"His Majesty's Nilin?" Jie Xianhe asked in confusion, "Father, our Jie family didn't do anything. The interest rate of the third phase of bonds issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs was so low, and our Jie family bought one hundred thousand taels.
"
"That's not what my father is talking about." Xie Xuelong said, "What my father is talking about is party struggle!"
"Party struggle?" Xie Xianhe said in astonishment, "Father, you didn't initiate any party struggle."
"As a father, I shouldn't have exposed Shi Kefa's false edicts." Xie Xuelong said, "In the eyes of the Holy One, this is obviously an infatuation between the second minister and the first minister of the cabinet, and it is a party dispute."
"Ah this?" Xie Xianhe was speechless.
He had tried to dissuade him from doing this, but his father didn't listen to him.
Unexpectedly, such a small thing would bring disaster to the Jie family.
After a pause, Xie Xianhe whispered: "Father, even if the Holy Father is suspicious of this matter, there is no evidence, so as long as you refuse to admit it, Father, there is nothing he can do to you."
"Evidence? Xianhe, you are too naive." Xie Xuelong shook his head and continued, "Son, there is no room for redemption in this matter. If my father takes matters into his own hands, he can at least keep the dignity of the second minister in the cabinet and the Xie family's family.
You can save your karma, but if you resist to the end, nothing can be saved."
What have become of Wei Guogong and Bao Guogong now?
"Father!" Xie Xianhe looked dark. He wanted to cry but didn't dare.
Now he also believed in his old father's judgment, but he couldn't bear to watch his father commit suicide. Is this what a son of man should do?
After tidying up his clothes, Xie Xuelong said again: "Xianhe, the second child, and the third child are useless. Don't let them know the whole story, otherwise they may do something stupid."
"Just tell them that being a father is like falling into a well while admiring the moon."
After a pause, he added: "When I report my funeral to the court tomorrow, I will also say that I slipped and fell into a well."
"Father!" Jie Xianhe fell to his knees with a bang, not daring to cry out loud, only sobbing.
Jie Xuelong stepped forward and patted his son on the shoulder, then sighed and walked out of the study to the courtyard.
There is a deep well in the middle of the courtyard, which is said to lead directly to the East China Sea. No matter how dry the well is, the water in the well has never dried up.
"Father!" Xie Xianhe suddenly rushed out of the study and grabbed Xie Xuelong, not wanting his father to jump into the well. "Father, if we think of other ways, there must be other ways! It won't be like this, it will never be like this.
!”
"Silly boy, there is no other way." Jie Xuelong sighed, "This is already the best result."
After saying that, Jie Xuelong gently opened Xie Xianhe's hands and said: "Son, you must remember that from now on, my Jie family will make a living by doing business for generations, and no descendants will be allowed to enter the officialdom again."
"Yeah." Xie Xianhe nodded vigorously with a cry.
"Don't do stupid things." Xie Xuelong sighed, "My Ming Dynasty has ushered in an unprecedented sage king. The prosperous age of all nations coming to court is approaching. It's a pity that my father can't see it..."
After saying that, Jie Xuelong fell headlong into the ancient well.
"Father!" Jie Xianhe Qian howled and rushed to the edge of the well.
But all they saw was water splashing in the well, and no one was in sight.
Looking up at the night sky again, I saw dark clouds all around. Where is the moon?
"Father!" Jie Xianhe murmured twice and fell to the ground slumped.
…
Early the next morning.
Officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs such as Ma Mingluan, Ruan Dacheng, Wang Wei, Fu Shan, and Fang Yizhi all arrived at Yilun Hall, and even Chen Zilong from the agricultural science department in Xuzhou was rushed back during the incident.
The only ones absent were Yan Yingyuan and Xu Yingwei from the military department.
Chongzhen summoned Ma Mingluan and others from various departments to discuss a major matter.
"I summoned you here to discuss something." Chongzhen leaned back on the brocade cushion and said leisurely, "Because recently, some people have been gossiping about me behind my back, saying that I want the horse to run again, and
If you want the horse to stop eating grass, you will say that I am an old penny-pincher, and I will let the diligent princes and nobles work in vain without giving them a penny of salary."
As soon as Chongzhen finished speaking, Zheng Sen said: "Your Majesty, it doesn't matter what the salary is, but should the funding for each department be increased? Our flight department only has one thousand taels of funding, what can we do with this little money?"
"Zheng Sen, don't say anything." The medical department told Fu Shan, "Your Zheng family has a great business, so you won't starve to death without receiving a salary from the court for the rest of your life, but we can't, we really can't hold on any longer."
After talking about this for a while, Fu Shan stiffened his neck and said to Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, it is me who said that you want the horse to run and not eat grass, but this is not idle talk, but the psychological talk of the minister.
, I really can’t hold on anymore if we don’t receive salary. We currently have a hundred or ten people in the medical department, and everyone’s expenses depend entirely on consulting people.”
"Fu Shan, I don't mean to blame you." Chongzhen said with a smile, "I called you here today just for this matter. Other officials in the Ministry of Internal Affairs can receive their salaries, but it makes no sense that my diligent scholar should be free.
Work hard.”
After a pause, Chongzhen continued: "Also, the reason why I didn't give you a salary before was not because I was reluctant to give up the money, but because I wanted to test you to see if you could stay poor. The result is pretty good, definitely.
Most of the Qinwang scholars have kept their bottom line and have not reached out randomly based on their status as Qinwang scholars."
In people's minds, even the reasons for defaulting on debts can be found so fresh and refined.
"However, this is not a long-term solution after all. Salaries will definitely still be paid."
Chongzhen said: "Now you all tell me, under what standards should the Ministry of Internal Affairs distribute salaries?"
Zheng Sen said: "Your Majesty, I think it is enough to compare it with the salary of the capital officials. The salary of the seventh-grade capital officials will be the same as what we will receive."
No one wanted to say anything.
This matter is somewhat sensitive.
Chongzhen could only name him and asked Fu Shan: "Fu Shan, what do you think?"
Fu Shan said helplessly: "In reply to the Holy Spirit, it will be fine if we compare the salary of Beijing officials with silver coins, but if we issue treasure notes according to Beijing officials, I'm afraid it won't work."
"Take the salary of a seventh-ranking official as an example."
"The monthly salary set in the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu was seven stones and five dou, part of which was given out in lumi, and part of which was folded into treasure notes. Depending on the rank of the official, the proportion of folding and coloring was also different. In the following two hundred years, although the amount of folding and coloring was often changed,
There have been changes, but the salary quota has never changed. The salary for the seventh rank is seven stones and five dou."
"If these seven stones and five dou can be distributed in silver, according to the current price of rice, it will be seven taels and five cents, which is more than enough to support a family."
"But if these seven stones and five dou are converted into treasure banknotes, according to the current price of treasure banknotes, they are even less than five coins of silver. If it is just one person, it will not be a big problem, but if you want to feed a family, it will be difficult."
Chongzhen smiled when he heard this and said: "Is it really enough to convert it into seven taels and five cents of silver?"
"It's definitely enough to feed a family of several people," Fu Shan said, "but if there are dozens of people, it's definitely not enough."
With a monthly salary of seven stones and five dou, which is more than 1,100 kilograms of rice, a family of less than ten people can still live a comfortable life, and can even have meat for every meal, but if it exceeds ten people, it will be a little tight, but it can still maintain food and clothing.
There's still no problem, just don't think about drinking, eating meat or going to restaurants.
It is certainly not enough for Qin Wangshizi.
In addition to work, they also have to socialize.
If the salary standard is set too low, we will inevitably follow the old path of Grandfather Taizu.
Therefore, Chongzhen did not intend to repeat the same mistakes, but it would not work if he blindly established the Integrity Bank, because the Manchu Qing Dynasty's Integrity Bank system had proved that corrupt officials would not stop being corrupt just because of the existence of the Integrity Bank.
At that moment, Chongzhen turned his attention to the scholars again: "What do you mean?"
Chen Zilong, Fang Yizhi, Ruan Dacheng and others said: "I and others are the only ones to mount their horses and look at me."
Like Zheng Sen, these people all come from well-off families and have no shortage of money, so they have no interest in salary.
But Fu Shan, Wang Wei and a few others did not say anything. They still hoped for more.
"Don't say anything?" Chongzhen asked Wang Wei with a smile. Zheng Zunqian and the others who were silent said, "If you don't say anything, I will make a decision. The monthly salary will be seven stones and five buckets."
After hearing this, Ma Mingluan finally couldn't sit still.
Ma Mingluan said with some embarrassment: "Your Majesty, can you please add more? The monthly salary of seven taels and five cents is indeed a bit small. It can only be enough to drink a few drinks in Liubiju, and then the whole family will have to drink the northwest wind."
"
Chongzhen asked: "Ma Qing, according to your opinion, how much should be increased?"
Ma Mingluan said: "How about making up a full ten taels? A monthly salary of ten taels should be about the same."
While he was talking, Gao Qiqian suddenly walked in quickly and reported: "Long live my lord, Jie Mansion just sent someone to report the funeral. They said that Mr. Xie Ge accidentally fell into the well while admiring the moon in the mansion last night, because there was no one in the courtyard at that time.
, no one discovered it for a while, and by the time Xie’s family found out, it was already too late, and Mr. Xie Ge was already dead.”
"Ah? You slipped and fell into a well?" Zheng Sen, Fang Yizhi and other young scholars were dumbfounded.
Ma Mingluan, Ruan Dacheng and other older people were looking at the moon with awe in their hearts. Yesterday was the first day of the new year, so where was the moon? It was too fake to fall into a well or something like that?
Prince Zhu Cixi felt another deep realization in his heart.
Others don't know the inside story, but Zhu Cihong knows it.
A single summons from the father could actually force the deputy minister of the cabinet to fall into a trap and die?
A sentence from "Han Feizi" could not help but come to mind in Zhu Cixiang's mind: The dragon is like an insect, and can be harassed, captured, and ridden. However, there is an inverted scale scale under its throat, and if anyone picks it up, it will kill someone.
My father is indeed kind and does not want to commit more crimes.
But if someone offends his reverse scale, the father will also unleash thunderous wrath.
Mr. Xie Ge, Mr. Xie Ge, you really shouldn't provoke party strife again and offend your father.
Chongzhen's eyes also turned to Zhu Cixiang: "Prince, you go to Jie Mansion to express my condolences on my behalf. By the way, don't forget to pay ten taels of silver from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Jie family is not short of money, so it's okay as long as our wishes are fulfilled."
Fang Yizhi, Huang Zongxi and others couldn't hold back after hearing this.
Your Majesty is indeed the same as before, so happy.
After Zhu Cixiang left, Chongzhen said: "Continue."