In front of the county government office, people were coming and going.
As soon as the soldiers of the Dongguan Express Delivery Shop rolled their saddles and dismounted their horses, the archers of the Beiguan Inspection Department followed the yamen officials to clear the way in the street. Following closely, the yamen officials led a group of monks to preach the Dharma and headed towards the north gate. .
Liu Chengzong handed the weapon to Cao Yao, and his cousin Chengyun Zi went up to contact the gatekeeper. He bowed and said hello in a familiar manner and handed over a greeting card. He handed over the silver pieces cut in advance from his sleeve and chatted for a few words with a smile. The disciple just went to report it.
"Brother, the ones who just left are the ceremony official and Yin Yang Tushu, who are leading the monks to pray for rain."
Cheng Yun was not very old, but he spoke like an adult. He sneered and whispered, "Hey! Praying for rain will work, but two years of drought will work?"
After saying that, he said: "I asked, the household secretary Wang went to the Nanguan porridge shed to provide relief. The person who stayed in the Yamen was Zhang Shuban. His name was Zhang Pan, who was from Dongguan. It was the first scholar who failed to work as a county magistrate. Mr. Bin, just hand in the post and look for him later."
Among the long list of positions, only Yin Yang Xun Shu is an official, but it is only an official position without salary. The other officials and clerks are all officials. In popular terms, they are clerks.
The imperial court has six departments, the state government has six departments, and the county government has six offices. The staff in these six offices are all subordinate officials. Most of them are people who have no hope of taking the imperial examination. They pass the exam or pay money to work in the government office. They mainly rely on paper and pens. Transcription fees and labor and food expenses sustain life.
But they hold power and are all locals. They have worked in the yamen all their lives. They can inherit their father's business. They are born and raised, familiar with criminal law and proficient in regulations. They are especially good at handling the internal affairs of the yamen. Some subordinates can even ignore people who do not understand administrative business. County magistrate.
Of course, being an official also has its disadvantages. Officials cannot be officials, and families cannot take imperial examinations. They will always be officials.
Not long after, the official from the county government went out with the greeting card. Perhaps he had received eight cents of silver. He bowed to Liu Chengzong and said with a smile: "Second Master, please come in with me. Zhang Shuban has invited you."
Liu Chengzong turned to Cao Yao and the others and said, "You guys are waiting for me somewhere outside. I'll come out as soon as the matter is done."
After saying that, he was led into the door by a soap official wearing black clothes and a square scarf.
Liu Chengzong was very familiar with the layout of the yamen. During those years when he was with the old man in the county yamen, going to the Dianshi Hall to the west of the yamen was like going home.
The ritual system of the Yamen all over the world is the same. There is no need to lead the way. Pass through the corridor in front of the Yimen. The east and west wing rooms are called the service rooms. They are the place where the grain chief handles taxes in summer and autumn. They are usually not used. They are usually used as the squad rooms for the strong class. .
The Yimen is not open on weekdays. There is a small door on the left and right. The ghost gate on the left is also called the Juemen, and the human gate on the right is also called the Ximen.
The Ghost Gate is usually not open. That gate is where the condemned prisoners are escorted. After entering, turn left on the west wall and there is a small door that leads directly to the West Government Office. After the Autumn, the world was in a state of mourning, and the Yamen guards would kill the condemned prisoners through the Ghost Gate from where they were escorted.
The Renmen Gate is where county government officials and people usually enter the government office.
Entering the county government hall, there are three wing rooms on both sides of the corridor. From south to north, there are three rooms for soldiers, criminals, and workers on the west side; on the east side, from south to north, there are three rooms for rites, households, and officials.
The Lifang is in charge of personnel, managing county government documents and general affairs within the government office.
The military commander is in charge of recruiting soldiers and training, and manages local armed forces, post stations and three squads of government officials.
Households are responsible for collecting land taxes and commercial taxes, managing household registration, warehouses and financial revenue and expenditure, and dispatching corvees.
The ceremonial room is in charge of sacrifices, examinations, school education, and educating the people.
The execution chamber is in charge of litigation, judicial trials, and prisoner management.
The workshop is in charge of industry, responsible for farming, water conservancy, engineering construction, and equipment manufacturing.
In this county of hundreds of miles, there is nothing that these six rooms cannot solve.
When Liu Chengzong was led into the household room, there was another yamen servant in the room who was lowering his head and talking to the clerk inside. When he saw him come in, the clerk in an ocher-coloured collar nodded and gave a few instructions, patted the yamen servant and asked him to come down, and then sat down. He raised his hands on the chair and said with a smile: "Liu Erlang from Black Dragon Mountain, a hero in the frontier army; I have a long-term friendship with the Fourth Master. You don't have to be reserved. Sit down."
The house is not small, but the walls are filled with bookshelves and the money and food books make the room seem a bit cramped.
At this time, there were only two of them in the room. When Liu Chengzong sat down, Zhang Pan said: "Brother Wang's invitation made your matter very clear. You want to buy 2,700 acres of land in Laomiao Village. The land deed has been completed. As long as the house painting is deposited and filed, you are very kind."
Just when Liu Chengzong was puzzled, Zhang Panhun smiled nonchalantly and said: "Since the bandits attacked the old temple village in Changping, Zhang Qianhu led troops to drive away the bandits, and the landowners who held the title deed there died in the disaster, and it was all wasteland. ”
Zhang Qianhu led troops to drive away thieves? Liu Chengzong tried his best to suppress his disdain and anger.
"You, Liu Erlang, have come to me a long time ago. Put up a notice outside the yamen, look for thirty or forty households, and write on each of them that someone has opened a certain place in Panlong Valley to a certain wasteland. As long as no one comes to the door with the land deed for three months... No one will come to your door. Where can you find someone if they are dead? The household will automatically create a new title deed for you."
Is there anything else to say?
This was a new knowledge point for Liu Chengzong, but he really didn't need it and didn't want to use it. It wasn't enough for the dead people in the old temple village to be killed by thieves. They asked the officers and soldiers to take the heads to receive the reward, and in the end they were killed by others while the bones were still cold. Occupied for no reason?
He couldn't do such a thing, so he cupped his hands and smiled and said, "Thank you Zhang Shuban for your kindness. I really can't wait for Sanyue to eat in this riverside field in Xingpingli."
Zhang Pan smiled very kindly, waved his hand and said: "It doesn't matter, since it's a business, I can still draw this bet."
"But... now is not a good time to buy land." He changed the subject, clasped his fists towards the north, and said: "Although the Fushi County government office is small, some things have to be done in a formal manner. When Erlang enters the city, he can see the city. The refugees gathering outside? Hundreds and thousands, the rice vats in the city are bottoming out, and people are starving to death every day, filling up the ditches."
"Our Fushi City is the county government office, and the government office is also here. The prefect is worried about this, so no one can be exempted from the order."
Zhang Pan raised his hand and nodded, rummaged through the desk for official documents, and handed out one: "The government has issued an order that all wealthy families who have extra money to buy land in disaster years must help the government share the worries and resettle the displaced people. The rule is one hundred acres. household."
"So in order to secure the land deed, twenty-seven households of refugees must be registered as tenants. The villain can do whatever is convenient for him. The number of households can be small, but the number of households is fixed and cannot be changed. It must be twenty-seven households."
This rule was difficult for Liu Chengzong to handle and made him frown.
The words of the official in charge of the small border town, rounded up, are equivalent to the emperor issuing an edict.
It is a golden rule for the prefect to follow the law as he says it, which made him couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "It is easy to bring twenty-seven families of refugees back, but Zhang Shuban, how can I support them?"
"I don't know either. Except for a few villages along the river, the people have lost their livelihood. The refugees will become thieves when they gather together for a long time. The Yamen can only come up with this solution."
Zhang Pan shook his head and spread his hands in front of the case: "Xingpingli is on the outskirts of the county, but the city has already started apportioning it. For every house with three rooms, five dou of rice and grain will be donated every month; once you enter the yard, you have to donate one stone."
"It's better to buy land and give it to the refugees. You don't even have to find people to farm the land. Saving one life is better than eating seven years of fasting. You, Liu Erlang, will have to eat all the food for the rest of your life."
