The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

What Li Changwen said was not an exaggeration. According to what Liu Sheng said, the number of officials in a county was indeed more than ten times that of the Ming Dynasty.

But in Liu Sheng's view, it was not that his structure had too many officials, but that there were too few officials in one county in the Ming Dynasty.

How many are there?

The officials include: county magistrate, county magistrate, chief registrar, dianshi, patrol inspector, and deputy patrol inspector.

In addition, the county school has one person who teaches, ranging from zero to several people, and they are all low-level officials.

Among them, county magistrates, chief registrars, inspections, and disciplines are not necessarily included.

In other words, a county may have at most a dozen officials, and at least there may be only three officials: the county magistrate, the canon historian, and the edict.

How many officials are there in the imperial court?

Officials in the Ming Dynasty not only received salaries, but even had certain exemptions and exemptions from taxes (you could do it without yourself). Some even became low-ranking officials and had files in the court's official department, so they were also called economic systems. Li, corresponds to officials.

The treatment is good, there is a certain status, and the number of people is naturally small.

According to regulations, except for Jingxian County, in other counties, each six-room house can be equipped with at most one secretary and two clerks, and at least one secretary or clerk is enough.

In addition to the six houses, the subordinate departments of the county government also include the cabinet warehouse, the acceptance room, the inspection department, the taxation bureau, the delivery office, the Shuima Station, the river house, the warehouse, and the gate and dam office.

Look at a lot, but not every county has these departments.

For example, water horse stations are generally found on horseback, but water stations are only found along rivers where boats are used to travel.

Of course, now all the post stations in the Ming Dynasty have been abolished by Chongzhen.

Another example is the Inspection Department, Hebo Office, Gate and Dam Office, and Taxation Bureau. They do not necessarily have one, and it depends on the situation.

Even if there are all of them, these departments, or a secretary, and at most one pian official or zandian can handle it.

Based on this calculation, there are only twenty or thirty paid officials in a county at most, and maybe a dozen at least.

The remaining bookkeepers and yamen servants are all servants.

The scribe is a combination of the scribe and the calculator. The scribe is responsible for handling paperwork, while the calculator is responsible for handling accounts, which is equivalent to accounting.

Because the book calculation requires literacy and calculation, it can be regarded as a scholar and is engaged in the work of an official, so the salary is relatively high (called the top dollar), equivalent to half an official, in the eyes of ordinary people and economics It's almost the same as making officials.

The quality requirements are high, the salary is not low, and the number of people is naturally small.

And because the calculator can also serve as a scribe, there are only one or a few people in each room.

If the officials are willing to do it themselves and can complete the work, it will be fine even if they don't recruit clerks.

Therefore, most clerks in a county only have a few to a dozen people, and no more than twenty people at most.

The largest number of people are the government officials.

It refers to the people sent by governments at all levels from among the people to serve as servants in the yamen. Because they are "organized according to business" and have many types (they can do anything), they are also called handymen.

The most common ones are the three classes of government officials in the county government: Zaoban, Zhuangban, and Kuaiban.

Another example is the clerk in the yamen hall, the jailer in the prison, the gatekeeper, the cooks and cooks in the county yamen school, watchmen, sedan bearers, coachmen, postmen, soldiers (messengers), archers, warehouses, etc. The husband, the banker, the patrolman who collects taxes, the riverman who maintains water conservancy, the dikeman, the gateman, the shallow fisherman, etc.

There are really many kinds - local officials can recruit people as long as they can think of names.

This large number of handymen received neither salary nor exemptions. At most, they were given ration subsidies, and they were discriminated against and regarded as lowly.

Therefore, it is difficult to say how many handymen there will be in a county. It depends on the actual needs of the county and the conscience of the county officials.

There may be only a few dozen people, and there may be hundreds of people.

Hearing that Liu Sheng said that the servants should be turned into employees and paid, Li Changwen reacted so much mainly because there were too many handymen.

He was worried that Liu Sheng would not listen to his advice, so he added: "Chief, just pay Shushu a salary. After all, Shushu in Ming Dynasty has top money.

However, it is absolutely forbidden to pay the salary to the handymen - the handymen are randomly appointed by the local officials, and there are often many people. If you pay the salary, it is tantamount to raising another local army. "

Liu Sheng knew that Li Changwen was thinking about the Hua Department and was not angry because of his repeated objections.

He also patiently explained, "Sir, because there are so many handymen, they are not paid, and they are regarded as lowly, but they are in direct contact with the common people.

Only then did the court's tax collection and other work reach the point of contacting the people, and it easily turned into oppression and extortion of the people.

They even deceived the superiors and deceived the inferiors, causing the people to pay more money and food, but the government did not collect enough taxes.

As for those who had no chance to oppress the common people, they were common people themselves, but they were turned into hard labor because of the needs of the officials.

After turning handymen into employees equal to non-staff personnel, local officials were subject to salary restrictions and could not be recruited at will.

For example, if they are faced with the people's food, tax, police and other handymen, they will also have scruples due to their salary and promotion channels, and they will not dare to bully the people at will.

Finally, because they are paid and have the opportunity to become official officials, they will work more seriously than the previous handymen.

As a result, a county may actually need fewer handymen than before. "

Li Changwen had never underestimated Liu Sheng. After hearing this, he thought about it carefully and said, "Does the leader want to streamline the local handymen and make them more economical and responsible?"

"That's what it means."

Li Changwen smiled bitterly, "No matter how streamlined it is, the number of handymen will not be too small, and the place will still have a lot more money for food expenses."

Liu Sheng said: "We don't need to pay a high salary to the largest number of employees (menial servants). It's probably enough to set it at one-half of the civilian salary.

In this way, even if a county supports five to six hundred employees, it is only equivalent to supporting half a civilian camp.

As long as we eliminate the tax abuses of the Ming Dynasty and try to let local governments increase their income, the extra money and grain spent by officials and handymen will be nothing and will not cause financial problems. "

Liu Sheng's confidence made Li Changwen choose to believe in him.

Of course, Liu Sheng's mysterious origins and various "mysteries" about him were also a major factor that made Li Changwen choose to believe in him.

After nodding slightly, Li Changwen said: "If the servants are really changed from the qian sect to the hired servants, they will no longer be called servants. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to change the name to 'hired officials'.

This can not only distinguish them from the previous handymen, but also imply that they have the opportunity to become formal staff or even officials.

In this way, they will oppress the people less and work conscientiously. "

Liu Sheng smiled happily after hearing this, "Sir, you are right, the name should indeed be changed. 'Hired Official' sounds good, so that's it."

Li Changwen was encouraged, and immediately began to think, and continued: "Since the restructuring is so big, why are some of the six-room titles still retained? Why not change the four-room houses of rites, officials, workers, and households to so-and-so bureaus."

"Okay." Liu Sheng nodded, "Let's call them Gift Bureau, Personnel Bureau, Engineering Bureau, and Household Affairs Bureau."

Li Changwen didn't have much expectations for Liu Sheng's naming ability.

I just feel that Liu Sheng’s name this time was barely okay, at least not as casual as naming a new camp in North America.

"The leader just mentioned the people's bravery. Does it mean that the local government should also be responsible for paying salaries to these people's braves?" Recalling Liu Sheng's words, Li Changwen raised a new question.