Ming Dynasty: Traveling through the harem, Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded

Chapter 75: Full Attendance System, Involution! Ming Dynasty! (First Order Request!)
It seemed that Zhu Biao couldn't answer for a while.

Yang Chen gave him more than ten minutes.

In the end, Zhu Biao could only smile bitterly and bow.

"Brother Yang, I'm sorry to have made a fool of myself. I hope you can teach me something."

With his hands crossed behind his head, Yang Chen looked at the blue sky and white clouds and said calmly:

"You know, people in later generations call your father like this, saying that your father treated the Ming Dynasty as something in his pocket.

He believed that the whole world belonged to him, so he would not allow anyone to share his spoils.

The people were his cattle and horses, and the ministers were the hunting dogs he used to tame the cattle and horses.

Except for a small number of people who can live a good life because of the help of the founding heroes.

Not only can they obtain large tracts of fertile land, but they can also obtain many luxurious royal palaces.

These things are already very valuable, and your father has granted them amnesty so they don't have to pay taxes.

This led to polarization of wealth among officials in the court.

As a court minister, those who had suffered with your father could enjoy a good life, but they failed to join your father in time.

Even those who rely on their own abilities to pass the imperial examinations can get a small official position.

The salary is also very low.

As I said, 'officials' are hunting dogs under your father's command, and their salaries are their food.

There is not enough food. Do you think these hounds will join forces with the wolves to eat the cattle, sheep and horses?

The reason why your father killed corrupt officials so ruthlessly was partly because of his past experiences.

On the other hand, he feels that the money taken away by corrupt officials is personal property taken out of his pocket.

This Hongwu Emperor would not allow anyone to take away anything he liked.

People all say that your father is good for the people, but some also say that he is too greedy.

I think all these different opinions are inaccurate.

I think things in the world are complicated and are determined by many factors. We cannot look at a problem from one side, but from all sides.”

Zhu Biao, who was originally a little dazed, seemed to grasp something vaguely after hearing these words for some reason.

But he thought that he lacked understanding and ultimately failed to grasp the key.

"It is indeed as you said, Brother Yang. My father treated his former uncles very kindly.

Those who are given titles of nobility will be given titles of nobility, and those who are given special care will be given special care.

They even gave them some good land so that they could pass it down forever."

Thinking back on the state affairs he had handled, Zhu Biao now felt a little regretful about himself.

I am wondering why I haven't discovered these vulnerabilities before?

The privileges held by the majority could cause the court to lose a large part of its financial income.

Shaking his head, Zhu Biao recalled that this was not the purpose of his conversation with Yang Chen.

"Brother Yang, you've said so much, what does this have to do with the salaries of officials in the court?"

Yang Chen, still with his eyes closed, took a deep breath and slowly exhaled in response:

“The relationship is neither big nor small.

Let me tell you this, regarding the salary issue for all officials, it all comes down to the fact that the court is not rich enough. As long as the Ming Dynasty has sufficient financial resources, even if there are many corrupt officials, it still won’t affect the majority of the people.”

Zhu Biao's first reaction when he heard this was disbelief.

"Brother Yang, are you kidding?

No matter how great the country's financial resources are, they can't resist the greed of termites, right? "

Hearing this, Yang Chen sneered:
"That's because you are ignorant. You should know that the government offices and various court departments under the Ming Dynasty can apply for some funds to purchase and repair equipment, right?
Then you must have seen many people using fraudulent means to commit corruption.

For example, a set of shackles in the torture room could be bought for only three taels of silver, but they either reported a high price or falsely reported the quantity.

To tell you the truth, six hundred years later, in the world I live in, this kind of thing is happening in every country.

Do you know why? "

"why?"

Zhu Biao frowned and looked at Yang Chen. Corruption had reached such a level that even the people knew about it, yet such a country was still going to perish?
Then it was too unfair that the Ming Dynasty of his Zhu family finally perished at the hands of Chongzhen.

"Why?" Yang Chen showed a sly smile.

"Of course it's because if you don't take it, how can I take it? If I don't take it, how can my boss take it?
If the people above us don't take it, how can I and other brothers make progress? Having no money in our pockets means the end of our career.

But when a country reaches a certain size, this amount of money is nothing more than a drop in the bucket.”

"So, you're not trying to tell me that you want to make the Ming Dynasty even more powerful? And then allow the people below to engage in rampant corruption?"

Zhu Biao looked at Yang Chen with some uncertainty and expressed his opinion.

"That's impossible. If the Ming Dynasty wants to achieve such a scale, it will take at least several decades to embark on a new path of reform without following the old path. So this method won't work."

Hearing this, Zhu Biao was not disappointed. He felt from Yang Chen's brief words that the other party seemed to be able to think of a solution.

"Then according to what Brother Yang said, is there any way to solve the current problem of court salaries in the Ming Dynasty?"

Under Zhu Biao's expectant gaze, Yang Chen stood up from his chair.

Then he walked slowly to the table and picked up the teapot and a few teacups.

The teacup was empty and the teapot was only one-third full of tea.

"Well, in order to prevent you from not understanding, I will have to explain it in a concise way.

The prince temporarily regarded the teapot as the court. In my opinion, this teapot, or the court, represents the owner of a shop.

And each and every one of these teapots belonged to the ministers of the Ming Dynasty, ranging from the ninth rank to those without official rank, to the first rank to even the Duke of the Ming Dynasty.

It’s the end of the month and salaries need to be distributed.”

As he spoke, Yang Chen began to hold the teapot in one hand and slowly pour some water into the teacups.

The water in each teacup is evenly distributed and very scarce.

"Prince, these are the current salaries of officials in the court."

Hearing this, Zhu Biao quickly stood up, walked to the table, and leaned out to take a look.

There was only a little water in such a big teacup.

If this water was exchanged for salary, he could already see many officials starving.

Those who don't want to starve to death all take the path of corruption and bribery.

Looking at the expression on Zhu Biao's face, Yang Chen was also clear that the other party knew the meaning of what he did.

"See? Your father just wants the horse to run but doesn't want it to eat grass.

In his eyes, all officials were hunting dogs that drove cattle, sheep and horses, and they only needed to eat some meat.

But no matter how he looks at it, all officials are still human beings.

As a human being, everyone has desires, whether it is to prove his value in this world, or to help the people, or to become an honest official and leave his name in history.

These are all caused by desire.

Desire is the best medicine to get people moving, it will only make people addicted! "

"What do you think? You can't just increase the salaries of all officials by a large amount."

Zhu Biao touched his chin, raised his eyebrows and looked at Yang Chen and said.

"That's of course impossible," Yang Chen responded by shaking his head.

“According to what the prince just said, directly filling these teacups with water may quench thirst in the short term, but this is not a solution.

All officials would be terrified by the sudden money they received.

They will think that this is a test from your father. Not only will they not take the money, but they will feel it is too hot to handle and will voluntarily return it to the court.

Even if your father has made it clear that the money is theirs and will remain theirs in the future.

Then all the officials may be grateful to your father in the next few months.

Over time, many officials will still fall into this trap.

Human desires can promote a person's progress, but can also destroy a person.

If one does not hold the line against greed, then one will constantly violate morality and eventually become a corrupt official who only cares about money.”

After hearing this, Zhu Biao was confused.

"Since there is no salary increase, how can we reduce the number of corrupt officials?"

Yang Chen didn't need a teacup. He just put the teapot to his mouth and took a big sip. Then he continued:

“If you ask me, we should solve the problem from the root, for example, the salaries of court officials should remain unchanged at the original basis.

However, there are opportunities to increase salary from other places.

There are many sources for these rewards, such as diligently attending court a certain number of times each month.

Local officials are responsible for their own affairs. After the county magistrate has handled his own government affairs, he will go to inspect the local area.

You register once every day when you go there. If you can register a certain number of times in a month, you will receive a full attendance reward, which will be counted as extra salary for that month.

Each official only needs to complete tasks within his or her working hours to obtain it.

The goal is very simple.

If an official achieves perfect attendance throughout the year, he or she will receive a substantial year-end bonus, which not only has good meaning, but also allows the official to take the money home to celebrate the New Year.

It's simply fame and fortune!
In addition, an area can be planned for officials in this area to compete.

See who can gain the support of the people and investigate privately which officials have a good reputation.

This not only depends on whether the other party is honest and upright, but also on whether the other party is wholeheartedly serving the people and the court.

He carried out the court's orders accurately and managed his own land in an orderly manner. He did not want to make the people gradually richer, but wanted to ensure that they could live in peace and stability.

A good official is one who has enough food to eat.

As for the name of the award, I have already thought of it for you. It is called Best Official of the Year, and it would be best if it could be made into a plaque.

There was a lot of noise when the plaques were distributed. I believe this move will definitely inspire those who did not receive the plaques.

At the same time, it can also give hope to those officials who are truly innocent, at least not to be like they are now.

An honest official could not get enough food every month and even had to sell his family's calligraphy and paintings to support his family.

In the past, life was so hard when we were poor that it was easy to become disheartened, and it discouraged the ambitious officials of the world.

In the end, the people who bought into it were the poor people to begin with.”

At first, Yang Chen explained that the imperial court was big and could ignore some corrupt officials.

Even if it is not handled in time, it will not affect most of the people.

He actually felt incredible in his heart.

It even feels fake.

You have to know that corruption reports are happening all the time in the Ming Dynasty. Some people report corruption from towns and villages to the imperial city.

There are also supervisory officials who report.

In short, dealing with these corrupt officials took up a lot of Zhu Biao's time every day.

You have to know that as a crown prince he is very busy. He needs to deal with water conservancy reports across the country, and is also responsible for miscellaneous government affairs in various states and prefectures.

What areas need repairs and where officials need to be deployed.

As the crown prince, he needs to do all these things personally.

Therefore, in his opinion, if one knows that officials may be corrupt and does not deal with it in a timely manner, then the prince is undermining the government.

In order to facilitate his actions, most corrupt officials, whose ranks have not reached a certain level, will not make their final report in front of the ministers.

Low-level officials were basically dragged to the streets of busy cities and beheaded in public.

Only a few officials above the third rank would come to the capital for trial.

Just when Zhu Biao was about to be disappointed, Yang Chenfeng's reply instantly shocked him.

On the basis of keeping their salaries unchanged, officials’ additional income will be increased.

These reward systems established every month and every year can not only give those honest officials who are diligent and honest and work diligently a lot of real money.

It also satisfies the other person's deep-seated vanity.

Just as Yang Chen said, as long as the other person is a human being, a person with healthy limbs and a normal brain, he will definitely have desires.

Corrupt officials have the desire to make money and collect silver, while honest officials have the desire to do things for the people and gain recognition.

This reward just meets the needs of the latter.

"Brother Yang, I think I must look at you differently in the future. This method is really great!

It's simply wonderful.

These "rewards" can help solve all problems for those honest officials who are still in a difficult stage!

By then, my father will not be embarrassed, nor will those officials be frightened.

The only thing that can make them understand is that if they work well for the court, they will receive enough salary rewards.

Yang Chen, how did you come up with this idea? "

After thinking through the ins and outs of this matter, Zhu Biao praised Yang Chen generously and affirmed his method.

Just compliments on these.

Yang Chen smiled bitterly and said:

“Oh, even if you haven’t eaten pork, have you seen a pig run?

To tell you the truth, most people in later generations are selfish and will do anything to preserve their own greatest interests.

This is human nature, and it is because of the existence of such people among the people that society can progress.

In later generations, people who worked for the court were called civil servants. It doesn’t seem quite right to call them officials, but rather clerks. That’s right, in the Ming Dynasty they were clerks.

I originally wanted to get an ordinary position, hoping to make progress in the future.

It's a pity that I can't compete with others. This is just my ability.

The benefits of these officials are quite good.

It is completely different from the salary received by being an official in the Ming Dynasty.

As far as I know, the income of a normal official in the Ming Dynasty should be divided into the following types: grain salary and monetary salary.

In addition to these two, if officials want to obtain extra money, they can only receive rewards and allowances.

You still need to show evidence for this allowance, and it is likely that only one in ten will be able to get it.

But it won’t be painful in later generations. The income of an ordinary person in later generations can be divided into the following types.

There are basic wages, age wages, bonus wages, supplementary wages, year-end bonuses, etc. The method I just told you about only accounts for one or two of them. "

Yang Chen explained the dazzling salary system.

Zhu Biao suddenly felt as if he had touched something extraordinary.

By opening this door, he could make the Ming Dynasty's economy take off better, more thoroughly and more smoothly.

However, he could only touch the surface of the threshold.

This is the amount of knowledge he gained from what Yang Chen said.

"I didn't expect that in the future, a small salary would be divided into so many parts. If I follow the methods just mentioned,

Will it make the officials more loyal to the Ming Dynasty in terms of salaries?"

Zhu Biao’s inner thoughts were actually very simple.

It's nothing more than copying others, since there is a good idea in front of you.

Then why bother thinking about it?

However, Yang Chen rolled his eyes at him.

"I'm not saying anything bad about you, Prince, you think too simply.

Things here are quite complicated. First of all, I don't understand how the organizational departments in your palace operate.

But I know one thing.

That is, just the simple matter of distributing salaries among the officials of the Ming Dynasty resulted in many conflicts of interest.

One thing alone is enough to annoy the court, if so many things are executed at the same time, it will definitely become a mess in the end."

After hearing what Yang Chen said, Zhu Biao was instantly enlightened.

The Ministry of Revenue is responsible for distributing the monthly and annual salaries.

The salaries of officials in various places are distributed to the Provincial Administration Commission, prefectures, states, counties and other regional units, and there will definitely be losses in this process.

One more item will make it easier for corrupt officials to embezzle money.

This will not only prevent honest officials from receiving their full salaries, but will also make corrupt officials even more greedy.

"That's true, but speaking of which, this perfect attendance reward seems to be no different from the rewards my father gives me on a daily basis. Can this perfect attendance reward also be considered a reward?"

This is not a trivial matter and requires comprehensive consideration. Any detail may lead to the implementation of this system.

For this reason, Zhu Biao could only be cautious and try his best to make himself understand the meaning of full attendance.

Now that he came to his senses, he suddenly thought that the same salary, the reward for perfect attendance seemed to be similar to the salary that his father usually rewarded officials.

If that's the case, then why not combine the two and work together?
Yang Chen thought about it carefully and found that what Zhu Biao said made some sense, but only a little.

He touched his chin, thought carefully about how to answer Zhu Biao's question, and then said:

"First of all, this 'full attendance reward' may seem the same as your father's usual rewards, but it is not.

Think about it, under what conditions can you receive your father's reward?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Biao answered without hesitation:

"That is, of course, only if you have to make meritorious contributions."

Yang Chen nodded and said:

"That's right. You need to make contributions to get rewards. The contributions can be big or small, and the rewards are uncertain. It all depends on your father and you, the regent, to decide.

I don’t believe you have a complete reward system.”

After hearing what the other party said, Zhu Biao thought about it and found that it seemed to be true.

Don’t think that many officials in the Ming Dynasty receive rewards on a daily basis.

But what they have in their hands depends entirely on the mood of their royal family.

Especially for some merits regarding reporting and exposing the crimes of Yue officials, it is difficult to judge whether they should be rewarded with money or an official position.

Without stopping, Yang Chen continued:
“The reason why the full attendance system and rewards are two different things is that compared with rewards that require meritorious service, the continuity and rationality of full attendance rewards are more lasting.

Moreover, this extra salary may not be worth mentioning to those wealthy officials, but it is indeed life-saving money for those poor officials.

Think about it, if you worked diligently in the past, but the salary you received was exactly the same as those of officials who were used to being lazy, wouldn’t you be very unhappy in your heart? "

Zhu Biao nodded repeatedly.

This is simply a very normal thing.

Why should I work so hard but get the same result as a lazy person?

"That's right. The purpose of full attendance is to let those officials standing in the middle know that as long as they work hard, they can look forward to better days.

Perfect attendance every month can buy them one or two new pieces of clothing and furniture, but the price they pay is to go to court and do their job honestly. Do you think they are willing to do it?
Every year’s year-end bonus can buy land and houses. Do you think they will start working hard in anticipation of good days?
You just need to complete your job honestly. If you can make a contribution unexpectedly, it will be more than just earning more money.

There is also a plaque and a title bestowed upon me. Even if I can't have a separate page in the family tree, at least it can be recorded in the local history records.

If it were you, would you be willing to do it?"

Yang Chen's words seem to have a kind of magic that can make people's blood boil.

When Zhu Biao, who was sitting next to him, heard this, he seemed to have seen that good days were coming.

At this moment, he is in the position of an official who is eager to get money but cannot embezzle it.

Now that the new decree has been issued, it means that I can make money legally.

You don’t need to watch others commit corruption and live a good life.

But he had to stick to his bottom line and return to his bare house to cry with his wife Niu Yi.

"Fuck! I'm so willing to do it!"

Zhu Biao's heart beat faster and his face turned red. He shouted out his thoughts loudly, and at the same time acknowledged that Yang Chen's method was quite good.

Then he sat down suddenly, looking lost in thought.

Yang Chen raised his eyebrows, looked at him and asked:

"What's wrong with you? Why are you suddenly so confused?"

After a short silence, Zhu Biao said uncertainly:
“Perfect attendance is good, but if some officials can live a good life without perfect attendance, then this decree will be promulgated.

Isn't it obvious that the intention is to target those honest officials?

By then, the distinction between honest officials and corrupt officials will be very obvious.

It is inevitable that people will think that we are giving privileges to certain groups of people, which can easily lead to the emergence of factionalism and private interests within the court."

“Shouldn’t this be a good thing?”

Zhu Biao thought Yang Chen would agree with him, but he didn't expect him to answer like this. He opened his eyes wide and asked the reason.

Yang Chen snapped his fingers and said:
"Your father hates factionalism the most, and I don't believe he can watch such a situation happen in the court.

When the time comes, there will be another round of massacres, and those who are killed will be those officials who form cliques and run private businesses. Isn’t this a good thing?”

Seeing the other party speak like this, Zhu Biao was stunned at first, then he smiled with relief.

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(End of this chapter)