The next day.
It was just getting dark, and Wei Chen, who was sleeping in the lake, suddenly heard the sound of cloud boards and clappers outside.
The memory of the past imperial examination room was instantly revived, and Wei Chen woke up with a jolt. When he opened the door, he saw Huang Shouzheng and several maids standing at the door.
"Master Zhizhou is up?"
Huang Shouzheng smiled and greeted Wei Chen, then waved his hand, and several maids entered the room to help Wei Chen wash up.
Only then did Wei Chen realize that the sound of cloud boards and clappers was from Huang Shou urging him to get up. He forced a smile and said, "It's early for Huang Tong to be sentenced."
Huang Shouzheng was afraid that Wei Chen had just arrived and would not understand the process, so he reminded Wei Chen softly: "Your Excellency, it is your first time to attend court today. You need to go to the lobby to wait for the office."
Seeing Wei Chen nod his head to express his understanding, Huang Shouzheng felt relieved and immediately handed over and left.
When Huang Shouzheng walked to the door of the inner yamen, he ordered people to knock on the cloud board five times. When the yamen servants at the house door, hall door, ceremonial door, and main gate heard the sound, they hurriedly knocked on the bangs one after another.
This is called "passing two bangs", which means that the Lord Zhizhou has gotten up to wash up and prepare to go to work. At this time, all the clerks in the six rooms must be in place to go to work.
After Wei Chen finished dressing up and had breakfast, the inner office clicked three times, and the entrance hall door, the ceremonial door, and the main door clicked three times in sequence. Wei Chen walked out of the inner office and came to the lobby of the state office.
In the hall, the three yamen teams of Kuai, Zhuang, and Zao were already standing, and the clerks from the six offices of officials, households, rites, soldiers, punishments, and workers had also arrived long ago, waiting for the magistrate to come and "arrange the yamen."
The so-called Pai Yamen is a ceremony in which a group of officials from the left side of the state Yamen meet to know the state. It imitates the scene of hundreds of officials attending court in the Chongzheng Hall. It can be called the most glorious moment for local officials.
Even if a Beijing official sits in a high position like the Six Books of the Book or the Grand Scholar of Longtuge, he will not enjoy the same respect as a local emperor.
Those Qingliu Ci ministers who have never let go in their entire lives cannot even imagine how intoxicating this happiness is.
In the Yuzhou Yamen lobby, Wei Chen put on a fifth-grade official uniform, wore a black gauze on his head, and walked out slowly from behind the screen.
Although Wei Chen is only fifteen years old, he is tall, with straight shoulders and a straight back, and his aura is not weaker than that of older officials. In addition, he had previously served as a secretary of the Jingyan Branch and served in front of the emperor, so he has seen the world. , now in the official uniform, he is calm and dignified, and he is upright and awe-inspiring.
When the clerks and officials in front of the hall saw the official power of the young new Lord Zhizhou, they unanimously put away their contempt. After shouting from the left and right, they all knelt down: "Greetings, Lord Zhizhou!"
Wei Chen didn't squint, strode up the steps, sat down in front of the large and heavy public eucalyptus, then looked around the hall, slapped the gavel, and sent the order to the hall.
After everyone stood up, Wei Shuping, the staff member, stood next to Wei Chen and called the names one by one with the list. Those who were called agreed.
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Yuzhou is a provincial-level prefecture directly under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China. Its standard is one level higher than that of a county, but slightly lower than that of a government. There are hundreds of staff members, and there are even more people who are not working. If they come all, I am afraid that the courtyard in front of the hall Can't even stand.
But Wei Chen had a photographic memory after all, and after calling them through, he memorized the names, positions, and appearances of these people indistinguishably.
Of course, Wei Chen's main attention was still on those heads and heads, such as the clerks of the six-room clerk and the heads of the third class of yamen servants.
Officials are usually transferred every three years, and sometimes they are transferred to other places before even three years. However, most of these subordinate officials stay here forever, and they are inherited from father to son.
They have been working in the yamen for decades, and their influence is intertwined. Sometimes their words carry more weight than the officials in charge of the official seal.
Even if they did not fight against the magistrates who came from one term to another like a revolving door, the subordinates would often do it perfunctorily, just like sending off one by one to the gods.
With the guidance of Sheng Hong, his future father-in-law who has been a people-friendly official for more than ten years, Wei Chen is also very familiar with these subordinate officials and knows the dangers of these people. If he is left alone, he will probably be ignored sooner or later and become a rubber stamp.
However, today is only the first day of official service. Wei Chen has just arrived and has not yet established himself. The rush to rectify the subordinate staff at this time is obviously too much, and this matter needs to be discussed in the long term.
Therefore, when they met for the first time, Wei Chen just summoned a few leaders from the third team and the sixth room, asked them a few words about their respective jobs, and then encouraged them with gentle words.
After the roll call was completed, the officials kowtowed again and then dispersed. Only Huang Shouzheng, who was in charge of the execution, remained where he was.
Wei Chen asked curiously, and Huang Shouzheng replied softly: "It has been more than a month since Yuan Zhizhou left office. There is a lot of backlog of complaints. The subordinates dare not specialize, so I still ask Master Zhizhou to make a decision."
Wei Chen was slightly startled when he heard this, and then glanced at Huang Shouzheng gratefully. This Huang Tongpan was really well-informed.
The reason why Zhizhou is called a people-friendly official is because he has to face the people directly. All major and minor affairs in a state are under the control of Zhizhou, and they are closely related to the livelihood of tens of thousands of people.
Being an official and benefiting one party is not just talk. Wei Chen knew that the responsibilities he shouldered were far greater than when he was a Hanlin Ci minister. He sincerely wanted to do some practical things for the people of Yuzhou.
Before doing anything, you must first establish your authority, otherwise no matter how good your policy is, it will be difficult to win the trust of the people. In the pre-Qin period, before Shang Yang implemented new laws, he had to establish trust first. This is the reason.
For Wei Chen at the moment, the fastest and easiest way to establish his authority is to prove his ability and character to everyone through fair and strict executions, so as to impress the people of Yuzhou. Trust yourself as the new governor.
Huang Shouzheng obviously saw this, so he asked Wei Chen to deal with the backlog on his first day in office.
Wei Chen naturally wanted this, so he immediately left the court and went to the signing room where official documents were handled, and asked Huang Shouzheng to send the complaint.
Not long after, Huang Shouzheng came to the signing room with two clerks and a thick stack of petitions, and reported to Wei Chen: "In the past month, a total of 172 petitions of various colors have been received. Please check it with Mr. Zhizhou. "
Wei Chen was shocked when he heard this number. Didn't it mean that people would not go to the Yamen to complain unless they had to? How come there were so many complaints backlogged in just over a month?
But after thinking about it, Wei Chen felt relieved. After all, there were tens of thousands of people in Yuzhou. Given the population base here, various disputes were bound to happen. More than a hundred complaints were submitted in a month, which was already considered a small amount.
Moreover, after learning that the new magistrate is about to take office, some old judgments will be handed over by people who are lucky enough to hope that the new magistrate can re-examine the case and come up with a different verdict than before.
So Wei Chen sat up straight and calmly read through the thick pile of complaints one by one, trying not to miss any key information.
Seeing Wei Chen's meticulous and serious look as he read through the complaint, Huang Shouzheng on the side couldn't help but nod secretly.
He originally thought that a young and successful person like Wei Chen would find it difficult to bear the temper to deal with such trivial matters, but now it seems that he has made a mistake. This young and somewhat exaggerated Zhizhou-sama is not here to gain qualifications, but really wants to make a difference.
