After the four of them were silent for a moment, the official's minister, Shangshu Fang, spoke up magnificently.
"Your Majesty, establish your mind for heaven and earth, establish your destiny for the people, carry on your unique knowledge for the past saints, and create peace for all generations. Many scholars have this as their goal.
But in fact, these four sentences are far away from everyone, very unrealistic, and so lofty.
There is a folk proverb: To be an official for thousands of miles is just for food and clothing. Hengqu's four sentences can only be considered after food and clothing.
If the salary is increased, corruption may be reduced. Even if the salary is raised to a thousand stones per month, corruption will not be eliminated. "
"Your Majesty, all dynasties have put a lot of effort into maintaining integrity, eliminating corruption, and governing officials. Throughout history, there are basically two paths. One is high pressure and severe punishments. This dynasty is the most important.
Secondly, there is the salary policy of using salary to support integrity, which was adopted in the Han Dynasty. Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty said in the edict: The reason why officials govern the people is that they can do their best to govern and the people rely on them. Therefore, they value their salary, so they serve the people.
It is not difficult to find from the grand occasion of the emergence of officials in large numbers recorded in history books that this system is much better than harsh punishments. "
"This was not only the case in the Han Dynasty, but also in the Tang Dynasty. The effect was quite obvious, but there were also huge hidden dangers in using salary to support integrity.
First, people's hearts are unpredictable and their desires are hard to satisfy. If you give them too much, they will only think about more.
Secondly, the financial expenditure is huge. If there are natural disasters, man-made disasters, empty treasury, etc. and the salary cannot be paid, then all the officials will be resentful. "
"Increasing the salaries of officials can alleviate their worries and allow them to focus on politics. It can also make officials more decent, in better health, and possibly less corrupt, especially low-level officials."
Chongzhen was speechless. He couldn't improve even if he didn't improve.
After thinking for a moment, Chongzhen's face became serious: "Corruption is a very complex social problem. Those with high positions and high salaries may not be corrupt, and those with low official salaries and low salaries may not be honest. Corruption is not necessarily related to the salary.
But when analyzing the official corruption cases of the Ming Dynasty, one of the reasons was low salary.
There are more than 1,400 counties in the Ming Dynasty. As long as county-level officials are less corrupt, it will be a blessing for the people. I am determined to increase the salaries of all officials. "
The four of them looked at each other, a hint of joy flashing in their eyes.
Even if they don't care too much about their salary, who wouldn't want to have more salary and make their family live a better life.
Especially Sun Chengzong, who has a family of more than 70 people. Although the family has some land and the emperor gives some rewards from time to time, otherwise the family will really be in trouble.
"Fang Aiqing, how many high-quality officials are there in the Ming Dynasty?"
"Back to Your Majesty, because after the abolition of the clan, there were a lot fewer official officials. At present, the Ming Dynasty has 140 prefectures, 193 states, and a total of 1,200 counties. Including the officials in the capital, there are about 1,000 official officials. More than 16,000 people.”
PS: This refers to civil servants. Military attachés are basically all guards. The military pay is basically self-sufficient because the guards have farmland.
"Bi Aiqing, how much salary does Ming Dynasty spend every month?"
"The actual expenditure is about 76,600 taels."
"What if there is no discount on the principal or salary, but the full amount of Lumi is paid directly?"
"This... I haven't calculated it specifically!"
Bi Ziyan looked a little embarrassed. It was true that this thing had been distributed at a reduced cost for more than two hundred years, and the number of people had changed a lot. He really didn't know.
"I estimate that if the full amount of Lumi is distributed, the monthly expenditure will be about 120,000 taels."
"One hundred and twenty thousand taels? It's not too much!"
Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief. If he spent hundreds of thousands of taels every month, he really had to think about it.
"My dear friends, I have a few ideas about increasing my salary. You can see if it is feasible. Bi Aiqing, please record it."
After Wang Chengen presented him with pen, ink, paper and inkstone, Chongzhen walked slowly in Dongnuan Pavilion with his hands behind his back.
After a while, he said softly: "In the first stage, the original salary will be restored and the salary will be paid in full or equivalent in silver;
The second stage is to adjust the salary standards for officials of different grades, such as capital officials, floating officials, honorary titles, etc. It should not be one-size-fits-all, nor should the same system be used all the time. Adjustments should be made every three years or every five years;
In the third stage, the prices and economic development of each Chief Secretary and each government are different, and salaries also need to be adjusted.
For example, Suzhou is the most prosperous county in the world, with high prices and a developed economy. The prefect is a fourth-rank official, so it is not appropriate to give him a salary of twenty-four shi.
This point needs to be adjusted by the Ministry of Household Affairs according to the situation of each government. The lumi set by the imperial court is tentatively called the regular salary. The regular salary was unified throughout the Ming Dynasty, but various localities can provide certain subsidies appropriately according to the situation.
There are many sources of subsidies, such as official land income, official warehouse leasing, carriage and horse leasing, etc.;
The fourth stage is to give rewards on the basis of salary. For example, if the economy of the government is improved and taxes are increased, then a certain amount will be extracted from the taxes and distributed to the officials in the government based on the evaluation as a reward for their hard work. reward.
The fifth stage is to improve the welfare benefits of officials, such as medical treatment, pensions, funeral arrangements, departure allowances, etc.
Well, let’s plan five stages for now. When they are all completed, we will add more. Or if you have any ideas, you can also mention them. "
quiet!
The entire Dong Nuan Pavilion was extremely quiet.
The quiet Chongzhen felt something was wrong, and when he turned around, he realized that Yuan Keli and the other four were in shock.
"Four dear friends, what's wrong with you? Didn't you hear clearly, or did you not understand something?"
"Your Majesty, please forgive me for being rude!"
The four people who were awakened by Chongzhen's voice all saluted towards Chongzhen, their eyes full of shock and wry smiles.
This is not an increase in salary, it is simply a new salary system.
But then again, if this salary system is made and implemented, the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty will soar from the lowest in the history to the best in the history.
"Your Majesty, the second and third phases you have formulated are so considerate of the officials. I think if they are announced, they will be happy to death."
"Especially the idea of the fourth stage is simply wonderful. If you want to get a high salary, you have to find a way. From now on, the people will become rich and they will get their salary.
This not only depends on the ability of the chief official, but also allows the entire county officials to unite, think in one place, and work hard in one place. As long as there is money, who will take the risk of beheading and killing three tribes for corruption? .
At that time, the people in the government will see that the people in other governments are getting rich, and they will force the officials to find a way.
Officials below the prefect, seeing that the prefect is not doing anything and blocking their way to make money, will probably be impeached directly.
The prefect saw that he was desperately trying. When the officials below dealt with the matter, he would be the first to kill them.
The chief official, subordinate officials, and the common people supervise and urge each other, and there are also external supervision by the Jin Yiwei, the Inspectorate, and the inspection team. This is simply incomprehensible. "
