"Your Majesty, I would like to divide this salary increase for officials into two parts. One is the monthly salary to meet their living needs, and the other is an additional integrity bonus system."
"What is the integrity gold system?" Emperor Chongzhen and Wen Tiren asked together. After the question came out, Wen Tiren was slightly embarrassed, as if he was very anxious.
Fortunately, neither Emperor Chongzhen nor Zhong Jinwei noticed, and Wen Tiren's demeanor immediately returned to normal.
Zhong Jinwei explained: "To put it simply, after you become an official until you retire and return to your hometown, that is, after you stop being an official, you will have an extra amount of money. Of course, the premise is that there is no record of corruption." [
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he realized that this was the same as rewarding someone for doing well, but the details were different. The previous rewards were arbitrary, but what Master Zhong said would be regarded as a established example and expired.
It must be given.
While he was still thinking, Wen Tiren asked Zhong Jinwei: "Uncle Zhongxing, your simple explanation makes people understand what it is, but how should we do it specifically?"
"Master Wen, this is what I think. It is stipulated that each official will be rewarded with an amount of integrity gold for one month. Everyone can know how much integrity gold they will receive when they are no longer an official if they are an honest official."
"Does that mean that the integrity gold is the same as the monthly salary, but it can't be collected immediately?" Wen Tiren continued to ask.
"There is a difference."
"What's the difference?"
"The monthly salary is different according to the grade. This reflects the issue of ability, so it should be treated differently. But this integrity gold is different. It is a reward for integrity when you are an official. I think as long as you are an official, no matter what
No matter what kind of official you are, you are required to be honest. As long as you can do this, you will get the same integrity gold. If there is corruption, you will not get a single point."
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he asked Zhong Jinwei with a wry smile: "Master Zhong, the profits of state-owned enterprises will be very high, but there can't be a lot of them at the beginning, right? This is both a salary increase and an anti-corruption fund.
, how to solve this money? I still need money in many places!"
Zhong Jinwei also had a headache after hearing this. Everything is difficult at the beginning! He lowered his head and thought quickly.
"Uncle Zhongxing, why don't you temporarily use the banknotes to replace the extra expenses?" Wen Tiren gave him an idea.
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen thought it was a good idea and could solve this problem immediately. Just when he was about to speak, Zhong Jinwei said: "No, absolutely not. The credibility of paper currency has not been established yet. If we break away from the silver standard, we will end up with the Ming Dynasty treasure."
The money will end up becoming a piece of waste paper."
Zhong Jinwei's voice was a bit loud and his attitude was firm.
"Uncle Zhongxing had a misunderstanding. It's not that we can't exchange the silver, but we just don't have the silver for the time being. When the profits of state-owned enterprises become large and we have the remaining money, why don't we just exchange it for them!" Wen Tiren quickly explained to Zhong Jinwei.
"That's not okay. Now, they don't believe how much profit state-owned enterprises can make. Only if they see the money-making ability of state-owned enterprises will they believe it. Otherwise, the banknotes in their hands will still depreciate greatly." Zhong Jinwei still shook his head in denial.
Wen Tiren stopped talking after hearing this, and the Wenhua Hall became quiet.
After a while, Zhong Jinwei raised his head and said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, the treatment of these officials must be increased. Just as I said to you before, only by allowing them to share the benefits of the system reform will they work seriously."
Don’t cause trouble.”
Seeing Chongzhen nod slightly, he continued: "Integrity gold will be implemented after the policy is announced. It is only for accounting for the time being. Even if someone retires and returns home in the short term, there will not be much time for the integrity fund to accumulate, so this amount of expenses can be temporarily
Don’t think about it.”
"Not bad." Emperor Chongzhen heard this and expressed his agreement.
"As for the salary increase for officials, it can be implemented in several stages. For example, for those with low salaries, this can be based on the daily consumption needs of the capital. If it is not enough to maintain the daily needs of a certain number of people in the family, we will give them a salary increase first, and then increase the salary for them at intervals.
How long will it take for the next best thing to be solved, until all salary increases are completed?"[
"How to set this time? There must be a basis, right?" Wen Tiren asked.
"It will be decided based on the profit growth of state-owned enterprises."
After hearing Zhong Jinwei's answer, Wen Tiren was unsure about the growth rate of state-owned enterprises' profits, so he asked: "Is this time too long?"
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he said directly: "It has been like this for hundreds of years. How can you not afford to wait for this little time? If anyone has any opinions, I will go to his house to see if it is true that they will starve to death if they cannot afford to wait."
"What about the officials outside the capital?" After hearing Emperor Chongzhen's slightly threatening words, Wen Tiren stopped worrying about this and asked another question.
"Thirteen provinces in the two capitals have set up state-owned enterprises, and they will be sent out after the capital has trained more talents. The salaries of local officials will be settled locally, and the central government will check the accounts. They will be taken back to the central government later." Zhong Jinwei thought that now he can only bloom more.
, go hand in hand to increase profits in a short period of time, so this plan was given.
To be honest, there were not many officials in the Ming Dynasty and their monthly salaries were very low, so they had this broad foundation.
Wen Tiren thought for a while and felt that this plan was still feasible, so he stopped asking.
But at this time, Emperor Chongzhen spoke: "Master Zhong, the military pay of the border troops in various places is also urgently needed. In some places, the military pay has been in arrears for several months. How to solve this?"
A while ago, the money obtained by the Marquis of Baoding, the Admiral of Jingying, and two censors was finally settled by selling iron and confiscating the houses of Baoding Marquis, the admiral of the capital camp, and two censors, which temporarily stabilized the problem of military pay and food for King Qin's army.
However, the issue of delayed pay for the border troops has always been pressing in Emperor Chongzhen's heart. There is also a huge amount of silver needed for disaster relief all over the country, which almost drove Emperor Chongzhen crazy.
Nowadays, in order to fight corruption, we have to raise the salary of officials and provide integrity funds. This is something that cannot be done. Emperor Chongzhen knew that if you want to do your job well, you must first sharpen your tools, so when Zhong Jinwei proposed these measures, he always
No objection.
Emperor Chongzhen originally placed his hope on the profits of state-owned enterprises and banknotes, hoping that he would be able to divert some of the profits after making them. However, according to Master Zhong's arrangement, there is definitely no chance for the time being.
Now that Zhong Jinwei has figured out the source of the salary increase money and integrity gold, he can't help but express his worries.
Zhong Jinwei also felt a headache. The Ming Dynasty was short of money everywhere, but needed money everywhere. It would be better if he remembered more golden fingers.
The military pay of the army here must be solved. Zhong Jinwei knows this better than Emperor Chongzhen and Wen Tiren, because he knows that it is these soldiers who have received military training who eventually joined the rebel team because they could no longer survive.
Only by moving away did the rebels become more powerful.
Zhong Jinwei is not the God of Wealth, nor does he have a cornucopia, so he cannot conjure up a lot of money at once.
In fact, it can't be said that there is no such thing, it's just that when he was in the middle of the game, his mind was only thinking about how to make money by producing things, and he forgot about other ways to make money.
Emperor Chongzhen waited for a while, but did not wait for Zhong Jinwei's reply. Then he looked at Wen Tiren and saw that he also had a sad expression, knowing that the chief minister could not conjure up money.
When he became irritated, he became angry. He couldn't help but changed his mind a little bit, and said with a trace of irresponsibility: "How about I grit my teeth, get rid of all these corrupt officials, and confiscate their homes, then I will have money."
Got it!"
The method mentioned by Emperor Chongzhen has been demonstrated before and is not feasible. When Zhong Jinwei and Wen Tiren heard Emperor Chongzhen's angry statement, they both raised their heads and looked over, trying to distinguish whether the emperor really wanted to do this or not.
Just venting.
At this moment, the sound of rapid footsteps was heard outside the palace, indicating an urgent military report.[
Zhong Jinwei and Wen Tiren looked at each other, both a little worried. The current military situation is basically that nine out of ten news are bad news.
Emperor Chongzhen hurriedly asked his chamberlain to forward the urgent military report. He saw that there were two memorials, one was the urgent military report, and the other was Sun Chengzong's memorial.
Emperor Chongzhen quickly opened it and read it. Neither Zhong Jinwei nor Wen Tiren spoke. For a moment, the Wenhua Hall became quiet.