Chapter 218: Contract Workers and Established Positions

When the Junior Officials rioted, Wei Ming was sleeping at home.

Upon hearing of this, he immediately felt that things were going badly, so he hurriedly threw on his clothes and rushed straight to the County Government Office. In fact, he had long ago warned Zhang Yunxiu that how to handle the originally retained Junior Officials was a troublesome matter.

Do not look down on them for being lowly and insignificant; in the local area, they are the local tyrants.

If you offend them all, who will do the work?

Along the way, Wei Ming was restless, and before he knew it, he had arrived outside the County Government Office.

"Let the County Magistrate come out, let the County Magistrate come out! Give me justice!" Over a hundred Junior Officials wearing runner uniforms gathered in a heap, raising their hands high, gnashing their teeth as they shouted at the County Government Office.

To bolster their momentum, they even dragged their families along.

They surrounded the County Government Office three layers deep inside and three layers deep outside, making it impenetrable.

The County Assistant had long since received the news and slipped away quietly through the back door; now, only a Registrar with a goatee remained at the entrance to maintain order.

Looking at the angry Junior Officials, the Registrar stood on the steps, waving his hands repeatedly to explain: "Everyone, everyone, listen to me. I know you have grievances, but for any matter, we must wait for the County Magistrate and the County Assistant to return before they can make a decision!"

"Where is the County Magistrate?" one person in the crowd asked, emboldened.

"He has gone off duty," the Registrar replied.

"Gone off duty?"

"Yes, if you all do not believe me, you can ask the brothers on duty at the entrance."

The Junior Officials who had come to cause trouble looked at each other in dismay.

With the County Magistrate not even present, were they not wasting their breath shouting here? Immediately, many of the Junior Officials who had been coerced into coming began to have thoughts of retreating.

Seeing this scene, the leader, a man with a bumpy head, raised his arm and shouted: "The County Magistrate is off duty, so he must be at home. Let us go to the County Magistrate's residence ourselves and have a word with the Magistrate!"

Having said this, the man with the bumpy head stepped forward and left.

The Junior Officials behind him, seeing a leader, also gritted their teeth, not knowing which way was forward, and followed in the footsteps of the man with the bumpy head.

A mighty force of nearly a thousand people headed straight for the County Magistrate's residence.

"Whew." With the crisis resolved, the County Registrar wiped the sweat from his forehead and was just about to slip away.

Wei Ming lifted his official robes and stomped up the steps.

"County... County Magistrate!"

"Hmph."

Wei Ming glared fiercely at his subordinate, flicked his sleeves, and walked into the County Government Office.

The County Registrar knew he had not acted properly just now, so he gave a sheepish smile and followed obsequiously behind the County Magistrate.

The two arrived at the official hall and sat down. Wei Ming took the lead in attacking: "You, Wang Yongcheng, you dare to push such a small matter onto me. Good, very good indeed."

"Magistrate, this is no small matter." Wang Yongcheng's mouth twitched, and he hurriedly tried to excuse himself. "With over a hundred runners causing trouble, if this is not handled well, the County Magistrate's office will have no one left to use."

Hearing this, Wei Ming gave a cold laugh.

Could he not know the ins and outs of this? However, this scapegoat could not be carried by himself. After thinking it over, the Wang Yongcheng before him was just the right size and fit.

Thinking this, Wei Ming picked up the tea on his left and took a small sip, saying indifferently: "Registrar Wang, these Junior Officials are all under your jurisdiction. If they do something outrageous, and others insist that it was you who instigated it, you will be in trouble!"

"Magistrate, this..." Wang Yongcheng looked troubled.

"This what? Why don't you go and borrow troops to arrest all these Junior Officials?!" Wei Ming's triangular eyes narrowed, and he looked at Wang Yongcheng with a grim expression. "If you don't go, do you expect me to go?"

"Yes." Wang Yongcheng agreed readily, but his feet did not move.

"Go quickly!"

"Magistrate, it is fine for me to go, but you must give me a plan of action."

"What plan of action?"

"You must give me an order so that if there is a conflict with the Junior Officials, I will have a legal basis to act." Wang Yongcheng stared at Wei Ming and carefully stated his inner thoughts.

Wei Ming sneered inwardly, thinking: If I issue an order, and there is an investigation later, how can I clear my own name?

So he waved his hands dismissively and said with feigned indifference: "What order do you need? These Junior Officials have no regard for the law and dared to storm the County Magistrate's office. With just this, as an official of the imperial court, can you not handle them?"

"This..."

"Go quickly! If you don't go, and these animals hurt someone, when the imperial court holds you accountable, just wait to be punished!" Wei Ming said viciously, his face full of malice.

Wang Yongcheng let out a long sigh; helpless, he could only go out to mobilize troops to arrest the rioting Junior Officials.

On the other side, Zhang Yunxiu also received the news.

At the time, he was plotting with Han San regarding the security issues for this examination. Just as they were getting to the important part, someone came from outside to report.

They said the Junior Officials had rioted and even surrounded the County Magistrate's office.

Zhang Yunxiu guessed that it must be those few "troublemakers" from the afternoon stirring things up, and he felt a surge of joy.

He was just about to kill the chicken to warn the monkey, and these blockheads had actually delivered themselves to his door. So, without a word, he immediately ordered Han San to assemble the Embroidered Uniform Guard and went with them to suppress the riot.

Looking at the Junior Officials who had brought their families and were crowding in front of Wei Ming's residence, Zhang Yunxiu's face was as cold as frost as he stepped forward: "You have great courage, surrounding the residence of an imperial official. Do you know what kind of crime this is?"

"According to Great Ming Law, this crime is the same as treason!"

The rioting Junior Officials heard this, turned around one after another, and looked at this noble-looking young man. For the first time, fear appeared on their fierce faces.

Zhang Yunxiu kept a cold face and continued to walk forward under the gaze of everyone.

Wherever his gaze fell, the commoners on both sides cleared a path.

Soon, he arrived in the center of the crowd, looked around, and ordered in a loud voice: "Now all of you go back. If you want to earn the five taels of silver in wages, then behave yourselves and go take the examination together."

"After passing the assessment, you will naturally have the five taels of silver in wages."

"You talk nicely, but we don't know many characters, how can we take the exam?!" A voice of questioning immediately rose from the crowd.

"Then who is to blame for that?!" Zhang Yunxiu looked toward the direction of the voice and replied, "You want high wages but are unwilling to put in the hard work; where in this world is there such a good thing?"

The crowd suddenly fell silent.

Many Junior Officials with some ink in their bellies had thoughts of retreating and began to back away. Although they did not recognize Zhang Yunxiu, they recognized the Embroidered Uniform Guards around him; these guys were known to kill without blinking.

Don't look at how happily they are rioting now; be careful of the reckoning in the future.

Facing the Embroidered Uniform Guard, they did not have the slightest courage to resist.

Very quickly, after the first person backed out of the line, the second followed, and then the third.

In a brief moment, the originally congested line was left with only a few dozen people.

The man with the lumpy head from today was among them.

"What is your name?" Zhang Yunxiu asked, looking at the man with the lumpy head.

"Han Wu," the man with the lumpy head replied.

"Why did you cause trouble?"

"There is no work left; if I don't cause trouble, what else can I do?"

"A fine 'no work left.' Today I shall spare your life for now, but while the death penalty may be avoided, the living punishment is inescapable." Seeing that no major commotion had been stirred up, Zhang Yunxiu prepared to let him off the hook, "Han San!"

"Present!"

"Take these troublemakers out and give them eighty military cane strikes."

(End of chapter)