The income of the Qing prefects is often summarized as "three years of Qing prefects, 100,000 snowflakes of silver", which seems to imply their wealth accumulation. However, this statement makes people wonder, can an incorruptible prefect really easily gain so much in a three-year term?
Let's dissect it with an example. Taking Tao Yi, the prefect of Huai'an Prefecture in the Qianlong era, as an example, his choice was not accidental, as a recognized Qing official, he actively benefited the people during his tenure in Huai'an, and truly embodied the label of "incorruptible".
Tao Yi was born in Juren, and was promoted step by step from the magistrate to the political envoy. In 1773, he was promoted from the prefect of Pingding Prefecture to the prefect of Huai'an, which is the starting point of our story.
Next, we will detail the actual income of Tao Yi and see the truth about the income of this "Qing Governor's Mansion".
Following the traditional procedure, the new local** (such as the prefect of the county, the prefect of the prefecture, and the prefect) must first report to the governor's yamen and obtain the appointment documents, and then need to meet with the political envoy and the inspection envoy and other superiors.
Although these rituals are mostly formal, the gifts in them are essential. In Huai'an Mansion, in addition to the regular governor of Liangjiang and Jiangsu, there is also the resident governor of Caoyun, although he is not directly responsible for local administration, but because of his status, he also needs to send corresponding respects, a total of 800 taels.
In addition, it was necessary to pay 600 taels, 400 taels and 300 taels respectively to the governor of Jiangsu, the governor of Caoyun, the political envoy and the envoy according to the inspection, plus the cost of the door bag and the banquet, the initial cost was as high as 2,700 taels.
Before Tao Yi officially took over, he also needed to prepare to accept 300 taels of respect from his subordinate magistrates, with a total of 1,800 taels for each magistrate, which meant that Tao Yi himself needed to bear an additional 900 taels.
Overall, this amount is reasonable, and Tao Yi can barely cope with it.
Skeptics may wonder why the information of the Imperial History is so detailed. In fact, it is not apocryphal, the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty is right"Filial piety"There is a clear norm for the amount, with the rich provinces being generous and the poor provinces decreasing accordingly.
In other words, there is an unwritten rule that the prefect's gift to the governor or governor must be met, and any reduction may be seen as a foul or even a repression.
A vivid case comes from "The Appearance of Officialdom", after the alternate ** Qu Nai'an served as the governor of Xingguo Prefecture, Hubei, because he angered the previous account office, the account office forged accounts and asked him to give gifts according to imaginary numbers.
As a result, in just one year, he lost his official position because he was **. As is customary, the former prefect will provide a copy at the time of handover"Secret books", detailing the exact amount of honor to superiors and subordinates.
As the supreme administrator of Huai'an, Tao Yi usually needs to visit the governor of Liangjiang and the governor of Jiangsu every year**, which is a regular official exchange and report. At the same time, following the official etiquette of the Qing Dynasty, he needed to present gifts to these **, including 1,000 taels to the governor of Liangjiang, 900 taels to the governor of Caoyun, and the corresponding amount of governors, political envoys, and envoys, totaling 4,000 taels.
Coupled with the Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and other festivals, as well as the 12,000 taels of gifts from the boss and his wife's birthday, the Huai'an prefect, as a wealthy government, has exceeded 16,000 taels of regular and special expenses.
The cost of the first visit to the boss will be even higher, close to 17,800 taels. Of course, this is only the basic budget, excluding additional expenses such as the boss's patrol and the return of the capital **, and it is conservatively estimated that Tao Yi's annual expenditure needs at least 20,000 taels or more to cope with all possible situations.
The expenses of official affairs are also heavy, and the Qing Dynasty needs to hire all kinds of masters to meet the needs of government affairs. Huai'an Mansion is a place of heavy responsibility, and the master's team has a good salary, and the total annual salary of the four core positions needs to exceed 1,000 taels, especially the money and food and the criminal master, which is as high as 300 to 500 taels per year.
The prefect's bad rules cannot be ignored, and the total amount of festival worship in the six subordinate counties is staggering, including 200 taels for three festivals and two birthdays, and an additional 1,800 taels of meeting gifts, for a total of 7,800 taels.
Tao Yi's expenses far exceeded his income, with a book loss of 13,700 taels. There is only one way to fill this huge gap, and that is to increase taxes and seek to fill it from the people's fat.
Huai'an Province has 17,035 hectares of abundant land resources, and each mu of land needs to pay an additional surcharge of one to three cents on top of the regular tax. Tao Yi, with his reputation for incorruptibility, even if calculated according to the highest standards, can harvest about 17,000 taels from this additional fee**.
This part of the income just made up for the previous shortfall, but after deducting the only 105 years of salary, it was only enough to maintain basic expenses. Therefore,"Three years of Qing Governor's Mansion, 100,000 snowflakes of silver"The legend is not realistic, and only the best in finance can be realized.
And the unjust enrichment of those magistrates is essentially a channel for the bottom to flow into the high-level, and finally it flows into the pockets of the provincial governor and the capital.
Revealing the inside story of the workplace, the information comes from the authoritative book "Daoxian Huan Hai Experience" and the classic "Officialdom Appearance", and combined with the unique perspective of folk notes, although some of the content is unconfirmed, it is very enlightening and referential.