Baimi is forty miles away from Hai'an, there are two towns of Qutang and Hujiaji in the middle, if the new inspector starts from Baimi at dawn, he can rush to Hai'an before the time. At three o'clock in the morning, Fang Shimei led the scribes, soaps, and archers of the Yamen of the Inspection Department to the "gap" (very small wharf) next to the Chenghuang Temple, and waited by the Yunyan River against the bone-chilling wind.

Although Hai'an Town is located on the waterway to transport salt, the salt ships do not stop much in Hai'an, so the town is very small, and there are not many merchants and people in the town, so it is really not very prosperous.

Not only is the town a household name, but almost all the adults and children in the town are here, and even the villagers from nearby villages such as Jiaogang, Dalizhuang, Jiangjiazhuang and Zhangjiaozhuang have come to see the excitement. The two deans of Fengshan Academy and Mingdao Academy, the two local supervisors and Liu Daring, an additional external commissioner of the Foreign Affairs Department, also came early.

Dean Gu of Fengshan Academy exchanged a few words with Fang Shimei, and then walked to Li Xiucai, who was helping out in the yamen of the Inspection Department, and asked quietly while stomping his feet to keep warm: "Charter, how can you welcome Master Han here, it stands to reason that you should go to Huangcun!" ”

Li Xiucai looked at Fang Shimei, who was talking to Liu Daring in front, and said in the ear of the dean: "It stands to reason that you should go to Huangcun to greet you, but now not only Huangcun is not under the jurisdiction of our Hai'an Inspection Division, but even Jiang Yan has become a realm of officials, so you can't go to the territory under the jurisdiction of Master Li to greet Master Han." ”

"Jiang Yan is not under the jurisdiction of our Hai'an? When was this? ”

"You have to ask Master Fang about this."

"This ...... This is ridiculous, it simply makes no sense. ”

"Who's to say it isn't." One less big town and dozens of villages is equivalent to not having a lot of income for Li Xiucai, he looked at Fang Shimei who was standing at the front again, and muttered: "I guess Master Han won't let him go to greet him, and eighty percent of it is because of this." Think about it, if we really go to Baimi to greet us, won't it be true that Jiang Yan will not be under the jurisdiction of the Haian Inspection Department in the future? ”

"But what's the welcome here?" Dean Gu muttered.

"He told us not to go, let us all be here to greet us, what can we do." Li Xiucai said helplessly.

Dean Gu looked down on Fang Shimei, who had two birthdays in three days, and said in a low voice: "You can do what he asks you to do, what will you do when he packs up and leaves?" ”

"Master Han's previous inscription is still posted at the door of the yamen, we are now going to welcome it, or if we don't welcome it, we can only see the move."

"Let's scrape together some more money, but I can't lose my job because of this."

"I made it up last night."

"Just make it up."

While they were whispering, there was a commotion in the west.

Dean Gu realized that the new inspection official ship had arrived, so he hurriedly pulled out his hand from his sleeve and dressed his clothes, and squeezed to the front to prepare to greet him.

"Silence, silence!" Soap Li Chu Chenggui struck three gongs in a row, and the people crowded on the bank of the river, especially the children, dared to go inside, Fang Shimei's vision suddenly widened, and he saw a boat slowly rowing from the west, and a young man in his early twenties wearing a nine-grade civil official uniform stood at the bow of the boat, followed by the two officials of the state government.

"The new inspector Master Han has arrived, and the military and civilians have avoided it!"

"Qin Jiazhi county title, Jiangsu alternate patrol inspector Fang Shimei, welcome Brother Han!"

"Xiufeng is late, so Brother Fang has been waiting for a long time." There were two people wearing official uniforms on the shore, one of them was a military attaché, Han Xiufeng recognized Fang Shimei at a glance, and stood at the bow of the boat and bowed his hand in return.

"Qin Jia, the general title, Liu Shangen, the additional foreign commissioner of the Hai'an Foreign Affairs Department of the Taizhou Guerrilla Battalion in Langshan Town, welcomes Master Han!" The inspector is a civil official, and he is the largest official in Hai'an, which is three acres of land, Liu Daring did not dare to say hello like Fang Shimei, first dusted off his horseshoe sleeves, and then lifted his official uniform and knelt down to greet him.

"Brother Liu, please get up, no need to be polite." When the boat came to the "gap", Han Xiufeng walked up the stone steps, and bowed back to the gentry who had saluted one after another, and said with a smile: "Xiufeng is late, so the gentry and villagers have been waiting for a long time." It's windy by the river, please go back, Rong Xiufeng will visit you one by one another day. ”

"Brother Han, Dean Gu and Dean Chen, they are still ready to give you the wind."

"Yes, Master Han, you have come all the way to Hai'an to take office, you have to let us do our best to be a landlord." Dean Gu said eagerly.

Accompanied by Fang Shimei, Han Xiufeng walked to the stone steps in front of the City God Temple, looked around at everyone, and said in a low voice: "The kindness of all the villagers has been appreciated by the official. Governance is out of the way, and it is not left to others. The friends of the curtain are all Yan Zhengshi, and they did not bring official relatives. All family members are miscellaneous and the selection is also very strict. Supervise and handle affairs on weekdays, and are not allowed to go out of the house without permission. If there is ignorance and recklessness, fake official power fumigation, or swagger, or blackmail civilians, or even word lawsuits, it is necessary to ask for money and documents in violation of regulations. All kinds of illegal matters, no matter who is harmed, they are allowed to be tied up at any time, and the punishment will not show favoritism! ”

Tone and frustration, righteous words.

Dean Gu thought to himself that this inspector who had just come here was really a clean official, this was really going to be a Qingtian master!

The onlookers couldn't understand, in fact, their attention had already been stunned by the things that the big head and the state government officials carried up together, other officials and masters took office with their families and boxes of luggage, and this new inspection master actually brought a few large baskets of handcuffs and shackles!

What made them even more frightened was that as soon as the handcuffs and shackles were lifted ashore, the officials of the state government moved a pair of wooden flails, iron chains, water and fire sticks, and a standing cage with thick wooden nails from the boat behind! These were all asked for by Second Young Master Zhang of Taizhou City Management, and they didn't cost a penny.

Looking at everyone's stunned looks, Han Xiufeng smiled slightly: "It's too cold outside, folks, please go back." ”

A few large frames of handcuffs and leg irons, so many sticks and chains, so many pairs of wooden flails...... Dean Gu, Li Xiucai and other local gentry looked furious, and secretly wondered what this newcomer was going to do!

It was also a new official who took office, and the people put on such a big scene frightened all the people on the riverbank, and then thought of the sonorous and righteous words just now, Fang Shimei was embarrassed, and hurriedly said: "Brother Han, no, Master Han, why don't you go to worship the city god first." ”

"There's Brother Lao."

"Master Han, please."

"Brother Fang, please."

From the Tang Dynasty, the local states and counties enshrined the city god of the city, and the former Ming Dynasty was the god of the city god, in short, the new officials must first worship the city god, in order to ask the city god to bless the smooth term. Han Xiufeng just inspected the main hall of the state and county, and he didn't need and couldn't stay in the city god temple for a day, and he didn't need to burn any sacrificial texts like the state and county main hall, so he went to the city god temple to simply offer incense and worship in the support of Fang Shimei's group of scribes and servants, and then walked to the land shrine on the east side of the gate of the master of ceremonies to worship the inspection.

The land shrine is dedicated to the land lord, who is the guardian saint of the land. Although the character of the land lord is not high, its ancestral temples are almost all over every village, which shows the status of the land lord in the minds of the people.

After the sacrifice, everything came according to the rules, and after the sacrifice, he took Pan Er and Zhang Shiheng into the hall and took a seat in the public hall.