The imperial meeting was attended by the first and second leaders of the cabinet.
The court bosses seem to have a positive attitude, but in fact they are not in a very high mood.
The investigation of this major corruption case is getting wider and wider. If you pull out the carrot and bring out the mud, one person can involve a lot of people. Although the number of officials punished is far less than when Zhu Guoxiang was in office, this time the middle and senior officials were dismissed.
But more.
Even Zhang Guangdao and Li Bao's old troops, six people were beheaded because of the Ningxia rebellion and subsequent corruption of military assets. More than 20 middle and low-level officers were stripped of their military power and their families were exiled to Shasha.
Zhou and Guazhou are soldiers.
Zhu Ming said: "Compared to the previous Song Dynasty, the salary of officials in the Ming Dynasty is not low. Even the salary of officials at prefecture, county and below is far higher than that of the previous Song Dynasty! Of course, you are all important ministers, and your life is definitely not as good as that of the previous Song Dynasty."
"The salary is enough." Li Hanzhang said on behalf of everyone.
Were all civil servants in the Song Dynasty living a comfortable life?
Of course not. To be precise, in the Song Dynasty, only high-ranking officials and corrupt officials lived a prosperous life.
The middle and lower classes in the Song Dynasty, as prices continued to rise for hundreds of years, and income from jobs and fields was converted into money, if you did not commit corruption, you would be really poor - you would definitely be fine by yourself, but it would be difficult to support your family and servants.
Wang Anshi used these ten words to evaluate the living conditions of state and county officials: "Although we have to live together to support them, we are still embarrassed by this."
Even poorer are those middle- and low-level officials working in big cities.
Especially when working as an official in the capital, prices are frighteningly high, and rent is a huge expense.
The huge burden of official salaries in the Song Dynasty mainly came from senior officials and redundant officials. A large number of redundant officials were mostly vacated and only received salary but did not work. There were also senior officials who received several salaries, and each salary was very high.
Scary.
In the new Ming Dynasty, there were no more redundant officials, they were only allowed to receive one salary, and the salary of senior officials was reduced.
At the same time, the salaries of middle and low-level officials and staff members were increased.
Take the county magistrate as an example.
The formal salary of a county magistrate in the Ming Dynasty was more than three times that of a county magistrate in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Of course, the welfare subsidies of the County Magistrate of the Northern Song Dynasty were more. If all the benefits were added up, the overall income of the County Magistrate of the Ming Dynasty was two-thirds more than that of the County Magistrate of the Northern Song Dynasty.
A high salary is adequate, but it is difficult to maintain integrity. It can only make upright officials live a better life.
Ju Ming knocked on the table and said: "With the continuous natural disasters in recent years, food prices have increased, and the salary will be increased again. For officials of the fourth rank and above, the monthly salary will increase by 10 guan. For officials of the fifth rank and from the seventh rank, the monthly salary will increase by 5 guan. For officials of the eighth rank, the monthly salary will increase by 5 guan.
For officials of the ninth rank, the monthly salary will be increased by 3 guan. For those who are under the staff of the Ministry of Personnel, the monthly salary will be increased by 1 guan.”
"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"
All the ministers became happy and sang praises.
Although they don't care about the extra 10 pounds a month, who doesn't like a salary increase?
The salary increase of senior officials has been much higher, while the salary increase of lower-level officials has been less. This is not because Ju Ming neglects the grassroots. It is because there are fewer senior officials, and a higher increase will not actually make much money.
Officials below the seventh rank account for the bulk of their salary expenditures, and they are huge. Don’t look at the monthly increase of only 3 guan and 1 guan, the overall increase in salary expenditure is countless times that of senior officials!
Ju Ming continued: "The amount of money that can be paid by eating real food has increased from 30 to 50."
As soon as this was said, all the gentlemen present smiled.
The Ming Dynasty continued from the previous Song Dynasty, and eating a town was purely an honor, and eating a certain amount of money would give you a little money.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, a household was entitled to a food feud, which was converted into 25 Wen per month. In the Ming Dynasty, it was raised to 30 Wen per household, and now it has been raised to 50 Wen, which is equivalent to doubling in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Take Yue Fei as an example. He currently has 2,800 households and can receive 140,000 yuan of town money every month, which is approximately equivalent to 140 guan. In addition, there is also a marquis' salary, which is given according to his grade. There is also a military salary, which is given according to his military rank.
Give.
Not counting various welfare subsidies, adding up the salary, town money, and military salary, Yue Fei's total monthly salary is about 900 guan.
Is this less?
Already a lot!
As for senior civil servants, although they are no longer allowed to receive double salary, they will receive additional salary when they increase their official position.
For example, three divisions, three young masters, Zhuguo, special Jin, etc., no matter how many of these promotions there are, only one will be given, and the salary will be based on the highest rank promotion. In addition, if the civil servant also has a title, he cannot receive the salary together with the promotion.
, whichever one is of higher grade will be received.
In other words, senior military generals who receive official salary and official salary, and senior civilian officials who receive official salary and additional official salary can actually receive double wages.
There are not many civil servants and military generals who receive double wages, and the corresponding financial expenditure of the imperial court is not large, and it can make the senior civil servants and military officers live a wealthy and honorable life.
After Qin Hui was promoted to special position, he was able to receive double salary, and his total income was higher than that of Yue Fei!
Now, Ju Ming has raised his official salary and raised his salary to earn money, which is nothing more than giving him a stick and a sweet date to appease the civil and military hearts of the world.
The confidence that can increase the overall salary is that the Sichuan-Shaanxi iron money has been basically recovered, and the court no longer has to frantically subsidize Sichuan's finances.
Starting next year, the court will issue an order: If you continue to use iron money to pay taxes within the next three years, the iron money can only account for half of the tax payable by the household. After three years, the iron money will be completely invalidated and the government will collect taxes.
No more iron money will be collected.
After catching dozens of gangs that secretly forged iron money, no one dared to use iron money to steal government money anymore.
Anyone who dares to engage in such a thing will directly receive a family meal package, and all the men of the principal criminal family will be beheaded. The female family members of the principal criminal family and the entire accomplices will be exiled to southern Sichuan and Guizhou.
The cumulative number of people who were implicated in making money for illegally casting iron and was exiled has exceeded 5,000!
Ju Ming also spoke alone: "I know that you have been slandering, saying that the relatives of the guilty officials are too heavily implicated. When one person does something and one person is responsible, why do you involve your parents and brothers? I will tell you clearly today. The first is to reverse the past.
The corruption legacy left over from the Song Dynasty was, secondly, forcing officials from wealthy families to divide their families and property."
The ministers participating in the meeting did not know how to answer the question.
"Generally speaking, over the past ten years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the epidemic of corruption has been stopped. Although there are still corrupt officials everywhere, at least they dare not show it openly anymore," Zhu Ming said, "This time there is a
The official's name is Li Qiu, and he is the father-in-law of Qin Hui's brother-in-law. He is an upright official. Because the eldest son and the second son did evil, in order not to affect the younger son's career, he actually committed suicide in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment!"
Li Gang immediately sat up straight. He had witnessed this with his own eyes.
Ju Ming continued: "Now that the trend of corruption has been stopped, the "Da Ming Law" will be changed in the future to avoid such things from happening again. After a person commits a serious crime, he will only implicate his parents, wife and children, and no longer implicate his brothers. Of course.
, when you ransack the stolen goods, you still have to ransack the house, but the brothers ransacked the houses together without separating them."
"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"
Huan Guo quickly flattered him. He had always felt that the even sitting method was too heavy, which made many officials suspicious.
It's fine now, I won't involve my brothers.
As long as you are an honest official, you will not be afraid that you will be imprisoned for no reason because of your brother's violation of the law.
Canceling the rule of sitting together as brothers is Ju Ming's real compensation for Li Qiu. Modifying the "Da Ming Code" because of Li Qiu's suicide can make officials all over the world share Li Qiu's feelings.
Ju Ming said: "Parents, wives and children will still be imprisoned by corrupt officials in the future. You officials should keep this in mind. Also, it is written into the Ming Code that the prince, princess, and grandson who break the law are guilty of the same crime as the common people. They committed
If it is a serious crime, there is no need to implicate the parents."
When these words were spoken, all the ministers were shocked.
Based on their understanding of the emperor, as long as the "Da Ming Law" is written in, they will really attack the prince and princess!
Of course, when it comes to specific implementation, no one would dare to actually check it.
Unless a certain prince or daughter has caused outrage and resentment, the censor will report the truth to the emperor.
In an ordinary case, who is smart enough to investigate the prince and princess?
The minds of the ministers were working rapidly. This article was written into the "Da Ming Law" for three purposes: first, to express the attitude to all the people in the world; second, to restrain the princes and princesses; third, to deal with the notorious royal family at the critical moment.
Provide legal basis.
After the meeting, all ministers went back to their offices.
They actually want to get rid of corrupt officials and their parents, but they have to do it step by step.
It is already a big progress to no longer sit together as brothers. Moreover, the emperor took the initiative to give in. At this time, there should be no extraneous matters.
Huan Guo sighed: "The Qin and Wang families have become notorious this time. I heard that next month's "Da Ming Yue Bao" will detail their crimes, and the people all over the world will know that these two families are all corrupt.
People who violate the law."
"It's a pity that Li Qiu," Chen Dong said, "an upright official committed suicide to save his youngest son's career."
Li Hanzhang said: "This man will definitely be included in the biography of famous officials of the Ming Dynasty. Because of him, the "Laws of the Ming Dynasty" was revised, and finally there is no need to sit together as brothers."
Pan Lianggui said:
"Your Majesty's implementation of such severe punishments is not motivated by emotion, but has deep meaning. Just like the warriors have been arrogant and domineering since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the trend in the early Song Dynasty must be reversed. Your Majesty's use of severe punishments against corrupt officials is also to reverse the trend of the past.
The corruption culture in Song Dynasty.”
"The correction must be excessive, otherwise it will be difficult to reverse. But after the trend changed, corrections were still made. In the former Song Dynasty, there was no correction, which led to the lack of martial arts. With His Majesty's wisdom and martial arts, can't he see the harm of harsh punishments? Corruption
The wind of corruption has been stopped, and harsh punishments will be slowly withdrawn."
"Li Qiu is just an excuse. Without Li Qiu, there are also Zhang Qiu and Liu Qiu. This time we canceled the joint brothers, and next time we will cancel the joint parents."
Wei Liangchen said: "Long-sitting with parents may be cancelled, but Ling-zai with wives and children will probably always exist. Otherwise, how can we deter corrupt officials?"
Everyone nodded and agreed with Wei Liangchen's statement.
He Su didn't want to talk about this, so he smacked his lips and said, "Do you think that if there are no more severe disasters year after year, the wine restriction order will be lifted? The price of rice wine is getting higher and higher, and there is a limit. You can't afford much with your monthly salary.
.Those liquors are too strong and I really can’t get used to them.”
"Hahaha," Qian Chen said with a smile, "I'm not used to drinking baijiu either. But even if the alcohol restriction is lifted, baijiu will definitely become popular, just like fried tea replaced steamed tea. Liquor is not only cheaper, but can also be stored longer, and ordinary people are more willing to promote it.
Drink it."
As the ministers chatted, the topic turned to wine and tea, and they seemed to have completely forgotten about this year's major corruption case.
(I recommend "Uncle from a Poor Family" by Emperor Tianzi. Lao Wang grew up reading books by Emperor Tianzi.)