Chapter 97

Although Jia Hui's Jia Fu did not have dozens of masters like the Rongguo Prefecture, and thus was not as extravagant and wasteful,

he could save a few thousand taels of silver.

Yet, over the course of a year, the expenses would still amount to over ten thousand taels!

Thinking of this, Sister Xiren was immediately shocked and exclaimed: "My Lord, you must not!"

Sister Xiren was diligent in her duties and was someone who wholeheartedly looked out for her master.

Therefore, she immediately wanted to persuade Jia Hui.

"This matter is absolutely impossible. Over a year, the entire household will spend at least ten thousand taels of silver, which is nearly a thousand taels a month. We cannot support so many people."

As the head steward, Jia Yun did a rough calculation and was also shocked. With his scalp tingling, he followed up to persuade him: "That's right, My Lord, this is far too much. There is no need to be so extravagant and wasteful at the moment."

【73】 Spending money like water, Jia Yun and others advise! Must find a way to make money to support the wife.

Hearing their words,

Jia Hui, who had already dismounted and was looking around at the shops, nodded with satisfaction upon hearing this!

Could he not have thought of these things?

Of course he had.

And for such loyal advice from them,

he was naturally very satisfied.

"Rest assured, I have it all planned out."

"A mere ten thousand taels of silver is naturally nothing to me."

He said with great heroic spirit!

Hearing his words,

the three of them were very surprised.

Jia Hui was a Viscount, and his annual salary was only about four hundred taels, with about four hundred *hu* of salary grain.

Then there was the salary for his regular third-rank Assistant Regional Commander position.

The Great Dry officials' regular salaries were divided into 10 grades, from the first rank to the ninth rank and those without a rank.

The first rank was the highest at 180 taels, the second rank 155 taels, the third rank 130 taels, the fourth rank 105 taels, the fifth rank 80 taels, the sixth rank 60 taels, the seventh rank 45 taels, the eighth rank 40 taels, the regular ninth rank 33 taels, and the associate ninth rank and those without rank only had 31 taels and some change.

Besides the official salary, there was also a payment in kind, namely salary grain, which was the rice provided for officials to eat.

Generally speaking,

for every tael of salary, one *hu* was issued simultaneously,

equivalent to half a *shi* of salary grain.

Among them, the first and second ranks received double salary and double grain, meaning they received double wages and double salary grain. Other capital officials received double salary but single grain. Except for a few officials like those in the Ministry of Revenue, the vast majority of capital officials did not have anti-corruption allowances.

Jia Hui was one step away from the second rank, which was a pity.

However, this refers to the monthly salary.

It was much higher than the annual salary of a noble title.

393 Jia Hui was a regular third rank, and the third rank was 130 taels.

Over a year, that was 1,560 taels of silver.

In addition, there were varying amounts of public funds and so on.

At present, Jia Hui's annual income was at most two thousand taels of silver.

Adding the noble title,

it was only about two thousand five hundred taels of silver a year!

Comparing this small amount of money to the annual expenses of ten thousand taels, the gap was huge.

Jia Yun had one thing he didn't say: "If you were a civil official, My Lord, it would be fine. A civil official who is a prefect for three years gets a hundred thousand taels of silver. Unfortunately, you are not. A military general's income is much worse than a civil official's, unless you risk beheading and demotion abroad by secretly condoning the burning, killing, and looting of the common people."

"The Rongguo Prefecture can hold on only because the Jia family has some shops abroad and several manors to support it."

In reality,

what he did not know was that

the Rongguo Prefecture was currently in a state of living beyond its means.

And in fact, the Ning and Rong prefectures together had fifteen or sixteen manors, calculated at two thousand five hundred taels of silver each.

Each prefecture's annual income was about twenty thousand taels.

However,

this money did not all go into the hands of the masters of the two prefectures.

If there were large expenses, or people coming to beg for favors, or even extortionists, and with the internal hoarding of private funds and corruption, when these things were added together, they lived beyond their means, and the deficit grew larger and larger!

The current two Jia prefectures were actually just empty shells.

In another two years,

even without being raided, they would go bankrupt.

Otherwise, Fengjie would not have used high-interest loans and other unsavory means to make up for the deficit!

Otherwise, Jia She and the others would not have been forced to sell their daughters for a mere few thousand taels of silver!

The family of their old relative, Shi Xiangyun, was even more miserable.

Shi Xiangyun, as a mistress, actually had to do needlework to subsidize the household!

Therefore, Jia Yun felt that Jia Hui was being a bit arrogant.

He wanted to persuade him again: "You are a Viscount, and supporting twenty or so maids and servants is already quite respectable."

Indeed.

Having more than twenty servants was already very respectable and gave face.

In the home of a fifth-rank official like the Qin family,

including the three members of Qin Ye's family, there were less than ten people in total!

Jia Hui waved his hand casually: "No need to worry, this little bit of money cannot stump me. Have you forgotten? Just the ten thousand taels of silver and one shop contributed by Jia Zhen yesterday are enough for us to spend for a year or a half."

Jia Yun and the others were stunned after hearing this.

Their expressions were a bit strange.

Put that way, it really was!

Jia Zhen and his son had contributed quite a lot to Jia Hui.

But this money wouldn't last too long, would it?

Just seeing Jia Hui's confident appearance,

they had no choice but to give up.

"Rest assured, I have my own means of making a profit."

"After the shopping time is over today, you go and keep an eye on that shop. We must make good use of it. I will sell some new things."

Jia Hui comforted them.

It was a good thing that Jia Yun and the others could be loyal and speak their minds.

As a superior, he also needed to comfort them.

Only when everyone is of one mind

can the career flourish.

"Yes."

Hearing this, Jia Yun and the others were a bit suspicious.

What kind of business could make up for a deficit of at least several thousand taels of silver?

Jia Hui smiled lightly.

He did not explain much.

They would know when the time came.

Jia Yun and the others did not know that, besides the ten thousand taels of silver and the ten-thousand-tael shop contributed by Jia Zhen,

his space also contained various gold, silver, jewelry, animal skins, ginseng, and other items worth more than one hundred thousand taels of silver.

If these were converted into cash,

even if they spent twenty thousand taels a year,