A Small County Yamen Is Also a World
The moon rises above the willow tree, and people meet after dusk.
The moon was beautiful tonight.
It was round and bright, like a jade plate.
However, under the moonlight, the backyard of the county government was a bit of a spoilsport.
He saw Ye Jin reclining on the chair, holding a golden chicken leg in one hand and a small wine pot in the other.
A mouthful of meat and a mouthful of wine.
He didn't look like a refined scholar at all. He was clearly the king of the mountain.
Chan Chan squatted beside the brazier and fanned the brazier with her fan as she urged,"What happened after that? Young Master, tell me quickly. Did Third Baby save Grandfather, Eldest Baby, and Second Baby? I think Third Baby will definitely be able to save Grandfather. He has a bronze head and iron arms, and he's invulnerable.”
Ye Jin took another sip of the wine that was mixed with ice, so the rice wine was a little prickly. A trace of drunkenness immediately surged to his head.
He waved his hand and said,"If you want to know what happened after that, listen to the next chapter." Your Young Master is a little tired and wants to go back to his room to sleep. Can we talk about it tomorrow night?!”
As he spoke, he stood up unsteadily.
However, he lost his balance and almost fell.
Chan Chan was so scared that her face turned pale. She quickly reached out to help him.
Who knew that Ye Jin's body was as light as a swallow. Not only did he stand up straight, but he also hugged Chan Chan, who had reached out to support him.
Before she could react, he pecked her on the forehead.
Then, he let go of her.
He laughed out loud and walked towards the study with the wine pot.
Only then did Chan Chan react.
Her face turned red as she looked at Ye Jin's back and said shyly,""Young Master, you're bullying me again."
...
The sun was high in the sky.
The originally deserted Shangyuan County government office had become lively at this time.
As the county government that governed tens of thousands of people in a county, there were actually quite a number of people working.
The small county office was also a world.
In addition to the seventh-grade county lords, there were also second-in-command--the eighth-grade county magistrate (deputy county), the ninth-grade chief clerk (office director), the eighth-grade county school instructor (education director and county middle school principal), the ninth-grade code officer (prison warden and JC bureau director), the ninth-grade patrol officer (police station director), and so on.
These were all official officials.
However, other than the relationship between superiors and subordinates, the way officials were appointed was also different.
Therefore, there was a certain level of contempt.
Almost all the county lords of the seventh grade had to participate in the imperial examination and obtain the title of Jinshi before they were qualified to hold the post.
Of course, some High Scholars could also become a County Venerable after decades of hard work.
As for the county magistrate and the county school overseer, they were also selected through the imperial examination results.
However, they were all candidates who could not pass the imperial examination. After feeling hopeless, they participated in the selection of officials by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and were then sent to various counties to serve as county governors or county school teachers.
For example, the famous Hai Qingtian from Hai Rui, because his highest academic qualification was only a High Scholar, his first official position was a county school teacher.
As for the other officials such as the chief clerk, the chief officer, and the inspector, they were considered miscellaneous officials.
The selection and appointment of these miscellaneous officials were much broader.
Some of them were old officials who had worked diligently in the yamen for decades. They had relied on their connections and financial resources to obtain the recognition of the higher-ups in the yamen and then obtained this position.
Some of them were the descendants of local aristocratic families.
In order to stabilize their rule in the area, the government would appoint some of the children of the local clans as officials.
Some were the trusted aides and nephews of some officials.
However, although a miscellaneous official was also an official, the path to promotion was almost blocked. He could only hold such a low-level official position in a certain place for the rest of his life.
Therefore, in the county government, the officials who had taken the imperial examination were not only of high rank, but also had a bright future. Therefore, they looked down on these miscellaneous officials.
And because of the high academic qualifications of the county magistrate (Jinshi), he looked down on the county magistrate and county school teacher (Juren) with low academic qualifications.
This man-made chain of disdain from top to bottom had a certain effect on the officials 'corruption.
In addition to the above officials, there were also many petty officials in the yamen.
For example, scribes, bailiffs, prison heads, officials, and so on…
These petty officials had no rank, so they naturally would not occupy the court's establishment. All their food and clothing were not the responsibility of the court, but the local government's own funds.
Of course, the power to kill these people was in the hands of the local government.
In the hands of the county magistrate.
There was also a chain of contempt among these petty officials.
Scribes and officials were usually scholars. They would at least obtain the rank of scholar and have the opportunity to participate in the imperial examination in the future.
Therefore, he looked down on the government runners, prison guards, coroners, and other petty officials.
Because most of these people were uneducated and vulgar martial artists, and even their descendants could not participate in the imperial examination.
If they couldn't even participate in the imperial examination, how could they achieve class advancement?!
In addition to these high-ranking officials and petty officials, there were also a large number of people in the yamen.
The status of these people was even lower.
Therefore, there were quite a number of people working in the county office every day.
For a large county like Shangyuan County, which had a population of nearly 100,000, there were at least 100 people in the county government.
However, the Hong Martial Dynasty was an exception.
What was the reason?
It's because the current emperor is very harsh on officials, causing many scholars to be unwilling to be officials.
Even those who came out to be officials were killed in the four major cases.
Although it was the 15th year of Hongwu, only the Hu Weiyong Case and the Kongyin Case had occurred in the four major cases of Hongwu, but the number of officials killed in these two cases was unknown.
In particular, the Kongyin Case had almost killed all the local officials.
As a result, almost every county in the 1,400 counties of the Ming court had an official position vacancy.
It was the same in Shangyuan County.
Ye Jin had already been in office for half a year, but the court had yet to appoint the county's county magistrate, chief registrar, county school teacher, and other official positions.
In addition to the vacancy of official positions, the number of petty officials in each county was reduced by at least half compared to other periods.
On the one hand, the emperor hated petty officials and would occasionally take the heads of a few petty officials to appease the people's anger.
On the other hand, due to the imperial court's high-handed rule, the local officials did not dare to intercept too much money and grain handed over to the imperial court, nor did they dare to plunder the people.
Without money, he naturally couldn't afford to take care of others.
However, Shangyuan County was an exception.
Because Ye Jin dared to risk his life to collect business taxes, the financial situation of Shangyuan County was much stronger than other prefectures and counties.
Now that he had money, he naturally had to hire a few more people to work for him.
Otherwise, wouldn't it be exhausting to manage such a large county by himself?!
Ye Jin did not have the resolve to sacrifice his life and shed his blood for the Zhu family.
Therefore, the sky had just turned bright, and Shangyuan County's government office was as lively as a market.
————
PS: This chapter mainly introduced the system of county officials during the Ming Dynasty. It was very useful later on, but it seemed a little boring now. It didn't help much with the current plot, but it had to be written. Little slut Jun also wanted to write that kind of cool article that didn't need any rationality, but ChenQie couldn't do it!!!
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