Qing Yao

Chapter 240 Why am I the only one who's real?

Zhao An wasn't just making empty promises to the Canal Gang members; he genuinely wanted to give them official green uniforms.

It wasn't that he wanted to get these people to work in his own directly subordinate grain transport office, because the grain transport office was a civil service office, mainly responsible for the collection, storage and transportation management and allocation of grain. They were full-time officials, and the office itself did not control any army. Only the officials with the rank of military commander had the right to command the Green Standard Army garrison in their jurisdiction.

Zhao An was not given any military rank; he was just a full-time grain commissioner. Naturally, he had no authority to control or dispatch the Green Standard Army, nor did he have the power to appoint Green Standard Army officers.

However, during the annual grain transport, the Grain Transport Office could send a document to the province requesting the dispatch of Green Standard Army soldiers or special guards to form a temporary escort team. This temporary escort team was actually the "transport soldiers" directly under the Grain Transport Office.

The "transportation officers" had long been rendered ineffective due to the infiltration of the grain transport gangs, so the grain transport commissioners in each province had to temporarily draw personnel from their respective "units" to form escort teams.

In theory, this temporary escort team should be disbanded when the mission is over, and the personnel to be transferred can either be disbanded on the spot or return to their original units. However, if the mission does not end, the escort team can remain "on the payroll" indefinitely, as long as the grain transport department is responsible for the food, drink, and salary expenses of the transferred personnel.

That was exactly what Zhao An was planning.

Not only should the Jiang'an Grain Transport Office be transformed into a stubborn "reactionary stronghold," but its legitimate authority should also be used to train a core force.

Old Ding used the patrol and inspection office to train 350 people, and his fourth-rank grain transport office organized at least 1000 escorts, so on the official front, there was an armed force of more than 1,000 people at his disposal.

Go back and investigate the grain transport commissioners, and see if there are suitable staffing positions available in the grain transport commissioner's subordinate agencies in Anhui Province. This would solve the problem of at least three thousand staff positions.

With four years remaining before the Miao uprising and the White Lotus uprising, Zhao An could legally train an elite force of around ten thousand men by making good use of these four years to exploit various loopholes and exploit various bugs.

The Ministry of Personnel had both large and small donations, and the Ministry of War also sold official positions.

However, influenced by the traditional idea that civil officials are valued more than military officials, and because the military officers sold by the Ministry of War were mostly low-level positions in the Green Standard Army with little financial reward, ordinary people would not buy them.

Compared to the Eight Banners officers, the Green Standard Army officers were significantly inferior in both power and income.

Hou Feng, a seventh-rank officer stationed in the international metropolis of Yangzhou, was heavily in debt due to gambling. Although this may be related to Hou Feng's gambling addiction, it also shows that the income of lower-ranking officers in the Green Standard Army was very limited.

Good iron isn't used to make nails, and good men don't become soldiers.

In peacetime, no one would be so bored as to buy the services of poor, low-ranking officers of the Green Camp, but Zhao An was exactly that kind of person.

Peace is coming to an end.

Zhao An plans to spend money to have all the minor leaders of the Grand Canal Gang put on official robes when the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War announce the sale of official positions next year.

It's not complicated in terms of procedure.

The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War have easy access to the relevant verification materials for those who buy official positions. With the help of Lao Ding, the current magistrate of Ganquan County, even a notorious bandit could be made into an outstanding constable of Ganquan County.

If all else fails, Zhao An, a fourth-rank grain commissioner, can also package these leaders of the canal gang with questionable resumes as one of Anhui Province's Top Ten Outstanding Youths and an Excellent Employee of the Anhui Provincial Grain Bureau.

In any case, household registration records, academic credentials, and criminal records are not linked together.

We could give these bosses a whole bunch of new ID cards.

The threshold for buying an official position in the Ministry of Personnel was being a student of the Imperial Academy. Therefore, the downstream was to donate to the Imperial Academy, and the upstream was to buy an official position. One had to donate to the Imperial Academy to be eligible to buy an official position, thus forming a complete industrial chain.

To put it bluntly, the company first sells you a fake diploma, and then you use that fake diploma to come to the company, pay money, and start working.

Yes, you pay to start work.

Whether you can break even depends on how skilled you are at your job.

As long as you don't rebel or cause a major public outcry, your superiors won't bother you.

Compared to the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of War had a lower threshold. Anyone from a respectable family who wasn't a criminal could buy a position, and there was basically no need for a waiting list.

They'll do it if you pay them.

With two operating routes in Xuzhou and Hubei, money is not a problem at all.

The priority will definitely be the Yangtze River region, including Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi provinces, followed by Hubei and Hunan.

There's no need to buy a high-ranking official position; a seventh-rank officer is enough.

The seventh-rank platoon leader may seem like just a battalion commander, but he is actually the most basic backbone of the Green Standard Army. No matter what they do, the platoon leader leads the team and is responsible for the front line.

Therefore, if one could buy dozens of battalion commanders in the Green Standard Army in the Liangjiang region, then if an uprising were to break out, the governors, generals, and deputy generals above would be unable to mobilize troops.

On the contrary, these junior officers were able to pull their soldiers to the designated area immediately.

The principle is fictional.

Back then, the Qing army dealt with the Southern Ming army by bribing lower-ranking generals to sideline their superiors. As a result, many high-ranking Southern Ming generals who resisted the Qing were captured and taken to the Qing army by their own defecting officers.

Therefore, Zhao An felt that instead of spending a lot of money to win over and bribe high-ranking generals, it would be better to use that money to buy the cheapest junior officer positions.

Because of his outstanding performance, the canal gang had already gained enough prestige. Taking advantage of the situation, they turned these gang members who trusted them into Green Standard Army officers. Then, through these officers, they placed canal gang members at the company, platoon, and squad levels, firmly grasping grassroots command. This would undoubtedly be of great benefit to them in the future.

Regarding this matter, Zhao An first informed the leaders so they would be prepared and avoid making a fool of themselves when they suddenly became officials.

What were the leaders' reactions?

Young Master is simply a descendant of the Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother!

Not only does he wholeheartedly seek benefits for his brothers, but he also tries every means to make them respectable people. Such a young lord is more worthy of the three sticks of incense offered by all his brothers than the Buddha.
Xu Lin's excited intuition was that it would be better to hang a portrait of the young lord in the ancestral hall than to hang portraits of the three patriarchs.

Essentially, having the leaders wear official robes was a perk that the young master had arranged for the gang members.

After arranging matters concerning the canal gang, Zhao An still had an important matter to attend to: overseeing the executions.

The Ministry of Justice issued an official document ordering that all suspected traitors of the grain transport gangs would be executed without waiting until autumn. The execution would be overseen by the Yangzhou Prefectural Government, the Assistant Prefectural Government, and the Imperial Censor in charge of the grain transport.

It means to handle special cases specially.

The old patriarch took treason very seriously. Officials who performed well in investigating treason and banning books were promoted afterwards, which led to local officials repeatedly fabricating false cases about treason.

The old patriarch himself was also keen on handling wrongful convictions, especially those involving members of the imperial clan, which made the members of the imperial clan "live in misery," leading to the rumor that the old patriarch was not a Manchu but a Han Chinese.

Civil officials love to prosecute civil cases, while military officials love to prosecute treason cases.

Whether it was a wrongful conviction or not is no longer important. What is important is that this major case of treason involving members of the Grand Canal Gang has been recognized by the imperial court. Many officials in Yangzhou believe that Zhao An's promotion is related to his handling of this major case of treason.

The side effect of this case is that the criminal gangs in Yangzhou began to restrain themselves after the Lunar New Year, probably because they were afraid that some official would use this "fish that slipped through the net" as a traitor to sweep them up again in order to gain political achievements.

Wearing a yellow jacket, Zhao An arrived at the drill ground with the prefect. The prefect had probably drunk too much that day and had a blackout, so he didn't remember what he had said to Zhao Liangdao. However, his attitude had clearly changed, which was manifested in him intentionally or unintentionally leaving Zhao Liangdao half a step behind.

It was probably the yellow jacket Zhao Liangdao was wearing that had the effect.

This yellow riding jacket, unique in Yangzhou's officialdom, was so eye-catching that even Zhao Dehan, a third-rank official, consciously invited Zhao, the grain commissioner, to sit in the middle.

The relevant execution list was presented, and all the criminals awaiting execution were brought over from the prefectural school.

No one cried out for justice, not because they weren't wronged, but because everyone's mouths had been dislocated by Master Zhao's orders.

So that he won't shout at you during the execution and annoy the master.

When the execution time arrived, batches of prisoners were dragged into the drill ground by the fierce soldiers. After a minor official pretended to verify their identities, three cannon shots rang out, and more than two hundred heads fell to the ground. This case was the largest execution in Yangzhou's history.

The Prefect was clearly uncomfortable with the bloody scene before him, and repeatedly used the excuse of needing to relieve himself to "change the stage" to avoid being upset by the bloody scenes.

Zhao An sat there the whole time, but when he tried to get up after the last head fell to the ground, his legs were so numb that he couldn't stand up.

My stomach was churning, and I felt a dull, uncomfortable sensation all over my body.

It was as if the executioner's blade wasn't cutting into the prisoner's neck, but rather constantly slicing through his throat.

It felt like a saw was constantly moving back and forth across his leg bone, yet it could never cut through it.

Very permeable.

This made Zhao An feel remorseful, realizing that he shouldn't have committed such a great atrocity.

"Master Zhao?"

Seeing that something was wrong, General Hou quickly came over to help Zhao Liangdao, and Zhao An gradually recovered.

"It's understandable that you might feel a little uncomfortable when you're supervising an execution for the first time, but you'll get used to it."

General Hou helped Zhao Liangdao to the sedan chair parked at the gate. The sedan chair bearers who were waiting there quickly lifted the curtain.

Just as Zhao An was about to get into the sedan chair, he saw some Green Standard Army soldiers collecting money from some commoners. After paying, the commoners were led into the drill ground.

This scene reminded Zhao An of the blood-soaked buns described by Lu Xun, but things were not as he thought; instead, the Green Camp took the opportunity to make a small fortune.

According to the rules of the government, if the family members of a prisoner want to retrieve the prisoner's body, they must pay a fee ranging from five to ten taels of silver.

If the body is unclaimed, the authorities will send it to a mortuary for disposal.

Zhao An had no interest in asking any questions and ordered the sedan chair bearers to lift the sedan chair and return home.

They returned to the government-owned house, the same house where Chunlan and her daughter lived.

Old Song invited Zhao Youlu's parents from the countryside. Originally, he was going to take them directly to Xiaguan Wharf to catch a boat to Songjiang, but Zhao Youlu's parents insisted on seeing their daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Old Song had no choice but to bring them back.

While in the sedan chair, Zhao An changed out of his yellow riding jacket and fourth-rank official robes into casual clothes, intending to prevent Zhao Youlu's parents from knowing that he, an imposter, had become a high-ranking official in the imperial court.

It's better to be safe than sorry.

What if Zhao Youlu's parents become greedy?
Even though the two elders were honest people, Zhao An still had to be wary, so he didn't even tell Chunlan about his promotion.

When they arrived home, Chunlan was having tea with the elderly couple in the living room, and Lao Song, the "matchmaker," was also there.

Zhao An entered the house and respectfully kowtowed to the two elders as their son, presenting each with a ten-tael red envelope.

His arrival made Mr. and Mrs. Zhao, who were holding their granddaughter, noticeably "resistant" or unable to get close to him, which resulted in them eating a rather "half-cooked" lunch.

The reason is that Chunlan is pregnant. Although she is only three months pregnant, she looks swollen, possibly due to her physical condition.

Zhao An could understand this. After all, Chunlan was Zhao Youlu's wife. Even if the two elders had been mentally prepared, how could they feel comfortable seeing their daughter-in-law pregnant with another man's child?

He then reserved the time for the reunion with the two elders and Chunlan and her daughter, pulled Old Song aside and slipped him a three-hundred-tael silver note, meaning that he would give the silver note to the two elders after arriving in Songjiang, so that they could at least make ends meet.

Old Song accepted the silver note; this time, he had volunteered to send Zhao Youlu's parents to Songjiang.

They were afraid that if someone else delivered it, Zhao Youlu's parents might accidentally let it slip on the way and cause trouble.

Zhao An had Liu Xiaolou buy all the daily necessities for the elderly couple in Songjiang, so they could move in immediately. To make things more secure, Lao Ding had the household registration office revoke the registration of Zhao Youlu's parents, change their surname to Chen, and change their place of origin to Muer Lane in the county town.

Once they went to Songjiang, all traces of Zhao Youlu's parents and hometown were completely erased.

The two elderly people had just been taken away by Lao Song when their house was demolished by a construction team organized by the government.

According to the construction drawings, the village where the Zhao family lives will be divided in two by a newly excavated irrigation canal, and Sanyang Village will cease to exist.

"You'll be passing through Jiangyin on your way. If you have time, please visit Lord Lou at the Education Bureau for me. His wife fell seriously ill before the New Year, and I don't know if she's still there."

Zhao Anzheng was chatting casually with Lao Song when Chunlan suddenly came over and said that she wanted to take Xiaoxiao to Songjiang to live with her parents-in-law for a while.

"You're pregnant, it might be inconvenient for you, right?"

Zhao An glanced at Chunlan's three-month pregnant belly and didn't really want her to go on the long journey.

Chunlan remained silent, only clutching the hem of her clothes.

Seeing this, Old Song wisely went out.

"What's wrong with you? Didn't we agree on this before?"

Zhao An stood up and pulled Chunlan to sit down. "It's not that I don't want you to go, but you're pregnant. The journey is very bumpy. What if you hurt the baby?"

Chunlan remained silent, a stark contrast to her usual demeanor.

Zhao An realized something and frowned slightly: "Wanqing came looking for you?"

The young woman gave a soft "hmm".

"What did she tell you?"

Zhao An's intuition told her that the little girl probably didn't have anything nice to say to Chunlan.

Sure enough, the young lady burst into tears of grievance: "She said that you, my husband, will be leaving Yangzhou to take up an official post in Jiangning in a few days."

"oh,"

Zhao An raised his hand to wipe away the young woman's tears, and asked somewhat nervously, "Is she saying she doesn't want you to come along?"

"No."

The young woman shook her head. "She said I can bring Xiaoxiao along."

"Isn't this great? The three of us can live together from now on."

Zhao An laughed, thinking to himself that Wanqing, that little girl, still had the demeanor of a mistress, knowing not to cause trouble for her husband at crucial moments.

Unexpectedly, the young lady's tears could not be stopped, and she sobbed, "What's so good about it? She said I can go, but when I get to Jiangning City, I can no longer be Madam Zhao, she has to take over."

Zhao An smiled and said, "How can she be one? I'm Zhao Youlu, not Zhao An."

"But she said, if you can be called Zhao Youlu, then she can be called Luo Chunlan. I'm Ding Wanqing, so if we're going to be fake, we'll all be fake. Why are we fake, but she's real?"

The young woman cried with tears streaming down her face, saying, "She said if I don't agree, she won't let the child in my belly have the surname Zhao."

(End of this chapter)