Written by | Zeng Ling
The TV series "Yongzheng Dynasty" uses a large number of pictures to interpret Yongzheng's concept of spending envy and returning to the public and raising incorruptible silver, restoring the historical face from many angles.
In the first year of Yongzheng, the newly enthroned new emperor Yongzheng introduced multiple reforms to the empire like a magician, most of which revolved around the governance of the Qing Dynasty. When issuing a proclamation to local officials on New Year's Day, Yongzheng first raised the issue of money, food, and fire consumption: "Exhaust the resources of small people's clothing and food for the use of lawsuits and slaves." And in the statement, it was said that as early as the Kangxi period, some people proposed to increase the fire consumption to supplement the deficit, but it was not approved.
Yongzheng reading portrait
The so-called "fire consumption" originated during the Ming Dynasty's Wanli Calendar, and originally referred to the folding consumption when crushed silver was melted and recast into silver ingots. Zhang Juzheng was implementing the "One Whip Law", levying all taxes and handing over silver to the state treasury, and melting and recasting the broken silver paid by the people into silver ingots to be handed over. The "fire consumption" levied at the time of taxation is greater than the actual "fire consumption", and the difference goes to the officials. Officials in the early Qing Dynasty continued this practice. Moreover, the "fire consumption" continues to increase: the fire consumption of general states and counties is two or three dollars per two, or even four or five dollars. Remote states and counties have fewer taxes and several times the fire consumption than the positive ones. Although there were also bans during the Shunzhi and Kangxi dynasties, they did not work, and they were acquiesced in the future.
Undoubtedly, Yongzheng's statement caused a swift response from some ministers. In May of that year, Yang Zongren, the governor of Huguang, again proposed that he should pay for local official affairs, which should be supplied by the people sent by local officials, and it would be better to make the prefecture and county officials save 20 percent of the original us dollars and silver and hand them over to the treasury of the department of government, "to cover all official expenses, and in addition, no donations are allowed." As Kangxi said, it was a private affair of local officials, and Yang Zongren asked them to take a small part of it to the province as a public service, but in fact he put forward a proposal with the significance of returning the envy to the public. When Yongzheng saw his recital, he immediately supported him, saying that he "said everything he said, without blemish, and was reluctant to do so." Encourage him to do it well.
Yongzheng Dynasty folded
In the same year, Shanxi Governor Nuo min, because of the serious problem of envy consumption in the province, demanded that the envy silver obtained by all prefectures and counties in Shanxi throughout the year be handed over to the treasurer of the government, part of which was used to compensate for the lack of income, and part of which was given to all officials to raise clean silver. This was a method of fully implementing the return of fire to the public, and Yongzheng happily approved his implementation in Shanxi.
Therefore, "returning fire to the public" and "raising incorruptible silver" have become the two major government affairs that Yongzheng began to promote. According to historical records, the yanglian silver funds during the Qing Dynasty came from "consumption envy". At that time, all state and county officials mainly relied on exploitation when collecting money and grain. Money and grain are field gifts, which were originally levied in kind, and later changed to "folded color", that is, the collection of silver. Regardless of whether the expropriation of physical goods or silver, there is a kind of "consumption envy" ugly rule, the so-called "consumption of envy" refers to the levy of silver grain, in order to make up for the loss of the reason for the levy in addition to the positive amount. If it is silver, it refers to the loss suffered when the broken silver is melted into silver ingots.
Relevant historical materials
Under normal circumstances, of the two silver levies, four to five dollars are levied for every two as fire consumption; The total amount of grain in the whole state and county is a considerable number, and in fact, this envy is not returned to the public, and it has completely entered the private pockets of state and county officials, becoming an open and routine benefit. It can be seen from this that this so-called "envy of consumption" is actually a kind of additional tax levied by local officials in the name of attrition, which is harsh among various miscellaneous factions.
The Yongzheng Emperor personally inquired about the family life of the former Governor of Yungui, Ortai, and Ortai replied, "It is counted at five hundred gold per month, and six thousand gold a year is used as much as possible." That is to say, the household expenditure of the highest magistrate of the local government is at least about 6,000 taels of silver per year, that is, 33.3 times that of his original salary, and according to this proportion, the actual household expenditure of the inspector is 5162 taels per year, and the envoy is at the same level as the inspector. According to the envoys, there are 4329 two, the Taoist is 3497 two, the prefect and the Daoist are the same, the Zhixian is 1499 two, and so on. In fact, the distance between the salaries of local officials at all levels and the actual expenditure of the family is very large, and the difference between the officials at all levels in the central government is no less than that of local officials.
At the same time as promoting the cultivation of clean silver, Yongzheng also implemented the system of "returning envy to the public". He ordered the provinces to release all the silver and silver that had been embezzled by officials of all sizes, hand them over to the clan treasury, and take out a part of it as a source of funds for the maintenance of honesty. This part of the silver is not distributed arbitrarily, but is determined according to the level of the official position of the official, the complexity and simplicity of the government, the remoteness of the locality, and the amount of envy. This practice can be described as "thick to maintain honesty", rather than the previous "thrift to maintain honesty". Officials have received the money to raise the money, and they are not allowed to collect it indiscriminately, otherwise they will be severely punished.
Silver tickets of the Qing Dynasty
As a result of the implementation of the system of "thick money to support honesty", private expenses were turned into public funds, and the original embezzlement of silver and silver from the people was turned into institutionalized legal income, all kinds of bad regulations were greatly suppressed, and the people's burdens were greatly reduced. Yongzheng's approach was greatly appreciated by historians. The Qing Dynasty's implementation of the system of returning envy to the public and raising clean silver had at least three positive effects on the Yongqian Dynasty: First, the rule of officials was slightly clarified; The second is to rationalize the national treasury; Third, the people have reduced their burdens. After the return of the United States to the public, its use was stipulated by Yongzheng to be three major items, one was to raise incorruptible silver for officials, the second was to make up for local deficits, and the third was to set aside for local public use. It is used to clear the deficit, mainly in the early years of Yongzheng. For example, in the first year, Shanxi received 430,000 taels of silver and was used to compensate for the deficit.
The system of returning envy to the public and raising kang silver was a major reform of the ancestral law established by the Shunzhi and Kangxi Emperors, and it was a great touch to the vital interests of officials who had consistently expropriated and consumed and accepted the rules and regulations without restraint.
Yongzheng made it clear that the ministers must "govern in a vacuum, and make sure that they are deliberating." He also issued an edict expressing his views on the system of raising incorruptible silver: "The matter of raising fire consumption at a high age mentioned by Jin'er and others is also calm and calm, but what he has seen is shallow and small, and it is not in line with his intentions. The fire consumption of the prefecture and county was not supposed to be given, and it was necessary to give it to the provincial public expenses and the officials who supported the honesty, but it was not possible to speak publicly. He did not want the prefectures and counties in the world to take the slightest advantage of the people, and it was inevitable that he would not be able to do it. And the fire consumption has always been in the prefectures and counties, and the increase in the number of conquests and erosion of national funds has not less than one million.
For the reason, the prefecture and county levy fire consumption, distribute it to the department, and the daily funds used by the superiors are given to the prefectures and counties, so that in addition to the envy, all kinds of gifts, there are many names, so the prefectures and counties have an excuse to wantonly greed, and the superiors have some foresight and refuse to participate in the play, which is the accumulation of disadvantages in the past, so it is necessary to eliminate this one. In accordance with the principle of "rewarding honesty and punishing corruption," the Yongzheng Emperor advocated that the original provision of honest silver and silver, especially for those local officials who lived in honesty and honesty and were diligent in government affairs, should be given more generously and generously, and with encouragement, The Inspector of Shanxi Province, Because of his efforts to envy the return of the public, put forward a relatively complete proposal for the system of raising honest silver, and the amount of silver raised was as high as 31,700 taels per year, which was 204.5 times that of his original salary.
Generally speaking, during the Yongzheng period, the governor's Yanglian silver was about 20,000 per year, the governor was about 15,000 taels, the envoy was about 12,000, the envoy was about 8,000, the prefectural government was about 5,002, and the prefecture and county were 12,000. In addition to the official seal of each yamen, all the officials of the second rank also have the yin yin. In the seventh year of Yongzheng, Shi Yizhi, the governor of Fujian, and others asked, "There are a total of three hundred and one miscellaneous micro-members in the middle of Fujian Province, and each member is given twenty-two pieces of silver per year", although it is small, but after all, it has been from scratch. Since the local officials implemented the system of raising clean silver, the problem of the thin salaries of beijing officials has also become prominent. In February of the sixth year of Yongzheng (1728), he offered an edict: "Because of the affairs of the state, I borrow the power of the minister to distract him from his family's plans, and he cannot bear it." Among the five ministers, except for those who sent officials to other provinces, they were doubly given silver and rice. However, Shuang Feng still could not meet the request of the Beijing official. Since then, this problem has continued endlessly, and by the Qianlong period, the seriousness of these problems has become more comprehensive.