Chapter 193 192 Ministry of Revenue

In Wei Guangde's feeling, he seemed to have returned to the time when he was studying business two years ago, except that he went in and out of the academy and then went in and out of the Hanlin Academy.

The days passed one by one, and in a blink of an eye, Wei Guangde had been in the Hanlin Academy for more than half a month.

Wei Guangde arrived at the Hanlin Academy early in the morning, wrote his name and time in the signature book, put down his pen and was about to go in, when he suddenly heard someone calling his name behind him.

Wei Guangde turned around and saw that it was Yin Tai who had just come out of the sedan chair, and he spoke because he saw him.

Wei Guangde couldn't leave, so he immediately bowed and stood by and waited.

Yin Tai came up and first said to Wei Guangde, "Wait a moment."

Then he picked up the pen that Wei Guangde had just put down and wrote his name and time in the signature book, and then said to Wei Guangde, "Let's go in together, I have something to tell you."

"Yes, Lord Yin."

Wei Guangde replied respectfully, and then followed Yin Tai into the Hanlin Academy.

"You have been here for almost a month. I have also read the article you gave to Wu Qing yesterday. I can only say that it is not satisfactory."

According to the requirements of the Hanlin Academy for the Shujishi, one article must be submitted every month. As for the subject matter, as long as the assigned scholar has no requirements, you can express it freely.

Obviously, Yin Tai was not satisfied with the first assignment submitted by Wei Guangde, but he said it in a tactful way and did not point it out directly.

"Yes, yes, I will study harder."

Wei Guangde could only answer submissively.

"You will call Li Shuli to go to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue to collect the silver for the officials and the silver for the officials this month."

Yin Tai walked to his public house, making arrangements while walking, and soon threw the task of the Hanlin Academy to go to various departments to ask for firewood, silver for the officials and silver for the officials to do to Wei Guangde.

Well, Wei Guangde did not object to this. He had to find something to do, right?

In the future, he could go around Beijing under the pretext of asking for silver, and he did not have to be confined to the Hanlin Academy.

However, when it comes to the silver for firewood, firewood, and guards, Wei Guangde still has some small opinions.

As long as you are granted an official position, you will be allocated firewood, firewood, and guards according to the system. This is also the benefit that Ming Dynasty officials add to their meager salaries.

For example, Tao Dalin and Jin Da, two people of the seventh rank, have been granted official positions. According to the system, they can receive the silver for two guards every year. As for whether you want a guard, that's your business. If you don't want the money, you can put it in your pocket.

For example, the silver for guards, each guard is fixed at 12 taels of silver a year. It depends on how many guards you have assigned to your official position. How much silver you can get.

For example, a seventh-rank county magistrate can have four guards, so he can get 48 taels of silver in addition to his salary.

Although the number of guards assigned is related to the rank, it is also related to the position.

For example, Tao Dalin and Jin Da, although they are also seventh-rank, can only be assigned two guards, which means an extra 24 taels of silver.

As for Wei Guangde, I'm sorry. Shujishi is not an official position, so naturally there is no quota for the yaoli. He can only help others to ask for this silver, but he can't get a penny.

This yaoli silver is not the same as the reed cloth Wei Guangde received in his public house. Lubu took the note signed by the Hanlin Academy to the Ministry of War to collect his wages every month.

As for Zhitang silver and yaoli silver, they are both benefits given to themselves by officials. Originally, officials recruited clerks to help them handle official business, which is equivalent to the office funds allocated by departments at all levels to support some temporary workers.

However, most of this silver went directly into the pockets of officials. They directly used the clerks in the yamen to do things. Who would spend money to recruit them? Only important roles like the teacher would spend money to hire people to fill the role.

There are also those who take the initiative to surrender, such as the yamen runners in the local yamen, most of whom do not spend money from their superiors, and local officials also like to use such people very much.

Of course, they are not fools. They are not selfless and do things for the court without money. They do it for the official clothes on their bodies. With this layer of skin, they can be domineering in the local area and extort money.

After talking too much, Wei Guangde came out of Yin Zhangyuan's public house and found Li Shuli first. Since he had an errand, he naturally had to connect with Li Shuli first to avoid mistakes.

"Sir Wei, I still have something on my hands. I will go to the Ministry of Revenue after I finish the calculation here, and then go to the Ministry of War in the afternoon. How about it."

Li Shuli should be summarizing the money reported by each room, and he also has to report it to Shuntian Prefecture for withdrawal, so after understanding Wei Guangde's intention, he immediately bowed and said.

"Okay, come to the public house to find me when you are done."

Wei Guangde nodded, looking at the notes on his table, which should also be issued by his own public house. Knowing that he was busy at the moment, he was too lazy to pay more attention, and he set a time and went out.

As usual, he went to the review hall to check the progress of the book revision, but he only flipped through the newly revised pages and did not urge them. Everyone knew it.

Wei Guangde got this job from Wu Qing, so he naturally had to do his best to save face. Once Wu asked about the progress of the book revision, he at least wanted to know which year it was completed.

"You are busy, don't worry, the main thing is not to make mistakes."

This sentence was repeated every day, and several clerks and imperial edicts nodded their heads in a hurry, saying everything.

In other words, facing these clerks and imperial edicts could help Wei Guangde regain the feeling that he was still an official, because they were clerks.

Back in the public house, Wei Guangde continued to read his Taoist classics, hoping that his skills could be further improved.

In the Hanlin Academy, there is indeed enough time to read books at ease, provided that nothing else affects one's mood.

In the past month, Wei Guangde has almost recognized all the scholars in the Hanlin Academy.

Although most of these people still have positions outside, they still have to return to the Hanlin Academy every month to do something, such as Gao Gong is still the editor of the Huidian, and Yin Shizhen is responsible for the preparatory work of the Jiajing Veritable Records.

An hour later, Li Shuli came to Wei Guangde's public house to ask for an audience, and his purpose was naturally self-evident.

When they left the Hanlin Academy, there were four yamen runners behind them, who were called to help take the silver.

The locations of the various government offices in the Ming Dynasty were relatively concentrated. Except for the Ministry of Justice, the other five ministries were all on the east side of the Qianbu Corridor in the Daming Gate, and on the west side were institutions such as the Five Military Governor's Office and the Jinyiwei. The yamen of the three judicial departments were located on other streets in the inner city, and were not concentrated together like most institutions.

Hanlin Academy is also on the east side, not far from the Ministry of Revenue. Wei Guangde did not take his own carriage when he went out, but walked to the Ministry of Revenue.

In the past, Li Shuli was responsible for these things. It is estimated that after Wei Guangde found him, he also went to Yin Zhangyuan to ask, so he was quite respectful to Wei Guangde at this time.

Soon they arrived at the Ministry of Revenue. Li Shuli took Wei Guangde into the Ministry of Revenue with ease. He did not go to other places, but went directly to the Fujian Qingli Division under the Ministry of Revenue. All the expenses of the Northern Zhili and the Beijing Office were under the jurisdiction of this Division.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Revenue was divided into thirteen Qingli Divisions, including Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, Fujian, Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou, according to the region. Officials such as Langzhong, Yuanwailang, and Zhushi were appointed, and each was in charge of the affairs of its province.

However, these thirteen Qingli Divisions also took charge of the tributes and taxes of the two capitals and Zhili, the salaries of various divisions and guards, the grain and salaries of the border towns, and the warehouses, salt taxes, and banknotes.

For example, the salaries of officials, nobles, and royal family members were allocated to the Shaanxi Qingli Division, the salt tax was the responsibility of the Shandong Qingli Division, the grain transport was the responsibility of the Yunnan Qingli Division, and the government expenditures were the responsibility of the Fujian Qingli Division. At the same time, they were also responsible for calculating the tribute of Northern Zhili.

It didn't take long for Li Shuli and the Yuanwailang of the Fujian Qingli Division to check the bills sent before, sign, seal and stamp on the bills, and Wei Guangde also signed his name on the bills that the Ministry of Revenue needed to keep, and the procedures were considered complete.

"Sir Wei, let's go to the Ministry of Finance to get the silver now, and this trip to the Ministry of Revenue is complete."

After leaving the Fujian Qingli Division, Li Shuli whispered to Wei Guangde, "It's the same every month, but the expenses reported at the beginning of the month need to be carefully checked. According to Sir Yin's intention, the clerks will directly send the monthly checked accounts to Sir for review."

Wei Guangde nodded. He only needed to run twice at the beginning to understand the process. In the future, he only needed to check the numbers reported by Li Shuli in the public house, and there was no need to run again.

At this time, the two of them inadvertently looked towards the lobby on the left. Just now, it seemed that someone was roaring loudly there, but now there was no sound.

In the government office, roaring loudly like this is a very rude thing, but it is not common, not to mention that this is the Ministry of Revenue.

Wei Guangde wanted to go over to take a look, but was immediately stopped by Li Shuli in a low voice.

"Sir Wei, this is the Ministry of Revenue's business. No matter what happens in the hall over there, it has nothing to do with our Hanlin Academy."

Li Shuli is also a veteran official. The two shouts just now were obviously made by officials in a hurry. If you think about it, you can guess that it is nothing more than officialdom infighting.

For such things in the Ministry of Revenue, other outsiders naturally can't watch the excitement, not to mention that they are here to do business. Even if they want to watch, they have to finish their business and take a look at it before leaving.

Soon, he took out the silver from the silver vault and asked the four runners who followed him to take it. Several people left the silver vault and walked out along the way they came.

It was also lucky that several chief officers were on duty this time, and there was no need to wait for people. Instead, the matter was done quickly.

"Brother Zicheng."

As they were walking, Wei Guangde suddenly saw a familiar person in front of him. Looking carefully, it turned out to be Li Shida, a Jinshi in the same class.

"Guangde, why are you here?"

Li Shida turned around and saw several people coming over. The leader was Wei Guangde. He asked curiously.

"The dean sent me to get the silver from the Zhitang. I'm here now. What are you looking at?"

Wei Guangde smiled.

"Over there."

Li Shida pointed to the hall of the Ministry of Revenue in front and whispered, "Someone from Prince Yu's Mansion is here. He is arguing with the officials in the ministry."

"Who is here?"

Wei Guangde asked curiously. Most of the lecturers in Prince Yu's Mansion were responsible for the palace. For example, Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhan, two Hanlin reviewers, also served as the official position of Xima in Prince Yu's Mansion.

Of course, this Xima is not Bimawen, who specializes in bathing horses, but is equivalent to the duties of Yu Wang's secretary.

The position of Xima existed in the Qin Dynasty. According to the "Continued Han Shu·Baiguan Zhi", "When the prince goes out, he will be on duty. One person will lead the dignity in front, which is the meaning of Xima".

This sentence roughly refers to the person who leads the team at the front of the prince's tour to show his majesty, that is, "Xi Ma", also known as "Xian Ma", which means driving in front of the horse.

"I heard that it was Yin Shizhan, who was still arguing inside."

Li Shida whispered.

"Master Yin, hey, this matter is caused by you, the Ministry of Revenue, is not in the right."

Wei Guangde muttered in a low voice.

"There are people above who are suppressing me. Who can think of a way to make Da Situ obey his orders? If you think about it, you will know that it is extraordinary. It's just those few people."

Li Shida defended the officer.

What he said was correct, but it really didn't make sense, so he didn't have much confidence in what he said.

Wei Guangde met Yin Shizhen twice in the Hanlin Academy, and he had a good impression on Wei Guangde. What's more, Yin Shizhen also had a place in the so-called poetry circle of the Ming Dynasty at this time.

Although the overall level of Ming Dynasty poetry tends to be popular, so it seems very mediocre when compared with other dynasties, but among the short ones, choose the tall one, and this Yin Shizhen is one of them.

In the current poetry circle, the four great masters are known as "Bian, Li, Yin, and Xu", which refers to Bian Gong, Li Panlong, Yin Shidan, and Xu Bangcai.

"I can't control it. You have to continue to watch the fun. After a while, the Shangguan will come out to arrest you and kick you out of the capital."

Wei Guangde smiled and said, "I have heard people say that most of us who are Jinshi will have the opportunity to stay in Beijing. You should perform well and strive to be an official in Beijing. You should be promoted quickly."

"real?"

When Li Shida heard what Wei Guangde said, he immediately asked excitedly.

"Why am I lying to you? The Japanese pirates are poisoning Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The officials there are in bad luck. The governor and censor there are constantly sending petitions to send more officials to strengthen the local area.

You can do the math for yourself. Those who have lost their offices have lost their offices, and those who have been dismissed have been dismissed. Now please add more officials. How many more official positions will there be?

These positions are not dared to be filled by those of us who have just entered the officialdom, so we can only choose capable local officials. People from the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Sixth Section are eager to move, and many people want to go down to the local government to become parents. "

Wei Guangde replied softly.

"It's good to be a Beijing official, but I still don't feel comfortable in the local area, and there are many benefits."

Li Shida said with a smile.

"It's better to stay in Beijing as much as possible first, fix the human relations in the court, and then move up to one and a half ranks. I think this is good."

Wei Guangde smiled and expressed his thoughts, "I've finished my work here and will leave first."

Wei Guangde smiled and cupped his hands at Li Shida, and left with Li Shuli and others.

However, when they walked through the lobby of the Ministry of Household Affairs and headed towards the door of the Ministry of Household Affairs, they heard footsteps behind them, and someone said angrily to the inside: "This is the end of my words. You adults will weigh the consequences."

It really was Yin Shizhen's voice, Wei Guangde muttered in his heart.

Hearing the footsteps getting louder behind him, Wei Guangde stood under the doorway of the Ministry of Household Affairs and turned around to face Yin Shizhen, who was walking angrily. He bowed and saluted, "Wei Guangde, a junior student, has met Mr. Yin."