Chapter 24 Personal Secretary

  County Magistrate Deng actually understood a bit about painting and calligraphy. In ancient officialdom, literature and art were the specialty of scholars, so they all had some understanding. He only took a glance and found the place where Tang Zhi wrote his inscription. After careful identification, it was indeed the two characters "Tang Lin". He recognized Tang Lin's handwriting and knew that Tang Lin was excellent in both painting and calligraphy, with quite a reputation. The style of this landscape painting is similar to what he had seen before, so it should be an authentic work by Tang Lin himself.

  As soon as he saw the two characters "Tang Lin", County Magistrate Deng's whole body felt like it had fallen into an ice cave.

  What about Tang Lin and others? He, Deng County Wei, has been in office for a long time, how can he not know? Before Tang Lin became the registrar of Yi Province, he was absolutely a high-ranking official - the Minister of Justice of Zheng Sanpin, Jinzi Guanglu Daifu!

  The Ministry of Justice was one of the six central government departments in the Tang Dynasty, responsible for formulating and revising laws and regulations, managing prisons nationwide, evaluating criminal officials, selecting related excellent talents, and possibly directly trying special cases according to imperial decrees. In major cases, it would jointly try with the Supreme Court and the Imperial Censorate in the form of "Three Departments Joint Trial". Cases involving capital punishment, exile, or imprisonment of officials in the capital city were reviewed by the Ministry of Justice after being tried by the Supreme Court. Therefore, the Ministry of Justice was equivalent to a combination of the current National People's Congress Standing Committee, the Organization Department (evaluation and appointment of judicial personnel at the provincial level), the Ministry of Justice, and half of the Supreme Court, while the Supreme Court was only equivalent to the other half of the Supreme Court. As a result, the Minister of Justice was a third-grade official, while the Chief Justice was only a junior third-grade official.

  In the past few days, Tang Lin somehow offended the emperor and was demoted to Yizhou as a Sima, becoming the deputy of the governor. However, according to officialdom rules, local officials would not dare to really treat demoted officials from the capital as deputies, because there were many reasons for their demotion, including deep-seated power struggles that outsiders could hardly know about. Due to changes in the power struggle situation, these demoted officials might rise again, and such examples were too numerous to count. Who knows, maybe one day they would be promoted again and step on your head, wouldn't that be asking for trouble?

  Yizhou has a large metropolitan governor's office, which governs Yizhou, Mianzhou, Jianzhou, Jiazhou, Lingzhou, Meizhou, Qiong Zhou, and ten states, as well as supervising the governors of Xun, Nanjing, and Hui. The Metropolitan Governor of Yizhou also serves as the Governor of Yizhou, equivalent to a military commander and mayor of Yizhou City. This is a standard feudal lord. Despite being such an official, Deng County saw it more than once in front of Tang Lin, this governor and governor was very gentle and even humble. If the great governor and governor are like this, let alone himself, a small county lieutenant from the ninth rank, can he afford to offend Tang Sima, an official demoted to the capital?

  His own backing was only the Zhong Fa Cao of the prefectural government, who was only a seventh-grade official. He had seen his own backer, Zhong Fa Cao, in front of Tang Lin, not even daring to breathe loudly, let alone himself, this small sesame official?

  Unexpectedly, this kid actually climbed up such a big tree. My god! Deng County felt his whole body turn cold. If Tang Sima knew about the things he had done to him, with just one word, he could get rid of both his life and official position!

  County Magistrate Deng thought the more he thought, the more frightened he became. He pretended to be calm and stroked his beard, but didn't notice that his beard was trembling. He forced a faint smile, pointing at the big tree in the woods with the inscription of Tang Lin's name, saying: "Tang's Magistrate's inscribed name is here. Heh heh."

  Xiao Jiading saw that he was so afraid, and his heart was even more amused. No wonder, as a county public security bureau chief, it's possible to offend a provincial committee member, and it's strange if you're not afraid. He hurried over to take a closer look, with an expression of sudden realization, saying: "Ah, I see it's here! I wasted half the day's effort searching for it on the mountain peak, and didn't expect him to put the words here instead. Who would have thought?"

  Deng County Magistrate smiled and said: "Tang Sima, although he holds a high position, is a humble person and naturally wouldn't write his name on the top of the mountain. Hmm, Xiao brothers, I assigned the Jiang Zhongyuan case to you because I admired your skills in criminal law, so I wanted to give you some pressure, but after thinking about it for half a day, I feel that the Jiang Zhongyuan case is a homicide case after all, and you've just arrived, afraid this burden is too heavy, let's forget it and have someone else handle it. Let me ask Xu Sifa to arrange another case for you."

  Xiao Jiading heard that he didn't even mention his official position, but directly said "I", obviously afraid of being found out, so he said: "Alright, I'll follow the county lieutenant's arrangement."

  "Uh-huh, you go call Xu Sifa over, I'll talk to him."

  "Yes!" Xiao Jiading folded up the painting and turned to leave, but Deng Xianwei called out to him again: "Wait a minute."

  Xiao Jiading stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at him.

  County Magistrate Deng's face remained as calm as possible, beckoning with his hand: "Come here!"

  Xiao Jiading hastily walked to his desk. Deng Xianwei turned around, opened a trunk behind him, took out an inkstone and several brushes, placed them in front of Xiao Jiading, and said with a flattering smile: "You are now a clerk, we do literary work, need a handy pen and inkstone. This inkstone is made from the famous mud of Guo Zhou, and this brush is produced in Hou Cun Village, both are not bad, consider it a small gift to welcome you."

  The director gave gifts to his subordinates, which was unusual. Xiao Jiading smiled secretly and quickly thanked him and put them away.

  County Magistrate Deng hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice: "Hmmm... Tang Sima is very busy with official duties. Since he has assigned this case to you today, don't mention it in front of him, okay?"

  Xiao Jiading suppressed his smile and hastily replied with a hint of nervousness: "Okay."

  Xiao Jiading came out with an inkstone and brush, returned to the prison cell, and told Sima Xu Houdé that Deng County Wei was looking for him. Xu Houdé left, and Fa Suo Dong Zhong saw him come back carrying a pile of things, asking: "Huh, so many things? Newly bought?"

  "No, County Magistrate Deng just sent them to me. He said I had just arrived and didn't have a pen or inkstone, so he gave these to me." Although Xiao Jiading was not a showy person, it depended on the situation. Thinking of the people in front of him who were gloating at his misfortune earlier, he felt a belly full of fire and wouldn't be polite to them. When it's time to take action, he would take action. He was familiar with using someone else's power to intimidate others.

  As soon as these words came out, the faces of all the clerks in the house showed surprise. Dong Fazuo took a look and exclaimed in surprise: "Ah, this is indeed the Xiangzhou's clear mud inkstone and Houcun Village's brush, both are top-grade products! These few things can't be bought for less than ten taels of silver! Tsk tsk!"

  A group of clerks gathered around, chattering and speculating about Deng County Magistrate's intentions. Some thought he was deliberately confusing Xiao Jia Ding to make him obediently handle the case, while others thought it was impossible for Deng County Magistrate to use such a valuable item to get his subordinate to do something. Others wondered if Xiao Jia Ding had some powerful background and decided to be cautious not to provoke trouble. As a result, most of the gazes directed at Xiao Jia Ding turned into flattering ones.

  At this time, Xu Houdé returned. As soon as he entered the door, he smiled and patted Xiang Jiading's shoulder, saying: "Brother Xiang, County Lieutenant Deng considered that you just arrived and it is not suitable for you to undertake too arduous tasks. Therefore, he said that the case of Jiang Zhongyuan will not be handed over to you. I'll give you another case."

  At this point, the people in the house were all stunned again. They did not expect that after Xiao Jia Ding went to the toilet and came back, things would take a drastic turn for the better. Not only did they receive valuable gifts, but they also got rid of the troublesome skeleton in their closet.

  After Xiao Jiading sat down, Zhu Haisheng on the side table winked at him and secretly gave a thumbs up. Meaning to say, Big Brother you're awesome!

  The clerk in charge of the internal affairs, according to Xu Houde's instructions, soon brought another case to Xiao Jiading. Xiao Jiading took a simple look and found it was an ordinary debt dispute, which was easy to handle. However, he didn't rush to write his opinion because the court was about to adjourn.

  Just then, Deng County Magistrate followed another old man wearing an official robe into the room. Deng County Magistrate's face was very unsightly, wanting to laugh and cry at the same time, and it was hard to describe what expression he had, while the old man was all smiles, standing in the doorway, looking at the house full of clerks, asking: "Which one is Brother Xiao?"

  Deng County Magistrate hastily looked towards Xiao Jia Ding's direction and said: "Wen Zhushi, the Xiao brothers are over there."

  Is this old man with a smile the county's chief clerk?

  The county registrar is in charge of the inspection, seal supervision and part of the judicial functions of a county. In terms of function, it is similar to the current county party committee office director. However, the level is not as high as the current director, only one level higher than the county lieutenant, which is zheng nine pin xia.

  Although he is a minor official, he is still an official, and the arrival of this small book clerk should not disturb him, should it?

  Xiao Jiading was still grinding, when Wen Zhubu rushed forward and arrived in front of Xiao Jiading, with a smile all over his face, and cupped his hands to say: "Brother Xiao, congratulations!"

  Congratulations? Xiao Jia Ding was somewhat inexplicable, hurriedly returned the courtesy with a bow, and looked at him with a searching face.

  Wen Zhubu said: "It's like this, the original attendant of the Magistrate of Kang County was recommended by Tang Sima and the Magistrate of Kang County together to be appointed as a county official in Yizhou Prefecture. At the same time, Tang Sima also recommended you to be the attendant of the Magistrate of Kang County, who happily accepted it. From then on, you became the attendant of the Magistrate of Kang County, isn't that something to be congratulated? Haha!"

  The county magistrate's personal attendant, to put it bluntly, is the county party secretary's personal secretary. Although still a clerk, being the personal secretary of the county head is not something that ordinary clerks can compare to. Although the chief clerk is the true secretary of the county magistrate, and the chief clerk can be said to be the superior of the county magistrate's personal attendant, after all, the county magistrate's personal attendant is someone who often gets to talk to the county magistrate, so even as the chief clerk, he still has to come personally to tell Xiao Jiading this good news.

  The reason he wants to come in person is not only that Xiao Jiading will become the county magistrate's subordinate in the future, but also because the one who recommended Xiao Jiading is Tang Lin, the Sima of the Prefectural Government! What kind of background does Tang Lin have? He is very clear. With such a big backer behind him, would he dare to put on airs in front of Xiao Jiading?