Du Fenghe put on his official robe again, with two egrets playing in his lap.
Looking in the mirror, looking at this dark green official robe, I felt a little uncomfortable for a while. In the past, Ming Dynasty official robes were scarlet for the first to fourth grades, cyan for the fifth to seventh grades, and green for the eighth to ninth grades, with green being the lowest grade.
But now that Emperor Shaotian has ascended the throne in Nanjing, he has changed the colors of his clothes: purple robes for those of the third rank and above, scarlet robes for the fourth and fifth ranks, green robes for the sixth and seventh ranks, and green robes for the eighth and ninth ranks, each of which is divided into two colors: dark and light.
The colors of green and green have changed.
The prefect of Penglai in Dengzhou is a prefecture and belongs to Shangzhou, so it is from the sixth rank.
"With this green official robe and this egret patch, you are really energetic today. I guess it won't be long before you can change into the scarlet robe." Master Chen Xueyin praised.
Chen Xueyin was Du Fenghe's fellow Shaoxing fellow, and he was also born in Juren. He also worked in Beijing for several years, but did not get an official position. Later, he simply joined the imperial court as a guest and specialized in being a master, giving up his ambition to pursue an official career.
It should be said that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were a huge number of senior officials in the officialdom. From the county magistrate to the magistrate, governor, and governor, officials at all levels were surrounded by a staff team, ranging from a few people to dozens or hundreds of people.
These people are not part of the imperial establishment, but are privately hired assistant secretaries.
According to different duties, they were divided into Master Xingming, Master Qiangu, Master Shuqi, Master Zuo, etc. Some senior officials and some Masters were just there to drink and write poems with them.
Du Fenghe has been an official for ten years and has a large staff team. Master Xing Ming is responsible for litigation and criminal law, Master Qian Gu is responsible for taxes, money and food, Master Shuqi is responsible for writing letters, and Master Zuo is responsible for writing manuscripts for superiors. These masters
Those with the highest salaries are Xing Ming and Qian Gu, both of whom require very professional skills. One person can earn hundreds of taels of silver per year. Other masters like Shu Qi have much lower salaries.
In addition to raising four masters, Du Fenghe also had other private individuals, such as sedan bearers, attendants, etc., and even arranged for his own people to serve as head catchers, scribes, etc.
When senior governors of the Ming Dynasty took office, they could bring with them provincial officials such as Beijing officials and Bujian. They often also brought with them personnel. When they took office, they brought with them officials, generals, officials, doctors, etc., to convey orders and translate them.
He was responsible for examining the situation of the barbarians, supervising military supplies, writing books, treating illnesses, etc. In addition, he was also required to bring his younger brothers and nephews to prepare for his armpits, and his family members to provide envoys.
These useful people around them were provided with rations, horses, fodder, etc. by the imperial court.
As for low-level officials such as prefects and county magistrates, after they take office, they will face many affairs in the yamen that cannot be handled by one person. They also need to be shared by these masters and followers, and even help them seize power. However, these people in the imperial court
Failure to pay rations is entirely the responsibility of the officials themselves.
However, officials' salaries are inherently low and cannot be afforded. Therefore, the officialdom has always had its own set of unspoken rules. The most important ones are receiving gifts, various appointment rites, holiday gifts, birthday gifts, etc., plus the consumption of fire.
The division of the local officials.
Therefore, being an official like a county magistrate in the Ming Dynasty requires an excellent staff team. If the staff team is experienced, then the official will be easy. Not only that, you can even make money. Otherwise, if the staff is inexperienced, then the official will be
Not only will they be ignored by the officials below, but they will even lose money.
When Du Fenghe was first appointed county magistrate, he lost more than 10,000 taels of silver because his staff at the time were inexperienced.
"Master Chen, thank you, are you ready with your gifts?"
After the city of Dengzhou was breached, Du Fenghe and his staff were arrested and starved for six or seven days. Fortunately, Du Fenghe finally saved the day and was rewarded. He was still the prefect, although he had an additional post.
The word "," means temporary generation. It remains to be seen, but at least the actual job is still available.
He met Chen Qianfu, and the first thing he did after getting his official seal back was to quickly request the release of his master, followers, etc., and restore his team first.
His team is basically all Shaoxing people.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Shaoxing's masters were very famous because Shaoxing was a major imperial examination center with a large number of scholars and scholars. The people of Shaoxing even regarded scribes as a business and formed the famous Shaoxing subordinate official gang.
Shaoxing scholars often went to the yamen to work as scribes, and even served as aides to officials. They used the method of flying across the sea to accumulate qualifications for official selection, so that by the end of the Ming Dynasty, yamen (prefecture and county Zuoerguan, scribe) were all over the world.
This is the best we can do) Half of them come from Shaoxing.
There are more than ten thousand masters in the world, and more than half of them are from Shaoxing.
As the saying goes, there is no yamen without a curtain.
In fact, private employment became common in the Ming Dynasty. The key reason for the prosperity of the shogunate was the imperfect official system of the Ming Dynasty. For example, senior officials such as governors and governors had always been officials in the capital. Temporary officials assigned by the imperial court to special places did not have any subordinate officials of their own.
They take office alone, so naturally they can only recruit their own staff, bring their entourage, etc.
Later, the patrol governor was stationed on a permanent basis, and the excessive appointment of various Taoist officials also caused a huge shortage of officials. If there were officials but no officials, it could only be done privately.
Secondly, there are local government offices such as prefectures and counties. There are few subordinate officials, and their power is seriously usurped by the chief officials. Especially in county offices, most of the power in the county is exclusive to the county magistrate.
In the hands of officials, the chief officer cannot control it, so naturally it can only be managed through the staff.
Another characteristic of the Ming Dynasty is that in local government, subordinate officials are often hereditary from the local area. Officials came from the imperial examination and were still officials. However, almost all subordinate officials are local and are not subject to term limits, etc., forming a very powerful system.
The power of subordinate staff, if officials do not have a reliable personal team, will simply be ignored.
Another reason is that most of the officials in the Ming Dynasty came from the imperial examination. Many of them had studied for half their lives, and they only knew how to read the Four Books and the Five Classics and do eight-legged essays. They had no experience in handling government affairs at all, so they needed the help of experienced staff after taking office. Another reason
On the other hand, a large number of scholars took the imperial examinations, and many of them were bound to fail the exams. The final way out could only be to become a scholar, enter the imperial court, practice medicine, or become a litigator.
These two are relatively respectable, and can even accumulate experience, so that they can be candidates for official positions in the future.
Du Fenghe's team has been together for almost ten years. The members are relatively stable and the cooperation is very tacit. They are an excellent team. Du Fenghe relied on this team to make a fortune of 200,000 to 300,000 taels over the years. Of course,
His friends and entourage were also impressed.
Valley embroidery
For example, his criminal name is Old Master, and his annual salary is five hundred taels, but he is also given a share of other annual birthday gifts. They treat themselves as guests and friends. If Du Fenghe gets the big share, he will also share the profit with them, so everyone
In fact, we are very satisfied with this cooperation.
A prosperous relationship.
"Ten thousand taels of silver are used to give gifts. Don't be stingy." Du Fenghe confessed that he felt very lucky to be able to recover this time, but the officialdom veteran also knew that even if he was lucky this time, he should take care of it.
Still can’t be less.
How to give gifts is also a big question. You can't favor one over the other, let alone leave something out. Which one should give how much is a big question. If you don't do it well, you will offend others.
Now that the emperor is stationed in Dengzhou, many cabinet ministers and civil and military ministers from the six ministries are present, which is even more challenging.
Ten thousand taels of silver must be arranged carefully.
Master Chen also knew that Du Fenghe's 90,000 taels had been confiscated. Although he felt distressed, he could only accept it. After all, at least he had saved his life and got an official position.
"I heard that Long Live advocates frugality and dislikes luxury. It also prohibits officials from accepting gifts and bribes indiscriminately. Should we consider it?" Master Zhao reminded.
Du Fenghe said, "That's the case, but how can an official in this world not do it for money? If you give a gift, the superior officer may not remember you, but if you don't give it, he will definitely remember you.
Whether gifts should be given or not, whether they should be received or not is another matter."
The friends of the host family sat there and studied for a long time, and finally drew up a list of gifts, including who should be given, which should be rewarded, and how much should be given. After repeatedly confirming that there were no omissions, Du Fenghe asked his followers to take it.
Use money to buy gifts, or pack them directly.
Only then did he summon his masters and scribes to discuss business matters again.
Du Fenghe had four official masters, but each master had several clerks under him, so the entire master team totaled about twenty people.
"You guys think, when I take office again, how should I burn the first three things? In order to show my ability and achieve political achievements?" Du Fenghe also held back his energy and wanted to make some movement. After all, the emperor was ascending the throne.
If you can achieve great results in Zhouzhou, you will attract the attention of saints. If you can be summoned, won't you be able to achieve success smoothly?
Such an opportunity is so rare, of course we must seize it.
Master Xing Ming is the most important of all the masters, ranking higher than Master Qian Gu, because Xing Ming is more professional and can easily lead to accidents if not handled well.
Master Chen was also from Shaoxing. He had been a criminal for half his life and had no intention of pursuing an official career. It is said that he had saved 40,000 to 50,000 taels of silver over the years and was very prosperous when he bought land and property in his hometown.
"I think we have to follow the court's policy closely, long live the Northern Expedition, and capture Dengzhou ourselves. Now we are sitting here, splitting our troops to capture Laizhou, etc. It seems that we will stick to Denglai for a long time, so we have three axes.
We have to start from here.”
"First of all, we need stability. In the past, the Qing government was pressing hard, and we could only try our best to force the payment of money, etc., but this has aroused the resentment of the people and rebellions continued in various places. We must change the policy now, and we can't do this anymore."
Du Fenghe stroked his beard and said, "Old Master Chen, please speak."
"First of all, we should post notices to calm the people and send government officials to the countryside to publicize that the previous efforts to collect taxes for ten years can be stopped immediately."
"The money for the craftsmen's squads has also stopped, and the forced recruitment of craftsmen has also stopped."
"First appease the people's grievances, then borrow or buy some grain from the imperial camp, and go to the counties of the prefecture to provide porridge for disaster relief. Comfort the victims and hungry people first, and find ways to get them to return to their hometowns and stop wandering outside, especially
We have to find a way to get them to resume farming as soon as possible. If they can plant it season after season, if they don’t have any seeds, our government will lend them to them first.”
These few things are all thankless things, and they are even less rewarding, but now I have to do them for performance.
Du Fenghe nodded.
"anything else?"
"I suggest that the prefectures and counties can come forward to recruit some disaster victims from outside Dengzhou, and use some of the now deserted fields to build official settlements, and then hand over some of the deserted fields to the imperial camp to build military settlements.
Nowadays, there are deserted fields everywhere, and many of them are still ownerless.
There are also many fields that were previously confiscated by the Tatars, and these fields must be immediately registered and handed over to the court for disposal."
Du Fenghe concluded, "Publish lists to appease the people, borrow food to provide disaster relief, and recruit people to work in the fields, right?"