Chapter 49: Dragon Boat Festival 3

Wang Shouren and Cao Muwen also followed and got off the horse. After a few steps, there was a certain red sedan chair swaying at the opposite alley. Wang Shouren stopped and waited on the side of the gate, as if to see who was coming, and Cao Muwen also waited behind the side.

The sedan chair also stopped at the door of the house. The curtain of the sedan chair suddenly opened, and a figure came out of the sedan chair. The housekeeper who stayed at the door just introduced the two officials into the house. Now he has just come out and sees Wang Shouren and the person who came out of the sedan chair a moment ago, so he hurriedly greeted them.

Cao Muwen was also curious about who the official opposite was, but when he looked carefully, his throat was itchy and he almost spit it out. Seeing this person, it can be said that his brain is full of fat and fat ears. There are not many adjectives, and these two words can describe this person very accurately. On the big head of the round ball, there is a thing that should be a hat, but under the comparison of the "big ball" below, it is dwarfed and has no sense of existence. Cao Muwen didn't know how Wang Shouren should talk to that person. At this moment, Wang Shouren's voice sounded,

"Long time no see, Lord Wang!" Wang Shouren was polite and took the lead in bowing.

"Oh, oh, it turned out to be Lord Wang, haha." Lord Wang also said so. Cao Muwen thought to himself, it turned out that you are also surnamed Wang, and you are a "family" with our adult, but it's good not to have any blood relationship. It depends on his appearance... It's really impossible.

When Cao Muwen occupied behind the side, the housekeeper had already greeted him and said, "Welcome the two adults to come. My master has ordered the villain. When the adults come, let me introduce you to the main hall to rest for a while. The adults can also talk to each other for a moment there, and tea has been prepared there.

"Ha, I'm really tired of running around this way, but you are thoughtful. Now that you have prepared refreshments... Lord Wang... Let's go in first and talk when we get inside. Let's talk while eating..." The fat and big-eared Lord Wang laughed at Wang Shouren. Lord Wang suggested it. Cao Muwen looked at it, and he was also happy. Your boy came in a sedan chair all the way. I think the top of the sedan chair is about to make you smash a hole. The person who should rest well should be the sedan chair under you... Cao Muwen has never had much affection for the fat-eared rice bucket, and this is such a person.

Wang Shouren walked forward two steps and said to the housekeeper, "In this case, please lead the way."

"Oh, the adult is too modest, and the villain dares not accept it. The little man led the two adults in. The housekeeper apologized repeatedly and said.

The fat-headed and earless Lord Wang went away happily, but Wang Shouren turned back to Cao Muwen and said, "Muwen, today only you and I will come. As my attendants, we can go in with me and stand around me." Wang Shouren means that he wants Cao Muwen to go in with him. To talk about Cao Muwen's current position, it should be said that it is different from the category of "family man and long follower". To say that the "family member and chief follower" of a certain high-ranking official is a little different from Cao Muwen's current position. Because they don't take salary money, and their source of livelihood is the master's salary.

It's like a local official taking office. Among the servants of the brigade, more than a dozen or even dozens of them are the chief attendants of magistrates or county magistrates. As a saying goes, the seven-grade officials of the prime minister's family are talking about their origins. Therefore, we must not underestimate them because of their low status. In fact, they play a very key role in the government. Officials who control the Great Seal are hired from their own pockets to supervise large and small, ranging from hundreds to thousands of bookstores and servants.

Local officials in the Ming Dynasty should implement a job avoidance system. They can neither serve in their hometown nor serve in the places where their immediate family members are officials. Although they have followed less after a long time, this provision still exists, after all, it must be observed. Therefore, local officials face the embarrassing situation of being unfamiliar with people every time they go to a new place. In order to be competent and promote under the premise of keeping the black gauze hat, they must use those who are familiar with the local customs and understand the hidden rules of the local officialdom that have been passed for a long time. These people are a huge team of practical officials. The vast majority of these officials are served by locals and have been in control of one side for a long time. If officials fail to supervise them, on the one hand, they will lose the trust of the local gentry people and get a very bad reputation. On the other hand, the officials will have an accident, and the officer has an inescapable responsibility. In the end, it is difficult to guarantee the black gauze hat, and he may also be charged with dismissal. Therefore, it is very important for local officials to take their own cronies to establish their own "class" in the government office at the beginning of their term.

The name "long follow" is said to come from the golden mouth of Zhao Kuangyin, the emperor of the Song Dynasty. It is said that one night, Zhao Kuangyin braved the snow to go to the residence of Prime Minister Zhao Pu. Seeing a family following him and behaved respectfully and decently, he joked, "Is this Aiqing's long-term follower?" Since then, the title of Changshu has become the title given by Qin. Later, the "Changshu" of Zhao Pu's family also got a seven-grade official title. The so-called "seven-grade officials of the prime minister's family" has a wide variety of Changshu. It can be said that there are as many kinds of officials as there are. Those who do this are the same as the "Eight Gates of Jianghu", and they have actually issued "business experience" - "Long Sui Theory" is mostly divided into long and follow according to "birth", with super long follow (temporary follow), special long follow (and follow), secondary long follow, and the upper patriarch follow, the second patriarch follow, and the lower patriarch follow the name of "be". According to its functions, there are the "division" or "on the door" responsible for handling the door, the "signing" or "script" responsible for bookmarking, the warehouse responsible for the warehouse, the "duty hall" on duty in the public hall, the "book opening" responsible for communication, the "printing" responsible for printing letters, the "money" responsible for taxation, and "managing supervision", "Gunchu", "Guntain number", "follower" and so on, there are so many names that even the officials who pay for it can't tell. Although these so-called "long followers" are not in high status, have neither grade nor get the money in the court, but in the real situation, these people can be said to be "through the sky", and it may be a little exaggerated to say that "through the sky", but the local officials are the "Master Qingtian" group of people are all the hearts of the masters. The abdomen, then naturally, can "get to the blue sky". If ordinary people want to see an official, or have an urgent lawsuit to fight, they should bribe these people more. If they don't respect these people well, although they can't do anything clearly, the most important thing is their relationship with officials. If they interfere with it, tamper with confessions, delay the case, and ask you to say no. Out. Therefore, in most cases, you have to feed these people before divinging "Master Qingtian". Fortunately, these people's appetite is not too big after all. But the "door bag" still needs to be delivered.

According to Gu Yanwu's research in the Richi Record of the Ming Dynasty, it began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. At that time, Liang Ji, the powerful general, ignored the government and played in the house every day. In order to see him, the visitors had to send door bags to the doorkeeper before they were notified. As a result, the doorkeeper became rich. Later, delivering door bags became a common practice for government doors. When state and county magistrates go to their superiors to do business, they also have to send door bags. The amount of door bags is also customary. Generally speaking, most of them are one or two taels of silver. The development of door bags is the so-called "door respect". Usually during the Spring Festival, in order to further communicate the relationship with the superior government and express gratitude, officials of the lower government officials should send "door respect" to the porter of the superior government. The number of door respect varies, but it is generally more than ten times or dozens of times that of the door bag.

People like this are rich and tight, but Wang Shouren is different from others. Cao Muwen has not seen such as "long follower" in the general sense these days. In the governor's mansion, there was no one else except for a group of soldiers, subordinates, calligraphy offices and others, and Cao Muwen, a servant who led the salary. Wang Shouren is regarded as a person, so it is naturally impossible to lead a large group of people to serve as officials.

Cao Muwen's attendants, like the bookstore in them, are people who have no grade but eat imperial grain. According to reason, they can also enter the room. When thinking about it, Wang Shouren said again, "Don't think about it. Lord Yu Fuyu is a religious person. Naturally, he is a free and open-going person. He doesn't care about other noble and cheap things, just follow a single seat behind. Cao Muwen still wanted to refuse. It was not beautiful to use the single seat beside him as a light bulb. Then he said, "Your excellency is beautiful, but the governor has the ability to invite you to come, and naturally you have to go. He accompanied the excellency, but he was not invited. And the main hall is full of adult colleagues. The humble position is also a graded official position. It is also inappropriate to accompany the adults as shown. Don't go to the humble position. Cao Muwen declined, to the general idea that those invited were all officials who matched Wang Shouren's official position. He was just a follower, so naturally there was no need to join in the fun. After hearing this, Wang Shouren was slightly stunned, smiled and said, "Since you say so, it's up to you." Cao Muwen nodded and said yes. He also said, "Since Lord Yu has ordered and prepared meals, wine and vegetables for the subordinates who accompanied you, I can naturally go there. I won't bother you."

At this time, the "fat-headed and big-eared" Lord Wang next to him said, "You know the rules, but you don't want to have some bodyguard followers. It's annoying!" It seems that Lord Wang is not satisfied with his servants. He continued, "Look, it's because of them that I came here by myself today, so I came in a sedan chair!" After saying that, 1 still laughed at Wang Shouren, and the latter also smiled at it.