Qing Yao

Chapter 36: Tongsheng can also do things!

The government specifically requested someone, and the county magistrate was both happy and worried.

He was happy because the government's move was a recognition of his work, but he was worried that if the governor really poached Zhao An, who would take over the county business?

Don't let it end up with the governor getting all the benefits, while I, the instigator, won't even get a share.

In order to avoid this from happening, the county magistrate made an exception and awarded Zhao An a formal clerk position. This solution to the staffing problem was used to calm Zhao An's mind, so that he would not have wild thoughts after arriving at the government office and really think that he had climbed up the ladder and no longer took him, the county magistrate, seriously, or was not concerned about the affairs of the county.

The number of clerks in the household department is fixed. When someone is promoted, someone else will naturally be fired or transferred to other departments. According to the rules, Zhao An has to give the person who is transferred one hundred taels of "top silver".

Now that the county magistrate has said that the one hundred taels do not need to be paid, it is undoubtedly a disguised reward for Zhao An.

If you do the math, it's about the same. Last time Zhao An proposed to set off holiday firecrackers, the county magistrate rewarded him with fifty taels, so it's reasonable to give him one hundred taels this time.

Zhao An didn't get a penny of these two rewards, and the balance in his "bank card" was basically zero.

At present, he is also a real "clean official" who has never used his position to take anything from the people.

After leaving County Magistrate Ding, Zhao An excitedly went to the official office to complete the formalization procedures.

It's because his status as a formal employee of the unit is too important to him. With this status, there is no longer any threshold for him to obtain a loan from a money house.

I can’t say how much I can borrow, but a few hundred taels should be no problem.

The clerk's office had already completed the formalities and was just waiting for him to come and sign.

Who dares not to do what the county magistrate personally ordered? It's just a bad attitude. The clerk in the clerk's office who handled the paperwork for Zhao An was even more sarcastic: "Hey, such a small matter requires Ambassador Zhao to come in person. It seems that we are not capable of doing things."

"I am just doing something for the county magistrate, and I don't dare to be called an ambassador."

Zhao An was not angry at all. With a smile on his face, he picked up the pen and signed his name on the "personnel list" that the other party had already written. From that moment on, he became an official clerk of the Ganquan County Government. His monthly salary was no longer paid by the Taxation Bureau, but he received it directly from the County Government.

The salary is not high, but it is only double that of the Taxation Bureau. He can get about thirty taels per year. How much money he can actually get depends on whether Zhao An can handle things.

If you really want to be an honest and upright person, your salary will be just like this.

After Zhao An signed, the clerk took out the "yellow slip" that recorded Zhao An's work experience from the brown paper bag, and added words similar to formal employment after the line "Ganquan County Household Affairs Accounting Manager, temporarily".

After finishing the work, he would seal it with a special seal from the clerk's office, put it in a bag and send it back to the archives room.

It looks like that.

With this record, Zhao An can now proudly say that he is a "public servant" with a stable job.

Because formal clerks employed by the yamen will generally not be dismissed by the yamen unless they commit crimes.

It is the officials above who have to take the risk, as a new emperor appoints new ministers.

The officials recommended by the previous county magistrate may not be employed by the next county magistrate, after all, the next county magistrate also relies on the positions of these officials to make a fortune.

So, renew or get out.

On the contrary, clerks are the ones who actually do the work. If they are fired casually, the work will become impossible to do, especially the old clerks who have worked for a long time and have rich experience, who have to be supported and coaxed.

After Zhao An left, he vaguely overheard people in the clerk's office discussing him. He didn't listen carefully, but he still heard someone say, "What's so great about a boy like him? Can he really fly up to the tree and turn into a phoenix?"

This made Zhao An smile bitterly: How could he be so arrogant?

Besides, what's wrong with Tongsheng?
Tongsheng can’t do anything!

This is typical discrimination against academic qualifications. Is my current work performance not as good as that of a scholar?
These old-timers in the government office simply can't stand seeing newcomers succeed, just like they can't stand seeing their brothers driving a Mercedes-Benz.

A noble man should not be bothered with a humble one. After completing the formal employment procedures, Zhao An would report to the government experience department. Regarding the matter of being seconded to the city, his attitude was still relatively positive.

The county magistrate made it clear that he went to the Experience Department mainly to represent the county and the prefecture to conduct specific consultations on details. He was equivalent to the spokesperson of Ganquan County on the work of honorary titles. The specific work was still mainly carried out by the county certification department.

With his education as a student, it is impossible for the prefecture to put the burden of the entire city on his shoulders like the county did.

This is not realistic.

Since he didn't know how much the prefect appreciated him, and his development in Ganquan County was also starting to get on track, Zhao An naturally didn't want to cause any trouble. He was so proud that he thought he had been promoted to a higher position.

It’s never wrong to be down-to-earth.

The prefectural yamen was not in the jurisdiction of Ganquan County, but in the jurisdiction of another affiliated county, Jiangdu County. In addition to the prefectural yamen, there were two important yamen in Jiangdu County.

One is the Lianghuai Salt Inspection Office, and the other is the Lianghuai Salt Transport Commissioner's Office.

In other words, there was no other authoritative government office in Ganquan County except the county government office, which made Jiangdu County's "political" status higher than that of Ganquan County.

Ganquan’s only advantage is that its jurisdiction is mostly Yangzhou’s prosperous commercial district, and the docks along the canal are also under the jurisdiction of Ganquan County.

The distance from Ganquan County Government Office to the prefectural government office was far, and Zhao An could not ride in a sedan chair like the county magistrate, and the county did not provide a bus for this nondescript ambassador, so he could only hire a mule cart on the roadside to take him there.

Mule carts are very cheap. As long as they run within Yangzhou city, a ride costs at most a dozen coins. In addition to mule carts, there are also donkey carts and horse carts to choose from. The price varies depending on the comfort level.

Zhao An was not in a hurry, so he hired a cheap mule cart. The driver was an old man in his fifties, who seemed very talkative. He asked Zhao An what he was doing at the prefectural yamen. Zhao An did not say that he was going to report, but only said that he was there to do some business.

Zhao An chatted with the driver on the way, but as he walked, he felt something was wrong. The main city commercial district, which was prosperous and bustling in the past, gave him a very depressed feeling.

It’s not that all the shops along the street are closed and there’s no one on the market, but it’s less lively than usual.

To be precise, the shouts of street vendors are missing.

I was curious and asked the rickshaw driver where the vendors had gone. The old man just chuckled and said, "Where else could they go? They all ran away."

"Ran?"

Zhao An was confused by this answer, "Where did he run off to?"

"Where can they run? They all ran to Jiangdu."

As the old man spoke, he pulled the mule, afraid that it would hit the woman holding the child in front of him.

Zhao An asked, "Why are they going to Jiangdu? Are they not doing business with Ganquan anymore?"

"It's not that I don't want to do it, it's that I don't dare to do it."

The driver turned his head and glanced at Zhao An. "The county recently set up this damn certification office. The people there are all a bunch of idiots. They don't do anything serious all day long except collect money from vendors. If you don't pay, they will surround you and prevent you from doing business. As a result, all the vendors and craftsmen are scared away. Isn't that why they all ran away to Jiangdu? They don't collect money there."

After saying that, he shook his head and said, "I think those people in the government office are really crazy about money. They are even capable of such wicked things. I don't know who gave the county this stupid idea."

He didn't notice that Zhao An, who was sitting behind him, had a red face.

It’s really popular.

Because he is the culprit behind all this.

It is a side effect of certification.

What can we do now that things have come to this?
I can only comfort myself by saying that labor pain is inevitable.

(End of this chapter)