"How much can I increase my salary? From fifty taels to one hundred taels, it's just an increase of fifty taels a year. I'm afraid it's delusional to make court officials shut up with this amount of money."
Zhou Shi'an shook his head again and again, thinking that the news about Duke Sanyuan was unreliable.
Raising salary, unless it is increased tenfold at one go, is not attractive.
why
Because the salaries of officials in Dazhou were extremely low.
To use an analogy, the salary of a seventh-rank Beijing official plus rice grains, when converted, is definitely not one hundred taels a year.
Living in the capital is not easy.
With a yearly income of one hundred taels, to be a Beijing official, I am afraid that I will become a beggar.
what to do
One is greedy for ink.
The second is to rely on family support.
When you become an official, you start as a Jinshi.
The family is exempt from tax and corvee, and can accept donations.
As long as you are courageous enough and don't reject anyone who comes, the family can get rid of poverty and become rich in a year or two.
The family pays to support the Beijing officials, and the Beijing officials try to protect the family as much as possible.
That's it.
A little increase in salary will not make officials shut up.
"There must be other compensations to make all the officials of the court shut up."
Zhou Shian was very determined.
He is a serious official, and he is still a Beijing official.
Among the three, he had the shortest time away from officialdom and the longest time in office. It also means that he has a better understanding of the urination of court officials.
Without sufficient interests, it is impossible for officials to keep their mouths shut and keep silent.
San Yuangong stroked his beard and nodded again and again, "Brother Zhou is right. Let's guess what kind of compensation the empress gave the officials to shut them up collectively."
"Could it be the shares of Universal Universe?"
"Probably not."
"It can't be Shaofu's shares."
"It definitely can't be Shaofu."
"After thinking about it, the old man probably thinks that the roots are still in the land."
"Brother Yang, what do you mean by that?"
San Yuangong held the chess piece in his hand, closed his eyes and thought deeply, then shook his head, "Thoughts are all random thoughts."
"Brother Yang has something to say, why don't you say it clearly. Even if you are thinking wildly, it doesn't hurt to listen to it."
San Yuangong waved his hand, "Don't say it, don't say it. You have acquaintances in the court, why don't you ask the officials in the court."
"No one is willing to tell the truth." Sun Zhuangyuan smacked his mouth, disgusted.
Zhou Shi'an laughed, "Shaofu Grain Bank subscribed for the second batch of shares, and the price soared by 100 mu. Of course, the officials would not disclose the news in advance of such a good thing."
Sun Zhuangyuan stroked his beard, "They're all a bunch of mercenary villains. The court is full of such people in power, and I don't know what it will be like in the future. If the emperor and empress go on like this, the most fearful thing is death."
Duke San Yuan laughed, "Brother Sun can rest assured that people are dead and the government is closed. His Royal Highness Qi Wang has contributed a lot to the promulgation of the land law. It can be seen that His Royal Highness Qi himself supports this law."
"According to what Brother Yang said, the title of His Royal Highness King Qi has been decided?" Zhou Shi'an asked curiously.
San Yuangong nodded slightly, "No accident, it is His Royal Highness King Qi."
Sun Zhuangyuan relaxed his frown, "So, I feel relieved."
Sanyuan Gong laughed, and then said: "His Highness King Qi was taught by the Empress Dowager. His knowledge is extraordinary, and he is capable of both literature and martial arts. Brother Sun should take a long-term view. We are now in an era of great change. A great change that has never happened in a hundred years, and society will have a new look in ten or twenty years, aren't you two excited? The old man was so excited that he couldn't sleep all night."
Sun Zhuangyuan followed suit with a laugh, pointing at San Yuan Gong, "Could it be that Brother Yang has a new book to be published?"
San Yuangong didn't hide it, "I already have some ideas, and I can start writing after I sort out the materials. Brother Sun's family, do you have to separate households? If you don't separate households, the land under the name of your Xinmin Sun's family is obviously beyond the limit. The upper limit will be taxed by the Shaofu."
Sun Zhuangyuan said: "To tell you the truth, the old man has already exchanged 80 shares of Shaofu grain company for the family. In the future, when the old man passes away, these shares will be divided. The household division is already underway. After the household division, The fields at home can meet the conditions of ten taxes and one tax."
Zhou Shi'an clicked his tongue twice.
"Brother Sun's family is indeed a wealthy family in the world. One hundred and one acres of land, eighty shares, and nearly 100,000 acres of land is really staggering. What's even more staggering is that there is still enough land for household division. Roughly After all, your Xinmin Sun family still holds hundreds of thousands of acres of land."
Sanyuan Gong said with a smile: "I'm afraid it's more than a few hundred thousand mu. There are hundreds of people in Xinmin's Sun family, and there must be twenty or thirty people who are famous. If you divide it, it is estimated that there will be a million mu."
Sun Zhuangyuan repeatedly denied, "There are not so many, you are all talking nonsense. Also, the replacement of the shares of Shaofu Grain Bank is a share of 1,000 mu, not 1,100 mu."
Snapped!
Zhou Shi'an patted himself on the head suddenly, "I actually forgot that Brother Sun's sons and nephews are all officials in the imperial court, so they must have gotten the news at the first time. So they successfully subscribed for the first batch of shares in the Shaofu Grain Bank Just now Brother Sun pretended not to know anything, he is really a villain."
San Yuangong also pointed at him and said, "Brother Sun is really a servant, playing tricks on the two of us."
Sun Zhuangyuan laughed, "I don't know that the two of you seem smart, but sometimes you are stupid. If you don't take the opportunity to play around, you will be sorry for yourself."
"It's too much, it's too much." Zhou Shi'an shook his head again and again, "People's hearts are not old!"
San Yuangong asked: "Brother Sun, can you tell me what other plans the empress has arranged to ensure that the court officials keep their mouths shut?"
Sun Zhuangyuan didn't hold back, and said bluntly: "Your Majesty and Empress Dowager are implementing a pension plan."
"pension?"
"Exactly! It's similar to the disabled soldier's subsidy. After retirement, you can receive a sum of pension money, which can also be exchanged for land. This is roughly the case, and the specific terms have not yet been announced. Because it involves the interests of all officials, everyone They are very cautious and want to see the specific terms before making a decision.”
San Yuangong nodded secretly, "If the pension system can really be promoted, it will solve the problem of many people who are retired."
Zhou Shi'an said bluntly, "With this retirement pension, you will be more assured of being an official. You don't have to worry about losing power and money after you retire."
San Yuangong laughed, "The empress dares to think and do it. On the one hand, the taxes of the common people are reduced, so that the common people can get tangible benefits. On the other hand, they subscribe for shares, buy properties overseas, and add pensions to the officials. Real benefits. We are the only scholars who can't get anything. Does the Empress have a prejudice against scholars like me?"
The words are similar to ridicule, but they also represent the aspirations of scholars.
Scholars are also an important part, why did the imperial court forget about them.
Sun Zhuangyuan hurriedly said: "I heard that the academy will also implement a pension plan."
"Oh? It turns out that the Empress has not forgotten us!" San Yuangong teased.
"Of course it is impossible to forget. The empress invests millions of taels of silver in the academy every year. It is obvious that the empress attaches great importance to scholars more than anyone else."
"That's true. The number of students in Shanhe Academy has exceeded 6,000. To support 6,000 students, plus those who teach and work, the annual expenses are astronomical."
Sun Zhuangyuan said proudly, "The number of students in our Zhixing Academy has exceeded 2,000 this year."
San Yuangong and Zhou Shi'an all despised them, so don't show off if there are only two thousand students.
Zhou Shi'an went back, "You know that the entrance examination questions of Xing Academy are so easy, but you can't pass them. The ability of the students is so poor."
Sun Zhuangyuan was not happy to hear this.
"Our Zhixing Academy's admissions exam is so easy to say. Every month in the exam, half of the people will pass."
Zhou Shian sneered, "Shanhe Academy has to pass at least 70% of the candidates in the monthly admissions exam. You go outside to inquire, and the candidates agree that the admissions exam of Shanhe Academy is the most difficult, followed by the Imperial College, and lastly your Zhixing Academy.
Brother Sun, I know you are eager to enroll students, but you can't lower the difficulty. Let's recruit a group of good and bad people. This will lower the grade of your Zhixing Academy.
Last month, brother Yang and I went to your school to attend classes, and your students were obviously inferior to those of Shanhe Academy. The same explanation content, the students of Shanhe Academy can hear it without any obstacles, but you students of Zhixing Academy sound very difficult! "
San Yuangong nodded, and echoed Zhou Shian's statement, "It is necessary to increase the difficulty of the entrance examination. You should not lower the quality for the sake of quantity. If things go on like this, Zhixing Academy will always be a second-rate academy in people's minds, and it will never become a first-rate academy."
Zhou Shi'an said again: "Brother Sun, we sincerely suggest that we hope you can adopt it. If the quality of students in Zhixing Academy continues to decline, brother Yang and I may not go to Zhixing Academy to teach again. If students don't understand, it is a waste of everyone's time. .”
But Sun Zhuangyuan said: "You can talk about some simple content, and the students in our academy will definitely understand it. Teaching is a step-by-step process, how can it be counterproductive."
Zhou Shi'an waved his hand, "At the level of this old man and Brother Yang, we don't teach students below Juren. I hope Brother Sun will know this."
The corner of Sun Zhuangyuan's mouth twitched, "The Juren in our academy is not as miserable as Brother Zhou said."
Zhou Shi'an rolled his eyes, "In my eyes, the Juren of Zhixing Academy is at the same level as the scholars of Shanhe Academy, maybe not even as good as some of the scholars. It's all due to luck that they can be admitted to Juren."
Sun Zhuangyuan was heartbroken.
This is a crit hit of 10,000 points.
Sanyuangong was happy, "Brother Sun listened to our advice and made the admissions more difficult. There is no harm in asking those candidates to take the entrance exam a few more times. If you don't take the entrance exam a few more times, those students don't know what level they are. It’s not desirable to feel good about yourself one by one.”
"The students of Zhixing Academy just lack self-knowledge. They always compare themselves with Shanhe Academy, thinking that they are on the same level as the students of Shanhe Academy. This old man wanted to scold back several times, but he held back because of Brother Sun." Zhou Shi'an babbled, full of complaints.