We have already introduced Zeng Guofan's economic income during the wait-and-see period. The reason why a person has worked so hard in Beijing to become a Beijing official is because he will have the opportunity to be a local official in the future. Officials in Beijing are poor, but once they become local officials, they will soon become rich. The so-called "three years to clear the magistrate, 100 thousand snowflakes and silver." Why? Because once you become a local official, you have mastered the local fiscal and taxation power. Moreover, there was no strict auditing system for finance in Qing dynasty, and local officials had great flexibility in taxation. The state stipulates that you can take one or two acres of land, and you can take one and a half acres, or even two ounces, so it is easy to get some gray income.

In the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), Zeng Guofan was appointed Governor of Liangjiang.

The two rivers include today's Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Anhui, and the governor is also the civil affairs and army. Therefore, a governor of the two rivers in the Qing Dynasty is equivalent to the power of the governors of the three provinces and the commander of the military region today.

What is the annual income of such an important person?

Just like many things in the Qing Dynasty, the annual income of the Governor of Liangjiang is not clear in one or two sentences.

If the basic salary, or legal salary, is incredible. The governor of the Qing Dynasty earned only a paltry 1552 a year. Roughly one or two hundred yuan, it is about 3 1000 yuan, and the monthly salary is about 2580 yuan. According to China's current national salary standard for civil servants, the post salary standard for provincial civil servants is 25 10 yuan. The ancient and modern wage systems come down in one continuous line here.

Of course, like today's salary system, this 1552 is just the basic salary on the salary slip. Today, there is a saying that corrupt officials "basically don't use their wives, and their wages basically don't move", which was the case in the Qing Dynasty. Because from the Yongzheng period, the emperor gave a major subsidy to the princes, called "yanglianyin". The Governor of Liangjiang raised a total of 18200 yuan.

This alone, compared with Zeng Guofan's poor kyou-kan era, is already earth-shaking.

But in fact, "yanglianyin" is still not the big part of the income of the governor of liangjiang. What is a big head? Is it a bad rule or a gray income? In the Qing Dynasty, the governor and governor-level officials collected an average of182,000 yuan each year, that is, a total income of 36 million yuan.

If so, Zeng Guofan can almost rank on the rich list of the Qing Empire.

So, as a rich man, has Zeng Guofan's living standard changed dramatically?

It does change, but instead of getting better, the situation is getting worse. Zeng Guofan, a rich man in the eyes of others, lived like a poor man.

Look at the clothes first.

Zhao Liewen, Zeng Guofan's secretary in his later years, said that when he first met Zeng Guofan, Zeng Guofan "had no clothes to practice silk and his boots were old."

In other words, Zeng Guofan was wearing a very ordinary dress, and his hat and shoes were worn out.

This record has been confirmed by foreigners. In the second year of Tongzhi (1863), Gordon, an Englishman who helped Zeng Guofan suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, met Zeng Guofan in Anqing. Gordon's secretary wrote a memoir, in which he said that he was surprised to find that "Zeng Guofan ... was wearing old clothes, and his clothes were wrinkled, with oil stains on them ..." He accidentally left some soup on it when he was eating.

Then the question comes. Why did Zeng Guofan dress so well when he was in Beijing and the economy was so difficult? When he became governor, he had money in his hand, but he dressed so shabby? This is because Zeng Guofan himself has no requirement for dress. He dresses well in Beijing because he often wants to see his superiors. After arriving in the two rivers, he was the biggest official, facing subordinates every day, and dressing became more and more relaxed. It's not just simple, sometimes it's sloppy.

He not only lives a simple life, but also is strict with his family. After Zeng Guofan became the governor, he lived in the governor's house with his whole family. There are dozens of people in a big family and only two maids. One is an old lady and the other is a little girl. She can't do much work. Not enough hands. What shall we do? Zeng Guofan asked all the women in Zeng's family to take part in manual labor. In addition, they were given a homework schedule and asked to open their eyes every morning and start working until evening.

Zeng Guofan's work schedule for them is still preserved in the memoirs of Zeng Guofan's granddaughter, and the contents are as follows:

After breakfast, cooking side dishes and snacks is a kind of eating habit.

In the morning, spinning cotton and weaving, this is a matter of clothing.

After lunch, embroidery, embroidery, this is fine work.

Making shoes at night is a rough job.

Then, from washing clothes, cooking and pickling side dishes, to spinning and embroidering, to sewing clothes and making shoes, all these activities were completed by the harem staff of Governor Hou Zeng Guofan's family. They wake up in the morning and sleep at night, and basically can't rest. I'm afraid I can't find a second one in the Qing Dynasty. At that time, Zeng Guofan lit candles at the Governor's Office of Liangjiang in Nanjing every night and watched official business on one side of the lobby. The whole family, old and young, and their wives are making shoes and weaving under the sesame oil lamp on the other side. This is a touching picture in the history of China.

Zeng Guofan lived such a poor life. So, where did the180,000 taels go?

In fact, Zeng Guofan confiscated most of these bad rules.

In the past, a large part of the bad rules of officialdom were the so-called three festivals and two lives. In other words, during the Chinese New Year and the official's birthday, subordinates should give gifts to their superiors, mainly money.

However, Zeng Guofan stipulated that anyone who sent money could not. This is equivalent to rejecting most bad rules.

Of course, besides giving money, there are also gifts. Zeng Guofan didn't refuse all the gifts.

As a local senior official, how to deal with gifts is an unavoidable problem. It is impossible for you not to accept gifts in officialdom, because gifts not only represent money, but also represent feelings. Not accepting gifts is not conducive to Zeng Guofan's emotional communication with subordinates and friends. So in the case of really can't refuse, zeng guofan accepted the gift. However, he accepts gifts, which is very distinctive.

In the 11th year of Xianfeng (186 1), in October, Bao Chao, a famous Hunan soldier, personally came to Anqing to celebrate Zeng Guofan's birthday. Bao Chao is a rough man, who doesn't know a few words. He is straightforward and rich. Other men dare not give Zeng Guofan gifts. Bao Chao didn't care, but he brought sixteen packages of gifts, many of which were precious jewels and antiques. Zeng Guofan was very happy after seeing it. He said I'll have a look if you open it. Bao Chao opened the gift, Zeng Guofan looked at it again, then picked an embroidered hat and accepted it, saying that I like this hat very much, and you can take the rest back. Zeng Guofan recorded in his diary: Bao Chunting came to celebrate his birthday with 16 packages of gifts. What a precious piece, you will receive a small hat, and the rest are all ears.

Bao Chao knew that Zeng Guofan was uncompromising and helpless, so he had to take back the package of the 16th National Congress.

According to historical data, Zeng Guofan also received a "service" gift from Chinese American Yung Wing.

Rong Hong is known as the father of overseas students in China. He is the first person in China to graduate from Yale University. After finishing his studies, he returned to China and worked with Zeng Guofan in Westernization. In the second year of Tongzhi (1863), Zeng Guofan sent him to the United States to buy machines. After buying the machine, he went to Zeng Guofan's house to report his work. At this time, Zeng Guofan had left Nanjing and went north to suppress twisting. Zeng Guofan knew that according to China officialdom practice, Yung Wing would bring some gifts, because what Zeng Guofan gave him was the so-called "gravy train". Therefore, Zeng Guofan specially wrote a letter to his son Ceng Jize, saying: "If the number of pieces sent by Hong Rong is less than 20 gold, it can be collected, and many of them are still correct."

That is to say, if the value of something sent by Yung Wing does not exceed 220 taels of silver, it can be accepted, and if it exceeds that, it can be returned. It can be seen that Zeng Guofan has a default "price line" for accepting gifts at this time. That's 220 taels of silver, which is more than 4000 RMB. Today, our civil servants accept gifts, and more than 5,000 yuan constitutes a crime. It can be seen that Zeng Guofan's price line is very scientific.

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What we have said above is a very clean side of Zeng Guofan. Judging from these contents, Zeng Guofan is an honest and upright official.

However, Zeng Guofan has a "turbid" side in addition to his clear side.

First of all, when Zeng Guofan was the governor of Liangjiang, he often ate and drank like ordinary officials.

Ten years of Tongzhi (187 1), Zeng Guofan went to Suzhou for a military parade. He wrote to his son, Ceng Jize, about his recent days in Suzhou. We saw him in Suzhou, inviting people to dinner every day. At first, local officials in Suzhou invited him to eat, drink and watch operas. Before he left, he also set up two tables of banquets and invited local officials back. It can be seen that Zeng Guofan's actions are no different from those of ordinary bureaucrats.

Second, Zeng Guofan will also give gifts to others. Liangjiang area is the main traffic route between north and south, and people often pass through here on business. Whenever a foreign official passes by, Zeng Guofan will not only invite him to dinner, but also give him one meter and one tael of silver, which is the fare.

As we have said, Zeng Guofan received a lot of ice worship and charcoal worship when he was a Beijing official. Well, since you are a local official and a governor, of course you have to worship the Beijing official. There are relevant records in Zeng Guofan's letters. For example, in December of the fifth year of Tongzhi, Zeng Guofan said in a letter to Zeng, "fellow countryman, charcoal worship must be fed as usual this winter."

In addition, Zeng Guofan also made a "disrespect." The so-called disrespect is the gift money that local officials give to officialdom acquaintances when they go to Beijing to handle affairs and leave the capital.

Then in the seventh year of Tongzhi, Zeng Guofan was transferred from the governor of Liangjiang to the governor of Zhili. Need to go to Beijing to see the emperor and the queen mother.

Before leaving, Zeng Guofan took a silver ticket of twenty-two thousand with him. Why do you bring so much money? Mainly to send "disrespect" to Beijing officials. He hasn't been to Beijing for many years, and those poor Beijing officials have been looking forward to him for a long time. Of course, he can't pay too little respect. Zeng Guofan said in a letter to his son Ceng Jize: "The remaining 14,000 gold was sent away, and the three rivers, two lakes and five provinces were all sent, which was not thick." A total of * * * sent fourteen thousand two hundred, but he still felt that it was not much.

The above is the second point, giving gifts.

Thirdly, Zeng Guofan, like other officials, followed the "hidden rules" in officialdom.

In the seven years of Tongzhi, the Nian army was also eliminated, world peace was restored, and the issue of military pay was put on the agenda. Zeng Guofan led troops to fight for many years, and spent more than 30 million on military expenses, which needed to be reimbursed by the housing department.

If you want to reimburse, you will inevitably encounter the problem of "departmental expenses".

According to the financial system of the Qing Dynasty, Zeng Guofan needed to make statistics on the military expenditures over the years and send them to the Ministry of Housing. Check the accounts to see if they are reasonable.

Then, what is the basis for the Ministry to judge whether it is reasonable or not? It depends on the "departmental expenses", that is, the "activity funds". If the household department is arrogant, any non-compliant expenses can be reimbursed; If they find fault in their eggs, no amount of aboveboard consumption can pass them. In order to successfully reimburse, all localities should spend a special activity fund in the household department, which is called "department fee".

So before the reimbursement, Zeng Guofan asked Li Hongzhang to go to Beijing to find out how much the Ministry planned to charge. Li hongzhang ran to Beijing and wrote a letter to Zeng Guofan, saying:

The reimbursement department ... asked someone to inquire, and that official was extravagant. Although there is nothing to lose. ..... Anhui and Jiangsu bureaus spend about 30 million yuan each year before and after, and need to pay nearly 400,000 yuan. How to raise it is not worth detailing. ..... It's hard to get tired of being poor.

In other words, Li Hongzhang asked people to look for bibliophiles in the Ministry of Finance to sound out their opinions. According to the feedback, bibliophiles want a rebate of 1.30%, that is, one hundred and two committees will reimburse one or two San Qian. The total amount of military expenses that Zeng Guofan needs to reimburse is more than 30 million taels of silver, and the "service expenses" calculated at one point and three cents need 402,000 yuan.

This letter is included in today's Complete Works of Li Hongzhang.

Hearing this, Zeng Guofan also got a fright. 400 thousand is really too much, and we can't promise it anyway.

What should we do? We have to continue public relations. Zeng Guofan ordered Li Zongxi, minister of Jiangning (Nanjing), to entrust people to Beijing to eat and drink and communicate their feelings. The public relations work is very effective, and the result of bargaining is 82 thousand. Obviously, the bookkeeper in the department made a big concession.

Just then, the queen mother's reply arrived. Because of their outstanding contributions to pacify the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Nian Army, the emperor (actually the Empress Dowager) said that Zeng Guofan had always been loyal and many of their military expenses were self-raised, so he agreed to be exempted from auditing and directly reimbursed. Zeng Guofan was grateful for this, but he still paid the agreed "department fee" of 82 thousand silver. Because it is difficult for the prince to see a kid, after all, he still needs to deal with the facts. If you don't give it this time, you won't be able to enter the household department next time.

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Therefore, all these expenses add up to be huge. Where did all this money come from?

It turned out that Zeng Guofan built a "small treasury" for himself. As we said, the governor's bad rules average182,000 per year. Then the bad rules are divided into two parts, one part is the gift money for the three birthdays of subordinate officials, and the other part is the money issued by some subordinate departments in the name of public funds. Zeng Guofan selectively received some money. He has some departments with a lot of oil and water, such as the "anti-smuggling funds" sent by the Salt Transportation Department and the "public funds" sent by Shanghai Customs and Huaibei Customs. Because these units are all rich units, salt monopoly was implemented in the Qing Dynasty, so the salt transportation department is like today's tobacco monopoly bureau, with a lot of money. If you don't accept it, they will also give employees benefits at the end of the year.

The purpose of collecting money is mainly for Zeng Guofan's official hospitality. Zeng Guofan's farewell, 82,000 yuan of the Ministry, usually comes from the "small treasury" and does not use his own "yanglianyin".

His pension fund is mainly used for family expenses.

Therefore, Zeng Guofan is an official and has the same side as dust. Many of his practices are the same as those of corrupt officials everywhere.

However, unlike corrupt officials, other local officials must take all the money in their coffers back to their hometown when they leave. Zeng Guofan didn't do this. Zeng Guofan didn't become the governor of Liangjiang and became the governor of northern Zhili. After checking, he found that there were 12,000 pieces of silver left in the "small treasury".

Zeng Guofan wrote to Ceng Jize and said:

The rest can be scattered, and all scattered wealth is the most famous.

In other words, you can donate the remaining money, but don't sign it.

Zeng Guofan asked for anonymous donations, saying that "whoever distributes wealth is the most taboo". He said that "there are many obstacles to fame". So, "Don't let anyone know." If a person is famous for donating money, many things will come to you, so you can't let anyone know. He also said: "I have been worried about enjoying great fame all my life. If I am honest, I am particularly afraid of losing my happiness. "

These are two key sentences to interpret Zeng Guofan's official style. On the one hand, Zeng Guofan is indeed an upright official. His "purity" is genuine, with a clear conscience. In the existing data, we can't find any record of Zeng Guofan putting any public funds into his pocket. On the other hand, Zeng Guofan was in the same boat and consciously didn't want everyone to know that he was an honest official. Therefore, I define him as "atypical honest official". Don't be honest as long as you are honest. Clear inside and turbid outside, round inside and round outside.

Why did Zeng Guofan do this?

This is because in the history of China, there is a law, that is, be honest and upright. Harry is the representative. Harry refused any gray income and insisted on a pitiful salary, so that he had to build his own vegetable garden in the government office to make a living, and occasionally buying a few pounds of meat could become a "sensation."

In officialdom, Harry was rejected by everyone. For colleagues, you are honest and clean, which makes us all corrupt. Therefore, as long as Harry goes there to be an official, local officials will jointly praise him to the court, saying that he has done too well, his quality is too noble, and he is too clean. It is suggested that the court quickly promote his official and let him go. Harry has been promoted several times in his life, all in this way. So let's look at Harry's life, and nothing important has happened.

Zeng Guofan didn't want to go down in history as such an incorruptible official. Zeng Guofan wants to do great things. He pays more attention to the effect than the name. Therefore, Zeng Guofan deliberately saw Harry spotless, but tried to avoid the name of clear water. His choice is far more complicated and heavy than being an "honest official". His way of being an official may give us some inspiration for today's clean government proposal ~