In the past few days, the Song magistrate has recommended Jia Lian to the Ministry of Personnel and recommended him to fill the vacancy after his promotion.
For this matter, Jia Lian also planned to prepare three thousand taels of silver to honor Lord Song for his support.
After all, the shortage of Shuntian Mansion is really tempting.
But this matter has become a bit confusing recently.
The reason for the matter is that after the Supreme Emperor passed the throne to the current emperor, the current emperor has not taken any action on the situation in the court, but recently, he has made some adjustments to the post of prefect:
A total of 180 prefectures across the country were reclassified and divided into four levels based on the four characters of "rush, complexity, fatigue, and difficulty".
"Chong" refers to the place where the ground is a hole, that is, a traffic artery;
"Complex" refers to those who have complicated government affairs, that is, there are many things;
"Tired" refers to those who have too much wealth and are in debt, that is, they are short of money and food;
"Difficult" means that it is difficult to govern if the people are unruly and violent, and if there are many cases of robbery or murder.
According to this standard, any government position with all four characters is called "most in need";
The three-character government position is called "vital";
The two-character government position is called "middle vacancy";
Government positions with one or no characters are called "simple vacancies".
Based on this division, the appointment method of the new prefect was also adjusted.
The "most urgently lacking" magistrates are designated as "vacancies by decree", that is, they need to be nominated by the Ministry of Civil Affairs or local governors, and then appointed by the emperor;
"If there is a vacancy", the prefect will "fill the vacancy", that is, recommended by the local governor;
If the magistrates of "mid-deficient" and "jian-deficient" prefects are "adjusted to fill the vacancy," that is, they will be left to the selection of the Ministry of Personnel.
The prefect of Shuntian Prefecture is originally from the fourth rank, but Shuntian Prefecture is the seat of Shenjing. It controls five states and twenty-two counties. It is extremely important and is not called Zhili. Therefore, the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture is from the third rank, which is "the most important thing." "The most important thing is missing".
Such a position must be appointed by the emperor. How can it be recommended by the local governor?
Although he has already established a relationship with Dai Quan, he may be able to follow the path of the Supreme Emperor, but the Supreme Emperor is already sixty-eight years old after all. If he wants it to last, he still has to get the emperor's approval.
It seems that more efforts must be made on this matter before Rongguo Mansion can regain the respect of the emperor.
Over at Ningguo Mansion, I placed Jia Rong next to the Emperor. With his cleverness and tact, he will definitely be favored by the Emperor, which can be regarded as a double insurance for the Jia family.
In this way, Rong Ning can work together and remain undefeated in the political arena, and they will have great potential in the future.
As for Jia She, Jia Zheng and Jia Zhen, the three unsatisfactory old materials, if they can avoid getting into trouble, it will be their greatest contribution to the Jia family.
.
But now, the biggest problem facing the Jia family is not politics, but money.
There are only four items of income in the Jia family:
The first is land rent.
The farm in Ningguo Mansion earned five thousand taels of silver last year, while the income in Rongguo Mansion was almost ten thousand taels.
The second is the imperial court’s reward.
These gifts for the New Year and festivals may be colored satin, antiques, or gold. Although they look decent, they are limited in quantity and are worth two thousand taels in total. Secondly, the courtesy is reciprocated, and the emperor gives it to you.
Before giving a reward, how could one not show filial piety first? Thirdly, the reward was given by the emperor, but it was sent by the eunuch. How could the eunuch be given less than a few hundred taels of silver?
The third is the imperial salary.
There are people with clear salaries in this mansion. In the Rongguo mansion, there is only Jia She, a hereditary first-class general, Jia Zheng, a member of the Ministry of Industry, and he is a fifth-rank fellow. In the Ningguo mansion, there is only Jia Zhen, a hereditary third-class general.
Jia Rong's fifth-grade dragon ban captain has not yet grasped the heat in his hand.
Putting these five official positions together, the total salary in a year is less than 600 taels, and the salary is only 400 shi.
The fourth is shady income.
For example, if you help someone with some errands, they will give you some filial money; for example, Wang Xifeng misappropriates everyone's monthly money to make loan sharks; for example, some empty houses are rented out. After a year, the amount is uncertain, ranging from two to three thousand taels to three to five.
One thousand taels.
The total expenditure will cost at least one hundred thousand taels of silver a year.
In the Rongguo Mansion alone, there are only a dozen or so eldest masters in total. The average daily expenditure per person is five taels of silver. The basic living expenses of a dozen masters per year are thirty to forty thousand taels of silver.
.
There are more than a thousand servants in Rongguo Mansion, and the monthly expenditure of the servants exceeds eight thousand taels. The maids are fed and clothed the same as the masters. Even the third-class servants wear gold, silver, silk and satin.
At the end of the year, you will need at least ten thousand or twenty thousand silver.
Not to mention the welcoming and sending of dignitaries from other high-ranking families, weddings and weddings, treating guests and drinking, and giving rewards for acting, which also costs tens of thousands of taels of silver a year.
With this calculation, it is obvious that the Jia family cannot make ends meet.
Year after year, you have to eat a lot of food. No matter how big the family fortune is, it cannot withstand a few years of hard work. The matter of losing everything is just around the corner.
But what should we do about this matter...
.
Jia Lian was so engrossed in his thoughts that he lost his way unconsciously. He walked along a narrow road and came to a small door. When he walked in, a boy hurriedly called Qian:
"I've met Mr. Lian."
Jia Lian pointed to the courtyard inside: "This is?"
The boy was very smart and immediately replied:
"If I go back to the Second Master, this is Lixiangyuan."
As I was talking, I heard several voices shouting together in the yard:
"Big! Big! Big! Big!..."
I was particularly excited when I heard Jia Huan’s sharp and thin voice shouting:
"Small! Small! Small! The birds are flapping their wings and chirping. This dice is sure to be small! Small! Small! Small!"
Jia Lian signaled the boy to be quiet and walked in. Suddenly he heard soft footsteps behind him. When he turned around, he saw a girl of fifteen or sixteen years old, followed by a maid holding a food box in her hand.
The girl is neither tall nor short, with a figure that is neither fat nor thin. She wears a honey-coloured cotton-padded jacket, a rose-purple and two-color golden rat jacket, and an onion-yellow silk cotton skirt. They are neither new nor old.
She has a beautiful appearance, elegant manners, a face like a silver basin, eyes like apricots, and an expression that is neither salty nor light, but there is an extra charming charm that is too light to describe. It is indeed a style that "can be ruthless and charming".
The person who came was indeed Baochai and Ying'er. She saluted Jia Lian generously and said steadily:
"I think this is Second Master Lian?"
"Exactly, come to think of it, is this Miss Bao?"
Baochai smiled:
"My relatives have been here for a long time, but I haven't seen them yet."
She also heard the shouting and yelling of everyone in Lixiangyuan and smiled calmly:
"It's all my brother's fault. He provoked a group of them to come to our yard to gamble and have fun.
If the old lady knew about it, she wouldn't know how to send us away."
Jia Lian also smiled:
"Don't worry, I won't embarrass the old lady."
But I thought in my heart: This girl looks calm and steady, but she is very scheming inside. Just this sentence, she wants to block my way to talk to the old lady about Xue Pan.