There is a saying in the officialdom that the first level of officialdom crushes people to death!
The identity that Zhu Cixiang assigned to Prince Zhu Hexing was to be a county magistrate of the eighth rank. Even younger than this official was a county magistrate from the eighth rank, and a sixth county lieutenant of the ninth rank (Zhu Cihong expanded the team of county-level officials and set up division officials. The six county captains (Si Xue, Si Hu, Judiciary, Si Gong, Si Bing, etc.) have risen from the ninth rank to the township head and town head.
Although Ma Wanchun's position is only slightly higher than that of Zhu Hexing, his official rank is much higher. He is from the sixth rank of the county magistrate - the magistrates of the Ming Dynasty also have different sizes. The magistrate of the upper county is usually the seventh grade, and the magistrate of the lower county is usually the seventh grade. Shizhu is a lower county magistrate, but because Ma Wanchun has served as the magistrate of Zunyi Prefecture for many years, his official rank is much higher than the ordinary lower county magistrate, and he is a sixth-grade county magistrate.
The sixth level is three levels higher than the eighth level!
Logically speaking, when a junior official of the eighth rank sees a senior official of the sixth rank, he should dismount his horse and salute respectfully!
So Ma Wanchun clasped his hands behind his back and waited for Zhu Hexing to salute...
As for Zhu Hexing, he was riding proudly on his horse, waiting for Ma Wanchun to say hello - he was the prince! When he met Wang Zhou, the governor of Dongchuan, in Yong'an County, the dignified Marquis of Kenan still bowed and bowed to the prince, wishing him all the blessings and gold...
It ended up being cold!
Zhu Hexing and Ma Wanchun both froze there, staring at each other.
Xia Wanchun was so embarrassed that he had no choice but to wink at Crown Princess Ding Yuying - think of a solution quickly!
Ding Yuying got off the horse with the help of an aunt and palace maid - it was not easy for her. She was two months pregnant and had to accompany Prince Zhu on horseback! Fortunately, I have practiced it, and I have been walking on the slopes of Huya Mountain since I was a child. My physical fitness is very good, otherwise I would have had a miscarriage!
Ding Yuying dismounted and strode up to Ma Wanchun. When Ma Wanchun was wondering, Ding Yuying had already taken out the token she had prepared and handed it to Ma Wanchun.
Ma Wanchun took the token and took a look, with a look of horror on his face.
Because there are six big characters on the front of the token - Zhu, Yinke foreman of Dongjishi Factory.
It turns out that Zhu Tongzhi is from Dongchang!
Ma Wanchun finally understood why this kid Tongzhi was so arrogant. He was not a real eighth-grade Tongzhi, but a foreman sent by Dongchang - the foreman of Dongchang was no small role to Ma Wanchun! Under the Governor of Dongchang, there are one person each for the person responsible for punishing thousands of households and one person for handling hundreds of households. Below them are twelve heads, such as Zi Chou, Yin Mao, etc. The leader of the head is called the leader, and the deputy of the head is the foreman.
However, the child foreman of Dongchang still looks a bit strange... This child has furry lips. He is obviously not a father-in-law. How did he become the foreman at such a young age?
And the person accompanying the foreman was a girl... Although she was wearing men's clothes, Ma Wanchun could tell her gender at a glance.
"What is this girl's surname?" Ma Wanchun asked Ding Yuying in a low voice.
"My surname is Pan!" Ding Yuying said.
"Surnamed Pan?" Ma Wanchunxin said: The governor of Dongchang is also named Pan! What's your relationship?
Thinking of this, he hurriedly asked: "I wonder if the girl and Governor Pan..."
Ding Yuying said with a smile: "Mr. Ma County, you should not ask questions, so please stop asking!"
Of course, her relationship with Eunuch Pan cannot be talked about casually, as it will scare Ma Wanchun. Ding Yuying asked Pan Shuchen for this token just to scare officials like Ma Wanchun, not to make them ask questions.
"Oh, I won't ask, I won't ask..."
Ding Yuying said again: "This is not the place to talk. How about we go to the city first? In addition, the 500 people Zhu Tongzhi brought are all the emperor's guards and need to be settled well. Is there room in Shizhu City?"
"There is a place, there is a place... Although the Shizhu City was set on fire by bandits, it was raining when our soldiers came, so the burning was not severe."
Ma Wanchun explained it, and then he didn't care about official etiquette, and quickly invited Zhu Hexing and Ding Yuying into Shizhu City - they were Eunuch Pan's people, and they were probably on errands, and they were a senior official!
...
The area inside Shizhu Castle is not small, and there are many houses - this was Qin Liangyu's former headquarters. The Dashun Dynasty also set up a Zhechong Mansion, a Prefecture Office and a Brigade Division (equivalent to a camp) here, housing more than a thousand people. There are thousands of people living in Hufubing.
Now that all the soldiers in the government have fled, Nuoda's stone pillar castle is free, enough to accommodate the 1,000 Xichuan soldiers brought by Ma Wanchun and the 500 Guards brought by Zhu Hexing.
Zhu Hexing and Ding Yuying were arranged in the brigade yamen of the Dashun Army. After settling in for a while, they went to meet Ma Wanchun accompanied by Xia Wanchun.
Ma Wanchun had already arranged a banquet for Xia Wanchun, Zhu Hexing, and Ding Yuying. Before taking the seat, Ma Wanchun also reviewed Zhu Hexing's official report as per the rules, as well as the appointment and dismissal documents jointly signed by the Dongchuan Jiedushi Division - Dongchuan is a Jieduzhen, with greater personnel power than the province, and can appoint county magistrates and prefectural magistrates on its own A first-level official will report to the court afterwards. If the court disagrees with the appointment, it can also issue an edict to reject it, but this rarely happens.
However, official notices from civil servants can only be issued by the Ministry of Personnel of the imperial court. Dongchuan Jie Town only has the right to recommend, not appoint.
After reading the official notice and appointment documents, Ma Wanchun was finally completely relieved... The official notice and documents were all true. It seemed that Zhu Yun couldn't be fake.
"Zhu Tongzhi," Ma Wanchun did not call "Zhu Yun" by his name (Yunzhi), but rather used his surname plus official position, "you must have some royal orders to come to this small place like Shizhu, right?" If it's convenient, just tell the official directly, we'll get it done quickly, and you can be promoted as soon as possible."
Ma Wanchun wanted to send away the two Dongchang spies as soon as possible - no matter why they came, it was always scary!
When Zhu Hexing heard this, he nodded in agreement - he didn't want to stay here any longer. What's so good about a rural place?
But before he could speak, Ding Yuying spoke first: "Master Ma County, Nu and Zhu Tongzhi are here to see how you can pacify Shizhu County. If we can be of any help, we are also happy to do so."
Come to see it on behalf of Dongchang? Ma Wanchun's scalp is a little numb!
Unlike the officials in the direct province who were afraid of the censor, he, a county magistrate with a warlord background, was not afraid of the censor catching him for corruption, but he was afraid of the two palaces of hell, Jin Yiwei and Dongchang!
Seeing Ma Wanchun's ugly face, Ding Yuying said warmly: "Eunuch Pan also said that I want Nu and Zhu Tongzhi to take a good look at how Ma County Zun opened a subject here in Shizhu to recruit scholars, and brought all the local masters who can do anything to the imperial court. of."
It turned out to be to supervise Shizhu’s selection of scholars! Ma Wanchunxin said: Maybe it is to supervise the opening of subjects in various counties and counties in Dongchuan, right?
This matter must be taken seriously, and the local officials in Dongchuan cannot be allowed to take advantage of the chaos and recruit their own people into the yamen.
Ma Wanchun said with a smile: "We are already preparing for the opening of Shizhu's examination. The formal examination will be held next month. However, Xiaguan was born in the army and does not know much about this examination..." He glanced at it from beginning to end. Zhu Yun, who didn't say anything, smiled and said, "Zhu Tongzhi must be knowledgeable, why not help the official to check it?"
Zhu Hexing asked: "What are you taking the test? Are you taking the French test? My French is not good..."
French? Ma Wanchun said in his heart: This boy is from Ying Tianxun's noble family! The surname is Zhu...the young master of Chengguo Gong's family?
Ding Yuying frowned when she heard Prince Zhu mention French - the secret was revealed! Those who learn French are either rich or noble, and most of them are the Nth generation of Ying Tianxun’s noble family!
She quickly changed the subject, "Master Ma County, I heard that there are still remnants of rogues on Shizhu Dafeng Castle?"
"There are some," Ma Wanchun said, "about 3,000 people!"
"So many?" Xia Wanchun was surprised. Zhu Hexing only brought 500 people, plus Shizhu's original 1,000 people, a total of 1,500 people!
Ma Wanchun waved his hand: "It doesn't matter, most of them are women, children and the elderly and the weak... Most of the young and strong soldiers have gone off to fight, and the rest are not very capable of fighting and cannot threaten Shizhu City."
