When the first steamer of the Manufacturing Bureau was running on the surface of Xijiang River, creating waves on the water and attracting thousands of people, in Qiyun County, there was actually another major event that was quietly happening. However, under the instruction of Yan Liqiang, the major event was not reported in the newspapers. Therefore, apart from the local people and officials of Qiyun County, not many people outside knew about it or paid attention to it. Even Yan Liqiang himself deliberately handled the matter coldly, not wanting to stir up too much trouble for the time being. To use Fang Beidou's words, it was just doing it without saying anything. Even for the local people and officials of Qiyun County, those who knew about it just felt it was fresh and fun, and thought it was a whimsical move and attempt by the governor, and did not think too deeply about it.
But for Yan Liqiang, his level of concern about that incident was ten or a hundred times greater than that of the ship manufacturing bureau, because for him, compared with the sea trial of the first ship, that incident could truly be called groundbreaking and had far-reaching influence. Even the reason why the sea trial of the first ship caused such a big fuss was, to a certain extent, a deliberate arrangement by Yan Liqiang to attract public opinion and everyone's attention so that the incident could proceed smoothly.
Not many people paid attention to that incident, but there were still people who traveled thousands of miles to Qiyun County, not by ship, but just to see how that incident was going. These people who traveled thousands of miles to Qiyun County to see how that incident was going were Hua Ruxue and his group.
Like Feng Qinghe and his companions, Hua Ruxue and his four companions arrived in Qiyun County as early as July 10th. However, they did not come to Pingxi City, but went to Jia'an County under Qiyun County.
Jia'an County is one of the fourteen counties under the jurisdiction of Qiyun County. This county ranks in the middle and lower among the fourteen counties in Qiyun County. It has a small population, an underdeveloped economy, and no special output. Like many ordinary counties in the Han Empire, it is not very eye-catching. When Yan Liqiang established the government and built the Qiyun Protectorate, the county magistrates of Jia'an County and the other five counties, a total of six counties, were taken away by Wang Jianbei and left vacant.
In the past two years, Yan Liqiang has successively appointed the chief magistrates of two of the six counties, but the positions of the chief magistrates of four counties have remained vacant. It is interesting to say that although the positions of the county magistrates of these four counties have been vacant, everything has been running smoothly in the past two years. Taxes can be collected as usual, and the criminal arrest offices of the counties handle the daily lawsuits and disputes. The grassroots officials and servants such as the chiefs of the pavilions and the chiefs of the townships under the four counties can also perform their duties normally. Without Yan Liqiang's order, the county magistrates of these four counties have remained vacant. The people in these four counties have gradually gotten used to it, and so have the people in Jia'an County.
But just after Yan Liqiang came back from the imperial capital this time, everything slowly changed. In May, an official document with the official seal of the Qiyun Protectorate was sent to Jia'an County and posted on the government notice in the county seat of Jia'an County, making the entire Jia'an County suddenly lively.
This official document from the Inspectorate said that the Inspector knew that Jia'an County had been without a county magistrate for a long time, but under such circumstances, everything was normal in Jia'an County and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment. The Inspector was very happy. He said, "The county can be governed without an official, which must be the result of the efforts of the local sages." Therefore, the people from all villages, townships and towns in Jia'an County should nominate and select 100 representatives of local sages, report their names, and then go to the Inspectorate to give a banquet and reward them.
The same official document was also sent to the other three counties, which suddenly became lively. Because it was only about nominating local celebrities, the counties followed Yan Liqiang's wishes and let the people in the county nominate local celebrities.
In May, 400 local celebrities nominated by these four counties went to the Governor's Office to receive a banquet given by the Governor. Each local celebrity was also rewarded with a silver medal at the banquet. They returned home in glory and boosted people's morale.
It was in June, just after Yan Liqiang won a great victory at Baishi Pass and beheaded 50,000 elite soldiers from the seven Shatu tribes, that the second official document with the seal of the Inspectorate arrived.
The general meaning of the official document was that the Inspector General had noticed that there had been no county magistrate in Jia'an County for a long time. Naturally, a county could not be without a county magistrate for a long time. It was just that the Inspector General could not find a suitable candidate at the moment, so he came up with a way to select the county magistrate. All men whose household registration was in Jia'an County, who were over 20 years old and had passed the age of twenty, regardless of whether they were officials or gentry, could sign up to participate in the selection of the county magistrate of Jia'an County as long as they were recommended by two local sages in the county. And how was this selection made? It was not appointed by the Inspector General's Office. The Inspector General's Office only confirmed the qualifications. In the end, who would become the county magistrate of Jia'an County would be voted on by the local sages recommended by the people of Jia'an County.
As soon as such official documents and orders came down, the entire Jia'an County and the other three counties that did not have county magistrates were in an uproar. Originally, everyone thought that the title of local celebrity was just an honorary title. Who would have thought that the governor would actually let the local celebrities vote on such an important matter as the appointment and selection of county magistrates? The value of these local celebrities was highlighted all at once.
Letting local celebrities select county magistrates was an unprecedented thing in the Han Empire or even the entire Silver Continent, but since the official document from the Inspectorate had been issued, it was naturally no joke. So in the end, although there were still many people who were watching the matter with a joking attitude, taking Jia'an County as an example, after confirming that the official document from the Inspectorate was not sent incorrectly, some people still took the initiative to step forward and want to try it. No matter how you put it, the position of county head was extremely tempting to many people. Normally, those people had no chance at all, but now that the Inspectorate wanted to select officials in a unique way, they could naturally try it out and see what was going on.
Throughout Jia'an County, most people were treating this matter with a mentality of watching the fun and being curious, but some people took the initiative to step forward. In the end, there were three people who signed up to participate in this unprecedented county magistrate selection. One of them was Shao Yuanjie, the chief judge of the Criminal Arrest Office of Jia'an County, the second was Wang Dou, a famous squire in Jia'an County, and the third was Su Youlun, the director of the Jia'an County National Martial Arts Museum. These three people were all prestigious people in Jia'an County. Wang Dou and Su Youlun were also nominated as local celebrities and participated in the banquet hosted by the Governor's Office. As soon as the names of the three people were reported, the Governor's Office immediately approved the three people's qualifications to participate in the county magistrate selection. This time, the selection of the county magistrate of Jia'an County would be carried out among the three, and the time for Jia'an County to elect local celebrities was July 11.
…
On the afternoon of July 11, when the excitement on the banks of the Dangxi River had subsided, the excitement in the Jia'an County National Martial Arts Museum had just begun. Just after lunch, many people in Jia'an County spontaneously gathered around the National Martial Arts Museum in the county, crowding the area around the museum, waiting for the result of this unique selection of the Jia'an County Magistrate...
The person who presided over the selection of the county magistrate of Jia'an County was Shi Changfeng. Originally, this selection of the county magistrate should have been arranged in the county government office, but the county government office was too small, making it inconvenient to set up the venue, and it was also inconvenient for more than a hundred people to rush in at once, so Shi Changfeng finally decided to arrange this selection of the county magistrate in the national martial arts hall of Jia'an County.
(End of this chapter)