Jingnan County City God Temple is not large, the main door of the main hall hangs “City God Temple” plaque, the left and right sides of the mahogany couplets hanging: “do a good heart is a positive body and soul dream stable, do some good deeds heaven knows the ground to identify the ghosts and gods”.
Zhu Pingan, under the guidance of County Minister Zhang and others, entered the City God Temple through the middle tunnel of the Temple’s ceremonial door.
After entering the main hall of the City God Temple, Zhu Pingan found that the God Lord enshrined in the Jingnan County City God Temple was the famous patriotic and loyal minister of the Southern Song Dynasty, Wen Tianxiang, which was also a historical figure that Zhu Pingan had always admired very much.
About Wen Tianxiang had once resisted the Yuan Dynasty on the land of Jingnan County, so Jingnan County enshrined him as the God Lord of the City God Temple.
Inside the temple, the three sacrificial offerings and all kinds of utensils had already been set up, just waiting for one to worship the City God.
After everything is ready, Zhu Pingan led Zhang County Minister and other people to the city god a kneeling three kowtow, burning incense worship, in the ground oath, “the next official Zhu Pingan, by the emperor’s order to assume the position of the county governor of jingnan county, especially with the god oath, but the god Ming Congzheng ZhiLing, god rate of the netherworld, yin and yang table, I have not prepared for the government, I hope that the god of God silently blessing, so that my government to rise up to the people; I if the negligence of treachery and greed, set up bureaucratic subordinates, abuse of the nextIf I am negligent and corrupt, I will frame my subordinates and abuse the people, God will send me a calamity. The next official Zhu Pingan, respectfully allied this oath, to show my heart, use my duty, God’s light is clear, still its come to the frame, dare to tell.”
This is called and God oath, is the worship of the city god of the most important, swear loyalty to the gods, loyal to their duties, to yin and yang for each other, to achieve the common rule of man and god, so that the party can enter the Yamen director. The city god will be on the performance of the county after the performance of the appraisal and correction, reward and punishment.
After worshipping the city god, Zhu Pingan went to the county office of Jingnan County under the guidance of the county magistrate Zhang and others to worship and receive the seal.
Accepting the seal was a sign of taking office.
What Zhu Pingan had with him was only the official document of appointment issued by the Ministry of Appointment and his own seal, and only in this section, with the official document of appointment from the Ministry of Appointment and the seal to verify his identity, would he be able to accept the Seal of the Governor of Jingnan County.
In this way, it is only considered to be the appointment of the governor of Jingnan County.
After arriving at the county office, Zhu Pingan divided his troops into two, letting Liu Dazhou drive the carriage, carrying Painter, from the side door to the back of the house to tidy up and settle down, and taking Liu Mu and the others with himself, he followed Zhang Xiancheng and the others from the main door of the county office to step into the county office.
“Greetings to the county minister.”
The three shifts of magistrates at the county government office had long been lined up and waiting, after Zhu Pingan and the others entered the county government office, they knelt down and saluted.
“Be excused, all of you please rise.”
Zhu Pingan nodded his head towards the magistrates and made a gesture of inviting them to rise with his hands, signalling for them to get up.
“Thank you, County Honour.”The crowd of magistrates rose in response.
“County Honour, this way please, the ceremonial gate is this way, after the ceremonial gate, there is the hall of the county office. Our Jingnan County County Yamen was built in the 8th year of Dade in the Yuan Dynasty, with a history of more than two hundred years, and then it was renovated and expanded three times in the 12th year of Hongwu, the 20th year of Yongle, and the 6th year of Zhengde, and repaired many times by successive County Honourable Officers, so that it has the appearance of today. The Yamen sits in the north and faces the south, the left civil and right military, the front Yamen and the back residence, and the prison resides in the south.”
County Minister Zhang guided Zhu Pingan to continue walking, while walking, he acted as an interpreter, briefly introducing the history and layout of the county office with Zhu Pingan.
Zhu Pingan nodded, observing as he walked, and when he reached the ceremonial gate, County Minister Zhang stopped and asked Zhu Pingan to enter the ceremonial gate first to show that the county honours the head of a county, and he followed Zhu Pingan in.
As Zhang said, after passing through the ceremonial gate, the county office lobby came into Zhu Pingan’s eyes.
The lobby seemed to have just been renovated, clean and new, and the layout was similar to those old county offices that Zhu Pingan visited in modern times. On the two pillars in front of the hall, there is a couplet written in large letters on a red background with black paint, “The law is not pro, the order is not reason; the reward is only heavy, the punishment is only light”. Above the hall hangs a plaque, the inscription “mirror hanging high”, below the plaque for the ambiguous pavilion, in the middle of the three-foot black lacquer case, above the four treasures and red and green head of the four treasures used to examine the case, behind the case is a white wall, in the middle of the wooden frame framed into a frame, the frame of the white background, above the painting of a giantA huge picture of “seawater tide day” was painted on it.
With a bright mirror hanging high above his head and seawater facing the sun behind him, it implies that an official should be as bright as the sun and the moon, and as clear as seawater.
This was the main place where he would work in the future, Zhu Pingan stepped forward and stepped onto the warm pavilion, reaching out to cross his hand from the official desk.
“Prefect, now pay your respects to the seal?”The county minister, Zhang Changru, stepped forward and softly inquired.
“Hmm.”Zhu Pingan nodded.
“Lord Yao is still not quick enough to fetch the Great Seal of the Magistrate.”The county minister Zhang Changru looked at the chief minister Yao Wenyuan and reminded him.
“Please forgive my humble servant’s offence, the procedure makes it so, please also ask your county honours to show the three treasures.”
After fetching the magistrate’s great seal with the seal affixed to it, the chief minister Yao Wenyuan held the great seal in both hands and bowed to Zhu Pingan.
The so-called three treasures were the seal, the official document of the Ministry and the sword, which were the credentials to verify the identity of the previous governor.
“Lord Yao is overstated.”Zhu Pingan smiled and nodded, turning his gaze to Liu Mu and softly said, “Brother Mu, please the three treasures.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”Liu Mu answered and respectfully handed over the three treasures he was carrying to Zhu Pingan.
“Please.”Zhu Pingan placed the three treasures on the public case and reached out to Lord Yao and the others in a please gesture.
Li Da, the official historian, was the first one to come up to check and examine them, looking them over and over several times, followed by Zhang Xiancheng, Lord Yao and the others, who also came up and checked them one by one.
After checking and confirming that there was no mistake, Master Yao handed over the county seal to Zhu Pingan, who, in the presence of the crowd, removed the seal and took out the county seal with both hands, placing it on the public case.
“Greetings to the county governor.”
County Minister Zhang and Master Yao led all the officials of the Jingnan County Yamen to come forward and stand under the hall, performing two bows to formally pay their respects to Zhu Pingan.
“All of you, please rise, this official has been transferred as the governor of Jingnan by imperial order, and it is a great responsibility to govern one side of the people. However, Ping’an is new to the country and is young and inexperienced, so he will have to rely on all of you in the future. I also hope that you will join forces with this official, and be loyal to the state and work together for the benefit of the people of Jingnan.”Zhu Pingan rose and bowed in reply.
“County Honour is modest, we should follow the instructions of the station, and in the future, we will only look up to County Honour, be loyal to the state and benefit the people of Jingnan.”County Minister Zhang led the crowd to reply in unison.
Then, the Yamen, Soap Clerks, Diners, Scripture Suns, Lobbyists, Monks, Taoist Officials, Yin and Yang Shengs, Medical Officials, and Academic Officials, in order from the bottom to the top, went up to Zhu Ping An and paid two bows, and Zhu Ping An stood up to accept the salute.
Zhu Pingan rose to accept the salute. He ascended to the hall, arranged for the Yamen, drew a dao, and asked the servants to go to the county town and the countryside to post notices to inform the people of the district that the new magistrate had already assumed his office.
After the ceremony, Zhu Pingan attended the reception banquet prepared by Zhang Xiancheng and other people according to the usual practice, in which the guests and hosts enjoyed each other’s company.
By the evening, Zhu Pingan had finished all the procedures for his appointment, and he was almost exhausted.
“Auntie, is the handover still smooth?”
The bun little maid, Painting, had already prepared foot washing water for Zhu Pingan, and brought it and placed it at his feet for Zhu Pingan to soak his feet, and she helped Zhu Pingan massage and rub his shoulders behind him, and while massaging, she asked in a low voice.
“Since it went well, then why is Auntie still frowning?”Painter asked in confusion.
“It’s because it went too smoothly.”Zhu Pingan squinted his eyes comfortably and said slowly.
