jdhmnovel Chapter 406 Wasting money from the national treasury to do favors for oneself?
Chapter 406 Wasting money from the national treasury to do favors for oneself?
Yang Shaofeng was drinking tea with a smile on his face.
Zhu Biao was wondering whether he should check his brother-in-law's family tree to see if he had changed his surname from Jia to Yang.
The envoys from various vassal states who had already left the Dengzhou government office gathered again in the house where the Goryeo envoys were staying.
Du Shunqin was the first to challenge Park Sung-sung: "Vice Envoy Park, you've been giving us all the looks today, trying to get us to agree to that ridiculously high Ming Dynasty work hour and wage standard. Shouldn't you give us an explanation now?"
Park Sung-sung glanced at the many unfriendly-looking envoys and snorted, "Damn it, I don't even know if you really don't understand or you're just pretending."
"Not to mention that the working hours and wages of the Ming Dynasty are entirely beneficial to us."
"So, if you insist on arguing with the Prince Consort today, do you think you can make him change his mind?"
Du Shunqin snorted as well and said, "Then tell me, how can it be all benefits and no harm?"
Park Sung-sung glanced at Du Shunqin with the kind of look one might give someone with intellectual disabilities, and said sarcastically, "May I ask, Envoy Du, how many people in your Annam can speak fluent Mandarin of the Ming Dynasty and write two thousand Chinese characters?"
Du Shunqin said with a dark face, "There aren't many people like this in my Annam, but we're not necessarily fewer than in your Goryeo."
Ashley!
How did Du Shunqin, who is so foolish, become the chief envoy to Annam?
After cursing inwardly, Park Sung-sung continued, "There aren't many people like this in Korea."
"However, some of my relatives can barely meet this standard."
"Therefore, I will arrange for some of my relatives who are not very capable, but not too bad, to come and work here."
"Let them come to the Ming Dynasty to broaden their horizons, and earn sixty coins a day. Isn't that much better than continuing to suffer in the country?"
"Don't you, Chief Envoy Du, have any relatives who are not particularly capable but not too bad either?"
"If the Prince Consort hasn't set a wage of sixty coins a day, even if you arrange for them to work in the Ming Dynasty, would you dare to pay them sixty coins a day?"
"But things are different once the Prince Consort sets the working hours and wages."
"Whether the king asks or someone wants to audit the accounts, we have something to say."
"The most crucial point is that those who are better than us look down on the daily wage of sixty coins, so naturally they won't come to work in the Ming Dynasty."
"If you can arrange for a decent relative to do the work, won't your relative be grateful to you?"
"Assi."
After analyzing the pros and cons step by step, Park Sung-sung added, "Even if you don't have suitable relatives or friends around you, it's still good to use it to do favors, understand?"
As Park Sung-sung finished speaking, Du Shunqin was momentarily at a loss for words.
Is it possible to waste money from one's own country's treasury to do favors for one's own people?
It doesn't seem to work?
After much deliberation, Du Shunqin continued, "There's more."
"If you send someone to do the work to be incompetent, it will inevitably cause trouble."
“I think you, Chief Envoy Du, should also know what kind of status the Imperial Son-in-Law who presides over the border markets has in the Ming Dynasty.”
"So, do you think it's worth offending the Prince Consort just to save a few dozen coins in wages for your country's treasury?"
"Even if we hire ordinary people from the Ming Dynasty to work, the wages for one person per year would only be a little over twenty-four taels of silver."
"Even if you hire ten people, it will only cost a little over two hundred taels of silver."
Which is less important? Which is more important?
That seems to make sense?
After a long silence, Du Shunqin finally asked, "So what do you plan to do?"
Park Sung-sung stated directly, "I plan to hire a Ming Dynasty worker for each shop."
"This person may be illiterate, may not be able to do arithmetic, and may even do nothing at all."
"The prerequisite is that he must be a relative or friend of an official from the border market administration or any other government office."
"If all else fails, we should hire someone, even if they are just an ordinary citizen of the Ming Dynasty."
"You should know that, to the officials of the border market, no matter who we bring in, they are all outsiders."
"But the people of the Ming Dynasty are their own people."
"Even out of consideration for the people of the Ming Dynasty, they won't make things too difficult for our shops."
At this point, Park Sung-sung couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "He can't even understand this basic human decency; I don't know how he became an envoy."
Du Shunqin was immediately ashamed.
I have to admit, Park Sung-sung was right, I really hadn't thought of that.
As the saying goes, what goes up leads to results.
Judging from the way that Prince Consort Yang behaved, it was indeed possible to avoid a lot of trouble if he hired ordinary people from the Ming Dynasty to work in his shop.
Forget it, it's only a few hundred taels of silver a year. I can just consider it protection money for the shop.
After a slight sigh, Du Shunqin bowed to Park Sung-sung in thanks: "Thank you for your guidance, Vice Envoy Park. If it weren't for you, I really wouldn't have been able to see through all these key points."
As Du Shunqin finished speaking, the envoys from the other vassal states also bowed to Park Sung-sung in gratitude.
Park Sung-sung felt a surge of joy and laughed, "We are both vassals of the Ming Dynasty, and we should help each other. You all need not be so polite."
After the envoys had all left, Park Sung-sung's face darkened, and he said to Park Deok-hwan, "Damn it, a bunch of idiots."
"If they anger the Prince Consort today, the market may not be able to open for even longer."
After complaining for a while, Park Sung-sung continued, "Quickly, have someone call all those merchants over. We need to explain things to them as well."
After Park Deok-hwan agreed, Park Sung-sung's expression suddenly tightened, and he said, "Prepare a gift; we still need to visit Magistrate Xu of Penglai."
Park Deok-hwan was slightly taken aback and asked, "Now?"
Park Sung-sung nodded and said, "Yes, right now."
"I just thought about it. There aren't many people in Goryeo who can speak the official language of the Ming Dynasty and write two thousand Chinese characters. Those in the Ming Dynasty who can write two thousand Chinese characters must all be scholars."
"Can a wage of sixty coins a day be enough to hire a scholar?"
"Since we can't hire educated people, we should at least hire a few who can read and write."
“It’s not easy for us to find this kind of person on our own, but we can try to find the magistrate of Penglai County. Maybe there will be a chance.”
"Even if you hire someone who is illiterate, you should at least find someone with good character."
After hearing Park Sung-sung's explanation, Park Deok-hwan couldn't help but admire him greatly.
Vice Envoy Park is indeed impressive; he actually thought of everything in advance!
……
The second day of the second month of the fourth year of the Hongwu reign.
On the day of the Dragon Head Raising Festival, Yang Shaofeng and Zhu Biao rushed to the Dengzhou Garrison Office and looked at the west gate of the market, which was not far from the Dengzhou Garrison Office.