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If we put aside the opening remarks that made Zhao Junchen unable to help but feel a little dramatic, the story told by Mr. Zhang is still extremely exciting. Although it is not hearty and exciting, it is still intriguing and arouses mixed feelings.
This story is naturally adapted from the incident where Song Huancheng, a doctor in the Ministry of Rites, fainted from hunger in public some time ago at the Yamen of the Ministry of Rites.
For a story to be engaging, it must have both a clear theme and a plot conflict, a popular protagonist and a hated villain.
In Mr. Zhang's story, the theme of the story is very clear, that is, "the imperial salary is too low, making it difficult for honest officials to survive";
The plot conflict is also easy to design, that is, to contrast Song Huancheng's honest style with his poor life, so that the audience can feel the strong contrast.
The design of the protagonist does not require much thought. It is Song Huancheng, a doctor in the Ministry of Rites. His experience and image are all ready-made, and he is also very lovable to ordinary people.
But for the choice of villain, you have to put some extra thought into it.
After all, Emperor Deqing is sitting below and listening. You must not blame Song Huancheng's tragic experience on the court policies, set the court and the emperor as villains, let alone directly throw out "the low salary of court officials is all because of the Ming Dynasty" Views such as "The emperor is stingy" and "The court's low-salary policy is a disguised form of encouragement for officials to take bribes."
If he did this, Emperor Deqing would definitely be furious, and then it would be a crime of "making irresponsible remarks on government affairs" and "slandering the court."
Therefore, in this story, Emperor Deqing and the top officials of the court must have a positive image. The low salary of court officials is also a forced situation. The villain in the story can only choose a villain who is not afraid of retaliation and can arouse everyone. Audiences share the same enemy's interest groups.
In the end, after careful selection, in Mr. Zhang’s story, the villain became a private group of profiteers!
In Mr. Zhang's words, the image of Emperor Deqing is still great and glorious, and he worries about the people of the world every day; the image of the top officials of the imperial court is also just and noble, and most of them are good people who are diligent and love the people. Officials; as for ordinary people, of course they are also kind and lovely, and they do not need to bear any responsibility.
And all the mistakes are caused by profiteers among the people!
Why are the salaries of court officials so low? It was all due to tax evasion by profiteers, which caused difficulties in the court's financial turnover. Moreover, most of the money in the court's treasury still needed to be used to support the army, protect the people, maintain water conservancy roads, etc., so the money left for officials' salaries was naturally There are very few.
Under the wise leadership of Emperor Deqing, the vast majority of the court officials were honest and caring for the people, but why were there still a few black sheep? That's all because profiteers take the initiative to bribe and lead people to corruption!
Why are people's lives so unsatisfactory? That is naturally because profiteers are driving up prices and hoarding goods!
In short, it's all the fault of those profiteers! If there were no such profiteers, the government's finances would be abundant, honest officials would not be impoverished, corrupt officials would be eliminated, and people's lives would be prosperous!
It was under this setting that Mr. Zhang eloquently told today's story.
The story is adapted from Song Huancheng's real experience. Whether it is Song Huancheng's honest style or Song Huancheng's poor life, there is no falsehood in the story. Just to make the story more fascinating, it adds the anger and revenge of the private profiteers after Song Huancheng failed to bribe Song Huancheng. The plot of Song Huancheng's battle of wits and courage with private profiteers, and the ending of the story is that after some twists and turns, Song Huancheng successfully defeated the conspiracy of the profiteers and received a commendation from the court.
Mr. Zhang is indeed the best commentator in the capital. When telling the story, he was extremely detailed. He listed the monthly salary and daily necessary expenses of the court officials in detail. Under his eloquent words , it can be said that there is a strong sense of immersion, and the audience in the teahouse felt the same for a while. They just felt that if they were in Song Huancheng's position, they might not be able to survive with the meager salary from the court.
Especially the ending of this story is even more intriguing. It seems that Song Huancheng defeated the plot of the profiteers, but the profiteers still spent a lot of money and lived in luxury, but Song Huancheng's life was still poverty and embarrassment, struggling for three meals a day. The sadness made the audience sigh with mixed feelings.
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Just like that, because this story is not a plot of happiness and revenge, when Mr. Zhang finished his lecture, the tea guests in the teahouse did not clap their hands and make friends. Instead, the atmosphere was a bit heavy, and everyone shook their heads and sighed. , all lamented that the world is unfair and good people are not rewarded.
Emperor Deqing's face was expressionless at this time, and he was slightly unhappy.
Emperor Deqing was undoubtedly a smart man, so he naturally understood that on the surface, this story used private profiteers as the villains, and the top officials of the court presented a positive image, but in fact it alluded to the low salary of court officials. , which makes it difficult for the honest officials in the temple to survive, and there is a hint of accusation.
Such a story naturally made Emperor Deqing unhappy.
In normal times, with Emperor Deqing's mean and ungrateful temperament, he would never review the shortcomings of the imperial government's official salary policy. He would only be angry at the implication of this story and embarrass himself, and he would never take it seriously. Thinking about how to solve the problem of low official salaries in the imperial court will only solve the problem of the person who raised the problem.
But today's situation is somewhat different.
After passing the "Tongji Temple" and being influenced by the theory of immortal fate, Emperor Deqing only felt that there were immortals paying attention to his every move. Wanton; and on the surface, there was nothing wrong with Mr. Zhang's story, so he suppressed his unhappiness and did not immediately express his opinion, but remained silent.
Seeing that Emperor Deqing was silent, Zhao Junchen naturally drank tea in silence, pretending that he had no position.
However, the two "Uncle Huo" who sat at the same table with them were talkative people. After Mr. Zhang's lecture ended, they quickly started a discussion with the surrounding tea guests.
"Uncle Huo" was the first to sigh: "Mr. Zhang's story today is completely different from the fun and joy he had in the past. Although it is intriguing, I always feel very aggrieved...
Upright officials like Song Langzhong can only live in poverty and eat chaff every day. On the contrary, those corrupt officials and profiteers are well-dressed and well-fed. It is true that good people are not rewarded. The court salary is too low, which naturally does not matter to corrupt officials, but to upright officials. For us, this is really a grievance. Doesn’t this force people to become bad? No wonder corrupt officials are always banned! "
After some emotion, "Uncle Huo" turned to look at the young scholar who was accompanying him and said, "Xiao He, you might as well do business with me! You see, you are holding back every day. At home, you study hard in the sage's books, hoping to gain fame, but don't say that you have failed the exam twice. What will happen if you win the exam in the future? Otherwise, you will be as poor and embarrassed as the Song Dynasty doctor Mr. Zhang talked about. , otherwise you can only join in the corruption with corrupt officials and be reviled by others... It is better to do business with me. Although you will make a lot of money, at least you will have no worries about food and clothing, and be honest!"
After hearing what "Uncle Huo" said, Emperor Deqing couldn't help but snorted.
"Xiao He" smiled bitterly and said: "Uncle Huo, you are starting to talk nonsense again. After all, doing business is just a bad thing, and studying is the right way! You yourself didn't achieve success in studying when you were young, so you can't see others taking the right way? Is that what you do? What great achievements can you make with a small business? Do you dare to say these words to my father?
What's more, the imperial court may not increase official salaries in the future. I heard a classmate say that since the Ministry of Household Affairs rectified commercial taxes and established the "United Shipping Company", the imperial government's finances have been greatly improved. If the official salary of the imperial court was low in the past, it was Because there is not enough money in the treasury, and now that the treasury has plenty of money, we can't continue to wrong the officials, right? "
"Uncle Huo" disagreed and sneered: "Our court has not raised official salaries for decades. If we raise them early, don't expect such a good thing!"
Having said this, "Uncle Huo" actually turned to look at Emperor Deqing and asked, "Sir, are you right?"
Emperor Deqing was still expressionless, as if he didn't want to answer, but seeing the people at the table staring at him and waiting for an answer, he finally snorted and slowly replied: "This kind of thing has always been a matter of speculation. And moving the whole body, even if it is so simple? When the superior makes a decision, he must think carefully and consider the long term, and must not be emotional!
After the imperial court's finances improved, it seemed that there was room for improvement in officials' salaries, but how many officials were there? After raising the salaries of Beijing officials, do local officials need to raise their salaries? After officials have their salaries increased, should civil servants have their salaries increased? After civil servants’ salaries were raised, what about military attachés? If the military attaches also need to raise their salaries, then do military households need to raise their salaries? If only a part of the salary is provided, it will not worry about the scarcity but the inequality, and the situation in the temple will be unstable! But if everyone wants to raise their salary, the amount of money and food required will be so staggering. Even if the Ministry of Revenue has great ability, how can it bear such pressure? "
Speaking of the latter part, Emperor Deqing completely ignored the stunned expressions of "Uncle Huo" and "Xiao He" after hearing his remarks. He turned to look at Zhao Junchen, frowned and asked: "Song Huancheng, the doctor of the Ministry of Rites..." I have heard of this person, but it was only today that I found out that he fainted from hunger in the Rites Yamen... Did this incident have any impact on the temple?"
Obviously, due to Emperor Deqing's stingy temperament, he was completely unwilling to mention the salary increase for hundreds of officials, and he even scorned the view that "the corruption and bribery of imperial officials was all because their salaries were too low."
However, Emperor Deqing's political sense has always been extremely keen, but he had to consider the impact of this incident on the government and the public, so he made such an inquiry.
After hearing Emperor Deqing's inquiry, Zhao Junchen, who had been silent, finally spoke slowly and said: "Uncle, as far as I know, the impact of Song Huancheng's incident itself is not big, it's just..."
"Just what?" Emperor Deqing frowned and asked.
Zhao Junchen sighed softly and said, "It's just that the timing is too unlucky."
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