Although Zhu Cixiang tried hard to control his dissatisfaction, the two old Jianghu people still felt that the crown prince was dissatisfied with them.

The two hurriedly bowed and saluted, and then returned to the courtroom.

Zhu Cihong did not look at the two cabinet ministers and said directly:

“The Ming Dynasty has reached a time of extreme danger, and land consolidation and reform in the Gyeonggi region are imperative.

The civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty must give full support. Whoever dares to block the reform of this palace will have their three clans destroyed.

This reform started from this palace and my father's imperial estate. Not even an acre of land in all imperial estates was reserved and all was given to the people.

All the land of the Gyeonggi Guard Station was recovered. This land inventory started from the Seongjo period, and two hundred acres was temporarily used as the standard.

In other words, from the time of Emperor Chengzu to today, land exceeding two hundred acres must be certified by land deeds and land deeds, and must be purchased fairly and legally or given as a result of merit.

All land without legal title deeds and land deeds will be recovered and redistributed. From now on, the ownership of this part of the land will belong to the Ming Dynasty.

Even if it is allocated to individuals, they only have the right to plant, not the right to buy or sell.

The purpose of this palace is to eliminate land and prevent the emergence of refugees. As long as the land is distributed to each household, future generations can always cultivate it, and the Ming Dynasty will be passed down forever."

Not only to recover all the land for the guards in the Gyeonggi area, but also the land that was exceeded by the big landlords, officials and gentry.

If all the land deeds were not legally recovered, Zhu Cixiang's courage made all the officials present tremble.

Let me ask you, that official's family does not have thousands of acres of land. This is digging into the roots of the gentry officials and landlords.

But who dares to resist? The Crown Prince just said that those who resist will destroy the three clans.

If you don't resist, at least you won't starve to death. Once the three resisting tribes are wiped out, what's the use of the land then?

Li Banghua looked up at the Crown Prince. He really admired the Crown Prince's courage. This was a policy that even Emperor Hongwu did not dare to promulgate.

Of course, Zhu Cixiang would not let the conscientious officials suffer too much. Their land was reduced, and Zhu Cixiang could give them a salary increase.

He wants the official salary to be enough to support a large family, so as to minimize official corruption.

Everyone knows that the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty are relatively low, so Zhu Cixiang should be paid well to support his integrity.

Zhu Cixiang has been thinking about raising salaries for officials for a long time.

However, it was not appropriate at that time. Now that most of the corrupt officials in the capital have been killed, Zhu Cihong believed that the time was ripe.

Zhu Cixi knew very well that if you want your horse to run fast, you must feed it well.

Without giving some benefits to officials, it is unrealistic to rely on mass killings to scare them into doing their best work.

Seeing all the civil and military officials bowing their heads and saying nothing, Zhu Cixiang smiled slightly and said:

"I know that the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty are low, so I have been thinking about increasing the salaries of my beloved officials for a long time.

When the land reform in Gyeonggi Province is completed, I will immediately increase your salary by 50% and pay it all in cash, how about it?"

Zhu Cixiang's words were like a thunderbolt from the blue. The civil and military officials in the court were stunned for a moment, and then they all knelt down in the Huangji Hall and kowtowed in thanks:

"Thank you, Your Highness, the Crown Prince. I am willing to dedicate myself to the Ming Dynasty and to Your Highness!"

Zhu Cihong took a look and thought, Damn it, money can really make a fool of himself.

Some people may ask why the officials behaved so realistically and exaggeratedly. That is because they did not understand how low the wages of officials in the Ming Dynasty were.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, was an out-and-out farmer.

He was deeply aware of the decadence of the official system of the Yuan Dynasty and hated it deeply.

After Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, his management of officials was unprecedentedly harsh.

Special laws were formulated to restrict the words and deeds of Ming Dynasty officials.

In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang himself lived a relatively frugal life and always maintained his true character as a farmer.

His judgment on the living costs of Ming Dynasty officials was conservative, which directly led to the extremely low salary of Ming Dynasty officials.

Zhu Yuanzhang had very high demands on Ming Dynasty officials. Once he made a mistake, it was normal for him to lose his head.

Some people were afraid of being killed and did not dare to serve as officials in the court. They would rather set up a private school at home and enjoy teaching and educating people.

Zhu Yuanzhang believed that all the scholars in the world were citizens of the Ming Dynasty and had the obligation to serve the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, there were cases where Zhu Yuanzhang punished students who did not want to serve as officials in the court.

The low salary of officials in the Ming Dynasty certainly refers to officials with high grades, that is, from the first to the ninth grade.

But it does not include the founding heroes and their descendants with hereditary titles.

Most of the founding heroes were higher than the first rank and enjoyed privileges.

Not only were their salaries extremely high, Zhu Yuanzhang also awarded them fiefs, which meant they had a fixed source of income.

The income they get from the fiefdom alone is much higher than the annual salary allocated to them by the court, so they are not included in the discussion.

The wages of officials in the Ming Dynasty were low. How low were they? Let’s talk with numbers.

In the Ming Dynasty, salaries were based on the grade system and were divided into nine grades and eighteen grades.

During the Zhu Yuanzhang period, the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty were calculated in meters.

Among them, the annual salary of an official of the first rank is 900 shi, and that of an official of the first rank is 750 shi... that of an official of the seventh rank is 140 shi... that of an official of the ninth rank is 60 shi, and that of an official of the ninth rank is 50 shi.

It was not until the time of Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty that "exchanging rice for silver" appeared, and the salary increased, but it was still very low compared to the Tang and Song Dynasties.

Using the form of meters to explain salary is actually not intuitive enough.

Then we convert it in the form of the same purchasing power and directly convert it into our current RMB.

In the Ming Dynasty, one stone of rice was converted to about 90 kilograms, which is converted according to today's rice price of 5 yuan/kg.

The annual income of an official of the first rank is approximately more than 400,000 yuan in RMB, from more than 300,000 yuan of the first rank... to 45,000 yuan of the seventh rank... to 23,000 yuan from the ninth rank.

Looking at it this way, it is indeed very low.

Many officials in the Ming Dynasty lived in poverty, such as the Ming Dynasty official Hai Rui, who was the magistrate of Chun'an County at the time.

In terms of rank, he was a seventh-rank official in the Ming Dynasty, with an annual salary of 140 shi.

Converted to the current income level, the annual salary is about 40,000, which is not enough for their family's daily expenses.

In addition, the salaries of government servants and masters were also included, and the court would not pay them if they were not of high grade.

Hai Rui had no choice but to farm his own land and grow vegetables to barely maintain the livelihood of his family.

According to records, the Hai Rui family was only willing to eat meat during the Chinese New Year.

Some people may say that with an income of 40,000 to 50,000 yuan a year, the average family today will not live in such poverty.

This is true, but this is when our family size is small today.

In ancient times, there were three wives and four concubines in the family, plus the servants who were summoned and used, including the elder and the younger.

There are at least a dozen people in a county magistrate's family. Not counting other expenses, it may be difficult to maintain just enough food.

You must know that many times wages are paid in part in kind, such as pepper, cloth, porcelain, and even wood shipped back from overseas, etc.!

The low salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty led some officials to take desperate risks.

But Zhu Yuanzhang hated corrupt officials the most, so the cruel punishments he formulated came in handy.

Zhu Yuanzhang's principle is to make mistakes rather than omissions, so there have been many implicated cases.

This is also an important reason why Zhu Yuanzhang left a bad reputation.

In fact, those who say something bad about Zhu Yuanzhang are either ancient literati or were influenced by Manchu thought.

From the perspective of ordinary people, what Zhu Yuanzhang did is commendable. If you like the Ming Dynasty, the prosperous age began from the prince's supervision, please collect: (https://www.myxls.net) The Ming Dynasty, the prosperous age began from the prince's supervision. Search and read the novel network update speed all over the network
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