After a period of twelve horsemen, the horse stopped at the Qingliu County Ya...... No, it should be outside the county government axe gate, the leading officer looked up at the yamen plaque that said "Qingliu County Ya", and next to it there was a sign "Fujian Qingliu County Government Axe", the top of the yamen was covered with layers of gray tiles, a few of which were broken and a few were about to fall, the black paint on the yamen pillar seemed to fall down, and the blue, yellow and red tricolor flags on the two sides were hand-sewn at a glance and hung in front of the county yamen.

"What are you......?"

The official standing at the entrance of the yamen with a single-fired Martini rifle had just shouted half a sentence, and when he saw clearly that the person who jumped off the horse was wearing a tea-green military uniform, a cowhide armed belt with a pistol, and two guards on his body, he hurriedly stood upright.

"Greetings, sir!"

This official finally understood who this person was, and it must be the chief of the Liberation Army sent by the Nating Prefecture Government, and the newspaper has already said that the righteous prefecture and county Shangfu Taixian ordered the Guangfu political axe not to be appointed and dismissed for the time being, and only appointed civil affairs officials to take office.

"Hello, I am Peng Zhiyang, a lieutenant of the 11th Division of the Liberation Army, and I am responsible for escorting the new civil affairs officer to his post! Where is your county magistrate? ”

"Sir, please ...... here"

In the county magistrate's bedroom, Shi Mingyuan touched the shaved head, and the hair on his head was a little prickly, but after changing into this military-made plain clothes that were not a horse coat or a suit, although he was not very used to it, and even felt uncomfortable, his face was squeezed with a smile.

"It's still comfortable to have short hair!"

It's cool!

Looking at the black "official clothes" in the mirror, Shi Mingyuan's heart is that beautiful! Yi Zhi was worried about his heart, for fear that his official position would be taken away, but he never thought that the previous Yi Zhi, the appointment letter arrived yesterday, and he was still the county magistrate.

"Adult ......"

The heart was beautiful but was interrupted, Shi Mingyuan turned around and saw the official who entered the house, and hurriedly put on some official authority.

"What my lord, my lord, I am now a servant of the people, the county magistrate! You have to remember to call me next time, you have to call the county magistrate! ”

"Yes, county magistrate, ...... The government has sent someone! ”

"What?"

Shi Mingyuan was startled at first, and then his expression was serious.

"Quick! Quickly invite them to the lobby and quickly instruct the delicious building to prepare a table of meals...... Well! If you want more than twenty taels, the food and wine should be the best! ”

As he spoke, Shi Mingyuan wore this unaccustomed "official robe" and walked towards the county hall with a pair of rattling leather shoes.

As soon as I entered the lobby, I saw 12 people standing in the hall, eight of whom were wearing similar "official clothes", four of whom were wearing tea-green military uniforms, three of whom were standing by the door of the hall with loaded guns, and one of whom was obviously an official standing in the lobby.

"Welcome to Qingliu County, this ...... This public servant is looking forward to the stars, the moon, and the civil affairs officer sent by the government as soon as possible! ”

When he entered the hall, Shi Mingyuan's face was full of smiles, and he bowed his hand according to the Han etiquette mentioned in the newspaper, and then bowed again.

What is good at the top will be very bad at the bottom. In the past few days, Shi Mingyuan has been learning the Han rites mentioned in this newspaper, and even Long Live the Lord...... No, it's the handsome who advocate "recovering clothes and performing weekly courtesies!" How can he, as a county magistrate, not learn. Today's Seven Grades...... The county magistrate, maybe he will catch up with Ming, the handsome old man has opened the court, and he can also be promoted to a member of the first grade.

"County Magistrate Shi!"

Cao Jieren, who was standing in the hall, bowed lightly, and then took out the appointment letter under the axe of the provincial governor. Shi Mingyuan, who took over the letter of appointment of the provincial governor, saw that the provincial political axe had set up six sections for the county: legal affairs, civil affairs, postal services, police, education, taxation, and finance, with twelve people in seven sections, one person in legal affairs, civil affairs, postal services, finance, and taxation, three in the police department, and four in the education department.

Then he looked at the documents under the provincial political axe behind him, and the expression on Shi Mingyuan's face changed slightly.

The Legal Affairs Division is responsible for cooperating with the circuit court in the trial of criminal offenders and presiding over civil disputes, the Civil Affairs Division is responsible for the civil affairs of the Qingliu County Miscellaneous Division, the Postal Division receives postal and telegraphs, the Police Division takes over the county government patrol and arrest, and the government officials are responsible for maintaining local law and order, the Taxation Division is responsible for re-clarifying the excesses and miscellaneous taxes and levying the new tax for the recovery, and the Finance Division is responsible for liquidating the county treasury and determining the budget...... The responsibilities and powers of these six sections are almost equivalent to dividing all the power of the county lord, Shi Mingyuan's face was originally piled up, but this will be a slight change, when he sees the establishment of the county gentry, the establishment of the county and township advisory bureau, and the assessment of whether the county government officials at all levels are competent in the coming year, his face will become even more ugly.

"What's wrong?"

Seeing the change in the expression of the county magistrate Shi, Cao Jieren asked with a smile.

"I didn't ...... No problem, you are all heroes of the recovery, and it is a blessing for a small county to be able to come to serve in a small county......"

After laughing dryly, Shi Mingyuan squeezed out some smiles and answered, but the pain in his heart was undeceiving, even if they all divided the power, what was the use of being the county magistrate?

What other county magistrate should be responsible to the county advisory bureau, and he needs to accept the county advisory bureau every month and other requirements, which makes Shi Mingyuan feel that this county magistrate is far less majestic than in the past, although he, the county magistrate, was appointed by the provincial political axe, but after a year of examination, if he cannot pass the county advisory bureau examination, he will be dismissed.

"Blessings, if a year later, I can get the Qingliu County citizen Dao to claim his job, I will be satisfied!"

Cao Renjie said with a smile, he knew that these county orders and prefects would be resistant to the officials of the seven sections stationed here, after all, after the decentralization of the seven sections, both the county magistrate and the mayor were all decorations, and the officials of the seven sections only needed to be responsible to the Advisory Bureau and the provincial political axe, not to the county mayor.

"A few colleagues, this is our saddle horse tired, this servant prepares a table of water and wine in the restaurant, and please ......"

Before Shi Mingyuan finished speaking, a young man standing in the hall who looked to be only sixteen or seventeen years old opened his mouth.

"You can wait for the afternoon to eat, it's only ten o'clock in the morning, and I also ask the county magistrate Shi to hand over all kinds of official documents, and Yu Lian will also liquidate the county treasury, so as to calculate the budget of each section of our county from this month."

"Yes! Please also ask County Magistrate Shi to arrange office space! ”

Most of these young people, who look no older than 20, graduated from industrial schools in Shanghai or Majiang School in Fuzhou, and most of them have only received a few months of administrative training, and are assigned to various positions at this time.

For these young people, who have just been appointed as civil affairs officials, nothing is more important than the government at hand, and most of them have been mobilized before taking office, knowing that the responsibility on their shoulders is directly related to the success or failure of the recovery.

"Ahh

Hearing this, Shi Mingyuan suddenly sweated on his forehead, but he borrowed seven thousand taels of silver from the treasury, if it was...... Nodding stunnedly, this will Shi Mingyuan has no way except for a wry smile, he knows that on the surface, only twelve people have been sent to the mansion, but there is a group of Guangfu troops stationed in Tingzhou Mansion, if he does not cooperate today, he will not last for three days, and he will become the soul of the sacrifice flag when the army arrives.

Entering the dungeon in the backyard of Qingliu County, Feng Xueze was immediately choked by the stench of choking and frowned, there were three cells in the dungeon, and there were more than a dozen prisoners in the wooden prison with thick arms, several of whom were locked next to the urine tank, and several of them still had bruises from the beating.

"What's going on?"

Feng Xue frowned and asked.

"Section Chief Feng, these prisoners are disobedient and fight with other prisoners, that's why they ......"

The official who bowed his waist hurriedly replied.

"Oh"

Turning his head to look at Liang Yuquan, the head of the fast shift behind him, Feng Xue looked at the few people who were locked next to the urine bucket, one of them looked a little weak, this kind of person would fight with a fierce and vicious-looking prisoner?

Although he didn't say it on his lips, but in his heart he knew some of the rules in this prison, and these old and cunning prison hermits were in this prison and used them to blackmail prisoners. Some soap officials who are in charge of shackles and boards for prisoners will secretly ask for bribes from prisoners, and if the prisoners pay the money, they will secretly act with their hands and feet to alleviate the prisoners' trauma, otherwise the prisoners will suffer greatly. Not only ordinary prisoners, but even those on death row who are dying, cannot escape the fate of being knocked out by the prison officials. That's the rule in prison!

Listening to the moaning sound in the prison, Feng Xueze hated it, but he didn't show too much expression on his face, just looked at these prisoners, and finally he said a word.

"Lao Li, you go out first, I want to interrogate a few prisoners here!"

Several jailers behind him were stunned, and then left the dungeon with a smile, they naturally knew the rules, often new officials take office, the first is to check taxes, the second is to check the prison, this is to pull the predecessor's "pigtails".

"Then the head of the prison told me that if I want to be comfortable, it is easy, and in the inner room, there are high bunks and tables, and there is anything to eat, but it costs fifty hangings before I am allowed to enter this house; Spend another thirty hangs, remove the chain; Spend another twenty hangings, you can shop underground; If you want to lay high, you will have to hang thirty hangers; If you eat opium cigarettes, you can bring them yourself, or they will do it, turn on the light once, and hang it five times. If you open it every day, it's good to take a hundred hangers and pack it away. The rest of the food and meals have a price, whether it is a long bag, or a meal. ”

The weak-looking man who was locked on the side of the pecan sighed.

"Then why are you still locked here?"

"He didn't have any money with him, but he was pushed into the prisoner's pile by the prison guards, beaten half to death by the prisoners, and punished for standing all night. It's not early in the morning, and you're locked up here again! These are all rules, huh? ”

The inmate who was questioned looked at the young man who was called "section chief" by the jailer and sighed weakly.

"Don't say it's us, even if it's a death row inmate in that room, you have to pay for it,"

"But no, the person who was sentenced to death by Ling Chi, the executioner told him that if he didn't give money, he would prick his heart first if he gave money, so that he would die a happy death; If you don't give it, you will be cut by a thousand knives, and your limbs will be cut off, and people will not be able to die, and they will suffer alive. …… For the death row prisoner who was to be hanged, he told him: "Pay the money, hang it once and lose your breath, don't pay the money, hang it three times and add other torture instruments before you die, can you pay this money?" ”

Listening to their words, Feng Xueze took a pen and wrote them all down in the notebook he carried with him, and he already knew these rules when he came, and this was the case everywhere.

"Your Excellency,"

"Huh?"

"I heard that this clear blood has been restored, and I have also read "Enlightenment" in the past and know human rights, I don't know if my lord, when will the darkness in this prison be revealed?"

Feng Xueze, who asked a question, smiled awkwardly, for the time being, he would not interfere with these, although he was in charge of the legal affairs department, at least before Qingliu County stabilized, he still had to endure some things.

"Hmmm! Let's wait until the overall situation stabilizes a bit! ”

Closing the notebook in his hand, Feng Xue shook his head helplessly and sighed.

In this way, many people were "killed" by hunger, cold, disease, and resentment. "Yu death" is actually a "universal cause of death", whether it is really incurable due to illness, or other unnatural deaths can be called "Yu death", and more importantly, the government is not responsible. ”

When he walked out of the dungeon, he just sighed in his heart when he thought about the prison investigation report written in the school report, at least before the new law was promulgated, even if he wanted to change everything here, he couldn't change it, after all, if he wanted to change the situation here, he needed not only the new law, but also the reform of the political axe at all levels, and this was not something he could control.

The abacus was playing in the lobby of the county government, and when he looked at the lobby occasionally, Shi Mingyuan sighed for a long time, this governor axe is completely different from the officialdom he was used to in the past, these people seem to be young, but they can find out a lot from those files, but what he is most worried about is not what the legal chief surnamed Fang finds out from the criminal file, since he took office, he has not been sentenced to unjust imprisonment, the only thing he is worried about is the young man surnamed Liu, so he is worried about the method of the financial section chief, He also knew that this man would definitely be able to find out his little thoughts.

At this time, Master Ma walked up to him and whispered in a low voice.

"Master, don't worry!"

"Why don't you worry!"

"Master, don't worry, there are a few clean butts in this Yizhi prefecture and county, but you have heard that a few people were beaten to prison, and now, this Fujian is recovering for the first time, and what the governor is asking for is a stable word,"

As he spoke, Master Ma nodded those young people with his chin again.

"Master, didn't you read the newspaper, most of these young people are handsome protégés, do you think they can stay in a small county like ours for a few days?"

When Master Ma spoke, he stroked the beard on his lips with his fingers, looking confident.

"In this world, sooner or later, the marshal will definitely fight down, by that time, master, do you think the world is big, just how many officials the capital has to have, the marshal must want to take advantage of the present, first, to send his protégés to the local first, first, to stabilize the locality, to implement the new policy of recovery, after all, although the old regulations are temporarily postponed, but this advisory bureau always has to be built, and new taxes are always levied, don't these depend on them!!"

Then he straightened his chest again.

"Second, I want to sharpen one or two with local chores, and I will be of great use in the future!"

"What do you mean?"

Shi Mingyuan's eyes lit up, but his eyes changed slightly when he looked at those young people.

"Master, just take a look! Whether the new dynasty is in Jiangning or in Beijing in the future, they will definitely go back, at least the new emperor will definitely use them in the future, we just need to follow them, this new dynasty and new atmosphere will not be maintained......"

As he spoke, Master Ma put his mouth to the master's ear and whispered in his ear.

And the more Shi Mingyuan listened, the more reasonable he felt, looking at those young juniors, the eyes had already burst into light, as if these young people were his future way to advancement.

Feeling the strange look cast from outside the door, Cao Jieren just smiled in his heart, he knew what these old officials were thinking, what they thought was their business, and how they did it was their own business, not to mention that they thought like that, but it was more beneficial to the things of the future work.

When these people were looking through the accounts and checking the files, the people from the education department were there to use the simple mimeograph machine they brought to print the notice, and the content of the notice was very simple, just like the recovery of the prefectures and counties, they were all notices of persuasion to study, and there was also an enrollment notice for a county normal crash course.

Near noon, two officials posted a few notices on the notice board outside the county office, and soon a group of people who had been curious since they saw the dozen or so people who had come to the county on horseback came to the county, and people crowded around the notice, looking at the contents of the notice.

“…… According to the "Implementation Measures for the Treatment of Students at Public Expense in the Provisional Political Axe Normal School", normal students are exempt from paying tuition, dormitory fees, books, sports, medicine, health and other miscellaneous fees, and all meals are provided. In addition, the school provides 2 sets of single uniforms and 1 set of cotton uniforms for normal students. The school also pays for the internship materials such as art, labor, physics and chemistry, biology, etc., and outstanding students can also enjoy scholarships......"

When the literate person read the enrollment notice of the Qingliu County Accelerated Normal School, he saw one of the old scholars dressed as a person shaking his head and sighing.

"If you want to teach people to be gentlemen in the Normal School, why not open a Father Fan School to teach people to be fathers?"

His words caused a burst of laughter around him, and there were some young people who stared at the notice, the provincial governor's specific "Measures for the Treatment of Primary School Principals and Teachers" "The minimum monthly salary for primary school teachers: 20 yuan for first-class qualifications; B-class qualification: 18 yuan; C-class qualification: 16 yuan; D-class qualification: 14 yuan; E-class qualification: $12. ”

This salary has attracted some poor scholars, especially those who know that their families are poor at a glance, and they are staring at this free school and generous treatment.

"Tsk...... The salary of teachers shall be made up by the governor of the poor county, and shall not be in arrears, and the county magistrate shall be dismissed from his post if he owes it......"

Seeing the content of the notice, although the notice was written too plainly, the young man in the crowd dressed in a green cloth scholar's robe, after reading this sentence, looked at the patched clothes on his body, and when his head was raised, he broke between his neck and stroked his neck, and he walked towards the county office, and the notice said that he would register at the county office, and the textbook would be delivered in a month, and the normal school would be opened.

At the gate of the yamen, he met a person, and as soon as the two met, they bowed deeply and saluted.

"Brother Mingli, what are you...... Could it be that he also came to apply for the normal school? ”

"Zhezhi, you just got the first class of the township style when you are young, are you also here to apply for that school?"

"There's no way, now that the old and new dynasties have changed, I don't know that Enke will have to stay for a few years when he reopens, and this family is poor, so he should make a living......"

The two bowed and talked, and then entered the Qingliu County Yago Office side by side, "If you want to teach people to be gentlemen in the Normal School, why not open a Father Fan School to teach people to be fathers?" The crash course of the Normal School.

(To be continued)