The Nameless of the Common Clans

It was late at night. Dian Wei looked at the room that was still brightly lit and frowned. The master used to have a regular schedule, but for some reason, Chen Mo started to get busy after the autumn harvest, and there were always files that he couldn't finish reading every day.

What kind of files are so troublesome?

You know, Chen Mo is regarded as a demon by many people. No matter what it is, he can remember it and recite it by heart after reading it once. Why is Chen Mo so idle on weekdays? It's not that he is lazy, but most of the things that need him to deal with can be completed in a very short time, and he doesn't need to think too much.

Jizhou, this is the first time Chen Mo has stayed up late to look through the files.

"Master, it's late at night, why don't you rest early?" Dian Wei couldn't help knocking on the door.

"Don't worry, I have to see Uncle Wang later. Jizhou's problems are more serious than I thought. You should go and rest. There are guards watching in the mansion, so nothing serious will happen." Chen Mo's voice came from the room, and he didn't even look up when he spoke.

The noble families of Jizhou were indeed honest, but they only stopped competing with Chen Mo on the surface. The two sides were still in a stalemate and did not ease. In fact, new problems arose because of the Three Learnings and the new tax law that began to be promoted among the villages.

"My lord, I think you are too tired recently. How about I find you a nun..."

"Get lost!"

"Yes~"

"This Dian Wei..." Chen Mo shook his head and lowered his head to continue checking the taxes of various places and the things verified by Skynet.

After a while, the door was knocked again: "My lord, Wang Biao and Zheng Tu are here."

"Please let him in."

"I see my lord." The door opened, and Wang Biao and Zheng Tu came in and saluted Chen Mo.

"It is really a sin to invite the two uncles to come here so late at night." Chen Mo stood up and signaled that the two did not need to be polite. The two knew each other from humble beginnings, and Wang Biao watched him grow up. Although they are now monarchs and ministers, Chen Mo is still very kind to Wang Biao psychologically.

"What are you talking about, lord? Besides, isn't lord asleep too?" Wang Biao said with a smile.

"There are endless things going on in Jizhou, and it's hard to fall asleep." Chen Mo shook his head and sighed.

"What happened again? Those people dare to make trouble at this time?" Wang Biao frowned.

Those people, of course, refer to the Jizhou family.

"Not really." Chen Mo shook his head. Although they had different ideas, everyone was measured in their actions. Since Chen Mo won this game, and now Chen Mo is in high spirits, they will not continue to give Chen Mo the opportunity to eliminate them. They will lie dormant and wait for the next fight. This is the way for the family to fight. The success or failure of the moment is not enough to judge a hero. Their fight is a matter of this life and even the next three, five or even ten generations.

Of course, if someone jumps out to oppose Chen Mo, they will be very happy to see it happen. They will not add insult to injury at this time, because Chen Mo is not yet in a state of decline, but they will definitely not help out of kindness, and are more like watching the show.

"That is..." Wang Biao was a little puzzled. The noble families dared not move, so who would jump out to oppose Chen Mo at this time.

"Not an opponent, but like a maggot on the heel, it is difficult to eradicate." Chen Mo shook his head and said.

"What happened?" Wang Biao was even more puzzled.

"This is this year's tax book. The court set a three-tax-one tax. There is no problem with the payment, but according to the secret investigation I sent to the people, the people actually received only 30%, which is more than before, but not as expected." Chen Mo put the taxes he sorted out in the past few days on the table and frowned.

Wang Biao and Zheng Tu suddenly understood that in the matter of exploiting the people, apart from officials and gentry, there is another group - officials.

What is an official? In the case of a county, the county magistrate has to handle county affairs, and it is impossible for him to do everything himself. Under him are the chief clerk, the county magistrate, the clerk, the teacher, the inspector, the post magistrate, the scholar, the law, the tax, and the criminal. Further down to the villages, there are the three elders, the village head, and the pavilion chief. Under these people, there are many people who do things, all of which are called clerks.

The term "clerk" is not old. In the pre-Qin period, there was no clear distinction between officials and clerks. "Zuo Zhuan" said that the king entrusted it to the three clerks.

The three clerks here are the three dukes. After the first emperor unified the world, officials and clerks gradually became different. The county magistrate (chief) was the head of a county, and the county lieutenant and county magistrate under him were assistant officials, that is, clerks. There was no rank, only salary, and officials and clerks gradually began to be distinguished, and it is the extreme today.

It seems that officials are higher than clerks, but in fact, this is not the case in many cases.

Because county magistrates and county heads usually serve for a few years, and after making achievements, they will be transferred, or go to a more prosperous county to serve as county magistrates, or directly promoted to places such as county governments. For example, if my teacher had not been discouraged, he would have been qualified to be promoted to prefect after serving as a magistrate. However, my teacher was unwilling to do so. After sending Chen Mo away, he chose to return to his hometown and live in seclusion. Later, he was invited by Zhang Chao to work.

Although there are clear regulations for the selection of clerks, that is, those who are familiar with the law can become clerks, that is, those who are familiar with the "Han Law" can become clerks. This is the rule set in the early Han Dynasty and has not been changed later.

However, it is worth noting that officials will be promoted or transferred because of their achievements. A county magistrate usually serves for three to five years, but clerks are different. The court does not have an assessment of the performance of clerks. Generally, the achievements made are counted on the county magistrate, and have nothing to do with the clerks. At most, the county magistrate will give some gifts of thanks in private.

This also means that except for some officials who have a good personal relationship with the county magistrate who will follow him to seek a future, more often than not, changes in officials are not as ordinary as officials.

Let’s not talk about it far, let’s just say that many of the figures who have appeared in the past twenty years started out as officials, but most of these people did not have amazing artistic skills, and they were appreciated by their superiors, and then they had the opportunity to enter the higher level. On a big stage, it can be said that the future of an official has a lot to do with Shangguan, but not everyone can get this opportunity.

After all, the average county magistrate has to go to at least two or three counties to take office, and not all of them are promoted. Some have been county magistrates for a lifetime. It is impossible to take all the county officials with them. Moreover, there are thousands of counties in the Han Dynasty. How many county magistrates have been promoted to Taoist governors, and most of these people have their own teams around them, and they may not use county officials.

Over time, county officials have been county officials for most of their lives. Although they are not officials, the operation of a county is mostly dependent on county officials. Many county officials even have to have good relations with local county officials if they want to do well in county affairs. Because most of these county officials come from poor families in the county or from branches of aristocratic families. After all, county officials must at least be literate and have considerable power in the local area. Strong dragons cannot overwhelm local cowards. Even many county magistrates with backgrounds have family knowledge before taking office. Make good relations with local county officials, or exchange resources. For example, if your family members come to work for us as officials, we will help you, but if my family members come to work for you as officials, you also have to help.

"My lord has come to us to clean up the dirt?" Zheng Tu said with a cold expression.

"Yes and no." Chen Mo nodded and then shook his head: "This is a fundamental matter. It is easy to eliminate them, but treating the symptoms does not cure the root cause."

Most of the officials came from common people or poor families. They were the targets of Chen Mo's wooing. It was easy to kill people, but if they were killed too harshly, it would disrupt his own layout.

"I have been thinking about it during this period, including officials in the official rating assessment. The county magistrate's political achievements are not the work of the county magistrate alone. Officials can also be promoted to officials. Everything is based on political performance. At the same time, just like county magistrates, officials cannot Staying in one place for a long time." Chen Mo handed the files in front of him to Wang Biao and said, "Uncle Wang and Uncle Zheng are both from the market like me. You know the secrets here. This is what I have listed for me. You two are responsible for investigating some officials who they think have committed the most heinous crimes. Those who have committed the most heinous crimes will be killed and new people will be selected from the local area. I will draft the Officials Law in the near future and put it into trial in Jizhou. It will include how to When evaluating an official's performance and how to be promoted, remember to be careful not to kill anyone who is not a very evil person."

The unwritten rules for the formation of officials are actually also legal issues. People have different ideas in different environments, and we cannot beat everyone to death with a stick. Now as the territory becomes larger and larger, how to establish a mature and effective System is the symbol of the maturity of a political system.

Chen Mo worked hard to find a perfect employment mechanism, but there were also loopholes and shortcomings in it, so Chen Mo was very careful and needed to correct these in time.

There are definitely disadvantages to incorporating officials into the official hierarchy. When officials move around and arrive in a new place, they need to understand the local people's conditions, handle relationships at all levels, and become familiar with superiors and subordinates. However, the advantage is that even if there are evil people involved, It will not cause long-lasting losses to the local people.

Just like now, Chen Mo's new law has been promulgated and the wealthy families have retreated. However, these people still dare to steal money and food from the people, hindering the passage of government orders. Chen Mo's new law has become a means for these people to steal money. If these local snakes are replaced, See if you have this ability.

Of course, if you don't want to leave, that's okay, but you won't be allowed to enter the officialdom for life, not even for officials. I won't say that it will be completely eliminated, but at least the harm to the people will be much less.

The reason why Wang Biao and Zheng Tu were asked to do this was that Chen Mo believed in them and that they were both from the market and did not know much about officialdom, but they knew the tricks of the petty officials very well. He could deceive the superiors, but he couldn't deceive them. Chen Mo was even planning to set up another department in addition to Skynet to specifically deal with the problems of local officials. Of course, this kind of supervision mechanism would be difficult to establish and improve in a short period of time. , also needs restraint. Chen Mo just has an idea in his mind now. As for whether to establish it, it is hard to say yet. Let's see how effective the "Officials Law" is before making a decision.

"I will understand!" Wang Biao and Zheng Tu bowed before saying goodbye.