Zaoyang was the birthplace of Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu. During the Han Dynasty, the population was dense and the agriculture was developed. Later, it experienced many wars, especially in the late Tang and Five Dynasties. This was the junction of several forces, and wars continued. The population fled and the land was deserted, and it had become a wild place at this time.

Du Zhongxiao and his party arrived at the county town, and the magistrate Lou had already brought officials to welcome him outside the city gate.

All the rituals were performed, and the magistrate Lou pointed to the people around him and said, "The local elders learned that Yun was coming to the camp, and they came to welcome him."

After saying that, a thick and powerful man with a big waist came forward and held the wine and said, "Little Min Ruan has achieved merit, and I will judge you for your life!"

Du Zhongxiao received the wine and drank it all in one go. Looking at Ruan Degong, then looked at other officials and nodded: "Okay!"

Ruan Degong said again: "The judge of Zhiyun came to camp in the fields, and the common people and local farmers specially offered 100 plowing oxen to help the court."

Du Zhongxiao thought for a moment and said, "How can we benefit the people when we first arrived in the local area? County Magistrate Lou, please write it down for now and count the cattle as money. After a few days, the people who are engaged in the field will return some property to them. - I walked along the way with Ouyang Xianggong and Xiang Prefecture, and saw that the county was sparsely populated and the people were living a difficult life. The imperial court sent people to buy the fields, not to greed for the money and food here, but to the desolate land and not a scene of governing the world. It is also beneficial to reclaim the fields and gathering people and households."

After hearing Du Zhongxiao's words, Ruan Deli was stunned for a while. This was the first time he heard that the people offered money and the government insisted on giving money. Usually, the government used everything to do for taxes, money and grain. Why was it so kind this time?

County Magistrate Lou said: "The fortune judge came from afar, and the magistrate and the magistrate Ouyang Gong went together, and they worked hard all the way. The emperor briefly slapped the banquet and welcomed you all."

In a small county in Zaoyang, the financial situation is difficult, and the banquets that are welcomed and sent are always shared by officials in front of the yamen. This time, Du Zhongxiao came to the field to camp, which was a major event that affected local affairs. Several large-scale officials contributed their funds together to help officials pay. The officials got this benefit and were very attentive.

Of course, the money is not for nothing. They will attend banquets and have a condom relationship with these high-ranking officials who have never had the opportunity to contact before.

This kind of thing is both public and private. Officials think that if you eat a big business and have a familiar face, there will be endless benefits for you to have a future. Don’t talk about this era, if you have developed in the future, the powerful and powerful people show off to others that I have had dinner with, or to cultivate capital.

Looking at the dilapidated county yard, Du Zhongxiao said to County Magistrate Lou: "The yamen is the face of the court. It is so shabby that you can imagine that the place is difficult and it is difficult for you. When the land yard is built, I will help you repair it in the slack season."

Magistrate Lou hurriedly thanked him, but he didn't know what Du Zhongxiao meant, so he didn't dare to say more.

The county has no money, and all expenses are distributed to officials who serve as servants or local large households. Officials are high-quality households, and the actual expenses of the people's government depend on how much money is squeezed out from the big households. It is not like Du Zhongxiao's farmland and Yongcheng Commune made money, and all expenses were self-sufficient, and there was still surplus.

Ouyang Xiu said: "Actually, it's not a shame. A few years ago, I was an official in Yiling, and the county government only had a few thatched huts, and even the servants were not recruited. There were tigers and wolves passing by the market in the daytime, and everyone was accustomed to it. There were many merchants here in Zaoyang, which were far from comparable."

Du Zhongxiao smiled and said a little leisurely: "Longtu is saying that no matter how bad this place is, it is much better than those remote places."

Yiling is located in the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River and has not been developed at all, so of course it cannot be compared with this place. Zaoyang has been a prosperous place since the Qin and Han Dynasties, but in recent years, it was just a few hundred years ago, due to war.

When they arrived at the Houya, the county magistrate Lou hurriedly ordered to serve wine and meat.

The whole set of wine and dishes was nothing more than cooked chickens and live fish, and the most common food. It was not that the county magistrate Lou was not attentive, but being a county magistrate here had already shown his marginal identity in the officialdom. He had little salary, but he had seen this kind of scene. With wine and meat, he had already dreamed of life in Lou County. Today, a few fat chickens and two big fish made Lou County feel extremely rich. But he didn't know if he could eat a meal of meat for a month. Today, he had enough wine and meat, and he felt that he was very proud of his face in front of several ministers.

Over the past year, Du Zhongxiao has been used to the life of good wine and food in the wine prison. When he saw the wine and food on the table and the warm and attentive look of the county magistrate Lou, he couldn't help but find it funny. This is the daily life of the lower-level officials. He has passed the Jinshi himself and has never lived such a life again.

The county magistrate Lou gave a toast to drink. Several officials from the county stood up one after another, introduced themselves, and persuaded him to drink in turn.

A chief clerk came from an official position. However, he became an official, relying on family connections, and had been living in this position for decades. He knew that he had no future and was just a waste of time.

The county magistrate persuaded the drink, and the stout man next to him stood up and said with a drink: "The lower-ranking official Huang Tianzheng is appointed as the county magistrate of this county, and toast you all. The Sa family is a rough man, so don't blame me."

Du Zhongxiao frowned and asked the magistrate: "Why are there two county magistrates here?"

Xiang Zong sighed: "This person is from Jinghu Road. He was a barbarian. He was a county magistrate because he helped the court to suppress the bandits. He didn't know what happened to the court, so he sent him here to be a county magistrate. He had all the official documents, but he sent a county magistrate. The prefectures and counties reported many times, but the court ignored it. Huang County has been here for six years and has never been involved in the matter. It's like this."

Du Zhongxiao had never heard of such a thing and found it incredible. These official positions have always been one by one, and there were not enough official positions. The court's method was to shorten the term of office and increase the number of officials who were in absent. Is there any such practice?

Ouyang Xiu said: "There are many barbarians on Jinghu Road, and they make trouble from time to time. Those who are willing to make contributions to the court have always paid office rewards. Jinghu River Gorge is not as good as the Central Plains, and there are many strange things."

Du Zhongxiao still couldn't figure it out. He made meritorious service to the court, but he was just a job. Huang Tianzheng didn't give him a job directly. If he gave him a job, he should be the county magistrate of the county, so why would he send someone again?

In fact, Liu Neiquan, the third class of the rank of officials in charge of the lower-level officials in the world. I don’t know how many of them are, so how can they be clear. In addition, county magistrates and court officials are both officials and rank officials, so it is not uncommon to make mistakes. Huang Tianzheng, a person who is in charge, may be the one who is in charge, regards county magistrates as rank officials, and other people as rank officials, and thus makes a mistake. Anyway, after the prefectures and counties are reported, the person who is in charge will be suppressed and the person who is in charge may be punished. Why do you have to do this in one go? Such a small matter will not be exposed to the top, and the person who is in charge will have the final say.

If the county magistrate chief clerks are not from Jinshi, they are not from officials. If they have any relationship with the court, they will mostly ignore them. As long as they do not cause trouble, if the money is two-character monday, it is better to have less money than more.
Chapter completed!