Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1014
On the eve of the Hungry Ghost Festival, the streets and alleys still smell of paper money, and some debris piled up in the corners, which is very eye-catching.

Because it was in the dog days, in order to avoid causing a fire, Daizhou City asked the white servants and government servants to patrol around, and asked those unruly people to go outside the city.

"Chen Dao, it's time to go on patrol."

Shouts came from beside his ears. In response, Chen Ying could only get up from the bamboo chair, and the creaking sound continued. He was dressed in a red and black long robe, worn walking boots, and went out with a stick on. the door.

At this time, only his wife was busy on the stove. Seeing him get up, she hurriedly stuffed two pieces of vegetable cakes into her bosom: "It's hot today, so you don't get heatstroke, drink more herbal tea, and it will cost more money to ask the doctor." .”

"Bah, you bitch, you know money."

Chen Ying cursed with a smile, biting the cake in her mouth, Shi Shi ran out the door.

At the door of his house, there was a white servant who was also wearing red sleeves and black clothes, with cheeks on his face and round eyes impatiently.

This person is his good friend, called Shi Yong, who is also a white servant, with a wooden stick pinned to his waist.

Since the Ming Dynasty belonged to Huode, the soap clothes of the yamen servants had a red circle on the cuffs and neck.

At the same time, there will be a big word "Ya" on the chest of the government officials, but the white servants will not.

In addition, the yamen servant carried a knife on his waist, while the white servant could only fasten a wooden stick, which was far inferior to his prestige.

Chen Ying was also a white servant, and lived on half a silver dollar from the yamen every month, while the official government servants received ten silver dollars and ten shilumi a year, which was three or four times as much.

In terms of promotion, ordinary yamen servants can be promoted to the head of the team, and they are the ninth-rank officials, which is the first-rate rank.

For white servants like Chen Ying, ordinary squad leaders can decide whether to stay or not.

The only hope is that the lack of manpower will give priority to entry.

"Ge, I have to patrol this summer. It's really not someone who did it."

When Shi Yong saw him coming, he looked up at the sky, only to see the sun showing half of his face, and immediately began to curse.

"Can the head come today?"

Chen Ying asked while eating the cake.

"Who dares not to come at the command of the great master?"

Shi Yong said casually: "Waiting for us at the Huangzi shop, but it's just a click, we have to be on patrol."

"A group of unruly people, don't they know how to burn them outside the city?"

Chen Ying sighed: "You have to pay a penny to enter the city, who is willing?"

"But today the sun is redder than yesterday, it will be hotter, so be careful."

Shi Yong hurriedly agreed.

The two chatted, ate cakes, and complained about the hot weather, but there were already stalls on both sides of the street, and vendors one by one had already started selling.

Seeing the two, the peddlers unconsciously whispered and curled up a little, for fear of offending the two of them.

Although in the officialdom system, white servants belonged to the low class, but a suit of soap itself represented the majesty of the imperial court. Which ordinary people would dare to provoke it easily?
Only those scholars with fame and fame would dismiss it.

Even after he left, many people showed envy to his back.

"Put on an official uniform, and it will be different immediately."

"Yeah, after all, it's the emperor's food, how majestic."

Along the road, some green skins wandered around and met the two, and hurriedly bowed to salute.

Even the majestic ruffians dare not provoke officials and family members.

Enjoying the prestige, Chen Ying slowly came to Huangzipu.

The Shaowu reform reformed the Fangxiang system in the pre-Ming Dynasty, and implemented the character shop system in the front.

That is, according to the order of the thousand-character script, the entire city is divided into word shops, sky word shops, ground word shops, etc. Each word shop has about a hundred households, and they are almost all on the same street.

No household registration, only real estate.

Thieves, firefighting, corvee, taxation, etc. are almost all included, simple and quick.

For every three or five character shops, there is a yamen servant in charge, and the white servants are stationed, which is their residence.

This model directly cut off the clan's control over the county, allowing the Yamen's control over the entire city to reach its peak.

You must know that in the past, the imperial power did not go to the countryside. It does not mean that the county has no clans, but that the county is dominated by the yamen.

In today's county, the Yamen occupies an overwhelming advantage.

Whether it is the slave era or the feudal era, the city will always be the concentration of productivity and wealth.

The Zipu strengthened the control of the city, while the Sanlao stretched out its tentacles. The combination of the two brought the power of the Yamen to its peak.

Not long after arriving at Huangzipu, the white servants from several nearby calligraphy shops also came to meet up. At the time of Chen, the government servant Feng Xiang came over yawning and swinging a long knife.

As soon as he came in, he sat down on the recliner, rubbed his sleepy eyes and said:

"According to the old rules, the few of you patrol every half an hour, and if you encounter those thugs who don't know the rules, immediately handcuff them."

"Yes!" There were 12 white servants, tall, short, fat, and thin, but in fact, all of them were sullen and dared not object.

"Head, this is the steamed stuffed bun from the Li family. It's full of mutton stuffing. It's juicy. Try it."

At this time, a chubby white servant hurriedly took out four steamed buns wrapped in oil paper from his arms. Chen Ying peeped at them, his exposed chest was already flushed with heat, but his face was full of respect and he didn't care.

Feng Xiang took a bite of the steamed stuffed bun, squinted his eyes, and didn't seem to see his chest: "That's right, I'm interested."

Fat Baiyue hurriedly smiled and flattered, which made the latter laugh out loud.

Chen Ying and Shi Yong looked at each other, both felt that they were still not hard enough.

On the side, many white servants with snacks in their hands regretted it too much, it was still a step too late.

When Chen Ying left the calligraphy shop, Feng Xiang's snoring could be faintly heard.

This made Shi Yong on the side envious: "Whenever we can become a real government servant."

"wait!"

Chen Ying was envious and jealous, he said sourly: "I just hope that one of their families will become a scholar, or die out, or annoy the elder..."

The more Shi Yong heard it, the less he liked it.

Although the status of government servants is low, it is only relative to those officials who were born in the imperial examination.

Yamen servants are now incorporated into civil registration, and their children and grandchildren can earn fame and fame in a serious manner, but there are gains and losses, and their establishment is no longer an iron rice bowl.

The imperial court has regulations, but if someone obtains the fame of a scholar, his father, ancestor, and brother are not allowed to serve as government servants.

In this way, positions can often be vacated for the imperial court to make arrangements. In a sense, it also strengthens the centralization of power.

The Ministry of Officials implemented the imperial decree and divided the positions of local subordinate officials into four quarters.

Three become veterans, and three become provincial examination arrangements.

The other [-]% basically belong to the set of succession from father to son.

The remaining [-]% is the appointment and dismissal of the magistrate, which is his prerogative. After all, they also need some of their own people.

As for why the father died and the son continued, it was nothing more than to maintain the overall quality of the yamen servants.

The children of the yamen servants have been nurtured since childhood, and they are familiar with the rules of the yamen and the local conditions. If they are all newcomers, it will be difficult for the county magistrate to control the place.

For example, if you don't have any professionalism, it's really not good.

Therefore, at present, only a part of the hereditary subordinate staff in the local area is maintained, and there are fewer and fewer.

The white servants also have hope.

Although they are temporary workers, the selection of yamen servants is generally selected among them.

Under the sun, Chen Ying couldn't stand it anymore. After shopping around, she found a herbal tea shop and sat down directly:

"Two cups of herbal tea."

"Okay." The child was very sensible, and not only served two cups of herbal tea, but also two plates of snacks.

The two of them drank tea and ate snacks, looking at the people who were busy with their livelihoods, and they had a leisurely time.

"Have you heard? There was a big case in Shandong. Someone murdered the imperial court official. The emperor was furious, killing countless people..."

"It's nonsense, the bulletin said that only a few people were killed, where are the heads rolling—"

"You don't understand now. This is for the peace of mind of the people. I don't know how many people have been killed in private."

The people sitting in the tea shop were either businessmen on the move, or ordinary people with modest fortunes. They drank herbal tea to enjoy the coolness and chatted.

One of the fat men swung a big cattail fan in his hand, gulped down a cup of herbal tea, and stepped on the wooden bench with one foot:

"I told everyone that the emperor's grandfather was so angry at that time, he used the golden bowl that he usually drank water to make a Shangfang sword, and directly asked the imperial envoy to kill people."

"Those corrupt officials were stubborn. When they saw the golden sword with dragon spirit, they immediately poured it out. They didn't dare to hide it."

"And then, imperial envoys were dispatched everywhere, just to catch those corrupt officials and make decisions for us ordinary people."

"Then, do we have any in Shanxi?" A weak voice asked.

"Of course there is."

The fat man raised his voice and said, "Shanxi is a land of outstanding people. There are so many gold and silver treasures in the land. Why don't those corrupt officials try their best to scrape the land?"

"Let's wait and see. We just need to prepare a few more rotten eggs."

These words caused a lot of applause.

At this time, the shopkeeper also came over: "Guest officers, I specially paid a lot of money to invite a storyteller in the past two days, just to talk about the incident in Shandong."

"it is good--"

For a while, the applause continued.

Chen Ying listened for a while, then said in a low voice: "It seems that the elder is going to panic."

Shi Yong gloated and said, "I don't know whether to check the servants..."

The position in the yamen, a radish and a hole, all watch the people above go.

"Pull out the radish with mud." Chen Ying laughed softly, "Once something happens, it's inevitable."

"Hope it!"

After listening to the book, seeing the sun getting weaker, the two continued to patrol.

It didn't stop until Haishi at night.

After working so hard for several days, when the Ghost Festival came, the whole Daizhou city suddenly became strict.

The white servants started to work again.

Unclogging the sewers, cleaning the streets, and renovating houses, they all have their presence.

Chen Ying was very puzzled: "Even if the imperial envoy came, it wouldn't be like this."

Shi Yong knew some inside information, and whispered in his ear: "I heard that Uncle Dai Zhou came back to sweep the grave, and our county magistrate is going to flatter him!"

Hearing this, Chen Ying was in awe: "It turns out that Uncle is back."

As a native of Daizhou, he knew very well about Uncle Sun Shirui of Daizhou.

At that time, Sun Chuanting, the governor of the three sides, promoted the current emperor, and personally chose the character for him. In the end, he even led the army to hand over his daughter to him.

This is how the emperor started.

So in the new dynasty, Sun Shirui, the eldest son of Sun Chuanting, was named Daizhou Bo, and he was the only one among so many nobles who was not knighted because of his military achievements.

Today's crown prince is the nephew of Uncle Dai Zhou. His wealth is endless, and I don't know how many people envy him.

And Dai Zhoubo himself is also capable, having served successively as a scholar, an inspector, a political envoy, and a governor, and now it is even rumored that he will be the governor.

No matter where the governor is, it is crushing for the county magistrate.

One word someone utters is enough to determine their future.

Thinking of this, Chen Ying couldn't help but click her tongue and said: "If my family is relatives of Uncle Daizhou, we will enjoy endless glory and wealth."

"Stop dreaming."

Shi Yong shook his head: "This uncle has been working as an official in other places for these years, and even his mansion has moved to Beijing. Our ancestral home in Daizhou doesn't come back once a year."

"If relatives and friends have no ability or qualifications, they will not recommend them at all."

"We ordinary people, why don't we hope that the imperial envoy will come over, pull out the carrot and bring out the mud, and make us a regular..."

"That's right." Chen Ying nodded: "It has to be an imperial envoy."

And here, in the county government office, a banquet has been set up and the guests are entertained.

The magistrate smiled and raised his wine glass: "The story of Grandpa Sun is still circulating in the entire Daizhou City, and every family and child follows him as an example, and his reputation has been passed down."

"Sun Gongzi can go back to his hometown, and it's good to meet the elders in his hometown."

Sitting in front of him was an aristocratic young man in his mid-twenties, with a thin beard on his lips and a jade-like crown on his face. His demeanor was not from Shanxi at first glance.

But his ancestral home is Daizhou.

Sun Shining looked at the magistrate in front of him. Although he was only a scholar, he was not afraid at all, and even looked down on him from the bottom of his heart.

He has seen too many ordinary high-ranking officials and prime ministers, and the mere county magistrate has been completely ignored by him. If it weren't for the parents and officials in his hometown, he really wouldn't take the time to meet them.

From his point of view, it was a waste of time.

"The old parents are polite." Sun Shining said softly: "Nowadays, the people in Daizhou are harmonious and have both virtues and cultures. It is already a first-class county in Shanxi."

"It's all thanks to the old parents!"

"Where, where!"

The two drank wine politely, and the atmosphere became more and more harmonious.

Sun Shining was calm.

Over the years, the Sun family has continued to build social schools, build bridges and pave roads in Daizhou, so their reputation is getting better and better.

Every generation of county magistrates is just taking advantage of it.

At this time, he went home not only to commemorate his father, but also to take the provincial examination in August.

Although the Sun family has moved to Beijing, their native place is still Daizhou. After all, both the ancestral tomb and the ancestral house are in Daizhou, and there is no way to escape.

As for Sun Shining's admission to Juren, in order to avoid arousing criticism and affecting his future career, he returned to his hometown of Shanxi to take the provincial examination as a matter of course.

Of course, the most important reason is that there is too much pressure in Beijing. Although there are many places, there are also many people who cannot stand up, and it is too difficult to pass the provincial examination.

High-ranking officials, relatives of the emperor, high-ranking officials and ministers, no lack of money and no shortage of good teachers, their quality is not bad, which is the complete opposite of Beijing in later generations.

In the case of being unable to cheat, the first choice is naturally Shanxi with low difficulty.

(End of this chapter)