The so-called curtain friends are actually the masters of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. This is a very special profession www.biquge.info in a sense, it is more similar to the secretaries of later generations. Responsible for helping the chief officer draft and deal with various documents, as well as giving advice and so on. In particular, those officials who passed the imperial examination often did not know much about local practice (or also called secular affairs), and often did not have the intention to understand it - after all, as an elegant scholar, he needed a lot of time to recite poems, travel in the mountains and rivers, and read the books of sages and sages, so how could he have so much time to deal with those chores? In addition, in many cases, dealing with these mundane affairs requires a lot of specialized knowledge, and the chief official himself is not proficient in this kind of thing, for example, the magistrate often also serves as a judge, but very few magistrates really have the knowledge and skills of a judge, which also needs to find a friend to help. What's more, as in later generations, it is inconvenient for many chief officials to do it, but someone must do what they must do. In later generations, this kind of thing was often done by secretaries, and at that time, it was often done through the master.

However, there is still a little difference with the market, that is, in later generations, the secretary is a national civil servant with a establishment, but in my Ming Dynasty, there is no establishment of the curtain friends, not to say that it is not an "official", strictly speaking, it is not even a "official". It has nothing to do with the national government, including contractual relations. In this regard, even "temporary workers" are not easy to count. The curtain friends are complete, and they are the private employees of the officials. To put it simply, that is, his salary is not paid from the state treasury, but by the officials who employ him themselves.

I, Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, believe that officials are all sages and sages, and should have noble morals, and they should come out to become officials for the purpose of "helping the world", not for their own selfishness. So they don't need a lot of wages, they only need to be paid enough to "eat and drink". Therefore, I have always given very little money to officials, if a county official really lives honestly on money, Hai Rui Haigangfeng is an example. This model official was so poor that one day he went to the street to buy two catties of meat, and it was actually taken as news and passed on to the ears of Hu Zongxian, who was the governor. Therefore, if there is no gray income, everyone is like Haida, but the officials can't afford the salary of their friends. Therefore, only when the official is rich, the friends can be rich. It is precisely because of this that when officials face the temptation of corruption, their friends often stand firmly on the side of corruption because of their own interests.

The surname of the curtain friend of Yang County Order in Nan'an County is Shan, called Shan Ren. Originally, he was a child in Shaoxing Mansion, but later he took the exam countless times, and he was not admitted to Xiucai, and after a long time, he broke off this idea, turned his head and learned some skills on how to deal with Qian Gu, followed Yang County Order, became a curtain friend, and helped Yang County Order deal with some things in Qian Valley.

Since this Shan Ren has already lost the idea of fame, he naturally values money quite seriously. One day after the curtain was over, this Shan Ren went out of the yamen, walked through the market and went home, and just arrived at the door of the house, but saw Liu San, the leader of the yamen, waiting there with a person in a brocade coat and hat. When Liu San saw Shan Ren, he hurriedly greeted him and said, "Mr. Shan, you can come back." Zheng Daguan has been waiting for you for a long time. ”

Hearing the words "Zheng Daguanren", Shan Ren's heart somehow suddenly remembered the "Zhen Guanxi" who was killed by Lu Ti's three punches. hurriedly looked at this person, but saw that although this person's figure was not too tall, his bones were thick, and his neck was almost as thick as his head.

Fortunately, this person was also very polite, and when he saw Shan Ren, he hurriedly stepped forward and said, "But Mr. Shan in person? The owner of the villain has already set up a table of banquets on the Chunfan Tower, and is waiting for Mr. It turned out that the person wearing the brocade coat and hat was not a "Zheng Daguan", but just a follower of "Zheng Daguan".

"I wonder who your master is?" Shan Ren hurriedly asked.

"Sir, just go, and you'll know when you go." But the man said nothing. Shan Ren turned his head and glanced at Liu San, saw Liu San nodded, and remembered that this person's surname was "Zheng", his heart moved, and he said: "So, and when I go back to the house to inform you, I will go with the two of you." ”

The man also nodded hurriedly and said, "This is also how it should be." ”

Shan Ren went in and saw his mother-in-law, so he asked, "Do you know the identity of the person Liu San brought?" ”

His wife replied, "I don't know, just look at what this man is wearing, I'm afraid the family is not ordinary rich." This man has come to you, but what is the matter? ”

"This man is just a servant, and every servant is dressed like this, and his lord's house is really rich. This person's surname is Zheng, and I estimate that most of them are from the Zheng family in Anping, and only their family is so rich. Shan Ren replied.

After the husband and wife said a few words, Shan Ren put down the things in his hand, turned around and went out the door, and followed the two to Chunfan Tower.

When they entered the restaurant, Xiao Er took them to a small pavilion on the second floor. When he entered the Accord, Shan Ren saw that there was a person sitting on the main seat, and another person was also wearing a brocade robe and a hat, standing behind him.

Seeing a few people come in, the man stood up with a smile on his face and led Shan Ren into the seat, while the servant behind him said to Xiao'er, "Now that the guests have come, you can serve wine and food." ”

Xiao Er answered and went down, and after a while, he walked up with a tray, but the wine and food began to be served.

The man only advised him to drink, but he did not say anything else. Shan Ren ate two glasses of wine, but he couldn't let go of it in his heart, and hurriedly asked, "I don't know Mr. Daming, what's the matter with finding here?" ”

The man smiled and said: "A certain surname is Zheng, with a single name and a colored character, but he is the younger brother of General Zheng, a guerrilla general of the Five Tigers." This time I took the liberty to find Mr., and there was indeed one thing. ”

Shan Ren listened, nodded in his heart, and said, "I don't know what Mr. is looking for me?" I'm just a friend of the scene.,I don't know if I can help Mr. Shang.。 ”

When the man heard this, he smiled and said, "It's not that difficult to say. My eldest brother's eldest son will take the boys' test in this prefecture in February next year. The guarantor has already been found, and he is waiting for the exam. It's just that my nephew is taking the exam for the first time, and my eldest brother heard that the county examination institute is in disrepair for a long time, and the conditions are not very good, so he intends to contribute some money to help repair and repair, and when the time comes, I hope that Mr. will do me a favor and arrange a better position for my nephew. ”

Although this is a position, Shan Ren understands that he is willing to help pay for the repair of the examination institute, and what he wants will never be just a location with good lighting and a little farther away from the toilet. This rank mostly refers to the ranking after the examination.

Shan Ren thought about it in his heart for a while, and when he was a friend of the county order in Jinjiang, he naturally had to know the local characters. Just like the talisman in "Dream of Red Mansions", all those who are magistrates have a private slip, which is written with the name and surname of the most powerful and wealthy squire in the local area, because if you don't know, if you offend such a family for a while, not only the official, but also the life of the official. Although the Zheng family is not at this point, it also needs to be dealt with carefully. The situation of the Zheng family, Shan Ren naturally knows a little. At least, he knew that Zheng Zhilong's eldest son seemed to be a well-known prodigy.

"The county test is not difficult, since Zheng Zhilong's eldest son is a prodigy, of course there is no reason why he can't pass the test, and now the people of the Zheng family have come to the door, I'm afraid they want to get the identity of the head of the case." Shan Ren thought like this, so he spoke: "General Zheng is also a virtuous person in the township, and he has done a lot of good things for me in Jinjiang. Originally, it was reasonable that there was nothing to shirk for such a small matter, but there was still a little trouble in this position, and I hope the general will forgive me. ”

"What's the trouble?" Zheng Cai asked hurriedly.

"There are many outstanding people in this county, and there are really a lot of outstanding villagers." Shan Ren said slowly, "For example, Governor Hong Chengchou is a person from this county. I heard that Governor Hong's nephew is about the same age as Ling's nephew, and his family education is related, so I think his knowledge will not be bad, if he also wants to apply for the exam next year, it may not be easy to distinguish between the superior and the inferior. ”

Hearing this, Zheng Cai laughed and said, "Mr. Shan probably doesn't know that my nephew is going to take the county exam this time, who is the guarantor, right?" ”

"I don't know which one it is." Shan Rendao.

"But it is the younger brother of Governor Hong that Mr. Shan just mentioned, the father of the child who is about the same age as my nephew, Mr. Hong Yanhao, the son of this house. Moreover, my nephew has always been studying in the Hong family's ethnology, and Mr. Hong Yanhao has taken my nephew as if he were his own nephew. Zheng Cai said in a somewhat ostentatious tone.

"Even so, this should be done." Shan Ren said, "It's just that I can't count this matter, and I still need Yang Xianzun to take the idea." I can only beat the drum on the side. ”

"As long as Mr. Shan is willing to help, my Zheng family naturally knows that I am grateful to Yang Xianzun and Mr. Shan. A few days ago, the Hongmaoyi people and Liu Xiang harassed the coast, and Yang Xianzun almost didn't see each other for several months, running around the coast, organizing defense, and making Jinjiang as safe as Mount Tai. My eldest brother has always been in his mind. ”

Hearing Zheng Cai's words, Shan Ren almost stood up, he knew that Yang Xianzun would definitely not refuse this exchange. This kind of side work is not common, and countless people are staring at this side work. If you can really get this side work, then when the examination is completed (the inspection and evaluation of Ming Dynasty officials after the expiration of their term of office), they will definitely be able to get the evaluation of "called" (Ming Dynasty officials are divided into three grades after the completion of the examination: weighed, usual, and not weighed. Officials who are generally evaluated as "named" will be promoted, while officials who are rated as "untitled" will be belittled) and will be given the opportunity to be promoted. And in order to obtain this side credit, the endorsement of Zheng Zhilong, who made great contributions in this war, is naturally extremely important.