xymnovel Chapter 20 The Insects' Meeting
Chapter 20 The Insects' Meeting
The "Shangji Law" was a set of laws and regulations promulgated during the Western Han Dynasty, used to assess the performance of officials and supervise local administration.
The law stipulated that local governments were required to regularly submit accounting reports, also known as accounting books, to the central government. The content of these reports was quite similar to the government work reports of later generations, covering many aspects such as household registration, rent and taxes, criminal cases, land reclamation, and revenue and expenditure.
Since Yuan Yao came to power through a temporary coup, and the Zhong regime had previously made a mess of things in this regard, he specifically ordered Yang Hong to prepare a plan and submit it to him.
However, the plan was fraught with setbacks. Yuan Yao was very dissatisfied every time he saw it and repeatedly sent it back to Yang Hong for revisions, forcing the latter to come and confront Yuan Yao in person.
"Your Highness," Yang Hong didn't directly address the matter of the plan, "regarding the money in the palace, yesterday I sent a county official to count and verify it, but he was turned away by General Cao's soldiers who cursed him. May I ask why?"
It refers to the enormous fortune left by Yuan Shu.
Yuan Yao knew perfectly well that this scoundrel was reminding him that he hadn't yet fulfilled his promise, but Yuan Xiaojiang wasn't intimidated at all and directly changed the subject back to the plan.
"I asked Cao Xingqian to do this. The amount of money in the palace is considerable, and a detailed plan must be drawn up beforehand on how to use it. But now, even the plan isn't clear. How can anyone feel at ease with this?"
Yang Hong was slightly displeased: "Then please enlighten me, Your Highness. My subordinates have submitted three plans in total, but you are still not satisfied. Why is that?"
Yuan Yao retorted with a stern face, "Why doesn't Yang Gong think about it from the other side? I had them revise it three times and they still felt it wasn't right. Doesn't that mean we didn't revise it in the right way?"
"Your Highness, it should be twice."
Liu Ye, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but speak up: "Because first there was an unmodified initial version, and then came the first and second modifications..."
Seeing Yuan Yao and Yang Hong simultaneously turn around and unleash their death stares, Liu Ye immediately shut his mouth: "Ahem, I misspoke."
After glaring at Liu Ye, Yuan Yao got back to the main topic, took out a basket of bamboo slips from his side, and then reached down to the bottom and slammed one of the scrolls onto the table.
Yuan Yao: "Let's set aside the ambiguities in other aspects for now, but on the matter of expenditure, could you, Lord Yang, explain to me why you generally increased the salaries of civil officials by almost 30%?"
Huh, they actually found it?
Yang Hong's eyelids twitched, but he remained calm. He straightened his clothes slightly and began to chant:
"Your Highness has inquired about the expenditure matters, and this old minister will naturally provide a detailed account. This matter has been carefully considered by the officials in accordance with the old systems of Guanghe and Zhongping, addressing all aspects involved in the increase or decrease of salaries. Admittedly, the details are too trivial and cumbersome, requiring individual verification and comparison before a decision can be made. Therefore, at this stage, it is difficult for this minister to simply assert whether this budget item is entirely appropriate or whether there are any unreasonable aspects. However, if we take a step back, this plan is indeed a phased consensus formed after considering various factors and weighing various factors. Its purpose is to temporarily maintain a general balance in the expenditures of all parties and to leave room for possible fine-tuning in the future."
Yuan Yao: "Huh?"
Yang Hong: "This plan is quite good."
Yuan Yao: "..."
To be honest, Yuan Yao wasn't unwilling to raise the salaries of civil servants.
As mentioned earlier, as a tyrant whose legitimacy was inherently insufficient, Yuan Yao needed to win over the people as much as possible to maintain his rule, and promoting officials and making money was a very effective way to do so.
Considering that the Zhong regime has been declining in recent years, with its salaries rarely paid in full and some people even having to pay to work, a pay raise seems very reasonable and necessary.
The problem is that Yang Hong's behavior is too disgusting.
He gave himself and those who depended on him a raise of more than double, while other high-ranking officials and ministers received raises of around 50%. On the contrary, the majority of middle and lower-level officials received raises of less than 10%.
This won't do!
It should be noted that because Yuan Shu had acted inappropriately in the past, collecting taxes in Huainan for ninety years, Yuan Yao only had this one sum of available funds in the short term, so he naturally had to spend every penny wisely.
Yuan Yao opened another box and took out another bamboo scroll: "Master Yang, why don't you take a look at this salary adjustment plan I wrote?"
Yang Hong reached out and took it, glanced at it briefly, and then gently shook his head.
The proposal Yuan Yao presented was something he had worked on with Yan Xiang and Liu Ye. At first glance, it seemed similar to Yang Hong's, with even the salary increase not changing much. But upon closer inspection, one would discover that there was more to it than met the eye.
That is, Yuan Yao changed the salary increase method from a base salary system to a performance-based and commission-based system, with the main idea being that more work means more pay, less work means less pay, and no work means no pay.
Yang Hong naturally couldn't agree to this; it was far from what he expected and exceeded his bottom line.
But then again, as a scoundrel, an insect, a humanoid, a political being, Yang Hong's bottom line is always flexible, fickle, and can be bought off.
Yuan Yao earnestly advised, "Huainan is in dire need of reconstruction, and it is indeed necessary to stimulate everyone's work enthusiasm. I think this reward system is very appropriate for the current situation. Including Lord Yang, I also have something I would like to entrust to you."
Yang Hong: "What is it?"
Yuan Yao: "Madam Lü has been in low spirits lately, often sighing. I asked her why, and it turns out she misses her family terribly. I remember Lord Yang has some connections in Xuchang. Could you do me another favor and find a way to rescue the rest of Marquis Wen's family?"
Yang Hong didn't say anything, but his expression clearly showed that he was interested.
Yuan Yao continued, "Of course, the time I rescued Lady Lü was because I was engaged to her, and Cao Cao was willing to help her. Others would have had a much more difficult time if they didn't have such a legitimate reason. So I specially approved a sum of money for Yang Gong to use from my personal treasury to bribe people in Xuchang."
As for how much this funding will be?
"As long as it doesn't exceed 500,000, I can accept it."
"Oh." Yang Hong began to quickly calculate in his mind.
As the head of the civil officials of the Zhong clan, his theoretical income was 300 hu of grain per month, but in reality it was discounted to about 150 hu. Considering the loss of half money and half grain, it would amount to about 150,000 coins per year.
Although this is only Yang Hongming's apparent income, it is still not a small amount.
Now that Yuan Yao is asking for 500,000 coins right off the bat, it is indeed very attractive.
Seeing that Yang Hong had been pondering for a long time, Yuan Yao was just about to use some bombshell information to make a final decision when he suddenly heard a "bang".
The next moment, General Zhang Xun burst in.
"Grand Commander, you broke your promise!"
Yuan Yao was taken aback: "What's wrong?"
Zhang Xun angrily said, "Military spending! I've seen the military spending plan you announced, and it completely contradicts what you said before!"
So that's what it was about.
Yuan Yao glanced at Yang Hong. The military expenditure plan that Zhang Xun had vehemently criticized was part of the plan compiled by Yang Hong, so he was also involved in it.
Yang Hong smiled slightly, cleared his throat, and prepared to sing—
"Shut up!"
Zhang Xun showed no mercy, interrupting the spellcasting directly: "Don't think I don't know, this was definitely the work of you civil officials!"
Yang Hong's face darkened instantly.
Yuan Yao quickly tried to smooth things over: "General, I know you're in a hurry, but please don't rush."
He then asked Yang Hong to leave first: "Master Yang, please consider the matters I mentioned carefully. I will send someone to discuss them with you later."
After Yang Hong left, Zhang Xun sat down with a sour face: "What does the Grand Commander have to say?"
Yuan Yao laughed and said, "General, you have misunderstood Lord Yang this time. His plan has a hidden meaning. Let me explain it to you in detail."
"The Grand Commander's words are inappropriate," Zhang Xun disagreed. "Just because you think something is right doesn't mean it is right. If you ask me, your stance is not firm. These civil officials should be criticized when they are wrong, but should they not be criticized when they are right?"