Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 434 Division of Labor
Today, Mr. Qiao convened a small meeting, with only four people from one prefecture and three judges attending.

All officials of all ranks in Lin'an Prefecture were very concerned about this meeting, because it was related to the division of labor among several Tongpans in charge of Lin'an Prefecture affairs.

Some officials and ministers may be transferred among the three Tongpans next.

Since it concerns who they will follow in the future, officials and clerks naturally pay special attention to it.

Everyone spontaneously gave up their external affairs and stayed in the government office today, waiting for the results of the meeting.

The renovation of Lin'an Prefecture Government Office is still in full swing.

Lin'an County Magistrate Xu Haisheng has found excuses to run to Lin'an Prefecture several times. Looking at the workers who are working on the construction site, his eyes are as red as rabbits.

Counties and prefectures both have government offices in front and residences in the back.

In other words, their family lived in the county government office.

A county government office that had not been repaired for more than 200 years...

Of course, life in the harem isn’t that bad.

Because every official would pay for the repairs out of their own pockets.

But it was different for the front yamen. Even if he had money, there was no reason for him to pay for the repair of the court out of his own pocket.

An underground drainage system is being constructed in Tongpan South Hall.

The South Hall is responsible for the entire Lin'an Prefecture's drainage system.

The outlet of the drainage system goes out from the south wall of the South Hall and drains into the nearby inland river.

The drainage channel was dug very large. If it were of this scale, it would probably not become silted up for five hundred years.

The meeting was held in the hall, but not in Qiao Zhen's signing room.

Because Mr. Qiao’s signing room is undergoing major renovations.

So the room where the four of them held the meeting was filled with furniture, tables, chairs, and cabinets, and was very crowded.

Although it was crowded, the four people sitting there were all smiling.

Who doesn’t want to have a bright and spacious office environment? They will soon have it.

Yan Ding has already reported to the Imperial College.

As soon as the renovation work started, Yang Yuan took over Yan Ben's project.

If Yan Ding had been working in Lin'an Prefecture normally before, there would be no need to hold this meeting today. The matters that Yan Ding was in charge of could be directly transferred to Yang Yuan.

But the problem was that Yan Ding used to be sick often, so the important tasks in Lin'an Prefecture were assigned to others. Yan Ding certainly had no objection to this.

Now that Yang Yuan has come as the new top scholar with great potential, it would obviously be unreasonable to only let him be responsible for some internal affairs and paperwork.

However, would anyone be willing to give up the power that is already in their hands?
Mr. Qiao could have communicated with the three magistrates privately first, felt out their attitudes, and done their work.

However, if he did so, he would have to shoulder all the mediation and communication issues, and it was likely that the result would still not satisfy the three hall judges.

Mr. Qiao is a person who respects assistant officials very much.

The Tongpan is respectfully called Jianzhou!
What is Jianzhou?

He has the right to supervise the official who is in charge of government and administration!

Therefore, Mr. Qiao decided to handle the matter impartially and put everything on the table for you to discuss among yourselves.

Mr. Qiao took a sip of tea and looked at Liu Yiguan, Zhang Mi and Yang Yuan.

Liu Yiguan had a tense face, with two deep nasolabial folds on his face, like the whiskers of a catfish.

Liu Yiguan was originally the judicial military officer of Lin'an Prefecture. He was in charge of legal affairs all year round and was a serious person.

The officials of Lin'an Prefecture privately nicknamed him "Black-headed Catfish."

As for Zhang Mi, the "butt-touching hand", there is no need to say anything, he had a half-smile on his face.

Song Ya Si was in charge of taking notes of the meeting. He had already ground the ink and picked up his pen.

Qiao Zhen put down the teacup, coughed lightly, and said with a smile: "Everyone, Yang Jianzhou has officially taken office.

As you all know, Yan Jianzhou has always been in poor health, so the affairs of Lin'an Prefecture were mostly handled by the East Judge and the North Judge.

When Yan Jianzhou was in power, he was mainly responsible for the general affairs of the state, postal inheritance and distribution, the talents and diligence within the office, the management of households, as well as charity for the people, distributing medicine, supporting the poor, and other charitable affairs.

Now that Yang Jianzhou has arrived, he is young and strong, so he should shoulder more responsibilities. Hahahahaha..."

When "Non-stick Pan" smiled, "Butt Touching Hands" and "Blackhead Catfish" also laughed.

It's just a fake smile, a smile without showing teeth and without making any sound, which looks weird.

Qiao Zhen put away her smile and said, "The reason why I invited you three here today is to discuss with you face to face how to divide the work of Lin'an Prefecture in the future."

Ya Si Song took note of everything that Master Qiao said and could not hear anyone else speaking.

When Ya Si Song looked up, he saw Liu Yiguan drinking tea, Zhang Mi drinking tea, and Yang Yuan also drinking tea.

All three of them moved slowly. They lightly flicked the tea leaves with the tea lid, blew on them gently, took a sip of tea, and flicked the tea lid again. Their movements were surprisingly consistent.

Qiao Zhen waited for a while with a smile on his face, and then began to call out orders.

"Liu Jianzhou, you are the most senior official in Lin'an Prefecture. Can you tell me first?" Liu Yiguan cleared his throat and said, "I was originally a law officer. After being promoted to Tongpan, I was mainly responsible for matters related to law and some household and military affairs.

Such as taxation, famine relief, military service, militia, military examinations, public security, as well as solving cases, recording court affairs, drafting documents, and prison affairs. All these things are very busy and exhausting!
Now that Yang Jianzhou is helping me share some of the burden, I am more than happy to have him."

Liu Yiguan looked at Qiao Zhen and said sincerely, "If the prefect thinks that there are matters that can be assigned to Yang Tongpan, just assign them to him.

We are all working for the court, and if things are done well, it will be the credit of everyone in Lin'an Prefecture. I have no objection."

Qiao Zhen thought about it and said happily: "In this case, how about allocating the tax to Yang Jianzhou?"

Liu Yiguan nodded and said, "Of course. But..."

Liu Yiguan frowned and said with some worry: "When collecting taxes and paying grain, there are often unruly people who evade taxes. It is often necessary to dispatch local soldiers and militiamen to help pay taxes.

Violent tax resistance also occurred from time to time, which required trial in court and punishment in prison.

It can be said that as long as there is a matter of collecting grain and paying taxes, it must involve military service and civilians and criminal justice, and the two are inseparable. You see, prefectural governor..."

Qiao Zhen pondered and said, "What Liu Jianzhou said makes sense. Then how about allocating the famine relief funds to Yang Jianzhou?"

"Good, this is good! Disaster relief doesn't happen often. But once it happens, it's like saving people from fire and water. We can't delay it for a moment. If we delay, it will cause unrest among the victims.

Floods, fires, droughts... Whenever they occur, relief supplies must be delivered to the destination as quickly as possible, and robbery by thieves must be prevented along the way. When distributing supplies, we must be more careful about the victims' looting.

Otherwise, if a civil uprising is provoked... We are officials under the emperor, and there is no small matter under the emperor. If something goes wrong, we, the three judges and four people, cannot bear the consequences even if we are tied together."

"so……"

Liu Yiguan said seriously, "Yang Tongpan, you have just started working in civil affairs and you don't have enough experience. I have to explain the pros and cons of these matters to you clearly. Don't be careless."

The corners of Qiao Zhen's mouth twitched a few times, and he coughed and said, "What Liu Jianzhou said is very true. Yang Jianzhou has just taken office and has no experience in governance. After all, Liu Jianzhou should continue to be in charge of the famine relief matter."

Zhang Mi listened and felt somewhat gloating.

Humph, the meat is already in our mouths, and you want us to spit it out?

But...if Governor Qiao wants to share my power with Yang Yuan, how can I scare Yang Yuan away?

I am responsible for promoting education, imperial examinations, government records, education, etiquette, sacrifices, festivals...

Zhang Mi became a little annoyed.

He is the top scholar, so shouldn't these things be easy for him to do?
There is no reason to reject him!

Mr. Qiao hit two snags with Liu Yiguan, so he let him go for the time being and turned to look at Zhang Mi.

Qiao Zhen said, "Zhang Jianzhou, can you let Yang Jianzhou take charge of the major and minor sacrificial ceremonies in Lin'an Prefecture and the compilation of prefecture and county records?"

Do you think these are just two leisurely jobs?
of course not.

The imperial court had to allocate funds for various sacrificial affairs.

What you can save is your little piggy bank.

In addition, the court would often send officials and celebrities to preside over various sacrificial ceremonies, which was an excellent opportunity to make connections.

Even the compilation of county annals is not without benefits.

Anyone who wanted to leave his or her name forever in the annals of prefectures and counties, even if he or she met the requirements for inclusion, had to curry favor with the officials in charge of the annals.

Zhang Mi couldn't think of a suitable reason to refuse and was so anxious that he broke out in a sweat.

He coughed and was about to find some excuse to shirk his responsibility, but Yang Yuan had already said, "Prefect, I don't think it's appropriate."

Qiao Zhen, Liu Yiguan and Zhang Mi were all startled and looked at Yang Yuan.

Yang Yuan said seriously: "Whether you are presiding over various sacrificial ceremonies or in charge of compiling the county annals, you need not only to be well-informed, but also to be calm and sophisticated.

Zhang Tongpan was originally the president of the Privy Council, so it goes without saying that he was a man of great literary talent.

Besides, Zhang Tongpan is already about 40 years old, right? At Yang's age, I'm afraid he won't be able to do these things better than Zhang Tongpan.

What Judge Liu said just now is right. We are all working for the court. If things are done well, it will be the credit of everyone in Lin'an Prefecture.

It is better to let the right people do the right things.”

Mr. Qiao was a little confused. What was going on?
Liu Yiguan and Zhang Mi sat up straight at the same time.

Yang Yuan was appointed as the Tongpan of Lin'an Prefecture with the halo of glory of being the new top scholar. Didn't he want to make some political achievements?
How can he achieve anything if he is not given a task?
Yang Yuan’s saying “If you don’t make a sound, you’ll be amazing when you do” has long been well-known.

In particular, it is well known that he likes to use the method of first suppressing and then praising.

Now hearing Yang Yuan's active decline, Liu Yiguan and Zhang Mi were not happy, but became a little nervous instead.

They didn't know what Yang Yuan would say next.

A huge weight was lifted off Mr. Qiao's heart.

Young people, you just can't keep your cool, haha.

Are you going to speak?
Go ahead and say it yourself, and then this government won’t have to offend anyone.

Qiao Zhen looked at Yang Yuan with encouraging eyes and said kindly, "So, what affairs does Yang Jianzhou want to take on for our government?"

PS: I wanted to combine two chapters into one, but I don’t have enough energy, so I’ll code the next chapter during the day~
(End of this chapter)