County schools in these two places are not open yet. It happened that he wanted to urge the county to set up a county school, so they worked together.
He doesn't care whether Lao Zhu can pick out talents.
But if the county school cannot be opened, his third- and fourth-level officials cannot be opened, because there is no channel to recruit people and no one is available.
Because of the delay on the way, it was already dark by the time we arrived at the next station.
The stationmaster of Jintan Station ran out early to greet him.
Zhu Bailuo took a rest, and after dinner he told Zhang Yu: "Tomorrow we are not in a hurry to go to Changzhou. We will go to Jintan County Office first. You will send someone to take the greeting note I wrote tomorrow morning to ensure that the Jintan County Magistrate is waiting at the county office. Hold me."
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It’s not a long detour from Jintan Station to Jintan County.
We arrived at the county government office at noon.
The county magistrate had already heard of Zhu Bai's reputation. After receiving Zhu Bai's post, he immediately led a group of government officials to greet Zhu Bai outside the county government office.
The guards sent by Zhu Bai were standing beside the magistrate now, not as if they were here to deliver a message, but as if they were here to guard the prisoners.
Zhu Bai jumped off his horse, ignored the magistrate who came to bow, strode in, and sat directly behind the case in the lobby.
As soon as the magistrate saw this scene, his legs went weak. He hurriedly followed in and stood in the lobby with his hands down and his head lowered.
Zhu Bai didn't say anything, just sat down and played with his nine-link ring.
The magistrate did not dare to speak out.
After a while, the county magistrate of Jurong also arrived. He walked up to the hall, bowed to Zhu Bai, and stood next to the magistrate of Jintan.
Zhu Bai raised his chin towards Zhang Yu.
Zhang Yu poured the stolen goods seized from the robber's sack yesterday on the ground.
Zhu Bai asked with a half-smile, "Two magistrates, do you know what this is?"
The two county magistrates wiped their sweat and replied: "I don't know, I don't know."
"I don't know."
Zhu Bai said: "These are the stolen goods I confiscated from the robber I caught at the junction of the jurisdictions of the two adults. These things were all saved by him after robbing passing merchants one after another."
The two magistrates turned pale when they heard this.
Zhu Bai gave several important pieces of information in just one sentence: First, he encountered a gangster, but he robbed and killed him.
Second, many merchants were robbed and killed.
Third, this gangster has been running rampant for so long, but no one has taken care of it.
Zhu Bai looked at the two magistrates calmly: "Don't you two have anything to say?"
The two magistrates knelt down together: "The humble minister is guilty."
"The humble minister is incompetent."
Zhu Bai glanced at the four government officials in front of him and asked the magistrate of Jintan: "Are all your government officials here?"
The magistrate of Jintan kowtowed: "Yes."
Zhu Bai then asked the magistrate of Jurong County: "How many government officials do you have?"
The magistrate of Jurong kowtowed: "It's also four."
The county magistrate is the seventh rank or the seventh rank. Everyone laughs that the seventh-rank Zhima official is a minor official, but they don't know that there are officials below the county magistrate, such as the county magistrate (the eighth rank) and the chief secretary (the ninth rank). In fact, there are even smaller classics and histories below, which no longer have any rank, and are called "unclassified".
Lao Zhufa's salary only supports the officials themselves, but does not care whether the officials have wives, children and mothers.
Local officials such as the county magistrate and magistrate have to support a large number of subordinates, while the county magistrate and chief registrar can also receive salary.
Yamen servants, masters, and servants all depend on the county magistrate and the magistrate to find ways to generate income to support them.
If the county magistrate has money, he can hire more powerful and tall government officials, and public security will naturally improve.
If the county magistrate is poor, he can only arrange a few less government servants, such as Jintan County and Jurong County.
These four government officials have not received professional training. To directly let them deal with the gang of bandits is to die. It is indeed a bit inhumane.
When Zhu Bai thought about it, the anger in his heart became much lighter.
He said: "I plan to set up four-level official bureaus in each county."
The two county magistrates didn't know why Zhu Bai suddenly jumped on this matter, and looked at each other.
Zhu Bai asked again: "The imperial court has ordered that the township examination will be held this fall. Why haven't you opened the county school? If the county school is not opened, how can you participate in the township examination after the draft?"
This is the only way for a poor student to jump over the dragon gate and enter an official career. Now, the people below have blocked the first hurdle.
For the imperial examination, candidates from big cities like Fuzhou were selected.
Zhu Bai, who used to be a problem solver in a small town, was very angry.
The two county magistrates said solemnly: "The county is really poor and can't afford it."
In fact, the people are not considered poor. After all, it is a prosperous place in the south of the Yangtze River.
Rich people can go to school in the state capital.
The key is that the county magistrate is poor.
If they raise money from wealthy households to run county schools, they are afraid that the wealthy households will ask them to practice favoritism and cheat in exams. In the end, only children from rich families became scholars.
They also have a bad reputation and create hidden dangers.
Therefore, we can only postpone the establishment of county schools.
Zhu Bai pursed his lips: It’s useless to force them. No money means no money.
He asked: "Have you ever estimated how much it will cost to run a county school per year?"
The magistrate of Jintan County whispered: "The organization of the examination can be managed by my own officials. There are also local teaching schools in the county government. I just need to ask the teacher to teach. Mr. Guan has three meals a day. It costs twenty taels of silver a year."
The magistrate of Jurong County said: "It's similar here in Xiaguan."
Zhu Bai said: "The number of scholars assigned to you by the imperial court is twenty, right?"
Jintan County Magistrate: "Yes."
Zhu Bai: "Well, let me help you with an idea. You organize the exam first. The top five are free of tuition. The sixth to tenth place will receive 50 tuition fees a month. The eleventh to fifteenth place will be charged 100 tuition fees. Money a month. Sixteen to twenty people receive five hundred coins a month."
In this way, there are more than three taels of silver a month. Not only can it cover the salary of teachers, but it can also help poor students with particularly outstanding academic performance.
The magistrate of Jintan was stunned for a moment and murmured: "What if eleven to twenty people have no money?"
Zhu Bai smiled: "Didn't the magistrate organize the exam? Which candidate's family has no money, and you still don't know?"
Besides, in this kind of exam, unless someone is particularly outstanding, is there a big gap between the top ten and the top twenty?
Isn’t it just a matter of one sentence?
To put it bluntly, it is to kill the rich and give to the poor, for a high-sounding reason.
For wealthy people, fifty or one hundred cents a month is nothing.
Even if it's just one tael of silver, isn't that just one less piece of beautiful clothing?
The magistrate of Jurong County thought about it first and said hurriedly: "The King of Xiang is wise."
Zhu Bai nodded: "Hurry down and do it. If I come back from my inspection and pass by, if I see that you haven't set up the county school yet, I will have to do it for you."
The two county magistrates hurriedly kowtowed: "Yes."
Then the magistrate of Jurong had the courage to ask: "Your Highness, what should we do with those thieves?"
The thief must have been beheaded, he actually wanted to ask him about his responsibility.
This matter can be big or small.
If Zhu Bai had to report it, he would definitely die to apologize.
If Zhu Bai were left directly to his disposal, everything would be fine.
Zhu Bai looked at him with half-smiling eyes: "How do you want to deal with it?"
