Chapter 303 The Ming Dynasty did not rely on the imperial edict, but on its subjects throughout the ages!
Zhu Yuanzhang’s face was livid.
The tickle in his hand made a squeaking sound.
The murderous intent that had been suppressed was completely released, and the entire hall was shrouded. As an emperor who broke out from the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, Zhu Yuanzhang's sharp eyes were enough to shock people's hearts. However, this astonishing murderous intent, Xia Zhibai didn't seem to be affected at all by this overwhelming anger.
Xia Zhibai looked up at Zhu Yuanzhang and said calmly: "Whether your Majesty is angry or angry, it cannot change this established fact."
"No matter how much content is written in the "Great Edict", and no matter how many accusations are made against the ministers, people, and meritorious deeds of the world, when it comes to the actual implementation, it will all be empty. Your Majesty can be said to have exaggerated the severity of punishment in the "Great Edict" It's cruel, but in my opinion, it's just a pretense to scare people."
"I hope the ministers and people below will obey the court's words honestly."
"Let His Majesty's philosophy of governing the country continue to be spoken and passed on."
"But the problem has not been solved."
"In my opinion, the "Great Edict" means that Your Majesty serves the people of the world. A red line was drawn to tell the subjects below what they could and could not do. When it came to the intensity of punishment, the Ming Dynasty was undoubtedly unprecedented in history. And with the world shouting "Your Majesty is wise" and "Your Majesty is wise", it seems that it is indeed It worked a little bit.”
"However, this is not the case."
"Corruption is increasing sharply every day, whether in the south or the north."
"Even the amount of corruption will only get bigger and bigger. Your Majesty will let you Duke Xin and Jin Yiwei went south, and I’m afraid they also did some investigation in private. I don’t know if Duke Xin and Jin Yiwei have reported the situation in the south, but I can say one thing for sure.”
“Your Majesty’s high-pressure anti-corruption campaign is useless.”
“At least it won’t be very effective.”
"I have done some research on the income of Ming officials in the past few years."
"It is generally composed of official salary and family operating income."
"In the thirteenth year of Hongwu, His Majesty has The number of salary bills for civil and military officials was determined. "
"If I remember correctly, according to the regulations: the monthly salary of the first grade is 87 stones, and the monthly salary of the first grade is 87 stones, and it decreases by 13 stones from the first grade to the third grade, and from the third grade is 26 stones. , 24 stones from the fourth grade, 21 stones from the fourth grade, 16 stones from the fifth grade, 14 stones from the fifth grade, 10 stones from the sixth grade, 8 stones from the sixth grade, 5 dou from the seventh grade to the ninth grade, and the monthly salary from the ninth grade 5 stone stops."
"It can be seen from above."
"The official salary of the Ming Dynasty is the thinnest in history."
"Of course, Your Majesty may also know this, so in addition to full salary, there are also rewards for many years, such as on New Year's Day, New Year's Eve, On the winter solstice, the imperial officials were given wine, rice and money as usual. "And only the imperial officials could enjoy this part."
"So the imperial court also made additional supplements, which were to increase the amount of firewood, firewood, silver, and money. Martin Silver, sometimes even 'Lin to Silver'"
"The so-called Chai Xin Yin and Martin Silver and Lin to Silver."
"The essence is to allow officials to ask for Zaoli silver, that is, to allow the Zaoli silver to be exempted from service."
"Even so, the official salary of the Ming Dynasty is still very small."
"But There are many officials in the Ming Dynasty.”
“Because the salary is only a small part of the official’s basic income.”
“More of their basic income comes from family operating income. .”
“Among them, land and real estate are rented out in large quantities, and some official families even open textile machine rooms and so on.”
“Everything is profitable.”
“And if you want to make money from the fields, , and make profits from real estate. ""It is natural to take the land from the people."
"As for the wealthy Jin gentry in Yuhang, the land they own can reach up to several thousand acres. ’, so just by collecting rent from operating acres, you can earn more than 440 taels of rent per year, and with ‘silver rent’, you can also earn about 100 taels per year.”
"As for where the silver rent comes from, your Majesty should be very clear."
"It is that the Ming Dynasty only issued 'Da Ming Bao Banknotes' but did not accept 'Da Ming Bao Banknotes'. The people had no use for them and could only choose to exchange them." Copper and silver were then manipulated and exploited by the wealthy local Jin gentry. "This is the wealthy Jin gentry in Yuhang." Free of leisure."
"There are many weavers in his family, and the accumulated wealth is tied to the market."
"In addition to these officials, there is the scholar group."
"Especially the growing number of scholars with the title of Shengyuan. With the peace of the world, they have begun to seek other profit channels. Naturally, the current The main method is to obtain scholarships from the imperial examinations, but with the revival of the imperial examination and the improvement of the status of literati, scholars have found two other 'unprofitable' channels."
"The first is to collect money and provide hard help. The mediator can obtain the 'two or three money sedan and horse'."
"The all-inclusive money and food means that the students can obtain the contributions from ordinary people through the privileges and exemptions stipulated by the court; and the mediator is one. The second type is to take advantage of the reputation of the student's personal identity."
"The second is to take charge of litigation and entrust official affairs to profit from it, that is, to go to the government and county yamen to talk about favors."
"Especially in the current season, some students who originally lived in rural areas have stayed at home to spend the winter. Whenever something happens, they will pester officials and disturb the people all day long. They will start writing books today and submit papers tomorrow. They will start or end lawsuits. They do whatever they want."
"But the most they make is by talking about favors."
"But whether they are talking about favors or relying on the exemptions provided by the court, The ultimate goal is to obtain benefits. "
"I just want to tell your Majesty a very realistic and helpless thing through officials and scholars. Today's world has already entered a state of ' In a society where everything is about money, money represents status and enjoyment. The whole society is most concerned about making money. "
"The higher you go up, the more so."
"Now the bottom is just helpless, otherwise this trend would have spread long ago."
"Just thinking about restraining the bottom and letting the top go is doomed to be in vain."
"And it is very difficult at present. It is difficult to reverse the situation."
"Your Majesty should give up the idea of 'once and for all' and change to 'continuous cleaning'. Just like a house, it must be cleaned frequently. If it is not cleaned, it will be filled with dust. The only way is to clean it every day. You have to keep cleaning to get rid of all the dust in the house.”
“A single book is not enough.”
"Your Majesty alone is not enough."
"You must rely on the monarchs of the Ming Dynasty, and you must rely on subsequent generations of subjects."
"Your Majesty cannot always hope that you can accomplish everything by yourself. , and don’t always hope that the world will remain the same.”
“What your Majesty should really believe is that the world is changing all the time, and will continue to change. In the long run, future generations should. They are more knowledgeable than us, and they must and should have their own judgments. As a predecessor, the judgments made by His Majesty cannot and should not play a decisive role in future generations."
"Later generations have their own judgments. Ideas and standards.”
“I actually don’t like the prince because he lacks enough courage.”
“The prince has often criticized your majesty and opposed him, but he has never had the courage to resist the rules and regulations you designed for him. He only dares to cry secretly, and such a prince will always live in the shadow of His Majesty. "
"This is not what a Ming prince should look like!"
(End of this chapter)< br>