Qin Official

In mid-September, north of Anlu County, at Shili Pavilion, the willows beside the road have withered, and their leaves are about to fall, revealing a sense of desolation.

Looking from a distance on the dirt road, the carriage carrying Du Xian and his small luggage slowly left. The officials who came to see him off also said goodbye to each other and prepared to ride back.

Hei Fu was also about to leave, but was stopped by someone.

"Heifu Pavilion Chief."

Heifu turned around and said with a smile: "General Chen Bai, do you have anything else?"

Chen Baijiang looked at Hei Fu's simple hair crown with a complicated mood.

When we first met a year ago, Hei Fu was just a young soldier who had just received a title. He was pinned to the ground and his life was in danger. But a year passed, and before he knew it, Heifu's current title was equivalent to that of Chen Baijiang, but his official position was slightly inferior.

But now, it is not the time for him to be jealous, because with Du Xian leaving, both of them have lost their backers and have become like grasshoppers on a rope.

"I didn't understand the laws before, so I thought that Lieutenant You would take General Chen Bai away with him."

On the way back to the county town while leading the horse together, Hei Fu said with emotion, after all, Chen Baijiang was able to grow from a school disciple to a hundred generals in one step, thanks to the recommendation of You Lieutenant. Over the past year, You Lieutenant may have favored Hei Fu. However, the person he trusted the most was still Chen Baijiang.

"This is absolutely impossible."

However, Chen Baijiang seemed to have expected this day, shaking his head and saying: "The "Laws of Officials" says that if an official is transferred to another place, he must leave alone and is not allowed to leave with his original subordinates. This is true even for county officials who are transferred. Not to mention a mere county captain?"

"I only know the law of catching thieves, but I don't know much about the appointment of officials in the court."

Heifu also slowly realized that the Qin State's officialdom was very different from the retainer politics of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong.

In countries such as Chu and Wei, princes and ministers such as Lord Xinling and Lord Chunshen, as well as local officials such as Zhang Er, the magistrate of Waihuang County, all like to support retainers.

Most of the diners are poor people who wander around. They are taken care of by their masters and serve their caregivers, so as to find opportunities for personal development and realize their personal value. The relationship between them and their master is a personal dependence between "lord" and "minister", emphasizing personal loyalty.

Therefore, whenever a Wei Chu official went from the capital to take office in a local area, he would set off with dozens or hundreds of followers, cheering in front of him. After arriving at the place, these people were placed in important positions one by one to facilitate competition with local forces. When he left office, he took away all the "subjects" who were attached to him, leaving no one behind. His successor will naturally bring in a new group of customers.

If this official cannot survive at home and wants to develop abroad, those loyal retainers will follow him all the way.

Only the Qin State had its own national conditions and a system of its own, which prevented the emergence of this kind of old-fashioned politics.

Not only do several officials in counties need to serve in other places, but when they resign or are transferred, no matter how much they admire a subordinate, they cannot be taken away. Everyone must stay in their original position. Regarding their promotion and transfer, the law states that It has its own arrangements and no personal interference is allowed.

Qin Law is very wary of forming cliques for personal gain. This regulation is obviously to prevent the emergence of mountain-headism. Even if the boss has a favor for promoting his subordinates, the relationship between the two parties is still that of superior and subordinate. They are both government workers. It is rare for subordinates to look down upon them. The situation where the boss is "jun".

Therefore, there was a desolate situation where Wu'an Jun Bai Qi left office more than thirty years ago. He walked to Duting alone without any relatives and committed suicide.

Although Bai Qi is an excellent general, without him, the wheels of Qin's war will continue to turn. Because Qin's power is not due to the personal charm of a certain prince, nor is it due to the temporary gathering of thousands of disciples, but is strictly maintained by laws and regulations, so that it can be immortal for a hundred years.

Of course, there are also unusual times. For example, two foreigners, Lu Buwei and Lao Ai, brought the Eastern custom of retainers to Xianyang, raising thousands of people, relying on nepotism, and the government's laws and regulations were temporarily corrupted.

It's a pity that none of them lasted long. After Wenxinjun and Changxinhou fell one after another, thousands of Sheren retainers were either arrested or exiled, or like Li Si, they quickly joined the original system of Qin and directly loyal to the king. Nowadays, only noble relatives such as Lord Changping and Lord Changwen are allowed to entertain a small number of guests.

So today, when the right lieutenant of Anlu County is transferred, he can only travel alone as when he came...

This system is naturally good for the country, but for Heifu and Chen Baijiang, their good days will come to an end once Du Xian leaves.

Chief officials come and go, but deputies control local government offices for a long time. This is also a problem caused by taking office in a different place. The game between the central and local governments will always continue. The most difficult thing to deal with is that cronies promoted by foreign officials like Heifu and others cannot leave. They can only bite the bullet and stay and place their hopes on the next right-hand man. Wei can continue to use them.

This situation is very likely to happen. After all, no outside official would be willing to be sidelined by local forces. Since there is no way to bring his own trusted personnel to the appointment, using the people left behind by the previous one has become the only option.

"But the new right lieutenant will probably not take up his post until mid-October. Before that, the Anlu County Lieutenant's Office will be the official hall of Zuo Lieutenant. Chief Heifu Pavilion, how careful you and I must be..." Chen Baijiang He felt sad, and he knew very well that Zuo Wei Yunman was not a broad-minded person, and he might make a time lag to launch a purge of You Wei's cronies.

"Even if you are Lieutenant Zuo, you don't dare to openly disobey the law and take revenge privately."

Hei Fu is not that afraid. Over the past year or so, although he has been deeply enmity with Zuo Wei, he has also offended many people while handling the case. Many people who were imprisoned because of his crimes hate him and wish him to die. .

But at the same time, Heifu also got acquainted with a large number of grassroots officials of the Qin State, such as Xi, Nu, Le, as well as Cang Qiangfu and county engineers in the county. Although they did not have a deep friendship, they were like Xi This kind of true gentleman would even stand up and speak for Heifu if he was treated unfairly.

Among the people, Heifu also had a very good reputation. Giving money to buy horses gave him a reputation of "benevolence, righteousness" and "incorruptibility". Even if Zuo Wei hated him to the core, he must take public opinion into consideration when dealing with Heifu.

So Heifu was very open-minded: "The best Zuo Lieutenant can do is bring up the incident of the missing thief last time, accuse me of dereliction of duty, and force me to resign. When the time comes, I will resign and go home to farm." , is better than being in fear all day long." With his current title, no matter whether he is an official or not, when war comes, he can at least be a village commander.

Having said that, in the next few days, Heifu still increased his vigilance and asked his subordinates not to make mistakes. Heifu had already felt that the Yun family had targeted him. At this sensitive moment, he did not want to teach others. With handle.

Ten days passed cautiously like this. By late September, the county Zuo Lieutenant's revenge had not yet arrived. Ji Ying, who went to the county seat, brought back news that shocked everyone.

"Second Son, something serious has happened."

As soon as he entered the door, Ji Ying held up the document sent by the county captain and shouted: "Qin and Chu are at war!"