What did the officers of the Song Dynasty do? Is this official position important?

Song Jiang in "Water Margin" was originally an escort in the Yuncheng County government. He was generous and generous, and was known as "timely rain". Song Jiang is quite popular in the local area and has great energy. Almost everyone respects him. So what exactly is the position of superintendent he holds?

Before the Song Dynasty, officials appointed by the imperial court could hire minor officials to handle daily affairs of the government after they took up local posts. These petty officials were non-staff personnel and were not registered in the organizational department of the imperial court. In other words, they were not "officials" and did not have the status of cadres.

Although he does not have the status of a cadre, if a junior official has good abilities and has a strong relationship with the officials, he may still have the opportunity to enter the system and become an official on staff after being recommended by the imperial official.

However, after the Song Dynasty, the boundaries between officials and officials were strictly distinguished. Generally speaking, as a minor official in the county government, there is no chance to become a regular official and enter the cadre rank. Once you are an official, you will almost always be an official, unless you resign.

In the county offices of the Song Dynasty, except for a few local officials appointed by the court, the rest were officials appointed by the local governors. A large number of daily government affairs in the county offices were completed by them. .

There are many types of officials. In the county government office, there are divisions such as custodians and postal bureau chiefs, who are mainly engaged in collecting taxes, managing household registration, and handling prison litigation. The position held by Song Jiang in "Water Margin" is the official in the county government who is engaged in prison litigation.

In the early Northern Song Dynasty, county government officials were generally dispatched from the "Shanghu".

The so-called "upper household", in layman's terms, refers to wealthy households, that is, wealthy households. Song Jiang in "Water Margin" came from a family of small landlords.

Due to the high requirements for supervisors, who must not only write well but also be good at accounting, it is inevitable that there will be a shortage of manpower. Later, there were two more ways to serve as ashi, namely recruitment and inheritance.

According to historical records, a county government generally has eight custodians. But the rankings of these eight people are also different.

Feng Menglong recorded in "Warning Words" that there are first and second-class rankings for escorts. According to the description in "Water Margin", Song Jiang was "proficient in swordsmanship and penmanship, and proficient in official duties". He was the first custodian and had the highest status among the custodians.

In the Song Dynasty, there was a strict distinction between the clothing of common people and officials. The clothing of Oshi is similar to that of scholars, and they can wear long shirts and boots, which is obviously different from ordinary people (ordinary people wear short shirts and high-top shoes).

Although the clothes of the custodian are different from those of the common people, the identity of the custodian is after all a "citizen", not an "official". Therefore, Ashi was looked down upon by scholars who were scholars, and his political status was also very low, being at the bottom of the bureaucracy.

In the Song Dynasty, the post of admissary had no salary or a small salary. However, they manage the people on behalf of the government. They have been local officials for many years, are familiar with the people's conditions, and have a certain amount of real power in their hands. Therefore, those who can hold the post of superintendent are also powerful figures in the local area. Therefore, it is not difficult for us to understand why Song Jiang is also a prominent figure in the local area.

Since the salary of the superintendent is very meager, why is Song Jiang so generous and generous, always giving away gold and silver?

"Water Margin" mentioned that Song Jiang was born as a small landowner, and his family should be relatively wealthy. In addition, although the superintendent has a low status within the bureaucracy, his positions are all lucrative, such as tax collection, in charge of prison litigation, etc. They have real power and a lot of money. It is conceivable that Song Jiang will not be easy-going.

Although the position of superintendent is very lucrative, due to his status, Song Jiang will never be able to enter the official career and get ahead. This made Song Jiang, who had received traditional Confucian education since childhood and was extremely arrogant, very upset.

In the anti-poem Song Jiang later wrote in Xunyanglou, "Just like a tiger lying on a barren hill, lurking in the claws and enduring... If he always succeeds in his ambition, he dares to laugh at Huang Chao's lack of husband", we can easily see that Song Jiang's long-term forbearance and his resentment that he was unwilling to be trapped among the petty officials.

After Song Jiang released Chao Gai privately, he was blackmailed by Yan Poxi, and then furiously killed Yan Poxi and forced him to go to Liangshan. After becoming the leader of Liangshan, Song Jiang finally accepted the court's recruitment. It is not difficult to see that in Song Jiang's heart, seeking fame and serving the imperial court were always orthodox.