Master craftsman of workshop 15

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  Su Hao's hesitation was entirely within the expectations of Han Wen and Fang Mengjin, who thought that if Su Hao had agreed readily, that would have been the strange thing.

  To clarify this matter, we must start with the Ming dynasty's official system and imperial examination system.

  The officials in the county government can be divided into three levels. The first level is the official, and generally, only four people in a county can be called officials, namely the county magistrate, county lieutenant, chief clerk, and history keeper, all of whom are directly appointed by the imperial court, which is equivalent to civil servants in later times.

  The second tier is the clerk, including the heads of various departments under the county government and technical personnel. The number of clerks varies depending on the amount of business in each county and their financial resources, with some having only 20-30 people and others having over a hundred. The source of clerks was recruitment from among the common people, with the earliest even being conscripted through corvée labor.

  According to the Ming dynasty system, those who were willing to serve as officials had to apply themselves first, known as "reporting and paying", and then be guaranteed by the village elder and reported to the prefecture. After the prefecture's officials found it suitable, they would report to the next level of government, the provincial administration office, which would then verify and approve, thus making the applicant an official.

  In a county, the number of officials is small, mainly responsible for grasping some major policies. The specific affairs in the county are all handled by clerks, so there is a saying that "the reality of official governance is actually governed by clerks", meaning that the country is nominally governed by officials, but in fact it is governed by clerks.

  A county has a population of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, and various affairs are also very complicated. Therefore, in the county government office, many departments were set up, mainly corresponding to the six ministries of the central government: the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Works. Each department is responsible for one aspect of affairs, and the person in charge of each department is called a "six-house clerk". In addition to the six departments, there are also other departments under the county government office, such as the Horse Department, the Grain Department, the Warehouse, and the Registry Office, each with officials responsible for specific affairs.

  In the county government, the clerk belonged to the technical cadre. In addition, there were clerks responsible for manual labor, known as Dian Li. Above the clerk and Dian Li, there were clerks in charge of personnel affairs, known as Si Li.

  Compared with officials, the status of clerks is slightly lower. From the perspective of later generations, officials belong to county leaders, while clerks are in charge of various committees, offices and bureaus within the county.

  In later generations, the county leaders and the heads of the delegated offices were only one level apart, but in the Ming Dynasty, there was an insurmountable gap between the two.

  The officials of the Ming dynasty were selected through the imperial examination system. As their political achievements accumulated, officials could gradually be promoted from a small county magistrate to the Minister of the Six Ministries or even the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet.

  The clerks, on the other hand, were different. They were recruited through social recruitment and had almost no chance of promotion. In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, in order to give some hope to the clerks, it was stipulated that after three assessments, or nine years of service, they could obtain the qualification for appointment as an official, known as "outgoing". However, in reality, the regulations were just regulations, and due to the large number of clerks and the scarcity of official positions, very few clerks were actually able to get promoted, and most could only fill posts that officials who had passed the imperial examination did not want to take.

  If it were just that they couldn't get promoted in their own posts, that would be the end of it. Truly talented officials could at least consider entering officialdom through the imperial examination system, right? But what's even more heartbreaking is yet to come.

  The founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, was once a person living at the bottom of society. Even after becoming emperor, he still had grievances towards the bureaucratic system. He believed that officialdom was a big dye vat, and good people who entered it would become bad eggs after a few years. Based on this understanding, Zhu Yuanzhang introduced a policy stipulating that those who had served as clerks were not allowed to participate in imperial examinations for life. In other words, if you had been a clerk, not only could you not be promoted to an official position, but even if you wanted to switch and take the imperial examination, you would no longer be qualified.

  The policy set by Zhu Yuanzhang was passed down from generation to generation, and continued until the demise of the Ming Dynasty. It can be imagined that with such a policy in place, how dare young scholars flock to officialdom?

  Hanwen and Fang Mengjin were both bookworms, so they naturally understood the mindset of book lovers. In their opinion, Su Huan's refusal to accept Hanwen's job offer was precisely because he was worried that once he became an official, he would no longer be able to participate in the imperial examination in the future. Giving up one's prospects for a little immediate benefit was something that any talented scholar with ideals and ambitions would not want to do.

  "Su Hao, I understand your concerns. The county values you as a talent and will not hinder your future prospects. I want to hire you to work in the county government, but you don't have to be officially registered as a clerk. You can have the substance without the name, so it won't affect your chances of taking the exam in the future." Han Wen gave Su Hao some reassurance.

  "Uh..." Su Hao was speechless. Actually, he pretended to be in a difficult situation, but it really wasn't because of Zhu Yuanzhang's brain-dead rule.

  As time went on, by the late Ming dynasty, many of the early regulations were no longer taken seriously. As the saying goes, "above there are policies, below there are countermeasures", it was not uncommon for a scholar who had served as a minor official to then go on to take part in the imperial examinations, and examiners would often turn a blind eye to such things, unwilling to block the path of a talented young man because of this one "blemish".

  Su Hao is a man with a soul of the later generations, and he was not enthusiastic about the imperial examination in the first place. He would not refuse an opportunity to become an official just because he was worried about losing his qualification for the imperial examination.

  Since the moment Su Hao crossed over, he had been thinking about how to survive. In life, one must either have money or power, and as long as they occupy one of these, they can live comfortably. In a feudal dynasty like the Ming Dynasty where official positions are everything, having power is probably more important than having money, so when Su Hao encountered an opportunity to get involved with the officials, he would not let it go easily.

  Su Hao had previously put on a reserved attitude, but in fact he wanted to haggle with Han Wen. He had the technology for surveying well locations on his body, and at this time of severe drought, he could wait for a good price. If Han Wen opened his mouth, he would hastily accept it, wouldn't that lower his own value?

  Unexpectedly, his hesitation led Hanwen to speculate about the imperial examination. Su Huan heard Hanwen say this and also felt that there was some truth to it. As a scholar, if he happily accepted an errand from a minor official, he would be looked down upon by others.

  Thinking of this, he followed the Korean words and said: "Sir is wise, the student is indeed worried about this matter. If it can be done without taking this name, it would be better."

  "Don't worry, I won't harm you," said Han Wen. "How about this? I'll also hire you as a steward, in charge of the workshop, and we can call it the Workshop Steward."

  "The students are terrified, how dare they be on par with Master Fang?" Su Hao said.

  Han Wen looked at Fang Mengjin and said: "Master Fang is in charge of all the political affairs of this county, and you can't compare with Master Fang. You are only responsible for the engineering work, and have the power to order the workers, clerks and subordinates. As for the matter of drilling wells to resist drought this time, you can intervene as much as you want."

  "As far as the students know, the adult dispatchers sent to various towns to dig wells are all officials of the county government. I wonder if this workshop master can command them?" Su Hao began to understand his authority.

  "That's natural." Han Wen said, "You are the master of this official, all the clerks in the county government are your subordinates, except for County Lieutenant and the sides of Zhongbo and Dianshi, you don't have to pay attention to them either."

  I know who I am, Su Hao smiled secretly in his heart. The position given to him by Han Wen was equivalent to the county leader's secretary, except that it was slightly smaller than the leader's confidant Fang Shiye. All the bureau chiefs and directors below had to look at his face. With such a position, as long as he didn't offend Han Wen, he could basically walk sideways in Fengcheng County from now on.

  "Thank you, sir, for your trust. I will not disappoint your expectations." Su Hao stood up and gave Han Wen a deep bow, which was equivalent to accepting his appointment.

  "Su Hao, since you agreed to take care of things for this county, you'll have to live in the county town from now on. Do you have a suitable place to stay in the county town?" Han Wen asked, and it turned out that he was not a bad leader after all, as apart from assigning tasks to his subordinates, he also cared about their living conditions.

  Su Hao said: "At present, I still don't have a suitable place to live, but soon I will go find a house. It shouldn't be difficult to rent a place to stay for now."

  "Ah, there are many vacant houses in the county town, you should be able to rent a good place." Han Wen said, then he said to Fang Mengbi: "Fang Shifu, please help me get 20 taels of silver to reward Su Huan, he wants to settle down in the county town, after all, he needs some expenses."

  "Sir, students don't dare to receive undeserved rewards." Su Hao hastily stood up and declined, although his heart was thinking the opposite of what he said, but necessary courtesy still had to be done.

  Han Wen smiled and said, "This is not a reward for nothing. You helped Zheng Chun dig several good wells in Zhegao Township, which is worthy of recognition by the county. Just now you mentioned that your family life is difficult. Since the county has hired you to do things, it can't let you have worries about the future."

  The student then thanked the magistrate for his reward. Su Hao finally made a half-hearted appearance, accepting Han Wen's silver.