Listen to the entertainment discipline
Editor丨Listen to the entertainment discipline
With the rapid development of technology, money has long become a string of numbers for us, whether it is to pay or receive, there is no need to trade in person, only a mobile phone can complete this series of operations.
Even if a person and a machine stay at home, they can understand the world's affairs. So technology has really brought great convenience to people's lives.
So the question is, people in ancient times did not have mobile phones, let alone bank cards, and transportation was not developed, so how did local officials receive their money on time in this case?
Who will send the official money?
As the saying goes: if you are excellent, you will learn, and if you are excellent, you will learn.
The purpose of the ancients' ten years of hard work was not to one day become an official after the title of the gold list. Most of them are full of enthusiasm and want to share the worries of the country and solve problems for the people.
Since he is serving the country and the imperial court, the salary is naturally paid by the emperor.
But there are tens of thousands of large and small officials all over the country, and the emperor has a lot of opportunities every day, so how can he have time to manage these.
Therefore, the matter of distributing the money was entrusted to the household department, which managed the national treasury, and the household department was equivalent to the current finance minister. It is he who distributes the salaries of state officials.
But the emperor is far away, and the territory of China is large, so it is impossible for so many magistrates to go through the management of the household department.
But just because they received the money, they should not let the officials all travel all the way to the capital to come to the capital.
So the imperial court came up with a way to set up an institution called "Zhengcang" in the local area, that is, the local treasury, which can also be understood as the "ancient version of the bank".
In this way, officials in various places do not need to go all the way to the capital to receive the money, but only need to go to the "Zhengcang" in their own jurisdiction, and there will be someone who is specially responsible for distributing the money of the officials here.
Although there is no need to go to the capital, some small places, such as county-level and township-level officials, want to go to the local "Zhengcang" to receive money, as little as dozens of kilometers, as much as three or five hundred.
In ancient times, most people walked on foot, and it took ten days and half a month to walk back and forth for hundreds of kilometers, so that officials would delay their political affairs for many days because of receiving the money.
Taking these factors into account, the imperial court sent people to distribute the money to these remote local officials. Officials can also entrust their family members or send their own cronies, as long as they have their own identification, they can collect the money on their behalf.
It can be seen that although science and technology were not developed in ancient times, management was still very humane. So what were the ancient fortunes distributed? Directly to gold and silver treasures or to grain?
What did the ancient Yulu send out?
China's feudal society for more than 2,000 years, the officials of the past dynasties are also varied, the Han Dynasty adopted the system of half money and half grain, and after arriving in the Jin Dynasty, in addition to sending money and grain, it will also send some rice, silk and other ancient hard currency.
After arriving in the Tang Dynasty, Yulu has been completely tricked, in addition to the money, grain, rice and silk in front, the imperial court will also distribute tea, wine and even feed to officials.
There is also a system that has lasted for several dynasties, and that is the vocational field system. The greater the ruler, the greater the land.
The annual income of the officials was obtained from the income generated by these lands, in addition to paying taxes to the state.
The vocational field system seems to be a good benefit, but in fact, for some grassroots officials, it is really dumb and eat coptis.
In particular, officials in some remote areas have not been able to share a few hectares of land, and the income from local farmland has been insufficient. As a result, many local officials have difficulty even supporting their families.
It was not until after the Ming Dynasty that Zhu Yuanzhang completely abolished this system of vocational fields, and slowly changed to silver as a salary.
During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, silver was officially designated as legal tender, and later the distribution of silver became the main one, and this system continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty.
How much money could officials at all levels receive in ancient times?
For example, during the Qin Dynasty, grain was mainly distributed, because at that time, the value of grain was the highest, as long as it could be fed.
It was only after the Western Jin Dynasty that the concept of land division gradually appeared, and officials could obtain corresponding land rewards by virtue of their official rank.
By the time of the Tang Dynasty, the treatment of officials was already very good.
For example, a first-grade senior official can get 12 hectares of fertile land, and an eight-rank junior official can also get two hectares of farmland. In addition to farmland incentives, officials also receive direct food incentives.
For example, a first-grade official can get 700 stone of grain, and a nine-rank minor official can get 50 stone of grain.
You think that's the end of it?
After Li Shimin took office, he also increased the monetary reward, the first-rank senior official can get 6,800 wen, and the nine-rank petty official can also get a full 1,300 wen.
Later, even the rewards of foreign officials were higher than those of officials in the capital.
It is said that the emperor did this to stabilize the local forces, so that the local officials could always maintain their motivation and ensure that they would work harder for the imperial court.
After arriving in the Song Dynasty, the officials' salaries were once again raised to a new height, and it was also the era when the officials of all dynasties had the highest salaries.
As we all know, the Song Dynasty was the most economically prosperous, technologically advanced, and culturally prosperous dynasty in Chinese history.
Although it was not a dynasty that could fight, China was really rich at that time. Since the state has money, it is naturally not ambiguous at all to distribute money to officials.
At that time, a high-ranking official could get 120,000 wen in currency, 150 stone of grain, and all kinds of brocade clothes and cloth. The petty officials of the nine grades can receive 8,000 wen currency, 5 stone of grain and 12 taels of cloth.
In addition to receiving the salary of the corresponding official position, officials are often helped by the state in their daily lives. For example, the servants in the families of some officials will receive food and clothing subsidies from the state.
Modern life is more convenient
In modern times, our salaries are paid entirely in the form of money, although it is the same currency as some ancient dynasties, but our currency is lighter and easier to carry.
With the progress of the times, the rise of electronic money, WeChat, and Alipay, the salary payment in modern society is becoming more and more diversified, and it is becoming more and more convenient and fast to shop and collect money.
Modern people's salary payment cycle is also relatively short, most of them are paid monthly, of course, there are also quarterly or annual salary systems.
The salary amount corresponding to this system may be larger, which is usually only touched by some high-tech occupations.
In addition, there are some temporary workers, who may have a shorter payroll period, such as daily pay, and most of them are on the construction site.
Or some part-time and hourly work, the kind that pays when you finish it.
Compared to ancient times, our society today is more equal and free.
After all, in ancient times, there were only about 10,000 people in the whole country, and social resources were also in the hands of this small number of people.
That is to say, in addition to those who have obtained fame and become officials, that is, the hereditary high-ranking officials and nobles will have a fixed income and receive the money issued by the state. Most people don't have that kind of treatment.
And now we have a lot of choices, there are many ways to make money, as long as you work hard, there is no big problem in finding a formal and stable job.
Therefore, we should be fortunate to be born in China in the new era and cherish this hard-won happy life.