"Say it again. Being an official is worse than being a beggar?”
In the small restaurant, Zhu Yuanzhang instantly stood up and glared at Zhu Chen, as if he had heard wrongly.
Empress Ma and Wang Huamin put down their teacups and looked at Zhu Chen.
Seeing this, Zhu Chen pressed his hand.
"Old Huang, don't get agitated!"
Zhu Yuanzhang realized that he had gone overboard. He sat down slowly, but his eyes were still fixed on Zhu Chen.
"Prince Chen hasn't answered my…question.”
"You want to know?" Zhu Chen asked with a smile.
"Yes!"
"Alright, if you agree to this king's condition, this king will answer you.”
"Eh!" Zhu Yuanzhang was speechless. Who was he…He instantly knew that he had been tricked by Zhu Chen.
Zhu Chen deliberately threw out the bait and let him take the initiative to bite it.
But Zhu Yuanzhang really knew why in Zhu Chen's eyes, officials were not as good as beggars.
Zhu Yuanzhang gritted his teeth.”
"Simple! Help me deliver a letter to His Majesty."
Zhu Chen placed the letter he had prepared on the table and looked at Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes moved slightly. A letter for me?
Fortunately, it was not an unreasonable request.
Zhu Yuanzhang agreed readily. After keeping the letter, he looked at Zhu Chen and said,
"Tell me!"
"Haha!" Zhu Chen smiled. Coupled with his handsome face, it made people unconsciously have a good impression of him. Even Zhu Yuanzhang was no exception.
"It's still the same sentence. Counting the twenty-one histories, only the officials of our Great Ming Dynasty suffered the most, were the most tired, and had the lowest salary.”
"What is salary?"
"Oh, it's my salary!"
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes moved slightly.
Zhu Chen raised his slender fingers.
"If you go up, for example, in the Tang Dynasty, the annual salary of a first-grade official is about 8,900 dans.”
"I also want to add more than 60 hectares of land and more than 200 taels of silver…"
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Chen and suddenly felt curious.
"Where did you see all this?"
Zhu Chen was stunned. He looked at Zhu Yuanzhang strangely and said casually,
"It's simple, you just need to read more history books…Is there something wrong with Lord Huang's brain?”
Zhu Yuanzhang's face darkened.
He mainly wanted to ask, Zhu Chen, a prince who grew up barbarically, would also read history books?
This was a little out of his expectations.
He originally thought that Zhu Chen was illiterate and a silkpants prince who could not be presentable.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang discovered that Zhu Chen was different from what he had imagined.
He was more handsome, more elegant, more bold, and more knowledgeable.
This didn't seem like the quality of a prince who had been raised outside.
But Zhu Chen didn't know. Perhaps only Empress Ma and Wang Huamin knew what Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking.
Empress Ma wanted to laugh.
Wang Huamin was embarrassed and could only listen.
Zhu Chen ignored Zhu Yuanzhang's expression and continued to smile,"
"As for our Great Ming Dynasty, we are a first-grade official…our annual salary is more than 800 dans, and many of them are women.”
"It isn't even a fraction of the Great Tang…much less the Song Dynasty!”
"There are almost no other benefits!”Zhu Chen shook his head.
"If the first-rank officials are like this, then the second-rank, third-rank…ninth-rank officials are even more bitter.”
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned." It can't be that serious. The prices of goods in the Ming Dynasty are different from those in the Great Tang and Great Song…"
"This king knew you were going to say that!”Zhu Chen laughed out loud and swung his long hair in a carefree manner.
"It's different. There's a difference in prices, but it's not big.
However, the difference in salary was huge, almost ten times…
There didn't seem to be a tenfold difference in prices, right?”
"Eh!" Zhu Yuanzhang was speechless.
Zhu Chen was right.
Zhu Chen continued to sigh,
"For example, my father-in-law…"
"Who is it? You have so many fathers-in-law…"
Zhu Yuanzhang stared at Zhu Chen with an unfriendly gaze.
This fellow had too many concubines and fathers-in-law.
When he said father-in-law, did he really not know who he was referring to?
"Puchi!" Empress Ma laughed again.
Zhu Chen was also speechless, but he still said,""This king's second wife, Zhao Wan 'er's father!”
Wang Huamin knew about this and quickly added,"
"Zhao Fa, the magistrate of Zhangping County, a county under the jurisdiction of Quanzhou Prefecture!”
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded." How is he?”
"How is it?" Zhu Chen said meaningfully,
"Old Huang, do you know how poor my father-in-law's family was when I married Wan 'er?”
Without waiting for Zhu Yuanzhang to say anything, Zhu Chen said,
"I don't have any extra wealth at home. I don't dare to embezzle and hide my belongings. My wife and daughter go to the fields to pick up the wheat!”
"Impossible!" Zhu Yuanzhang stood up excitedly again and shook his head.
"Ha!" Zhu Chen sneered." You live in the capital, so you naturally don't know the hardships of low-level officials!”
" The current Emperor Hongwu is extremely strict with his subordinates. How dare he take sixty taels of silver? He skinned himself and ate grass as a warning to others…"
" Lower-level officials are even more exploited. Some can't even gather their annual salary…"
"There's no one in the court, so I don't dare to be greedy. I can only tighten my belt and live a tight life.”
"The first time this king saw Wan 'er was in the fields.”
Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang still did not believe him, Zhu Chen explained the facts,
"If you don't believe me, you can go and ask.”
"Oh right, isn't there one beside me…
Do you think this king's words are wrong, Lord Wang?？”
Zhu Chen turned to Wang Huamin.
Zhu Yuanzhang also looked at Wang Huaming.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]