If we put aside the opening remarks that made Zhao Junchen unable to help but feel a bit dramatic, the story told by Mr. Zhang is still extremely exciting. Although it is not hearty and exciting, it is still intriguing and makes people have mixed feelings.
This story is naturally adapted from the incident in which Song Huancheng, a doctor in the Ministry of Rites, fainted from hunger in public some time ago at the Yamen of the Ministry of Rites.
For a story to be engaging, it must have both a clear theme and a plot conflict, a popular protagonist and a hated villain.
In this story by Mr. Zhang, the theme of the story is very clear, that is, "the imperial salary is too low, making it difficult for upright officials to survive";
The plot conflict is also easy to design, that is, to contrast Song Huancheng's honest style with his poor life, so that the audience can feel the strong contrast.
The design of the protagonist does not require too much thought. It is Song Huancheng, a doctor in the Ministry of Rites. His experience and image are all ready-made, and he is also very lovable to ordinary people.
But for the choice of villain, you have to put some extra thought into it.
After all, Emperor Deqing is sitting below and listening. You must not blame Song Huancheng's tragic experience on the court's policies, set the court and the emperor as villains, and you cannot directly throw out "the low salary of court officials is all because of the Ming Dynasty"
The emperor is stingy" and "the court's low salary policy is a disguised form of encouraging officials to take bribes and corruption".
Otherwise, Emperor Deqing would definitely be furious, and then it would be a crime of "making irresponsible remarks on government affairs" and "slandering the court."
Therefore, in this story, Emperor Deqing and the top officials of the court must have a positive image. The low salary of court officials is also a forced situation. The villain in the story can only choose a villain who is not afraid of causing backlash and revenge, and can also arouse all the people.
Listen to interest groups that share the same enemy.
In the end, after careful selection, in Mr. Zhang’s story, the villain became a private group of profiteers!
In Mr. Zhang's telling, the image of Emperor Deqing is still great and glorious, and he worries about the people of the world every day; the image of the top officials of the imperial court is also just and noble, and most of them are good people who are diligent and love the people.
Officials; as for ordinary people, of course they are also kind and lovely, and they do not need to bear any responsibility.
And all the mistakes are caused by profiteers among the people!
Why are the salaries of court officials so low? It's all because of tax evasion by profiteers, which has caused difficulties in the court's financial turnover. Moreover, most of the money in the court's treasury needs to be used to support the army, protect the people, maintain water conservancy roads, etc., leaving
The amount of money given to officials to pay salaries is naturally very little.
Under the wise leadership of Emperor Deqing, the vast majority of the court officials were honest and caring for the people, but why did there still appear a few black sheep? It was all because profiteers took the initiative to bribe people and led people to corruption!
Why are the people’s lives unsatisfactory? It’s naturally because profiteers are driving up prices and hoarding goods!
In short, all this is the fault of those profiteers! Without these profiteers, the court's finances would be abundant, honest officials would not be in poverty, corrupt officials would disappear, and people's lives would be prosperous!
It was under this setting that Mr. Zhang eloquently told today's story.
The story is adapted from Song Huancheng's real experience. Whether it is Song Huancheng's honest style or Song Huancheng's poor life, there is no falsehood in the story. Just to make the story more fascinating, it adds the angrily revenge of a private businessman who failed to bribe Song Huancheng.
The plot of Song Huancheng's battle of wits and courage with private profiteers. The ending of the story is that after some twists and turns, Song Huancheng finally succeeded in defeating the conspiracy of the profiteers and received a commendation from the court.
Mr. Zhang is indeed the best commentator in the capital. When telling the story, he was extremely detailed. He listed the monthly salary and daily necessary expenses of the court officials in detail. Under his eloquent words
, it can be said that the sense of immersion is very strong, and the audience in the teahouse felt the same for a while. They just felt that if they were in Song Huancheng's position, they might not be able to survive with the meager salary from the court.
Especially the ending of this story is even more thought-provoking. It seems that Song Huancheng defeated the plot of the profiteers, but the profiteers still spent a lot of money to get rich food and clothing. However, Song Huancheng's life was still poverty and embarrassment, and he had to fight for three meals a day.
The sadness made all the tea drinkers sigh with mixed feelings.
*
Just like that, because this story is not a plot of happiness and revenge, when Mr. Zhang finished his lecture, the tea guests in the teahouse did not clap their hands and make friends. Instead, the atmosphere was a bit heavy, and everyone shook their heads and sighed.
, all lamented that the world is unfair and good people are not rewarded.
Emperor Deqing's face was expressionless at this time, and he was slightly unhappy.
Emperor Deqing was undoubtedly a smart man, so he naturally understood that on the surface, this story used private profiteers as the villains, and the high-ranking officials in the court presented a positive image, but in fact it alluded to the low salary of court officials.
This makes it difficult for the honest officials in the temple to survive, and there is a hint of accusation.
Such a story naturally made Emperor Deqing feel unhappy.
In normal times, with Emperor Deqing's mean and ungrateful temperament, he would never review the shortcomings of the imperial government's official salary policy. He would only be angry at the implication of this story and embarrass himself, and he would never take it seriously.
Thinking about how to solve the problem of low official salaries in the imperial court will only solve the problem of the person who raised the problem.
But today's situation is a little different.
After passing the "Tongji Temple" and being influenced by the theory of immortal fate, Emperor Deqing only felt that there were immortals paying attention to his every move.
Wanton; and on the surface, there was nothing wrong with Mr. Zhang’s story, so I suppressed my unhappiness and did not immediately express my opinion, but remained silent.
Seeing that Emperor Deqing was silent, Zhao Junchen naturally drank tea in silence, pretending that he had no position.
However, the two "Uncle Huo" who were sitting at the same table with them were talkative people. After Mr. Zhang's lecture ended, they quickly started a discussion with the surrounding tea guests.
"Uncle Huo" was the first to sigh: "Mr. Zhang's story today is completely different from the previous fun and joy. Although it is intriguing, I always feel very aggrieved...
Upright officials like Song Langzhong can only live in poverty and eat chaff every day. On the contrary, those corrupt officials and profiteers are well-dressed and well-fed. It is true that good people are not rewarded. The court salary is too low, which naturally does not matter to corrupt officials. They also see it.
It’s not a small salary, but it’s really a grievance for honest officials. Doesn’t it force people to become bad? It’s no wonder that corrupt officials are always banned!”
After some emotion, "Uncle Huo" turned to look at the young scholar who was accompanying him and said: "Xiao He, you might as well do business with me! You see, you are holding back every day.
At home, you study hard in the sage's books, hoping to get fame, but don't say that you have failed twice in a row. What will happen if you succeed in the future? Otherwise, you will be as poor as the Song Dynasty doctor Mr. Zhang talked about.
If you are in embarrassment, you will have no choice but to join in with the corrupt officials and be reviled by others... It is better to do business with me. Although you will make a lot of money, at least you will have enough food and clothing, and be honest!"
Hearing what "Uncle Huo" said, Emperor Deqing couldn't help but snort.
Then "Xiao He" smiled bitterly and said: "Uncle Huo, you are starting to talk nonsense again. After all, doing business is just a bad thing, and studying is the right way! You yourself didn't achieve success in studying when you were young, so you can't see others taking the right way? Is that what you do?
What great achievements can you make with a small business? Do you dare to say these things to my father?
What's more, the imperial court may not increase official salaries in the future. I heard a classmate say that since the Ministry of Revenue rectified commercial taxes and established the "United Shipping Company", the imperial government's finances have been greatly improved. If the official salary of the imperial court was low in the past,
It's because the treasury doesn't have enough money. Now that the treasury has plenty of money, we can't continue to wrong the officials, right?"
"Uncle Huo" disagreed and sneered: "Our court has not raised official salary for decades. If it is to be raised early, you can't expect such a good thing!"
Having said this, "Uncle Huo" actually turned to look at Emperor Deqing and asked: "Sir, are you right?"
Emperor Deqing was still expressionless, as if he didn't want to answer, but seeing the people at the table staring at him and waiting for an answer, he finally snorted and slowly replied: "This kind of thing has always been a matter of speculation.
And moving the whole body, even if it is so simple? When the superior makes a decision, he must think carefully and consider the long term, and must not be emotional!
After the imperial government's finances improved, it seemed that there was enough room to increase official salaries, but how many officials were there? After increasing the salaries of Beijing officials, do local officials need to increase their salaries? After officials increase their salaries, do civil servants need to increase their salaries? Civilian officials are promoted
After the salary, what about the military attachés? If the military attachés also want to raise their salaries, do military households need to raise their salaries? If only a part of the salary is raised, then it is not worrying about the scarcity but the inequality, and the situation in the temple will be turbulent! But if everyone wants to
The amount of money and grain required to raise the salary is so staggering. Even if the Ministry of Revenue has great ability, how can it bear such pressure?"
Speaking of the latter part, Emperor Deqing completely ignored the stunned reaction of "Uncle Huo" and "Xiao He" after hearing his remarks. Instead, he turned to look at Zhao Junchen, frowned and asked: "Song Huancheng, the doctor of the Ministry of Rites..."
I have heard about this man, and his official reputation has always been good, but it was only today that I found out that he fainted from hunger in the Rites Yamen... Did this incident have any impact on the temple? "
Obviously, with Emperor Deqing's stingy temperament, he was naturally extremely resistant to the idea of raising the salaries of all officials, and even scorned the view that "the reason why court officials were corrupt and accepted bribes was because their salaries were too low."
However, Emperor Deqing's political sense has always been extremely keen, but he had to consider the impact of this incident on the government and the public, so he made such an inquiry.
After hearing Emperor Deqing's inquiry, Zhao Junchen, who had been silent, finally spoke slowly and said: "Uncle, as far as I know, the impact of Song Huancheng's incident itself is not big, it's just..."
"Just what?" Emperor Deqing frowned and asked.
Zhao Junchen sighed softly and said: "It's just that the timing is too unlucky."