Han official!

Chapter 147 County Magistrate
"Book of Rites: Royal Regulations": Within the county of the Son of Heaven, there are nine countries within a hundred miles.

There are two types of cities: one is the country and family granted to princes and officials.

The second type is the royal capital directly governed by the Zhou emperor.

County means direct rule by the person with the highest status.

Therefore, the royal capital directly governed by the Zhou emperor was called a county in the pre-Qin period.

The Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system, abolished the feudal system and replaced it with the county system, and thoroughly implemented the county system. All counties in the world were the royal capital.

The emperor of the Western Han Dynasty was also called the county magistrate, that is, the supreme ruler of the local area.

A county magistrate called himself an official.

The governor of a county also called himself an official.

Because the officials of counties and prefectures were the emperor, the county magistrates and prefects were all his subordinates.

When Guo Jie heard Chong Huangrou mention the county officials, he knew he was referring to Emperor Liu Che and nodded slightly. "Su Jian, go get the account books for each county. After you've reviewed the reports from the Right Secretary of the Interior on the twenty-seven counties, make your final decision."

One of the main tasks of the Shangji Yuanshi was to preside over the local tax collection, that is, the collection of various taxes such as land rent, market rent, and tax.

Another one is the examination, which is to inspect the various work of county and town officials, including household registration and finance, prison administration and punishment of bandits, names of royal family members, border garrison conditions, geographical administration, and encouragement of agriculture and sericulture.

"Get in!"

Su Jia, wearing a black cap and a loose black robe, walked into the private room. He was recruited by his mentor Guo Jie as the case historian of Shangji Yuanshi, responsible for guarding and organizing the large number of county and city bamboo slips of Shangji Yuanshi.

Equivalent to the administrator of the Discipline Inspection Commission's archives room.

The position is not high.

But status is very important.

All the investigation materials of the twenty-seven counties of the Right Internal History are in Su Jia's hands.

Su Jia was still young and didn't have a suitable white robe, so he wore his father Su Jian's white robe. It still looked very loose, and he looked a bit ridiculous, like a monkey in a human form.

Since Su Jia entered the Nei Shi Mansion, he met many officials along the way. When they saw his appearance, they couldn't help but smile mockingly.

He didn't care and was determined to repay his teacher's kindness. He immediately began to sort out the large number of bamboo slips accumulated in the twenty-seven counties of the Right Internal History.

Su Jia had just taken on the role of case historian when he saw a man sneaking around the door of the room where the bamboo slips were stored, sticking his head out into the room.

"Is this the newly appointed accountant? This is unfair. I was just delivering the account book, but this guy caught me and punched me for nothing."

Yao Luren, a minor official in Huaili County, walked in and sat down and began to cry out for justice, crying loudly, as if he had suffered a great injustice.

Su Jia's face flushed instantly: "You!"

He was valued by Guo Jie and served as a case historian in the Shangji Yuanshi.

Otherwise, how could a person like him, who came from a middle-class family, be working as an official in the Imperial Household Department when he was less than fourteen years old?

Not to mention the Nei Shi Mansion, even the County Magistrate Temple has no chance at all.

Su Jia secretly vowed not to embarrass his mentor Guo Jie and to do everything Guo Jie asked him to do seriously.

Unexpectedly, Su Jia caught a sneaky county official. Even if he didn't seek praise from Guo Jie, he could let his mentor know that he was loyal to his duties.

However, the county official Yao Lu Ren falsely accused Su Jia of arresting the wrong person.

Su Jia tightly grasped the short sword given to him by Guo Jie, wishing he could cut Yao Luren's neck with one blow.

"Shut up!"

The veins on Su Jia's forehead bulged. "You thief, you were clearly peeping at the door of the room where the bamboo slips are stored. Who knows if you wanted to steal a scroll or burn it? You even dared to falsely accuse me of arresting the wrong person. I will beat you to death!"

He was too ashamed to face his mentor Guo Jie, and a surge of anger rose in his chest.

Su Jia stretched out his fist and punched Yao Luren in the face.

"stop!"

Su Jian shouted and was about to stop his eldest son from hitting someone to avoid violating the Han law.

According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, officials were not allowed to beat people at will, and beating colleagues was a serious crime.

"fine."

Guo Jie stopped Su Jian, who was about to stand up, and shook his head, saying, "I have just been appointed as the Shangji Yuanshi. Some officials in the prefecture are probably dissatisfied. If Su Jia teaches this county official a lesson, it will also help me establish my authority."

"only."

Su Jian was a law-abiding and steady person. He hesitated and said, "After all, that man was a county official. Su Jia assaulted the county official, so it's inevitable..."

"boom!"

Before Su Jian could finish his words, Su Jia's fist had already landed on Yao Luren's face.

"what!"

Yao Luren didn't expect that Su Jia, a teenager, was so strong. He screamed, covered his face and dared not speak anymore.

"Come and deliver the account book?"

Guo Jie stared at Yao Lu Ren and demanded, "The account books are usually delivered to the clerk's desk or handed over to the gatekeeper. Why did you go to the room where the account books are kept? Tell me! What are you planning?"

He was worried that this minor official was a ruthless person who had accepted money from the powerful and burned down the house where the accountant kept the account books.

The account books just need to be burned.

Guo Jie was not a good supervisor and had to abdicate the position of Shang Clerk before he even had time to relax.

He sat in a small room next to the house, where the various accounting books and materials of the twenty-seven counties of the Right Secretary of the Interior were stored over the years. The number of books was huge, and if they were burned, Guo Jie would have to bear a great responsibility.

Su Jia was from a middle-class family. His father, Su Jian, was a minor official in a government office. Although he did not know the importance of account books, he knew that if the bamboo slips in the government office were burned, the officials would be implicated.

When he was sorting out the account books of various counties, he saw a sly-looking county official named Yao Luren appear at the door, craning his neck to look into the house like an idler who was gathering information.

Su Jia drew his dagger and walked to the door, and saw Yao Lu Ren turning around and running away. He didn't see that there was a Chinese toon tree in front of him, and his head hit the trunk. He was captured by Su Jia who was waiting for him and was taken to a sitting position.

"I am Yao Luren, the assistant official of Huaili County. I am here to deliver the account books for Huaili County."

Yao Luren's eyes rolled, but he refused to tell the truth. "According to the rules of the government, the account books are usually delivered by the chief clerk of a county. When the county magistrate heard that Su Jian was the assistant clerk of the Shangji Yuanshi, he asked the clerk to deliver the account books and looked into the house, looking for Su Jian."

Yao Luren was born into the Yao family of Beidao. He was a powerful tyrant with a fortune of more than five million shi and controlled Pingshan Township in Huaili.

There was only one reason why the Huaili County Magistrate sent the minor official Yao Luren to deliver the account book: Su Jia had arranged a marriage with a concubine of the Yao family in Beidao. Yao Luren and Yao Ji, the concubine of the Yao family, were cousins.

They can be considered as direct relatives, Yao Luren is Yao Ji's cousin, and he calls Yao Ji's father "father Ji".

Yao Luren’s crime could be big or small.

If it is serious, it is a crime of idleness, that is, espionage, and will be treated as a gang of bandits. The minimum sentence is life imprisonment in the city, and there is even the possibility of being directly sentenced to death and taken to the East Market to be beheaded and thrown into the market.

To put it mildly, he was just acting suspiciously and looking for his cousin's future husband, so he wouldn't be punished.

Whether this matter was a major one or a minor one was entirely decided by the accountant Guo Jie. Guo Jie was also a county official who was highly regarded by the internal historian Zhao Yu and the commander Zhang Tang. Even if Yao Luren was convicted of idleness, there would be no objection and he would be directly imprisoned in the county prison under the right internal historian.

When Su Jia heard that the county official in Huaili was surnamed Yao, he knew that he had arrested the wrong person. This person was Yao Ji's cousin, and would be his future brother-in-law.

"Are you from the Yao clan of Beidao?"

Su Jian pressed his hand, signaling his eldest son Su Jia to be silent, and said, "I will definitely ask someone to verify your identity. Don't talk nonsense. Are you a member of the Yao clan in Pingshan Township?"

Yao Lu Ren said with a sad face: "The official is a member of the Yao family in the northern road, and Yao Ji is the official's cousin. How dare he lie?"

Su Jian turned to look at Guo Jie and told him that his son Su Jia and Yao Ji were going to be married.

Guo Jie pondered and said, "Since this assistant official from Huaili County has such a connection, I will temporarily arrange for him to stay in my official quarters and return to Huaili County tomorrow."

It seems like he is staying to entertain you, but in reality he is under house arrest.

Guo Jie was cautious and sent someone to Huaili County to confirm Yao Lu's identity before releasing him.

The next day, Su Jia returned from Huaili County riding a Hexi horse and immediately went to the official residence where Guo Jie lived.

The Nei Shi Mansion had a chief official's residence where the Nei Shi and the Du Wei lived. These two separate houses occupied a larger area than the county magistrate's residence.

The Lingshe is a L-shaped house, and the house where the Nei Shi and Du Wei live is a two-story house.

The official residences of government officials were different from the separate courtyards of senior officials. Although minor officials could also live in government temples, they only had collective dormitories.

Normally, official residences are arranged together. Minor officials have low status and poor treatment. Several people live in one room and are not allowed to bring their families.

There is no separate toilet, only a common official toilet.

Unlike Guo Jie, the accounting clerk was usually the county magistrate or the county chief secretary. The county magistrate and the county chief secretary had their own separate L-shaped houses, which were even larger than the county magistrate's residence.

The house is fully equipped with guest rooms, inner chambers, and other rooms. There are also seven or eight more rooms. Near the back door there are toilets, chicken coops, and stables. There are also two young slaves and a big maid serving.

Guo Jie took a look at the crowded environment of the official residence and simply let Mang Tong, An Guo Shao Ji, Su Jian and others choose a room each and live together.

It also makes it convenient to discuss some things.

Unexpectedly, Chong Huangrou did not live in the main residence, but asked for a room in Guo Jie's official residence, which was a room next to the palace, and they lived together in the Neishi Mansion.

Yao Luren was imprisoned in a room next to Mang Tong. The door and windows were all locked. Mang Tong and Su Jian took turns guarding him.

"Teacher."

Su Jia handed the Hexi horse's bridle to the maid and walked into the guest room: "I have checked and found that this man is Yao Ji's cousin. We can let Yao Luren go, but..."

In a few days, he will officially marry Yao Ji. Before the wedding, he doesn't want to cause trouble and offend the Yao family in Beidao.

Su Jia and Yao Ji were in a free love relationship and they bumped into each other accidentally during the community festival last year. From that day on, they decided to spend their lives together.

Su Jia and Yao Ji are very much in love.

"A mentor is like a father."

Guo Jie smiled and said, "You can say anything you want to say. There's no need to hide anything. I'm your mentor, not your master. If anything happens, I'll take care of it for you."

A mentor is the master from whom one learns.

Mr. Xiang is an ordinary teacher who teaches a group of students.

Su Jia secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and his tense face became a little more relaxed.

The Yao family in Beidao was a powerful family with a fortune of over five million. They looked down upon the Su Jian family, who had a fortune of only one hundred thousand coins and were barely a middle-class family.

Su Jia went to Huaili County to inquire about the news. He learned that Yao Luren was not only a member of the Beidao Yao family, but also the son of the clan leader. He was worried that his marriage with Yao Ji would not be able to go through.

His mentor Guo Jie has already given him the order to make the decision.

Su Jia could finally rest assured.

The Yao family of Beidao looked down on Su Jia, but they did not dare to look down on Guo Jie, the chief accountant of the Right Secretary of the Interior.

Su Jia said solemnly, "I went to Huaili County to inquire about the news. I learned from the county magistrate that Yao Luren is indeed a member of the Yao family of the Northern Dao, but he did not send Yao Luren to deliver the account book. The account book of Huaili County was delivered to us a few days ago by the county chief clerk himself."

His childish voice sank. "So, this person has ulterior motives. He's not delivering the account books as he claimed. He's most likely a wealthy and powerful idler, or he may have burned the account books of Pingshan Township."

Submitting plans was an important means for the Han court to control local counties.

The submission of plans was often regarded as a sign of whether the vassal states had submitted.

Counties and states can also control the counties and towns under their jurisdiction by submitting reports.

Although the prefects and ministers had no power to appoint or dismiss county magistrates, chancellors, and lieutenants, they could, through the means of submitting plans to the court, dismiss county magistrates and other high-ranking officials.

There are townships under the county roads and towns.

The county government and the county magistrate's office also evaluated the officials at the township level through the means of submitting reports.

Guo Jie, the Gongcao of Chang'an County, was notorious for his evil deeds. He fined and confiscated the property of seven powerful families, including the Du family of the Western Road, Du Junao of Baling, and Zhao Tuo of the Eastern Road. Not only did he confiscate their property, he also wiped out the entire clan of the seven powerful families.

Guo Jie now serves as the chief accountant of the Right Internal Affairs Secretary. In the past, he could only inspect the powerful people in one county, Chang'an, the capital. Now he can inspect the powerful people in twenty-seven counties of the Right Internal Affairs Secretary.

Many powerful people were disheartened when they heard that Guo Jie was appointed as the chief accountant, and they would definitely try to avoid being inspected by Guo Jie.

The Yao family of Beidao was no exception. They sent Yao Lu Ren to secretly take away the account books of Pingshan Township from previous years while Guo Jie had just taken office and was unfamiliar with everything.

As long as there is no account book.

Guo Jie could not make plans.

Submitting the account book means submitting it to the higher levels one by one.

The neighborhoods were handed over to the townships, the townships were handed over to the counties, the counties, the towns were handed over to the prefectures and the kingdoms, and the prefectures and the kingdoms were handed over to the Prime Minister's Office and the Censorate.

After the report was submitted, the county would send accounting officials to conduct inspections in accordance with normal procedures to verify whether the contents of the account book were true.

Avoid false reporting or concealment by counties, townships, and villages.

The Yao family of Beidao sent Yao Luren to steal the account book. It seems that the contents of the account book in Pingshan Township, which is under the control of the Yao family of Beidao, have been falsified.

I was afraid of being targeted by Guo Jie.

Take advantage of the issue.

The Yao family of the North Road followed the footsteps of seven powerful families including the Du family of the West Road, Du Junao of Baling, and Zhao Tuo of the East Road. They ended up having one of their direct descendants thrown into the tiger's den, and the other villagers sentenced to being forced to pound rice in the city.

Guo Jie saw Su Jia's thoughts and knew that he was a man who valued friendship. He pondered and said, "Your marriage to Yao Ji is a good opportunity to investigate the Yao family of Beidao. However, Yao Ji is a member of the Yao family of Beidao after all. I don't want to ruin your marriage with Yao Ji."

"Don't worry, Master."

Su Jia's face showed a trace of resentment. "Yao Ji's parents died young, and the large amount of land they left behind was all seized by Yao Luren's father, her uncle, under various pretexts. Yao Ji's life was very hard, and she had long since given up wanting to stay in Pingshan Township."

Guo Jie sneered, "The Yao family in the Northern Dao is really tired of living."

"Master will make the decision for you!"

(End of this chapter)