Chapter 50: Official career economy and the way to be an official
Feng Ziying was stunned for a moment, then she remembered that this seemed to be the case in her own house.
Dad never cares about daily expenses like this, which is also the normal situation in this era.
The family is run by my mother, and there are three aunts. One assists me in managing the harvest in the village outside the city, and the other assists me in collecting rents from several shops in the capital.
The other aunt is my real aunt, my mother's cousin, and she is a concubine. She takes care of the daily affairs of the house for my mother. However, I am responsible for some of the business in Datong Mansion, and a cousin from my mother's family is responsible for running on my behalf.
After thinking about it slowly, Feng Ziying realized that this seems to be the case in this era. No matter whether it is a civil servant or a military officer, it is impossible to support a family with just a little salary, and if you want to live a comfortable life, you must have some. own business.
For officials, the safest thing is to buy land in their hometown. With a few hundred acres of high-quality paddy fields, they can support a small official family's livelihood. If it is a big family and they want to provide for their children and grandchildren, then there is no need Don't mention the hundred hectares of fertile land.
If you want to live a more prosperous life, in addition to this land, you will inevitably have to run some other businesses.
For more elegant ones, bookstores, literary and ink shops, antique shops, or buy some stores to collect rent. For those that are less sophisticated, anything can be used, such as banks, gold and silver shops, leather goods shops, southern goods shops, cloth shops, silk and satin shops, and drug stores. These are all businesses that officials often operate. There are also many officials in shipping, carriage and horse shops, and restaurants who take half-covered shares in them.
Of course, businesses such as pawnshops and moneylenders are not in the mainstream, and there will inevitably be some entanglements and a bad reputation. Civil servants and gentry generally disdain this profession, but some military generals or those who have been donated to the government are quite good at this profession.
The Feng family owns several villages in Wanping County, with more than a thousand acres of land, and several hundred acres of land in Datong. There is also a gold and silver shop and a herbal medicine shop in Datong City. There are also two hundred acres of land in Linqing, but the Linqing side is entrusted to Uncle Fu and his wife, who arrange for someone to come to collect the rent and bring back some local products once a year.
"That's the case, then I will go back and report to my mother. I will make my own decisions here and let Uncle Fu take care of it first." Feng Ziying thought for a while, but still felt that it was rare to come here, and some things needed to be arranged properly. .
In fact, after experiencing such a turmoil, Feng Ziying has realized something. Many concepts and consciousness she had as an official in her previous life cannot be brought into this time and space.
To be blunt here, even if you are going to give someone a gift, you have to give the disciple a red envelope, whether it is half a pound of money, a gold melon seed, or half a silver ingot, you have to pack it, otherwise you may not be sure Otherwise, your reputation will be pushed to the bottom, and you will not be able to achieve your intended effect.
The saying that there are seven-rank officials in front of the prime minister's door is really not exaggerated. The threshold for governors in this place is also the same.
If you don’t have any friendship and want to pay a visit, and if you don’t have anything else to do, just go to the dinner place and wait. Maybe when the time comes, you will be told that the master needs a rest and won’t see any guests. Please come in early tomorrow.
If Qiao Yingjia's long-term attendant confiscated his ingot of silver, he would not help him mention that he was Lin Ruhai's "son-in-law." , I didn’t bother to see him.
People are so particular these days. Like Li Sancai, even if you hand over a red envelope, others will accept it. As for whether the name card has been delivered, you don’t know, or if it has been delivered, the identity is too inconspicuous, and they just throw it away at the end. I went downstairs, but maybe Li Sancai didn't even see it.
Since you can no longer get rid of this environment, then you must learn to adapt. Only after adapting and being at home can you truly integrate. If you want to change the rules and environment, then please survive and thrive under this rule and environment first, and then Let’s talk about it after reaching a certain level and strength.
This round of twists and turns seems to have been just passed by me, but when I think back to the hardships I faced when leaving the city, the fear of facing the mastiffs when crossing Renyuan, the danger when I was intercepted by the grain gang, and the failure when I thought I was sure of victory. If the unexpected rejection by Li Sancai had not been caused by some "misunderstandings" caused by Jin Yiwei's timely intervention, it is hard to say whether the incident would have been resolved so easily.
It has never been Feng Ziying's character to passively face all these unknown risks. When he was an official in his previous life, he would never sit back and wait for help. He would always take the initiative and create conditions even if he didn't have the conditions. There were only so many opportunities. If you don't compete vigorously, I really think that the official hat will fall on you. You think too much.
These days, if you don’t have the strength, you have to have a background. If you don’t have the strength and the background, it will be difficult for you to get along well. If you become a dude, you will often be slapped in the face by dudes with a more powerful background.
Once something happens, you may be in danger every second.
As Zuo Liangyu said, the famous wealthy businessman of the Xi family in Linqing City wanted to enter the inner city to hide during the civil unrest, but was turned away. However, it was the old man of the Zhou family who wanted to hide in the inner city with his family. , then I agree.
Without him, the Zhou family is an authentic local gentry family. Two of the brothers are still serving as officials, and one of the two grandchildren has passed the provincial examination. Although the Jinshi failed, it is estimated that he will continue to take the examination until Admitted to Jinshi.
There is another person who has also been selected as a scholar. It is said that he is also very talented and may be a candidate for Jinshi.
There is almost no suspense that this kind of family will continue to prosper in the past few decades. It may be that one day they will join the cabinet and become the prime minister. No matter which local official dares to offend easily.
It is not that easy to be a good official. Just like Jia Yucun, others only see him as greedy and cruel, but why is he greedy?
He had a jinshi in the poor family who took the test. After the official was granted the official, it should have been proud of the horseshoe, but the official was not so good.
Every year, you can’t miss the filial piety paid by the officials on the holidays, the various social interactions between colleagues in the same department, and the visits from the master of the house during the holidays. Can you miss the letters and rituals?
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If you marry a wife and take concubines, and continue the family line, you will inevitably have to support a large family, including the servants and servants who will serve them. Have you calculated these expenses?
It is necessary to be decent and to have a good reputation. How can there be so many good things that have the best of both worlds?
Where do these huge expenses come from?
If you don’t have a good family background, then you have to find a good job. Well, you also need to have the capital to make a good job. If you can’t find both, you can only make decisions based on the power in your hands.
If you walk at night for a long time, you will encounter ghosts. Sometimes your superiors or censors will inevitably catch you, so you can only ask for good luck.
It is not easy to be an official in any dynasty, whether it is ancient or modern.
Seeing that colleagues from the same department and the same year, one from the same hometown has entered the capital, another has moved to the right, one has been praised by Shangguan, another has been promoted to the capital, and another local gentry has given the Wanmin Umbrella, and it has even reached the ears of the elders in the central pavilion in Beijing. That one was personally summoned by the emperor's edict, but you have been in your position for several years. How can you be as stable as a mountain and as stable as a dog?
With your superiors speaking coldly to you, and the gentry being lukewarm to you, you don't panic in your heart, or feel ashamed on your face, and can you still sit still?
In his previous life, Feng Ziying was so capable that he almost took over as mayor as deputy secretary of the municipal party committee. Naturally, he had some abilities. Without some emotional intelligence and an understanding of the world, he would not have been able to sit in that position.
Now that he is revisiting this new world, he finds that many things are actually of the same origin, how to play with them, and there are many things worth slowly savoring.
Brothers, please vote!
(End of this chapter)