Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 86: Spending a lot of money and winning people's hearts

On the Qianqing Gate side, Shen Yikuan stood up and returned behind Kong Shangxian.

The credit for "asking for favor" was "given" to him by Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue.

But is this a good thing? It seems that Shen Yi Guan still holds a great importance in the emperor's heart.

In this way, in the subsequent turmoil, more people will come to Shen Yikuan and ask for justice.

Then the Minister of Personnel came out to request the emperor's decision: How should the year-end salary be implemented?

These were all things that had been discussed yesterday, so Zhu Changluo naturally answered questions fluently and made wise decisions.

"All civil servants in the country, from the first rank to the lowest rank, will be evaluated based on this performance assessment. Those who hold real positions will be included, those who hold honorary titles and receive salaries will not, and those who hold concurrent positions will be divided into half. The number will be determined by rank..."

Now all the officials in Beijing understood.

How much silver you can get depends on the results of the national examination.

Previously, it was only for those ranks who needed to be recommended by the Ministry of Personnel. Although ranks above the third have been added now, these people are only given a quota of 100 taels, which can be regarded as a reward from the emperor to important officials.

"…The imperial edict was sent to all provinces and directly under the Central Government immediately. Before the Chinese New Year, the lowest-scoring officials were sent the first. The scores were accelerated and sent to the Ministry of Personnel before April of next year. The rest of the silver would be paid to those with average or above-average scores. After the palace examination next year, new Jinshi candidates were appointed to positions, and all vacancies in the two capitals and the localities were filled at once."

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

From now on, there is a clear time point.

The time for the performance evaluation and the personnel freeze this time is a bit long, but there is nothing we can do about it. There are simply too many vacancies to be filled, and new successful scholars are being appointed to new posts.

But there is no doubt that the emperor was willing to take out so much silver from the treasury at one time, and it was only used to compensate the civil servants currently in office throughout the country. This is enough to prove the emperor's importance attached to this adjustment.

It is no exaggeration to say that it is the governing team that laid the foundation for the new dynasty.

There must be adjustments of other important officials in this process.

Then, the Minister of Revenue, Chen Qi, came out and reported: "Your Majesty: From May till now, first there was the funeral of Princess Yanqing, then several suburban sacrifices, then the enthronement and the ascension, and many grand ceremonies. A lot of money from the national treasury was paid to the Ministry of Rites. Now the salaries of the officials in Beijing this year..."

At the end of the story, the low-ranking court official couldn't help but look at Chen Qi's old back: Isn't this bad? The emperor just said that so much silver would be given out, and you said that in fact, the salary that should have been paid this year can't be paid out in full?

But the Minister of Agriculture is a good Minister of Agriculture, and he is thinking about everyone's salary this year.

"...Taicang, the capital city, has annual expenditures for nobles, civil officials, military officials, patrol officers, Jinyiwei, military craftsmen, and soldiers..." Chen Qi said one by one, "This year, the total amount of silver is more than 916,000 taels. The Taicang warehouse is still short of 30%, including 200,000 taels of comprador fees that should be transferred from the inner treasury..."

Zhu Changluo listened to these words and looked at Tian Yi.

This matter was not among the several matters selected previously, so Chen Qi presented it in person on the spur of the moment.

The cash expenditure of the capital city of Taicang, in addition to the expenses of civil officials and soldiers in the capital who should have been supplied by grain transport, also included the salaries of military officials and the Embroidered Uniform Guard in the capital who should have been borne by the emperor.

Zhu Changluo had never looked at the accounts so carefully before.

Now that he is in public, is he going to ask what the comprador fee is?
Fortunately, Chen Qi finished speaking and saw that the emperor did not respond for the time being, so he added: "In March of the sixth year of Wanli, the Supreme Emperor issued an edict, ordering the Ministry of Revenue to add 50,000 taels of silver every quarter to provide for the comprador and the two empresses. In fact, the salaries of military officials in Beijing are insufficient, so the Ministry of Revenue's Taicang warehouse temporarily borrowed money. However, it has become a regular practice since then. I dare to ask Your Majesty to make a decision to abolish this comprador fee, so that the accounts of the Taicang warehouse will be clearer. I can also discuss with the Ministry of Works and borrow money from the military craftsmen first, so that the salary this year can be paid with some effort."

Now Zhu Changluo understood.

If it was the sixth year of Wanli...his father was still living a poor life, and the government was presided over by Zhang Juzheng.

It seemed that at that time point, Wanli had just gotten married.

There were two empress dowagers in the Ming Dynasty, as well as a new queen, concubines, and a group of royal relatives.

The rewards were all paid from the imperial treasury. After intensive spending, the military officials in the capital who should have been paid by the emperor's treasury to win the hearts of the people were unable to pay their salaries.

So he borrowed money from the Taicang warehouse in the name of showing filial piety to the two Empress Dowagers.

But did it become a regular practice? Later, there were still gold and silver deposits every year... It was not surprising, after all, Empress Dowager Li and Zhu Yijun both loved money.

The civil officials might also want to keep this in mind to further expand their control over the military officers.

After figuring this out, Zhu Changluo understood Chen Qi's intention of raising this point under pressure.

He was trembling with fear when asked questions in the Yangxin Palace yesterday. Now, on the surface, he was speaking for the Ministry of Revenue and abolishing an unnecessary expenditure, but in fact, he was reminding the emperor: If you want to win over the morale of the army, you should pay the salaries of the military officials in the capital from the treasury in a legitimate way!

Zhu Changluo looked at Chen Qi with admiration: You really are good at that.

On the contrary, it satisfied the emperor's desire to win the hearts of the troops.

On the other hand, the Taicang warehouse saved a lot of money, and the civil officials in Beijing will not be in arrears of salary this year.

As for the emperor's favor to the military officials in Beijing? What a joke! The meritorious officials and military officers in the Beijing camp are basically useless and can't make any waves.

"…In that case, I will follow the request of the Minister of Agriculture. Starting from next year, the comprador fee will be stopped. There is no need to discuss the remaining shortfall with the Imperial Household Department. I will borrow another 100,000 taels from the Imperial Treasury from the Taicang Warehouse."

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

In front of all the ministers, Chen Qi actually took out 300,000 taels from the treasury!

Together with the year-end salary silver of an uncertain amount, the new monarch took out one million taels at the beginning of his ascension to the throne to win the hearts of his civil and military officials.

Zhu Changluo looked at the others who were eager to try and smiled in his heart.

I guess they are all waiting to see the days when the treasury has spent all the current deposits and there are no other incomes such as mining supervisors and tax collectors.

They don't know the existence of Changming yet.

Zhu Yijun could only hear the occasional "Your Majesty is wise" from the other side, and the voice was full of genuine joy.

He didn't know that this time it was because his son was "spending money" that he continued to pay out of his own pocket.

Otherwise, you wouldn’t know how he sat up in anger while dying.

In fact, he found out very quickly because Empress Dowager Li arranged several eunuchs to listen inside the Qianqing Gate and then relay the message.

Since she was here, she naturally wanted to take a closer look.

I already believed in my grandson's ability, but after all, all the ministers were present.

If there is any special situation that makes it difficult for her grandson to cope with, she will inevitably do her best to help him.

If nothing happened, he would let his son know that he had coped well;

If there was any problem, he would let his son know that he would only do his best to support the emperor in power.

But now she feels a little regretful: Why does her grandson keep spending money?

She felt distressed, and she knew her son would feel even more distressed.

Don't make him sick again...

Zhu Yijun was really angry when he heard what the eunuch whispered to his mother.

But I couldn't sit up or open my mouth.

Can you create a saint emperor by throwing money around?
You have the guts to keep spreading it!

(End of this chapter)