Su Hao's hesitation did not surprise Han Wen and Fang Mengjin at all, in their opinion, if Su Hao agreed very happily, it would be a strange thing.

To explain this matter clearly, we must first start with the official system and the imperial examination system of the Ming Dynasty.

The officials in the county government of the Ming Dynasty were divided into three levels. The first level is the official, and there are only 4 people who can be called officials in the general county, that is, the magistrate, the county cheng, the main book and the canonical history, which are all directly appointed by the imperial court, and by the standards of later generations, they are the so-called civil servants.

The second level is officials, including the heads and technical personnel of various departments under the county government. The number of officials varies according to the number of affairs and financial resources of each county, and the number of officials can reach as little as twenty or thirty or as many as hundreds. The source of officials was recruited from the people, and at the earliest they were even requisitioned in the form of forced labor.

According to the system of the Ming Dynasty, those who were willing to serve as servants had to first apply for it, called "sue nak", and then the old squires would have it insured and reported to the prefecture and county. When the governor of the prefecture or county deems it appropriate, he will report to the government at the next higher level, and the government will then report to the secretary for approval, so that the applicant will become an official official.

In a county, the number of officials is very small, and they are mainly responsible for grasping some major policies. The specific affairs of the county are all handled by the officials, so there is a saying that "the actual rule of the officials is the ear of the officials", which means that the country is nominally governed by officials, but in fact it is governed by officials.

A county has a population of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, and various affairs are also very numerous. Therefore, in the county government, there are many departments, the main of which are the six rooms corresponding to the six departments of the central government, namely, officials, households, rites, soldiers, criminals, and workers, each of whom has jurisdiction over one aspect of affairs, and the person in charge of the six rooms is called the secretary of the six rooms. In addition to the six rooms, there will be other departments such as the horse department, the grain department, the cabinet warehouse, and the register room under the county government, and there will also be officials responsible for specific affairs.

In the county government, the scribe is a technical cadre, and there are also officials who are responsible for the work, called the warden. Above the scribes and wardens, there were officials who were in charge of personnel, called priests.

Compared with officials, the status of officials is slightly lower, and according to the standards of later generations, officials belong to county leaders, and officials belong to the heads of various committees, offices, and bureaus in the county.

In later generations, the difference between the county leaders and the heads of the committees and bureaus was just a level difference, but in the Ming Dynasty, there was a bottomless gap between the two.

The officials of the Ming Dynasty were selected through the imperial examination system, and with the accumulation of political achievements, officials could be gradually promoted, from a small magistrate, to six Shangshu and even cabinet scholars.

Officials, on the other hand, are recruited through recruitment from the society, and there are basically no opportunities for promotion. In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, in order to give the officials some hope, it was stipulated that the officials could obtain the qualification to hold an official position after three examinations, that is, after nine years of service, called "birth". But in fact, the regulations only stipulate that because of the large number of officials and the very small number of official vacancies, the number of officials who can actually be promoted is very small, and most of them can only be supplemented to the posts that those officials who have come from the imperial examination are unwilling to do.

If you can't be promoted in your own position, that's it. Truly talented officials can at least consider entering the official career through the imperial examination, right? But more tragedy is yet to come.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was a man who lived at the bottom of society, and even after becoming emperor, he was still full of resentment about the bureaucracy. He believes that officialdom is a big dye vat, and good people will become bad guys if they go in and mix for a few years. Out of this understanding, Zhu Yuanzhang issued a policy stipulating that those who had served as officials were not allowed to participate in the imperial examination for the rest of their lives. In other words, if you have ever been a clerk, not only can you not be promoted to an official in the position of a clerk, but even if you want to change jobs to take the imperial examination, you are no longer eligible.

This policy formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang was passed down from generation to generation until the fall of the Ming Dynasty. It is conceivable that there is such a policy stuck there, how dare young talents go to the official office?

Han Wen and Fang Mengjin are both people who read books, and naturally they also understand the mentality of readers. In their opinion, Su Hao refused to accept Hanwen's employment because he was worried that once he became a clerk, he would not be able to participate in the imperial examination in the future. Throwing away the future for the sake of a little immediate benefit is something that no talented person with ideals and ambitions is willing to do.

"Su Hao, I also know your worries. The county cherishes that you are a talent, and naturally it will not delay your future. I want to hire you to work as an errand in the county office, you can not be included in the list of officials, there is a fact but no name, so that it will not affect your future examination. Han Wen gave Su Hao a reassuring pill.

"Uh......" Su Hao was speechless, in fact, he pretended to be embarrassed, and it was really not because of Zhu Yuanzhang's brain-dead regulations.

With the passage of time, by the late Ming Dynasty, many of the early regulations were gradually lost to attention. The so-called policies and countermeasures, it is no longer uncommon for Xiucai to go to the imperial examination after being a Xu official, and the examiners are all turning a blind eye to such a thing, and they are unwilling to block the future of a talented young man because of such a "stain" as a Xu official.

Su Hao is a person with the soul of later generations, and he is not very enthusiastic about the imperial examination, and it is impossible to refuse an opportunity to become an official because he is worried about losing his qualification for the imperial examination.

From the moment Su Hao crossed over, he was thinking about how to survive. When you are born in the world, you must either have money or power, and you must occupy the same in order to live comfortably. In a feudal dynasty like the Ming Dynasty, I am afraid that power is more important than having money, so when he encounters an opportunity to get involved with officialdom, Su Hao will not let it go easily.

Su Hao was reserved before, but he actually wanted to bargain with Hanwen. I have the technology to survey the well position, and in this dry season, I can sell it at a price. If Han Wen opened his mouth, he would be busy accepting it, wouldn't he have fallen in value?

Unexpectedly, his hesitation made Han Wen guess in the imperial examination. Su Hao heard Han Wen say this, and he also felt that there was some truth, as a showman, if he happily accepted the mission of a Xu official, he would be looked down upon by others.

Thinking of this, he followed the words of Hanwen and said, "The adults are aware that the students are worried about this matter. It would be better if I could not bear this name. ”

"Don't worry, this county won't harm you." Han Wen said, "In this way, this county will also hire you to be a master, in charge of the workshop, and you will be called the master of the workshop." ”

"The students are terrified, how dare they be as famous as Master Fang?" Su Hao said.

Han Wen looked at Fang Mengjin and said, "Master Fang is in charge of various political affairs for the county, so naturally your master can't be compared with Master Fang." You, the master, are only responsible for the affairs of the workshop, and have the right to support the clerks and subordinate officials of the workshop. When it comes to the matter of drilling wells and fighting drought, you can intervene as much as you can. ”

"As far as the students know, the servants sent by the adults to the townships to dig wells are all the wardens of the county government, I wonder if the students, the master of the workshop, can command them?" Su Hao began to understand his authority.

"Of course." Han Wen said, "You are the master of this official, and all the officials in the county government are counted as your subordinates. ”

I know who I am, Su Hao snickered in his heart. The position that Han Wenxu gave him was almost equivalent to the position of secretary of the county leader, except that it was a little smaller than the leader's personal secret master, and the directors and directors below had to look at his face. With such a position, as long as he does not offend Hangul, then within the scope of Fengcheng County in the future, he can basically walk horizontally.

"Thank you for your favor, and the students will definitely live up to the expectations of adults." Su Hao stood up and gave Han Wen a big salute, which was regarded as accepting Han Wen's appointment.

"Su Hao, since you have agreed to do things for the county, then you will live in the county seat in the future. Do you have a suitable place to live in the county? Han Wen asked, this is a good leader, in addition to arranging jobs for subordinates, but also thinking about the lives of subordinates.

Su Hao said: "At present, I don't have a suitable place to live, but I will look for a house in a while, and it must not be difficult to rent a house to live in first." ”

"Well, there are a lot of vacant houses in the county, and you should be able to rent a good place to live." Han Wen said, after that, he said to Fang Mengjin: "Master Fang, you go and get 20 taels of silver for me to reward Su Hao, he wants to live in the county seat, and he will have to spend some money." ”

"Adults, students don't dare to suffer in vain." Su Hao hurriedly stood up and excused himself, although what he thought in his heart was completely contrary to what he said, but the necessary politeness always had to be done.

Han Wen smiled and said: "It's not for nothing, you helped Zheng Chun dig a few good wells in Zhegui Township, which is worthy of the county's reward." You said that your family is living in poverty, and since the county hires you to do things, you can't have worries. ”

"Then the student thanked the magistrate for the reward." Su Hao made a half-push and half-made appearance and accepted the silver in Hangul.