For senior bureaucrats and powerful people, salary reduction is actually not a big deal.
Although the state capital of the Ming Dynasty fully attacked Jiangnan and almost occupied a dominant position, the bureaucrats and powerful officials would not be short of money anyway.
Even if they lose their business money, they still have income from land, and they are still extremely rich.
Moreover, in the face of the attack by the Ming Dynasty’s national team, quite a few dignitaries decisively chose to join forces with them and became compradors to protect their own interests. Even if the government’s finances were exhausted, they would not be short of money, and they would not be short of money if they took less salary. Take a little, it doesn't matter.
But only middle- and high-level bureaucrats have this qualification. They rely on their power and connections to run many industries and are qualified to be compradors. Middle- and low-level officials and low-level officials do not have this qualification.
Quite a few of them live on their salaries. Once their salaries dropped, their living standards plummeted, and there were widespread complaints.
What's even more terrible is that despite the decrease in salaries, prices in Hangzhou have also increased. The price of rice has increased by several percent, and the price of salt has also skyrocketed. Many people can no longer support themselves even if they work for the government, so they have resigned to make a living.
So much so that the Hangzhou court had to hire a series of idle people to do work in order to reduce financial expenditures and maintain a minimum social security team.
However, this has greatly reduced the average quality of the staff and caused many troubles.
In Lu You's position, his salary has dropped by almost half, making life difficult for his family. From time to time, he needs some support from his hometown, which manages the land, otherwise he will not be able to eat at all.
This is true even for middle- and lower-level officials and officials, let alone among the people.
Needless to say, the farmers are all poor. Now they have only one breath left to live, and Zhang Shi fought hard to keep them.
The poor man has been squeezed dry and cannot continue to be squeezed, but the court cannot survive, what should we do?
Target the rich.
In the current city of Hangzhou, in order to maintain the nominal rule of the imperial court, the exploitation of the citizens and businessmen can be said to have reached its peak.
With the large-scale intervention of state capital in the Ming Dynasty, the bureaucrats of the Hangzhou court not only failed to find ways to mediate and help private businessmen tide over the difficulties, but also stabbed them in the back, set up various policy obstacles, and tortured them into bankruptcy. Then they took in the assets of private businessmen at low prices.
Their mouths are full of food, at the expense of Jiangnan's private business being almost in dire straits.
After the private businessmen have been wiped out by the bureaucrats, they will continue to increase their investment.
A report related to Tianwangjun shows that the price of salt in Hangzhou has reached the point where 98% is tax.
Taxes on alcohol have also begun to increase again, with prices doubling and taxes doubling.
The farmers outside the city were so tortured that they could only hang with one breath.
The merchants and citizens in the city were being wiped out while being exploited by extremely high salt prices. The dire straits were definitely not an exaggerated rhetorical device, but a fact.
Therefore, Jiangnan Country's economy has essentially collapsed.
Under such circumstances, those who can still do business are basically those with excellent backgrounds, such as Su Changsheng.
Su Changsheng relied on Zhang Shi, and the Xichun Building and Beiguo Building he ran were not attacked. They were protected by privileges, and the taxes were normal. A little payment would be enough.
But according to what Su Changsheng knew, even if there were connections between the DPRK and China, as long as the relationship was not so hard, or the hard relationship had disappeared, they would not be able to escape.
Three months ago, the owner of Wanlong Restaurant, which was established at the same time as Xichun Tower, hanged himself at home. The whole family cried and cried and couldn't get him back.
It is said that because his backers in the court fell due to the Second War of the Ming and Song Dynasties, he became a fat sheep and was targeted by the court. He imposed extremely heavy taxes, which could be used to make money for the court.
When the Hangzhou government levied taxes on Wanlong Restaurant, it was almost an open-door robbery.
The income was taken away, the customer base was sluggish, and he had to pay back money to run the business. The owner couldn't bear it anymore, so he knelt down in front of the palace of the imperial court official and begged for mercy. It was no use. No one paid attention to him.
In the end, he lost all hope and committed suicide.
After the owner died, the Wanlong Restaurant was confiscated due to tax arrears, and all assets were returned to the court. Then due to tax issues, the entire family was sold into slavery, the family home was also confiscated, and the family land was confiscated.
All the valuable things of a family were confiscated and sold, and even people were sold as slaves to make money. It can be called a high-end version of a desperate family.
And it wasn't just this family that was treated like this.
In fact, many previously famous business families were exterminated by the court because of this incident.
Anyway, their backer has already fallen in the chaos, so what else is there to say?
The court taxes that were embezzled by relying on the backer must be paid back, as well as fines and late fees... Give it to me if it is mine, it is mine if it is not mine, I took it clearly!
The Hangzhou court had to maintain the dignity of the court, maintain a certain number of troops, and feed a relatively large and bloated administrative team. This cost was quite serious.
Not to mention that after Sichuan and Shu broke away from rule, the financial revenue of the Hangzhou court was further reduced, and even the salaries of officials were reduced. How could they survive without increasing the exploitation of people from all walks of life and all walks of life?
Su Changsheng wanted to complain at that time.
What did you do early?
If we had attacked the rentier class earlier, we would not have reached this point.
Of course, he also knew that this was impossible. If they didn't get to this point, they would never attack him.
Under such a background, it is not easy for middle-level officials like Lu You to still have a full meal.
"Not only am I having a hard time now, but many of my colleagues are also having a hard time. Some of my colleagues in the same department now have no money to buy meat, and they often scold the government for not doing good things when working.
I also heard that a colleague’s wife was sick but had no money to see a doctor. She was about to die, but her colleagues pooled together a few pennies each to see a doctor, and then she was saved. Look, these days are all What's going on?
So I’m not crying for poverty. I really can’t afford this mutton. It’s good to have enough food at home. How dare I ask for this... By the way, Comrade Changsheng, I can pack some back for my family to eat. ? "
"………………"
Su Changsheng was speechless.
You go too far.
But there is nothing we can do about it. After all, we are our own comrades, so we are risking our lives while busy.
Although my salary is not the highest, because I have never had anything to spend on, and I am not married, the salary I have accumulated over the years is indeed a large number.
"I'm not married either. I've saved my salary and haven't used it. If you're having a hard time, just take some and use it. It doesn't matter if you're hungry, but you can't let your wife and children starve."
Su Changsheng took out a money bag from his arms and handed it to Lu You.
Lu You's eyes shone, and he was about to reach out to take it, but Su Changsheng tightened his grip on the money bag.
"I lent it to you with an IOU and a pledge. Although you haven't received the Ming Dynasty salary now, I will keep it in mind. When this battle is over, you will receive all the salary accumulated before, and you will have money by then. , you must repay what you owe me in full, and for the sake of comrades, I won’t ask you for interest, why don’t you thank me quickly?”
Lu You was stunned on the spot.
Of course, in the end, Lu You borrowed the money, wrote an IOU and paid the deposit, and at the same time took away important information for Zhang Shi to know.
"So, in two months at most, Ming Dynasty will be able to complete the Yellow River Project?"
"Well, it can be completed in two months at most. After that, although there is no clear news yet, Comrade Changsheng estimates that the army will move south around after the autumn harvest."
Lu You whispered to Zhang Shi: "Judging from the current situation, I'm not worried about what they can do. I'm worried that before the army goes south, many people will be tempted to resign and run away. They have a Even if each one of them carries a lot of public support, should we arrest him or not at that time?"
"It depends on the situation. If the situation is serious, once I get the military power, I can immediately initiate action. I don't need to worry too much. I can just control Hangzhou."
Zhang Shi thought for a while and whispered: "There are still 30,000 of our troops guarding the edge of Hangzhou. When the time comes, we will have all the military power in our hands. It will not be a problem to defend until the Ming army goes south. As for King Qin and so on ...Do you think it’s possible? In this current situation?”
"I don't think it's possible."
"I don't think it's possible either."
"Then what are you worried about?"
"There's really nothing to worry about."
"Then do it like this?"
"I support you."
The two nodded to each other and reached a consensus on this issue.
