Friends who have watched the court-themed TV series must be very familiar with the life of the emperor, brocade and jade food, qiong pulp and jade dew, and any washbasin must be gilded. Ordinary people at that time dreamed of becoming a high official or making a lot of money in the future, if you have merit, the emperor will reward "gold thousand two, silver ten thousand two, Aya luo satin ten thousand horses" sounds bad, gold thousand two can not be tens of millions of yuan, then we go to ancient times to make money is not rich? Is this really the case?
First, we need to understand ancient currencies. Silver is one of the most commonly used currencies, which flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties from the Han Dynasty. Because it is in units of "two", silver is also called silver two. In the Qing Dynasty, there were two kinds of silver, one was "real" and the other was "virtual".
"Real" silver two refers to the actual circulation of silver, such as real silver ingots; "virtual" silver two is taken to book the currency, although contains silver, but there is no physical object, to really pay when the money is converted into silver dollars, until 1933 to implement the "abolition of two yuan", silver two withdrew from the long river of history.
Because there were other ancient currencies, such as copper coins and gold, there was no fixed conversion method at that time, and each dynasty was changing. Moreover, the ancient unit of measurement is still different from the present, so we take the Qing Dynasty, which is the closest to us, as an example.
According to the records of the Qing Dynasty Military Aircraft Department, the grain price in the 15-year period of Guangxu was 124 yuan and 6 cents per warehouse stone, which was converted as follows: 1 stone = 100 kg = 70 kg, and the grain price was calculated at 2 yuan / kg, it can be concluded that 1 two silver is about equal to 170 yuan, and 1 copper coin is about equal to 0.2 yuan.
Because the price of silver is too easy to fluctuate, gold is more stable, so the following is converted with gold: 1 two gold = 10 two silver = 2000 yuan, 1 two silver is equal to 200 yuan. Previously 1 or 2 silver could buy 1 stone of rice.
During the Tang Dynasty, 9 pin officials could get 5 stones of rice (500 jin) per month, and 9 pin officials, also known as "nine pin sesame officials", were the most junior civil servants, with a monthly salary equal to about 1,000 yuan. During the Qing Dynasty, 6 pin officials were about 5 taels of silver per month, that is, 1,000 yuan, which was equivalent to the salary of 9 pin officials in the Tang Dynasty, and the qing dynasty salary was low.
However, the above conversion is based on the price of the Qing Dynasty, after all, the development of the Tang Dynasty was particularly good, things were also very cheap, 20 stone meters (2000 pounds) is only 1 silver. During the Ming Dynasty, 2 stones of rice cost 1 or 2 pieces of silver, and the value was different.
Our current ordinary rice price is about 2.5 to 3.5 yuan per catty, we calculate according to 3 yuan and 1 catty, 1 two silver = 200 yuan, you can buy about 66 yuan of rice.
According to the data in the "List of Ming Dynasty Officials", we can see that the Qing Dynasty civilian officials and military attaches are divided into 9 products, and we take the civilian officials as an example. The annual income of the lowest-level 9-pin sesame officer is about 18,000 yuan, which is equal to 1,500 yuan per month; the annual income of the highest-level 1-pin official is about 2.9 million, which is about 240,000 yuan per month, which is a lot worse.
However, the welfare system of Qing Officials was different, the annual income of 8 pin officials was 20,000 yuan, and the monthly income was 1750 yuan, but the annual income of 7 pin officials was already 230,000 yuan, with an average monthly income of 19,000 yuan, the annual income of 6 pin officials was 250,000 yuan, the average monthly income was more than 20,000, the annual income of 5 pin officials was 460,000, the annual income of 4 pin officials was 700,000, the annual income of 3 pin officials was 1.12 million, and the annual income of 2 pin officials was 2.36 million.
If we calculate according to the average salary of 5,000 yuan a month, we are afraid that we are still struggling in the position of 8 pin officials in ancient times. How many pins of official income can you achieve now?