Chapter 281 Withholding Compensation
At the ruins of Ganquan Palace, when Black Bear came back, a quadrangular earthen building about a hundred steps square had been built.

When he came back, the main construction work had been completed and wooden floors were being laid on the first and second floors of the four earthen buildings, as well as in the basement.

Not only will wooden floors be laid, but the walls and roofs will also be reinforced with wooden planks.

The cement mixed with glutinous rice juice is used to fill the gaps. The wall panels and roof panels are even double-layer structures. The inner wooden boards are firmly glued and fixed on the earth wall, the keel is erected, and then the surface wooden boards are laid.

Such projects are actually small projects. The most labor-intensive aspects of building palaces and mansions are the various huge stones or woods.

The manpower spent on felling trees, mining huge rocks, and transportation in the mountains is equal to money and food.

Black Bear has no interest in large buildings, so this quadrangle earthen building will be the hub of the future Grand Marshal's office.

He just briefly observed the progress of the project and then came to the temporary camp outside the earth building.

Here, each department of the shogunate had its own small camp. As spring ploughing gradually stopped, the county offices began to work and the number of official documents increased day by day.

As soon as he came back, the Chief Clerk Cui Zhouping, the Minister of Justice Kong Rong, the Royal Guard Commander Zhang Ding and the Western Cao Fu Gan came to see him together. Except for the vacant seat in the Eastern Cao, with the addition of Yang Fu, the chief clerk who followed Hei Xiong, five of the six giants of the shogunate finally gathered for the first time.

In the huge round tent, these people presented their recent work records and a list of staff expansion.

The clerks, subordinates, clerks, and assistant historians of the various departments within the shogunate have always been selected by the Western Department; but now the shogunate is still in its infancy, and when faced with a leader whose whereabouts are erratic, the personnel work of the Western Department often has to be frozen.

So it has been saved until now, when Fu Gan of Xicao handed over a thick roll of bamboo slips.

On the bamboo slips, the lists of people who needed to be added to the various departments and the official positions to be appointed were clearly marked, and finally the salaries and benefits of this group of shogunate officials were also counted.

This was just the beginning. Along with this list came three bamboo slips, which contained information about the people on the list.

Black Bear was very patient. He spread out the list on the table and read the personal information in his hands.

Selecting and employing people is related to the long-term future, so no one dares to be anxious at this moment and just waits quietly.

Black Bear would occasionally pick up a pen and cross out names on the list to express his disapproval.

After crossing out the last name, Black Bear looked at Fu Gan and asked, "Du Ji and Su Ze, how are you doing?"

"Your Majesty, Du Ji is teaching at the University. As for Su Ze, I heard that he left Mount Taibai and is now a guest at Mount Zhongnan."

Fu Gan was from the north, but he had closer ties with the scholars in Guanzhong. He also said, "In my opinion, these two gentlemen have the intention to serve the emperor and share his worries, but they lack the opportunity to advance."

Du Ji was oppressed by the black bear and was always unlucky; the Su Ze family's fortress, ranch and forest farm in the Shanglinyuan area of ​​Weinan were all requisitioned by the hundred households.

The Su family also had to give up all the servants, followers, and land they had occupied over the years, and their vitality was severely damaged.

Because both sides were restrained enough, and because the black bear was strong enough, there was no blood feud between them.

The Su family established four hundred-household offices based on their assets, all of which were cultivated lands, and had already been developed pastures and forest farms.

What Black Bear didn't expect was that the Su family could really endure it.

The Su clan has such a large industry, but in fact it has little direct connection with Su Ze, and there is not even any year-end dividend.

But things cannot be viewed in this way. Su Ze is the representative and leader of the Su clan; with just one word, Su Ze can mobilize the manpower and material resources of the Su clan.

No ownership, but right to use.

This is the case with many famous families. His family is poor and has lived in poverty for generations; but this does not mean that his relatives, relatives, and fellow villagers are poor.

After Fu Gan finished speaking, seeing that Black Bear was unmoved and did not express his opinion, he stopped talking.

Su Ze and Du Ji were in their prime, so they could afford to wait.

The fact that Su Ze was able to persuade his clansmen to be patient and restrained shows his attitude and inclination; Du Ji did not run away, but instead devoted himself to education, which is also an attitude.

It is impossible for these two people to come to the Grand Marshal's Office to ask for official positions. They have to wait for the right opportunity to enter the officialdom.

It’s not that Black Bear doesn’t lack people, but if these two obvious opinion leaders are thrown into the wild, if there is any danger, Su Ze and Du Ji will definitely be the first to contact them.

If either of them tells the secret to himself, a big conspiracy can be solved.

If you only keep one, the effect won't be so good.

While he was thinking, the annotated list was circulated among the people. Kong Rong saw that three of the four people he recommended were crossed out, so he couldn't help but speak first: "Your Majesty, I have only two proofreaders and one assistant historian under my command. We urgently need to add more people. Why did you only approve one person?"

"Whether a knife is sharp or not does not depend on how much iron is used, but on whether it can be sharpened from time to time. Wen Jugong, two school officials are enough. They are considered Wen Jugong and can attack from three sides. As for the counties under my shogunate, there are not enough to share."

After Black Bear finished speaking, Kong Rong was unwilling to accept it, so he could only agree: "Yes, I dare not slack off."

Seeing that no one else expressed their intention to ask for the person, Black Bear turned his head to look at Gao Shun outside the tent, who was leading four Taoist soldiers in.

Two people each carried a wooden box, which was placed in the middle of the round tent. After Gao Shun opened the box, he led the Taoist soldiers out.

In the box were two types of gold coins with a face value of one thousand and five hundred.

The people present were not unfamiliar with gold coins. The gold coins brought by Western merchants had the heads of the kings of other countries carved on them, and there were also characters from various countries on them. But at this moment, they were all attracted by the gold coins in front of them because they were too standard and exquisite.

Black Bear said, "These are the gold coins made under the supervision of Zhuge Liang, the official in charge of gold. The large ones are exchanged for one ounce of gold and one thousand and five hundred baht coins; the small ones are exchanged for half an ounce of gold and five hundred and five hundred baht coins."

Kong Rong bowed slightly, stood up and grabbed a handful of gold coins. Seeing the beautifully printed words "Dang Qian" and "Wu Bai", he said with emotion: "Your Majesty's coins are based on people!"

Others also came forward to take the gold coins for observation. Chief Secretary Cui Zhouping breathed a sigh of relief. As a native of Hebei, he was under a lot of pressure in the shogunate.

Kong Rong could share a lot of pressure with him, but there were still many people who wanted to pull him down.

Fu Gan grabbed the gold coins and compared them carefully. What he thought of was the outflow of gold coins. During the outflow process, they would definitely be exchanged for more gold from the Hu merchants.

His family naturally knew that the further west they went, the more abundant the gold would be in the market, and the same productivity could be exchanged for more gold in the West.

Holding back his excitement, Fu Gan asked, "Sir, how many gold coins can be made every day?"

"We work day and night, and can make about 50,000 a day, using 2,000 kilograms of gold."

Black Bear looked at the two boxes of gold coins and said, "I plan to use these gold coins to pay for the purchase of food, cloth, tools, and medicinal materials from Jingzhou. After August this year, I will set up money shops in various county towns to facilitate merchants, scholars and civilians to exchange new five-zhu coins."

Zhuge Liang had always had a dark heart. He wanted to adulterate the gold coins... and also wanted to add more lead to the Wuzhu coins.

While the mint was making molds to make master coins, Zhuge Liang had been testing formulas with lower copper content.

If technology allowed, Black Bear suspected that Zhuge Liang would issue iron coins plated with copper.

Zhuge Liang, who followed Guanzi's economic philosophy, believed that suitable currency should be separated from copper and gold and become a pure credit currency.

Therefore, the copper content of copper coins was reduced, and there was no gold in gold coins. This was not a moral issue for Zhuge Liang, but a matter of course.

Of course, black bears’ production skills are not good enough now.

When productivity and technological reserves are sufficient, we will print paper money that can be directly exchanged for gold coins!
This kind of thing needs to be concealed, and Zhuge Liang must also keep it secret.

But Zhuge Liang's ideas are very suitable for promoting the issuance of paper money in the future.

If gold coins fall into a sinkhole during circulation, they will truly disappear; paper money is more easily damaged during circulation, so it is all wasted money.

During the meeting, the chief clerk Yang Fu was only responsible for taking notes on the conversation. The personal guard captain Zhang Ding brought an ear with him, and he would not speak unless Black Bear asked him.

Zhang Ding felt somewhat guilty towards the other people present; as long as he didn't speak, these people would not be able to find loopholes in his words.

Cui Zhouping put the gold coins back into the box and asked, "According to your Majesty's wishes, will the salary be paid within this year?"

"Well, we can't delay any longer."

Black Bear restrained his smile and said, "It's just that food is in short supply, and cloth is also insufficient, so this year's salary supplements for officials will be distributed in two parts, one part is gold coins and five-zhu coins, and the other part is the income from official fields."

The official land was part of the public land. The common people had to pay 30% to 50% rent when they rented the public land. Officials were no exception when they cultivated the official land and had to pay rent. The rest was their own harvest.

However, the common people have always been unable to escape from heavy taxes and levies, and the actual land rent can be as high as 70% or 80%!
Seeing Black Bear stop smiling, everyone present became serious.

Then Black Bear said, "I have received many letters suggesting that we no longer need to collect rent from official fields, but instead convert the rent into salary. What do you think of this?"

Several people went to see Cui Zhouping in tacit agreement. Cui Zhouping thought for a moment and said impartially: "Your Majesty's advocacy of official land is intended to encourage farming, but official land is ultimately taken from public land. The taxes on public land have long been determined and should not be reduced or used for other purposes. Moreover, since Your Majesty started the war, officials, civilians, and soldiers, regardless of gender, have all been provided with food rations. Now that officials in various places are eating food rations, it is greedy to ask for official land taxes. As for the issue of supplementary salary, I think it should be carefully considered."

Kong Rong looked at Cui Zhouping in surprise and said, "Since I arrived in Guanzhong, I have seen that all the officials and civilians have been provided with food. How is this different from salary? Therefore, the issue of salary supplement should not be discussed. If the monarch wants to reward those who have made contributions to the founding of the country, then I have no objection."

Fu Gan of the Western Cao also said: "Your Majesty's promotion of official land has a profound intention. Let the officials relive the hardships of farming, and they will naturally sympathize with the suffering of the people and the hardship of material resources. Therefore, I think that the tax on official land must not be reduced or exempted. Anyone who uses public grain, oxen and farm tools should be treated as a tenant and be charged 50% of the land rent!"

Seeing that what they said was in line with his own wishes, Black Bear felt a little regretful and went to see Zhang Ding: "Tell me what you want to say."

Zhang Ding looked up at Black Bear and said, "Your Majesty, I think that there is no need to reissue salaries, and there is no need to reward meritorious men. If we take the reward for merit, how can we accept the title and salary for our merits?"

Yang Fu watched these people say one thing and another and completely rejected the issue of salary re-payment that many grassroots officials had been eagerly looking forward to.

He squinted his eyes and looked at Black Bear, who was a little embarrassed. "That makes sense. One merit should not be rewarded twice. But I really can't bear it. Let me urge Jingzhou to speed up the transportation of cloth. This year's summer clothes cannot be distributed in April, but before the end of May."

As for the winter clothes that will be distributed in October and November this year, I will just stay in the house and endure it.

Yang Fu took up his pen to record Black Bear's words. He didn't feel anything about the salary compensation.

Even if it were to be published, it would have nothing to do with a newcomer like him.

The ones who got the biggest share were the Qingzhou soldiers and Gan Ning's troops.

How much money and grain can these people consume, and do they really need such a small amount of financial and grain subsidies?
As long as you send it to them, other people who come later will be watching eagerly, so will you send it or not?
By nipping it in the bud, you can save at least half a year's salary!

This money, food and material resources must be saved at all costs!

(End of this chapter)