Chapter 109 Chapter 109 The next day, Xue Fenglin came to the sand...
The next day, Xue Fenglin went to work at the government office for the first time since arriving in Sarawak.
He arrived at the yamen an incense stick's time earlier than the office hours. He was not very early, but the entire yamen was empty except for a gatekeeper.
The police officer didn't expect that the prefect, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, would suddenly come to work, and he was awakened from his sleepiness.
"What time does the government office open every day?" Xue Fenglin stopped in front of the police officer and asked.
Although Xue Fenglin has a young face, he exudes nobleness. The guard was frightened by Xue Fenglin's nobleness and dared not raise his head. He could only stammer, "Every day... Every day, we open the door at 5:00 a.m. on time..."
Xue Fenglin nodded and said, "Really? Then it's almost Mao time. Please make a note at the door. Anyone who hasn't come after Mao time today will be recorded as late and will have money deducted from their salary."
"Ah?" The guard was stunned. After a while, he said hesitantly, "In the past, when everyone was late, the governor and the judge didn't care."
Xue Fenglin curled his lips when he heard that, and looked the guard up and down before saying, "Who has a higher rank, the prefect or the governor or the judge?"
The guard broke out in a cold sweat, knowing that he had said something wrong. He then said carefully, "Of course, your position is higher than mine, Your Excellency the Governor. It is me who is not good at speaking. Please do not bear grudge against me!"
"How can you get a promotion when you are so ignorant? Are you willing to be a waiter for the rest of your life?" Xue Fenglin didn't show any displeasure on his face, but his words made the waiter sweat even more.
Fortunately, Xue Fenglin didn't say anything more. He just told him to record all the latecomers according to his instructions, then turned and left.
Seeing Xue Fenglin walk into the yamen with a breeze, the guard breathed a sigh of relief and was glad that he had not been lazy today and came to open the door early, otherwise his salary would have been deducted.
After a long while, it was already past the hour of Mao, and other people in the yamen began to come to work one after another.
Only one person came, so the soap squad had no choice but to record one person. He also informed his colleagues that the prefect was coming today and had ordered him to record all latecomers.
When the guards heard about this, they were not convinced and said to the guard, "You recorded it just because he asked you to? Now the governor, the judge, and the people in charge haven't come yet. Does he dare to deduct their salaries? If you don't hand over the list to him later, what can he do to you?"
As he was speaking, someone actually ran to the homes of Zhou Tong and Zhou Pan to inform them of today's events in advance.
On one side is his immediate superior, and on the other side are his colleagues with whom he works day and night. The Zaoban is in a very difficult situation. Just at this moment Xue Fenglin called him in. The soap squad went in with gritted teeth.
In the messy yamen office, there were leaf cards and some miscellaneous items on the desks of Chen Wenxun and Shi Jinrong, but the main desk of the prefect was covered with papers, pens and documents, as well as many records related to Sarawak over the years.
The two clerks in charge of document management were being ordered around by Xue Fenglin, searching for all the documents he needed.
When Xue Fenglin saw the soap squad coming in, he asked, "Did you remember the list I asked you to write down?"
The waiter gritted his teeth and said, "I had a stomachache just now, so I went to the toilet. When I came back, everyone was already there. I wonder who was late?"
Xue Fenglin looked at him at this time, put down the pen in his hand and said: "But you can't even do this little thing. In this case, I don't think you are qualified for the position of the soap class, so why don't you go home."
As he said this, he called Wenyi, the cashier who was in charge of accounting in the yamen, and asked him to pay the salary of the police officer and give him two more days' salary so that he could go home directly.
The soap squad never expected that Xue Fenglin, a new official, would be so ruthless and want to fire him directly. He immediately knelt down and begged for mercy, "Please, sir, please let me go! I won't dare to do it again. Here is the list of people who were late today. Please take a look!"
After he finished speaking, he handed the list to Xue Fenglin and begged him, saying that he had elderly parents at home and young children to raise, and he could not just give up his job like that.
Sarawak was poor, and it was not easy to get a job in the government office. People from really poor families could not get in.
Of course the soap boy's words were exaggerated, but Xue Fenglin did not expose him. Instead, she nodded and said, "Considering your family's poverty, I will let you go today. But since you acted disrespectfully towards your superiors, I will punish you. Therefore, I will deduct your salary today."
From being fired and sent home to having their salary deducted, although the soap crew suffered losses, they were still satisfied.
After Xue Fenglin got the latecomers list, he gave it to the cashier and asked him to deduct three days' salary from everyone on the list.
The list was very long and almost everyone was on it, including the cashier. But the guard was too timid to actually write the names of the governor and the judge.
Xue Fenglin did not specifically mention the salary of these two people, so the cashier pretended not to know and turned a blind eye, only recording the people on the list.
Xue Fenglin's actions on the first day of reporting for duty naturally caused dissatisfaction among everyone in the yamen.
Besides, Chen Wenxun and Shi Jinrong got up late, and before they even left the house, they received news from their confidants in the yamen.
Shi Jinrong was shocked and immediately went to Chen Wenxun's house to discuss with him what Xue Fenglin's actions in the yamen today meant.
Shi Jinrong was only an incense stick away from the Chen family. Chen Wenxun had received the tip-off from the yamen earlier than him, but he was not in a hurry at this time. He was still sitting in the lobby of his home having breakfast.
"Master Chen, Master Chen!" Shi Jinrong walked quickly to Chen Wenxun, sat down on an empty seat and said, "Do you know about the roll call of Magistrate Xue today?"
Chen Wenxun looked up at Shi Jinrong, put down the Tremella soup in his hand, and said sarcastically: "It's just a new official's first three fires, just to show off his authority."
"After all, he is young and impatient. Today is the first day of reporting, and he has already offended everyone in the government office, and he didn't even leave himself a way out."
"Who in our government office is not related to some prominent family in Sarawak? We still have to rely on them for many matters in the government office! I think this prefect will not be able to survive in Sarawak in the future."
After Chen Wenxun said this, Shi Jinrong felt a little more at ease.
Although they are the Sarawak government, in reality, when the government has matters and issues orders from higher authorities, the support of these local families is indispensable when it comes to implementing them among the people.
For example, during the typhoon in Sarawak two years ago, many farmers suffered heavy losses, but tax revenue did not decrease at all.
Doesn't the money missing from the tax have to be made up by these wealthy families? Without their support, they would have been unable to continue their work as state officials and state judges long ago!
Chen Wenxun finished his breakfast slowly, then walked towards the yamen with Shi Jinrong.
Their home was only one street away from the Sarawak Government Office. If there was nothing important to do on weekdays, they would be too lazy to take a car and would just walk there slowly.
Shi Jinrong was encouraged by Chen Wenxun, and the two walked to the yamen together. Before they even entered the door, a cashier came forward to take credit, saying that the names of the two adults were not on the list of people whose salaries were withheld.
Shi Jinrong was delighted when he heard this, but Chen Wenxun remained calm. He looked at Shi Jinrong with some pride and said, "What do you think? This Xue Zhizhou is just a paper tiger. He doesn't dare to offend us!"
The two of them walked through the lobby of the yamen together and entered the office area at the back. Then he saw Xue Fenglin busy sorting out documents and writing and drawing on some manuscript paper.
Seeing the two adults coming, he stood up and greeted them with a smile, and said very enthusiastically: "The two adults are finally here, I just happened to have something to talk to you about."
Shi Jinrong and Chen Wenxun did not expect Xue Fenglin to greet them with such a smiling face. They were stunned for a moment and quickly said, "Master Xue, if you have anything to say, just tell me."
Xue Fenglin then took out a pile of manuscripts he had written and said, "Today is my first day to report for duty, and I found that the people in the government office are very lazy and their work efficiency is extremely low."
"I just checked the documents and found that there has been no personnel change in the Sarawak government for many years. Not only have the clerks not been promoted or have their salaries increased for many years, but many of them are also owed wages."
"Look at this yamen official. Tian has been in office for more than 20 years. According to the court's regulations, he should have received a salary of two strings of silver coins a month. But since ten years ago, the government has been paying him five hundred strings of silver coins less a month. He has been owed for ten years, which is fifty taels of silver!"
"There is also Xu Zaoban, who arrived late but also owes twenty taels of silver. There are also Qian Yanei, Fang Chuna, Yan Wenyi, etc...."
Xue Fenglin was holding a piece of manuscript paper, on which was listed a long list of names of people, all of whom were low-level clerks whose salaries had been in arrears over the years.
After reading out the names, Chen Wenxun and Shi Jinrong looked at each other. Chen Wenxun was the first to speak: "Master Xue, I wonder what you mean by compiling this list? Sarawak is poor, but the imperial court has collected a lot of taxes over the years. After paying the required taxes, how much money will be left in the government? If there is a natural disaster, there will be even less, so won't we have to delay paying the officials' salaries?"
"Yes! We have no other choice." Shi Jinrong said hurriedly, "Sarazhou is really remote and life is hard. It is not as prosperous as the capital."
"Master Chen and Master Shi are right." Xue Fenglin curled his lips and said, "Since Sarawak is in such a difficult situation, we should find a way to increase our income."
"For example, the Sarawak wharf is under the jurisdiction of the Sarawak government. It has been in disrepair for many years and there is no money to repair it. Few ships dock here. It would be better to rent out this land in exchange for some silver to fill the deficit of the government and pay back the salaries owed to these officials."
"This..." Chen Wenxun paused after hearing this, and then rolled his eyes before saying, "Renting out government-owned land is unheard of in the entire Dajin. Besides, the Shazhou Wharf is so dilapidated, who would spend money to rent such a place?"
Shi Jinrong felt that Xue Fenglin's words made some sense after hearing them, but when he thought about the wasteland near the pier, he felt that Xue Fenglin was daydreaming.
After hearing what Chen Wenxun said, he also echoed and said, "Yes, which fool would come to rent such a wasteland?"
Xue Fenglin smiled and said, "Whether anyone will rent it or not, we will have to wait until we announce this to others. In fact, the most urgent task is to solve the problem of unpaid wages in our government office."
At this point, he suddenly said to the two clerks who were sorting out the documents, "How about this? While the governor and the judge are here, call all the people on duty in the yamen and have everyone vote together to see how to solve this issue of unpaid wages?"
Hearing that the new prefect wanted to solve the problem of unpaid wages, all the on-duty personnel arrived after a while. More than thirty people were crowded in the yard, with a look of anticipation on their faces.
Xue Fenglin then walked out and said to them, "Today is my first day on duty, so I have to rectify the atmosphere in Sarawak Prefecture."
"From now on, all those on duty will be required to report for duty every day. Those who are late will be fined half a day's salary. I think you all know this."
Xue Fenglin paused for a moment, drank a sip of water, and then spoke again: "Of course, there is no order without rules. The rules of this hour must be followed, and the salaries must be paid to everyone on time."
"I see that everyone has been owed salaries to some extent. Now that I have taken office, I will settle all of them at once starting today."
"But Lord Chen and Lord Shi said that Sarawak is poor, so the government does not have enough money. I have come up with two solutions. Please decide which one is better?"
At this point, Xue Fenglin glanced at Chen Wenxun and Shi Jinrong and said, "The first method is to rent out the few plots of land held by the Sarawak government, use the rent to make up for the deficit, and pay out the overdue salaries."
After saying this, he expectedly saw a hint of disdain on the faces of Chen Wenxun and Shi Jinrong.
Xue Fenglin didn't care, but continued: "The second method is for the leaders to set an example and distribute their annual salaries to the officials below to solve their salary arrears."
"My annual salary is 300 taels, and the annual salaries of Lord Chen and Lord Shi should be 200 taels in total. A total of 500 taels of silver is enough to pay off most of the salaries. As for our annual salaries, we will have to wait until Sarawak's tax revenue comes in this year."
As soon as Xue Fenglin finished speaking, Shi Jinrong and Chen Wenxun's faces turned pale.
They have been operating in Sarawak for so many years and have a lot of properties. They will not starve to death due to lack of annual salary.
But that year's salary was at least more than one hundred taels of silver. It would have been fine if Xue Fenglin had just gone crazy and refused to take it, but he actually asked them to give all the silver away as well!
As for renting out the land, it sounds good, but I don’t know whether the land can be rented out? But the matter of taking out annual salary is real.
As low-level civil servants in Sarawak who have been underpaid for a long time, it is natural that they would like to get the money!
But let Lord Chen and Lord Shi take out the silver? I'm afraid it's just a foolish dream! Everyone's eyes were now on the faces of Master Chen and Master Shi, and everyone had their own thoughts in mind.
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