The chief officer Hu Zongxian rode a donkey, and his followers naturally would not ride horses past their master, so they also rode donkeys.
At one moment, more than a dozen donkeys on the official road neighed in unison. To be honest, this scene was much more impressive than riding a horse.
The officials outside the long pavilion were dumbfounded and shocked. Of course, the biggest blow came to Zhang Chufeng, Chu Xiong and others. They looked at the donkeys slowly approaching on the official road, and they were so heartbroken that they wanted to skin these stupid donkeys, eat their meat, stew soup and boil donkey-hide gelatin. The appearance of these stupid donkeys meant the loss of their money. Seeing Hu Zongxian and others on the back of the donkey, they couldn't help but complain in their hearts. It's the 31st year of Jiajing, and you still ride a donkey to take office. You must have been kicked in the head by a donkey!
These donkeys are so cute. Look at their long donkey faces, they look like shiny silver bills.
Zhu Pingan looked at the donkeys and couldn't help but smile. When the donkeys were close, Zhu Pingan took Chu Xiong's official hat with a smile on his face, put it on his back, and accepted all the bets. Then he cupped his hands and thanked Chu Xiong and others one by one, "Thank you for your support, thank you for your support..."
Chu Xiong's heart was bleeding, but he forced a smile on his face, "Haha, why are you being so polite, brother Zhu? Didn't I tell you before the game started? This game is to help support brother Zhu's group training..."
Zhang Chufeng couldn't even force a smile, his face was almost pulled into his crotch. Facing Zhu Ping'an's bow and thanks, he snorted coldly and said coldly, "Hmph, no thanks!"
... ...
"I am so honored to be welcomed by you all." Hu Zongxian arrived riding a donkey, got off, and bowed to express his gratitude to the officials outside the pavilion.
"Mr. Hu, you are too polite."
A group of officials bowed in return.
Although Hu Zongxian's official position was only seventh rank, his importance could be seen in this occasion.
The six ministers of the second rank were still putting on airs, but the provincial governors and the chief judicial commissioners of the third rank were no longer putting on airs. They took the initiative to step forward and talk to Hu Zongxian with the etiquette of officials of the same rank.
As for officials of the fourth and fifth ranks, they all bowed when meeting Hu Zongxian.
Zhu Ping'an is no exception.
Zhu Ping'an was very balanced in his heart, and he was not unhappy to meet him. First, the power and status of the inspector censor were different from the past; second, Hu Zongxian was his predecessor. Hu Zongxian was a Jinshi in the 17th year of Jiajing, and he was a Jinshi in the 30th year of Jiajing. Hu Zongxian's qualifications were more than ten years older than his. In the feudal era of seniority, it was normal for the younger generation to meet the elder; third, when Hu Zongxian left, the route of the Kedao censors was different from that of ordinary officials. Kedao officials are famous for their accumulation of experience and their promotion faster than ordinary officials. Although Kedao officials are of low rank, only the seventh rank, as long as they do well and accumulate merits to a certain extent, they can be directly promoted from the seventh rank officials. In the capital, they can be promoted to the official positions of the fourth and fifth ranks of the Imperial Household Department Shaoqing, and if they are transferred outside, they can be directly promoted to the third rank of the councilor.
Hu Zongxian was a third-class Jinshi. In the Ming Dynasty, first-class Jinshi entered the Hanlin Academy directly; second-class Jinshi were appointed as principal officials, and prefects; third-class Jinshi were appointed as Zhongshu Sheren, Xingren, etc., and outside were appointed as Tui Guan and Zhixian. After Hu Zongxian passed the third-class Jinshi examination, he was appointed as the magistrate of Yidu County, Qingzhou Prefecture, Shandong Province, and later transferred to Yuyao County Magistrate. After that, Hu Zongxian changed his route to a Kedao official. From a local county magistrate to a Kedao official, he inspected important border towns such as Xuanfu and Datong as a seventh-rank censor, rectified military discipline, consolidated border defense, and stabilized the border to a certain extent. Last year, Hu Zongxian inspected Huguang again, participated in the suppression of the Miao uprising, and also made contributions. At the beginning of the month, Hu Zongxian was appointed by Emperor Jiajing as the inspector and supervisor of Zhejiang.
According to the promotion route for officials in the Kedao area, as long as Hu Zongxian made some achievements, he could be promoted to a fourth-rank Beijing official, or a third-rank local official. In other words, Hu Zongxian is now between fourth-rank and third-rank local officials.
In addition, Zhu Ping'an knew Hu Zongxian's importance better than anyone else present. Zhu Ping'an knew that Hu Zongxian would be promoted soon, and would be promoted continuously, soaring to the top and becoming the Governor-General of Zhizhe, the Governor of military affairs in Zhejiang, Southern Zhili and Fujian, and becoming a leading figure in the officialdom of Jiangnan.
Therefore, when Zhu Ping'an came to visit Hu Zongxian, he felt very balanced and had no objection at all.
Zhu Pingan mixed in the crowd to pay his respects to Hu Zongxian, and silently observed this great figure in history. The Hu Zongxian in his vision was completely different from the Hu Zongxian in his mind. The image of Hu Zongxian in Zhu Pingan's mind was based on the standard old cadre appearance of Wang Qingxiang in the Ming Dynasty 1566 that he watched in modern times, but the Hu Zongxian in his vision was much more extraordinary than Wang Qingxiang, and his expressions were much richer.
Hu Zongxian was good at networking and had strong communication skills. He was neither humble in front of the six ministers nor arrogant in front of lower-level officials. He took care of officials of all ranks, making people feel like he was in the spring breeze.
"Mr. Hu, you must have had hard work on the journey." A group of officials greeted each other, and several smart low-level officials vied to help Hu Zongxian lead the donkey.
"Haha, I'm fine. It's my donkey that has worked hard. All the way south, I'm so fat that I almost broke the old donkey's waist..." Hu Zongxian bowed to express his gratitude to everyone and replied humorously.
When everyone heard this, they laughed out loud and the atmosphere was very harmonious.
After a brief exchange of greetings outside the pavilion, everyone welcomed Hu Zongxian into Yingtian to welcome him. Everyone rode horses, while Hu Zongxian rode a donkey. Hu Zongxian's donkey was very proud, and kept bleating on the road because it found that it ran faster than any horse today. Except for a few horses that ran on par with it, the rest of the horses were slower than it and were left behind. It felt that its donkey life had reached its peak.
The welcoming banquet was held at the Inspector General's Office, and several famous restaurant chefs from Yingtian Prefecture were invited to prepare the meal.
Hu Zongxian sat at the same table with the six ministers, the provincial governors, and the provincial prosecutors, while other officials were seated according to their rank. Officials from different yamen were mixed together to increase opportunities for communication between different yamen, facilitate future work coordination, and also give officials an opportunity to get to know each other.
Zhu Ping'an sat at the same table with five officials from the six ministries of Yingtian. Because of his inexperience and young age, he sat at the last seat.
At the beginning, the five officials were quite enthusiastic about Zhu Ping'an and wanted to make friends with him. After all, the fact that he could sit at the same table with them proved that Zhu Ping'an's official position was also fifth-rank. He was so young and promising, and his future was limitless.
However, when Zhu Ping'an reported his name, they looked as if they had seen a plague god. Oh, so you are Zhu Zihou who offended Lord Yan. They immediately kept their distance from Zhu Ping'an and intentionally kept a distance from him. The two officials sitting on Zhu Ping'an's left and right even moved their buttocks on their chairs and intentionally leaned towards the distance, thus keeping a distance from Zhu Ping'an in the limited space.
Your butt is sitting in the right place!
Zhu Ping'an pulled the corner of his mouth speechlessly.