I served as an admonisher in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 570 Extra 3: Prequel: The Lazy Official of Qizhou (Part )

In the fourth year of the Qingli period, on June 18th, afternoon.

Qizhou provincial government.

Qizhou magistrate Ge Wenlin threw a document to the ground.

"This Su Liang is really outrageous. He is just a small observation officer, but he wants to teach me how to do things!"

"Since he took office last October, he has been finding faults every day. In his eyes, our Qizhou government is full of problems and needs to be rectified everywhere. If you don't listen to him, it seems that Qizhou will be finished. If you don't know him, you would think he is the governor of Qizhou!"

"When his performance is reviewed at the end of the year, I will definitely rate him as the lowest, thus putting an end to his dream of moving from a personnel selection officer to a court official in Beijing!"

Ge Wenlin was breathing heavily, and his double chin was crooked from anger.

On the side, Qizhou Observation Judge Dong Dazhi, a middle-aged man with a white beard, hurriedly comforted him: "Don't be angry, Governor!"

"He has just entered the official career and was awarded the title of Jinshi. He is arrogant and has the ambition to 'serve the emperor like Yao and Shun' in his mind. After a few more setbacks, he will know what the true way of being an official is."

"A reckless person like him who doesn't understand the ways of the world and doesn't know how to cater to officials is destined to have a bumpy official career and won't go far."

Ge Wenlin nodded with satisfaction and said, "If there is a chance, find a mistake he made, impeach him, and demote him to a remote place to be an official."

"Yes." Dong Dazhi bowed with a smile.

……

And this moment.

A side hall of the Qizhou provincial government, namely the Tuiguan Hall.

Su Liang was sitting at the table, handling government affairs, with more than a hundred documents piled up in front of him.

The Qizhou Observational Procurator was a selected official of the eighth grade. His main responsibility was to serve as the chief official of a state and assist in managing state affairs.

As his official position was below that of the Observation Judge, Dong Dazhi could be considered Su Liang's immediate superior.

Su Liang, who was a second-generation man, quickly understood the current situation of the officialdom of the Song Dynasty after entering officialdom.

present.

Having a backer is more important than political achievements, seniority is more important than political achievements, family background is more important than political achievements, and being a good person is more important than political achievements.

Unless, the political achievements are particularly outstanding.

Su Liang has no backing, no qualifications, and is not good at flattery.

Therefore, when he was the magistrate of Changqing County, he made it the best among the four counties in Qizhou in terms of money, grain, household registration, taxes, labor service, and judicial trials.

He successfully attracted Shangguan's attention.

In addition, the nephew of a certain high-ranking official wanted to use Changqing County's political achievements as a springboard for promotion, so he replaced Su Liang and picked up the ready-made political achievements.

It took Su Liang more than a year to be promoted from the magistrate of Changqing County to the observation and promotion official of Qizhou.

He changed from a county magistrate to a state official.

After serving as the prosecutor of Qizhou, Su Liangben hoped to be promoted quickly again with his outstanding political achievements.

But I found that this method no longer worked.

First of all, he was currently an official in the staff.

He is the one who does the work, but the ones who receive the credit must be the prefect and the magistrate.

Secondly, Qizhou prefect Ge Wenlin was lazy and mediocre, and did not listen to Su Liang's advice at all.

Wang Yue, the Tongpan of Qizhou, was the son of a high-ranking official who was only holding a temporary post. He did not care about his work at all and only wanted to gain enough experience so that he could return to Bianliang to take up his post.

Under the leadership of these two lazy officers.

The officials below all just do their job as usual, not seeking any merit but only avoiding mistakes.

In addition, Qizhou was also a mediocre state, far inferior to the neighboring Qingzhou and Yunzhou, and was not valued by the court at all. The chief officials transferred here were either demoted or promoted in transition to gain experience.

There is no future in being an official here.

Su Liang made some calculations.

If he goes along with the officials here and becomes corrupt together with them, he will become an obedient official.

Relying on seniority, one would be promoted every three or six years, from an observation prosecutor to an observation judge, and then to a prosecutor and judge in a Jieduzhou, a governor in the capital, a military judge, etc. After going through a long cycle, one might become a prefecture governor at the age of fifty, and then it would be impossible to get promoted anymore.

If he wanted to stand out and become the best official in Qizhou, he would certainly be suppressed by the chief officer.

If he wants to be promoted, he must be recommended by a state official.

However, Qizhou governor Ge Wenlin disliked officials like Su Liang who always did things differently.

If Su Liang worked hard to improve himself, he would probably be ostracized and oppressed within two years, and then sent to some remote place to be an official. He would then spend his whole life floating in the sea of ​​elections in that place, and for the rest of his life, he might just be the magistrate of a poor county.

Su Liang had lofty ambitions. When he came to the Song Dynasty, he wanted to change the Song Dynasty and naturally he was unwilling to be mediocre.

After much deliberation, he decided to take a different approach.

While being a good official who stands out, is loved by the people and is outspoken, he is also collecting evidence of the inaction of Qizhou governor Ge Wenlin.

In the current court, there are virtuous officials such as Yan Shu, Pang Ji, Fan Zhongyan, and Ouyang Xiu, and they all love to recommend talented people.

Su Liang believed that as long as he was good enough and his brilliance was dazzling enough, he would definitely be known to these court officials and could even become the official who recommended him for promotion as an exception.

……

into the night.

When Su Liang returned home, Tang Wanmei had already prepared the meal.

Since Su Liang became the magistrate of Changqing County, Tang Wanmei has always been with him.

I didn't enjoy much happiness, but I suffered a lot.

Qizhou belonged to Jingdong Road, and the taxes were very heavy, which led to many people rebelling on the way.

Many people would clamor for rebellion at any time, but in fact they just wanted to eat military rations. Most of the young and middle-aged people who shouted for rebellion were incorporated into the local army.

Of course, there are also evil ones.

One vicious bandit even broke into the Changqing County government office and put a knife on Tang Wanmei's neck. Fortunately, Su Liang arrived in time and rescued her.

There were also some unruly people who found fault with Su Liang and even wanted to murder him because he had harmed their interests.

All these made Tang Wanmei worried.

However, the two of them managed to get through it.

Safety can still be guaranteed within Qizhou City.

Although Su Liang's career had some ups and downs, his salary was very high, and the two of them could live a decent life.

After dinner, the two went to the bedroom.

Tang Wanmei's maid Xiaotao brought in a plate of foot washing water.

Then, Su Liang began to soak his feet, while Tang Wanmei gently pressed Su Liang's neck.

She knew that Su Liang was very tired from sitting in the government office every day, so she gave him a massage every night.

Su Liang pulled Tang Wanmei into his arms and said with some guilt: "Mei'er, I'm really sorry. I made you worried for the past two years and you didn't live a good life with me."

Tang Wanmei tapped Su Liang's nose.

"What are you talking about? We are husband and wife, and I am very content with my current life!" Tang Wanmei put her hands on Su Liang's neck, smiling.

……

June 23rd, near dusk.

Su Liang was handling government affairs in the Tuiguan Hall when a minor official walked in quickly.

"Official Su, more than 30 people from Changqing County gathered together and refused to pay the Changqing Grass Market Tax. They clashed with the local government officials, and three of them even had their heads beaten and were bleeding!"

"What? Commercial tax on Caoji? Why does Caoji have commercial tax?" Su Liang looked puzzled.

Changqing Caoji was a market organized by Su Liang when he was in office.

The show is held every ten days, and mostly sells straw hats, shoes, farm tools, eggs, cloth and clothing, etc., which are very popular among local people.

This kind of grass gathering is not a shop, there is no cross-county transaction, and it is a scattered market, so generally no tax is required.

"The collection began last month. The prefect and the magistrate ordered the collection of taxes."

Su Liang couldn't help but frown.

Although Qizhou Governor Ge Wenlin and Tongpan Wang Yue were mediocre and incompetent one and indifferent the other, they also wanted to achieve political achievements.

The most intuitive manifestation of political achievements is taxation.

This kind of grass-roots business tax can be collected or not, so how could these two let it go?

"Does Magistrate Ge have any instructions?" Su Liang asked.

This minor official was a close follower of Su Liang, so he naturally got the information from Prefect Ge.

When the prefect learned that so many people were gathering to cause trouble, he should naturally give some instructions.

The clerk said helplessly, "Zhizhou Ge ordered Magistrate Sun not to suppress the movement for the time being. He wanted to see how many people were still opposed to this matter, and then catch them all in one fell swoop when the time was right."

This Magistrate Sun, whose name was Sun Quan, was the son of a high-ranking official who picked up Su Liang's achievements.

He only obeyed Ge Wenlin's orders and had no opinions of his own.

Su Liang thought for a moment and said, "I will go find Magistrate Ge now."

Su Liang knew this prefect Ge very well.

He gave this order in the hope that the conflict would escalate. If a hundred people caused trouble or even rebelled, it would certainly alert the Road Supervisor.

If Ge Wenlin can quickly settle this chaos, it will be a great achievement.

This is the strategy of “turning small achievements into big achievements” that Ge Wenlin often uses.

Although this person is lazy, he likes to take shortcuts.

He was too lazy to uphold justice in the trivial disputes among the people. Sometimes he gave each of them fifty lashes of the cane, and sometimes he let them settle the matter privately.

But he was very fond of such major events as "the unruly people causing chaos, being hostile to the government, and refusing to pay commercial taxes."

As long as he could settle it, it would be a great achievement, a political accomplishment. Therefore, he liked to wait until these conflicts became very serious before resolving them.

Su Liang walked quickly to the back hall, where the prefect and the magistrate handled government affairs.

He saw Qizhou Observation Judge Dong Dazhi, but did not see the prefect Ge Wenlin and the Tongpan Wang Yue.

"Judge Dong, I don't know where Magistrate Ge and Judge Wang are. I have something important to report." Su Liang said.

Dong Dazhi put his hands behind his back and said, "You two superiors have been very tired from handling government affairs recently, so go to the perfume shop (bathhouse) to relax. If you have anything to say, you can report it to me."

There are many hot springs in Qizhou, which have the effect of prolonging life.

Ge Wenlin and Wang Yue both have the habit of drinking wine while soaking in hot springs.

"I heard that some people in Changqing County had a conflict with the county government officials over the collection of taxes. I would like to know how Magistrate Ge will handle this matter?"

Dong Dazhi glared at Su Liang.

"Tuiguan Su, aren't you meddling too much? The affairs of Changqing County are naturally under the jurisdiction of the Changqing County Magistrate. Even if the matter is reported to the prefect, how the prefect handles it still needs to be known to you."

"As a magistrate, your job is to help the prefect and the magistrate solve their problems, not to make things worse. If you have nothing else to do, go back. This is not your concern."

Su Liang has never been the kind of person who would not dare to resist when being criticized.

"Judge Dong, don't think I don't know that Magistrate Ge likes to turn small things into big chaos before dealing with them, and then take credit for it. But this matter concerns the lives of the people, and it is very likely that someone will be killed. It must be resolved as soon as possible!"

"Su Liang, you are so bold that you actually committed such a crime and slandered the prefect Ge! Besides, I am half a level higher than you. You actually spoke to me in such a tone. Do you still have the rules of being an official in your heart?"

Su Liang looked at him.

"So what if you are half a grade higher than me? I am a Jinshi awarded by the government. What is your grade?"

"You...you...you...you have reached the end of your career as an official!"

Dong Dazhi was so angry that he left with a wave of his sleeves.

The reason why Su Liang was not afraid of Dong Dazhi was that he was ranked twelfth on the list of Jinshi in the second year of the Qingli period and was granted the status of Jinshi, belonging to the second class.

Dong Dazhi was just a fifth-class Jinshi.

The Song Dynasty valued culture over military power, and in addition to official positions, the ranking of successful candidates in the imperial examinations was also considered in the officialdom.

The courtesies and opportunities for exceptional promotion that the top two can enjoy are far beyond the reach of the lower levels.

Therefore, Su Liang was very confident when facing him.

Moreover, this identity is also Su Liang's amulet.

Even if Su Liang committed a capital crime, he would not be executed because of his status as a successful Jinshi.

Even if Su Liang was stripped of his official position for his crimes, as long as he still had this identity, he could still make a comeback.

This is the glory of being a Jinshi in the Song Dynasty.

……

The next morning.

Su Liang once again sought out the prefect Ge Wenlin and the magistrate Wang Yue, hoping to urge them to deal with the matter as soon as possible to prevent the conflict from escalating and causing loss of life.

However, Ge Wenlin and Wang Yue obviously listened to Dong Dazhi's accusation against Su Liang.

They turned a deaf ear to Su Liang's reminder and just said they would handle it. Then they ordered Su Liang to go to Yucheng County to clear the land and measure the arable land.

A higher-ranking official can crush a person to death, so Su Liang had no choice but to go.

June 28th, near dusk.

Su Liang finally finished all the work in Yucheng County.

Then, as soon as he returned to the provincial government, he heard something that made him extremely angry.

Just two days ago.

More than one hundred vendors setting up stalls in Caoji, Changqing County, once again clashed with the yamen runners who were collecting commercial taxes.

The contradiction escalated.

A 68-year-old shoe seller, in a fit of rage, stabbed a yamen runner to death and injured another with scissors.

Then a big fight ensued.

In the end, three civilians were killed, four yamen runners were killed, and more than ten people were injured.

The common people who had caused the trouble had no choice but to flee to the mountains to avoid being pursued by the government.

This kind of escape, coupled with the failure to pay commercial taxes, was immediately defined by the government as bandits intending to rebel.

Just yesterday.

The prefect Ge Wenlin, the assistant judge Wang Yue, and the magistrate of Changqing County Sun Quan, together with 500 soldiers and yamen runners, arrested more than 100 "rebels" and put them into the prefecture prison.

This is forcing the people to rebel.

Ge Wenlin successfully turned a minor civil conflict into a major achievement in quelling the riot in the state government.

Su Liang was furious.

After thinking about it, he went back home first.

at home.

Su Liang took out all the evidence of Ge Wenlin's laziness in governance that he had collected in recent days.

"Wanmei, I might have a falling out with Ge Wenlin. He doesn't dare to do anything to me, but he might use you to threaten me. You are my only weakness in Qizhou."

"Here is evidence of Ge Wenlin's laziness and inaction. I have sent two trusted followers to protect you. I hope you can take this evidence with Xiao Tao and go to Qingzhou immediately. Give it to the Pacifier of Jingdong Road, the Governor of Qingzhou Fu Bi, and he will definitely do justice for me."

Tang Wanmei knew that Su Liang was collecting evidence of Ge Wenlin's crimes, so she nodded and said, "Okay, I'll leave right away, and you should also pay attention to your safety."

Su Liang nodded, then hugged Tang Wanmei.

……

moment.

After Tang Wanmei left home, Su Liang went to the provincial government again.

At this moment, he no longer had anything to fear.

This time, his goal is to completely bring down Ge Wenlin, who is just sitting there doing nothing.

The rear hall of the provincial government.

The prefect Ge Wenlin was holding a wine glass and humming a little tune, looking very leisurely.

His way of being an official is to achieve excellent political results through inaction.

at this time.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned his head involuntarily.

"Judge Su, is there anything wrong? The court is now closed. Let's talk about it tomorrow!" Ge Wenlin said in a cold voice.

When Dong Dazhi accused Su Liang, he exaggerated the case, saying that Su Liang was going to Beijing to impeach Ge Wenlin.

This caused Ge Wenlin to hate Su Liang very much.

Su Liang did not retreat, but took two steps forward.

"Ge Zhizhou, you are really calculating! It was clearly a trivial matter, but under your governance, it turned into a great achievement in suppressing the rebellion!"

Ge Wenlin looked gloomy.

"Su Liang, stop talking nonsense! Shouldn't I intervene when unruly people are causing chaos? Do you have any evidence to support your statement? If you don't have any evidence, you are slandering your superiors, and I will state this crime in your performance evaluation."

Ge Wenlin's greatest reliance is his ability to control Su Liang's performance.

And the performance evaluation will determine Su Liang's future career.

Most officials obey their superiors' orders because their careers are in the hands of their superiors.

Su Liang smiled disdainfully.

"Ge Wenlin, what you did is ruining hundreds of families. It will make more people in Qizhou hate the court and disobey the government's management. It will make Qizhou worse and worse. You are the sinner of Qizhou!"

Hearing this, Ge Wenlin immediately became angry.

"What? You want to impeach me?"

"Since I entered the government, I have never been corrupt, never given bribes, and never had anything to do with women. My personal ethics are impeccable. What crime are you impeaching me for?"

"Lazy politics! You are just sitting there doing nothing! You delay the people's affairs as much as possible. You have not made any achievements in Qizhou. You force the people to create chaos in order to achieve political achievements. Isn't this a crime? Lazy officials like you are more hateful than those officials who work for greed..."

"Su Liang, you are really just a scholar who knows nothing about the officialdom. If what you said is true, half of the officials in the court are guilty! Under my rule, everything is clean and clear, and I have made achievements. Is this laziness? What nonsense!"

"When you first became a magistrate, you worked hard on state affairs. I had high hopes for you. If you are sensible and listen to me, you will be promoted in three years with my recommendation. You will have a bright future!"

"I didn't expect you to be such a fool. From now on, I will make your career more and more difficult!"

Su Liang was already cursing to his heart's content, and after a pause, he said, "A pig on the main seat of the Qizhou government office is better than you!"

After saying that, Su Liang turned away.

"Su Liang, if you don't apologize to me before noon tomorrow, I will end your career!" Ge Wenlin roared angrily.

……

Night, four o'clock.

Su Liang went out with his pen and ink and came to a low white wall next to the provincial government office.

He dipped the brush in ink and wrote five big characters in rapid succession: A Memorial to the Lazy Official of Qizhou.

He and Ge Wenlin have completely broken off.

What follows is a life-and-death struggle in the officialdom.

He wanted to use this memorial to impeach Ge Wenlin, so that the people would know, the court would know, and even the whole world would know.

His confidence at the moment comes from public opinion, the power of this article, and the support of all the righteous people in Qizhou.

(End of this chapter)