Upstairs at Yao Yue, Su Ze met Lin Qingcai's clan brother.
This clan brother named Lin Qingjian is older than Chen Chaoyuan, but he is not as down-to-earth and steady as Lin Qingcai, and has more of a philistine air.
But it's normal. I heard from Lin Qingcai that this clan brother was not very talented in studying. He gave up the imperial examination early and studied to be an accountant. He had been working in the society for many years, so he naturally understood the world better than Lin Qingcai.
At the banquet, after two glasses of rice wine, the newly appointed clerk of the county government office had already become brothers with everyone in Su Ze.
He pulled Su Ze to express his bitterness.
"Brother Su, you don't know that there are too many doorways in this house, and the water is too deep. I really have to keep my tail between my legs in the house!"
"I wonder what kind of errand Brother Lin does?"
"Of course it's hard work and dirty work. Xu Hu has been in charge of the households for many years. Although he has not been promoted to Dianshi, he is very powerful in the county government. Most of the households in the household are recommended by him.
There are people wearing small shoes in every household."
Lin Qingcai and Chen Chaoyuan nodded one after another. They also knew how to deal with officials, so they naturally knew the situation of officials in the Ming Dynasty.
Dianshi is a business department with archives in the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the imperial court also has salaries. However, the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty were very meager, let alone these officials.
The county officials don't care about the salary of these three melons and two dates. The main reason is that the identity of the officials is registered with the official department. Even if the county magistrate wants to dismiss a official official, he has to report it to the official department. This kind of
Unless something goes too far, the magistrate will save some face for Dianshi.
The scribes under the Classics and History were different. They were employees of the county government and did not receive salaries. However, during the Jiajing period, the county government would basically use part of the disposable income such as public funds or fire expenses to provide
The scribes were given some salary.
Clerks serve for five years. If the county government is dissatisfied, they can be sent home after serving, or they can even be dismissed early.
Therefore, for scribes like Lin Qingjian, in order to survive in the county government, they need to worship the mountains and huddle together for warmth.
The recommender here is a special relationship similar to the "disciple and former official" in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
For example, the person who recommended Lin Qingjian to join the county government was Sun Dianshi of the Xingfang, then everyone in the county government knew that Lin Qingjian was from Sun Dianshi, and naturally he belonged to Sun Dianshi's faction.
The relationship between the recommender and the recommended person is close and not just one-way.
If Lin Qingjian makes a big mistake in the county government, then as his recommender, Sun Dianshi will also be jointly and severally liable.
Factional struggles within the county government are very fierce, and there are even long-term struggles that last for several generations.
Lin Qingjian was placed in a household by Sun Dianshi, who was the director of the execution chamber. Naturally, one can imagine the hostility towards him in that household.
At this time, Lin Qingjian not only couldn't eat and get cards with his colleagues, but also had to work hard, because his every move was watched by other people in the household.
Because of the ancestral system established by Zhu Yuanzhang, the government of the Ming Dynasty had very little disposable income.
But honestly speaking, the standards set by Zhu Yuanzhang were able to keep the government offices running, and the population in the early Ming Dynasty did grow.
However, with the development of the times, the Ming Dynasty's government took care of more and more things, and the original manpower was no longer sustainable.
In fact, this is also very easy to understand. As there are more and more superiors, more and more work needs to be requested and reported, and more and more paperwork needs to be done.
The ceremonial room, which seemed to be very quiet, was churning out all kinds of junk official documents every day. It corresponded to dozens of large and small yamen. When the censor came to inspect, he had to prepare reporting materials and receive inspections. It was simply too busy.
Every time these higher-level departments issue an official document, the subordinates must try their best to reply. This expansion of bureaucracy has caused the number of county clerks to expand rapidly.
For example, the Nanping County Government had more than 80 formal employees. In fact, it was not just a few big bosses as imagined by later generations.
Sun Dianshi was Lin Qingjian's recommender. Although Lin Qingjian was dissatisfied with Sun Dianshi, he couldn't say bad things about Sun Dianshi, so he could only say bad things about Xu Shisheng, the head of the household scribes.
"Of course it's not my turn to do the good thing of collecting taxes and collecting donations, but Mrs. Xu Hu is such an idiot that she asked me to do the sports education thing as soon as she came."
Xiong Yue's eyes lit up when he heard about Xie Yunke.
Su Ze asked: "This Jieyunke is responsible for delivering taxes and donations?"
"It's such a hard job! Brother Su, you don't know that in this house, the transportation department has the most hefty tasks and is also the most likely to go wrong."
Su Ze nodded. Since the Ming Dynasty still levied physical taxes before Zhang Juzheng's reform, this taxation matter was very troublesome.
In-kind taxes include grain, cloth, etc. However, the tax system of the Ming Dynasty was so complicated, and there were so many items collected that it was difficult for even an old official who had worked in the household for a long time to explain clearly.
In terms of agricultural taxes, the main items are summer rice and winter wheat, but these grains are not just received by the county government.
The county government needs to deliver these grains to the designated location required by superiors. If it is delivered late, you will be punished.
This work of distributing taxes and grains is the main task of the household transportation department.
This delivery was not easy either. Due to the complex zoning system of the Ming Dynasty, the complexity of delivering food was quite terrifying.
It can be said that the scribes and assistants in the Hufang Xieyun Section are all masters of graph theory.
For example, the grain produced in Beishan Village near Changningwei must first be collected by the tax collectors of the Taxation Department and sent to Nanping County.
At this time, Nanping County still needs to divide these grains, and part of them will be used as military rations for various guard posts under its rule (such as Changning Guard) and sent to the locations designated by the guard posts.
Nanping is in Yiguo County, which saves the trouble of sending grain to the provincial capital. However, the officials in Nanping County have one more job, which is to help the household officials in the government to deliver the grain of the entire Yanping Prefecture to the provincial capital.
Fuzhou City.
However, the Yanping Guards in Nanping City directly belong to the provincial Dusi Yamen, so their military rations have to be transported from Fuzhou City to Nanping City and given to the Yanping Guards in Nanping City.
This is only the collection of grain. The in-kind tax collected by the Ming Dynasty included grain, silk, cloth, tea, salt, pearls, medicinal materials, etc.
Then some of it has to be sent to the treasury of the Ministry of Household Affairs. This is considered the disposable income of the foreign dynasty. Every year, the budget allocation needs to be determined at the imperial meeting, and then the chief ceremonial officer wears red to take effect.
Salt, tea, medicinal materials, and mine supervisors were the emperor's personal income, and they all had to go to the Taicang.
These complex collection systems and such a huge transshipment system have become increasingly expensive due to successive emperors' efforts to increase their costs.
Corruption of officials at both the upper and lower levels is naturally one thing. Maintaining this complex tax system itself requires too much expenditure. The focus of Zhang Juzheng's reform is to change these complex physical tax collections into silver tax collections.
In modern fiscal terms, that is tax monetization. However, tax monetization in the Ming Dynasty, which was short of silver, also brought about a series of subsequent problems, which we will not discuss now.
Compared with tax clerks who have many ways to make money, such as big fights and small fights, such as kicking the tips of stems, Lin Qingjian and others in the Transportation Department not only have few ways to make money, but are often reprimanded and punished for not delivering tax grains in time.
However, this does not mean that there are no ways for Jie Yunke to make money.
Lin Qingjian may have been too unsatisfied recently. After drinking a few more sips of wine, he said to Su Zejiao in a shallow voice:
"Brother Su, in fact, the Jie Yun Department is not without its benefits, but the previous clerk was from Xu Hu, and he wanted to squeeze me out before being hired, so he refused to tell me the ways to make money."
Su Ze was also speechless. You, Lin Qingjian, have occupied someone else's position. Do you still expect someone else to tell you the secret of corruption?
Lin Qingjian must have been driven crazy by official duties in the past few days, so he said such words.
However, Su Ze also wanted to ask him about the situation in the household, and Lin Qingjian continued to stay in the household, which disgusted Xu Shisheng.
So Su Ze thought for a while and said: "Actually, the way Jie Yun Ke makes money is nothing more than the exchange of money and food."
Lin Qingjian's eyes lit up, he looked at Su Ze and said, "Brother Su, do you understand this too?"
Everyone also looked at Su Ze. The entire county school knew about Su Ze's talent in the imperial examinations. Even Hai Rui said that Su Ze would definitely become a scholar in three years.
But does Su Ze still know how to handle this house?
Su Ze said: "Actually, it's simple to say, just exchange the grain that the county wants to deliver into money first, and then buy it as grain when you get to the provincial capital and hand it over."
This kind of inconvenience of physical taxation has actually been monetized in various places.
What Su Ze mentioned is the most common. In some counties where long-distance freight costs are high, when they pay grain tax revenue to the prefecture, they will first exchange it for grain, and then the prefecture will buy the grain and pay it to the city.
If the price of grain is about the same, then the officials of the Transportation Bureau can not recruit the peasants to escort the grain, but directly collect a "service payment" from the peasants who should perform labor service.
Naturally, most civilians were willing to pay, because transporting food over long distances was risky, and it also delayed their own farming time. If they could pay a sum of money, they would not have to serve, and most people were rushing to pay.
The officials in the yamen can take the money with themselves, and then go to the city to exchange it for grain, and then they can complete the task of delivering grain.
Lin Qingjian shook his head and said: "This is the method, but it's not easy to do now."
"There are so many government offices delivering grain every year, and everyone uses this method. The price of grain delivered by the government office will soar every time. If we still use this method, I'm afraid we will have to pay for it ourselves."
Only then did Su Ze realize that Lin Qingjian's way of making money was not as simple as exchanging money and grain. I'm afraid he had to be able to deliver grain and still make money, which included a series of business operations.
This is the system of the Ming Dynasty. If you complete the task, no one will be held accountable for enriching your own pockets.
If you cannot complete the task, even if you try your best, you will be punished by the government.
For example, if their transportation department cannot distribute food in the right amount on time, they will have to make up for the fine or lost food themselves.
Lin Qingjian also saved some money before becoming a scribe, but after taking office, he conducted two money and grain exchanges. Not only did he not make any money, he also put his own savings into it.
I'm afraid that if I continue to do this, not only will I not be able to make any money, but I will go bankrupt.
Su Ze thought of a way. He took out the bamboo tube he carried with him and handed it to Lin Qingjian.
Skill! Activate!
Lin Qingjian opened the bamboo tube and found a few white rock candies inside. He immediately said: "You can't do it, Brother Su!"
Su Ze said: "Brother Lin doesn't regard me as a brother. This is the rock candy made by Chang Ningwei ourselves. It's not worth much."
Only then did Lin Qingjian cherish it. Although he was a clerk in the county government, he couldn't afford rock candy.
[Successfully bribed Lin Qingcai, skill +1, Lv1, 2/100]
Su Ze added: "Brother Lin, this is the rock candy produced by our Changning Health Department. What do you think of the quality?"
Lin Qingjian picked up the rock candy and exclaimed: "It's as white as ice, it's the best rock candy!"
Su Ze immediately said: "Then do you know the price of sugar in the provincial capital?"
Lin Qingjian used to work as a bookkeeper, so he knew the price of goods in the provincial capital very well, so he quickly quoted a price.
Su Ze then said: "We in Changningwei can make sugar, and my rock sugar will definitely be sold at a high price in the provincial capital. If Brother Lin goes to the provincial capital next time to deliver grain, he can come to Changningwei to exchange the grain for rock sugar, and then deliver it to the provincial capital.
The provincial capital was sold for grain."
Lin Qingjian was overjoyed. He did a simple calculation and found that Su Ze's price was equivalent to the price of rock sugar in the county. However, the quality of his rock candy was indeed top-grade. In Fuzhou City, where dignitaries gathered, it would definitely be sold at a good price.
In this case, as long as the grain is sent to Changningwei, it can be exchanged for sugar and carried to the provincial capital lightly. It can also save the common people and collect a commission fee from them.
In this way, even if the price of food in the provincial capital is higher, you can still make money by reselling it.
Lin Qingjian is also new here, and he doesn’t expect to make a lot of money, he just wants to avoid losing money.
He pulled Su Ze excitedly and said, "Brother Su, there is a lot of food for the next batch. Do you have enough sugar?"
Su Ze used the "Accounting Room" skill to calculate the final inventory, nodded and said: "No problem!"
Lin Qingjian couldn't help but ask: "Brother Su, why does your Changning Guard need so much food?"
Before Su Ze could answer, Lin Qingjian said: "I am the one who talks too much. I should be punished!"
Su Ze knew that Lin Qingjian had misunderstood that Chang Ningwei wanted to smuggle grain, but Su Ze was too lazy to explain.
Su Ze said: "Brother Su, who is Xu Shisheng's acquaintance in the county government and what kind of connections does he have in the province?"
Lin Qingjian said: "I just remembered that Brother Su is from Changning Wei, and he has a grudge against Xu Shisheng!"
Everyone in the county government knew about the lawsuit between Xu Shisheng and Changningwei. Lin Qingjian only made the connection because he had just joined the county government and was too insensitive.
He said: "The person Xu Shisheng has the best relationship with is the Yanping Wei Yu family in Nanping City."
Yu family?
This answer made Su Ze feel so reasonable. It was so reasonable!