Qing Yao

Chapter 243 I will never forgive corrupt officials!

Zhao An set off for Jiangning to take up his post on the 26th of the first lunar month. On the 24th, the capital had replied to his memorial. As Lao Ding had expected, Zhao An was dismissed from his concurrent post as the Imperial Censor of the Grand Canal, but retained his concurrent post as the Commissioner of Education of Jiangsu.

Vice Principal Ma was promoted to professor at Yangzhou Prefectural School as he wished, and to celebrate, he sent a small coffin made of pure gold to the principal who was busy moving overnight.

It has a very auspicious meaning: promotion and wealth.

Zhao An was very pleased with the gift and happily accepted it. He then gave Vice Principal Ma some words of encouragement, hoping that he could shoulder the responsibility of education in Yangzhou and carry out the spirit of industrializing education to the end.

"The matter of the student exchange is of great importance to the Grand Secretary, and it is estimated that the Imperial Household Department will send someone to Yangzhou to investigate soon."

Zhao An valued Vice Principal Ma highly, so he spoke frankly: Heshen was now very interested in officials who could make money, so after Vice Principal Ma took over, he didn't need to make any big moves. He just needed to follow the old ways and collect a lot of money from the students' parents to "pay tribute" to the Imperial Household Department. Then Vice Principal Ma, a seventh-rank professor, might just be able to ride the fast track to officialdom like his predecessor.

Vice Principal Ma said excitedly, "I owe my success today to your kindness! I wish you continued success, like bamboo sprouting from the soil, like a boat sailing smoothly on the water, and may you soar to the highest heavens!"

Zhao An was very happy to hear this and indicated to Vice Principal Ma that after he became a full-fledged official, he would help his cousin get promoted from a clerk to an official, either the ninth or eighth rank.

There's no need to pull strings. Just follow the organizational procedures to get my cousin a prison sentence, and then report to the provincial education commissioner to add an academic official.

Since there are no students from National Taiwan University in Jiangsu now, all official documents submitted to the provincial education commissioner's office must be forwarded to Zhao An, the education commissioner, who will then simply approve them with a "perfect" mark.

Zhao An doesn't need to worry about his cousin's exemplary deeds; Vice Principal Ma will handle that.

Originally, Vice Principal Ma wanted to hold a farewell banquet at Huamanlou, inviting all the faculty and staff of the academy to see off the principal. However, Zhao An asked Vice Principal Ma to give him cash instead, arguing that it was too extravagant.

Old Ding arranged for his grandson-in-law to have as many as 15 family members and attendants, all of whom were carefully selected by Zhao An's mother-in-law, Li. The father-in-law, Ding Tai, was also very happy to go to Jiangning to help his son-in-law "manage the household," because he could not only help his daughter and son-in-law, but also get a government job for himself.

A fourth-rank official in the grain transport office certainly has more opportunities than a seventh-rank official in the county office.

The son-in-law is the head of the government office, and no one can be slighted as his father-in-law.

Zhao An set off first, leading the group of people from the canal gang that Ding Jiu had chosen for him, including four canal gang members who had passed the imperial examinations.

Hearing that they were going to the government office in Jiangning with the young master, these four members of the canal gang, who had official titles but were not doing well, were overjoyed.

Zhao An did indeed intend to cultivate the four men, and after arriving in Jiangning, he transferred them to the position of clerk.

Wanqing and her daughter Chunlan will have to wait until Zhao An is settled before they can go with Ding Tai and the others.

On the day of departure, news was received that the long-vacant position of Governor-General of Liangjiang had been filled. It was not that Governor Fusong was appointed to fill the vacancy, but that the court appointed Grand Councilor Sun Shiyi as Governor-General of Liangjiang.

Zhao An had no recollection of this Grand Secretary Sun, nor did he know whether the appointment of a Grand Councilor as Governor-General was a lateral transfer or a demotion.

In the end, I felt it should be a promotion.

Since Sun Yat-sen was ranked last in the Grand Council, it would be more advantageous to appoint a vice prime minister who was ranked last to be a regional governor in charge of three provinces, one of which was the richest province in the country.

However, although the Governor-General of Liangjiang was in charge of the affairs of Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Anhui provinces, Zhao An, the Anhui Grain Commissioner, only dealt with the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner and had no business dealings with the Governor-General of Liangjiang. His superior was the Governor of Anhui, so who the Governor-General of Liangjiang was had little to do with him, and he did not take the matter to heart.

Aside from the members of the canal gang, only Liu Xiaolou was taken to Jiangning.

According to regulations, Anhui Province was required to send personnel to accompany Zhao An upon his appointment. This was to verify that Zhao An's official status was genuine and that he was not an imposter, and to facilitate the handover between the current and former officials.

Since the capital of Anhui is in Anqing, there wasn't enough time. Therefore, Zhao An had to go to the "Personnel Department" of the Governor-General's Office of Liangjiang to identify himself. After the Governor-General's Office confirmed that the relevant documents and procedures were correct, they would send someone to accompany Zhao An to the Grain Transport Office to take up his post.

After a long journey, Zhao An and his party arrived in Jiangning.

"Sir, the Zhonghua Gate is just ahead."

The one speaking was Baili Yunlong on horseback. He used to travel to Jiangning City frequently for gang affairs and was very familiar with the city.

"Oh?"

Zhao An lifted the carriage curtain, and the first thing that caught his eye was not the towering city wall in the distance, but the glazed pagoda of the Great Bao'en Temple, which was known as the seventh wonder of the medieval world.

This pagoda was destroyed during the Tianjing Incident, but now it is a must-see for Chinese and foreign visitors to Nanjing.

In his previous life, Zhao An had visited Jiangning and knew that the Presidential Palace was the location of the Viceroy of Liangjiang's office, and that the Manchu city where the Eight Banners were stationed was actually the former imperial city of the Ming Dynasty.

Just outside Zhonghua Gate lies Yuhuatai, one of Nanjing's most famous scenic spots. This place served as a barrier for Zhonghua Gate, making it a crucial battleground whether attacking or defending Nanjing.

Zhao An had little interest in Zhonghua Gate; his interest lay in another city gate of Nanjing—Yifeng Gate.

Because Yifeng Gate is Nanjing's Achilles' heel.

This is a conclusion reached by the Taiping Army at the cost of countless lives.

In addition to the Viceroy of Liangjiang's office, there was also the Jiangning Provincial Administration Office in Jiangning City, which was responsible for Jiangning and the prefectures and counties north of the Yangtze River.

Jiangsu is also the only province in the country that has established two provincial administration commissions. The other one is the Jiangsu Provincial Administration Commission, which is located in Suzhou and is responsible for the prefectures, counties and districts in Jiangnan.

Zhao An's Jiang'an Grain Transport Office was located on Jixian Street. After entering the city, the convoy headed straight for the Governor-General's Office. Upon disembarking, Zhao An noticed that the Governor-General's Mansion looked completely different from the Presidential Palace of later generations, probably because it was rebuilt after the Taiping Rebellion.

The Governor-General's Office's Personnel Department dared not make things difficult for a fourth-rank official. In addition, they had already received the relevant documents from the Ministry of Personnel, so the procedures were verified quickly. Afterwards, a sixth-rank official accompanied Zhao An to the Grain Transport Office.

The current grain transport commissioner, Zhang Pangui, has received an imperial decree to be transferred to Jiangxi as the provincial inspector. His luggage has already been packed, and he is just waiting for Zhao An to come and complete the handover procedures.

The handover mainly consisted of accounts, including detailed expenditure records of the Grain Transport Office, details of the major grain depots under its jurisdiction, and personnel rosters of the Grain Transport Office's subordinate agencies.

Everything else was fine, except that Zhang Pangui left behind a deficit of more than 30,000 taels of silver.

If it were a famous upright official like Zhu Gui or Wang Jie taking over, they would definitely have thoroughly investigated the reasons for the embezzlement and reported it to the imperial court.

This way, the ex-partner can avoid bearing the deficit, but the consequence is that the ex-partner must make up the deficit before leaving. If they cannot make up the deficit, they will be imprisoned at best, and beheaded at worst.

The Jiangsu governor, Fu Song, was unable to fully account for the debts when he took over as governor of Zhejiang because his predecessor, Wang Danwang, was already imprisoned. He went through the formalities in a daze and ended up with a huge debt of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, which he still hasn't paid off.

Zhao An was determined to be an honest official, but he also had a principle of maintaining harmony among officials. Therefore, he could not possibly betray his predecessor, Lord Zhang, since the latter was being promoted to a high-ranking position in Jiangxi and they might still have dealings with each other in the future. So, after a cursory glance, he signed the contract directly.

In other words, it's assumed that the deficit of over 30,000 taels is his responsibility.

Seeing Zhao An readily sign and acknowledge the deficit, Zhang Pangui was overjoyed and became much more friendly, instructing Zhao An, a junior, on how to be a good grain bureau chief in the tone of a senior.

Zhao An humbly accepted the instruction. After some polite exchanges, Lord Zhang officially stepped down and left, while Zhao An, the new circuit intendant, roused himself and prepared to get to work.

Instead of immediately summoning the officials of the Grain Transport Office, he arranged for Liu Xiaolou and others to move their luggage into the office and tidy up their offices and living quarters.

After a great deal of work, he finally summoned his subordinates.

The Grain Transport Office had two officials of the fifth rank, namely the Grain Transport Assistant Magistrate. One of these Assistant Magistrates was stationed in Anqing, and the other in Huizhou. They only came to Jiangning each year when they were supervising the transport of grain.

The officials who carried out daily work at the Grain Transport Office were only one Grain Management Magistrate of the sixth rank, two Warehouse Keepers of the eighth rank, eight Clerks, and twelve Assistant Clerks.

"Dian Shi" and "Zan Dian" refer to grassroots staff members at the section-level.

Including the 30 yamen runners, 8 coachmen, 4 gatekeepers, and 3 cooks who were just there to make a show of things, the entire grain transport office had less than 50 people in total.

None of them have as many staff as Lao Ding's Ganquan County government office.

However, a fourth-rank government office couldn't possibly have only so many people; the largest directly subordinate granary, Jiangning Warehouse, had several hundred staff members.

The Jiangning warehouse was specifically used to allocate grain to the Eight Banners officials stationed in Jiangning.

The grain transport commissioner's position was far more lucrative than that of a county magistrate. Although it was not as independent of the local official system as the salt administration, river administration, canal transport, and education, it was the most lucrative position within the local official system.

Old Ding had previously told Zhao An that the most lucrative post in the province was the Grain Commissioner of Shaanxi, whose annual income from illicit gains exceeded 20 taels of silver.

The grandson-in-law's annual income from the Jiang'an grain transport commissioner must be at least 100,000 taels of silver.

Shaanxi is a poor province, but the reason why its grain supply routes are so abundant is that Shaanxi was responsible for all the grain and fodder needed for the war in the Northwest.

The annual income from these irregularities is legal, but the expenses are also high.

It's the same principle as "with great power comes great responsibility".

Soon, all the officials under the Grain Transport Commissioner's Office gathered in Lord Zhao's office.

All the subordinates were very curious about the new grain commissioner, because he was a big shot who had been in the newspapers and whom everyone hated.

Seeing how young he was, they couldn't help but feel contempt, and they looked Zhao An up and down like cats looking at mice.

According to custom, the first step for a new official to meet his subordinates is to call out their names, which means to recognize them.

Unexpectedly, Zhao An's first words were: "Bring it up."

What are you carrying?
Then, Baili Yunlong and others carried a small coffin made of pure iron into the office.

The coffin was very heavy, weighing at least several hundred kilograms.

This is?

The officials were all stunned by the coffin, wondering what Zhao An meant by this.

"From now on, this coffin will be placed in my office. I hope you will all take the inscription on the coffin as a warning. If you violate this rule, this coffin will be your final resting place!"

Following Zhao An's gesture, everyone was shocked to discover that the coffin was engraved with the nine large characters: "Corrupt officials, we will never coexist with them!"
The small, pure gold coffin that Vice Principal Ma gave him was lying quietly inside.

(End of this chapter)