Linzhang County, located in Xiangzhou, Hebei West Road, looking at Taihang Mountain in the west and Qilu Land in the east, is known as "the waist of the world and the throat of the Central Plains".

Linzhang was called "Ye" in ancient times, with a long history and splendid culture, and enjoyed the reputation of "the hometown of the Three Kingdoms and the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties". Yecheng became the capital of the six dynasties of Cao Wei, Later Zhao, Ran Wei, Qianyan, Eastern Wei and Northern Qi, and lived as the political, economic, military and cultural center of the Yellow River Valley for four centuries.

In the second year of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yang Jian, the Duke of Sui and Prime Minister of the Sui Dynasty, suppressed the governor of Xiangzhou, Wei Chi Yuan, who was dissatisfied with him, and in order to prevent the resurgence of anti-Yang forces, he ordered the burning of Yecheng, and the surrounding residents moved south to Anyang City, which was 40 miles south of Ye. Since then, Anyang City has replaced Yecheng as the political, economic and cultural center of the region.

"Listen to the soldiers on the city wall, this is Yang Zhen, the governor of Xiangzhou under the command of Wang Xianggong, quickly open the city gate, we have business to see Zhao Zhizhou!"

At the gate of the north of Xiangzhou City, the newly appointed Xiangzhou Governor Yang Zhen was riding on a horse, and more than a dozen entourages surrounded him, well, the sergeant led shouted loudly to the sergeant guarding the city in front of him.

Hearing the shouts of the sergeant below, Lin Jiaren, who was basking in the sun on the city wall, squinted his eyes and lay on the chair for a while before he opened his eyes and stood up lazily.

"There is only Zhao Zhizhou in Xiangzhou City, and there is no Yang Zhizhou. Hurry up and leave, don't humiliate yourself, or we will not show mercy!"

Lin Jiaren's cold words made Yang Zhen and the others immediately change color.

"Listen, the people in front of you are Xiangzhou officials appointed by Wang Song and Wang Xianggong. We have to go into the city to handle cases and arrest the officials involved in the case. Open the gates quickly, or you will ...... the consequences."

Before the sergeant's words fell, a feather arrow shot down from the city wall, nailed to the ground with a "poof", the arrow shaft shook slightly, and then Lin Jiaren on the city wall poked his head out, his face was cold.

"The people below listen, leave quickly, if you say more than half a word, Hugh blames the sword and arrow without eyes!"

The guards and soldiers at the gate of the city all raised their swords and guns, and the soldiers on the city wall also opened their bows and arrows, staring at Yang Zhen and others under the city.

Yang Zhen's face turned pale, turned the horse's head, and went backwards, and the others had no choice but to follow closely.

"Brother Lin, thank you so much!"

Seeing Yang Zhen and the others leaving, Yan Zhong flashed out of the city gate, his official uniform was wrinkled, and he was a little embarrassed.

"It's all my own brothers, you're welcome!"

Lin Jiaren looked at Yang Zhen and the others who were far away below, and said disdainfully:

"If they continue to investigate like this, how can you and my brother live! Since you can't hide your taxes, and you don't have a way to get money, when those Wang Song's cronies come to take office, will the brothers still have a way to live?"

Yan Zhong nodded and said, "Brother Lin is right. Brother, I shouldn't show up, I'll leave the matter of the case to you. ”

Lin Jiaren said with a smile: "Isn't it just that it occupies a few acres of land, and the little lady committed suicide again, with Zhao Tong's judgment, what are you afraid of!"

In the back hall of the Yamen of Xiangzhou Zhizhou, the original Xiangzhou Tongju Zhao did not try, while tasting tea, while listening to the report of the public below.

"Wang Song's people arrived in the city, but Lin Jiaren didn't let them enter the city, and Wang Song's people had no choice but to leave in a rage."

Zhao Buyi nodded, and laughed softly: "Yan Zhong's matter, have you found out, has it taken the world and disregarded people's lives?"

The public smiled and said: "Back to the minister, the villain has already checked it clearly." The land occupied by Yan Zhong is indeed the Zhao family's, but the Zhao family owes Yan Zhong so much silver, which is also wishful thinking. As for the little lady of the Zhao family, she couldn't hang herself, and she had nothing to do with Yan Zhong. Please be aware of this. ”

Zhao Buyi nodded and said coldly: "That's good, so as not to let Wang Song's people grab the handle, and it's not easy to clean up."

"Tell the people below that they have been stirring up their spirits for the past few days, and don't let the thieves easily sneak into the city!"

Zhao Butry closed his eyes again, and muttered to himself: "Wang Song, this Xiangzhou City is still under the rule of my Zhao Song. I'm going to see what you can do with me!"

The duke glanced at him and stepped back gently.

"This Zhao doesn't try, so unruly, isn't he afraid that the prince will deal with him?"

Although it was dark at night, the back hall of Linzhang County was still brightly lit. Yang Zhen, the governor of Xiangzhou, walked around the room with a gloomy face and hands behind his back.

"Yang Zhizhou, Xu officials have existed since ancient times, and even more so in the Song Dynasty. They have formed a party for personal gain, colluded with Haoyou, and controlled the township, Zhizhou, you must not be careless when handling this matter!"

As a fellow acquaintance of Xiangzhou and Yang Zhen's assistant, Duan Sheng naturally wanted to give him advice and solve problems.

After the Great Song Dynasty moved south, Wang Song settled in the Daimyo Mansion, and in the name of the Lianghe Xuanfu Division, he appointed Zhao Buxian, the then Xiangzhou Tongju, as the governor of Xiangzhou. Who knew that Zhao refused to accept the order, and still gave orders as the judge of the Great Song Dynasty, and monopolized the power of Xiangzhou.

Due to the busy military affairs, the summer offensive was in full swing, and Wang Song couldn't take care of it for a while. When the fighting in various parts of the two rivers subsided a little, Wang Song sent officials to take over the Xiangzhou region.

Who knew that Zhao Butry actually closed the city gate and did not allow Yang Zhen and others to enter the city. In order to avoid friction and make things bigger, Yang Zhen swallowed his anger and temporarily stationed in Linzhang County to handle government affairs.

A few days ago, the people of Yonghe Town reported that after returning to their hometown, their family's fields had been occupied by Yan Zhong, a government official of Anyang County, and their daughter was also ruined by Yan Zhong, so she was humiliated and hanged herself.

The family went to the Anyang County Ya to report the case, and the county Ya said that it would be dealt with impartially. After more than a month, the family went again, but they were blasted out by the yamen, saying that there was no physical evidence, and it was a pure false accusation.

The family had no choice but to sue the Zhizhou Yamen, but the Yamen did not take the case because there was no human or material evidence.

When the family went to find witnesses, they all denied it, apparently because they had been warned or threatened.

Privately, someone clearly told the victim that Yan Zhong, a Xu official, had been operating here for generations, and he had long been monolithic with the local government, and even the magistrates and other officials had to be restrained by them.

In the Song Dynasty, the imperial examination system became the main source of officials. It is only the officials who take the imperial examination. There are only a few officials sent by the imperial court to serve as officials in local counties, such as the magistrate, the county magistrate, and the chief bookkeeper.

However, as the most important local administrative department of the imperial court county system, the county has to be in charge of many fields such as taxation, public security, litigation, and education, and there are too many things involved, and the specific people who do things are officials, that is, "errand servants".

"Servitude", as the name suggests, is an obligation to be borne by the people, and is therefore "compulsory labor" without pay.

The errand servants of the Song Dynasty included Yaqian, Lizheng, household chief, township scrivener, Zhuang Ding, archer, scattered servant, manpower, hand power, county Cao Si to Zhulu, Zhou Cao Si to Kong Mu Guan, down to miscellaneous posts, Yu Hou, pickers, pinchers, and others.

And the elements of these "errand labors" are "each based on the rank of the villagers", that is, the common people who are rich and poor.

Just like Niu Gao, before following Wang Song, he was just an archer in Lushan County, a real poor middle peasant.

However, in the process of implementing the "Errand Servitude Law", there are many drawbacks. First of all, the servants come from the bottom of the society and lack relevant work experience. Secondly, most of the servants were unpaid, or lazy and lazy, or corrupt and took bribes, and the people complained a lot.

In view of this, when Wang Anshi changed the law, he abolished the "Errand Labor Law", and the new law called it the "Exemption Law".

The "Exemption Law" abolished the "errand labor" that was paid in the form of "hard labor" and replaced it with a monetary tax. The government uses this tax to hire people to do specific work. At the same time, those who are employed by the government need to be trained and qualified to take up their posts.

The "Exemption Law" was abolished with Wang Anshi's descent into the wilderness, but at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the "Exemption Law" was restored in some places, but it was far from being popularized.

"Brother Duan, I heard that Yan Zhong, who committed this crime, is a clerk of the Anyang County Ya, what is the family background of this person?"

Hearing Yang Zhen's words, Duan Sheng nodded and said:

"What Brother Yang said is good! This Yan Zhong is a big family in Yonghe Town, and he is a hereditary official. This family has a big business, crisscrossing the township, doing all kinds of evil, and has committed a lot of crimes over the years, but they have escaped one by one, which shows that they are quite powerful in Anyang County and Xiangzhou City. ”

The officials are rotated from the people's households, between the people and the officials. Xu officials are not "officials", but they exercise their powers on behalf of the government and have the power to dominate the people. Xu officials are not only subject to the officials, but also adjudicate the officials to govern the people, such as the transmission of contextual documents, township security, household registration management, tax collection, etc.

There are three sources of officials: first, inheritance, after the officials are old, their sons or relatives can inherit the office of officials; second, officials who committed crimes or those who failed in the imperial examination were demoted to officials; Third, because the time of errand service is generally long, the agricultural time is delayed. As a result, small and medium-sized landlords and yeoman farmers are often unwilling to take on the burden, while the unscrupulous or local bullies flock to them, using the name of the officials to take advantage of the looting and amass ill-gotten gains.

Zhang Chen, the county lieutenant of Linzhang County, came from the bottom of the strong man, and he was no longer familiar with Xu and his party, and he hated it deeply.

"The officials of the world are impermanent, and they only live by accepting bribes, and they often get rich. Most of the officials did not have money, and the government levied and extorted money, and the officials embezzled and took bribes and looted desperately, so that thieves broke out everywhere, and the people were miserable!"

Duan Sheng nodded, his brows furrowed.

"What Captain Zhang said is very true! These officials colluded with the wealthy clans, preyed on the common people, ran rampant, disrupted the market, and increased the burden on the people. Because many officials are not familiar with the local people's conditions, they rely on these officials, making the officials strong and weak, and the official etiquette system is gone!

Officials play a major role in local affairs. When dealing with local daily affairs, officials often participate in the implementation of decisions, and can even "influence the will of the governor". As a result, there is a situation where "officials are strong and officials are weak, and officials are not enough to control officials".

Most of the officials were composed of people with low cultural quality who tried to seek personal gain, and there was no unified examination and admission standard. As a result, the quality of the entire group of officials is low. The officials had a low social status, low quality themselves, and controlled social resources, and social corruption was self-evident.

"These officials are simply bold and do all kinds of evil! It's a pity that there is no one to get a certificate now, and the yamen has no choice. Besides, if Zhao doesn't try to be in this Xiangzhou City, we may not be able to go in and arrest people!"

Yang Zhen's worried words provoked a sneer from Duan Sheng:

"Yang Zhizhou, Xiangzhou is under the rule of the Loyal and Righteous Army, not Zhao Song. There were 2,000 defenders in Xiangzhou City, but not everyone listened to his orders. Let's borrow troops from General Zhang, he will definitely not refuse! Xianggong sent us here, we can't return in vain, let's cry in front of him!"

Yang Zhen's face turned red and he hesitated: "Before taking office, the prime minister asked me to handle the relationship with the local government. If there is a conflict with Zhao Butry, Xianggong will blame him......"

Duan Sheng said fiercely: "Yang Zhizhou, let's kill chickens and make an example of monkeys, firstly, to deter the ill-intentioned people under the rule of Xuanfu Division, and secondly, to justify the name and facilitate our future work." You are a governor of Xiangzhou, presiding over government affairs in Linzhang County, and the government decree does not reach the state and county, how does the Xiangzhou Guild look at you, and how does it look at our colleagues in Xiangzhou"

Yang Zhen broke out in a cold sweat and bowed: "Thank you, Brother Duan!"

If a state governor, if they can't solve local matters, what use does Wang Song want them to do?

It's just that in this way, I'm afraid things won't be good. Wang Song's subordinates are proud of these fierce generals, but there is no good man and woman.