My British Empire

Chapter 132 The local system in England

After meeting these people, Edward left with his little maid, Lucy, and asked Mayor William to arrange them.

Mayor William is also wearing a stylish outfit today, and he looks majestic.

After stroking his two beards, Mayor William looked at a large number of young people in front of him, he couldn't help puffing out his chest, and said with his head raised:

"Everyone, you are all talents selected from the best. When you get here, let me tell you about your future arrangements."

As soon as Mayor William's words fell, everyone's interest was aroused. The reserved young people below couldn't help but prick up their ears and listened carefully.

Su Weier and the others were no exception, they stopped their small movements and listened carefully.

"Among you, the top ten candidates will directly enter the Privy Council and temporarily become secretaries. The specific performance depends on you!"

"The rest of you will all go to the ninth hall of the municipal government for half a year as an intern. We will keep an eye on you, and your performance will determine your specific future arrangements!"

"So, don't think that you can sit back and relax after being admitted. Only after passing the internship period can you truly become an official!"

At the end of the speech, Mayor William stared at the many admitted candidates with scrutiny, and the piercing eyes made them all lower their heads.

"Well, you have been admitted today, this is a gratifying day!"

At the end, Mayor William smiled, completely opposite to the previous expression, with an amiable look.

"So, we have prepared a banquet for you, don't be polite, drink to your heart's content! His Majesty the King specially brought ten barrels of strong fire wine!"

Seemingly infected by Mayor William's smile, the tense atmosphere in the hall dissipated, and everyone put a smile on their faces.

Then, Mayor William took the lead, and the entire team of 200 people started to move forward, and came to a hall that seemed to be holding a banquet.

The hall is endlessly wide, as if it has come to a square.

And many long tables covered with red blankets are now filled with all kinds of tempting delicacies waiting for their arrival.

The handsome maids stood on both sides of the long table, as if they were ready to be picked by you, which made Su Weier and other local turtles drooling and sighing incessantly.

On the dining table, cabbages, beets, onions, garlic, and radishes were placed on beautiful porcelain plates of various colors. (The radishes at this time are different from later generations. This is a reddish-purple variety, and the other is a lesser yellow-green variety. As for the orange radish that people eat today, it did not appear until the 17th century.)

After they are cooked or directly washed by the chefs, they greet the guests who taste them in a good-looking posture.

And all kinds of fruits also appeared on the stage, such as apples, pears, bananas, etc., after being cooked, they are bright in color and steaming, and they stay on the plate safely, which is extraordinarily attractive.

Of course, there are also essential meats, such as pork, beef, mutton, and poultry, which are also roasted and put on the table.

Even though Europeans and Americans don't eat much pork nowadays, it was very common in the Middle Ages.

As the easiest to raise and the most common meat at that time, every part of its body was fully utilized by Westerners.

Ears, tongues, tails, mouths, and wombs, these were the foods of the medieval population.

Its ears, tongue, tail, mouth and uterus will all be eaten; while the intestines, bladder, and stomach will be used to make casings, or artificial eggs at Easter.

There is no place to waste, but poverty and persecution. Now that they are rich, they stop eating and despise it.

There were 200 people present, most of them were civilians. They had never seen such a formation before, swallowing their saliva non-stop, their eyes staring round.

Fortunately, they have basically read books, and they still have basic qualities. They don't rush like hungry tigers, and they know how to restrain themselves.

"Gentlemen, let's get started! This place is yours today!"

Mayor William said with a smile when he saw the hard-working people, and then left the room.

And everyone also cared about other people's faces, and their movements were a little gentle, but except for Veseli and other twenty people, the rest ate their food regardless of their appearance.

"Veselli, look at those people, their actions are so rude, it's really contemptible!"

People gather in groups, and not long after, these people are divided into two groups. Some of them are the children of rich businessmen and officials. They are basically either from rich people or have a good relative who is an official. Generally speaking, their family background Relatively rich.

And the other part is like Su Weier and others, all of them are from civilian families, either from Yeomannon families or handicraft families, and these people account for the majority.

"Don't worry so much, these mud-legged people are different from us!"

Elegantly using a fork to put a piece of boiled apple into his mouth, Versel said in a disdainful tone.

After saying this, the people nearby nodded in unison, with a look of deep sympathy on their faces.

In this way, after noon, after drinking and eating, everyone's face was basically full of smiles, and they got acquainted with each other a little bit.

After that, under Edward's arrangement, these people began to change their clothes, took off their old clothes, and put on the official uniforms specially prepared by Edward for them.

This time the official uniform was completely modified from that of the aristocrats.

The first is the two-layer white bodysuit, which is very close-fitting. There are more than a dozen buttons on the bodysuit, and the buttons are basically inlaid with gold. The lining of the bodysuit has thin straps to connect the upper end of the thin-leg trousers.

The wide-body coat is black with flowing gold, and it is worn outside the jacket. The collar covers the ears, the collar at the back of the neck covers the back of the head, and the lower part of the skirt is dragged to the ground. The body is arc-shaped in appearance, long and wide.

On their heads is a bowler hat specially designed by Edward for them, which is a kind of felt hat.

Historically it was invented in 1850 by the Englishman James Coke.

The starting point of the original design was to use hard materials to protect the head, but it became popular in the late 19th century. The main reason is that this kind of bowler hat is somewhat similar to the top silk hat worn by the upper class, and the price is relatively cheap.

Therefore, the stylishly dressed and elegant trainee officials, riding big horses and under the guard of the police, began to show off on the main roads of London.

All kinds of people surrounded the road, competing to watch the newly released young officials.

And the well-dressed trainee officials also touched the hearts of waves of girls.

This kind of flaunting among all the people in London really made the trainee officials shine and greatly satisfied their vanity.

But at this moment, this scene was seen by many parents, and it directly raised the idea of ​​letting their son study in their hearts.

"Hey! Dude, what's this all about? What's up with these people?"

Ham watched the excitement and saw that he was doing well, but suddenly such a sentence popped up from his side disturbed his interest.

However, he turned his head and saw that the speaker was dressed in the same clothes as him, all linen clothes, dusty, and relatively thin, with a shrewd look in his eyes.

Ham knew that this was a small peddler who came to London from all over the world. Although he looked similar to him, he probably had a lot more wealth than him.

As a native of the capital and a resident of the largest city in England, even though he was relatively poor, Ham still held his head up and felt disdain for him from the bottom of his heart.

"This is a new official selected by His Majesty the King through an examination. They are not selected according to their birth. They are basically ordinary people like us!"

"Tsk tsk! From now on, they will all be officials, and they will be different from us!"

Although Ham looked down on him, but his character had always been relatively honest, he explained it to him, and then shut up.

The thin merchant who was listening carefully at the side lowered his head at this time, wondering what he was thinking about.

Like him, businessmen from all over the world didn't know what they were thinking, but the news quickly spread throughout England, Scotland, France, Germany, Spain...

It's a lively day, and the people of London feel special about it, but don't know why.

But knowledgeable people know that this is the opening of a door, a door leading to the upper class, discussing state affairs with the king and nobles, and the common people began to be active in the political arena.

At this time, our His Majesty Edward, after coaxing little Lolita to take a nap, lay on the bed himself and began to think.

After holding the imperial examination in England, he plans to let these people practice in various halls in London for half a year, and then send them to work in other places.

The establishment of the London City Government and the British imperial examinations were all preparations for Edward to reform England.

The specifics of the local system in England at this time were simple.

At that time, the local government had three levels: county, hundred-household district, and village.

The county has a sheriff appointed by the king. There are hundreds of household heads appointed by the king in the hundred-household district.

Villages are controlled by churches or manors.

The most important function of counties and hundred-household districts is judicial adjudication. The County Court sits twice a year. The Baihu District Court meets every four weeks.

The sheriff and the head of the hundred preside over the court respectively. Every freeman may attend the court and participate in the trial. Later, it gradually evolved into the presence of landowners.

Due to the land enfeoffment system practiced in England, certain large tracts of land belonged to vassals (great nobles) or vassals of vassals, ie minor nobles. In this way, the original administrative divisions and noble fiefdoms were intertwined and confused. Generally speaking, there are still courts in counties and hundreds of households, but nobles also have courts, which are the courts of lords. Some fengjun courts replaced the Baihu district courts.

By the time of Henry II (1154-1189), the king authorized the Royal Council to supervise the local court and the monarchy court through circuit judges and accept appeals. The Royal Council effectively became the highest court in the country.

Prior to this, the central government and the local government had almost no connection other than the feudal obligation relationship of vassals and vassals. The establishment of circuit judges began to interfere with local justice.

At the beginning of its establishment, counties and Baihu districts were basically judicial units. Its administrative functions are acquired gradually.

In the process, courts composed of freemen or landowners gradually evolved into local councils.

As an administrative department, the county is responsible for collecting taxes, maintaining law and order, arranging various local public affairs, and so on.

The county councils elect members of parliament, key county officials such as tax collectors, vindicators, censors, and sometimes even sheriffs.

It can be said that the Tudor royal family was able to control the place, mainly by the sheriff, the magistrate, the star court, and the circuit judge.

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