Yang Ling sat in the signing room, staring blankly at the pile of files in front of him. He really wanted to get to work right away, but he was like a layman facing a pile of rotten fish nets taller than a person. He had so many things to do that he didn't know where to start.
If you thought about the work that the magistrate was responsible for, you would know that it wasn't just something you saw on TV, sitting in the seventh-ranked main hall and striking the gavel. The county's finances, taxes, transportation, laws … everything had to be decided by the magistrate. In addition to the county magistrate and the registrar, the magistrate also had a bunch of criminal lawyers, money and grain advisors, and writing advisors. Now that the county magistrate, Min, who was a dabbler in the county magistrate's work, had been thrown into Yang Ling's hands, even an experienced Shaoxing advisor would be flustered for a while.
The signing room was made up of three bungalows connected together like a skewer of candied haws. Magistrate Tongchang's advisors and aides read official documents and handled government affairs here. In front of the signing room was the seventh-ranked main hall where the magistrate held hearings, and behind it was the residence of the magistrate's family.
Ever since he helped the Ma family solve the murder case, Magistrate Min greatly praised him and immediately invited him to be his advisor in his mansion. Yang Ling was worried that he had nothing to do, and it was shameless of him to be supported by a little girl, so he readily agreed.
However, because of Han Youniang's sorrowful eyes, he had no choice but to tell Magistrate Min that being an advisor was only a stop-gap measure. When next year's examination came, he would still have to participate in the provincial examination in the provincial capital. Magistrate Min also readily agreed.
In fact, he knew that he didn't have long to live. When he asked around, he knew that even if he passed, the best result would be to stay in the capital and become a Hanlin Academy editor. It would be great if he could immediately become a county magistrate, and there would be no high official position for him. Right now, he only wanted to leave her some family property out of love for Han Youniang and his sense of responsibility as a man. He didn't want to participate in the provincial examination, but he couldn't resist a woman's tenderness. Han Youniang was young, but her sorrowful eyes were enough to make him change his mind, at least on the surface.
County Magistrate Min used to be a soldier, and his trusted aides were also soldiers. He knew nothing about the governance of this county. The former County Magistrate Huang treated him neither well nor well, and treated him like a clay sculpture all day long. If it wasn't for the fact that he could be seen running to collect rice and money with an empty bag on his back every month when the salary was distributed, it would be impossible to see him at all.
Fortunately, the people of Chicken Cry Inn were simple and honest, and there hadn't been any major incidents in the past two years. However, seeing that the imperial court would assess the achievements of the officials every three years, even though Magistrate Min was careless, he couldn't help but make some small calculations.
In the imperial court's examination, where did the achievements come from? In fact, it was nothing more than two things. One was clear governance, and the other was timely taxation. The so-called clear governance, as long as there were no disturbances among the peasants, no strikes by merchants, no protests by scholars, and no major cases, could be reported as a scene of peace and prosperity.
Chicken Cry Inn was garrisoned by two teams of officers and soldiers, as well as the yamen's bailiffs. The strict management was even better than that of a third-rate county. In the past two years, there hadn't been any major incidents. However, the tax was timely. Because this place was a gathering place for many merchants, the tax was collected in a timely manner. However, most of the nearby residents lived in the mountains. Usually, their residences were scattered, and it was difficult to manage. In addition, the mountain fields were poor, and the Tartars would occasionally come to harass and plunder. The grain tax payment was not ideal, and it inevitably became Magistrate Min's weakness during the examination.
Magistrate Min was muddle-headed as an official. A few days ago, he went to the prefectural city and heard about things like Shangguan Jiao. Only then did he know that there were many problems in the civil service examination. He was worried about how to show off his achievements when Master Yang fell from the sky. He naturally entrusted him with the heavy responsibility, hoping that he could help him achieve some decent results.
However, the way the government operated in this era was not something Yang Ling could understand. Although in his previous life, Yang Ling was a division chief of an insurance company, the management structure and system at that time would not be affected much even without this division chief. Now, it was different. Almost all the big and small matters had to be decided by him. Yang Ling was in a terrible mess. He could not even handle the daily official documents, so how could he achieve anything?
He straightened his body, massaged his back, and looked at the pile of files with a frown. It was nearing the end of the year. The delivery office had a batch of special products from the Western Region to be shipped to the capital. There were not enough carriages and horses, so they asked the yamen to solve the problem.
The delivery office had received an official letter from the Ministry of War. Recently, there was a troop movement that would pass through Chicken Cry Inn at night. The city gate would be opened at night, and the bailiffs and soldiers would be arranged to guard the gate to prevent people from entering the city at night.
It was nearing the end of the year, and the curfew had been lifted. He was a famous criminal judge, so he naturally had to deal with matters related to public security and arresting thieves.
The smoke and fire from the beacon tower needed to be replaced. The Dou family's cattle went missing. The big fat pig that the Liu family had raised for three years was stolen. A few local ruffians from the Li family took liberties with a young widow. The Hao family's children played with firecrackers and set fire to the He family's pile of firewood. The He family went to the Hao family's house to argue and hurt the Hao family's daughter-in-law. The Hao family sued the He family for assault and injury, and the He family sued the Hao family for starting the fire …
What was worse was that there were too many farmers who owed taxes to the government. Some were only delayed for one or two years, and some had been delayed for ten years. There was no clue.
At first, Yang Ling slammed the table and asked Monitor Wang to bring people to arrest Hong Mancang, who owed the most and the longest. He wanted to kill him as a warning to others. Later, Monitor Wang told him that the previous county magistrate had used this method. As a result, Hong Mancang's wife was forced to hang herself, and Hong Mancang became half crazy. When the matter was known by some scholars, they were indignant. The matter was brought to the Ministry of Revenue, and the county magistrate's dismissal had to be dropped.
It was the registrar, Wang Yangzheng, who saw that this young colleague treated people kindly and worked seriously, so he secretly told him that County Magistrate Huang had been in the county for the longest time. He had already served two county magistrates. This old county magistrate was a very resourceful person. He could be considered as an old fox in the officialdom, so there was no harm in asking him for help.
When Yang Ling heard this, he gritted his teeth and bought ten catties of fat pork and a bag of good tea to ask for help. Who would have thought that County Magistrate Huang would only teach his grandson to practice calligraphy step by step? After listening to Yang Ling's purpose of coming, he only smiled faintly and talked about some trivial things, but refused to help him. However, the pork and tea were honestly accepted with a smile, which made Yang Ling not know whether to laugh or cry.
"Alas!" Thinking of this, Yang Ling sighed heavily. He was a little distressed about the twenty-four copper coins he spent. The little girl at home would occasionally buy some meat, but she would always shove it into his bowl. She couldn't bear to eat it herself. If he had known this earlier, he would have brought the meat home to give to the poor and adorable little girl to have a sumptuous meal.
He picked up his brush and wrote the results of his calculations on an official document to be submitted to the Ministry of Revenue, declaring the amount of money and grain needed for the next year. "There are a total of 79 officials and yamen runners at the Chicken Crow Inn, 158 post soldiers, 260 guards within the city, 45 drivers, 82 post horses, 7,647 taels of silver, and 52 stones of horse feed. In addition, there is a crack in the battle platform at the West City Gate, which needs to be repaired. The total cost is 116 taels of silver. "
He picked up the official document and blew on the ink on it. He carefully placed it on the stack of documents that he had already processed. As soon as the door curtain was lifted, a man in a green robe walked in. The other officials in the room who were responsible for copying and organizing the documents quickly stood up and greeted, "Lord Min."
Yang Ling looked up and hurriedly stood up to greet him. The man was County Magistrate Min. He was dressed in ordinary clothes. He casually waved his hand and shouted, "Alright, alright. It's common to see Tian 'er. There's no need to greet him. It's getting late. You can all go now."
The officials hurriedly began to pack their things. Lord Min walked up to Yang Ling. Seeing that he had already processed nearly half of the documents, he couldn't help but raise his thumb and praise, "Teacher, you're really capable. I get a headache just looking at these things. I didn't expect you to have processed half of them so quickly. Hahaha …"
Yang Ling couldn't help but smile wryly. He had indeed processed the documents quickly, but most of them were connected from top to bottom. The truly thorny cases couldn't be dealt with so quickly. Not to mention the categories of people who owed taxes for many years, there were also those who owed taxes maliciously and those who came from poor families. These statistics and investigations would take a long time.
Just the cases of a missing cow or a stolen pig would require at least three to five days of investigation. These trivial matters weren't big, but they all required manpower and time. They couldn't be dealt with quickly even if they wanted to.
In the past, he had seen on TV that officials would often investigate cases incognito and get to the bottom of the case. It seemed that it was pure nonsense. There were so many things to do in a day. How could he leave the government office to investigate a case in person?
However, he naturally couldn't complain to the magistrate about these matters. He could only repeatedly say, "Not at all, not at all. Milord flatters me."
Seeing that the officials had all left, County Magistrate Min laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "I'm a crude man, so you don't need to act like a scholar. You don't need to be so angry when you're not in court. Oh right, pack up and come with me. Deputy Ma invited us to Swan Goose Restaurant to drink and watch a show in order to thank us. "
Hearing this, Yang Ling couldn't help but hesitate. "Ah? This … Milord, why don't you leave first? I have to go home and tell my wife so that she won't worry about me at home. "
County Magistrate Min laughed loudly. He stroked his beard and punched him on the shoulder. "Why are you so long-winded? You're a man. When you want to go home, you'll naturally go home. When you don't want to go home, women should just stay at home. Why do you have to tell her? Let's go. You've developed a henpecked problem at such a young age. "
County Magistrate Min didn't wait for him to explain and pulled him out of the door. Yang Ling had no choice but to follow him. Since County Magistrate Min was wearing casual clothes, he didn't sit in an official sedan chair. In addition, Pheasant Post City wasn't large. The north and south gates were only four li apart. Swan Goose Restaurant was right next to Jinguang Temple and was only one street away from the magistrate's office. Thus, he was even more impatient to sit in a sedan chair.
The two of them walked to Swan Goose Restaurant. Deputy Ma, Ma Ang, and Ma Lian 'er were already waiting for them in a private room on the first floor. This place was originally a theater courtyard. Although it was called a private room, it was merely a private room separated by a screen in the middle of the courtyard.
What surprised Yang Ling was that Deputy Huang was also present. When they saw each other, they couldn't help but exchange some pleasantries. Ma Ang had been locked up in prison for more than ten days. His irritable temperament was much more restrained. When he saw his savior, Yang Ling, his expression was very affectionate. He went forward and held Yang Ling's arm, thanking him profusely.
Yang Ling and Ma Ang were both young men. However, one was refined, elegant, and delicate. The other was strong and burly with thick eyebrows and big eyes. They actually hit it off quite well. It was an anomaly. Ma Lian 'er only had light makeup on today. She had a charming face that was both happy and angry. When she faced Yang Ling, her expression was much more reserved.
Yang Ling's appearance was out of the ordinary. When they first met, Ma Lian 'er's heart already had some fondness for him. However, she soon found out that he already had a wife. Towards him, Ma Lian' er only saw him as a benefactor and a friend of the opposite sex that she liked.
The status of a concubine was not much higher than that of a servant. Not to mention that he was only an Elementary Scholar, even if he was a provincial inspector, Ma Lian 'er, who was only the daughter of a low-ranking official, would definitely not have the possibility of becoming a concubine. Therefore, her feelings for him had already been nipped in the bud.
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