What is the salary of officials in the Song Dynasty?
In the Song Dynasty, the salary of senior officials above the fifth rank was indeed considerable. Their names include additional money, job money, field money, minister money, post coupons, guarantor meal money, tea and wine, kitchen ingredients, food money, tea soup money, kitchen food money, discount money, firewood, artemisia, salt, charcoal paper money, etc. Food, clothing, housing and transportation are all included, and even the slaves at home have subsidies. We can show off the salary of the first-rank prime minister: the monthly salary is 300 stalks, twenty pieces of silk, thirty pieces of silk, one hundred taels of cotton, seventy pieces of servants' clothing, food, steam, pole, charcoal, salt and other miscellaneous expenses. At that time, the monthly salary of an ordinary worker in the capital was only three stalemates, equivalent to one percent of the prime minister's monthly salary. There were no other subsidies, so it was obvious how big the gap was. As for the festivals and festivals and the southern suburbs, the emperor rewarded more abundantly. Just talking about the suburbs once every three years, the prime minister received a lot of rewards, including 3,000 silver and silk, 80 taels of horses, 25 taels of garments and gold belts. If these things are converted into cash, the total is 8,066 knots of 500 coins, which is enough to support the 75 ordinary people in the capital for three years. Even if a doctor from the fifth rank can take up the corresponding assignment, he will have a monthly salary of 45 stakes, five pieces of silk and seventeen pieces of silk in spring and winter, and about 35 stakes of food and food for the servant. Those in the capital have thirty stadiums of money, while those who serve as local officials have about ten hectares of land. The land of the government uses to subsidize local officials to remuneration. It is divided into different levels according to the level of the official positions of the subsidy, the size and population of the prefecture army where the prefecture army is located. For example, the standard during the Xianping period was "the two capitals have 40 hectares of the vassal states, 35 hectares of the vassal states, 30 hectares of the defense regiment Lianzhou, 20 hectares of the middle and upper governors, 15 hectares of the Xiazhou and the army and the supervisor, 10 hectares of the remote small prefectures and the Shangxian county, 8 hectares of the central county, and 7 hectares of the Xia county."
The salary of fifth-rank officials cannot be compared with that of prime ministers, but their income is also considerable and their life can be very comfortable.
The vast number of low-level officials of the Song Dynasty, taking the first-level magistrate, the officers and officers of the military, and the judges of the Situation Bureau as an example, their salary was only 12 to 15 to 100 cents per month, two to four to four stones of millet, and two to six hectares of land according to regulations. There are also many officials whose income is lower than this standard and there are no other rewards for subsidies, so they naturally have a little financial difficulties in their lives.
Even Wang Anshi couldn't even see it, so he wrote an article explaining the difficult life of the prefectures and county officials at that time. "The officials in the states earned more in a month, and the less than four or five thousand. They were able to pay for the election, waiting to be eliminated, and guarding Fujian to connect them. They received three years of salary after six or seven years. The income of the month was actually not four or five thousand, and the less than three or four thousand. Even if they were raised, they were still embarrassed." But you don’t have to be discouraged. After all, your income is much higher than that of ordinary workers. It is no problem to support yourself, but it is a problem to support a whole family. If it really doesn’t work, you can marry a rich wife. Just getting a lot of money can make a fortune by just a dowry, which is also a good way out.
During the reign of Emperor Renzong, the court also issued the "Lu Order", which stipulated the salary standards for civil and military officers in the form of a decree. You can refer to it:
Related to salary is also related to retirement benefits, which is also one of the welfare of officials.
The ancients also had a retirement system. All officials of the Song Dynasty could retire if they were over 70 years old. (You have lost all your teeth, can you still work?) When Emperor Taizong of Song , this regulation was already in place, "the system of the court is seventy years old."
Regarding the retirement of officials at the age of 70, it is not just a provision made by the Song Dynasty government. As early as the Book of Rites: Qu Li Pian: "The doctor retired at the age of 70". "Retirement" means returning the power he controls to the monarch, and then retiring to his hometown. In today's terms, he retired gloriously.
If an official wants to retire, he must first fight the retirement application report. After the court approves, the imperial court's Ministry of Personnel will issue a certificate of retirement, and then he can retire and return home. The monthly pension is half of the original salary.Of course, for those who have made serious mistakes in their work or have no significant achievements, they do not even have half of their salary. Similarly, those who have made special contributions to work, those who have made special contributions to their work, who are above the civil servants ( ninth rank ) and above the military officers who are also above the third rank envoys (ninth rank) can enjoy full salary after retirement.
In addition, officials can be promoted to a first-rank official position before retirement, and a few officials are specially approved by the emperor and can be promoted to two levels.
The famous anti-Jin general Han Shizhong Because of his repeated achievements, he was promoted from Taifu to Taishi when he retired, and was promoted to two levels of official positions in a row. After an official retires, he can still be promoted to the next level every time he encounters a ceremony for the court to hold a ceremony or the emperor ascends the throne or celebrates his birthday. Some people once caught a good opportunity after retirement. In the fifteen years, the court held various ceremony, so he was finally promoted from the Minister of Personnel when he retired to the Minister of Rites.
Another advantage after retirement is that you can enjoy the privilege of "honor". When civil servants above the fourth rank and military officers above the sixth rank and above the sixth rank and military officers can be awarded a low-level official title to their close relatives according to their official rank, which is called "心文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文� If civil officials from the fifth to seventh ranks and military officials from the seventh ranks give up the treatment of being promoted to the first rank when retired, they can also be compensated for a close relative. Because of this policy, there are countless second-generation officials in the court.
has so many benefits, no wonder Ouyang Xiu When he was 62 years old, he started to fight for retirement reports and applied several times before he received approval from the court. There is also . The famous minister of the Northern Song Dynasty . Han Jiang . He started applying for retirement at the age of 59, but he was not allowed to be approved until he was 76.
Of course, there are more people who are unwilling to retire even when they reach the age of seventy and are greedy for power and love officials as if they are lifelong. The Song Dynasty court has also formulated corresponding punishment measures against these people. Anyone who does not voluntarily retire after the age of seventy will be inspected by the Censorate to retire. At the same time, the "sharing and compensation" preferential policies for close children will be abolished, and some will be punished by demotion. Someone also wrote a poem to mock these people: "The old phoenix can't squat by the pond, and the hungry birds are silent on the platform."
References "Lu Ling" "Book of Rites·Qu Li Shang"
