Before the third day of the eighth month, the old man Xie Chang in the champion county town had made up his mind not to go to the official temple to listen to the vote.

It's just that on this day, I found that many boys in the clan got up early in the morning and went out in hiding.

If you go out today, why don't you go to the official temple?

In order to wait for the people in the countryside to enter the city, the county has already announced that the county magistrate will not start reading the ticket until noon!

These monkey cubs who have forgotten their roots, the patriarch doesn't care!

The old man scolded in the courtyard for a morning, and the old wife and daughter-in-law couldn't stand it and hid out.

Seeing that the time was coming to an end, the old man stomped his feet, gritted his teeth, and went out step by step in the direction of the official temple.

Bowing his head and walking a few hundred steps, and thinking of the embarrassing scene where he was discovered by the juniors to eavesdrop, Xie Chang suddenly blushed, paused suddenly, and then turned back to prepare to go home.

It's just that when he turned around and saw the figure moving with his head down and small steps dozens of steps away, he froze for a moment, until the other party took two steps forward before he opened his mouth to greet: "Clan." Patriarch! ”

The other party raised his head when he heard the voice, and sure enough, it was his nephew, Xie Su, the patriarch of the Xie clan in Champion County!

Seeing Ming Xie Chang, the other party was also surprised, and stammered with a red face: "Uncle, why are you here?" ”

How should this embarrassing person be answered? Fortunately, the old man was anxious and wise, and opened his mouth and said: "Most of the juniors in the clan go to the official temple to listen to the votes, and you don't care about anything, I want to find them, and order everyone to return home." ”

Xie Su exhaled lightly and hurriedly followed: "My nephew is the same, if you want to find the clansmen to return, you must not listen to the county magistrate read the ticket!" ”

Without the last sentence, who can know that he has a weak heart? Xie Chang glared at him dissatisfied, gritted his teeth and asked, "Go together?" ”

"Go along! Let's go! Uncle please! ”

Thereupon. The uncle and nephew puffed up their chests. Strode towards the official temple.

The outer grounds of the temple are spacious. However, at this time, it was already crowded, and there were dense cattle near the bolted horse pile, and some were temporarily tied under the surrounding trees, and some naughty children were squatting on a few big trees.

Xie Chang saw that a wooden platform more than a foot high was built in the center of the venue, and the crowd surrounded the high platform. Looking at the appearance, the more you go inside, the more crowded it is, and dozens of errands under the high platform are holding knives and sticks, and the scribes are surrounded and blocked. didn't let the crowd crowd pass and crush the wooden platform.

There were also scribes standing on a high platform and shouting to the crowd, telling the old and young not to stand too forward, and to be careful of squeezing and stepping on injuries.

Seeing this scene, Xie Chang and Xie Su were all glaring, how could they find twenty or thirty juniors from the Xie family among the thousands of people?

Xie Chang looked back at Xie Su: "Separate searches!" ”

"No!"

Separately into the crowd, Xie Chang looked around, there were too many people, and he didn't find a familiar face, so he sighed and stopped hiding his ears and stealing the bell. Diagonally standing on the periphery waiting.

After a while, he thought that the head in front of him was blocking his view. I could only stand on tiptoe quietly and look at it.

Fortunately, their uncle and nephew arrived late, and did not wait long, and at noon came, and several servants carried straw mats, desks, an open empty box, and a large wooden plank erected on the high platform.

There were some words and lines written faintly on the large wooden board, but unfortunately I couldn't see it clearly when I stood far away.

After that, the county magistrate and Gong Cao Shi worked together to move a wooden box with a seal to the wooden platform, the main thin hand held the scroll, and the county took the inkstone, pen, and ink, and followed the stage.

The main book first knelt down and sat on the back seat of the desk, and two more supervisors came to the stage to check that the seal was correct, and then touched the inside of the empty box next to him with his hand, and each pressed his handprint on the main book's paper.

The magistrate beckoned to an errand to bring an axe to the stage.

Gong Cao Shi tore open the seal, and the county magistrate personally raised an axe to pry open the nailed wooden box.

After that, the county magistrate and Gong Cao Shi worked together to overturn the wooden box, and thousands of tickets flowed out of it, all of which were poured into the empty box next to it.

Pick up the ticket that fell outside the box, and then the two of them jointly lifted the previously sealed wooden box, and went around the stage to show the people below that the box was empty.

Putting down the empty box, the county magistrate gave a salute to each of the four directions, and then raised his voice to say something, Xie Chang couldn't hear it clearly from a distance, but the crowd in front of him "coaxed" back a little.

The county magistrate saluted again, and spoke again, but the crowd retreated a little, and the area around the high platform was much looser.

More than 30 young scribes in Taixia County entered the crowd and stood in each direction, Xie Chang stood on the periphery, but there was also a scribe standing a few steps away.

After a while, the county magistrate spoke again, and the voice came out from the inside to the outside through the crowd of Chinese officials, and the first sentence shouted by the civil officials a few steps away: "Everyone is quiet, this county is now reading the vote to the people!" ”

In fact, there is no need for him to pass on the words, the old man's ears are not deaf, and the previous one has already heard it.

After this sound, the surroundings were much quieter, and even the naughty children in the trees were no longer naughty and noisy.

"Those who are voted for and are present today can go to the high platform to check whether there is any fraud!"

After shouting this from all over the stage, the county magistrate stood still for a while, bent down and took out a ticket from the wooden box, unfolded it and took a look, and read: "Dongcheng Pavilion Xintun Gongmin Huo Tong recommends Tongting Yitun Xuanning Gongdu as a township elder!" ”

The following clerks will pass the recitation one after another, taking advantage of this little effort, the county magistrate will reverse the ticket, let the county prince, the lord Bo read it first, and then walk for the people in front of the high platform to watch, regardless of whether the high platform is literate or not, stretch out their necks to see.

The lord bowed his head and recorded on the scroll, and the county clerk also took a pen to write on the wooden board.

After the voice was passed out, the county magistrate spoke again, and what came out from behind was: "Can Gong Ning?" You can go on stage! ”

The officials shouted three times in a row, and after the first sound was heard, a Huajia scribe rushed out of the county office, and when the third sound began to be heard, he squeezed from the crowd to the center, panting and ascending to the high platform, but he was an old county official in the county official temple.

This person Xie Chang has heard a little, he used to be a native of Xiuwu County, Hanoi, after Deng Mu'an occupied Nanyang, he was selected as an official because of his literacy, and his family was in the east of the city, and his household registration seemed to be only a good citizen.

Only those who are above the seventh rank of a scribe can obtain the status of meritorious people.

Chong Ningxuan, the county magistrate on the high platform, nodded, asked him to stand aside and watch, threw the ticket card into the empty wooden box, and then took out a new ticket in the other wooden box, and unfolded it and read it again: "Wangpo Pavilion Jitun Gongmin Zhang Gu recommends Dongcheng Pavilion Jiatun Chen Jiao as the old man!" ”

Everything else is the same as before, Chen Jiao, who came to power with a red face this time, is an old errand in the county official temple.

The first two recommended are all from the official temple. Xie Chang was already a little disdainful in his heart. But the third one is a little better. Listening to the name, the household registration should be Bai Zhang, the head of the Bai clan outside the city.

In any case, the patriarch of the Bai clan was the first local name he heard today, not like the two outsiders of Ning Xuan and Chen Jiao, and when he heard about the registration, there were huge cheers in the crowd. It's just that Bai Zhanghe didn't show up, and he didn't come to power in the end.

The cheers overshadowed the voices of the clerks from all directions, and the county magistrate had no choice but to stop for a while and shout outside. After the outermost scribe announced, he was allowed to cheer, but where could he completely stop it?

The fourth vote was chosen by Chen Jiao, and then the fifth vote was from outside the city, although he came to the stage, Xie Chang didn't know him, and the crowd cheered, and a naughty boy almost fell from a tree because of jumping and clapping.

There was a dangerous situation, because there was a commotion in the corner under the tree, and the county magistrate was forced to stop. Send a messenger to get rid of all the urchins from a few trees.

The sixth vote was the patriarch of the Bai clan, which naturally attracted cheers. By the seventh vote, it was a big surprise.

The clerk in front of him said: "Chengdong Pavilion Yitun Gongmin Liu Qing recommends Chengxi Pavilion Jiatun Xie Chang Xie Youming as the old man of the township!" ”

Xie Chang was still thinking about why the Bai clan was friendly with the Gongmin of the Yuan Kingdom, but he was affected by a few sudden cheers, and he only vaguely heard someone calling his name, and before he could react, he was furious first.

Since the crown salute, who has dared to call Lao Tzu's name to his face in rudeness for decades?

As soon as he raised his head, the scribe in the crowd a few steps away repeated loudly: "Chengdong Pavilion Yitun Gongmin Liu Qing recommends Chengxi Pavilion Jiatun Xie Chang Xie Shuming as a village elder!" ”

Hearing the sound again, the old man understood, his face suddenly turned red, and his hands and feet trembled.

This...... How did this pick me?

The Yuan country is powerful, and there are indeed eight or nine people in the clan who ignore the clan order, or serve as officials, or serve in the army to obtain meritorious household registration, but most of them have moved to other places!

Who is Liu Qing? How do you recognize me?

He was still shocked, and a voice came from inside: "Xie Gongzai?" You can go on stage! ”

If someone was invited to the stage, not only the scribes a few steps away, but also the surrounding people shouted.

Thinking about the stunned expressions of the patriarch and the juniors in the clan after hearing his name, the surrounding crowd was boiling, but Xie Chang couldn't wait for a crack to grow on the ground so that he could get in, and he really wanted to stand on the stage and be embarrassed?

At this moment, the old man was full of shame and indignation, and there were many indescribable meanings in it, and everyone around him clearly didn't know him, but he only bowed his head and didn't dare to look at people.

"Xie Gongke? You can go on stage! ”

The second loud bang sounded from the inside out, and more and more people called, should I run away?

Contradictions, suspicions, and shame, Xie Chang really wished that he was like the patriarch of the Bai clan today, and he didn't have to be here in the first place, so he didn't have to suffer this sin.

After the outermost sound, the next step is to shout a third time from the inside.

The old man stomped his feet, gritted his teeth and thought, the old man went on stage to see the reality and reality, which junior dared to laugh when he turned around, the old man couldn't swell his face!

Raising his head suddenly, Xie Chang responded loudly: "Yes!" At! Let's Jean! ”

The old man just looks at the truth and explores the truth and falsehood!

Afraid of what?

Someone heard the voice, and sure enough, he made a gap, but more of them were completely deaf, and as others shouted: "Xie Gongke?" You can go on stage! ”

The old man trotted through the crowd, came to the high platform, found the steps, and stumbled up.

When he arrived on the stage, looking at the black head of the audience, a pair of incomprehensible eyes were all staring at him, the old man suddenly began to breathe rapidly, his hands and feet trembled, he only felt ashamed, lowered his head and did not dare to see anyone again, and he didn't even see the county magistrate signaling to him.

The county magistrate ignored him and went to read the next ticket.

The county magistrate pronounced out the new name, and the eyes at the bottom were no longer focused, Xie Chang felt more relaxed, and looked up at the big wooden board written by the county Cheng, which was not clear below before, it turned out that the pavilions in the county were first divided into small pieces with black lines, and the names of each recommended person were written under the pavilion to which they belonged, and their names fell on the west pavilion of the city.

It's just that this high platform is not too big, and the wooden planks are only limited, so if the thousands of votes are selected, how can they stand? How do you arrange the names on the board?

shouted like this one by one, Chen Jiao was recommended seven more times, and in the bursts of cheers, Bai Zhang was also called five more times, his Xie Chang's name was the same as the county official Ningxuan, and he was called three more times, and the county officials who repeated it were only marked by a horizontal line under the name of the wooden board, mostly just repeated, and there were fewer and fewer people who came to power again.

Xie Chang suddenly understood that although there were many recommended tickets, the number of recommended people was not so much. (To be continued.) )