Ming Dynasty: Teaching The Prince Dragon-Slaying Skills At The Beginning

Chapter 190: The Chaotic Local Administrative System And The Salaries Of Ming Officials [Please Subs

Yan Changqing, who was on the podium, looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and sighed slightly:

"If we look at it according to His Majesty's original three-level system of provinces, prefectures, and counties."

"Then the county is the basic tax collection unit and is responsible for the actual implementation of tax collection and payment."

"The government is responsible for accounting and auditing, and adjusts the amount of tax distribution based on the amount of wealth produced in the counties under its jurisdiction.'

"The province is responsible for the transportation. The collected money, grain and materials do not need to go through the government. They are sent directly from the county to the province, and then the province distributes and sends them out."

“The three-level local administrative divisions of province, prefecture and county have a clear division of responsibilities in terms of finance and taxation.”

"It can be said that if there is only a three-level local administrative division system of province, prefecture and county, then the fiscal and taxation can also operate normally.

"If we say that the hierarchical divisions of local administrative regions in the Ming Dynasty were all unified into a four-level local administrative division system of province, prefecture, state, and county."

"Then it's actually a little better. As long as the additional states are given a clear division of fiscal responsibilities, it will be a good thing for fiscal and taxation.

"But the problem lies precisely in the fact that the three-level local administrative division system of province, prefecture, and county, which originally worked well alone, and the four-level local administrative division system of province, prefecture, state, and county, are mixed and coexisting at the same time!!!"

"After the division of local administrative regions became a general pattern of a four-level system of provinces, prefectures, prefectures, and counties coexisting with a three-level system of provinces, prefectures, and counties, [Yasumoto's clear division of responsibilities in fiscal and taxation work arose."

"That's the original level of the local administrative division of [Prefecture]. It's unclear what level it is now."

"Sometimes it is the second level from the bottom up, and sometimes it is the third level, adding states that did not originally have a role in fiscal division of labor."

“In this way, when the four-level system of province, prefecture, prefecture, and county coexists with the three-level system of province, prefecture, and county, then the prefecture is responsible for accounting and auditing, and the prefecture and county are responsible for collecting taxes?!”

“Or should the state be responsible for accounting and auditing, and the government be responsible for transportation?!!”

“But what should the province be responsible for and do in this case?!!”

"Or should we say that the province is responsible for transportation, and the government and state are responsible for accounting and auditing?!!"

“But in this case, after the state accounting and auditing is completed, what is the point of the government accounting and auditing again?!”

"If there is a problem or inconsistency between the accounting and auditing amounts between the state and the government, what should we do and who should we listen to?!!"

Hearing Yan Changqing's questions one after another, even Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but be speechless for a moment.

What can he say?!!

Can he say that he copied the local administrative divisions of the Yuan Dynasty?!!

The Yuan Dynasty divided the country into the direct jurisdiction of Zhongshu Province, the jurisdiction of Xuanzhengyuan, and 10 Xingzhongshu Provinces.

There are roads, prefectures (prefectures), and counties in a province, among which roads are under the jurisdiction of the province.

Some prefectures and prefectures are under the jurisdiction of the government, some are under the jurisdiction of the province, and some prefectures are under the jurisdiction of the government.

Some counties are managed by Guilu, some are managed by the government, and some are managed by the state.

In itself, the division and management of local administrative regions at all levels in his mother's Yuan Dynasty were quite complicated and confusing.

Therefore, after he copied the local administrative regions of the Yuan Dynasty into various levels, the current four-level system of provinces, prefectures, prefectures, and counties coexisted with the three-level system of provinces, prefectures, and counties.

Later, he felt that it was not good to completely copy the Yuan Dynasty's local administrative divisions at all levels. It seemed that the Ming Dynasty had no ideas of his own!

So in order to show the difference between the Ming Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty, he then divided the province into the Chengxuanzheng Envoy Department, and established the government and Zhili Prefecture under the Chengxuanzheng Envoy Department. Below the government, there were counties and prefectures, each directly under the government. There are counties below Lizhou.

Although there are slight differences in the names, the general context framework is actually still that of the Yuan Dynasty.

But after hearing Yan Changqing’s last question, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn’t help but ask:

“How come the money and taxes collected by the county are inconsistent?!!”

After all, he himself has already determined how much money, grain, and taxes should be.

Yan Changqing glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang lightly and said calmly:

"Although His Majesty has enacted a land tax of thirty to one, how can it be possible to only levy a tax of three when he collects it?!!"

"The annual salary of a first-rank official in the Ming Dynasty was one thousand and forty-four dan, while the lowest official of the ninth rank was sixty dan."

"Zhengyipin officials can live well in most cases with such a salary, but if they live in the capital, they will be a bit tight."

"Of course, it is even more impossible for a ninth-grade official who receives sixty shi to live on the official salary of the imperial court."

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard that Yan Changqing suddenly raised the salary issue for officials, he frowned and couldn't help but retort:

"How could it not be enough?!!"

"We set such a salary after we personally calculated it for them!!!"

"For a genuine official, one thousand and forty-four koku of rice requires at least two thousand koku of rice to be processed and shelled before it can be developed."

"And for these two thousand kilograms of rice, it would take about 800 to 1,000 acres of land to grow so much food!!!"

"And in order to cultivate these 800 to 1,000 acres of land, it takes about 50 to 60 people to cultivate it."

…………Please give me flowers……

"If you support one person for fifty people, isn't this kind of salary generous enough?!!"

"Even the ninth-grade official with the lowest salary needs to be supported by three to four common people!!!"

"And they are officials themselves, enjoying subsidies and preferential treatment from the court such as tax exemption and so on.

"Together, these are enough for them to live a prosperous and decent life!!!"

"If they still say that their annual salary is low, we can only say that they are greedy and greedy!!!"

Yan Changqing nodded and then said:

"If they only need to support their family, wives, concubines and children, then this kind of salary is indeed enough."

"But apart from the family, wives, concubines and children, every official also has a few servants and maids?!"

"Especially the higher the official rank, the more concubines and servants there will be at home."

"For example, in the home of a first-grade official, would the total number of wives, concubines, children, servants and maids be only fifty?!!"

"The living expenses of these wives, concubines, children, servants and maids need to be supported by this first-class official."

“Besides, among these officials, who doesn’t have one or two happy events, big or small, that require a banquet throughout the year?!!”

“Who doesn’t need to attend ten or eight wedding banquets?!”

"After all, if you are an official in the same dynasty, in the same department, and your colleagues are happy, even if you can't come in person [then you still need to prepare ten small gifts to express your feelings, right?!!"

"After all, being an official or a human being requires a little bit of 'humanity and sophistication,' and this in itself is also a manifestation of etiquette."

"Even if there is no such thing as bribery, it is just the most basic favor, which one does not require additional expenses?!!"

"If you accidentally get sick, it will cost a lot of money to see a doctor and buy medicine."

"But these imperial courts will not be responsible for it, and they all rely on the officials' own salaries to support it!!!"

"In the end, after all these miscellaneous things are added up, does Your Majesty still feel that the salary of officials is "enough to support their so-called decent and prosperous life?!!"

Yan Changqing looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and asked calmly.

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