I

With Zhao Han's recommendation letter and Wu Bing leading the way, Wang Wei and Lin Xue quickly found a job.

Wang Wei went to a girls' school in Jishui County to be a teacher, while Lin Xue cooperated with many bookstores and usually drew some illustrations for books.

In order to test the price of Jiangxi paintings, Lin Xue took out a picture of Guanyin painted by herself, and the calligraphy and painting shop directly gave five taels of silver. Moreover, the owner of the painting and calligraphy shop also said that he would charge as much as he could for paintings of this quality.

Five taels of silver is worth ten days' wages for Pang Chunlai, Li Banghua and others.

Even if she doesn't do anything but sells paintings, Lin Xue can live well, but she came to Jiangxi to get married.

Not as a concubine, but as a wife.

As for how superb Lin Xue's painting skills are, Dong Qichang once commented on them. Among the female painters in the late Ming Dynasty, Yang Huilin of the Southern School and Lin Xue of the Northern School were called "Southern Yang and Northern Forest".

There is also a great writer, Li Yu. Regardless of what his masterpiece is, anyone who understands it will understand it.

When Li Yu was creating "Yizhongyuan", he was deeply moved by the experience of the two female painters. In the opera, he married Yang Huilin to Dong Qichang and Lin Xue to Chen Jiru.

On this day, Liu Rushi came back in a sedan chair, and a bookstore clerk helped deliver books.

Back in the yard shared by the two of them, Lin Xue said in shock: "Buying these many books, do you really want to be a female official?"

Liu Rushi smiled and said, "I've inquired about it. The yamen in various places recruit officials to observe the government every quarter. During the period of observing the government, there is no salary, and board and lodging are taken care of by themselves. As long as you don't make mistakes, you can be converted to a reserve official within three months."

"It seems that you have made up your mind." Lin Xue smiled.

The two each hired maids, and the mother-in-law cooks and does laundry, and the little days are very nourishing.

Liu Rushi asked the store clerk to bring the book into the room, and gave a handful of copper coins as a tip.

She rolled up a book and said, "Sister Lin, what do you think this is?"

Lin Xue came over to take a look: "Fanyin."

"It's the silver dollar of the Great Harmony in the world. One silver dollar is one or two taels of silver, which is much more convenient than broken silver and silver ingots." Liu Rushi threw the silver dollar over, "I'll give you one as rent."

It was sunny today, Lin Xue took the calligraphy and painting to the yard to dry.

Liu Rushi was reading a book in the corridor. The book she was reading was official document writing. The format has long been understood, but there are other rules here in Jiangxi, official documents must not contain uncommon words, try not to quote allusions, and must use vulgar writing.

Common texts are articles that are more colloquial, which can be understood as ancient vernacular.

In fact, many academic articles in the Ming Dynasty, including the works of great Confucians, often use popular Chinese to explain. The degree of colloquialism is between classical Chinese and vernacular, only slightly more formal than "Water Margin".

After Liu Rushi understood the rules, he no longer read this book, but picked up "The Great Ming Law of Addition and Loss".

"The Great Ming Law of Addition and Loss" is a deleted and revised version, and about one-third of the whole book has been changed.

After spending a few days like this, it suddenly occurred to them that they had not registered yet, so they met to apply for a household registration. You can only apply for temporary household registration, and you need to settle in for more than half a year before you can change to permanent household registration.

Come to Huke.

The middle partition wall has been demolished, like a large office with bright and clean windows.

The section chief of the county government office is very young, and he is writing books at his desk. Maybe it was because he had been working for too long, he put down the brush and rubbed his wrists, and suddenly saw Lin Xue and Liu Rushi, staring at them intently.

"What are the two young masters going to do?" a small official asked.

"Settled down." Lin Xue replied.

The little official took out an account card and said, "Sit down. Outsider?"

Lin Xue said, "Yes."

The little official asked, "Name."

"Lin Xue, the word Tiansu."

"Native place."

"Fujian, Jianning."

"..."

"Household posts cost fifteen cash, and Chongzhen will not charge ten cash. The security fee is twenty cash per month, which can be paid monthly or for a whole year in advance."

"What is the security fee?"

"There are too many people in Ji'an Prefecture, and the Criminal Division of the county government has to set up separate offices, and build a police station every three squares, responsible for patrolling, arresting robbers, fighting fires, and fighting police."

Both women have paid security fees for half a year, and they think this police station is very interesting, a bit like the Wucheng Bingmasi in Nanjing.

Due to the stability and prosperity, the population of Ji'an Prefecture has expanded rapidly, many of whom are foreign registered permanent residence, and the total number of people inside and outside the city has exceeded 250,000.

Even some cultivated land around the city was demolished to build houses.

How can the officials in the county manage it?

Zhao Han ordered the integration of the original institutions, and set up five police stations in the city. Each police station has jurisdiction over more than 50,000 people. Its responsibilities include civilian police, criminal police, patrol police, and fire police.

Big cities must do this. Nanjing and Beijing have five city soldiers and horses.

However, the five city soldiers and horses in the northern and southern capitals of the Ming Dynasty basically lost their functions in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. A large number of departments can direct them to do things, but in the end, no one is doing business, and they are almost reduced to servants of nobles, eunuchs and civil officials.

You can understand that the police in Nanjing and Beijing can't find anyone all day long, and they are all working for free for officials.

Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to the Wucheng Bingma Division. If he knew that he was made like this, he would probably be able to crawl out of the coffin in anger.

After the two girls finished their household registration and left, the young section chief came over immediately.

"Section Chief!" The little official hurriedly greeted.

The young section chief asked: "Two women share the same courtyard?"

"Yes." The clerk said.

The section chief lived abroad with his father, who was an official, and returned to Jiangxi two years ago. He was promoted to the section chief of the criminal section of Luling County very quickly.

He is twenty years old this year, his fiancée has died of illness, and he is thinking about marrying a wife.

Liu Rushi was too beautiful, which made him flinch. Lin Xue was very suitable, as long as she was older, it didn't matter if she was a good prostitute, her appearance was enough to ignore many things.

It can only be said that the influence of literary and artistic works on the ideological atmosphere is likely to exceed the enlightenment of the Missionary Department.

In the past few years, a large number of dramas and novels have described the love of maids and prostitutes, so that many young people have no scruples, and secretly dream of a beautiful marriage.

Of course, we must carry the old stubbornness at home and break through the obstruction of feudal parents.

Every day at noon and evening after get off work, the young section chief would go out for a stroll, secretly observe Lin Xue's whereabouts, and try to create some occasional encounters on the street.

After observing for half a month, the young section chief was completely obsessed, and he found that Lin Xue's painting skills were superb.

Talented woman!

Liu Rushi read the notices every day, and waited for her to memorize half of the "Increasing and Losing the Great Ming Law", and finally came to the county to recruit political observers.

Only 30 people were accepted, and more than 100 people signed up.

Scholars who used to be famous did not want to be political observers. This thing is an intern, who does odd jobs for others without salary, and can only be a reserve official after three months of work.

But as Zhao Han occupied Hunan and Guangdong, a large number of scholars from various prefectures and counties came to sign up!

"Are you signing up for yourself?" The little official looked at Liu Rushi stupidly.

Liu Rushi asked: "Can't women sign up?"

"That's not true, but...but..." The little official didn't know what to say.

Liu Rushi smiled and said, "Since women are not prohibited from registering, then they are allowed. Please register for me. Liu Yin, the words are so."

"well!"

The little official was light-headed, fascinated by Liu Rushi's smile, and after being dizzy for a long time, he finally said, "Come to the county government for an exam tomorrow."

The officials of the county government, including many applicants, looked at Liu Rushi foolishly. Firstly, it was because of her beauty, and secondly, there was actually a woman who signed up to watch politics.

Nowadays, there are indeed many women who work in mission groups, but only Xiao Hong is an official in the county government.

Moreover, Xiaohong is also a missionary officer who has been transferred to a political officer, and Liu Ru is the first one to sign up for the examination of political officials!

"Next person!"

"I am Juren, and this is my certificate."

"It turned out to be Mr. Juren, you don't need to take the exam, you can go directly to the county government to observe the government."

There are a lot of scholars in the country, but there are far fewer Juren.

Once a candidate is willing to observe politics, he will be admitted directly without occupying a quota, and he will be promoted quickly. This approach can not only select talents, but also attract scholars.

The next day.

Liu Rushi came to take the exam, the official documents were simple, the law was okay, he was blind in farming, he was dumb in mathematics, and he passed the theory of Datong.

He did so badly in the exam that he came in eighth place, but he could stay in the county yamen to watch the government, instead of being assigned to the township yamen.

The chief of the official department had a sad face, took Liu Rushi's test paper, and went to ask Zhang Huanjun, the magistrate of Luling County, for instructions.

"Xianzun, this is a woman." The chief of the official department said.

Zhang Huanjun nodded approvingly and said, "It's really a good handwriting, and the literary talent is also excellent, and the common prose can be written easily. It should be recorded."

The chief of the official department repeated: "The county lord, it's a woman!"

Zhang Huanjun laughed loudly: "A woman is a woman, just a political observer."

The magistrate of Luling County is equivalent to Zhao Han's Jing Zhaoyin. How can someone who can achieve this position be a pedantic person?

The previous magistrate of Luling punished Fei Chun's parents!

On the first day of Liu Rushi's internship in the county government, it caused a sensation. Officials from various departments took turns to watch, and ran to the household department with messy excuses.

For the first two days, Liu Rushi was doing odd jobs. The young head of the household department saw that there were too many onlookers, so he threw her to the back to copy official documents. Gradually, I assisted in handling government affairs, and all kinds of work came at my fingertips. After I finished, I still had time to study mathematics by myself.

General military mansion.

Zhao Han laughed and said, "Is she watching the government in the county government?"

"That's right, the news has already reached the General Military Mansion." Secretary Wang Dai said.

"The people under the orders, don't make things difficult, and don't need to take care of them," Zhao Han asked, "Has the new army been formed yet?"

Zhang Jiayu said: "We have been training for half a month."

Fei Ruhe has already been transferred back, and the official has returned to his original post, but he is now in charge of the Eastern Army Academy. He transferred the backbone of the army from Guangdong as a framework, and transferred some officers back from Hunan, and then recruited farmers and soldiers from poor areas in Jiangxi to join the army.

The number of professional soldiers under Zhao Han's command finally increased to 28,000.

Calling Pang Chunlai, Li Banghua, Fei Chun, Chen Maosheng, Xiao Huan and others, Zhao Han said: "In the past few days, everyone has discussed for a long time, and I have made up my mind. I will keep Fujian from fighting this year, and take Jiangnan first. , all divisions should make corresponding preparations, and send troops as soon as the summer grain enters the warehouse!"

It was a letter from Xu Ying that made Zhao Han change his strategic decision.

Zhejiang scholars are about to revolt!

Fushe has branches all over the country, and Yishe is the most influential branch in central Zhejiang.

Xu Du, the leader of the righteous society, actually wanted to launch an uprising. He had linked up with scholars from several counties, and had the support of many businessmen and small and medium-sized landlords.

If God does not take it, he will be blamed instead. Zhao Han must change his expansion plan.

This time, Zhao Han wanted to conquer Jiangnan himself, and personally control those big families in Jiangnan.