In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 625: Transfer to Civil Service
Lord Yan frowned. Someone had suggested reforms to the Yuan Dynasty before he retired, and Lord Yan supported it at the time, but what were the reforms about?
It changed the interests of the upper class and the vested interests, including their Yan family. As one of the most powerful families in the Yuan Dynasty, once reforms were to be carried out, the interests of the Yan family would also be affected.

"Ah," Elder Yan sighed and looked at Zhao Yurui meaningfully.

The idea is good, but it is impossible to achieve.

He hesitated for a moment and said slowly, "Have you ever considered becoming a local civil servant, Xiao Zhao?"

After all, the Jinyiwei had limitations, and if one really wanted to realize his ambitions, he had to become a local civil servant.

Moreover, only by serving as a local official can one see whether a person is truly capable of getting things done.

Zhao Yurui was overjoyed when he heard this. He just wanted to slowly move into the upper echelons of the Yuan Dynasty. However, in the Jinyiwei, this was extremely difficult and had limitations. It was different when he reached the local level.

According to the Yuan Dynasty's practice, if you are a local Jinyiwei, you will basically stay in the local area for your entire life, unless you can become a provincial commander, then you will be transferred to another place.

Local officials had much more room for transfer and promotion than the Jinyiwei.

"Can I be transferred to a local civil servant?" Zhao Yurui looked incredulous. He was now a military officer, and his general flag was of the seventh rank, which was equivalent to a local county magistrate.

But in fact, there is still a big difference in status and identity between the general bannerman and the local county magistrate.

With the current practices of the Yuan Dynasty, the changes in identities between the Jinyiwei and local civil servants are quite rare, and can be said to be rarely seen.

Sure enough, Lord Yan nodded and said, "It is indeed rare and difficult for Jinyiwei to be transferred to local civil servants."

"But you have done a good job in Dinghai, and you have made real achievements. The income of the Jinyiwei has increased dozens of times."

"This is what the court needs most right now."

Simply put, the Yuan Dynasty is short of money now, and Zhao Yurui can make money, so Lord Yan believes that there is a high possibility that Zhao Yurui will be transferred to a local official.

Of course, he did not give Zhao Yurui 100% confirmation, but only said that he would try his best to recommend him to the court.

He also clearly told Zhao Yurui that although he was a seventh-rank military officer, when he was transferred to a local civil servant position, he would be downgraded to the seventh rank.

Therefore, it is very likely that Zhao and Rui, with the rank of seventh grade, were appointed as the chief clerks of the eighth grade.

When Zhao Yurui heard this, he realized that this was impossible and said immediately, "If it weren't for the chief officer, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to speak up, and it would be difficult to implement any ideas I have."

Of course Lord Yan understood this principle.

"Just do it first, I will definitely find a chance to help you straighten it out."

With Lord Yan's words, Zhao Yurui felt more relieved.

He wanted to say something else, but Yan Li turned around and said, "Since Lord Yan has spoken, you can rest assured."

After saying that, he rolled his eyes at Zhao Yurui.

Zhao Yurui chuckled and said nothing more.

Lord Yan was originally going to stay in Dinghai for about two days, but ended up staying in Dinghai for five days.

During this time, Zhao Yurui accompanied him for three days, and the two of them got along better and better as they talked.

Zhao Yurui had three generations of experience and had also been the emperor of the Song Dynasty. No matter in terms of knowledge and conversation, he was far superior to Lord Yan. Lord Yan valued Zhao Yurui more and more and hoped that Zhao Yurui could give him a surprise.

Five days later, the court's appointment document arrived in Dinghai County. Zhao Yurui was surprised by the efficiency.

Zhao Yurui was appointed from the chief flag of the Jinyiwei in Dinghai County to the county magistrate of Yin County (Ningbo).

Yin County was the seat of Qingyuan Prefecture, or in the words of later generations, it was the city center of Qingyuan Prefecture.

Yin County is also one of the relatively developed counties in Zhejiang, comparable to Dinghai County.

The county magistrate is the deputy of the county magistrate and is of the eighth rank. In the Northern Song Dynasty, county magistrates were only appointed in large counties, that is, those with more than 20,000 households.

In counties with less than 20,000 households, there were only the chief clerk and the county lieutenant. In small counties with less than 1,000 households, the county magistrate would concurrently serve as the chief clerk or even the county lieutenant. The post of county magistrate was abolished in the Southern Song Dynasty, but was reinstated after the Yuan Dynasty.

And they are only set up in rich counties and counties with large populations.

The magistrate of Yin County was Zhou Datong, who was fifty-three years old. According to the regulations of the Yuan Dynasty, he could only work until the age of fifty-five, after which he had to retire.

Lord Yan also chose and considered for Zhao and Rui. He wanted the magistrate to be both well-off and old, and finally he chose Yin County.

Zhou Datong is already more than halfway through his 53th year, which means he will have to retire in less than a year and a half.

Therefore, even if Zhao Yurui works as a county magistrate first, he will only need to work for about a year and a half at most.

The duties of a county magistrate are wide-ranging, including but not limited to document processing, tax management, household registration, public security maintenance, etc., and the power is not small, so it is very suitable for Zhao Yurui.

Of course, things change like chess, and no one can guarantee what will happen in a year and a half. Lord Yan also said that we should try to make Zhao Yurui the legitimate wife as soon as possible.

On March 26, Lord Yan personally sent Zhao Yurui to Yin County to take up his post.

Hu Yong, the prefect of Qingyuan Prefecture, and other local officials including the co-prefect and the magistrate personally welcomed Lord Yan.

Zhao Yurui's appointment was held with great fanfare, and Lord Yan also gave him enough face and supported him.

But at the same time, Zhao Yurui was also labeled as a member of the Yan faction.

The highest echelons of the imperial court are now divided into many factions, and the Yan faction is one of them.

After Lord Yan retired, the strength of the Yan faction is now much weaker than before.

But it doesn’t matter, at least at the local level, it’s still quite effective for now.

On the 27th, Lord Yan left Qingyuan Prefecture and returned to Beijing, and Zhao Yurui immediately began to make arrangements.

Of course, he is also very afraid of death.

Especially recently, Buzhou Xiong and his son were killed in Qingyuan Prefecture.

After some people stayed in Dinghai, most of the brothers followed.

Lao Zhu, Lao Zhang, Zhao Yusheng and other confidants followed him to Qingyuan Prefecture.

When he first arrived, he had no place to live, so the court arranged for him to live in the Yin County government office.

Zhao Yurui rented a dozen houses near the county government office and arranged for all the brothers to stay there.

Then Lao Zhu, Lao Zhang, Chang Yuchun, Zhang Youcheng, Wang Baobao and others were arranged as yamen runners.

There was no formal organization of yamen runners in the Yuan Dynasty. This was decided by Zhao Yurui in order to win over the hearts of the people. When the Song army retired, they were given priority to become yamen runners, and the families of the Song army were given priority to become yamen runners. This laid the foundation for him to win over the hearts of the soldiers.

Generally, local officials such as county magistrates and county magistrates could bring one or two people to the county government when they took office.

But Zhao Yurui arranged six people at once, which made the county magistrate Zhou Datong very dissatisfied.

Although Yin County is the seat of Qingyuan Prefecture and is relatively wealthy, you, Zhao Yurui, are going too far. Arranging six people at once?

Then everyone will follow your example. Will you also assign six chief clerks? And six county lieutenants?

My county magistrate arranged six?
How much expenditure will the county government need?
Nowadays, government offices at all levels want to save money, and Zhou Datong is obviously very dissatisfied with Zhao Yurui's approach.

Sure enough, on the second day after Zhao Yurui took office, Zhou Datong organized a meeting for all middle-level and above officials in the county government, and someone immediately raised objections.

Those who attended the meeting that day included the magistrate Zhou Datong, the county magistrate Zhao Yurui, the chief clerk Li Tian, ​​the county lieutenant Niu Feng, and then the heads of each department, and the clerks of nine departments, including the military, household, personnel, and commercial tax, also arrived at the scene. Together with the chief constable and two constables, there were a total of fifteen people.

(End of this chapter)