Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 334: Salary
In the hall, all the ministers looked at His Highness the Regent, who had a calm expression, and their hearts were filled with fear.

The discussion between His Royal Highness the Regent and Su Guansheng was just a few words, but from today onwards, I am afraid that countless officials in the salt administration offices of the two provinces will lose their heads because of this.
Zhu Lang saw that Su Guansheng understood what he meant, so he stopped talking. Zhu Lang flipped through the memorial in his hand and spoke again.

"Last year, the court did not allow silver to be exchanged, and the tax silver income of the Ministry of Revenue was greatly reduced. Excluding the military salaries of Fujian and Guangdong provinces, the remaining silver should not be enough to pay the salaries of all officials in the court. Why does the Ministry of Revenue still have silver left? How are the salaries of all officials in the court paid now?"

Su Guansheng heard this and immediately replied

"According to the ancestral system of our Ming Dynasty, the salaries of all officials have always been based on rice. Converting them into silk or silver is a later method. Last year, Your Highness ordered the collection of rice to save the people from the suffering of being exploited. The salaries of all officials in the court should also be distributed in the form of rice."

"After discussing with the ministers in the cabinet, the salaries of all officials last year were distributed according to the 2:8 system. Two-tenths of the salaries of all officials were converted into silver, and the remaining eight-tenths were given as rice. This is also in accordance with the ancestral system of the court, and there is no violation of the rules."

Zhu Lang nodded when he heard this. The court collected a lot of rice last year, so rice should be the main source of expenditure. At this time, if the court can pay salaries on time, all officials should be happy. There is no room for them to be so picky.
Although Zhu Lang did not think there was anything wrong with distributing rice, he looked at the ministers below and said softly:

"Last year, I ordered the court to collect rice and grain. I did gain some good reputation among the people, but it made you suffer with me."

"Your Highness cares about the world and helps the people. As ministers in the court, how dare we complain about our hardship?"

Upon hearing this, the ministers below immediately bowed in response. Zhu Lang just smiled but didn't say much. He just asked the ministers to stand up.

When all the ministers stood up and returned to their seats, Su Guansheng spoke again.

"Your Highness is kind and benevolent, but there is no need to worry about this. Although the salaries of officials are mainly based on rice, the price of rice in Guangdong Province was quite high last year. After the officials in the court exchanged the rice for silver in the market, the salaries they received were actually higher than in previous years."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Lang also spoke

"Although this is the case, it is still inconvenient for all officials to receive so much rice and grain. Does the court have a solution?"

Although the court had paid enough salaries and grain last year, it was no longer the early Ming Dynasty.

At this time, the market in the Ming Dynasty had already been monetized. Silver and money were circulated in the market. Firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, and other daily necessities now required silver and money to buy. If you brought grain with you, no one would exchange it for you.

The officials in the court received dozens of shi of grain, but they still had to exchange it for silver to maintain their daily needs.
Upon hearing this, Su Guansheng immediately replied

"Your Highness is wise. Although the officials in the court receive their salaries and grains, it would be inconvenient and improper if all officials went to the market to sell rice and grains."

"After discussion in the court, I summoned several loyal grain merchants in the capital to be responsible for purchasing grain for the salaries of all officials."

"Officials in the court obtained salary grain certificates from the Ministry of Revenue, and then handed the certificates to grain merchants, from whom they could get silver for selling grain. Grain merchants, with the certificates issued by the Ministry of Revenue, could go to the Beijing warehouse to pick up grain."

"This will not only solve the silver shortage in the court, but also provide silver to the officials in the court to maintain their daily livelihoods. It can be said to be the best of both worlds."

After hearing what Su Guansheng said, Zhu Lang immediately understood the Ministry of Revenue's salary distribution method.

Last year, the imperial court used grain instead of silver. The court collected more, so the grain supply on the market was less. In addition, the war in the imperial court last year caused Guangdong and Guangxi provinces to continuously purchase and transport grain and money to the southwest and Hunan. Under these two factors, the grain prices in the two provinces continued to rise last year.

Officials have grain but no silver, while grain merchants have silver but no grain. What should they do? Naturally, they should build a platform to connect the two parties.
This not only allowed the officials to get silver, but also allowed the grain merchants to get rice, and the court also avoided the trouble of silver shortage in the process.

Zhu Lang had a satisfied look on his face. This method was very common in later generations. Building a platform and connecting supply and demand was something that almost everyone in later generations could think of.

But the future is the future, and it is extremely rare to be able to break out of the rut and come up with such a method in this era.
Zhu Lang thought of this and asked

"The Ministry of Revenue was able to find such a solution, which shows that Lord Su put a lot of thought into it."

"All the ministries in the court should be like the Ministry of Revenue. As long as the officials in each ministry are as dedicated as Lord Su, there is nothing that cannot be accomplished."

“Who came up with this idea?”

Su Guansheng heard this and a hint of joy flashed across his face, but after hearing the question from His Royal Highness the Regent, Su Guansheng's expression froze.

Su Guansheng hesitated for a moment, then spoke

"This method was proposed by Zheng Tai, the head of the Maritime Trade Department, and then perfected by the Ministry of Revenue."

Zhu Lang was also stunned when he heard this. After thinking for a moment, he finally remembered who Zheng Tai was.
Zheng Tai was in charge of the Zheng family's commerce. After Zhu Lang and the Zheng family jointly operated the maritime trade, in order to fully take over the Zheng family's business channels, he also took the opportunity to ask Zheng Tai to come over and put him in charge of the Maritime Trade Department.
Zhu Lang thought of this and said

"Zheng Tai has been in business for a long time and has his own expertise. For matters like money and grain, professionals are better at dealing with them."

What Zhu Lang didn't know was that the method proposed by Zheng Tai was not actually his original idea. The method of exchanging grain for silver proposed by Zheng Tai was actually the rice-exchange system used by the Edo Shogunate at that time.

The Ming Dynasty's official salaries had long been monetized. The reason why the court paid salaries in grain at this time was that Zhu Lang wanted to reduce the exploitation of the people by the clerks and lighten the people's tax burden.

But this was not the case for the Edo Shogunate. The Edo Shogunate, or the Wakoku, had been implementing the stone-high system since ancient times, and the rice standard system matched the stone-high system.

The samurai in the Edo shogunate were always paid in rice. Apart from rewards, the shogunate basically did not give copper coins or silver to the samurai under the shogunate.

Although the Edo Shogunate distributed grain in the form of rice, Edo was a prosperous place with a well-developed trade and the market had long been monetized. The samurai also needed silver for their daily consumption.
The samurai of the shogunate had long ago faced the same situation as the ministers of the Ming court today.

The samurai had grain, but the Edo market had already been monetized. The samurai were in a very high position and could not bring themselves to sell grain in the market. Therefore, the rice-selling system came into being.
The rice exchange system implemented by the Edo Shogunate at this time is almost exactly the same as the grain exchange system adopted by the Ministry of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty. Zheng Tai is in charge of the Zheng family's business. The Zheng family's largest trading place is Japan, so he is naturally very familiar with the situation in Japan.
Therefore, after Zheng Tai discovered the difficulties faced by the Ministry of Revenue, he directly moved all of Japan's systems here.

Zhu Lang glanced at Su Guansheng below and spoke again

"Of course, methods are methods, and people still have to do it. For this method to work, Lord Su also deserves credit."

Su Guansheng was also relieved when he heard this. After paying his respects, he returned to the court. Zhu Lang put down the memorial in his hand and spoke again.

"How was the war in Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang last year? Have the Qing invaders made any unusual moves in other places?"

Chen Zizhuang, who was below, immediately stepped out to report.
The general situation in the three provinces was as mentioned before. After Li Mingzhong defeated Shen Zhixiang in Quzhou, Zhejiang Province last autumn, the Qing army in Zhejiang Province did not make any more moves. After Shen Zhixiang was defeated, Jin Shenghuan, who was originally attacking Dayu in Gan Province, also withdrew his troops directly.
In January and February of this year, Jin Shenghuan did send a small group of troops to harass the city of Dayu, but after learning that the imperial guards of the Ming court had returned to the capital, the two thousand men withdrew overnight and were never seen again.

After listening to the report, Zhu Lang looked at Jiao Lian on the right and said

"Has there been any intelligence sent back from Huguang?"

Upon hearing this, Jiao Lian also stepped out of the group and bowed in return.
"Yesterday, the Hunan and Hubei Provincial Governor's Office sent a military report that the situation in Huguang is quite peaceful now."

"The reinforcements led by the Qing army led by Kakamu arrived in Wuchang on February 25th. According to the report of the Hunan Provincial Governor's Office, the number of Qing army members is about 7,000."

"After these troops entered Wuchang, the city of Wuchang sent some reinforcements to Suizhou, Jiayu and other places, but there was no sign of a gathering of troops."

"In my opinion, the Qing invaders sent out reinforcements to strengthen the defense of eastern Hubei, and they have no intention of counterattacking."

Zhu Lang nodded slightly upon hearing this. In the past two years, the Ming court had fought against the Qing court in various provinces in the south. If the Green Camp soldiers were included, the Ming army had annihilated nearly 100,000 captured Qing troops. The Qing court's military strength in the south was already stretched to its limits.
The Ming court needed to recuperate at this time, and the Qing court also needed time to recover. Whether the Qing court wanted to gather grain or transfer troops from the north to the south, it could not be done hastily.

Moreover, the Qing court also had many problems at that time. Apart from other things, the Haoge's troops in Hanzhong alone were enough to tie down a large number of elite Qing troops.

As long as the Ming court stops fighting, the Qing court will most likely not initiate a war in the short term.

The external environment of the Guangdong court has gradually stabilized. Next, the court must find a way to solve the problem of money and grain.

The method of exchanging grain for silver used by the Ministry of Revenue was not a long-term solution. The court's temporary use of grain to pay salaries was only an emergency measure. The salaries of officials in the court would eventually be mainly paid in silver.
Moreover, Zhu Lang would never hand over the salaries of hundreds of officials in the court to a group of merchants.

The financial situation faced by the Ming court at this time was extremely complicated. Last year, driven by the price of rice, the prices of all commodities in the southern provinces soared.

In Guangdong Province, the price of one stone of rice was as high as two or three taels of silver. If we only look at the situation in the past few years, it seems that the Ming Dynasty has entered a stage of inflation.
But all this is just an illusion. Since Jiashen, goods have been expensive and silver has been cheap in the southern provinces. That is because the southern provinces have been in constant war, which has greatly damaged the production of the provinces. The materials circulating in the market have decreased sharply, which has led to the illusion of rising prices.

Zhu Lang led his army to fight for two years. Now the war in the southern provinces has been basically settled. It is foreseeable that as the provinces resume production, Ming will soon face a very serious deflation problem.
For the officials of the Ming Dynasty at that time, there is a simpler word to describe the situation at that time, that is, silver shortage.
The Qing Dynasty occupied Jiangnan, and a large amount of silver in Jiangnan was also plundered by the Qing Dynasty. At this time, the silver circulating in the southern provinces was actually far from enough.
Once the provinces resume production and a large amount of goods are supplied to the market, prices will inevitably fall rapidly.

This is also the reason why Zhu Lang had to change the taxation system and replace silver with grain. If the Ming Dynasty still used the silver method at this time, even if the corruption level of the Ming Dynasty officials remained unchanged, the people would suffer greater exploitation.

Whether Zhu Lang used grain instead of silver or opened up sea trade, all the actions taken by the court were actually preparations for the upcoming silver shortage in the Ming Dynasty.
Although Zhu Lang knew the current situation of the Ming court, the issue of money and grain was not so easy to resolve.
The Ming court had a very simple way to solve this problem, which was to provide a large amount of silver to the market to ensure the amount of currency in circulation, so as to stabilize the market prices.
But silver is something that exists or not. It cannot be created out of thin air.
Zhu Lang put down the memorial and temporarily withdrew his thoughts. The silver shortage in the Ming Dynasty was not something that could be quickly resolved in a short period of time. Zhu Lang had already made some preparations for this matter.
Zhu Lang looked at Li Guoyong below and said

"It's already March, when is Qingming Festival?"

"Five days from now is Cold Food Festival, and six days later is Qingming Festival."

Zhu Lang nodded, looked down and said

“How is the monument to heroes going?”

Upon hearing this, Lu Daqi also stepped out to salute and said

"The main structure has been roughly completed, and the cemetery floor tiles are being laid. It will be completely completed in another two months."

After Zhu Lang returned from Fujian Province last year, he ordered the court to build a monument to the heroes. The site of the monument was chosen to be in the Baiyun Mountain outside the city.

In order to build this mausoleum, the court took over a large amount of mountainous land in the north of the city and some unowned fields at the foot of the mountain.
After learning about this, some officials from Guangzhou also tried to get the court to revoke the order on the grounds that it disturbed the people and was against etiquette.
However, after these officials submitted their memorials to the court, they were not delivered to the palace at all, but were directly detained by the cabinet.

In order to build this tomb for the martyrs, the court recruited 2,000 stonemasons and nearly 10,000 civilians near Guangzhou last year. His Highness the Regent did not even ask for the Ministry of Revenue's appropriation, but directly allocated 200,000 taels from the inner treasury to build this mausoleum.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that His Royal Highness the Regent's move was to continue to win over the military. As the matter involved military power, who among the cabinet ministers dared to submit these memorials to the palace?
The ministers in the cabinet knew the character of the regent very well. If any of the ministers in the court reported to the emperor and accused him of heresy, he would probably just laugh it off. But if anyone tried to stop him from taking control of the military, he would really kill them.
Zhu Lang looked at the ministers below and spoke again

"Since the establishment of the Guangdong Province, there have been more than ten major and minor battles in the court. The fact that we can sit here and discuss matters today is not only due to the loyalty of the court officials, but also the desperate fight of the soldiers with the Qing invaders."

"Master Lu, the Ministry of Rites, which you lead, will order all staff members to prepare for the ceremony after the court is dismissed today. Six days later, I will lead all officials in the court and soldiers from all armies to the stele mausoleum to pay tribute to the loyal and heroic souls of the army."

"The minister obeys the order"

Lu Daqi and other cabinet ministers in front took the lead in responding, and the other court officials also bowed and saluted. The court decided to hold a grand memorial ceremony for the heroic martyrs, and today's court meeting was over.

(End of this chapter)