Chapter 294: 292 Female Interns

With a letter of recommendation from Zhao Han and Wu Bing to show them around, Wang Wei and Lin Xue soon found work.

Wang Wei went to teach at the girls' school in Jishui County, while Lin Xue partnered with several bookshops, providing illustrations for their publications.

To test the going rate for paintings in Jiangxi, Lin Xue brought out a Guanyin portrait she had done; the calligraphy-and-painting shop offered five taels of silver on the spot. The shop owner added that he would buy as many paintings of this quality as she could produce.

Five taels of silver was equivalent to ten days' wages for men like Pang Chunlai and Li Banghua.

Even if she did nothing else but paint and sell her work, Lin Xue could live quite comfortably — but she had come to Jiangxi to find a husband.

Not as a concubine, only as a proper wife.

As for how superb Lin Xue's painting skill was, Dong Qichang once offered his appraisal: among late Ming female painters, Yang Huilin of the Southern School and Lin Xue of the Northern School were known as "Yang of the South, Lin of the North."

There was also the great literary figure Li Yu — I won't name his representative works; those who know, know.

When Li Yu was writing Yi Zhong Yuan, moved by the plight of these two women painters, he married Yang Huilin to Dong Qichang in the drama, and Lin Xue to Chen Jiru.

That day, Liu Rushi returned in a sedan chair, with a bookstore clerk helping to carry her books.

Back at the courtyard they rented together, Lin Xue exclaimed, "Buying so many books — are you really going to become a female official?"

Liu Rushi smiled and said, "I've made inquiries. Every yamen recruits administrative observers once a quarter. During the observation period, there's no salary, and you cover your own board and lodging. As long as you make no mistakes, you can convert to probationary clerk status after three months."

"It seems you've made up your mind," Lin Xue said with a smile.

Each had hired a maid, and there was an old woman to cook and do the laundry; their little household was exceedingly comfortable.

Liu Rushi had the shop clerk carry the books into her room and gave him a handful of copper cash as a tip.

She came out rolling up a book and said, "Sister Lin, look what this is."

Lin Xue leaned in for a look. "Foreign silver."

"It's a Great Unity silver dollar. One silver dollar is one tael of silver — far more convenient than broken silver or ingots." Liu Rushi tossed the coin over. "Here's one for you, consider it rent."

It was a clear day, and Lin Xue carried her paintings and books into the courtyard to air them in the sun.

Liu Rushi, meanwhile, was reading under the eaves. The book she was studying was on official document writing. She had long understood the format, but Jiangxi had its own additional rules: official documents must avoid obscure vocabulary, use allusions as sparingly as possible, and be written in plain vernacular.

Plain vernacular meant writing that leaned toward the colloquial — what you might think of as classical baihua.

In fact, many scholarly works of the Ming dynasty, including writings by eminent Confucian masters, frequently used plain vernacular to expound their ideas. Its degree of colloquialism fell somewhere between classical literary Chinese and vernacular baihua, only slightly more formal than Water Margin.

Once Liu Rushi grasped these rules, she set that book aside and picked up The Great Ming Code, Expanded and Abridged.

The Great Ming Code, Expanded and Abridged was a redacted edition; roughly one-third of the original text had been revised.

Several days passed like this when they suddenly remembered they had not yet registered as residents, so they arranged to go together to file their household registration. They could only obtain temporary household registration; they would need to reside for over half a year before it could be converted to permanent registration.

They arrived at the Revenue Section.

The partition wall in the middle had been torn down, making it feel like a large, bright, airy office.

The section chief of the county yamen's Revenue Office was very young and was bent over his desk writing furiously. Perhaps he had been working too long, for he set down his brush and rubbed his wrist — and suddenly caught sight of Lin Xue and Liu Rushi. His gaze fixed on them, utterly transfixed.

"What business do the two young ladies have?" a clerk asked.

"Registering for residence," Lin Xue replied.

The clerk took out a household registration form and said, "Have a seat. From out of town?"

"Yes," Lin Xue said.

The clerk asked, "Name."

"Lin Xue, courtesy name Tiansu."

"Place of origin."

"Jianning, Fujian."

"..."

"The registration form fee is fifteen cash; Chongzhen ten-cash coins are not accepted. The public security fee is twenty cash per month, payable monthly or a full year in advance."

"What is this public security fee?"

"Ji'an Prefecture has too many people. The county yamen's Justice Section is setting up branch offices — one police station for every three wards — responsible for patrolling, catching thieves, firefighting, and night watch."

Both women paid six months of the public security fee, finding these so-called police stations rather intriguing, somewhat reminiscent of the Five Wards Military Command in Nanjing.

Due to its stability and prosperity, the population of Ji'an Prefecture had swelled rapidly, many of them migrants from outside. The total within and outside the city walls now exceeded 250,000.

Even some farmland on the city's outskirts had been cleared and built over with houses.

How could the county's clerks and officials possibly manage it all?

Zhao Han had ordered the existing institutions consolidated, establishing five police stations across the city, each responsible for over fifty thousand people, combining the duties of civil police, criminal police, patrol police, and fire police in one body.

A large city had to be run this way; Nanjing and Beijing both had the Five Wards Military Command.

However, the Five Wards Military Command in the Ming's two capitals had largely ceased to function by the mid-Ming period. A host of agencies could order them around, until in the end no one handled actual business, and they were reduced to little more than servants for the ennobled aristocracy, the eunuchs, and the civil officials.

You could put it this way: the police in Nanjing and Beijing were nowhere to be found all day long, all busy serving officials as unpaid laborers.

Zhu Yuanzhang had placed enormous importance on the Five Wards Military Command. Had he known it would turn out like this, he might well have been furious enough to crawl out of his coffin.

Once the two women had finished their registration and left, the young section chief immediately came over.

"Section Chief!" the clerk hurriedly greeted him.

The young section chief asked, "Those two women are renting a courtyard together?"

"Yes," the clerk said.

This section chief had lived away with his official father for many years and had returned to Jiangxi two years ago. His promotion to section chief of the Justice Section in Luling County had been remarkably swift.

He was twenty years old this year. His betrothed had died of illness, and he was now contemplating taking a wife.

Liu Rushi was simply too beautiful, which daunted him and made him keep his distance. But Lin Xue was very suitable — a few years older was no matter, and that she was a retired courtesan was also of no consequence; her looks were enough to overlook many things.

One could only say that the influence of literary and artistic works on public attitudes and mores had probably surpassed the edification efforts of the Propaganda Department.

In recent years, a flood of plays and novels depicting the romances of maidservants and courtesans had made many young people far less inhibited, privately dreaming of some exquisite, fated love match.

Of course, one still had to stand up to the old diehards at home and break through the obstructions of feudal patriarchs.

Every day at noon and in the evening after work, the young section chief would go out for a stroll, secretly observing Lin Xue's routes and routines, trying to engineer some chance encounters on the street.

After observing for half a month, the young section chief was utterly captivated — he discovered that Lin Xue's painting skill was transcendent.

A true talented woman!

Liu Rushi, meanwhile, checked the notice board every day. Once she had half the Expanded Ming Code committed to memory, she finally saw the county recruiting administrative observers.

They were taking only thirty, but over a hundred people applied.

In the past, scholars who held examination degrees were unwilling to serve as administrative observers. The position was essentially an intern — you did odd jobs for others with no pay, and after three full months you could only become a probationary clerk.

Yet ever since Zhao Han seized Hunan and Guangdong, every prefecture and county saw large numbers of scholars coming to apply!

"You're signing yourself up?" The minor clerk stared dumbly at Liu Rushi.

Liu Rushi asked, "Are women not allowed to apply?"

"Well, no, but… but…" The clerk had no idea what to say.

Liu Rushi smiled. "Since women are not forbidden from applying, then it is permitted. Please register my name. Liu Yin, courtesy name Rushi."

"A-all right!"

The clerk felt light as air, utterly bewitched by Liu Rushi's smile. Dazed for a long moment, he finally said, "Come to the county office tomorrow for the examination."

The county office clerks, along with many of the applicants, all stared dumbly at Liu Rushi — first because of her beauty, and second because a woman had actually applied for administrative observer.

It was true that many women now worked in the propaganda corps, but the only one serving as an official in a county office was Xiao Hong.

And even Xiao Hong had transitioned from propaganda officer to civil affairs officer; Liu Rushi was the very first to apply and sit the exam for administrative observer!

"Next!"

"I am a juren. Here are my credentials."

"Ah, so it is Master Juren. You need not take the exam; you may proceed directly to the county office for administrative observation."

Xiucai were a dime a dozen across the realm, but juren were far fewer.

Whenever a juren was willing to serve as an administrative observer, he was accepted outright, without counting against the quota, and both his confirmation and promotion came very quickly. This approach served both to select talent and to win over the scholars.

The following day.

Liu Rushi came to take the examination. Official documents were simple; law was passable; agriculture left her utterly lost; mathematics left her blank; Great Unity theory was up to standard.

Despite such a poor performance, she still placed eighth, which allowed her to remain at the county office for administrative observation without being assigned to a township or village office.

The section chief of the Personnel Section, his brow furrowed with worry, took Liu Rushi's exam paper and went to seek instructions from Luling County Magistrate Zhang Huanjun.

"Your Honor, this is a woman," the Personnel Section chief said.

Zhang Huanjun nodded approvingly. "Truly fine calligraphy. Her literary talent is also of the highest order — even plain prose reads with a natural cadence. She should be accepted."

The Personnel Section chief repeated, "Your Honor, a woman!"

Zhang Huanjun burst out laughing. "A woman is a woman. She is only an administrative observer."

The Luling County Magistrate was effectively Zhao Han's equivalent of the Governor of the Capital District. How could anyone who reached that post be a hidebound pedant?

The previous Luling County Magistrate had even punished Fei Chun's parents!

On Liu Rushi's very first day as an intern at the county office, she caused an outright sensation. Clerks and officials from every section took turns gawking, finding all manner of flimsy excuses to dash over to the Revenue Section.

For the first two days, Liu Rushi did nothing but odd jobs. The young chief of the Revenue Section, seeing far too many idle onlookers, banished her to the very back to copy official documents. Gradually, she began assisting with administrative tasks, handling every kind of work with effortless ease, and still had time left after finishing to teach herself mathematics.

The Regional Commander's headquarters.

Zhao Han said, amused, "She's doing administrative observation at the county office?"

"Yes, word has even reached the Regional Commander's headquarters," said secretary Wang Dai.

"Pass word down to the people below: do not make things difficult for her, but do not give her special treatment either," Zhao Han said. Then he asked, "Is the new army fully formed yet?"

Zhang Jiayu said, "They have been in assembly training for half a month."

Fei Ruhe had already been transferred back, restored to his original rank, though he was now in charge of the Eastern Military Institute. He had drawn army backbone cadres from Guangdong to serve as the framework, recalled some officers from Hunan as well, and then recruited peasant soldiers from the impoverished regions of Jiangxi to enlist.

The number of professional soldiers under Zhao Han's command had at last increased to twenty-eight thousand.

Summoning Pang Chunlai, Li Banghua, Fei Chun, Chen Maosheng, Xiao Huan, and the others, Zhao Han said, "These past few days, we have all discussed this at length, and I have made up my mind. This year, we will leave Fujian untouched and seize Jiangnan first. Let every bureau make the corresponding preparations. The moment the summer grain is in the granaries, we march!"

What had shifted Zhao Han's strategic decision was a letter sent by Xu Ying.

The xiucai of Zhejiang were about to rise in revolt!

The Restoration Society had branches everywhere, and the Righteous Society was the most influential branch in the central Zhejiang region.

The Righteous Society's leader, Xu Du, was actually about to launch an uprising. He had already linked up scholars across several counties and gained the support of many merchants and small to mid-sized landlords.

To refuse what Heaven bestows is to invite calamity upon oneself. Zhao Han had no choice but to alter his expansion plans.

This time, Zhao Han would personally lead the campaign into Jiangnan — personally take charge of dealing with those great Jiangnan clans.

(End of chapter)