Chapter 70: A typical Ming Dynasty official,
County Magistrate Bai, was born in the same family as a Jinshi. He was not qualified to participate in the election. He had no one in the court, so he could not stay in the capital, so he had to be appointed as a county magistrate in Nanping.
Officials in the Ming Dynasty also had a distinction between clean and dirty. If one could pass the imperial examination and become a common official, that would be the Qingliu Huaxuan. Without having to go through local officialdom, one could rise through the ranks and become a reserve official of the imperial court.
Magistrate Bai, on the other hand, will fall into the turbulent flow. He starts as a county magistrate and takes the examination. By continuously accumulating official reputation and reputation, he can gain promotion opportunities by pleasing his superiors and court officials. Finally, he can be promoted to an official position in the court. Even if it is burning high incense.
However, county magistrate Bai is much better than appointing people to officials. After the mid-Ming Dynasty, except for special cases like Hai Rui, the end point of most people being promoted to officials was the county magistrate.
The end point for some people is the starting point for others. Being an official in the Ming Dynasty was so cruel, and an imperial examination determined a lifetime.
County Magistrate Bai was a Jinshi candidate who was nearly forty years old. This age was quite satisfactory for Jinshi, but compared to those of his classmates, he was already very satisfied.
Magistrate Bai is a typical Ming Dynasty bureaucrat.
The so-called typical bureaucrats are not the kind of corrupt officials who try their best to rob the women of the people and confiscate the houses of the rich to take advantage of them.
It is still the Jiajing period, the basic order of the Ming Dynasty is still there, Nanping County is also prosperous in literary style, and there are many families in the local area who have produced Jinshi. If County Magistrate Bai is so reckless, he will definitely be impeached.
This is definitely not to say that County Magistrate Bai is an upright official who was awarded Jinshi at the age of forty. Magistrate Bai is not a member of a prominent family. If he does not accumulate some family property for his descendants at this time, then he has studied hard for so many years in vain.
You know, Yan Maoqing, who was able to enter the history of the Ming Dynasty as a corrupt official, was also at the top of the list of corrupt officials.
Magistrate Bai was at best a screw in the corrupt machine of the Ming Dynasty. He was greedy and followed the rules, and there was nothing outstanding about him.
At the level of the county magistrate, there is no need to rob the villagers' food like the subordinates, nor to rob the women of the people, nor to shout and kill every day. As long as he sits in the position of the county magistrate, he should behave naturally. All.
If the exploitation is more serious, you only need to ask the subordinates to do it. If the subordinates go too far, just arrest one or two subordinates to quell the public anger. There is no need to dirty the hands of the official.
All in all, after County Magistrate Bai took office as Nanping County Magistrate, he got along quite happily with the local officials and squires, and he was able to pay all kinds of taxes and donations required by the court on time. Although Nanping has not been in good weather in the past two years, except for the Japanese pirates, it has been There is no disaster either.
As for the Japanese pirates, the county magistrate had the responsibility to defend the territory. If the Japanese pirates invaded Nanping County, it would be natural for Baizhi County to lose his official position.
However, the nearby Japanese pirates had a tacit understanding with Baizhi County. They only intruded outside the county and never attacked the county seat. Naturally, the annual report to the above said "Nothing happened this year."
Both the government and the province are willing to "have nothing to do with their administration" and will only report "nothing will happen this year" to the court. Bai County Magistrate has been in peace since he took office.
In the Ming Dynasty, official promotions were determined by passing the examination. It is not yet time for Zhang Juzheng to implement the "passing the examination method". As long as most officials pass the examination and do not fall into the lower class, they can comfortably sit in their posts and make money.
However, County Magistrate Bai also has progressive ideas. For an official with progressive ideas like him, the only thing he focuses on every day is "passing the exam."
Tax collection must be completed. Regardless of whether it is paid by rich households or poor households, as long as it can be collected, Magistrate Bai is concerned about whether the tax revenue can be sufficient.
There must be fewer lawsuits. Those who can mediate in the Shenming Pavilion must not litigate. If there are lawsuits, they must be settled as soon as possible. They must not go to the superiors for review.
There must be many good people and good deeds in the county, and we must strive to set up a few examples every year to commend them. After all, the number of banners issued is also one of the indicators of success. The more banners issued, it means that the people of Nanping County are simple and honest, which means that the county magistrate The better educated you are.
If there are no models, then we should write good materials and get a few more models. It would be better if Nanping County administration is well-connected with people. Then County Magistrate Bai can get a higher grade in the exam and have more opportunities for promotion.
This is a typical idea of a grassroots bureaucrat in the Ming Dynasty. They may not have the idea of making any achievements that shock the country. They just want to surpass their colleagues in daily assessments and then be promoted step by step. But Baizhi County has not been very happy recently.
The reason for the unhappiness is naturally Hai Rui, a county student.
The culture and education of a county is also one of the indicators for the county magistrate to be evaluated. Originally, Nanping County was leading in this indicator, so Baizhi County didn't need to worry too much.
It is also because Nanping County has a prosperous literary style and ranks among the best in every imperial examination.
But after Hai Rui took charge of the county school, he forced the county students to drop out, which violated the interests of Baizhi County.
The reason why Baizhi County is unhappy is certainly not because those county students were expelled from the county schools and could not receive the salary of two taels of silver per month. As the magistrate of a county, these ordinary students who are not even elected officials , still can't get into the eyes of Bai Zhixian.
Even if they criticized Hai Rui again, Baizhi County wouldn't care.
What Baizhi County really cares about is that the county school cannot meet the quota, which will affect his examination results.
It affected his test scores and his own progress, so when Hai Rui taught students on his first day today, Baizhi County went to the county school.
The honor guard of the county school arrived in front of the county school. When Bai Zhixian got off the sedan chair, he saw only two county school instructors kneeling outside the Lingxing Gate. Baizhi County's mood immediately worsened.
These two county school superintendents were also unlucky. The last time they greeted the new prefect at the city gate of Hai Rui, they knelt down to greet him but Hai Rui didn't. Hai Rui got the nickname "pen holder", and the two characters on the mountain-shaped pen holder The two of them were the only ones with a low profile, which made them unable to hold their heads high in the county.
Now that the county magistrate came to inspect the county school, Hai Rui refused to come out to greet him, and even made the two teachers look like strangers inside and outside.
They now have the intention to resign. If they continue to follow this Haijiaoyu, they may not be able to survive in Nanping County.
"Where are you, Hai Jiaoyu?"
Bai Zhixian's tone was already bad, and one of the instructors immediately said:
"Go back to Master Zhixian, Hai Jiaoyu is teaching."
Baizhi County did not have an attack, but led his men in with great force. When I arrived at the county school gate, I saw Hai Rui standing upright.
Bai Zhixian stepped forward. Chen Chaoyuan, Xiong Yue and Lin Qingcai had already knelt down with their knees weak. Only Hai Rui and Su Ze stood there.
Bai Zhixian looked at Hai Rui and said in a joking tone: "I'm on a county school tour today. It's official business for the county magistrate. Why don't you kneel down?" Naturally,
this sentence was used to stop Hai Rui when he refused to kneel down to worship the magistrate. As the saying goes, "kneel down when there are local things to do." Inspecting the county school is also a county official matter. This time Hai Rui could not use the same excuse as last time.
Unexpectedly, Hai Rui still bowed twice before saying to Bai Zhixian:
"The county magistrate is the parent of a county. He should govern the county with etiquette. This hall, where teachers and priests are, should not be subjected to humiliation."
(End of Chapter)