In the early morning, all the officials and officials of Jinan Mansion gathered in the lobby of the prefect's yamen, and arranged according to the size of the officials, there were almost nearly 100 people, and even the lobby of the prefect's yamen could not stand, and more than half of the people could only stand in the courtyard, waiting for the first official hall of the new Jinan prefect Wang Shengwang.

Wang Sheng officially took office in Jinan Mansion yesterday and instructed all officials, officials, and other registered personnel in Jinan Mansion to gather in the lobby of the government office early tomorrow morning and have something to say.

The officials of the Qing court were divided into two categories: registered and unregistered, the registered refers to the officials officially recognized by the imperial court, with a fixed salary, even if they are not of the rank of non-entry officials, they can also receive a salary on time; non-registered refers to the officials who are not recognized by the imperial court, but work in the local government, their salaries are not paid by the imperial court, theoretically speaking, should be paid from the local treasury, or the local officials themselves pay for it. However, generally speaking, the vast majority of officials are absent, and there are only about 100 official officials in Jinan Prefecture, while there are more than 1,000 non-registered officials. Of course, all of you here today are registered people.

However, although the official salary of the Qing court was higher than that of the Ming Dynasty, it was in the Yongzheng period, the implementation of the system of raising incorruptible silver, so that the official's income increased significantly, taking the prefect of Jinan as an example, the annual official salary is 80 taels of silver, 80 taels of rice (80 stones), and the incorruptible silver wealth is about 3000-4000 taels of silver, so the maximum income can reach more than 4000 taels of silver a year.

In this era, the annual income of 4,000 taels of silver is certainly not small, but this income also includes the office expenses of the prefect, the travel expenses for the inspection, the hiring of masters, clerks, accounts, servants, sedan chair men, women, and the necessary entertainment expenses of the officialdom. Not to mention that you have to deal with the unspoken rules of officialdom, such as the annual ice and carbon two respects, the tribute to the boss, if you want to be promoted, you have to go to Beijing to do something, it is far from enough.

The prefect is like this, and the officials at the bottom are naturally not better there, and the annual salary of the officials who do not enter the stream is only 33 taels of silver, 31.5 Hulu rice, and there is no incorruptible silver, which is not small according to the average family, but the officials who do not enter the stream are also official positions of the imperial court, and such a little income is of course not enough.

And in the middle and late Qing court, it is basically impossible to pay the official money in full on time, coupled with a large number of absent officials, this wool can only come out of the sheep, and can only be scavenged from the common people, so in ancient China, it was extremely corrupt in the Ming and Qing dynasties, in addition to the greed of officials, there are also certain objective reasons.

However, when the new prefect turned out from behind the screen, he frightened everyone, it turned out that the prefect did not wear formal official uniforms, official hats, or the kind of simple to the extreme of overseas Chinese, but also shabby to the extreme clothes, because Wang Sheng and others have been in Jinan for more than 3 months, and other personnel have arrived one after another, and now there are more than 60 people who have traversed, and more than 200 naturalized natives, so everyone is no stranger to the style of overseas Chinese clothes.

According to the official system of the Qing court, there are very strict regulations on the grade and clothing of officials, in formal occasions, not to mention not wearing official uniforms, even untidy clothing is a crime of great disrespect, if the imperial envoy knows, I am afraid that I will not be able to eat and walk around, there are many officials who have a good idea in their hearts, this overseas Chinese is too bold, although they are essentially a separatist party, and even the court has to give them three points, but this practice is clearly not even the court in the eyes.

Of course, Wang Sheng didn't care, because the East China government did not intend to use the official system of the Qing court to manage Shandong, but to start anew, today's hall is just a formality, of course, it is too lazy to pretend to play COS, and it is also to signal to the officials in Jinan that the Qing court's set has not worked, and the traverser can simply despise the Qing court's system, so Wang Sheng just sat straight on the chair behind the public case, and the two teams of People's Army soldiers came out from behind the screen and stood in Wang Sheng's two.

When everyone saw this scene, they were also a little confused for a while, and they didn't know whether they should visit the prefect at this time. However, Wang Sheng didn't give everyone time to think at all, and said: "Lu Tongju, have all the people arrived?" ”

The position of general judge began in the Song Dynasty, and was originally to monitor local officials at the prefecture level, while in the Qing Dynasty, the function of general judgment has been to assist the prefect in government affairs, and he is in charge of grain, salt, capital arrest and other affairs.

Lu Tongju's name is Lu Xiangming, Guangxu was born in 18 years, and he is the oldest person among the four general judges in Jinan Prefecture, and he has been in this position for 10 years, and he can be regarded as an old fritter in officialdom.

After listening to Wang Sheng's words, Lu Xiangming hesitated for a moment before he said: "If you go back to your lordship, there are a total of 107 officials and officials in this government, and there are 92 people, and another 15 people have ...... because of their families."

Before he could finish his words, Wang Shengji interrupted: "Those who didn't come today will all be removed from the government." ”

When Lu Xiangming heard this, he couldn't help but snort and said, "My lord, this ......"

Among the 15 people who did not come today, only 3 were high-grade officials, and the other 12 were all officials who did not enter the stream, but all of them held the real power at the grassroots level of Jinan Prefecture.

Although the officials have great power at the grassroots level in the locality, and even the local officials have to rely on them if they want to manage the local government well, generally speaking, the officials will not offend the officials at will, after all, the officials are officially appointed by the imperial court and represent orthodoxy. Since he is a newly appointed local official, the officials will generally take the initiative to show favor and suggest good relations with the local officials. Unless the local official is a dumbfounder, he doesn't eat this set, but the officials at the prefecture and state level have worked for several governors and counties, and they should understand this set of unspoken rules, so they generally know each other.

And today's officials, who do not have the end to the end, are actually targeting the land reform system of the traversers. When Wang Sheng first arrived in Jinan, he had negotiated with the local gentry in Jinan, and made it clear that once the traverser officially took over Jinan, he would definitely implement land reform in Jinan, and this result naturally aroused strong dissatisfaction among the local forces in Jinan.

Although the officials were formally appointed by the imperial court, the local forces were more important, and the officials who held the actual power at the grassroots level also owned a large amount of land, so the land reform of the traversers also directly damaged their interests, so the main officials of Jinan Prefecture decided that when the overseas Chinese officially took office in Jinan, they adopted an attitude of refusing to cooperate, so that the overseas Chinese could not do anything in Jinan, and also let the overseas Chinese know that the local forces in Jinan were not easy to provoke, and if there was no support from the officials who controlled the grassroots, they would not want to have a stable administration in Jinan, and if they wanted to get the support of the officials, they must cancel the implementation of land reform in Jinan。

Lu Xiangming has also participated in several such consultations, but as a general judge in Jinan, Lu Xiangming's insight is of course much better than that of these unpopular officials, overseas Chinese are not comparable to ordinary officials, I am afraid it is not so easy to deal with, but from his heart, he hopes that the behavior of these officials can be effective, because Lu Xiangming has served as the general judge of Jinan for many years, and has also purchased more than 600 acres of land in Jinan, so if overseas Chinese implement land reform in Jinan, then Lu Xiangming is also a victim.

So Lu Xiangming did not participate in the non-cooperation of the officials on the grounds that he was an official of the imperial court, but he also said that he would help them test the attitude of overseas Chinese, and if necessary, he could also send messages to overseas Chinese for the officials, or bargain.

However, Lu Xiangming did not expect that the overseas Chinese were far tougher than he imagined, and although the new prefect looked young, he did things neatly, and he actually removed all the officials who did not come at once, which is equivalent to directly occupying the opposite side of the officials. Overseas Chinese are really ignorant, and they still have to touch the officials of Jinan Prefecture.

But Lu Xiangming is also very clear that these people hold the real power at the grassroots level of Jinan Mansion, it can be said that without the cooperation of these people, Ren Heren will not be able to play as the prefect of Jinan, but now the two sides have no room for maneuver, and can only have a hard-to-hard collision, and this is by no means the result that Lu Xiangming is willing to see, you must know that although these officials are local snakes, but the strong dragon of overseas Chinese is not vegetarian, so whether the local snake can withstand the strong dragon this time, Lu Xiangming has no bottom in his heart.

Wang Sheng glanced at him and said, "Lu Tongju, do you have anything to say?"

Lu Xiangming said: "Back to my lord, these people are indeed because there is something at home in the future, and they do not intend to neglect adults, not to mention that they have been deacons in Jinan for many years and are diligent in their official work, so please also ask your adults to open up their nets." ”

Wang Sheng said: "Something at home? I have already issued a notice yesterday, if there is something at home? Why didn't you reply immediately yesterday, but said it early this morning? They have been deacons in Jinan for many years, and they are diligent in their official work, I don't think this is what you really want to say, what you want to say is that these people actually control the affairs of the government's money, grain, taxes, messengers, criminal punishment cases, prison security, etc., and I have removed them all, and I am afraid that this position will not be stable, right?"

Lu Xiangming was also startled, and his face couldn't help but be red and white for a while, what Wang Sheng said was indeed what he really wanted to express, but this meaning can only be understood by everyone, and it can be said in public like a big vernacular. However, Lu Xiangming is also an old fritter in the officialdom, so he naturally understands that since Wang Sheng said it, it means that overseas Chinese do not understand the rules, but really want to fight with these officials, so he hurriedly said: "Back to my lord, this is definitely not what the lower officials meant." ”