Qing Yao

Chapter 326 A New Emperor, A New Court
In an empty house in Luojiaji Town, Zhao An was looking through the official documents from various places that he had obtained from Zhu Gui.

Unlike Zhu Gui, who was rigid and dogmatic, he didn't create a large tent when there were plenty of empty houses available. If he truly didn't want to disturb the people, why did he allow the officers and soldiers of the garrison to live in civilian houses?

From this perspective alone, Zhu Gui was the one who sought fame and fortune.

This is also a symptom of clearing and circulating.

Inside the room were two staff members who helped Zhao An organize and send official documents. They were county school students brought by Lao Song from Yangzhou. One was named Shen Yizhi, and the other was named Liu Penggao. The former was almost thirty years old, and the latter was in his early twenties.

Zhao An didn't know the average age of a child scholar in the Qing Dynasty, but he had read some information in his previous life that said the average lifespan of people in the Qing Dynasty was thirty-three years.

Based on this average lifespan, the average age of a student who passed the imperial examination should not exceed twenty years old, and is very likely only sixteen or seventeen. Therefore, students who passed the imperial examination in their twenties or thirties were among the most backward in the path of the imperial examination, and had no future to speak of.

Just like how Teacher Lou was exceptionally selected by Sun Shiyi, the then Education Commissioner, to be included in the supplementary list of the provincial examination and recommended to the Imperial Academy, he probably would never have passed the exam at his age, let alone become the "chief secretary" of the Governor-General's Office and achieve a major leap in his life.

Therefore, it was a wise choice for Shen, Liu, and other students who had no hope of passing the imperial examinations to follow Principal Song to Anhui to find a job. Otherwise, if they continued to waste their youth in the county school, they would not only be wasting their youth, but would also likely end up with nothing.

After all, the cruelty of the imperial examination system was undeniable.

Even if we were to let them pass the imperial examination and become scholars, what difference would it make?

Unless there is a nationwide expansion of the number of candidates for the imperial examinations (举人 and 进士) and the number of those admitted increases by several dozen times, they will be squeezed to death on the path of the imperial examinations.

However, Zhao An can provide them with a large number of job opportunities, and those who perform outstandingly can obtain official positions without going through the imperial examination, which is a shortcut compared to the imperial examination.

Zhao An had previously written to Vice Principal Ma of Yangzhou Prefectural School, and it is estimated that Vice Principal Ma will likely begin to "mobilize" the students by now. When the news of Zhao An's appointment as acting governor reaches Yangzhou, not only the education sector in Yangzhou, but also the entire Yangzhou Prefecture and Jiangsu Province will be shaken to their core.

For over a hundred years since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, Yangzhou has never produced a high-ranking official who was granted a regional governorship!

Fortunately, Zhao Youlu's parents were moved to Songjiang to "live in seclusion" beforehand; otherwise, the threshold of Zhao Youlu's house would probably have been worn down by the crowds.

Since the students from Yangzhou had no prior work experience and were complete blank slates, and knew nothing about administrative affairs, Zhao An naturally could not entrust them with important responsibilities immediately. Therefore, he assigned them work similar to that of trainees.

They were put to do odd jobs, run errands, and collect and send newspapers. Only after they became familiar with the work could they be promoted to permanent positions.

Shen Yizhi was responsible for helping Zhao An categorize official documents from various regions: civil affairs documents for civil affairs, military affairs documents for military affairs, and criminal matters documents for criminal matters. Liu Penggao was responsible for sending the documents that Zhao An had approved and stamped to the nearest post station for dispatch.

The rain outside was still falling, and it was getting heavier and heavier. Zhao An went out of the house several times to check the rain. He was worried that the drought would turn into flooding. Therefore, in his capacity as acting governor, he drafted a document requiring all parts of Anhui to pay attention to the risk of "drought turning into flooding" and to make relevant flood prevention preparations in advance.

Don’t be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of what happens.

Afterwards, Zhao An continued to review the documents that Zhu Gui had approved. Although the two sides had different positions, Zhao An was still certain of Zhu Gui's ability to handle government affairs. Therefore, he basically followed Zhu Gui's instructions without making any changes.

Zhao An withheld only a few documents, all of which were reports of victories and commendations from Green Standard Army members in various regions to the governor.

These reports of victory were obviously fake. One guerrilla claimed to have killed tens of thousands of religious bandits, while another commander claimed to have wiped out several thousand. If you combined these reports, you would have claimed to have killed tens of thousands of religious bandits.

Where did so many White Lotus Religion bandits come from in Anhui?

The core members of the massive Suzhou bandit uprising, the White Lotus sect and the Nian rebels, numbered only a few thousand. This shows that these so-called victories were nothing more than indiscriminate killing of innocent people and falsely claiming credit for the crimes.

But now is not the time to deal with these Green Standard Army generals. Zhao An first needs to appease them to avoid a mutiny that could lead to another war.

This is a critical time for the transfer of supreme power in Anhui, and we cannot afford any mishaps.

After careful consideration, Zhao An took out the notice of non-disbursement returned by the Anqing treasury, wrote the four characters "Approved," signed his name, and then nodded to Liu Penggao, saying, "Apply the seal."

"Yes, my lord."

Liu Penggao hurriedly took out the large purple seal with both hands, gently stamped it on, and then pressed it down heavily. He then took out the Anhui Provincial Administration Seal that Zhao An had taken from Jing Daoqian and stamped it on as well.

Strictly speaking, the large purple-flowered seal cannot be called a seal, because the governor was an imperial envoy, and the seal he used was called a "guanfang" according to regulations, and it was rectangular in shape. Only officials below the provincial governor level were called seals, and they were square in shape.

In order to distinguish between them, officials referred to the governor's seal as the "Purple Flower Seal" and the provincial governor's seal as the "Red Clay Seal."

These two large seals represent the highest authority in the entire Anhui province.

The system recognizes the seals, not the person. Any document bearing these two large seals has legal authority, and officials below must execute it regardless of whether it is right or wrong.

Now that both official seals are in Zhao An's hands, it means that Zhao An, a third-rank official who is acting as the provincial governor, is in fact the top leader of Anhui Province.

Officials, soldiers, money, and grain could all be mobilized and appointed using these two seals, and no one could supervise him.

This is also the reason why some of Zhao An's business battles in his previous life involved directly seizing the company seal.

Without the official seal, even the security guards won't recognize you as the chairman.

Without a company seal, money cannot be transferred out of the company account.

After processing all the official documents he had obtained from Zhu Gui, Zhao An wrote several thank-you letters.

They were all written to people who had supported his work, such as Jiangsu Governor Fu Song, Jiangning Provincial Treasurer Fu Chang, and Yangzhou Prefect Fang Weidian.

Rather than a letter of thanks, it was more of a boastful letter. Although Zhao An used a very tactful tone to express that he had been granted the imperial favor of serving as the acting governor of Anhui, the joy between the lines was impossible to conceal.

Human nature.

No matter the era, if an ordinary person were to rise to the top position in a province in just over a year, they would probably be so excited that they would burst into tears, let alone feel joy.

In addition to expressing his gratitude, Zhao An put forward a small idea: that the wealthy Jiangsu could help the poor Anhui, firstly to achieve common connectivity between the two provinces and their three provincial-level administrative offices.

The Xianfeng Bank was soon designated as the financial reserve bank for the three major provincial treasuries.

The Jiangning provincial treasury is definitely fine. Provincial Governor Fuchang has already determined that Zhao An is the old master's illegitimate son. Now that the news of the acting governor has been sent over, it is estimated that Fuchang will be able to develop the desire to support him in seizing the throne.

The left and right treasuries also cooperated with private banks. How could they possibly offend the Fifth Prince?

Whether the Jiangsu provincial treasury in Suzhou can successfully achieve "networking" depends on how Jiangsu Governor Fu Song views the appointment of Zhao An as acting governor, and whether the rumors circulating among the Shaoxing clerks' social circles spread throughout Jiangsu Province.

In addition, he wrote a letter to both Lao Ding and his son, informing them of his promotion and inquiring whether his two wives had given birth. When Zhao An left Jiangning, Wanqing and Chunlan were both showing, and it seemed they should have given birth by now.

These days, childbirth is very risky for women, especially their first pregnancy. Zhao An certainly doesn't want to get promoted, make a fortune, or have his wife die.

Therefore, in a letter to his father-in-law Ding Taixin, he specifically emphasized that if a difficult childbirth were to occur, the mother should be saved, not the child.

After a short rest, we arrived at the front hall, which was already packed with people.

The ceremonial procession of Qing Dynasty governors was very grand, with thousands of people accompanying them on their travels. In addition to the governor's personal guards (the governor's personal guards), there were also the criminal and financial secretaries who actually handled the operation of the governor's office, as well as the staff of the six departments of the governor's office.

The more than one hundred people standing in the hall were the civilian staff who came to Luojiaji with Zhu Gui this time.

These people had been waiting in the hall for more than an hour, but the new governor had not yet appeared. They were all nervous, especially those people that Zhu Gui had brought from the capital.

Like local officials, governors also brought a large number of personal people with them when they took office, filling the governor's office with them. Among them were relatives, protégés, juniors, and candidates recommended by colleagues.

Like a sedan chair carried by many, if one official recommends two people to another official today, the next official can recommend two more to the same official tomorrow. In this way, each official enriches the resumes of their protégés and juniors, accumulating enough work experience. When the time is right, they will be evaluated and recommended to the Ministry of Personnel. Soon after, these protégés and juniors will be able to take charge of local affairs and become local officials.

Of course, this is on the premise that these people already have academic titles; a Xiucai degree is definitely not enough, they must at least be a Juren.

Zhao An's previous life was marked by the illustrious Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang, who both became advisors to high-ranking local officials through this method and were subsequently entrusted with important responsibilities.

Zhu Gui was indeed an honest official, but even the most honest official cannot escape the unspoken rules of officialdom. One-third of the civil servants standing in the hall were his protégés, former associates, and relatives.

To put it bluntly, these people are just here to gain experience and prestige.

Now that Zhu Gui has stepped down as governor and returned to Beijing to take up his post, it is only natural that he must "purge" the group of protégés, old friends, and scions that Zhao An brought with him.

After all, there was no room for maneuver between him and Zhu Gui, and the situation also made him give up the illusion of "allying" with Jiaqing. Only by clinging to Heshen's coattails could he hope to win after the old master's death.

Although the old patriarch abdicated three years later, he still held power for another three years. During those six years, only under Heshen's protection could he ensure that every move in the game was executed as planned.

The house belonged to a retired official in the town. It was a large house with three courtyards and three sections. After the drought, the official was worried that the rioters would loot it, so he took his family to the county town.

When Zhao An arrived, the rain outside had lessened slightly, but the rainwater falling from the roof and eaves was still pouring down. Ye Zhigui, Xu Lin, and others, along with their men, stood guard under the eaves with their hands on their swords, making the staff of the governor's office in the hall feel uneasy.

At this moment, Xiao Jinglun, the clerk of the Ministry of Personnel, was checking the relevant registers for Zhao An, the new governor, on behalf of the Ministry of Personnel, while Ming Antai was leisurely drinking tea in a private residence, thinking that it was none of his business.

Zhao An's character is that of an honest official, so it would be inconvenient for him to directly give money to Ming Antai, as that would be rather awkward.

He then instructed Qingyao to privately give Ming Antai and Xiao Jinglun four hundred taels of silver each, and each of their attendants received one hundred and sixty taels.

In Zhao An's list of meritorious personnel given to the old master, Qingyao ranked second in the first class, while the first in the first class was Zhou Ku, the guerrilla who had made meritorious contributions in defending Suzhou.

According to the usual practice, if a Han official is ranked first in merit, he will generally be promoted one or two ranks; if he is a Manchu official, he may be given half or one rank of promotion.

It may seem that Manchu bannermen receive less benefit than Han bannermen, but in reality, they receive much more because Manchu bannermen start at a higher level than Han bannermen.

This ensured that Qingyao would at least receive the benefit of being a first-class bodyguard after returning to the capital. Therefore, Qingyao, feeling grateful, spared no effort in carrying the decorated sedan chair for Lord Zhao before returning to the capital, leading his group of hawks and hounds to help Zhao An "support" him to the death, not caring at all that he was a Manchu and Zhao An was just a bondservant.

Surrounded by Qingyao and other guards, Zhao An entered the hall, and everyone immediately knelt down to pay their respects to the newly appointed governor.

Zhao An walked through the crowd to the armchair that had been placed there beforehand and plopped down. Without telling anyone to get up, he simply raised his hand and said, "Call out the names!"

"Whoo!"

A guard with hawks and hounds unfolded the list that had been handed to him earlier and read aloud: "Zhang Dequan!"

"The subordinate is here!"

Zhang Dequan, a sixth-rank official in the Provincial Governor's Office, hurriedly looked up and responded. Immediately, he heard the voice of the newly appointed Governor: "This province is suffering from a major disaster. The people are starving and emaciated, yet you, the official in charge of the Provincial Governor's Office, are so well-off. It seems you have been embezzling money all along. Guards, remove his official hat and robes, throw him out, and dismiss him from his post!"

"Whoo!"

Two guards in yellow jackets immediately stepped forward and removed Zhang Dequan's official hat and robes, who looked astonished.

Throughout the entire ordeal, Zhang Dequan never offered a word in his own defense, because he knew very well that as Zhu Gui's man, he could not be retained by Zhao An.

He's just unlucky; he should go back to Beijing and find another job.

Those who are fat and plump, get out! And those who are skinny, what about them?

The second person named was Section Chief Wu of the Household Revenue Department of the Governor's Office. Unlike Director Zhang mentioned earlier, Section Chief Wu was very thin and was not someone brought from the capital by the former Governor Zhu Gui. Instead, he was a "hereditary" head of the department, with three generations of his family holding the position of Section Chief of the Household Revenue Department of the Governor's Office.

Besides benefiting from his own expertise in household registration and housing affairs, he also benefited from the fact that newly appointed officials could not dismiss all junior officials who were good at the business.

Logically, Zhao An had no reason to dismiss minor officials who had no direct relationship with Zhu Gui, because he also needed these people to maintain the operation of the governor's office. Even if he had to replace them, he would have to do it slowly and gradually.

But when Zhao An saw the clothes on the skinny section chief, he couldn't help but feel heartbroken and said, "The disaster victims are barely clothed, and you still have the mind to wear new clothes. You are so ignorant of the suffering of the people. What use is there for me to keep you here!"

With just one sentence, Section Chief Wu, whose family had been deeply involved in the governor's office for three generations, was dismissed.

This terrified all the staff present. Could it be that the newly arrived Lord Zhao really didn't leave anyone alive?

Immediately afterwards, another clerk who served as the governor's secretary was dismissed by Zhao An. The reason was that after being called out, the clerk was worried about losing his job, so he said that he was working while ill, thus showing his responsibility and love for his work.

"Serving while ill?"

Zhao An glanced at the clerk who did look rather unwell and nodded slightly. Everyone thought the governor was going to praise the clerk, but unexpectedly the governor turned to the clerk's office and ordered, "Process this person's medical retirement paperwork."

The people in the clerk's office didn't quite understand what "medical retirement procedures" meant, but they knew that this person had definitely been dismissed.

Why did Zhao An dismiss an official who was working while ill?

The reason was that the official spoke with a strong Beijing accent.

(End of this chapter)