20 years ago, the costume TV series "Master Shaoxing" played by the famous actor Chen Daoming was popular all over the country. In this TV series, Chen Daoming plays a shaoxing master who is as vicious as a vendetta.
Because of its superb acting skills, coupled with a coherent plot, this film and television work has endured for a long time.
Friends who are familiar with history will also learn about the shaoxing master group from various literary works or film and television dramas. So, in real history, did the master belong to the official position?
Since the masters can often go in and out of the gate, how much salary can they get every month?
As we all know, if the ancients wanted to become officials, leaving aside some powerful and powerful children of rich families, most of the students needed to pass the imperial examination and obtain the meritorious name before they could enter the dprk as officials.
This is like today's civil service examination, only students who pass the examination can be formally qualified and become a qualified civil servant.
However, everyone has thought about it, the admission rate of the ancient imperial examination is particularly low, every three years of the imperial examination, the participants are not only hundreds of thousands, the first, second, third a total of no more than 300 to 350 people admitted.
Get the name of the merit, all the best. If they fail to be admitted, the conditions of the family are poor, and the students who fail the list must find another way to find a way to live. Therefore, the special group of Shaoxing masters came into being.
Looking at history, this group of masters should have been born in the Spring and Autumn Period, until the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Shaoxing masters spread all over the north and south of the great river.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, various forces recruited staff and disciples, hoping to one day use the knowledge and skills of these people to help the main family escape disasters.
After experiencing the rebellion of the Eight Kings of the Jin Dynasty, it was followed by the southern crossing of the yiguan, and many northerners moved into Jiangnan. The Tang and Song dynasties successively broke out the Anshi Rebellion and the Jingkang Difficulties, so that the level of economic development in the south has always been higher than that of the north.
Whenever there is chaos in the world, warlords everywhere are everywhere, and people who have no talent meet turn to the hills. Therefore, the staff born in the Spring and Autumn Period developed into the Tang and Song Dynasties, and they were also called counselors and shoguns.
So why is the word Shiye preceded by the name "Shaoxing"?
Throughout the ages, the humanities and customs of a region, including the prevalence of education, have often depended on the economic situation of the region. To put it more bluntly, the richer the place, the more talented people are, and only when they eat and wear are not worried, will they think of letting their children go to school.
At the end of Zhu Yuanzhang's reign, there was an unjust case in the North and South. The reason for this case is that the level of knowledge and culture of students in the south is higher than that of students in the north, and in order to calm things down, Zhu Yuanzhang adopted a "one-size-fits-all" approach. Under his imposed intervention, all the Ichijia jinshi were changed to northern students.
From this historical event, it can also be seen that at least in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the cultural heritage of the south was even stronger.
Shaoxing has beautiful scenery and outstanding people. With the sharp increase in the population of Jiangnan, the land in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and other places has been basically developed, and the Shaoxing area cannot be avoided.
Many locals cannot survive on farmland alone and have to switch to other industries. People without culture follow their parents and elders to do business or engage in handicrafts. People with a bit of culture specialize in a certain aspect, choose to be staff members according to what they have learned, and then become masters.
Over time, Shaoxing produced many masters, and there were a large number of Shaoxing officials and masters throughout the country. Through family blood or geographical cohesion, a specific circle of Shaoxing officials and masters was gradually formed.
Coupled with the high professionalism of Shaoxing masters and excellent work ability, the whole country likes to use them, and some Shaoxing students who have fallen off the list have become specialized masters, which is also a good way.
Why is master so sought-after? Are officials everywhere inseparable from them?
Shiye is a special profession with strong regional and professional nature. In the literal sense, "teacher" means teacher, or predecessor, and "master" is an honorific title.
The master's main job is to help the governor of the prefecture and county to manage the daily affairs, deal with various documents, and be responsible for helping the county officials supervise the scriveners and provide special occupations with professional knowledge.
Under the detailed division, the master is also divided into a criminal name master and a money and grain master.
It is an indispensable and important role to help the governor of the government to deal with some criminal cases, provide them with professional legal knowledge, and avoid unjust and false cases.
When there is a fight or a lawsuit for human life, it is necessary to have a criminal master to help the big master, so as to catch the real murderer and bring the murderer to justice.
Those who study law at university or who understand this aspect should know that there are quite complete laws and regulations in various countries around the world, and it is not easy to be thoroughly familiar with different laws.
Nowadays, there are various law firms large and small on the market, some of which are responsible for handling divorce inheritance cases, and some of which are dedicated to handling economic disputes.
To become a professional lawyer or judge, you need to pass a variety of specialized examinations and have relevant expertise.
In ancient times, the cases of prefectures and county yamen were basically the sole responsibility of state and county officials. If you are an experienced official, you can naturally make a reasonable judgment according to different cases.
However, if some officials who have not studied law and have just been transferred will be very difficult when they encounter these various cases. If you accidentally turn a good person into a bad person, you will not be able to eat and walk.
Therefore, these officials with low qualifications and experience need to have a master to help them and avoid detours when handling cases. There will be many different cases in a place, such as fights, murders, marriages, etc.
Some economic cases such as real estate and money transactions are the responsibility of the master of money and grain.
Therefore, the master is somewhat similar to today's lawyers, this group has a very rich legal knowledge, the average person can not do it at all.
From this point of view, master was a very important profession in ancient times.
As for the amount of salary of the masters every month, there is no unified standard. Because the master was often born in Baiding, he had no meritorious name on his body, let alone a formal official position, and the master's feng lu was responsible for the officials he hired himself.
Teachers who work as errand boys in wealthy areas tend to have higher salaries, and vice versa.
Roughly speaking, an ordinary Qipin official in the Qing Dynasty was 45 taels of silver per year, and the salary of the master was at most only half or 1/3. Since he was not an official position, the master could not enjoy other benefits.
"No Shao, no ya", this saying has been popular in the Qing Dynasty. Mr. Lu Xun once said: "Our Shaoxing master's box always has a coil to go home, and if it is closed, it will stay, and if it is not, it will go." ”
Master Shaoxing has not only become a business card of Shaoxing, but also a special cultural brand.