After the cabinet meeting, Zhu Youzhen officially summoned Feng Quan and told him about the appointment of his new position.

A new yamen that he had never heard of made Feng Quan's originally fiery heart suddenly cool by half. He worked so hard in Shaanxi, not to get such an insignificant position.

However, his mind did not dare to be revealed in front of the emperor, so he could only obey Chongzhen's orders.

However, I heard that most of the manpower of the customs and the Prime Minister's Yamen were going to be recruited again, which made Feng Quan's heart moved, and the affairs of the Prime Minister's Yamen were not very good, but the Customs was a rich Yamen.

However, Feng Quan quickly retracted his thoughts, because Chongzhen quickly put an end to his little bit of caution.

"All new recruits must pass an examination before they can be hired, and each new recruit must go through a one-year probationary period before they can officially take up their posts, and if they are not suitable during the probationary period, they can be dismissed at any time. After the probationary period, they are not allowed to be dismissed as long as there is no corruption, bribery or violation of the prohibitions in customs discipline.

The Prime Minister's Yamen will be divided into three parts, the General Administration of Customs, the Tongwen Museum, and the Foreign Affairs Department. The Tongbunkan is responsible for translating foreign books and interpreting them, while the Foreign Affairs Department is responsible for the affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs and other countries.

As for the General Administration of Customs, it will be divided into two departments, one is the General Department of Taxation and the other is the Department of Customs Affairs. The latter is mainly responsible for the management of ports and foreign trade affairs, while the former is mainly responsible for tax receivables.

In the future, all the funds of the Prime Minister's Yamen will be withdrawn from the customs revenue, so the collection and management of customs revenue is naturally the most important matter for the Prime Minister's Yamen. After all, if there is no money, no one will be willing to do things seriously. ”

Feng Quan hurriedly expressed his loyalty to the emperor, "Being able to do things for Your Majesty and for the Ming Dynasty is already the best reward for the ministers, and how can you let the ministers forget the fundamentals..."

Hearing Feng Quan's loyal appearance, Chongzhen almost believed it. But thinking about the history that later generations have seen, he also knows that these words are about ten out of ten and even half of them are true.

Zhu Youzhen smiled and waved his hand and said, "I still believe in the character of Scholar Feng. But how many people in the Ming officialdom today can do what the bachelor just said? If half of the officials can do it, Daming is not like this now. ”

Feng Quan suddenly stopped, not daring to continue the emperor's words. He is not a low-level civil official with no background like Han Yiliang, and he doesn't need to sell his head in front of the emperor.

Today's Ming officials, if they really want to be honest and honest officials, they are either driven home by their bosses and colleagues, or they are in prison because they have too many deficits.

Although the Donglin Party claims to be incorruptible, they only accept the usual practice and do not do additional exploitation, isn't this regular practice a crime? What's more, these Donglin Party members are all wealthy gentry and wealthy families with quite land, and the national taxes they evade alone have far exceeded the property exploited by some corrupt officials.

Corruption is the custom of the Ming officialdom, as long as these officials from the hands of the imperial court can not satisfy them, they do not want to let these officials stop stretching out their hands to the people under their rule.

The reform of taxation since last year is nothing more than a transformation of the unspoken rules of the past into explicit rules. Through this openness, a cap on taxation was established, and some particularly egregious methods of exploitation were put to rest.

Seeing that Feng Quan was silent, Zhu Youzhen could only mock him in his heart, and on the surface, he still pretended not to know anything, and continued to say: "The affairs of the Ming officialdom are not clear now, let's go back to the setting up of the General Taxation Department."

As I have said, the expenses of the three departments of the Prime Minister's Yamen need to be paid from the customs revenue, and the rest is related to the daily expenses of the palace and the financial subsidies of the navy, so the General Taxation Department will never allow the bad atmosphere of officialdom to occur again.

Whoever dares to do anything about customs and taxation, I won't say anything about the Nine Clans. Those who embezzle more than 1,000 taels will be executed by themselves, their families will be exiled overseas, and all assets in their names will be confiscated.

Those who embezzle 500-1,000 taels will have all their assets confiscated and their families exiled overseas. Those who embezzle 500-100 taels will be fined 10 times the amount of embezzlement, and they will be exiled overseas. Those who embezzle less than 100 taels shall be fined 10 times the amount and removed from their positions, and shall not be granted public office in the future.

Anyone who reports and exposes the fact of corruption and bribery of customs officers will be rewarded and promoted by one level and will receive a salary bonus of 3 months to 1 year. Those outside the system will be paid 50% of the forfeiture amount.

All acts of disclosure are protected by me and kept confidential. Anyone who dares to divulge the incident and retaliate against the whistleblower is guilty of the same crime as the person who embezzles or accepts bribes. ”

Listening to Chongzhen solemnly talking about these punishment regulations, Feng Quan's forehead couldn't help but start sweating, and he realized that this prime minister's yamen seemed to be a hot potato, not a leisurely place to maintain health.

Feng Quan was thinking about how to persuade Chongzhen tactfully, this punishment regulation was formulated too strictly, and I am afraid it would be difficult to recruit personnel to join the customs.

Zhu Youzhen has already continued, "If there is a heavy penalty, there should naturally be a heavy reward, so I decided to divide the position of the General Taxation Department into two shifts, 19 positions, 13 job grades, and 25 salary grades.

The chief officer of the General Taxation Department shall be the Director of Taxation, the chief officer of the Customs and Excise Department of each first-class port shall be the Director of Taxation, and the Director of the Customs and Excise Department below the first-class port shall be the Deputy Director of Taxation.

Under the Director of Taxation or the Deputy Director of Taxation, it is divided into two shifts, the highest position of the inner class is the first class assistant, and the second and third class assistants are responsible for handling the affairs of the corresponding level. The assistants who assist in handling foreign affairs are first-class, second-class, third-class, and non-staff translators.

As for the field work, the super-appraiser is the highest position, and the subordinate is the first-class and second-class appraiser. Then there are super, first-class, and second-class inspectors, and super-class, first-class, and second-class tax inspectors.

During the one-year probationary period, the annual salary is 120 yuan, and a housing subsidy of 5 yuan per month is given, and no other treatment is enjoyed. Correspondingly, those who violate discipline or take bribes during the probationary period shall have their illegal gains confiscated and dismissed from their current positions, and no other punishments will be accepted.

After the expiration of the probationary period, the salary will be paid according to the official position, the lowest salary level is 240 yuan per year, and the highest salary level is 5640 yuan.

The salary of the first level to the tenth level will be increased by 120 yuan per year; The salary from the 11th to the 20th level will be increased by 240 yuan per year; For level 20 or above, the salary will be increased by 480 yuan per year.

The General Department of Taxation is responsible for the qualification of the promotion examination every two years, and the local magistrates can recommend candidates to take the examination, but they do not have the right to interfere in the promotion examination of employees.

As for the salary scale, it is adjusted every two years, but if the post cannot be promoted, when the annual salary of the officer reaches the maximum annual salary limit for that position, it will be adjusted every five years, up to a maximum of four steps of the annual salary of the grade.

After 2 years of formal work, you can enjoy half a month of paid leave every year; After 7 years of service, you will receive one month of paid vacation per year.

In addition, according to the level of the position, each employee can receive a housing allowance of 10-100 yuan per month, which is divided into 10 levels. The cost of the car trip is reimbursed.

If a member of the field class contributes to the inspection and fine, he or she shall be remunerated at one-tenth of the amount of the confiscation or fine. In addition, the annual salary will be paid every seven years, and if the retirement has been completed for more than 25 years, the annual salary for three years will be paid as retirement expenses. ”

After listening to Chongzhen's words, Feng Quan's eyes were about to be deformed. Even he, who has always been rich, was shocked when he heard these salaries.

Even if he is a big landowner who has a lot of land in the countryside, although his annual income exceeds 3 or 40,000 taels, most of them are in kind, and the income of real money and silver is only 8 or 9 thousand taels.

For an ordinary customs official, the salary during the probationary period is already equivalent to the income of a small landowner in the countryside, and it is still real money.

In terms of purchasing power, customs officials have exceeded the real income of small landowners in a year. The question is, if the salary of an ordinary staff member of the Customs and Excise Department is already so high, how much will it cost to spend the entire Prime Minister's Yamen?

In the past, no matter which emperor sent people out to set up checkpoints to collect taxes, he was eager to send the tax collectors to bring back the most income, and no emperor was willing to carry the infamy and seek benefits for the tax collectors sent out.

Feng Quan suddenly felt that his new position seemed to be a bit like a fire pit, and he subconsciously persuaded the emperor: "Your Majesty, the salary of this customs official is so high, will it be too exploitative of the place at that time?" I'm afraid this is not a long-term solution, is it? ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at him and said seriously: "Bachelor, don't be so nervous, the tariff regulations are common, and the Maritime Association is already reviewing them one by one."

So, what you have to do this year, bachelor, is to establish the framework of the Prime Minister's Yamen; Rather, the North and South Customs will be brought under unified management; The third is to act according to the rules, dismiss unqualified personnel, and recruit new people.

As for the budget of the Prime Minister Yamen this year, I have prepared 1 million yuan for you, of which 350,000 yuan is earmarked for the establishment of the General Department of Customs and Taxation.

I'll be honest with you, last year's customs revenue was about 2 million yuan, so the budget I gave you actually reached half of the customs revenue, and naturally it will not be able to support it in the long run.

Therefore, I will give you three years to normalize the work of the customs and bring all the current overseas trade into the scope of customs management.

Don't learn from certain officials and fool me with a fixed tax amount, if overseas trade develops well, customs revenue will naturally rise, and if the customs tariff is low, it will be a decline in overseas trade.

The Prime Minister's Yamen is in charge of overseas affairs, and the decline in overseas trade is naturally your responsibility, and I naturally want to talk to you..."