Qing Yao

Chapter 109 This kid has the makings of a Minister.

The list was compiled by Ji, the county clerk, at Zhao An's request.

When doing work, you must think ahead about the problems; otherwise, it will be too late to solve them when they are right in front of you.

This is what it means to be prepared for a rainy day.

It's not that it's impossible to mend the fence after the sheep are lost, but it's just not quite right.

County Magistrate Ding did not attend the tripartite coordination meeting; instead, it was County Clerk Ji and Constable Zhang from the county office who came on behalf of the county government.

The "Homebound Travel" group is a self-organized association that does not have an official status.

Naturally, this coordination meeting was decided by Professor Zhao, a seventh-rank official.

The landlords are all from this county. Is it hard to find out which relative has a job, which relative is a prominent figure in the community, which relative is a businessman, and whose child is studying at the county or prefectural school?
Of course it's not hard to find out; it's always accurate.

Whether they are tenants or landlords, and whatever their motives, in Zhao An's eyes they are all ordinary people.

He doesn't like to use harsh methods when working with ordinary people because he is an official, especially an academic official.

If officials are to integrate with the people, what kind of system is that?

Therefore, we must do our work, our ideological work, until the people come to their own understanding.

Can't figure it out?
Then think about it.

Do you think you're some kind of Monkey King who sprang from a rock?
As long as you're breathing and eating, you'll always find something to manipulate in this complex society.

Compared to ideological work, using gangsters to force landlords to agree is a much worse approach and could easily escalate the conflict.

When doing things, it is not only important to achieve the goal, but also to mitigate the impact on public opinion.

In any case, the dignity of the prefectural school must be maintained.

If word gets out that you, Professor Zhao, led gang members in a brawl with ordinary people, what will the higher-ups think of you?

So, Zhao Youlu, you're not a professor of literature, but a professor of martial arts?

The new solution quickly proved effective in practice.

Under immense pressure from the county magistrate, the county government officials, both high and low, had no choice but to grit their teeth and go back to persuade their relatives and friends in order to keep their jobs. In the end, amidst a chorus of curses, the signing rate quickly reached 96%.

The remaining few are dispensable.

If they want to rent, they can rent; if they don't want to rent, as long as it doesn't affect the overall environment of the dormitory area, then let them be.

Zhao An understood the principle of focusing on the big picture and letting go of the small details.

However, this matter caused quite a stir, and the prefectural government was also alarmed and specially sent someone to inquire about the situation. It was learned that it was a "guarantee project" for the imperial examinations in Yangzhou. For the first time ever, the prefect not only did not express any dissatisfaction with the prefectural school's disturbance to the people, but also allocated five hundred taels of silver from the treasury to sponsor the prefectural school.

Although five hundred taels is not much, its symbolic significance is enormous.

This means that the prefect, who had always viewed Zhao An with prejudice, finally recognized this professor who had donated his academic credentials, and at least in terms of improving students' academic performance, he gave his full support.

In return for the favor, as long as the prefect doesn't make things difficult for him, Zhao An has no reason to antagonize him and doesn't intend to hold him back on the matter of being the top official in the prefectural examination.

After all, the chief investigator's father was Akdang'a, the salt commissioner of Lianghuai, so it was best not to offend him if possible.

To thank Master Ji for his help, Zhao An specially transferred the three hundred taels of silver that the bank had given him to Master Ji, and suggested that Master Ji could also hold a position as a clerk in the prefectural school and receive a salary without working. Unexpectedly, Master Ji refused Zhao An's offer, and before leaving, he gave Zhao An a meaningful look and said:
"You said you wanted to learn something from me back then, and to be honest, I really did want to teach you something. But now it seems like I should be the one learning from you."

After saying this, he told Zhao An that he planned to resign at the end of the year and return to his hometown to retire.

"Sir, you are in the prime of your life, why do you suddenly have the idea of ​​returning to your hometown to retire?"

Zhao An was very surprised and couldn't understand why Mr. Ji, who was only in his forties, wanted to retire.

There's no age limit for being a legal advisor; as long as you can still work, you'll work yourself to the bone.

There's no other reason than the high salaries!
A skilled advisor can earn millions a year as easily as playing around.

During the Qianlong era, there was a governor who spent hundreds of millions a year to support a secretary who wrote reports.

No matter how badly you perform, earning three to five million is still a breeze.

Therefore, Master Ji's retirement at this time means he has lost at least tens of millions.

Looking at Zhao An's surprised and puzzled expression, Mr. Ji smiled and said, "You really want to know?"

"Sir, is there some trouble at home? If so, may you tell me? Although I am only a seventh-rank official, I will do my best to help you."

Zhao An spoke from the bottom of his heart. Without Ji Bochang's help, how could he have achieved such a great leap in social class so quickly?

It is said that a drop of kindness should be repaid with a spring of gratitude, and Ji Bochang was truly the most important benefactor in his career, someone who would help him no matter what.

This is why he referred to another important person, Magistrate Ding, as "Old Ding," but still addressed his advisor, Ji Bochang, as "Sir."

A person may have many benefactors in their life, but the first benefactor is the most valuable.

none of them.

"You're very kind, but there's nothing wrong at home."

Mr. Ji shook his head, and looking at Zhao An's sincere face, he finally spoke his mind, "Zhao An, if you were just a clerk, I wouldn't be in such a hurry to return to my hometown, but now that you've become an official of the imperial court, I'm honestly a little worried."

Upon hearing this, Zhao An understood perfectly what Mr. Ji was worried about—he was afraid that one day Mr. Ji's "fake adult" would be exposed.

Just as he was about to comfort Mr. Ji, he told him not to worry, because he, Lao Ding, and Lao Song had transformed into a small gang that "borrows to pay off loans," and as long as they borrowed a lot, they were not afraid of being chased for debt.

Mr. Ji had already spoken up: "I don't know how far you'll go in the future, but no matter what official position you become, just don't mention me as your teacher if you cause trouble in the future."

"."

Watching Mr. Ji get into his carriage and leave the academy, Zhao Anzhen didn't know what to say. After a long while, he pursed his lips and muttered, "Forget it, everyone has their own ambitions. At worst, I'll just empty the old man's family fortune and get you a ministerial retirement pension."

After the rental houses around the school were vacated, Zhaixing immediately organized people to clean up and renovate them.

The project does not involve altering the main structure of the house, but only simple renovations, so the workload is not large and it can definitely be completed before the students move in.

Zhao An took some time to check it out himself. These days, there's no such thing as formaldehyde exceeding the standard in decoration materials, and since there was no paint, there was no problem with a pungent odor. He was basically satisfied, but before leaving, he still made a few requests to Renzhaixing, as if his trip would have been in vain if he didn't comply.

As the countdown erected in front of the temple came to an end, students from various prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of Yangzhou Prefecture arrived in the prefectural city one after another, led by their respective teachers and instructors.

Since the examination was held at the prefectural school, Zhao An was extremely busy these past two days, and even his intimate moments with his wife at night were rushed.

Finally, the countdown reached zero, and the most important hurdle in determining whether one could pass the imperial examination—the prefectural examination—officially began.

As the deputy examiner, Zhao An naturally attended the opening ceremony along with the chief examiner, the prefect. The entire ceremony was much more grand than that of the county examination. Security at the examination site was also taken over by Green Standard Army soldiers sent by the prefect, instead of by local yamen runners as it was during the county examination.

In Zhao An's eyes, these Green Standard Army soldiers were terrible. Not only were their equipment extremely outdated, but the soldiers also lacked morale and spirit, appearing listless and going through the motions as if they were just going to work and leaving work.

No wonder that a few years later, hundreds of thousands of Qing troops fought against the White Lotus Rebellion rabble for eight years!

What concept?
Back then, Wu Sangui led a group of elite troops and fought against the Qing army for eight years!
This means that the rabble of the White Lotus Sect could be compared to the battle-hardened elite troops under Wu Sangui.

Perhaps the only force that still has any fighting power right now is the elite Soren team that Fukang'an transferred to the snow area.

The latest official gazette contains news reports about this matter, saying that the old master issued an edict appointing Hailancha as the advisor minister, leading more than a thousand Baturu guards and Solon soldiers to Xi'an to be under the command of General Fukang'an.

Zhao An estimated that the Qing army would not officially enter the snow area until next year.

The reason was that the capital was still celebrating the old master's birthday, and how could they mobilize troops during the birthday celebration? That would spoil the old master's mood.

Another possibility is that it's related to heavy snow blocking the mountain passes.

Although he had absolutely no goodwill towards the Qing Dynasty, Zhao An still gave positive feedback on the last snow-covered campaign during the Qianlong era.

If I remember correctly, Fukang'an, Hailancha, and the others died of illness one after another after returning from the snowy area.

It may be due to the aftereffects of altitude sickness.

Besides this incident, the official gazette also published an auspicious omen.

It is said that the governor of Zhejiang reported to the imperial court that the oldest person in the Qing Dynasty to date had been discovered within the territory, a full 103 years old!

The old master was very pleased to hear this and ordered that a "Peaceful and Prosperous Elder" archway be built for the old man, along with a pair of shoes and ten taels of silver.

Pretty stingy.

If it were Zhao An, he would have given at least a thousand taels of silver to the elderly and their descendants so that they could benefit from the gifts.

Ten taels of silver can do almost anything.

The examination process for this prefectural examination has been finalized by the prefect and the former professor Jiang. It will be divided into three sessions: essays, miscellaneous essays, and policy essays. The first two sessions will each last one day, and the third session, policy essays, will last two days, for a total of four days.

The invigilation was handled by Teacher Lou from the province. During the exam, the chief and deputy examiners had nothing to do except sit in their offices. Their main job was to grade the papers and determine the grades. The chief and deputy examiners were not allowed to wander around the exam room unless there was a special reason, as it would be easy for people to suspect that they had made private deals with the candidates.

While Zhao An sat at his post like a wooden statue, He Zhongtang in the capital was at home with several officials from the Imperial Household Department, reviewing accounts.

The mansion of He Zhongtang was the best feng shui location in the capital outside of the imperial city. It was located on the western bank of Qianhai Lake and the southern bank of Shichahai Lake. The original owner of the land was Li Shiyao, the Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou. Later, Haining, the Grain Storage Commissioner of Yunnan, exposed Li Shiyao's corruption and embezzlement. After investigation, the allegations were true, and he was sentenced to death with reprieve.

Back then, the old master also designated He Shen's son, Feng Shen Yin De, as the consort of Princess He Xiao (the tenth princess), and then issued an edict to grant the land under Li Shi Yao's name to He Shen as the residence of the tenth princess.

Heshen spent a huge sum of money to build this mansion, which took four years to complete. Last year, the Tenth Princess officially married into the family, and the Zhongtang family moved into the mansion.

This meeting will be with the Grand Secretary and officials of the Imperial Household Department to review the accounts of the recently collected fines from various regions.

The two "news" items published in the last issue of the official gazette achieved the effect that the Grand Secretary wanted. So far, the amount of money transferred from various places to the Guangchu Department for criminal offenses has reached more than 2.8 million taels, and it is estimated that there will be no less than 2 million taels of income in the future.

However, this amount is still far from the deficit caused by the Emperor's birthday celebration, and it cannot be made up from other sources for the time being. Yesterday, the old master was so happy that he wanted to hold a banquet for the elderly and give gifts to the envoys from vassal states and Mongolia who came to the capital to offer their birthday wishes. This will cost another million taels of silver.

In addition, with troops to be deployed to the snowy areas next year, the Ministry of Revenue and the Imperial Household Department are finding it difficult to cope.

Therefore, some officials suggested that the next issue of the official gazette could publish two news stories about people being pardoned for paying the fine, in order to further incentivize local officials to pay the fine.

When He Zhongtang thought it was feasible and was about to send someone to do it, the steward Liu Quan came in with a memorial and wanted to ask the master to take a look.

He glanced at his closest steward and couldn't help but laugh: "Whose money did you take this time to deliver reports for him?"

The officials present were all close confidants of the Grand Secretary, so there was no need for them to be discreet.

"Master, how could I dare to accept money? It's just that I found this book interesting, so I brought it here for you to see. If you find it interesting, please keep it; if you find it uninteresting, I will send it back."

Liu Quan smiled and handed over the memorial from Zheng Bowen, the Salt Commissioner of Lianghuai.

"If you send it back, will you refund the money you received?"

Heshen reached out and took the document, opening it to find it was a memorial from Zheng Bowen, the Salt Commissioner of Lianghuai. He assumed it was just another routine report and didn't pay much attention, glancing at it briefly before his gaze finally lingered on a somewhat familiar name: "Zhao Youlu?"

"You don't remember, Your Excellency?"

An official nearby quickly reminded him, "That's the one who voluntarily paid one thousand taels of silver as punishment and was promoted five ranks by the Emperor."

"Oh, right, it's him. What's so noteworthy about a sycophant?"

As they were talking, Heshen casually tossed the notebook onto the tea table beside him, showing absolutely no interest in the "Professor Zhong" matter reported by Zheng Bowen, let alone showing it to the Emperor.

Seeing this, Liu Quan couldn't say anything. In any case, he had already handed over the manuscript, and there was nothing he could do if the master wasn't interested.

"Go on,"

Heshen gestured to his subordinates to continue their conversation, but unexpectedly, the gatekeeper announced that Guo Liankai, the secretary of the Guangchu Department, was requesting an audience.

Guo Liankai was also from a bondservant family. Although he held the title of Director of the Guangchu Division, he was actually in charge of the Imperial Household Department's business of opening money shops and pawnshops outside the palace.

If He Zhongtang was the old master's chief accountant, then Guo Langzhong was He Zhongtang's chief accountant.

Soon the person was led in, and after bowing respectfully with a "slap, slap," Physician Guo respectfully handed a letter that had just been delivered from Yangzhou to the head of the hall:

"Your Excellency, a professor from the prefectural school in Yangzhou wants to borrow 100,000 taels from our estate, saying he wants to use tuition fees as collateral. The Yangzhou authorities didn't dare to make a decision on their own, so they reported it to us. I'm also unsure what to do, so I'm asking Your Excellency to make a decision for me."

"A seventh-rank official dares to borrow 100,000 taels? How will he repay it? Rejected, rejected. From now on, you can decide these small matters yourselves; there's no need to report to me. Wait, Professor Zhao Youlu of the Prefectural School?"

Heshen took the letter from Guo Langzhong with a puzzled look, and after reading it, he laughed: "It's a waste of this kid's talents to be a professor. He should be the Minister of Rites."

(End of this chapter)