After comprehensive consideration, Zhu Youzhen set the minimum amount of rewards at twenty taels, which was almost four or five months' income of the low-level officials in the capital, and the maximum limit of rewards was set at fifty taels.

At the beginning, Zhu Youzhen also wanted to set the rewards of officials at all levels as four or five months of monthly salaries, just like the year-end bonus of his time, but later asked Gao Qiqian and others to calculate it and found that it was too much silver to spend.

And hundreds of taels of silver may not be able to pry open the eyelids of those high-level officials, and it is better not to spend more money to buy it, so it is better not to spend it.

Zhu Youzhen had studied economics before and knew what it meant to have diminishing marginal utility, so he finally set a few reward standards for officials at all levels to show the difference.

The elders of the pavilion were fifty taels each, the scholars were forty taels each, and then the officials such as the squire and so on, and the lowest-ranking officials could also get twenty taels.

And these rewards may not be a big deal for high-ranking officials, but for these young petty officials, they can already have a very decent New Year.

In the past, when the Ming Emperor was in the Zhengdan Dynasty, he would also reward the officials who participated, but most of them were in the form of rice, flour and meat, which looked like a lot, but it was not worth much.

If you catch up with the emperor's emptiness, it will be a piece of sorrel.

And Zhu Youzhen's monetization of rewards actually has another meaning, that is, he wants to raise the salaries of Beijing officials first, in the form of year-end bonuses in later generations, and reward them in the name of the emperor, by the way, to win people's hearts.

Thanks to Zhu Yuanzhang's blessing, the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty were too low, so that Qing officials like Hai Rui had a large family population and couldn't even afford to eat meat.

Hai Jui has ethics and would rather lack the belly of his own family than be greedy, but the vast majority of officials do not have such awareness, and they have collected money in various names.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Taizu Chengzu was an emperor who fought on the battlefield, and he was decisive and never soft on the killing of corrupt officials and corrupt officials, but the Ming Emperors of all dynasties after Chengzu turned a blind eye to corruption.

As a result, in the Jiajing, Wanli, and Tianqi dynasties, the official seal who was not greedy for ink was basically extinct, and the rule of officials in the Ming Dynasty was also on the verge of collapse.

Zhu Youzhen has the intention to clarify the rule of officials, but the premise is to raise the salaries of officials first, and punish them if they do not teach, and if they do not have a proper name, they will not be able to speak well, and let officials at all levels live a corresponding decent life in the system, which is the prerequisite for clarifying the rule of officials.

However, Zhu Youzhen was generous to the officials, but the wool came out of the sheep, and the rewards given to the envoys of various countries after the Zhengdan court meeting were reduced a lot.

In previous years, the rewards given to the vassal states were mainly gold and silver, and in many cases they accounted for more than half of the cost of the Zhengdan Dynasty.

But this year, Zhu Youzhen's rewards to envoys from various countries are mainly in kind, and Zhu Youzhen also created a new word, souvenirs.

For example, the blue and white porcelain ware specially fired for the friendship between the two countries, the embroidery and silk of Jiangnan are far-reaching, but they are not very valuable.

For this reason, the elders of the cabinet have advised Zhu Youzhen for various reasons, such as the spirit of a great country, the face of heaven, and the intimidation of all nations, but they were rejected by Zhu Youzhen one by one.

In order to show his attitude again, Zhu Youzhen bluntly said that he would let them go back and read the book given to them.

"The face of a big country is earned by the prosperity of the country and the strength of the people, and the strength of the soldiers and horses, not by the vanity of throwing money around."

Moreover, Zhu Youzhen also bluntly said: "The people work hard, and the taxes are all the people's fat and people's anointment, and every tael of silver that the imperial court spends on the vassal states in the future must be exchanged for benefits of the same value, or how to be worthy of the people who work hard in the fields." ”

In the face of Zhu Youzhen's righteous words, the elders were also ridiculed so that they couldn't speak, and they all blushed one by one, but they couldn't find any reason to refute it.

The elders, who are full of sage doctrine and full of benevolence, righteousness and morality, face a young man who is pragmatist, and all his preaching instantly becomes pale and powerless.

In the end, the elders had no choice but to give up, and the Son of Heaven had his mind, and only hoped that the vassal states would not look down on the Ming Dynasty and do anything rebellious.

The days are approaching day by day, and the various yamen are also sealed one after another, and in addition to the personnel on duty, the other officials are also on vacation.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang was a model worker, never resting 365 days a year, and Zhu Yuanzhang not only did not rest himself, but also did not let officials at all levels of the Ming Dynasty rest.

In a year, three days of holiday are stipulated, which are the Spring Festival, the winter solstice and Lao Zhu's own birthday.

However, such a leave system is too harsh and extremely infeasible, not only the officials can't stand it, but the emperors after Zhu Yuanzhang can't stand it.

So on the basis of Taizu's three-day vacation, the holidays were continuously increased, until the Hongzhi Emperor, who was deeply loved by scholars, appeared, and the system of rest and bath for officials in the Ming Dynasty was finally determined.

By the time of Chongzhen, Ming officials had a fixed three-day holiday a month, and stipulated that they should take one day off every ten years.

In addition, traditional festivals such as Qingming, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival also have corresponding holidays, while the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival have the longest holidays, starting from the Yamen seal around the twentieth day of the lunar month, almost a month's long holiday.

Of course, there is also September 18 every year, Lao Zhu's birthday, and there is also a day off.

Therefore, since Hongzhi, the holidays of Ming Dynasty officials are actually not small.

After the Laba Festival, as all the yamen of the imperial court took a holiday, Zhu Youzhen was also a lot more relaxed, and after agreeing on the plan of the court, Zhu Youzhen asked Empress Zhou and Empress Yi'an to discuss the rewards of the palace people.

And he himself went to Xishan, which was his basic plate, and the reward at the end of the year was vague.

Although most of the officers and men of the New Army have not returned to Guizhou, the remaining soldiers and workers in steel, ordnance, textile, soap, glass, and sugar factories will also be given a red envelope during the Chinese New Year.

But Zhu Youzhen doesn't have to worry about these things, as long as he moves his mouth, Cao Huachun will naturally cooperate with Bi Maokang, Song Yingxing and others to arrange these things.

After the big and small things are taken care of, Chinese New Year's Eve is coming.

Because there are a lot of rewards for the palace people this year, the palace is full of joy and peace.

On Chinese New Year's Eve, after worshipping the family temple, Zhu Youjian ordered people to set up a family banquet in the Qianqing Palace, invited all the surviving concubines in the palace, and set off fireworks on the square in front of the Qianqing Palace.

Of course, Zhu Youzhen showed that these old palace concubines were not just for fun, many of these palace concubines of the first emperor were the biological mothers of the vassal kings in various places.

Zhu Youzhen also counted on the vassal kings to continue to invest in various factories in Xishan, so for the sake of investors, their mothers must also take care of them.