In fact, if we dig deeper, Ling Tao's work income is more than Qian Gu's annual salary. Since the Jin Dynasty, the government has also implemented the system of officials occupying land, that is, officials can receive a piece of land from the state according to their grades, and all the land belongs to the state. The harvest in the field belongs to individuals, which is actually part of their work income. According to Xiao Tong's Biography of Tao Yuanming, Ling Tao occupies three hectares of land and wants to plant all kinds of glutinous rice that can make wine. It is said that "people often get drunk"! But the county magistrate's wife disagreed. "Please plant japonica rice." The husband and wife sat down to discuss the production plan, and finally decided to "plant two hectares of 50 mu of rice and 50 mu of japonica rice." Of course, this kind of farming is a matter of "official farming", and Tao doesn't need to let himself go barefoot. According to his preface to going home, before he resigned, he had "hoped to see a grain", meaning to wait until the grain in the field was cooked. Who knows that the news of his sister's death came from Wuchang, and he made up his mind to open the way quickly. According to the author's speculation, "I still hope one" is more like the wife's opinion. Isn't it a pity to see rice grow in the field and can't be taken away? The bad news of his sister just provided him with an excuse to mobilize his wife to leave at once.
The salary system of the trinity of land, grain and cash continued until the Tang Dynasty. Tao Yuanming changed people halfway through his resignation. How was the harvest in the field distributed? According to "Biography of Southern History Officials", the original method was to cooperate with Qian Gu's annual salary system, and the income in the field was also distributed annually. Those who leave their jobs after the sowing date will have their own income, and those who leave their jobs before that will also have their own income. Xiang yuan county magistrate Ruan Changzhi. When leaving office, the successor has not yet arrived, so he "unsealed the day before the ear planting" so that the successor can get appropriate benefits. This is a manifestation of noble character, so it is recorded by historians in the History of the South. But in this way, not only the county government will have a power vacuum, but also the handover procedures will have a lot of trouble. Therefore, from the last year of Song Wendi Yuanjia (453), the official salary system was changed from annual salary system to monthly salary system, including farmland salary. But in my opinion, the grain in the field is not cooked every month, and there is no need to find any officials to cut the grain after the autumn harvest. The method of "dividing the land by month" is probably to estimate the output acceptable to both parties, and then the successor will convert it to the predecessor in the form of physical object or cash with time as the calculation unit.
Farming depends on the weather, so this kind of yield estimation is just like modern grain futures, which is a bit risky, plus other disadvantages it brings. Therefore, starting from the Tang Dynasty, the grain portion of local officials' job income changed from monthly salary system to annual salary system. At that time, the public land allocated to officials was called houfen, like the Qipin County Order of Tao Yuanming, which still occupied three hectares of land, but it was stipulated that the official labor force could no longer "farm", that is, rent was charged to others regardless of the harvest. In order to control the exploitation of officials, the central government explicitly stipulated that the rent per mu of land should not exceed six buckets, and it was forbidden to levy mulberry classes (official fields inside and outside the Tang Dynasty) in addition to renting grain. Regarding the handover and shift change, according to Feng's Wen Jian Ji, taking the afternoon as the boundary, "those who arrive before May 5 will get their jobs." The book also said that the secretariat of Haozhou was moved to Chuzhou on the orders of Korea. In order to let his predecessor get the job, he deliberately delayed everywhere on his way to office and went to get the seal after the Dragon Boat Festival. "Scholars call it". This kind of behavior is similar to Ruan Changzhi's anecdote when he implemented the annual salary system in the Southern Dynasties. At the same time, officials serving in the capital are still paid monthly, of which "basic salary" is classified according to official property, and some miscellaneous subsidies are linked to their posts.
In the Song Dynasty, the proportion of cash in officials' salaries was limited. During Su Dongpo's relegation to Huangzhou, there were a bunch of packaging bags that were sold by the official tertiary industry.
Since the Northern Song Dynasty, the annual salary system, which has been implemented for many years, has been changed back to the monthly salary system due to the cancellation of land distribution and no more troubles in calculating land income. According to Yan Yi's records, the salary of officials in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China in the Song Dynasty was very low. The monthly salary of county magistrate was less than 10 kronor (per person1000p), and some materials such as tea, salt and wine had to be converted. In the third year of Zhenzong Jingdezhen (1006), there was a "big adjustment", and the monthly salary of county commandant increased from 570 to 590. There is a story in Meng Qian's Bi Tan: A county commandant just took office, and a juren wrote to him asking for help and some food. The county commandant wrote a poem and replied, "The salary is 590. Please earn enough money to save money. His wife and children are not tired of dross, and his servants are not free from hunger and freezing? Redemption and redemption never stop. Have you ever dreamed of eating wine and meat? In order to report the stupid scholar in Jiangnan, he actually came to the jar. "
The so-called "saving money" means insisting on using less than 590p. What about the price at that time? According to the long edition of "Continuing the History as a Mirror", in the seventh year of Xining (1074), the government sold grain at a price of "one thousand yuan per stone for first-class japonica rice and eighty-five yuan per bucket for medium-sized japonica rice". Suppose that the county commandant in charge of public security has to support ten family members, plus the rations of several servants, with an average of five buckets per person per month, then his salary of less than six buckets per month is almost spent. Of course, this is just a "fixed salary". In addition, there are various subsidies such as kitchen materials (rice paste), tea soup (beverage fee) and firewood (heating fee). However, a family's expenses are more than just buying rice. For example, Zhou Mi recorded a quatrain in Hao Ran Zhai Ya Tan: "The small garden is short and short, and the money for buying a house in January is always enough." Suppose the county commandant rents such a house, which will cost him nearly one-fifth of his monthly salary. Therefore, although it will not fall into the embarrassing situation that his wife and children eat chaff, servants starve, and clothes are left in pawn shops and have no money to get back, it is certainly not as good as Tao Yuanming's "five meals."
According to the analysis of relevant historical materials, the Northern Song Dynasty has been plagued by the problem of "money shortage", and the cash part of official salaries is still limited. Su Dongpo's poem "First Arriving in Huangzhou" said: "It's a pity that it didn't help at all. It's still a waste of time for officials to hold back wine bags." Self-report: "It is an official practice to check the school. If you fold more, you should return the wine bag." It turned out that at that time, in order to increase government revenue, governments at all levels set up tertiary industries such as breweries and vinegar shops, so the packaged products sold back became a "discount" of wages, just like the current suit factory used suits to convert employees' year-end bonuses. Su Like Dongpo, the controller demoted to local resettlement, may be particularly bullied. Look at his self-report in the book with Qin Taixu: "When I first arrived in Huangzhou, I was definitely married, with a large population, and I was very private." However, the daily cost of self-help in pain is 150 yuan. After the new moon, I took 4500 pieces and divided them into 30 pieces. Every time I choose a flat piece, I hide the fork and keep it in a big bamboo tube. "From this, it is estimated that the cash in his monthly salary is less than the" five-way 590 salary ".
I cherish it because I have little money. At that time, the monthly salary of officials was paid after they arrived. It is estimated that as long as they report before the end of the month, they will get full salary. There is such a thing in Mengqian Bitan: on the wall of Shanxi Post Office (official guest house) in Xinzhou City, there is a "self-report" of hundreds of words. The author is a young woman who claims to be the daughter-in-law of a county-level or deputy county-level official. My father-in-law got a month's monthly salary early, but he gave birth to a child for three days regardless of his daughter-in-law, urging the whole family to take office with him. Now I'm sick at Shanxi Post Station, and I'm dying, so I left a suicide note on the wall to let all those who stayed in the past know the truth. According to Shen Kuo's memory, the county magistrate's surname is Lu, but his name has been forgotten. However, people who read this complaint went to the post office and paid a special visit to the young woman's grave, and wrote poems and cursed Lu, all of which were covered with walls.
How can a county magistrate with a Jinshi background be inferior to such a meager income? According to Meng Xi Bi Tan, under the old system, all junior officials who just entered the official career were hired by Class Three at the beginning, with a monthly salary of 700 pence, plus half a catty of mutton supplied by the post office, which was charged by the post ticket. During the auspicious period of Dazhong (1008-1kloc-0/6), someone wrote a poem in the post office: "It's sad to serve in Class Three, but you can know that you are humble and lonely. How much money is 700 yuan, and when is half a catty of sheep fat? " After this complaint reached the heaven, the emperor lamented: "At this rate, how can we ask them to be honest?" So I gave national officials a raise. However, due to the low base, the increase is limited. After the Song Dynasty moved south, the salaries of officials were greatly improved. Qu's Notes on China's Social Historical Materials quoted the yellow book "Preface to the Collection of Cut Tans": "One government and three States are engaged in it, and the monthly official is entrusted, and the millet and wheat are often two welcome, and the money is often seven thousand. Hong Rongzhai said that the covers of books and badges are now seven or eight times that of this one. If you have two or seven thousand, you can take an examination of a scribe primary school. " However, it is likely that the price increase at that time was also quite large.
Looking at the official salaries, the salaries of "civil servants" in the Qing Dynasty are far less than those in the Han and Tang Dynasties, but the extortion and hidden income hidden behind the name of "incorruptibility" can ensure that wages are basically not used.
In the Ming dynasty, another big turning point took place. The salary of officials is much lower than that in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and they are accompanied by rice notes (paper money). The county grandfather's annual salary is 90 stone, and the incorruptible, bookkeeping and academic officials range from 78 stone to 66 stone. There are only 36 stones for miscellaneous jobs that have not flowed in, of which 78 stone is for rice, 23 stone is for cash, and all miscellaneous jobs are for rice. How to discount rice and paper money? According to "Da Ming Hui Dian", there are 20 pieces of one stone. The story is about the ninth year of Xuande (1434), when Hu Meng, a senior official of the Ministry of Rites, was in charge of family affairs. In order to reduce expenses, he used his brains on official salaries. Shao Shi argued with him. In the end, he compromised in the Tenth Five-Year Plan. "Naturally, there are many people who lack small officials" (the story of allusions). After inflation, the price of paper money became lower and lower, and a cloth of 200 yuan was distributed. The weaving industry in Jiangnan has developed rapidly, and the price of cloth has fallen again. A piece of cloth can only be exchanged for three cents of silver. How much "salary" state and county government officials can get from the state can be calculated by readers themselves. In the description of "honest official", people are surprised to find that this kind of old man often haggles over every ounce even if he cuts a few pounds of meat to make a rare sumptuous meal. Indeed, the county officials in the Ming Dynasty would have been almost poor if they had not given birth to a third hand because of extortion, corruption and bribery.
After the trough of the Ming Dynasty, the salaries of Qing officials gradually rose to the level of the Southern Song Dynasty, even exceeding it. At first, salary was divided into two items: salary was rice and salary was silver. The salary of the county grandfather is forty-five Liang. This alone, of course, can't be compared with Song and Yuan Dynasties. In the Yuan Dynasty, the lowest-ranking officials also had more than thirty taels of silver. It turns out that in the Qing Dynasty, since Yong Zhengdi, a kind of "yanglianyin" has been set up for local officials, which means to ensure their integrity as officials by increasing their legitimate income. All the "yanglianyin" comes from the extra levy on the people, so there is no unified national standard for how much "yanglianyin" officials in the same rank and position can get, depending on the "economic benefits" of each county. According to the theory of magistrate of a county, it ranges from several hundred taels to several thousand taels every year. As for whether the requirement of "sincerity" can be realized because of silver feed, that is another matter completely.