Chapter 79: The Miserable Finances of Ming Dynasty

Officials(官吏), in fact, is a compound word combining “官” (guān) and “吏” (lì). Although these two words often appear together, fundamentally, they are entirely different.

During the Qin and Han dynasties, there was no distinction between “官” (guān) and “吏” (lì). “官” (guān) were “吏” (lì)., and “吏” (lì) were “官” (guān).

However, during the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern dynasties, the line between “官” (guān) and “吏” (lì) was completely drawn.

“官” (guān) represented the upper class, the privileged, and those of high status, known as “The upper class has no ignoble lineage.”.

On the other hand, “吏” (lì) represented the lower class, the humble, those engaged in lowly occupations, known as “The lower class has no high noble background.”.

In the Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties, “吏” (lì) essentially referred to a type of servant, also known as “胥吏” (xū lì:petty official). There was a saying:

“Guan(官) are like big fish, while Li(吏) are like small fish, The people who complete their grain duties are even drained and impoverished. Guan(官) are like tigers, while Li(吏) are like cats, they exploit and extract resources from the people..”

In the Ming Dynasty, government offices had “官” (guān), “僚” (liáo), and “吏” (lì).

Among them, “官” (guān) held the official position as the head; “僚” (liáo) were vice officials or assistants; and “吏” (lì) were clerks or staff members responsible for carrying out tasks.

“官” and “僚” were both officials with hierarchical positions, such as the “知县” (zhīxiàn: Magistrate) a Seventh rank official, “县丞” (xiàn chéng: Magistrate Assistant) An Eight rank official, and “主簿” (zhǔ bù: Clerk) a ninth rank official. Their appointments and dismissals came from the imperial court, and they received salaries from the court.

As for “吏” (lì), they do not have any official ranks and are considered “not part of the mainstream.” There is no concept of receiving imperial salaries from the court.

All their expenses for food and drinks come from the government office. If the government office’s finances have some surplus, it is distributed among these people. If the county magistrate dislikes someone, has a bad temper, or is corrupt, it is common for them to withhold the person’s wages for several months.

In later generations, people often talk about “bureaucratic rule” (官僚主义), but seldom mention “officialism” (官吏主义).

The reason is simple: “官僚” (guānliáo) refers to regular, officially appointed personnel, while “吏” (lì) are temporary employees and non-official personnel. Jobs such as officers, jailers, guards, coroners, grain officials, and security are menial tasks.

When they upset the county magistrate, they often call them “dog officials” directly.

The magistrate’s disdain for these individuals is not unfounded because they can only serve as clerks, both personally and for their descendants, without even qualifying for the imperial examinations. Their chances of transitioning from being non-appointed to appointed officials are virtually nonexistent.

As for these petty officials, the legitimate officials sneer at them, bossing them around and treating them harshly.

But here’s the problem.

No matter how much the magistrate looks down on the petty official, they still need these people to handle their affairs.

A single person cannot possibly stand guard, investigate corpses, catch criminals, and collect taxes, all at once.

Specialized individuals are required for these tasks, and these petty officials are responsible for handling miscellaneous duties.

These petty officials, relying on their own expertise, handle tasks for the government office, even though they don’t have official positions, they still need to make a living.

Where does the money come from?

It comes from the government office.

And where does the government office’s money come from?

The imperial court provides it.

How much does the imperial court provide?

Ah, seven dan of rice per month.

The magistrate looked back at the rice jar, which still had around seven hundred catties of rice left. “Why don’t you thirty-something petty officials take it and divide it among yourselves?”

The petty officials carried the sacks, each weighing around twenty catties, with tears in their eyes as they returned home. Their children cried out of hunger, their wives demanded to return to their parent’s homes, and their fathers sighed at the sight of such a small amount of rice. Finally, they decided not to eat that day.

Can a whole family survive with only twenty catties of rice per month?

As a result, the petty officials gathered together, preparing to impose additional taxes this year, going from house to house to collect them. The official disagreed? Until then the official would take the lion’s share, and we would get the leftovers. Why shouldn’t they agree?

Besides, officials come and go like flowing water; they leave their positions after just three years. But we, the petty officials, are destined to stay here for generations. How can we afford to starve to death?

It is precisely because of this that the harm caused by petty officials during the Ming Dynasty is so severe. Corruption is rampant, no matter how many heads Zhu Yuanzhang cut off, there are still people who are corrupt.

Without corruption, they cannot survive!

You, Old Zhu always cares your own sons, with the kings receiving tens of thousands of dan in salary. But what about us?

With only seventy to eighty stones of rice for dozens of families, how are we supposed to survive?

If we don’t become corrupt, we become beggars, and our whole family will be beggars. Some of our children might even starve to death.

But if we are corrupt, we can survive, our children can survive, the petty officials can survive.

What choice do we have?

We can only exploit the common people, engage in corruption and bribery, as we have no other options!

The meager salary system has significant flaws. If these flaws are not addressed, it will be impossible to fundamentally weaken and control the corruption of officials.

After all, being an official is not just about living a good life for oneself but also supporting parents, spouse, and children.

Now, the court wants to implement a Single Whip method while also seizing land and restraining land consolidation. This directly targets both officials and the petty officials, making it difficult for them to take advantage anymore.

There is no way to come up with clever excuses anymore, and they can’t easily exploit the labor of the common people.

If they can’t exploit the common people, then they lose their source of income. Without that income, these petty officials will either starve to death or have no choice but to return home and become farmers.

To stabilize the court, to calm the hearts of officials, and to successfully implement the single whip method and restrain land consolidation, it is necessary to improve the meager salary system and consider the livelihoods of the petty officials.

Huang Zicheng and Xia Yuanji spent only one night and devised a new salary system based on the Hongwu 20th-year salary as a blueprint, with an increase of nearly 50% overall.

The monthly salary for a first-ranked official was raised from 87 dans to 130 dans… The seventh-ranked official’s monthly salary was increased from 7 stones and 5 dou to 12 dan… The ninth-ranked official’s monthly salary was increased from 5 dans to 7 dans and 5 dou.

As for the government office’s petty officials, except for the scribes who enjoyed the ninth-ranked treatment, others received monthly salaries ranging from 7 stones to 5 stones.

The new salary system was not a simple 50% increase, but it also considered the state’s tax revenue, the total expenditure of officials’ salaries by the court, and the living conditions of the petty official.

After being reviewed by the Grand Secretariat, it was unanimously considered appropriate, and Huang Zicheng and Xia Yuanji submitted it to the Wuying Hall.

Upon seeing the new salary system, Zhu Yunwen frowned and asked, “Is 5 dans enough for the petty officials’ daily expenses?”

Xia Yuanji bowed and said, “Your Majesty, 5 dan of income is not only sufficient but also leaves a surplus. Converted into silver, their annual salary could amount to thirty taels, which is comparable to the income of ninth-ranked officials in previous years.”

Zhu Yunwen calculated and agreed with Xia Yuanji’s statement. He then asked Huang Zicheng, “With the inclusion of the petty officials in the official salary, how much does it increase? Can the Ministry of Revenue sustain it?”

Huang Zicheng’s expression turned somewhat bitter as he replied, “Your Majesty, the number of petty officials is far greater than that of court officials. Currently, there are only about 30,000 civil and military officials in the court, while the Ming Dynasty has 1,427 government offices. Some have as few as 30 employees, and others have up to a hundred. If we average it at fifty people per office, it would amount to over 70,000 petty officials. The previous official salaries were 4.5 million dans. If we add the petty officials, an additional 4.2 million stones will be needed, making it at least 9 million stones in total, solely for annual salaries.”

Nine million stones!

In previous years, the total agricultural tax revenue of the court was only 32.79 million dan!

Apart from salaries for officials, the court needed to provide salaries for the royal family, which would also amount to over one million dans per year.

This would mean that more than one-third of the court’s financial resources would be used for paying salaries.

Every year, the Ministry of War needs to take away 3 million dan of grain, and this is only under the present system where garrisons do not require much food supply from the court. However, with the promotion of the New Army Policy and the research on new military tactics, the expenses of the Ministry of War will increase exponentially, estimated at around eight million stones.

After deducting the expenses for the royal family, officials’ salaries, and military expenses, an additional three million dan were needed to maintain the canal transportation, one million dan for relief purposes, and other miscellaneous expenses, such as rewards, expenses for the harem, shipbuilding, palace construction, and tomb construction, which would also require at least five to six million stones.

By the end of the year, the central treasury might have around four million stones left.

However, if a war was to be fought and an army of 300,000 soldiers was mobilized, which would take about four months, nearly 800,000 dan of grain and fodder would be required. Moreover, three times as many civilian laborers would be needed for transportation, and they also needed to be fed…

After a battle is fought, upon reviewing the financial records, alas, there’s no money left. Perhaps they might even need to borrow money.

But where would they borrow money from?

The monthly salaries of court officials haven’t been paid yet.

Deduct it then…

This was the miserable financial situation of the Ming Dynasty, to the extent that in history, there were ridiculous incidents where salary payments were made using ingredients like Sichuan peppercorns and star anise…

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