Jianlu Ge: Officer Control and Output Modes
Definition
The Establishing-Salary structure (建禄格, Jian Lu Ge) is the pattern in which the month branch is exactly the Day Master's *salary* (禄, the Establishing-Officer / 临官 position): Jia born in the Yin month, Yi in Mao, Bing/Wu in Si, Ding/Ji in Wu, Geng in Shen, Xin in You, Ren in Hai, Gui in Zi. Here the Day Master draws the flourishing qi of the month command. The structure itself confers neither nobility nor poverty — success or failure lies entirely in the supporting configuration. At the extreme of strength, with no restraint or outlet, it becomes a root of harshness, isolation, and want.
Classical Foundation
The *Zi Ping Zhen Quan*, in its chapter "On the Establishing-Salary and Month-Robber" (《子平真诠·论建禄月劫》), devotes a full section to the salary-and-robber structures. It notes that because the Day Master rules the month command, its qi is full to overflowing, and the structure can only be brought to fruition by borrowing other spirits to restrain or channel it. The text calls the structure where the month command is Robber Wealth (e.g. Yi in the Yin month, Jia in the Mao month) the Month-Robber structure, naming it alongside Establishing-Salary as the "salary-robber" pair, with a shared logic of use. Its core teaching: when Companions have neither Officer/Killing to restrain them nor Output to circulate them, the structure breaks and cannot stand as a usable pattern in its own right.
Forming and Breaking
Establishing-Salary does not rely on itself as the usable god; it forms only by borrowing Officer/Killing, Output, or Wealth:
- Officer/Killing restrains the strong body. A body made flourishing by the month command is bound by Officer/Killing — Jia born in Yin meeting Geng/Xin or Shen/You, strong wood meeting the axe and so made into a vessel. The Officer/Killing must have root qi and must not be over-combined, clashed, or controlled, or its restraint is too weak and it merely provokes the Companions' fury.
- Output drains the excellence. When the flourishing qi is unrestrained, Output may circulate it — a Bing Fire Day Master born in Si, meeting Wu earth (Eating God) or Ji earth (Hurting Officer), drains its blazing nature into intelligence, skill, and wealth. This is the proper road of "salary-robber draining excellence."
- Borrowing Wealth as the use. If neither Officer/Killing nor Output shows and only Wealth appears, the Wealth must be generated by Output or guarded by an Officer, so the flourishing body does not seize it; otherwise, with Companions massed and the Wealth star exposed, the structure breaks.
Breaking: when the Day Master rules the month and is extremely strong, with neither Officer/Killing to restrain it nor Output to drain it, the Companions have nothing to do — they cannot generate or transform, and merely fight over Wealth and Officer. This often shows as a stubborn, self-willed character and a toilsome life of little achievement, with pressure in both marriage and career.
Worked Example
Male chart: Jia-Yin · Bing-Yin · Jia-Shen · Geng-Wu. Jia Wood born in the Yin month is exactly Establishing-Salary. The month-stem Bing Fire (Eating God) is transparent, draining the flourishing Jia Wood — this is "draining excellence"; the hour-stem Geng Metal (Seven Killings) sits on Wu fire and is thereby restrained — the Eating God harnesses the Killing, removing the Killing while keeping the restraint, and the structure is clean. Bing both drains the Companions' qi and controls the Geng Killing, giving the strong body somewhere to settle — a high structure of draining-excellence plus killing-control. The native is sharp and decisive, rising through writing and skill, with notable name and gain. Had this chart lacked Bing and Geng, showing only Jia/Yi and Yin/Mao Companions in a thicket, it would be a broken structure — strong, yet no more than self-willed and forever running into walls.
Common Misconceptions
- Mistaking Establishing-Salary for a "strong body that can directly take Wealth and Officer." With the salary in the month command, the Companions hold power; if the chart has no Officer/Killing to restrain the Robbers or Output to drain the qi, then meeting Wealth or Officer only sets the Companions fighting over them, leading to breakage. Restraint and channeling must be in order before Wealth and Officer can serve you.
- Confusing the Month-Robber structure with Establishing-Salary. When the month command is Robber Wealth it is the Month-Robber structure, with use identical to Establishing-Salary — Officer/Killing restraint or Output drainage. The two are jointly called "salary-robber"; do not invent a distinction from the name alone.
- Ignoring root qi and transparency. Officer/Killing or Output can still form the structure with a strong branch root even when not transparent at the stem, but transparency makes the effect plain — a transparent stem more readily exerts its restraining or draining work.
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Related: Companion (比肩) · Robber Wealth (劫财). Generate your chart with the free Ba Zi calculator.