Hu Rongyu sent Zhang Ye to Chengwu County to run an errand, and "by the way" accompanied Xue Rong to take office, accompanied by the military staff, and the delivery was handled very smoothly, Zhang Ye stayed in Chengwu County for one day and two nights, and returned to Caozhou to resume his life.

Xue Rong and his wife lived in the county yahou house as usual, and Li Mao rented a set of two-courtyard residences nearby, the main house is an ordinary brick house, and the wing room is a thatched house with stone roots and earth walls, the courtyard is not large, but it is more than enough for two people to live, after settling down, Sihu Zuo Zheng Siyuan took the initiative to come to the door, he came to make up for Li Mao's household registration.

Xue Rong told him that Li Mao's vulgar text was lost when Mo Kedu was assisting the garrison in capturing the salt baron, and asked him to find a way for Li Mao to settle down in Chengwu County.

Zheng Siyuan is full of promises, although this matter is troublesome, but it is not completely helpless, since it is the county respect, it is natural to go all out to handle it. After Zheng Siyuan asked Li Mao's date of birth and family situation, he went back to prepare the documents, reported to the county governor, and sent the documents to the state.

In the early years of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court implemented the rent regulation and taxed according to the Dingkou, so the management of the household registration was very strict, and a complete household registration management system was established. After the Anshi Rebellion, the lease modulation collapsed, Yang Yan implemented the two tax laws, the two tax laws were based on the taxation of acres and property, the dependence on people and household registration was weakened, and the household administration management was increasingly relaxed.

Half a month after arriving in Chengwu County, Li Mao officially became a subject of the Tang Kingdom, and with his identity, Xue Rong arranged an errand for him in the county government - Chengwu County to catch the golden envoy.

In addition to receiving various subsidies from the imperial court, officials in the Tang Dynasty also distributed certain positions according to the size of the official goods, the so-called "land is granted according to the product, and the land is rented out according to the land", and the income obtained is used as a supplementary benefit for the officials. The government offices at all levels have public office land, which is leased to tenants for farming, and the income obtained is not only to cover the office expenses of the office at the same level, but also to pay the local officials' salaries before the Anshi Rebellion. The general method of operation is to use the income from the public land for lending, and the interest income of each period is divided into several parts, and the officials distribute it according to their grades, and those with higher grades get more.

The person who was specifically responsible for running the matter was called the gold catcher, and at first most of them were also held by other officials.

After the Anshi Rebellion, the imperial court reformed the official system, and the local officials' salaries were changed to a fixed amount, which was drawn from the share of the two taxes retained by the local government. The income from the land and the interest income from the principal of the public office are no longer used to support the income of the officials at the same level, but are mainly used to maintain the normal operation of the official offices at the same level, such as the purchase of pen, ink, paper and inkstones, the maintenance of the public office, the payment of the public kitchen, and the payment of labor service and miscellaneous expenses.

In addition to the public estate, some local governments also own some other property, such as houses, acres of land, etc., and the income from these properties is mostly used for the additional welfare of their own officials.

In the early Tang Dynasty, the county-level government offices belonged to the public land and other properties were generally operated and managed by the county lieutenant or the secretary of the household.

In most cases, the "gold catcher" is served by the confidants and cronies of the county order, which is the unspoken rule of officialdom. Li Mao is a sworn brother and cronie of the Chengwu County Order, and it is reasonable for him to hold this position.

Qin Niang served Wei comfortably along the way, and after arriving in Chengwu County, Wei asked Li Mao to ask her to go over as a companion, Qin Niang herself was willing to go, and Li Mao was of course not good at objecting.

Every day, as soon as the day is bright, Qin Niang gets up to make breakfast for Li Mao, and then goes back to the house to sleep after cooking, and gets up at three o'clock to freshen up, and appears in the county government back house on time, generally at this time Wei has not gotten up.

After Qin Niang made breakfast this day, she didn't go to bed, but sat in front of the dresser, Li Mao punched in the courtyard, practiced a knife, sweated back to the house, and saw that in the opposite side room, Qin Niang was sitting in front of the bronze mirror decal, so she asked curiously: "Are you going out to meet guests today?" Qin Niang said with a smile: "Accompany the eldest lady to visit Granny Su in Sujiazhuang outside the West Gate...... Alas, look at my memory, I should call someone an old lady. ”

Li Mao said: "Is it the Su media's mother-in-law who has three sons who are eunuchs in the Forbidden Palace?" Qin Niang said: "Listening to your tone, you still look down on others, what's wrong with being a close attendant of the Son of Heaven in the palace, and coming out of the palace is more majestic than the history of the assassin." ”

Chengwu County West Gate three miles outside the Sujiazhuang there is a blacksmith surnamed Su, and the old wife with hard work to raise three sons and six daughters, ten years ago Caozhou locust plague, rice sold to one hundred and fifty Wen, the old couple really can't hold on, the second son Su Zuoming sent into the palace to be a eunuch, got three stones and two buckets of grain, the family survived the famine year.

A year later, Su Zuoming was selected by an old eunuch and adopted as a righteous son, and since then he has soared. Within a few years, the eldest and third of the Su family also entered the palace one after another, and the three sons were mixed in the palace, especially the second son Su Zuoming, who was the official bureau of the Inner Servant Province, and is now serving as the judge of the Inner Garden, taking care of all the gardens and courtyards in Chang'an, often flattering in front of the nobles in the palace.

Last year, Granny Su celebrated her 60th birthday, and her three sons played the title of Mrs. Dingtao County for the old lady, which caused a sensation in the entire Caozhou for a while, and even the Jiedu Embassy in Yunzhou also sent a congratulatory envoy to congratulate her.

Different from Li Mao's previous thoughts, in this era, it doesn't seem to be a shame for a man to enter the palace as a eunuch, and those eunuchs who have become officials and become powerful are just as proud of their families. However, under the influence of the decadent concepts of later generations, Li Mao still snorted twice about this, and thought disapprovingly: Even the little JJ is wooden, and he is still beautiful.

After finishing her makeup, Qin Niang got up and asked Li Mao: "What's the matter, do you still see the past?" ”

Qin Niang's foundation is good, and then she dresses up so carefully, she suddenly looks bright and bright, Li Mao, who watched it, couldn't help but swallow his saliva, and praised it repeatedly: "Beautiful, so beautiful, if it weren't for the fact that his three sons were eunuchs in the palace, I really didn't worry about you going." Qin Niang blushed and said: "What crazy things do you say early in the morning, I am your person, my name is determined early, and I can't change it for the rest of my life!" Don't say that they are just internal officials in the palace, even if they are Shangshu and squire in the court, what does it have to do with me? ”

Li Mao said: "I heard that many good eunuchs in the palace have bought houses outside the palace, not only marrying wives but also raising children, living like ordinary people, you can't take it too lightly." ”

"Ignore you." Qin Niang's face was as red as an apple, hot and hot.

After breakfast, Qin Niang followed Li Mao out of the door, followed behind with low eyebrows, Li Mao pulled her, and wanted to pull her over and walk side by side, but Qin Niang stubbornly refused.

The rented courtyard and the county government are in Xinglongfang, the county government is in the southwest corner of the fang, they live in the northwest corner, go south along the west square wall, and arrive at the county government without a cup of tea. After the point, Xue Rong sat in the hall and asked the officials if they had important matters to discuss, when in recent years, there was no important matter in the yamen, and when he asked a circle and saw that no one answered, Xue Rong ordered him to leave the hall, and everyone dispersed.

Li Mao followed everyone out of the courtyard, waited for a while, and then turned around and went to the middle hall.

Chengwu County has seven shops near the Dongguan Iron Buddha Temple, with a monthly rent of 300 yuan to a consistent amount, Li Mao visited nearby merchants, and found that the rent of the shops in the same area is about two yuan, so he wondered whether to increase the rent and increase the property income. There is no need to discuss such things in the lobby, so Li Mao specially went to the middle hall to talk about things.

The lobby in the county office is a place for public discussion, and it is a place for the county order to hear cases and handle important official affairs, and the county order to handle daily affairs is generally in the middle hall.