Chapter 2841 County Office
This time they did not use official tickets to enter the city, but lined up like other people. In fact, there was no need to take another passage. There were only so many people, and they could enter the city in a short time after queuing up.
As soon as he entered, he saw a main street. Bai Shan lowered his eyes and looked around. The road was relatively flat with some small stalls on both sides. There were not as many people walking around as in Qingzhou City, but it was still quite orderly.
Bai Shan and Zhou Man simply dismounted and followed the crowd, observing the situation in Beihai County along the way.
The colors of clothes worn by people here are fewer than those in Qingzhou City. Most of them are gray and dark blue, and bright colors are rare. However, people's faces are still lively. People walk slowly on the streets, and occasionally gather in groups of three or five to chat and laugh.
Bai Shan walked along the street all the way to the gate of the county government office.
There are fewer people in this area. The county government office faces the street, but there is a small square in front of it with a wall on the side. That is the bulletin wall. Generally, if the county government office has any notice, in addition to informing the head of each village, it will also post the notice on the bulletin wall.
It’s just that generally speaking, few people would come to look at the bulletin board.
Bai Shan and Zhou Man handed the horses to Daji and went up to take a look.
There are many notices posted on the notice wall, including wanted notices for criminals and notices encouraging people to study agriculture and sericulture. The paper has turned yellow, and it must have been posted for a long time.
Looking at the paper, the latest one should be the notice informing the court that a new county magistrate has been appointed. The one before that is the notice announcing that County Magistrate Lu has been promoted to the magistrate of Yidu County and will be leaving Beihai County soon.
Bai Shan glanced at it and nodded, "It seems that County Magistrate Lu has indeed managed Beihai County well."
Manbao nodded and looked at the yamen runners who kept looking at them. She lowered her voice and asked, "Do they want to drive us away?"
Bai Shan followed her gaze.
The two yamen runners guarding the county government gate had noticed them long ago. They locked eyes and after a moment of hesitation, they came over aggressively, hands on the swords at their waists, "What are you doing?"
Bai Shan felt that they were too fierce. They just came to see a notice, and if they were so fierce, wouldn't they scare the people who wanted to see the notice?
Then Jun's face turned serious and he asked, "Where is your County Magistrate Fang?"
The yamen runners also knew how to read people's expressions. Moreover, the man's clothes were obviously not bad. There were so many carriages and servants following behind him. Seeing that Bai Shan was not easy to talk to, they immediately changed their attitude and said, "Our county magistrate is in the yamen. Who are you?"
Bai Shan said, "I am your new county magistrate."
Their expressions were blank for a moment, and they glanced at the carriage and attendants behind them. When they came to their senses, they immediately bowed and said respectfully, "It turns out to be the county magistrate. Please come in quickly. I will go and call the county magistrate."
After saying that, he left one person to greet Bai Shan and the others, and he ran into the county government office to inform the county magistrate and others.
County Magistrate Fang and his men received news from Qingzhou City yesterday. They knew that the new county magistrate had arrived and that County Magistrate Lu was in Qingzhou City to entertain their new county magistrate.
They originally thought that Bai Shan and the others would stay in Qingzhou City for two more days no matter what, so although they were preparing to welcome them, they never expected that they would arrive so soon.
So County Magistrate Fang hurriedly led people out to greet him.
County Magistrate Fang was a dark-faced man in his thirties, even darker than County Lieutenant Dong standing behind him. He didn't seem to smile often, so when he faced Bai Shan, he tried to pull the corners of his mouth, but when he realized his smile wasn't quite working, he simply bowed with a straight face, "Your humble servant greets County Magistrate Bai."
Bai Shan smiled faintly and nodded in response, "I'm new to this county, so I'll need your guidance and understanding from now on."
Of course, just because Bai Shan said he was the county magistrate, it didn’t mean he was the county magistrate. The necessary procedures still had to be followed.
After entering the county government office, Bai Shan took out his appointment letter and official seal. After verifying that they were correct, the county magistrate looked at Zhou Man standing behind him and said, "County Magistrate, you've been traveling a long way. Why don't you settle down first?"
Bai Shan nodded and said, "Let's settle down today. I'll have to trouble you all with official business."
County Magistrate Fang didn't dare to say anything and took Bai Shan and others to the backyard of the county government office.
Generally speaking, the county magistrate lived in the backyard of the county government office.
There is a small door between the county government office and the backyard, which is used by the county magistrate to go to the government office. Naturally, people do not go in and out through this door.
So everyone left the county government office and went around to the back, where there was a large corner door. The carriage could enter by removing the threshold.
From now on, everyone in the Bai family will use this door to enter and exit.
There are two courtyards inside, but the place connecting to the county government office in front is a small garden. However, the small garden is bare. Not to mention flowers, there are not even vegetables. There are some grasses growing, and some places are filled with pulled grass, and someone is cleaning it up.
County Magistrate Fang quickly explained, "We knew Magistrate Bai was coming to take up his post, so the county government sent people over to clean up ahead of time. It's just that everyone was a little slow, so please forgive me, Magistrate Bai."
Bai Shan smiled and nodded, "It's okay, we'll clean it up slowly."
As he walked towards the backyard, he asked curiously, "I see there are only a few trees in the garden. Why didn't County Magistrate Lu plant any flowers or plants when he was here?"
County Magistrate Fang then said, "When County Magistrate Lu first arrived, he heard that the soil in Beihai County was not suitable for growing anything. He didn't believe it, so he had people dig up some soil and spread it in the garden. Later, when he planted some flowers and plants, none of them survived, so County Magistrate Lu simply stopped planting."
Bai Shan: ...If you want to lay the soil, you can also choose to lay it already, right?
Bai Shan nodded without commenting.
The two courtyards at the back were side by side. The main courtyard was larger. Servants were coming in and out. Bai Shan glanced at them and saw that they were cleaning tables and chairs. He did not stop them. Instead, he nodded and said to the county magistrate, "Let them all leave. I have a lot of people with me. I will clean up later."
He then pointed at Liu Gui and introduced him to them, "This is my housekeeper Liu Gui."
Liu Gui immediately saluted them, and then followed a yamen runner to gather everyone in the backyard together.
The county government office assigned assistants to the county magistrate, but not many, usually just two or three. Their wages were paid by the county government office, mainly to take care of the county magistrate who took office alone.
After all, some county magistrates are from poor families and may only have one servant with them, and that servant may be a member of the clan.
Servants assigned by the county government were generally hired servants with a fixed term of employment. Beihai County also assigned Bai Shan two, a woman and an old man, but they were not from the same family. The woman looked to be in her forties and did some chores in the backyard, such as washing, shopping, cleaning, and cooking. She was very versatile and had served five county magistrates. She was truly an old man in the county government.
The old man was the gatekeeper. He had not been there long, only four years, and was hired after County Magistrate Lu took office.
He was an elderly widower who was homeless, so he was left in the backyard of the county government office by County Magistrate Lu and had been guarding the door for County Magistrate Lu.
After meeting the two people, Bai Shan handed over the people and matters to Liu Gui, and County Magistrate Fang and others set a time to welcome Bai Shan in the evening before saying goodbye and leaving.
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