While Wang Yuan was busy making new money, the imperial examination for the fifteenth year of Zhengde had ended.
Historically, this imperial examination is very interesting.
The civil servants completed the examination, but the emperor was not in the capital, and he did not even have a supervisor, so he could not conduct the next palace examination. When Zhu Houzhao finally came back, it was already the second year, and he had completed the palace examination before he died of illness.
But it is obviously different now. Zhu Houzhao is still alive and kicking, and there is a healthy and growing prince.
Guizhou scholars suddenly showed their strength this year. Brothers Tang Xun and Tang Xun were admitted to the Jinshi examination at the same time. Tang Xun, who had not become a disciple of Wang Yangming, ranked higher than his brother Tang Xun, winning the 14th place in the second class.
Among the disciples of Guizhou Xinxue, Ye Wu and Chen Wenxu, who were the most knowledgeable, failed the exam again. It is not known how long they will survive.
Tang Xun not only ranked among the best in the palace examination, but also successfully passed the shujishi examination, and is studying in the Hanlin Academy together with other shujishi.
The official dormitories managed by the Ministry of Industry were no longer sufficient, so Tang Xun and Zheng Yipeng were arranged to live in private houses, which were rented at the joint expense of the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Industry.
Becoming a Jinshi is the most exciting and also the most painful.
The court paid for food, clothing, housing and transportation, there were many holidays, and servants could be hired for free.
The pain is that it costs a lot of money. During the period of at least three months of observing the government, you have to receive gifts almost every day. You have to participate in various banquets and have to send gifts to important officials at the church. No matter whether they see you or not, your gifts must be delivered anyway.
Especially if you don't give more gifts to the officials, they may send you to some remote place to become a county magistrate after your term of office is over.
Before becoming an official official, the second-level Jinshi received the seventh-grade salary (annual salary of 84 dan), and the third-level official received the eighth-grade salary (annual salary of 78 dan).
As a concubine, Tang Xun was less embarrassed. He had to study for two or three years, and he could gradually keep up with the official and develop relationships.
One morning, it was another holiday.
After his roommate Zheng Yipeng washed up, he said to Tang Xun: "Zhong Yuan, when will your salary be paid today?"
"Let's go now." Tang Xun picked up the folding fan and said.
The two walked to Tiancai Treasury and happily collected their wages.
In the past, the Tiancai Treasury only paid salaries to soldiers in the Beijing camp, and the salaries of Beijing officials were drawn from the external transport treasury. However, during the Zhengde period, the external transport treasury was annexed by the inner government, and officials could only get their salaries from the Tiancai Treasury.
The only remaining transportation warehouse is the internal transportation warehouse, which is also the "internal warehouse" in a narrow sense. Officials "asking for internal funds" refer to taking money from the internal transportation warehouse.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor and the eunuchs were constantly embezzling the treasury. By the Zhengde period, only Taicang was still managed by the Ministry of Revenue. The internal transportation warehouse nominally belonged to the Ministry of Revenue, but the Ministry of Revenue only had the power to keep accounts, and the Ministry of Works had the power to audit the accounts.
The seal was controlled by officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs (the power of sealing was later taken away by eunuchs).
Except for the warehouse managed by the Ministry of Revenue, all other warehouses were in a mess, indicating that civil servants were relatively reliable.
However, emperors of all dynasties have been embezzling Taicang silver, which is equivalent to taking the national treasury silver into the inner treasury. The more interesting phenomenon is that in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Zhu Houzhao embezzled the least Taicang silver; while Jiajing and Wanli took silver from Taicang from time to time.
Wanli directly used the treasury as an internal treasury (there were also factors that led to the need to reward meritorious officials in the three major campaigns).
Judging from the misappropriation of money from the national treasury to enrich the internal treasury, Zhu Houzhao was a good and "selfless" emperor.
His grandfather, Emperor Chenghua, embezzled three times as much money from the treasury as Zhu Houzhao; his father, Emperor Hongzhi, embezzled six times as much money from the treasury as Zhu Houzhao; Emperor Jiajing embezzled six times as much money from the treasury as Zhu Houzhao; Emperor Wanli embezzled as much money from the treasury as directly
Thirteen times as much as Zhu Houzhao!
It is said that Zhu Houzhao liked to carry out large-scale construction projects, but he embezzled the least amount of money from the treasury!
When Tang Xun and Zheng Yipeng arrived at Tiantai Treasury, there were already many officials queuing up there. However, the real important ministers and important officials were all servants holding seals to receive them on their behalf, and would not come in person.
The person responsible for paying wages is the eunuch...
Several officials from the capital who had received their salaries passed by Tang Xun talking, and they all seemed to be discussing the new money.
After a long time, it was finally Tang Xun's turn. The eunuch asked him to sign and sign, and then threw in a silver dollar, a sling of copper coins, and a bag of rice. As for how to convert the salary into silver, the eunuch did not explain. Officials can go home and convert it by themselves.
If the money is broken too harshly, the officials will definitely make a fuss. There was a fuss in the early years of Zhengde.
Zheng Yipeng stared at the silver dollar in his hand and frowned: "Is this your Majesty's portrait?"
Tang Xun said: "It should be so."
I really couldn't identify him. I could only tell from the side profile of the crown that it was the emperor, and then judge that it was Zhu Houzhao through the "Zhengde Yuanbao".
Zheng Yipeng said angrily: "Shilang Wang came here to welcome you, and in order to please His Majesty, he actually used this method."
"Ahem." Tang Xun coughed twice, not wanting to discuss the matter.
Zheng Yipeng said: "Zhongyuan, you and Wang Shilang are from the same hometown, so you should try to persuade each other in private. I and other scholars study hard in the cold window, and what I want is to harmonize the family, govern the country, and bring peace to the world, instead of being sycophants who only want to please the emperor!"
Tang Xun could only say: "Wang Shilang has his own sense of proportion."
Yang Shen had already resigned in anger because the emperor had not returned from Beijing and his wife died of illness. This guy studied literature, art, physics, and mathematics all day long, and gathered a large number of like-minded people. Zheng Yipeng was Yang Shen's fanatic
Fans, historically they went to Crying Gate with Yang Ai.
To put it simply, Zheng Yipeng is an angry young man. Maybe he will slowly change after entering politics. For better or worse, it is not clear for the time being. At least at the moment he is very simple.
The two of them hadn't gone far when a helper came over and said with a smile, "Masters, would you like to exchange money?"
"What does exchanging money mean?" Tang Xun asked confused.
The gangster explained: "It means using old money to exchange for new money in your hands. Yellow money (money minted in the capital) is exchanged for new money, two cents for one cent; leather money (money minted in the local area) is exchanged for new money, copper coins are considered better.
Depending on the condition, you can exchange two to five cents for one cent."
Zheng Yipeng was surprised and said: "Is the new money minted by Wang Shilang so valuable?"
Bang Xian smiled and said: "My master loves to collect coins. You two don't have to worry about it. It's just for collecting."
Zheng Yipeng hesitated for a moment, took out the salary he had just received and said, "Then I will exchange it all for yellow money."
The two parties made a deal on the spot, and the amount of copper coins in Zheng Yipeng's hand doubled.
Zheng Yipeng asked again: "Can I exchange this silver dollar?"
Bangxian shook his head and said, "I won't change."
This is a particularly interesting phenomenon. Most of the first batch of new copper coins issued were taken by banks and wealthy households in the capital. They hired people to exchange new coins everywhere, and then stored them away because the new coins were beautifully made and used.
It's full of materials, not only can it maintain its value, but you can also make a profit on the price difference when shipped to other places.
In this way, bad money drives out good money, good money is hidden, and bad money circulates in the market.
On the contrary, it is the silver coins made by Wang Yuan. Because they contain some impurities, wealthy households and banks are too lazy to store them. However, because they are exquisitely made and reasonably priced, they are very popular in the market. It is very convenient for merchants to do business. They do not need to check the quality of the silver before weighing it.
.
Small transactions are also very convenient. You don't need to cut off a dime of silver, just give one yuan, five cents or one dime standard silver dollar.
The creation of new money this time was a great success, and both officials and people were very satisfied.
(Note: In the Ming Dynasty, one pound is equal to sixteen taels, one tael is equal to ten qian, and one qian is equal to ten cents. Not all are in hexadecimal.)