Chapter 719: Cousin's New Position
The fifteenth day of the first lunar month passed quickly, and the Chinese New Year was over.
The He family members go to work, study, and go out for a stroll.
Of course, the little fat boy was also sent to school. Sun Shan was happy to see Jiujin in pain.
"Every evil man will be punished by his own evil", so let the Master punish this little bully Jiujin.
My eldest cousin also got his new position.
As expected, he planned to follow He Shuyun's route: first intern in the Hanlin Academy, then work as an official in the Hanlin Academy to obtain the status of a Hanlin official, and finally be sent to another place to have grassroots experience on his resume.
The He family generally follows this route, which can also be considered an empiricist route.
This steady and solid rise is safer than the soaring "on a roller coaster".
My cousin’s new position is Tongpan of Chongqing Prefecture, a sixth-rank official.
It is two levels higher than the previous Hanlin editor's seventh rank, which can be considered a small leap.
It takes an average person three years to move up step by step.
This time, it took my cousin three years to take two steps, and it was completely an accident.
Winter is often the peak season for illness, especially for the elderly.
The drop in temperature leads to worsening of cardiovascular diseases, aggravation of respiratory diseases, infection caused by decreased immunity, poor blood circulation caused by reduced activity, and difficulty in body regulation caused by the temperature difference between indoor and outdoor.
Most elderly people die in winter.
It just so happened that the Tongpan of Chongqing Prefecture was fifty years old. I don’t know if he had a respiratory disease, but he died in the middle of winter.
He died less than a year after taking office, and the position became vacant.
Minister He seized the opportunity and used various connections to push his eldest cousin out.
So just after the Chinese New Year, the new appointment came down, and I had to set off quickly to take up the post.
The so-called Tongpan was a deputy position in each prefecture, below the prefect and the Tongzhi.
The function of this official is to assist the prefect in government affairs, and to be in charge of grain transportation, water conservancy, military farming, horse breeding, river and sea defense, etc.
To put it simply, he is an executive deputy mayor, in charge of food, water conservancy, agriculture, animal husbandry and local defense.
Another function of the Tongpan is to supervise the heads of the provincial government.
Appointed directly by the imperial court, he concurrently served as local administrator and central supervisor.
The Tongpan had great power. If the prefect wanted to issue a document to motivate the soldiers and collect money and food, it had to have the seal of the Tongpan to be effective.
As a high-ranking official position, Tongpan's duties involved many aspects including administration, justice, finance and military.
It is still very difficult to do this job well.
The work is not easy, the duties are onerous and the responsibilities are great.
A high level of management and expertise is required to coordinate and cooperate with local officials such as prefects and county magistrates.
It's not a good job to deal with people from all sides when dealing with things.
Minister He also asked his eldest cousin whether he wanted to go. It would be inevitable that someone who had no practical experience as a local official would feel restricted if he went to do it.
But if you can do the job perfectly, it will be a rare experience, and it will look great on your resume and you will have a bright future.
If you do a good job, you might just catch the emperor's eye.
My cousin thought about it for three days and three nights, and felt that this was a rare opportunity, so he agreed.
There was nothing Sun Shan could do about it and he could only offer his deepest blessings.
After my eldest cousin took office, Minister He found two aides for him to work with him.
We will set off shortly after the beginning of the year.
As for my cousin's wife and the children in the family, they will stay in the capital first, and my cousin will follow them after he settles down.
There are two roads from the capital to Chongqing Prefecture, one by water and one by land.
Since the canal was still frozen, we couldn't travel, so we had to take the land route.
Standing at the Shili Pavilion outside the city, I said goodbye to my cousin.
The wind after the New Year is still very cold, and everyone's hearts are even colder.
Sun Shan held his cousin's hand, expressing his sadness: "Cousin, have a safe journey."
The journey is long and demanding, and there may even be sun, rain, and snow along the way.
Sun Shan couldn't help but worry.
He Shujin, the eldest cousin, nodded solemnly: "Ashan, don't worry about me. You should take the imperial examination in the capital and do well. I, your eldest cousin, wish you success in the exam."
My cousin's wife and Jiao'er and several other children were already crying.
My cousin's wife Liang Mengyao wiped her tears with a handkerchief, but she couldn't stop wiping them away. She said with red eyes, "Husband, you must be careful on the road and be safe."
Jiao'er even ignored her ladylike image and hugged her cousin tightly: "Dad, Jiao'er can't bear to leave you."
The eldest cousin looked at Jiao'er with heartache and said worriedly, "Be good Jiao'er, stay in the capital and help your mother manage the household and take good care of your brothers."
Ke'er considered himself the eldest son. Although he was reluctant to leave his father, now that his father had left home, he would be the head of the family and he had to take good care of his mother and older sisters and brothers for his father.
The little adult Keer said solemnly: "Dad, you work hard in Chongqing, and leave everything at home to me. I will take good care of my mother and my sisters and brothers."
The eldest cousin patted Ke'er's shoulder with satisfaction and said, "Dad's good Ke'er, I'll leave the house to you. But you have to study hard. When dad sees you, he will test you."
When Douzai heard that his father was going to take an exam, he was originally very sad, but immediately his sadness disappeared and he dodged in fear, fearing that his father would also test him.
If you fail the assessment, you will be beaten and your butt will be very painful.
The eldest cousin looked at his second son's sneaky and timid appearance, especially his shifty eyes, and knew at a glance that he was up to no good.
I was already very sad when I said goodbye to my wife and children, but when I saw the look on my second son's face, I was so angry that I couldn't stop.
With a cold face, he said seriously: "You too, Douzi. When dad sees you, he will also test you."
Douzai's face fell, he became dejected, lost all desire to live, and even forgot to cry.
The eldest cousin's wife is helpless about the poor academic performance of her second son. He looks just like her father-in-law.
After being married into the He family for so many years, she already knows everything about the He family.
The second son is just like the rest of the He family, he doesn’t like reading at all.
My cousin's wife was helpless about this, but fortunately her eldest son was like her mother-in-law, a diligent and hardworking child.
After Sun Shan said goodbye to his eldest cousin, he then said goodbye to Qian Yingyang.
Qian Yingyang completed his three-year study at the Imperial College and received his "graduation certificate".
I originally wanted to use my connections to get a government position in my hometown.
Unfortunately, Mr. Qian didn't know whether it was the money or the people who were doing the work that were not capable, and the plan failed.
Sun Shan thought about it and asked Chen Dongling for help.
It so happened that someone in the Chen family worked as an official in the Ministry of Personnel, but it was impossible to get promoted to a high-ranking official, and promotion to a lower-ranking official still depended on a word from the people with whom he had connections.
Find the right person, and things will be much easier.
For the sake of his good friend, Sun Shan shamelessly took several Duan inkstones with him to build relationships.
This was the first time Sun Shan had such a relationship, and he felt very uncomfortable and a little nervous, and he didn't dare to speak.
Fortunately, there was a powerful Chen Dongling who apologized and gave gifts, and soon Qian Yingyang was dismissed from his official position.
He went to a county under Duanzhou to serve as the county magistrate, an eighth-rank official.
The moment Qian Yingyang and Qian's father saw the appointment letter, they hugged Sun Shan tightly.
Sun Shan couldn't breathe!