Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 185: Lifting the roof, it’s the fault of progress!

In one day.

The Prime Minister was ordered to recuperate.

The second assistant was ordered to move into the cabinet duty room.

At this time, the emperor suddenly announced a seclusion.

Although the routine affairs of various government offices were being carried out as usual and official documents were being approved as usual, the huge carriage of the Ming Dynasty seemed to have paused.

The political situation changed suddenly, and all officials above the rank of department in the capital were suspicious and uneasy. Some of them had official documents requiring the decision of the Prime Minister, while others came to do official business or to gather information. Some rode in sedan chairs, some rode on horses, and a large group of people came to pay their respects to the Prime Minister's residence in an orderly manner.

However, the gate of the Prime Minister's residence was locked, and the Prime Minister had announced in advance: "Those who have business to attend to should go to the Cabinet, and those who do not should go away by themselves. I will not see anyone."

Subsequently.

The imperial edict to reprimand Zhang Juzheng was then transmitted from Yuxi Palace.

"If you are sick and don't take care of yourself, if you see your relatives and friends, and ignore the emperor's will, this is not what a minister should do."

This rebuke.

On the surface, it was a reprimand for Zhang Juzheng, who was recuperating from illness under the imperial order. However, there was a constant stream of guests in front of the mansion, but Zhang Juzheng did not see anyone, and no one entered the mansion. The meaning behind this is worth pondering.

Everyone knows that if they don't leave now, they may be caught up in a political trend.

For a moment, those who had sedan chairs got in, those who had horses got on, and a large group of people had no idea of ​​the order of priority. In a blink of an eye, a wide road was filled with sedan chairs and horses jostling for position.

……

The desk in the cabinet duty room was piled with official documents. Li Chunfang raised his head from the pile of documents and looked at Gao Gong, then at Hu Zongxian and Chen Yiqin.

"I hope the Prime Minister will not resign?" Li Chunfang said worriedly.

reprimand.

Usually refers to officials being warned or reprimanded by the emperor.

But in the Ming Dynasty, it was given more meaning. That is, when the behavior of officials did not meet the emperor's expectations or violated the court's regulations, the emperor would express his dissatisfaction and warnings through reprimands, and persuade the officials to resign voluntarily.

After all, having lost the emperor's trust, there is no point in staying in officialdom. If he voluntarily resigns, he can exit with dignity.

The cabinet had been established for more than a hundred years, but there had never been a case of the emperor reprimanding the cabinet chief.

In the past, if a pillar minister like the chief minister of the cabinet resigned and returned home, the emperor would try hard to persuade him to stay. But seeing how angry the emperor was before, if Zhang Juzheng really submitted a resignation letter, I am afraid the emperor would approve it immediately.

Hearing this, Gao Gong also raised his head from the pile of documents and curled his lips. Although he wanted to move from Zhang Juzheng's cabinet to Gao Gong's cabinet, he was very clear that Zhang Juzheng, his "former little brother", was obsessed with power.

Even if the emperor wanted to drive Zhang Juzheng away, he would try his best to stay in the court and the cabinet. Why would he resign just to save his face?

There is absolutely no need to worry about this.

Gao Gong looked around, and the heroic spirit of being in charge of the cabinet suddenly rose in his heart, but he had not lost himself yet. He had not forgotten the reason why he was temporarily in charge of the cabinet, and subconsciously said something with a hint of Central Plains Mandarin: "Tell me, how should we start with the matters that the emperor has instructed the government to manage?"

Hearing this sentence in the local accent, Hu Zongxian and Chen Yiqin both raised their heads but said nothing.

In the 39th year of Jiajing and before, there were many overt and covert preferential treatments given to officials and scholars of the Ming Dynasty. However, after the 40th year of Jiajing, there were very few preferential treatments left.

The only apparent preferential treatment was tax exemption. The output of land by officials and their families was usually exempt from tax, and all corvée labor was exempted. The burden on officials was reduced in terms of both money and manpower.

The only secret preferential treatment he received was to use his power to allow his family members to run horse herding, salt, tea, wine, vinegar, alum and coal businesses to make huge profits.

If the government-run business were to be opened, it would be equivalent to canceling all the secret preferential treatment, and the only income left for the officials of the Ming Dynasty would be salaries, exemption from taxes and corvée.

The fact that Zhang Juzheng was able to argue in front of the emperor showed that the preferential treatment and income of Ming Dynasty officials could not be cut any further.

If they cut their salaries any further, some court officials would really not be able to survive.

Looking at his colleagues in silence, Gao Gong realized the difficulties of the Prime Minister, but he also thought of the power of the Prime Minister: to name names!

Gao Gong looked at Chen Yiqin and called out, "Yifu."

Chen Yiqin was obviously somewhat helpless, but he had to respond, "Second Prime Minister."

"Are the officials of our Ming Dynasty really poor?" Gao Gong asked.

He also rose from the bottom of society. He had served as a local official, a Beijing official, a minor official, and a major official. He was never greedy or possessive, but he never felt poor.

Of course, he came from a family of officials and his family occasionally gave him some financial support, so he was not in a position to judge other officials.

Chen Yiqin was silent for a while, then slowly began to speak: "Compared with Tang and Song officials, they can indeed be said to be poor, and even compared with Han officials under the Yuan court, they are still inferior.

However, such a comparison is wrong, as different dynasties had different national conditions. During the heyday of the Tang and Song dynasties, money was worthless. It looked and sounded like there was a lot of money, but it could not buy many things. In addition, the two dynasties pursued luxury and the spirit of comparison was prevalent in the court and the country. The Tang and Song emperors were also happy to enjoy happiness together with their ministers and to provide high salaries to keep them honest.

And the effect..."

Chen Yiqin did not explain it very clearly, but Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian and Li Chunfang all understood that high salaries to maintain integrity was a complete joke.

Throughout history, the Tang and Song dynasties were the most corrupt.

Chen Yiqin continued, "The Yuan court did not mention it. If the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty were meager, then the incomes of ordinary people in the world would be shabby.

What the elders of my Chen family insist on may be different from what the mainstream officials and scholars of my Ming Dynasty insist on. In terms of official salaries and the salary of scholars with honors and achievements, it is a comparison between people of this dynasty and should not be compared with the old affairs of the previous dynasty.

During the Hongwu period of Emperor Taizu Gao, despite the many preferential treatments for officials and scholars, the annual salary of a ninth-rank official of 60 dan was more than 10 taels of silver at the time.

According to the Chen Family Chronicles, during the Hongwu period, the common people in the south of the Yangtze River worked hard all year round for a household of five people and ten acres of land, but in a good year the output was only twenty shi, which was only worth three or four taels of silver at that time.

As long as there is no major disaster or disease, at the end of the year, the people can still have a few coins left over."

Were the officials of the Ming Dynasty poor?
You might as well look through the Chen Family Records and compare them with the wealthy people in the south of the Yangtze River instead of the poor northern people at the time of the founding of the country.

The salary of an official of the lowest rank in the Ming Dynasty could support ten people!

There was something Chen Yiqin didn't say out loud. It was what the elder of the Chen family said, "Officials are poor? How about you?"

Throughout the dynasties, past and future, no one has ever suffered more than those bastards!

To this day, the lives of the people of the Ming Dynasty have become more affluent, but the pockets of officials have never been empty. With the rise in food prices, anyone on the official rolls of the Ming Dynasty has at least twenty-five taels of silver a year.

In the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, this amount of silver was enough to support a family in any province, prefecture, or county.

People in every dynasty have been crying poor, yet they have all been scrambling to become officials. Doesn’t this explain the problem?
You are poor!

(End of this chapter)