preface
Corruption is an unavoidable political problem in ancient and modern China and abroad, China's 5,000-year history, successive dynasties have different systems to prevent and control corruption, to the greatest extent to avoid the harm caused by official corruption to the national polity, especially for officials in high positions, the temptation of money beauty is more frequent, once embarked on the road of corruption, the harm to society is tantamount to disaster.
Bao Zheng's social status and income
And Bao Zheng's highest official official Bai Privy Councillor, was also the chief doctor of Chaosan, the captain of Shizhong, and Shangqingche, and was also named the founding marquis of Donghai County, and his official quality and title were second only to the prime minister of the dynasty. Such an identity and status has always been synonymous with "just and honest", "honest and clean" and "for the way of heaven", and it is even known as "Bao Qingtian" by the people. So how did he manage not to be burdened by foreign objects and stick to his heart? I think in addition to his own extremely positive three views, it is also related to the "high salary and clean government" system of the Song Dynasty at that time.
According to the "History of Song, Official Records", Bao Zheng's total income in one year: 20,856 copper coins, 2,180 stone rice, 180 stone wheat, 10 horses of silk, 34 horses of silk, 2 horses of luo, 100 taels of cotton, 15 scales of charcoal, 240 bundles of firewood, and 480 bales of hay;
At that time, the price of rice in Kaifeng was 400 wen a stone, the price of wheat was 300 wen a stone, the official price of aya was 1600 wen a horse, the price of silk was 1200 wen a horse, the price of Luo was 4000 wen a horse, the price of charcoal per scale was 100 wen, the price of firewood was 50 wen per bundle, and the bundle of hay was 19 wen. According to the price estimates at that time, Bao Zheng's annual income in kind was converted into money, adding up to about 1,022 guan, plus 20,856 guan monetary income, a total of 21,878 guan. According to the purchasing power of 400 yuan at that time and the purchasing power of 250 yuan now, it is similar to the purchasing power of 21878 yuan, which is 13.67 million yuan, which is enough to kill most people in today.
Let's take a closer look at the story behind Bao Zheng's high salary
Ten years of "otaku" life
Bao Zheng did a lot of work in his life, from the beginning of Tianchangzhi County, to later Duanzhou Zhizhou, then to the judge of Hubu, the transfer envoy of Shaanxi and Hebei, the deputy envoy of the three divisions of Hubu, and in his later years, he returned to the capital, serving as Yin of Kaifeng Prefecture, Yushi Zhongcheng, and Deputy Envoy of the Privy Council.
But from the perspective of tenure, Bao Zheng's longest official is Dali commentator, which was sealed after he was admitted to junior high school, it is a fictitious position, there is no actual job, only pay and do not work, Bao Zheng has worked in this position for ten years, in fact, in these ten years, Bao Zheng has not worked at all, and has been giving his parents a pension and filial piety in his hometown in Anhui. In other words, Bao Zheng had a decade-long career as an "otaku".
But because he didn't go to work, the imperial court paid him at most half salary, so the ten years of this "otaku" were the decade with his lowest annual salary. It was not until the death of his parents that Bao Zheng officially embarked on his official journey, and his salary rose at the same time, most notably when he "sat upside down in Kaifeng Mansion".
Three jobs, two with money
When Bao Zheng "sat upside down in Kaifeng Mansion in Nanya", he wore three hats on his head, namely, Longtuge Zhifu, Shangshu Province Right Shilangzhong, and Quan Zhi Kaifeng Fushi. "Longtuge straight bachelor" is from the third grade, there is no daily work, generally when the emperor has academic problems or major political issues need to be consulted, Longtuge straight bachelor only came out to say two sentences. In the official system of the early Northern Song Dynasty, this kind of official was called "attendant official", and according to the Song Dynasty civil servant salary regulation "Jiayou Lu Order", it can be learned that Longtuge direct bachelors have "material money" every month, that is, basic salary, in addition to "additional money" and "meal money", that is, subsidies, in addition to receiving cloth every spring and winter.
And "Shangshu Province Right Shilangzhong" is from the five pins, there is no daily work, neither have to go to Shangshu Province to work, nor responsible for any affairs in Shangshu Province, it is only a basis for the imperial court to calculate the salary of officials, so it is called "Sending Lu Official", but according to the salary payment principle of the "Jiayou Lu Order", if a civil servant has both the official position of sending Lu official and the official position of an attendant, then he cannot receive both the double salary of the sending official and the attendant, but which salary is higher. For Bao Zheng, his squire salary was obviously higher than that of the squire officer, so he could only receive the salary of being a direct bachelor of Longtuge, which showed that as a "Right Shilangzhong of Shangshu Province", Bao Zheng's annual income was zero
"Quan Zhi Kaifeng Mansion" is Bao Zheng's official position, "Quan" means temporary, "Zhi" means to be in charge, Quan Zhi Kaifeng Mansion Affairs, that is, you originally had other official positions, but the imperial court is now sending you to Kaifeng Mansion to grasp the overall situation, and you will let go of other work first. In the early Northern Song Dynasty, such officials assigned by the imperial court to do specific work were called "dispatch officials". This job can be regarded as Bao Zheng's main business, and as the number one in Kaifeng Prefecture, the salary is naturally much higher than the previous two fictitious positions. According to the "History of Song and Official Records", Bao Zheng had 30 stone monthly rations, including 15 stone rice and 15 stone wheat. In addition, there are 20 bales (13 pounds each) of firewood, 40 bales of hay, and 1,500 "minister's money" every month.
brief summary
The annual salary of Bao Zheng summarized above is estimated by cutting off this time period, but to say that Bao Zheng's highest annual salary is still when he served as a privy councillor and a chaosan doctor before his death, when the official rank was second only to the prime minister of the dynasty, and the salary was not high, but the specific amount has not been traced so far.
In comparison, Hai Rui and Bao Zheng during the Ming Dynasty were both second-grade officials, but they couldn't even afford a coffin after their death, which couldn't help but make people sigh.