government, it would not be dangerous, but a good opportunity for development. In fact, over the past 200 years , many of the county government servants had inherited their fathers' positions.
In short, this part of the people are the main executors of the Ming government at all levels. And this part of the people are absolutely not paid any salary.
How much is this piece? At least no less than 100,000.
Not only do they not receive any salary, they also have to abandon their family land to serve. If they were to serve in the county government, would they use the tiny bit of power they have to seek rent?
Absolutely, definitely, and certainly.
Therefore, the money for this group of people must be included in the budget - not by paying them wages directly, but by the state creating such a budget and using this budget to hire unemployed young men - there are simply too many such people in the Ming Dynasty, a society dominated by agriculture - these are temporary workers!
