Shortly after the two sat down, they saw two middle-aged men in their 30s walking in from outside the private room. After they came in, they first saluted Yu Ruhai, and then said to Zhao Feng with a smile.
"From now on, we will all assist the prefect together. I hope Mr. Zhao can give me some advice!"
Seeing the two of them, Zhao Feng showed a puzzled expression on his face, and Yu Ruhai introduced them with a smile.
"This is the general magistrate of the government office, named Song Bowen, and this is the general magistrate of the government office, named Zhang Tie."
"This is the Mr. Zhao I told you about. The waterwheel that solved the drought was invented by Mr. Zhao!"
After hearing Yu Ruhai's words, Zhao Feng realized that the most important thing among the government offices was undoubtedly the prefect, but it was impossible for the entire government office to be handled by the prefect alone.
So not only this government office, except for those government offices that are very remote and don't even have a large population, the government offices in most areas also have several positions set up by the court under the prefect.
For example, Tongzhi, a ninth-grade official, specializes in helping the prefect handle some official documents, etc., and at the same time, he also checks the tax accounts in the prefecture, coordinates the tax collection with various county magistrates, etc.
Tongpan is also a ninth-grade official. They specialize in helping the prefect with some case-solving matters and are responsible for the prisons in the prefecture. They also need to sort out criminal documents about prisoners, and submit all these documents to the capital every year for review by the Ministry of Punishment.
Compared with these two official positions set up by the imperial court, the official position of Master is insignificant. After all, Master is already regarded as the prefect's personal subordinate, and he is dedicated to giving advice to the prefect. However, giving advice is giving advice, and the prefect will not listen to you or not. That’s for sure.
The most important thing is that whether they are Tongzhi or Tongpan, they have actually entered the bureaucracy. These Tongzhi and Tongpan can directly enter the county seat as magistrates and can be dispatched by the court.
On the other hand, although my master also enjoys the salary from the imperial court, he is not a real official.
Zhao Feng quickly said hello to the two of them, while Song Bowen and Zhang Tie also smiled and said to Zhao Feng.
"Although it is only the first time we have seen Mr. Zhao, Mr. Zhao's name has already spread out. He is a mighty tiger-fighting hero in Zhao County, and we are like thunder!"
Zhao Feng quickly smiled, waved his hand, and said very modestly.
"This is nothing. I hope you two can take more care of me in the future. After all, this is my first time working in a government office. If there is anything I don't know, please give me your guidance."
Hearing Zhao Feng's words, Song Bowen and Zhang Tie nodded with some satisfaction. It seemed that Zhao Feng was not one of those noble people who thought highly of himself. These words made them feel very happy.
While several people were talking very politely, a middle-aged man smelling of alcohol stumbled open the door of the private room, walked directly in, and sat opposite Yu Ruhai.
Seeing this middle-aged man smelling of alcohol, Yu Ruhai immediately frowned, and even Song Bowen and Zhao Tie moved slightly away from the man.
Zhao Feng looked at the man with some doubts, and the man burped directly, as if he had sobered up a little, smiled and said to Yu Ruhai, cupping his hands.
"Master Prefect, am I not late?"
"Who is the new master in the house?"
Zhao Feng cupped his hands and introduced himself very politely.
"My name is Zhao Feng. I wonder who this is?"
The middle-aged man looked Zhao Feng up and down, then smiled and said.
"I am in charge of the treasury in our city. My name is Liu Cang. Just call me Brother Liu!"
Hearing Liu Cang's unkind words, Yu Ruhai couldn't bear it any longer. He slammed the table and said angrily to Liu Cang.
"Liu Cang, you know that you are in charge of such an important place as the treasury, why are you so drunk today?"
"If you dare to drink alcohol openly during business hours, be careful of what I will punish you for!"
Liu Cang waved his hand indifferently and said to Yu Ruhai.
"Master Yu, you don't know how empty the treasury is."
"Especially this year, some counties are suffering from drought, and there is not even a grain of food in the treasury!"
"What's more, it's not my time to go to work today, so you really can't blame me for this crime!"
Liu Cang said this nonchalantly, and although Yu Ruhai was very angry, he could only frown in the end and did not show off on the spot.
Zhao Feng saw all this and felt a little weird in his heart. This Liu Cang was just a treasury official in charge of the treasury. How could he dare to openly provoke the prefect on such an occasion?
Seemingly seeing the confusion in Zhao Feng's eyes, Zhang Tie, who was sitting next to Zhao Feng, lowered his voice and spoke.
"Master Zhao, you will know about this later. If I don't want to say more now, just pretend you can't see him."
"Anyway, judging from his appearance, he will probably be under the table in a moment, so we can just act like he's out of sight and out of mind!"
Zhao Feng nodded slowly, but he was even more confused in his heart. Why did Liu Cang dare to be so impudent? As a result, everyone from Song Bowen to Zhang Tie and even Yu Ruhai could only treat him like this?
The facts were just as Zhang Tie said, the food and wine had just been served, but Liu Cang was already so drunk that he fell unconscious.
Yu Ruhai quickly asked the waiter of the restaurant to carry Liu Cang out and find him a secluded room to rest.
After Liu Cang was carried away, Yu Ruhai said to Zhao Feng very apologetically.
"I made Mr. Zhao laugh, but I hope Mr. Zhao won't take this matter to heart."
"I didn't notify him in advance, and I didn't know he was coming today. Fortunately, it didn't disturb our interest."
Zhao Feng nodded and saw that Yu Ruhai didn't intend to tell the secret behind it, so he didn't ask any more questions.
After all, it was just my first day here, and there were many things that I still needed to hear and see more about before I could understand more about this government office.
Next, the four of them had a great time at the banquet. When they learned that Zhao Feng had no place to live, Song Bowen warmly invited Zhao Feng to live with him first. After Zhao Feng politely declined, several other people also Didn’t talk much about it.
Zhao Feng felt that he wanted to be a master here, and he would definitely take over the sisters Chen Rou and Chen Man in the future. He was not at ease letting the two of them stay in the village.
Moreover, this prefectural city is no better than the county town. There are many empty houses for sale, and some houses are even rented out all year round. They can rent a courtyard here and let the sisters Chen Rou and Chen Man move in.
