The rain poured down along the eaves, forming a curtain of water that blocked people's eyes.

Amid the sound of rain, the Zhao father and son listened to Hai Rui talk about his legendary career as a county magistrate.

"In the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing, I took Hai'an to Chun'an, Zhejiang, to serve as the county magistrate."

"Uh, who else did you bring?" Mr. Zhao asked in a low voice.

"It's just Hai An." Hai Rui said as if it was a matter of course, "Before that, I was a low-ranking Nanping teacher. My salary was not enough to feed myself, and I had to rely on Hai An to open up wasteland and grow vegetables in the mountains behind the county school."

The Zhao family father and son looked at Grandpa Hai who was serving tea and water.

Old man, what do you want from him? Do you want to keep him from being full?

Hai An, who had maxed out all his skills, naturally understood their confusion. He smiled faintly and said, "I am the servant of my grandfather."

"Oh..." Zhao Shouzheng suddenly realized and thought, it seems that I should be nicer to that person.

"My grandfather was also a juren, and served as the magistrate of Songxi County in Fujian. My eldest uncle was a jinshi in the Chenghua period, and three of my uncles were juren, all of whom served as magistrates..." Then Hai Rui explained, "I have listened to the instructions of my elders since I was a child, and I have also been trained outside with my uncles, so I am familiar with the ins and outs of the county. Naturally, I don't need to look for any staff, doormen, manuscript reviewers, etc..."

Zhao Hao nodded. The Hai family was a well-known and prestigious family in Qiongzhou, with a long history of officials. No wonder they were able to take first place in the national examination. They had a profound family background and understood how to be an official better than most scholars!

"I can handle all the affairs in and out of the government office by myself." Hai Rui said calmly, as if he was talking about a trivial matter. "In my spare time, I can help Hai An grow vegetables in the county government office."

"The master turned the back garden into a vegetable patch, not only for himself but also for the officials in the county government." Hai An explained for Hai Rui.

"Oh..." Mr. Zhao tried to imagine the scene of himself and his son growing vegetables for everyone. Alas, he really couldn't imagine it.

"So Lord Hai relied on the officials, clerks and clerks of the county government to govern Chun'an County?" Zhao Hao asked softly, "I heard that these people are not easy to use, so the county magistrates have to bring their own people with them."

"A bunch of useless people." Hai Rui smiled contemptuously and said calmly, "You are greedy, immoral and incompetent. Naturally, you cannot convince others. If others are not convinced, they will naturally not be used by you."

"I heard that clerks are used to this job and are as cunning as oil, so there is a saying that 'No matter how clean your official position is, it is difficult to defeat the clerks who are as slippery as oil.'" Zhao Shouzheng turned over the small notebook in his hand and read out the famous saying of County Magistrate Zhang.

"Haha, these are just excuses." Hai Rui sneered, unable to hide his contempt, "As the lord of a county, holding the power of life and death, yet he is powerless to control his subordinates. There are only two reasons - one is that he is a bookworm who can do nothing except study; the other is that he is too selfish. He himself is in a mess, and he still expects others to be clean?!"

"Cough!" An unpleasant cough came from the old lady in the main room.

Hai Rui immediately stood up and bowed deeply. "My son is swearing again."

"You will never change in your life, so don't lead the children astray." Xie said.

"Yes." Hai Rui agreed helplessly, and glanced at Zhao Hao again, thinking that this kid's swear words are much richer than mine...

The main feature of Hai Gong's swear words is the richness of his language; although Zhao Gongzi can only speak Mandarin, he has embodied the dregs of four hundred years of national insults, which is incomparable.

~~

"It is not difficult to be an honest official, as long as you are strict with yourself."

After being scolded by my mother, Hai Rui became more serious. He said in a deep voice: "But an honest official is not necessarily a good official. A fool who only knows how to be honest and self-disciplined can cause as much harm as a corrupt official!"

"So you have to be both an honest official and an efficient official!" Lord Hai looked at Zhao Shouzheng with great expectations and said, "You have a son who is rich, so he naturally disdains the people's money. As long as you want, it's not difficult to be an honest official."

"Yeah." Zhao Shouzheng nodded, he also felt it was not difficult. Money is all bastards, spend it all your son earns... why ask others for money?

"Moreover, your actions of raising funds to set up a porridge restaurant in Baiyun Temple in the west of Beijing to provide relief to refugees have already shown that you are 'brave in taking on responsibilities and not afraid of slander', and you also have good organizational and coordination skills." Hai Rui praised him highly and said, "As long as you put more thought into it, I believe you can be a good magistrate of Kunshan!"

"I will do my best..." Zhao Shouzheng's old face turned red when he heard this. The disaster relief work was handled by Zhao Hao and the princess's people from beginning to end, but he took all the credit.

Now even the people of Hai University mistakenly think that I am a capable official. This is really... too unsettling.

"Well, it seems that I have to learn to be an official in a down-to-earth manner." Mr. Zhao made up his mind secretly. "Otherwise, sooner or later, I will be exposed."

He immediately humbly asked Hai Rui for advice on how to be a good county magistrate.

Hai Rui naturally told everything he knew.

He was familiar with every aspect of a county's government affairs and was extremely good at summarizing and generalizing. He asked Hai'an to go to the study and give Zhao Shouzheng a copy of the "Regulations for Reform and Development" that he had formulated in Chun'an County.

"There is no order without rules. Only by formulating clear and reasonable rules and regulations can officials' actions and all rewards and punishments have a basis to follow."

"This is the rule I made for the county's main officials and the six departments and three classes when I was in office in Chun'an County. It is reasonable and applicable. Later, I followed it when I was in Xingguo County, and it was still very effective. Mr. Zhao may wish to take it back for consideration, and then modify it in light of Kunshan's actual situation, and then promulgate it for implementation."

"Thank you, Mr. Hai." Zhao Shouzheng quickly took it with both hands. This was the crystallization of the wisdom of three generations of the Hai family!

"But having rules alone is not enough. They must be strictly enforced. Otherwise, no matter how good the rules are, they will be useless." Then Hai Rui warned in a deep voice:

"In addition, half of these regulations are binding on the county magistrate himself. Believe me, as long as you can strictly follow them, you will find that those slippery clerks will become obedient."

"Oh? Is it so magical?" Zhao Shouzheng was overjoyed when he heard it, and hurriedly took it as if it were a treasure.

Zhao Hao asked Hai Rui softly, "May I ask, Lord Hai, if the interests of the court, the gentry, and the people conflict, how should we balance them?"

"What I have always believed in is that if something is beneficial to the court and the people, then we should do it!" Hai Rui said firmly, "The reason is very simple. Today, the court's treasury is empty and the people are poor and destitute. Jiangsu and Zhejiang are rich places, but the people have no place to live! The land and wealth are all in the hands of those powerful and wealthy people!"

"The way of heaven is to take away from the surplus and give to the deficiency! Officials do not help the court and the people to make profits, but protect the interests of the powerful and wealthy. Do they think that the Ming Dynasty will die too early?!" Hai Rui was so angry that he used swear words from several provinces...

But this time, his mother didn't scold him. After he finished speaking, she said softly, "Come in and eat."

ps. The second chapter is still under review, please give me monthly tickets and recommendation tickets~~~