Mo Zhu was pounding his abacus and then began to calculate the account books for Muchuan.
There are a total of 231 people in the Household Department, from the lowest record-keeper to the highest-ranking Secretary of the Household Department. The average salary reaches three taels of gold, two loads of rice and noodles, ten pounds of pork, etc. per month.
After one month, the amount of money converted into silver amounted to 750 taels of gold.
Compared with the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of War and other departments, the average expenditure of the Ministry of Household Affairs is doubled!
Mo Zhu "Our expenses are too high..."
"Is it big?"
When Muchuan spoke, he especially glanced at Ouyang Bufan.
Ouyang Bufan shook his head and said, "It's not big. It's only 750 taels of gold per month, which is very cheap."
But Mo Zhu didn't think so, but he knew that 750 taels of gold was enough to feed two thousand soldiers!
The most important thing is that the expenditure of the Ministry of Revenue is now too large, which has attracted criticism from other officials. Recently, some officials in the court have been impeached for this.
After Mo Zhu told the story about the recent impeachment, he asked: "So Mr. Muchuan...do we need to discuss this matter of expenses?"
"It needs to be discussed."
As a result, listening to the two of them talking, Ouyang Bufan was dissatisfied.
"Let's discuss it. This salary is not enough for us to eat and clothe!"
Ouyang Bufan complained, "If we really want to adjust the salary, we should first adjust the salary of those fifth-rank officials!"
As one of the departments that manages the treasury, the Ministry of Revenue has very low salaries for officials of fifth rank and above.
Take Ouyang Bufan, the Minister of Household Affairs, as an example. Sun Shitou, who is also the Minister of Finance, can get a monthly salary of ten taels of gold, while Ouyang Bufan only only has five taels of gold, which is less than half!
As for why the salaries of officials in the Ministry of Household Affairs are so low, it is mainly due to the regulations set by Liu Zhenghui, the former Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
In his early years, Liu Zhenghui was the Sima of Taiyuan in the Sui Dynasty. Later, he marched and fought with Li Yuan, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, he was appointed as the Minister of Household Affairs.
As one of the twenty-four heroes of Lingyan Pavilion, Liu Zhenghui has always been clean and honest, and for this reason he also requires other officials to be like him.
As the Ministry of Household Affairs manages finances, in order to demonstrate its integrity, the salaries of officials above the fifth rank have been appropriately reduced.
It's fine for the fifth grade, but when it comes to the fourth and third grades, it's basically cut in half, which would be unfair to Muchuan, Ouyang Bufan, and Mo Zhu.
At this time, Ouyang Bufan became very dissatisfied and threatened to reduce the salary of the other five ministers and ministers. This was only fair.
Muchuan understood Ouyang Bufan's dissatisfaction quite well. In fact, he himself was very dissatisfied with this formulation. If it weren't for the fact that he was not short of money and did not want to break the rules set by the previous Minister of Revenue, he would have changed it long ago.
But seeing that Ouyang Bufan had such a big opinion at this time, and Mo Zhu also mentioned salary, Muchuan laughed: "Yes, that's why we have to discuss salary. I plan to raise the salary a little bit."
.”
"Turn it up!"
Mo Zhu screamed in shock.
After all, Mo Zhu originally wanted to discuss lowering his salary, but Muchuan actually said he wanted to raise it?
Wouldn’t this go against his original intention from the beginning?
Mo Zhu quickly advised: "No, Lord Muchuan...our Ministry of Revenue will definitely be impeached like this! Then everyone will probably say that we are corrupt and bending the law!"
"Oh, Mo Zhu, don't be so cowardly! And think about it carefully, such low salary will dampen the enthusiasm of officials!"
In fact, Muchuan could understand Liu Zhenghui's intention of lowering the household salary to show his personal integrity and pursue the principle of "frugality is virtue".
The problem is that current events are different now than they were in the past!
When Liu Zhenghui was the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, it was the time when the Tang Dynasty had just been established. All industries were in ruins and the treasury was empty. At this time, it was natural to pursue "frugality is a virtue", so it was natural for the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue to take the lead in taking low wages.
But now is completely different from the past. Several decades have passed since Li Yuan founded the country. The Tang Dynasty's state affairs were prosperous and prosperous. It is somewhat inappropriate to still pursue "frugality" at this time.
On the contrary, now that the state has granted it and fiscal revenue has increased, it is even more important to increase salaries!
Raising salaries can not only increase the enthusiasm of officials, but also prevent officials from taking bribes and bending the law. After all, think about it, when officials have enough basic material needs, who will take the risk of corruption?
Muchuan expressed his philosophy at this time, and said with a slight smile: "So you see, is this the truth?"
Ouyang Bufan looked very happy, waving his hands and cheering: "Yes, Lord Muchuan is right, I fully support it!"
Mo Zhu: "My lord, it is indeed right to say so..."
Very good, it seems that the two ministers of household affairs agree with Muchuan's idea, so Muchuan will start to formulate a new salary distribution!
Holding the brush in his hand, Muchuan started drafting on the rice paper. After about a cup of tea, he wrote out the salary of the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
The salary of officials below the fifth rank will be increased by 30%, and that of officials above the fifth rank will be increased by three times.
After seeing the drafted salary document, Ouyang Bufan began to calculate: "If my salary is tripled, wouldn't it be fifteen taels of gold per month?
Haha, that’s not bad!”
Mo Zhu looked horrified: "This... this is too exaggerated! This kind of salary distribution will definitely not work!"
Although the average salary of the Ministry of Revenue is lower than that of other ministries, it has a very large number of officials, which results in their overall expenditure being twice that of other departments.
After Muchuan's salary adjustment, the total expenditure will be three times that of other departments.
Mo Zhu couldn't imagine what kind of discussion it would trigger once such salary documents were known to other officials.
"Your Excellency...Since ancient times, we have worried not about scarcity but about inequality. You are unconvincing."
"Why is it so unconvincing? I don't want to think about who is paying out the entire imperial court's salary."
It is precisely because the Ministry of Household Affairs is making money that officials can have salary and food to eat! As the person who distributes money, is it strange to increase your salary?
This should be normal!
But Ouyang Bufan also showed concern: "Although our salary document has been written, I still feel that it will not be passed..."
The Tang Dynasty court had formulated a complete set of decision-making deliberations, with Zhongshu Sheng drafting a document to initiate the decision, the Menxia Shengxing giving approval, the prime minister assisting in review, and the emperor making the final decision.
Of course, if any court officials have good ideas, they can also submit a letter to the Zhongshu Provincial Department, which will initiate the initiative.
This means that the salary document drafted by Muchuan needs to be handed over to the Zhongshu Province, and then handed over to the Menxia Province from the Zhongshu Province.
