New and dark light years

Chapter 117 Paying to Work
Li Lin began to ponder the art of stealth.

Now he has felt that his stealth skills cannot keep up with his growth.

Now it can be easily "sensed" by stronger warriors and stronger spirit hunters.

Even if you can't see him, you can still tell roughly which direction he is.

Therefore, 'stealth' must be put back on the training schedule.

He tried many things, such as running outside the county town and squatting there.

As a result, I squatted there for a whole night, feeling the wild monsters floating around, but my proficiency didn't improve at all.

He guessed that Huang Gui was weak, so he squatted near the altar of the Tree Fairy Goddess again.

As a result, the Tree Fairy Queen looked at him with a very strange look.

This made Li Lin feel a little embarrassed.

Finally, he thought about it and ran to the back of the Zhenjun Temple in the county town and squatted there.

This actually worked.

Proficiency is increasing at a good rate.

Although it is not comparable to before, he also knows that the stronger a certain ability is, the slower it will become.

But overall, there is still growth.

He can feel it.

So he spent half of his day squatting at the back wall of the Zhenjun Temple. Fortunately, there was a lot of grass there, and after he squatted there and entered stealth mode, no one could find him.

Why not squat at night... He still needs to be intimate with Hongluan at night.

After more than ten days of this, he felt that his stealth skills seemed to have reached a higher level.

The stealth ability is stronger and it is less likely to be discovered. In addition, there seems to be new abilities.

It's just that there is no way to conduct experiments at the moment.

Li Lin was naturally very happy that his abilities had been improved, but he did not slack off because of it. Instead, he worked harder to practice other martial arts.

The time spent on boxing is cut in half, and the time spent on gun training is greatly increased.

In addition, I also practiced the dagger from time to time.

One month passed quickly.

Then he took office as county lieutenant.

It is a document of appointment with the seal of the Secretariat.

Li Lin held the document, feeling... a bit joking.

Although the county lieutenant is a minor official, it is still a public office.

It’s an official!

When Huang Yan handed the appointment document to Li Lin, he did not say any words of encouragement, because in his opinion, this position was a waste of talent for Li Lin.

Once he has established a firm foothold and a solid foundation in Tianjin, he will consider transferring Li Lin to Tianjin.

The next day after receiving the appointment documents, Li Lin came to the "soldier" room and saw Fan Shan staying there.

When he saw Li Lin, he immediately ran over, clasped his fists and said with a smile: "Congratulations, County Lieutenant Li, on your continued promotion."

Li Lin waved his hand: "Brother Fan, why are you here?"

"The county magistrate asked me to come." Fan Shan said happily, "I am the chief now."

Li Lin remembered that Shi Dutou had died.

Fan Shan has been working as an insider for more than ten years, so it is reasonable to give him a position as a captain.

"Fan Dutou, step by step, rise to higher heights."

"Okay, okay." Fan Shan's whole body was filled with smiles.

Being able to return to Yulin County from a small village on the border, and now being a captain and a minor official, Fan Shan feels that he has reached the pinnacle of his life.

Li Lin sat in the main seat and opened the roster.

There are now 53 yamen runners in the entire county government office. Except for 10 who are responsible for guarding the county government office and handling miscellaneous affairs, the other 43 are all under his charge.

At the same time, there were about 500 local soldiers who could be mobilized, but every time he mobilized, he had to get a handwritten order from the county magistrate.

These local soldiers received a monthly salary of 300 wen each.

Wait... Li Lin went back to the list of yamen runners. He searched for a while but couldn't find the monthly salary of the yamen runners.

He frowned and asked, "Captain Fan, how much is the monthly salary of a yamen runner? Why isn't it clearly stated?"

"Yamen runners don't get a monthly salary."

Li Lin was stunned.

"No monthly salary?"

Fan Shan laughed and said, "You haven't heard of yamen runners before, do you? It seems you don't need to know. The court doesn't pay them a monthly salary." "Then how do they live?"

"That requires another explanation."

Fan Shan told him some of the current situation of the army.

It turns out that in the system of "officials", "clerks", "soldiers" and "services" in the Great Qi Dynasty, service was the lowest level.

Not only were they not paid a monthly salary, but even the clothes of the yamen runners had to be custom-made with their own money, meaning they were truly paid to work.

So how do yamen runners make money?
The answer is simple.

Collect 'protection fees'.

With the "skin" of a yamen runner, they would have some secret income, although it was not much, but it was more than enough to live on.

After hearing this, Li Lin's face almost wrinkled into a bitter gourd.

No wonder the yamen runners have always had a bad reputation. They have no monthly salary and can only rob from the common people. It would be strange if they had a good reputation.

Li Lin looked at the list of officials in the county government again and found that the monthly salary of the county magistrate was as high as thirty strings of cash, about thirty taels of silver, which would fluctuate slightly according to the market conditions each year.

However, generally speaking, the county magistrate does not rely on that little bit of silver to live, and the court will also distribute a lot of physical goods as an annual salary.

Things like silk, rice wine, and subsidies like ice and charcoal.

Generally speaking, the salary of a county magistrate, a formal seventh or eighth rank official, is very high.

Next in line were the county magistrate and the county lieutenant, two ninth-rank officials.

Each person also had five strings of money, about five taels of silver, and the ice and charcoal offerings were relatively small.

After that came the chief, chief clerk, chief constable... and so on, each receiving one string of cash.

Spirit hunters also do not have a monthly salary, but they do have blood rice, which currently amounts to seventy kilograms.

According to the exchange rate of blood rice on the black market, a spirit hunter could earn the equivalent of seventy taels of silver a month, which was higher than the county magistrate's official income.

This is also the reason why the vast majority of spirit hunters are willing to "work" for the government.

Really generous.

The local soldiers received a monthly salary of thirty copper coins.

In Da Qi, the purchasing power of copper coins is quite strong.

Especially when the local soldiers are provided with food and accommodation.

The yamen runners were really miserable.

Seeing this, Li Lin sighed deeply.

He walked outside the barracks, where several yamen runners were joking and chatting.

When they saw Li Lin coming out, these people lined up and stood up straight.

When Huang Qi was the county lieutenant, these people were not very convinced, and they could only obey him because his father was the county magistrate.

And Li Lin... is a spirit hunter.

Possess military power.

Even if the yamen runners were dissatisfied in their hearts, they did not dare to show it openly.

"Who is Captain Fang?"

"It's me!" A middle-aged man stood up.

"Come in, I have something to talk to you about."

The two returned to the barracks.

Fan Shan tactfully went out and helped the two of them close the door.

Captain Fang was a little nervous.

Li Lin smiled and said, "Captain Fang, how are your salaries, brothers?"

"Brothers, no..."

"I'm talking about what you collected from the people."

Captain Fang sweatdropped. "County Lieutenant, this has always been allowed."

"I know..." Li Lin nodded. "I'm just curious about how much you can receive. Don't try to hide it. As a spirit hunter, I have many ways to find out the real number if I want."

In fact, Li Lin doesn't know how to do it, but that doesn't stop him from bluffing people.

Captain Fang was filled with fear and finally said, "I can barely collect about two strings of cash a month, and that's all..."

"So little!" Li Lin exclaimed.

Captain Fang explained, "The county magistrate is very clear-headed. The brothers dare not act recklessly."

(End of this chapter)