Lu Wuyuan, the magistrate of Wanping County, has just turned forty this year. He is a serious Jinshi in Binghai Science. He was elected to the foreign class that year and was awarded the seventh rank of magistrate of Pingyao County. Later, due to his outstanding talents, he was promoted to the position of Wanping, the capital.
County magistrate, the sixth grade.
This official in the capital is said to be decent, but in fact he has a fatal job.
There is a saying among the people in the capital that they call the magistrate of Wanping City - changed once a year. This shows how unreliable this official is.
First of all, the area outside the imperial city of Beijing is divided into two halves along the central axis. The east side is under the jurisdiction of Daxing County, and the west side is under the jurisdiction of Wanping County.
As we all know, the city of Beijing is "rich in the east and noble in the west". There are more princes, nobles, and high-ranking officials living in the west, and all of them are higher than the sixth-grade Wanping County Magistrate and have a greater background.
Wanping County Magistrate is like a little mouse among the elephants, living cautiously under countless big feet, trying to survive in the cracks, for fear that if he accidentally offends someone, it will be an unreasonable disaster.
Secondly, as a local official in the capital, Magistrate Wanping is almost like a concierge in many cases.
When the officials in the capital go out to do business and the officials from the border areas come to the capital to see the emperor, everyone has to pass through the jurisdiction of Wanping County and everyone has to stop here for a while.
When a high-ranking official comes, the poor Wanping magistrate must fulfill his duties as a host by personally greeting and escorting him, hosting a banquet for him, and personally presenting him with a sum of silver.
Because everyone's rank is higher than the sixth grade, the magistrate of Wanping County can only kowtow and kneel down and send money. It's just a grandson of kowtow, and he has to spend real money.
The common people in the capital were also dissatisfied, so the saying "Wanping City is the magistrate of the county - the kneeling envoy" appeared on the streets.
If you kneel, just kneel, if you kowtow, just kowtow. The key is to kowtow if you can save your head.
The problem lies in the third most terrible thing. If he is not careful, Magistrate Wanping’s head will be completely moved.
Within the jurisdiction of Wanping County, there is the Xiannong Altar where the emperor worshiped the God of Agriculture. In addition to various sacrificial buildings, there is also a "personal farmland" with an area of one-third of an acre, which is the exclusive private land of the emperor. p>
Every year on the second day of spring in the lunar calendar, the emperor would lead hundreds of officials to worship the God of Agriculture at the Xiannong Altar. After that, he would change into his plowing attire in the Jufu Hall, and then go to the plowing fields to hold a plowing ceremony.
After the performance of the "Plowing by Himself" ceremony, the emperor would sit on the viewing platform and watch the princes and ministers continue their plowing performance.
For this annual sacrificial event, tens of thousands of people come and go. Magistrate Wanping is responsible for the safety and logistical support of all personnel. If there is a little carelessness or bad luck,
If you lose even a little bit, you will definitely not be able to bear the consequences of walking around in circles.
This is not even the most terrible thing.
After the emperor finished performing "personal farming" for a day, he stopped caring about it. The magistrate of Wanping had to arrange for special personnel to be responsible for transplanting rice seedlings, weeding, irrigating, fertilizing, and doing their best to take care of this fatal one-third of an acre of land. p>
Because in autumn, after the emperor's plowing fields were harvested, the magistrate of Wanping was also responsible for storing the grains in Shencangyuan for use in the nine altars and eight temples in the capital.
But the problem is that Wanping County Magistrate cannot be God’s master. If there is a drought, flood, hail, strong wind or something, and the crops that the emperor plows are not harvested, where do you want to put the emperor’s face?
At this time, Wanping County Magistrate can only admit that he is unlucky. If he is only demoted and retained, it will already be a great blessing.
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But Lu Wuyuan is lucky.
He has been working conscientiously in Wanping County for a year and a half, and the situation is basically calm. Even after the year, his immediate boss Song Zhifu was replaced by Jia Zhifu, Lu Wuyuan was not affected at all.
Lu Wuyuan believed that his ancestor Lu Dongbin was protecting him from heaven, so he believed more and more in Lu Zu. Not only was there a statue of Lu Zu and a tablet of Lu Zu in his home, but there was also a tablet of Lu Zu in the yamen, and there was constant incense.
However, during the fasting ceremony for Lu Zu's birthday on April 14 this year, incense was suddenly burned, which frightened Lu Wuyuan so much that he knelt in front of Lu Zu's statue for three days in a row and kept chanting:
"...Lu Zu was compassionate, he showed the truth and showed the way, he entered the world with kindness, and he was not allowed to do evil...honor your parents, respect your teachers, go through countless hardships, and never change your Taoist heart...three bows and nine kowtows, sincerely practice Taoism, ride on a crane and ride on the clouds
, drive back to the Heavenly Palace..."
He spent a hundred days in fear, but everything turned out to be safe and sound.
Especially recently, things have been going smoothly in Wanping City, the country is peaceful and the people are safe, and even the security on the streets is surprisingly good.
Thank God, Lu Wuyuan set up the incense table again, presented offerings, burned incense and knelt down for a day, thanking Lu Zu for protecting him from the disaster.
Who would have thought!
Only a few days later, a catastrophe happened inexplicably!
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There is no need to welcome and send off the high officials today, and it is not the "announcement" days of March, June and September. Lu Wuyuan, who is in a good mood, is sitting in the back hall with several masters, drinking tea and cracking melon seeds, discussing the Mid-Autumn Festival for everyone.
Things to do when going up to the peak to give gifts.
Suddenly, someone came in and reported that Xing'er, a servant of the prefect Jia's family, had kidnapped an old man who was studying and sent him to the official with a complaint.
Lu Wuyuan did not dare to neglect the case at his boss's house and quickly asked someone to bring it in.
After reading the petition, it was said that this old celebrity named Bi Shaogong, nicknamed Shan Ziye, had defrauded the Jia family of more than one million taels of project funds to build the Provincial Courtyard.
Lu Wuyuan twisted his beard and thought:
My grandpa, Lu Zu, was defrauded of more than one million taels of silver. How rich the Jia family is! "Jia is not Jia, white jade is used to make horses for the palace." It is truly a well-deserved reputation.
After receiving the complaint, Lu Wuyuan immediately wrote an acceptance statement in his own hand and gave it to Master Xing Ming to formally file the case. He also ordered Shan Ziye to be taken to the Tianzihao Heavy Offender Cell in the prison, and he ordered a special person to guard him closely in preparation for the formal trial tomorrow. p>
This kind of case is not murder and arson, and the prisoner is just a scholar. How difficult is it to try it?
Lu Wuyuan, who didn't take it seriously at all, didn't expect that after dark, a family member would suddenly come to report:
"Someone came outside and said he was the master's cousin."
Lu Wuyuan actually had a distant cousin who sold camels in northern Beijing, but he hadn't seen him for several years. After hearing this, he hurriedly said, "Please come in quickly."
But Lu Wuyuan didn’t recognize the person who came in. The person whispered:
"I am the chief historian of Prince Zhongshun, and I have something secret to do here."
The Chief Historian of Prince Zhongshun was from the fourth rank, and he was an ancestor of Lu Wuyuan.
Lu Wuyuan hurriedly asked the man to sit down and offer tea. The man was not polite and took the seat without hesitation.
Lu Wuyuanping retreated, and the man said:
"I am here on the order of the king. If I dare to ask Mr. Lu to do a small favor, Mr. Lu will not refuse, right?"
Prince Zhongshun spoke, how can a small magistrate still refuse?
Lu Wuyuan quickly stood up with a smile and said:
"I don't know what your Majesty's advice is. I kindly ask you to make it clear. I will just follow the instructions and do as I please."
The chief historian said with a straight face:
"Mr. Shan Ziye is a person that the prince values very much. Now he has been falsely accused and imprisoned. I am here to take back Mr. Shan Ziye."