eldest son of Ming dynasty

"father."

A teenage boy who looked like a scholar came in from outside.

Xia Yan was serious about his words. After taking off his official uniform, he turned around and said gently: "I heard from Aunt Liu that you went out early in the morning. Where did you go?"

Xia Yan is a very upright person. Usually, most such people are strict fathers, but on the contrary, he is an extremely gentle father.

Mainly because his eldest son, second son, and third son have all passed away, so he can't be strict with his fourth son, Brother Xia Jiu. He always thinks about peace and happiness, which is also a good thing.

He himself is a Jinshi, so to speak, he is also a master, but what is the point of being an eighth-grade field leader here in his forties?

In life, high officials and generous salaries cannot be forced.

"My child went out for an outing with Mr. Xu."

The son of the Xu family he was talking about was the son of Xu Weiming, the magistrate of this county.

Xia Yan didn't show too much in front of his son, "How is it? What have you heard?"

Brother Xia Jiu smiled softly and said, "It's nothing special. I just went to Yong'an Lake as a group. On the way, I met a family that raised very good chickens. They sold us some boiled eggs. They were soft and delicious. My child brought five of them." When I come back, I have put it in the kitchen, and I will give it to dad with more tonic later."

"It's rare that you have such intention." Xia Yan comforted him gently, but in the end he reminded him, "How about Mr. Xu's performance?"

"It's nothing strange. Why does father ask this?"

"The three-year period is coming. According to the imperial edict, my father will submit the county's fish scale atlas to the court this year. Before the seventeenth year of Zhengde, these things were signed by the magistrates and counties. After the seventeenth year of Zhengde, Changed to Tian Zhang."

Brother Xia Jiu was not surprised, "My child has heard about this."

"Then what do you think is the key point?"

He originally thought that the child could not answer, but he suddenly blurted out, "The total number of fish scale albums played by father cannot be less than the fifteenth year of Zhengde. If he is young, no one will care about him if something happens. But it cannot be greater than the fifteenth year of Zhengde." Too much, otherwise the parents and officials will be unhappy. In fact, it is okay to be in Sichuan, and it is like Zhili in the north and south. If the court knows that someone did not submit enough in the fifteenth year of Zhengde, it will be bad. "

Report once every three years.

If the amount reported this year is less than before, something is definitely wrong. It is impossible to fool Zhu Houzhao by using words like land desertification now.

The reason why Sichuan is okay is because there are new land reclamations here, so it is reasonable to be rewarded more than before.

But too much will make some people dissatisfied.

Among them is Xu Weiming, the county magistrate.

But the most unique thing about the imperial court is that it does not require the signature of the county magistrate, but only the signature of the field chief.

This is a good use of human nature. Just imagine, if the magistrate's signature is required, and the magistrate doesn't nod, the thing will not be delivered. The responsibilities of the field leader are all fake, and he will not be able to play any role.

Secondly, the county magistrate does not need to sign, but the field chief needs to sign, so all the responsibilities belong to the field chief.

Even if the field leader wants to hide the acres of the land and just keep all the proceeds, who risks losing his head to get 10,000 taels of dirty silver and then distribute 5,000 taels to others?

The magistrate has no responsibilities, and if you want to get benefits, there is no such good advantage in the world.

This resulted in a natural conflict between the county magistrate and the field chief.

For the county magistrate, the more honest the data reported by Tian Chang will be, the greater the tax pressure will be on him in the coming year. After all, not every household has to pay taxes, just like demolition. When can we not touch a single household? Even if he himself doesn’t want to be greedy, can he report less to make our life easier?

But to Mr. Tian, ​​whether you are easy or not is none of my business. The pornography and facts are not correct. It is my head that is lost, and it is none of your business. Not to mention you are just a magistrate, even if your own father is sitting on top, the father and son cannot cheat each other like this.

Xia Yan was relieved to see that his son was able to get to the point at a young age, and said, "You are indeed talented. I don't blame your Aunt Liu for always praising you."

Brother Xia Jiu said with a bit of humility, "The child is not smart, but as the date is getting closer, there are many people talking about it. The child is just picking up others' wisdom."

It was rare that this child was not vain and knew how to be humble. Xia Yan felt even more relieved.

"You know what you are like as a father, so no matter who asks you about anything, you should only be sure of one thing. Just do it as it is. We, the Xia family, disdain to do anything deceptive!"

"Yes!"

And the current official salary is enough to give Xia Yan the confidence to say this.

Starting from the time of Zhu Yuanzhang, the salary received by officials in the Ming Dynasty was the original salary, which was grain and rice. Of course, there were actually cloth, silk, silk, etc.

Oh, and there are treasure notes.

Later, some of them were issued in a broken color, but before that, the Ming Dynasty was short of silver, and it was not enough to issue all the silver coins. This point gradually changed during the Zhengde Dynasty.

Maritime trade itself allowed the economy to rapidly monetize, and the Ming Dynasty shipped tens of millions of taels of silver back from Japan every year, and there were not so many wars. The imperial court gradually increased the salaries of officials, and no longer issued any money to bully them. When you become a person, you are given money.

During the Hongwu period, a seventh-grade magistrate in a county earned seven shi of lumi per month. More than a hundred years ago, seven shi of rice cost about two taels of silver. Of course, it would be different in different places.

Now, the monthly salary of a seventh-grade county magistrate has risen to 8 taels, which can be said to be a rapid increase. This amount is already half a year's living expenses for an ordinary family of three.

Therefore, the problem of low official salary is being solved, and the solution is very vigorous.

In fact, looking at the whole country, the official salary of the imperial court, which was originally about 4 million dan per year, increased to 16 million dan. Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty's annual income has exceeded 60 million dan, so it can still afford it. .

Even if you have to pay some money, you still have to spend the money. There is definitely a problem if the official salary is too low. The biggest problem is that officials are forced to be greedy.

The most typical characteristic of a bad system is that it forces good people to become bad people.

Xia Yan is an eighth-grade official, and his monthly salary is six taels of silver, which is completely enough for his family's life.

Being able to support his family and not having to face difficulties in life, Xia Yan would not have any pressure, so no one could make him go against his heart. This was a decision he had made long ago.

He could even raise Brother Xia Jiu to be carefree.

In the evening, Brother Xia Jiu was having dinner with his father. The housekeeper came to report and presented him with a greeting card.

Xia Yan originally wanted to accept it, but the butler ran straight to the opposite side of him and said, "Master, this is for you."

"give me?"

Both father and son were a little surprised.

"Which family is it?"

The housekeeper replied: "Looking unfamiliar, he is probably the outsider from the county."

"My surname is Han, Chunbo. My father has already met him. I don't know where he made his fortune. He bought land and a house, and made many friends, especially many officials and scholars in this county. They are all his Welcome. So, sooner or later, you should be invited."

Brother Xia Jiu understood, "I see, then let the kid go."

"Go, see and see, take a closer look at who this person is." Xia Yan said meaningfully.

In fact, Han Chunbo arrived at the magistrate's Yamen on the second day.

Most people enter this gate for profit, but the person surnamed Han went to see the county magistrate to donate money.

"You want to donate money to my lord, the magistrate's office?"

What a novel statement this is, isn't this just...bribery?

Han Chunbo did not panic, "I heard that this year there are six students in this county who have passed the Imperial Water Conservancy College and the Gewu College, but their families are poor. Although the court takes good care of the students themselves, it is difficult for their families to take care of them. When I was young, I had a child. My sister died due to a flood, so I always thought that if I could do something, even if I could train one more river management talent, it would be considered a good deed."

The county magistrate Xu Weiming didn't really believe it. What kind of nonsense was this to deceive people? If you had money, wouldn't it be better to go to the capital and donate it directly to the Water Conservancy Institute?

However, it is also an unspoken rule to see it clearly but not to explain it clearly. If someone is new here and wants to spend money to buy a reputation, why should he expose it?

"Since you have this intention, you can do it yourself. What's the problem with me?"

Han Chunbo said very naturally, "These are the people who passed the exam this year, but I don't know who will take the exam next year. I know that the imperial court attaches great importance to the selection of talents. Every year, they are screened by the government and then sent to the capital. In this case, if you win Xuzhi County's help saves the villains from having to look for it one by one. Besides, if someone is stupid and accidentally deceives someone, it will be even more embarrassing. Therefore, without Xu Zhixian, this matter would never be possible."

The magistrate's smile was neither light nor heavy. He felt that this guy looked exquisite and clear, so he must be a smart person.

"It's rare, it's rare that there is a kind person like you in this county."

Han Chunbo thought in his heart that he was just obedient and not cooperative. "Xuzhi County is overly praised. This servant admires the name of Xuzhi County. It can even be said that he was hired by Xuzhi County."

Only then did Xu Weiming really smile. Well, how could he not be involved in such things as building a reputation?

"It doesn't have to be like this. I don't mean that. If you want to do good, of course I won't stop you. Let's do this. I will send someone to go with you. He knows very well who in this county has passed the academy in Beijing. , To tell you the truth, the government sometimes provides some assistance."

Han Chun said softly that only if he believed in you would there be a ghost.

"The little man is here. Thank you very much, Magistrate Xu."