Qing Yao

Chapter 101 Thank you all, sirs
As the highest institution of learning in Yangzhou, the Yangzhou Prefectural School attracted many officials to attend its prefectural examination mobilization ceremony.

As for local officials, the three principal officials of Yangzhou—the Prefect, the Assistant Prefect, and the Sub-Prefect—must be present. In addition, the two salt industry offices located in Yangzhou, the Lianghuai Salt Inspection Office and the Lianghuai Salt Transport Commissioner's Office, must also send representatives to participate, in order to show their emphasis on local education.

The latter, as one of the most lucrative government offices in the Qing Dynasty, also regularly "sponsored" the Yangzhou Prefectural School with 1200 taels of silver every year.

They were also considered major financial backers of the Yangzhou Prefectural School.

The local county of Ganquan and another attached county of Jiangdu did not need to send anyone, as they had to attend the ceremony at the county school.

To put it bluntly, the level isn't high enough.

The chief official of the Lianghuai Salt Transport Commissioner's Office was Akdang'a, commonly known as the "Lianghuai Salt Commissioner," whose son, Guanming, was designated by the Yangzhou Prefect as the top candidate in this year's prefectural examination.

It is said that the provincial education commissioner also planned to designate Guan Ming as the top candidate in the provincial examination, so that the first Manchu "Triple Crown" could appear in the Qing Dynasty, in accordance with the unparalleled prosperity of Emperor Qianlong's reign.

As for whether Guan can achieve his goal of winning the provincial examination and then advancing to the metropolitan and palace examinations, that depends entirely on luck.

After all, the provincial examination will be held next year, and the emperor will not be celebrating his birthday next year.

It depends on the right timing, the right location, and the right people. Without the right timing, it's hard to say what will happen if one of the three is missing.

But no matter what, it is still something to be proud of to become the first Manchu to achieve the "Little Triple Crown" since the founding of the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, both for official and private reasons, Akdang'a, a high-ranking official of the third rank, was going to Yangzhou Prefectural School to hold a social event. However, Akdang'a was not in Yangzhou at the moment, but went to Xinxingchang for an inspection and would not be able to return for a while. Therefore, the deputy envoy Ma Weijun could only represent him to attend the sprint ceremony of the prefectural school.

Lord Ma's second son, Ma Zhihe, is also studying at the prefectural school, but he did not participate in this year's prefectural examination because his grades were so poor that Lord Ma was too embarrassed to ask his son to attend the prefectural school and try to pull some strings.

Lord Ma's own plan was to donate money to get his son a student position in the Imperial Academy in a couple of years, and then spend money to buy him a seventh-rank official post. Even if his son didn't become an official, he had already amassed quite a fortune over the years, enough for his son to squander.

He can spend whatever he wants, as long as that brat can give him ten or eight grandsons.

They still have a very open-minded attitude.

The head of the Lianghuai Salt Inspection Office was popularly known as the "Salt Inspection Censor." In the early Ming Dynasty, this position was filled by the Supervising Censor of the capital, and was designated as a seventh-rank official. Later, the official's power increased, surpassing that of the Salt Transport Commissioner.

However, starting from the Kangxi era of this dynasty, the Salt Commissioner was no longer selected from among the Supervising Censors, but was directly transferred from the Imperial Household Department, or appointed by officials from the Imperial Household Department.

The reason for this is that the Qing Dynasty did not regard salt tax as a regular source of revenue for the national treasury, but rather as a private income for the royal family. No matter how much money was collected, it all went into the emperor's private account and was used by the royal family.

In the later years of Emperor Kangxi's reign, the position of Salt Commissioner of Lianghuai was held alternately by Cao Yin, who came from the Plain White Banner of the Han Army, and Li Xu, who came from the Plain White Banner of the Manchu Army. At the same time, the two also served as Textile Commissioners of Jiangning and Hangzhou.

In other words, the two largest money bags in Jiangnan and Jiangbei both belonged to the emperor himself.

This practice became a standard procedure during the reigns of Emperors Yongzheng and Qianlong.

Since the salt administration of Lianghuai had to be handled by officials from the Imperial Household Department, the person in charge of supervising the salt administration of Lianghuai should also be from the Imperial Household Department.

It's easier to talk to someone who's on your side.

If we were to appoint a Han Chinese official to oversee the salt administration, wouldn't that just be asking for trouble?

The current Salt Inspector Zheng Bowen was originally a bondservant of the Imperial Household Department. Before taking this position, he was just a clerk without any rank in the Construction Department of the Imperial Household Department. Because he performed well in repairing houses for Master Liu Quan, the head steward of the Grand Master He, Master Liu was so happy that he rewarded him with the lucrative post of Salt Inspector.

There's no need to consult with his master or the head of the household; it's just a seventh-rank official.

Of course, no matter how much money Zheng Yushi made during his tenure, he had to give Master Liu a fixed amount of 100,000 taels of silver each year. If it was less than that, Zheng Yushi would have to be transferred.

The task is still quite heavy.

Prefect Fang Weidian of Yangzhou was the son of a virtuous official who had just taken office, while Assistant Prefect Cui Jing and Sub-Prefect Wang Mingtai were technical bureaucrats who had spent many years working at the grassroots level. Their future prospects could not be compared with those of the young and promising Prefect Fang.

When the Ministry of Personnel sent someone to process Zhao An's promotion last time, it was Assistant Magistrate Cui Jing who accompanied him to the prefectural school. Assistant Magistrate Cui seemed to be a decent person.

Zhao An had never met Wang Mingtai, the prefectural magistrate, and as for the prefect, he felt it was best to keep his distance, as this Magistrate Fang clearly looked down on him. If he hadn't managed to keep Teacher Lou in check, the two of them might have actually joined forces to strip him of his authority as an assistant examiner.

In addition to several civil officials, a military officer will also be coming to the prefectural school for a joint effort.

This is the guerrilla general whom the people of Yangzhou call "Lord Canfu".

During the Ming Dynasty, the general was called the Yangzhou Camp Assistant General. During the Shunzhi reign, he was renamed the General of Guerrilla. His station was located at the old training ground north of Yangzhou, and his office was called the Guerrilla Office.

The Prefectural Governor oversees the Green Standard Army of Yangzhou Prefecture, numbering approximately three thousand men. Although he rarely interacts with local government offices, he is required to attend matters concerning the Prefectural School.

The current Prefect is named Zhao Dehan. His ancestors were members of the Han Chinese Eight Banners who followed Regent Dorgon into the Central Plains, and he was granted the hereditary title of Third-Class Light Cavalry Captain.

But life is unpredictable. More than 20 years ago, Emperor Qianlong, for some unknown reason, decided to expel the Han Chinese Eight Banners from the ranks of the Manchus and restore them to civilian status.

"People" refers to the Han people.

Initially, the old man planned to expel all the Han Chinese Eight Banners at once, but the opposition was too strong, so he had to expel the banners in batches.

Zhao Dehan's family was among the last to be removed from the Manchu banner system, in the 48th year of the Qianlong Emperor's reign.

Their ancestors fought tooth and nail to become Manchus, only to have their descendants revert to Han Chinese status by the emperor. One can only imagine the resentment felt by those who were removed from the Manchu ranks.

Zhao Dehan also felt wronged. Fortunately, his ancestors had saved up a lot of money over the generations. In order to prevent himself and his descendants from becoming commoners, he spent a sum of money to buy himself a guerrilla officer title.

It's good to be stationed in Yangzhou.

However, Master Zhao was not good at leading troops into battle. His only hobby was composing poems and couplets with a few literati he kept, taking a boat ride on the Slender West Lake, drinking wine on the Grand Canal, and singing songs in brothels.

Life is good.

Good articles naturally inspire respect for scholars, and in doing so, one will inevitably have to participate in major events in the education field.

Moreover, Master Zhao is the highest-ranking official in Yangzhou, and the guerrilla general he bought is a high-ranking official of the third rank.

On Zhao An's side, given that this was the first major official event since he became a professor, he paid special attention and urgently summoned relevant personnel to give important instructions on the relevant reception procedures.

They even instructed Boss Huang to prepare two tables of top-class banquet and four tables of medium-class banquet, with dishes like bird's nest, barbecue, shark fin, and sea cucumber all included. In short, they only wanted to eat expensive food, not good food.

In addition, we will invite a Taiwanese opera troupe so that the leaders who come to the school for the event will have time to digest their food and drink, and also to deepen their relationships.

This would amount to at least three hundred taels of silver in expenses.

Money is not a problem, we can just owe it to you for now.

In Professor Zhao's eyes, money is worthless as long as it's spent wisely.

That afternoon, all faculty and staff members, under the call of the principal, were mobilized to conduct a thorough cleaning of the school, ensuring that everything, both visible and invisible, was cleaned up.

The standard for a latrine is that no more than five flies can be seen flying around.

It was quite a lot of work, and the faculty and staff were exhausted, but the results were clearly good.

It's truly a complete transformation!
The next day, apart from Teacher Lou, who represented the provincial education commissioner and arrived early in the prefectural guesthouse's official car, all the officials arrived precisely at 3:45 AM in their official sedan chairs, as if they had agreed beforehand.

Unlike Zhao An's three-person official sedan chair, the others rode in at least a four-person sedan chair, which looked both grand and spacious, indirectly intensifying Zhao An's strong desire for promotion.

Seeing the "birds and beasts" alighting from the sedan chairs, Zhao An, who was waiting at the gate of the academy, was unsure whether he was nervous, didn't know what to say, or had memories etched into his bones that made him rub his hands together and say, "Thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to visit the academy and provide guidance. On behalf of all my colleagues at the academy, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your presence!"

(End of this chapter)