knife

Chapter 732 Uneasiness
The clerk tiptoed as he led Cui Shu through the hall and into the room.

"Mr. Cui, Chief Clerk Mao is waiting for you inside!" the clerk said, bowing.

"Thank you!" Cui Shu bowed slightly. The clerk smiled, turned and left, gently closing the door behind him.

Cui Shu walked to the door of the inner room and looked through the curtain at an old man who was writing furiously at his desk. His white hair was tied up in a messy bun and held up with a copper fork. He had three long wisps of beard, half of which were white. His face was angular and marked with marks as if carved by a knife and axe. It was clear that he had stayed in the north for too long and suffered a lot.

This is Mao Daxian.

His official position was merely the Chief Secretary of the Beiting Protectorate.

But anyone who understands the current state of the Beiting Protectorate knows what this position represents.

The area under the jurisdiction of the Beiting Protectorate now far exceeds the territory of the Great Qin Dynasty. However, it is sparsely populated, with more than five million people currently registered.

And these people's basic needs, such as eating, drinking, and relieving themselves, are basically all taken care of by this person.

Moreover, it seems that the management is quite good. Otherwise, Li Dachui would not have the confidence to launch such expeditions. No matter how ingenious the plan is, it still needs a foundation to support it. Without money and food, you can't do anything in a place like the Northeast.

Although Cui Shu was the head of the family, the Cui family was still not on the same level as the current Beiting Protectorate. Looking at the busy old man inside, he couldn't help but feel a little intimidated.

Today's meeting is certainly unusual.

The future path of the Cui family depends on this meeting.

In fact, Cui Shu felt that she didn't have any bargaining power.

Boling County is now completely under the control of the Beiting Protectorate. As soon as Li Guohua ran away from the Cui family's old residence, Li Dachui led his men in pursuit. After the news spread, the officers and soldiers of the Linghu Group, represented by Chang Sheng, immediately abandoned the county city and fled at breakneck speed.

The remaining troops, led by Commandant Zhang Yan, surrendered directly to Xiao Changche.

The Beiting Protectorate obtained the entire city of Boling without lifting a finger, along with mountains of supplies and weapons stored within it.

Because Zhang Yan made a great contribution by taking control of the county town at the last moment and capturing the people Chang Sheng had left behind to set fire to the warehouses, Xiao Changche even personally received him.

The army in Boling County, now under Zhang Yan's control, has moved to a location only a dozen miles from the Cui family's old residence and set up camp, ostensibly for reorganization. However, Cui Shu doesn't see it that way. If the Cui family makes any unusual moves or becomes disobedient, Zhang Yan will surely be looking for another opportunity to achieve merit.

The Cui family certainly wouldn't take these people seriously, but the problem is that Xiao Changche's main force is currently stationed in the county city, and Lu Xin's army hasn't returned yet!
Man is the butcher, and I am his prey.

Cui Shu sighed, but no matter what, he still had to fight for what he could. Fortunately, he had a ready-made model. Cui Shu's bottom line was that he could never be worse than Lu Xin.

He reached out and lifted the curtain.

The old man in the room looked up, saw Cui Shu, and his face immediately lit up with a smile. He put down his pen, came out from behind the large desk, and said while rubbing his hands, "Mr. Cui, I've heard so much about you! I've heard so much about you!"

Cui Shu bowed and said, "The name of Chief Clerk Mao has been renowned for many years. Whenever the area beyond the Great Wall is mentioned, Chief Clerk Mao's abilities are inevitably brought up. Protector-General Li is extremely fortunate to have Chief Clerk Mao's assistance!"

"Wrong, wrong!" Mao Daxian chuckled. "It's my good fortune that I've met a true hero like Protector Li in my lifetime. Without Protector Li, I'd be nothing but a pile of excrement that even dogs wouldn't want!" "Chief Secretary, you're too modest!" Cui Shu shook his head. "Boling County is neighbors with the area outside the pass, and I'm quite clear about the situation there in recent years. Putting aside everything else, just the fact that you've managed to feed millions of people outside the pass in the past year, without any famine or starvation, is already astounding!"

Mao Daxian laughed heartily. Cui Shu's words had truly hit the nail on the head. These things really couldn't have been accomplished without his efforts. The governance strategies for the people that he and Li Dachui had discussed day and night back then were now taking root outside the pass. Li Dachui was the kind of person who only cared about killing and not about burying; once he came up with a general plan, he immediately abandoned it. The rest of the work of filling in the gaps was left entirely to Mao Daxian.

Many of those imaginative policies, if they were to be combined with the actual situation outside the pass and implemented to play a positive role, would require not only Mao Daxian, but also the group of people at Juyingtang in Tai'an. How many of them did not work themselves to the bone and exhaust their efforts?
Looking at my hair and beard, I'm only in my early fifties, but my hair is already gray and I look like I'm in my seventies or eighties!

It's all from worrying so much!
"Sit, sit!" Mao Daxian invited Cui Shu to sit down, then picked up a copper kettle from the stove and personally brewed a cup of tea for Cui Shu, presenting it to him: "This is stir-fried tea made by Protector Li, I quite like it. Brewing tea is certainly elegant, but for me it's too much of a waste of time. I'd rather spend my time approving more documents or listening to more reports from officials than engaging in such charades! This tea can be drunk simply by adding boiling water; it's bitter at first, then sweet, with an unforgettable aftertaste! Try it!"

Cui Shu nodded with a smile. This method of brewing tea had always been ridiculed and looked down upon by wealthy and powerful families, who considered it too rudimentary and beneath their status. In the past, only commoners would use boiling water to brew tea leaves.

But now, with the rise of Li Dachui and the growing popularity of this brewing method among people like Mao Daxian, it's likely that this way of drinking tea will soon spread throughout the world.

I took a sip of the tea, and just as Mao Daxian had said, it was bitter at first, but once the bitterness subsided, a sweet taste immediately lingered between my lips and teeth.

It certainly has a unique flavor.

"Chief Secretary, the tea is good, but I am here today with a heavy heart and have no appetite for it!" Cui Shu decided to speak frankly. He knew he couldn't compete with someone like Mao Daxian in terms of patience and composure.

"Mr. Cui is straightforward!" Mao Daxian nodded and said, "Then I will speak frankly. Our Beiting Protectorate attaches great importance to the Cui family of Boling and the Lu family of Fanyang, because your two families have unparalleled influence in these two places. Whether it is for local stability, future local development, or the great cause of the Protectorate, it must be handled properly. It cannot contradict our current policies of Beiting, nor can it cause any grievances to people like Mr. Cui. Therefore, Protector Li specially summoned me to handle this matter!"

"Appreciate further details!"

Mao Daxian stood up with a smile, picked up a thick book from the large table behind him, and handed it to Cui Shu: "Mr. Cui, you might as well take a look at this first!"

Upon receiving the booklet, Cui Shu's expression changed after just one glance.

Investigation report on the Cui family of Boling.

The name is plain and easy to understand; you can tell at a glance what this thick book of hundreds of pages is about.

As soon as Cui Shu opened the catalog, all the muscles in her body tensed up.

Volume 1: Personnel Composition.

Volume Two: The Composition of Property.

Volume Three: The Structure of Social Relations

Each volume contains dozens to hundreds of detailed entries.

Reaching out and pressing down on the booklet, Cui Shu asked bitterly, "Such a detailed investigation report, when did Beiting begin investigating us?"

"It's been going on for several years now!" Mao Daxian said with a smile. "Mr. Cui, you can take a closer look and see if anything has been overlooked!"

(End of this chapter)