Chapter 42 Section 6 Ming officials under the low salary system

The growth experience of the bottom society made Zhu Yuanzhang maintain a bottom perspective on the bureaucracy all his life. In traditional China, the huge bureaucratic system is a huge clump of blood-sucking roots, and every drop of blood eventually comes from the bottom of society.Therefore, looking up from the bottom of the society, the sights seen in the field of vision are naturally greedy faces, which are "no official, no corruption", "no official, no killing".The peasant uprising in China is not so much a struggle between the peasant class and the landlord class as it is a resistance of the peasant class to the bureaucracy.What forced the common people to rise up was not the overlord's whip hanging in the hands of the landlords, but the ferocious faces of officials at all levels when they extorted food and money.The common people in China put it simply and clearly: "The government forces the people to rebel."There is a meaningful phenomenon in the peasant uprisings, that is, the bureaucratic class, not the landlord class, is the most massacred in every uprising.

Due to the sloppy ruling techniques, officials in the Yuan Dynasty were more corrupt than most dynasties.In the officialdom of the Yuan Dynasty, money was inseparable everywhere. "Subordinates should give 'meeting money' for meeting, 'chasing money' for holidays, 'birthday money' for birthdays, 'routine money' for handling affairs, and 'favor money' for meeting and seeing off. To issue a subpoena or arrest warrant, you need to pay '赍(ji) to send money', to file a lawsuit, you need to give 'official money', or even ask for money for nothing, which is called 'spending money'." Higher-level officials go to lower-level places to inspect official affairs, He actually took the treasury in charge of the money openly, checked the money and weighed the silver, argued more and less, and was doing business.People at the bottom usually don't see officials, and occasionally local officials go to the countryside, but they always come to search.Therefore, when Zhu Yuanzhang saw the officials in the Yamen, he gritted his teeth with hatred.Later, he recalled: "When I was among the people, I saw that officials in prefectures and counties were not sympathetic to the people. They were often greedy for money and sex, drinking and doing nothing. All the people were indifferent to the suffering of the people, and they were really angry."

On the one hand, he embraced the deep-rooted antipathy and suspicion of the bureaucratic system, and on the other hand, he had to rely on this system. This contradiction was reflected in Zhu Yuanzhang's treatment of officials.In the past dynasties of China, Zhu Yuanzhang was the most harsh on officials. On the one hand, he was afraid that he would not treat his relatives and family members well, and the salaries of the royal family and nobles were extremely generous.The annual salary of the prince is 10,000 shi, which is nearly seven times that of the highest official, not including other rewards.On the other hand, Zhu Yuanzhang set the salaries of officials surprisingly low, and regarded "low salaries" as the mainstream for ordinary officials. Historians have said that "Ming officials' salaries are the lowest".

Gu Yanwu said: "In the Tang Dynasty, Sima of Shangzhou was a fifth-rank official. He earned hundreds of stones a year and a monthly salary of 60,000 to 70,000 yuan. to three-tenths." Bureaucrats "a month is less than two stones, not enough to feed several people."According to the usual practice, part of the remuneration of the officials' staff and entourage and part of the office expenses are spent in the annual salary, so officials cannot live a comfortable life relying on the normal salary, and low-level officials even have difficulty supporting their families. Complaints about "not enough to survive" and "suffering from hunger and cold" are endless.

Not only that, Zhu Yuanzhang was even reluctant to pay retired officials. Yan Buke's "Taste and Position" said: "In the early days of the country, those who became officials did not have a salary. It is a gift to give a half salary for life." In addition to the low salary system, Zhu Yuanzhang also abolished many other privileges of officials.In the Tang and Song dynasties, the sons of officials would be given "yin seals" and could become officials directly, but Zhu Yuanzhang abolished this practice. Although the sons of high officials had "yin narrations"; Officials", if you want to be an official, you still have to take the exam.

Before the Ming Dynasty, the practice of "replacing a crime with an official" had been practiced in the officialdom, that is, officials committed crimes, and demotion or removal of officials was used as a measure to compensate for crimes.However, this privilege was also mercilessly deprived by Zhu Yuanzhang.Officials who commit crimes, like ordinary people, should be imprisoned and exiled, and they will not be tolerated at all. Obviously, Zhu Yuanzhang excluded the bureaucracy when distributing the cake of imperial interests.Zhu Yuanzhang's approach is obviously to "not only want the horse to run, but also want the horse not to eat grass."He hoped that these disciples of Confucius and Mencius could "forget profit when they see righteousness" and work for him selflessly while eating the spiritual food of Confucius and Mencius.In fact, thinking from the perspective of a farmer, Zhu Yuanzhang thought that he did not give too little to officials, because compared with farmers, their lives were still superior.What's more, the sophisticated Zhu Yuanzhang believes that in addition to the direct material gains for the Chinese, being an official will also have psychological rewards such as a sense of accomplishment.

Zhu Yuanzhang educated the officials like this: If you are clean and honest officials, although your income is not particularly rich, but "keep your salary like a well spring, although the well is not full, the deep spring is inexhaustible every day", after all, you can survive without worry.In addition, it can also "show your ancestors, Rong Er's wife, and Gui Er himself", "establish your name in the world, and be immortal for thousands of years".Therefore, he felt that he was quite meaningful to the officials.