Frost for a Thousand Years

Chapter 317 Song Shi'an, this is a slap in your face!
"Master Song, is the Prefect adequately guarded as he travels incognito?"

At the prefectural governor's office in Jianxing, the acting prefectural magistrate, Ji, asked Song Gan with particular anxiety.

When he went to personally greet Song Shi'an's carriage, he was so frightened by the sight of only a steward from the Song family inside that he wet himself.

He was terrified when he heard that he had only brought one female guard with him, namely the girl Xinyue.

The security in Huai County is indeed better than that in the border counties, so you won't be suddenly ambushed and killed by bandits on the road. But he is such an important figure after all, how could he do such a dangerous thing?

Even if it's an undercover investigation, bringing more guards would be helpful!

“My lord,” Song Gan replied politely, “the prefect cannot be persuaded, as I have said before.”

"No, I must order the people of all the counties to search for the Prefect," said Prefect Ji very seriously. "Otherwise, what if something goes wrong..."

"Lord Jun Cheng."

Before he could finish speaking, Song Gan suddenly interrupted him.

As a steward, interrupting the prefectural magistrate is quite offensive, even if he is the steward of the Song family and has been granted the surname Song, he is still ultimately a servant.

But this interruption caused Prefect Ji's expression to freeze.

Because Song Gan's tone wasn't very good either.

It's like an equal person questioning him on equal terms.

"Has something happened in Huai County?" As he asked, Song Gan stared at him from the side, but still added the title quite steadily, "Prefect Ji."

Although Song Gan was just a servant, he was the closest subordinate of the current Minister of Works.

He may not understand calligraphy or poetry, but he certainly understands politics.

And then there's the human heart.

Ji Juncheng felt that Song Shi'an was quite flustered after learning that he had gone on an incognito visit.

Some of them may be worried about his safety.

What remains is the guilty conscience hidden beneath the expression.

"..." Ji, the prefect, did not speak. After a moment of silence, he sat down in his seat.

Song Gan, who was standing to the side, slowly bowed and said very seriously, "My lord, I am a servant of the Song family. And you are also a retainer of the Song family. In any matter, you should trust the Marquis and then do your best to assist the Lord of the Household."

We are one of our own.

Even if you do have some problems, don't try to hide them.

To conceal is to err.

Having reached this point, Ji Jun had no other choice but to lay his cards on the table: "Song Jia Cheng, let me put it this way, although the court sent us officials to Huai County first, this action was only to appease the public opinion in Sheng'an. But in Huai County, the news that Shi An is going to become the prefect has already spread far and wide."

Spring River Plumbing Duck Prophet.

Except for the top leader, the entire leadership team of Huai County underwent a complete reshuffle, and the local powerful families certainly understood what this meant.

"Is there any trouble?" Song Gan asked.

"As soon as I took office, several highly respected members of the Song clan came to me..." Prefect Ji felt very troubled. "They inquired about a lot of information, made many requests, and even wanted to give gifts."

Did you receive the gift?

"Oh dear, how could I possibly accept gifts at a time like this? Wouldn't that just be causing trouble for the Prefect?" the Prefect said helplessly. "I haven't leaked any important information, and I've politely declined all those requests. But, after all, they've all come to see me."

"Are the Song clan and the Li clan acting under your name?" Song Gan asked with concern.

"They..." Magistrate Ji said hesitantly, "They came to see me, and the whole prefecture now knows that Lord Song is about to take office. Magistrate Sun and Magistrate He are Lord Song's men, and I spoke to them to make sure they didn't let personal matters interfere with their official duties. But in the end, they didn't dare to be so impartial towards the Song clan."

"What about the other newly appointed county magistrates?"

“Then they are even more uncontrollable, after all, they are all His Highness the Crown Prince’s people.” Prefect Ji held his forehead, looking very distressed. “I did say that, but who would dare to actually offend him?”

The reason is actually very simple.

The prefect said that it was essential to maintain the purity of the bureaucracy, to avoid power-money transactions, and to refrain from compromising with powerful families.

We really have to deal with the prefect's uncles, aunts, and other relatives in a very official manner.

There's nothing wrong with it now.

When other families have a get-together and whisper in each other's ears, what should you do?
Don't actually believe it.

The leaders' families should be appeased and indulged.

“None of them are cooperating with the land reclamation efforts, right?” Song Gan asked.

“Not only did they refuse to cooperate with the registration and compensation calculation…” Song Gan said, “they also purchased and hoarded grain within Huai County.”

"Did they really do that?" Song Gan's tone already carried a hint of punitive doubt.

I understand that you dare not offend the Song clan.

But you didn't even fulfill your responsibilities properly.

What use is there in keeping someone like that around?
“Song Jiacheng, listen to me.” Ji Juncheng looked at him and quickly explained, “I have already issued an order to prohibit raising grain prices during the purchase. Moreover, all the other major households besides the Song family have been warned or even taken to the prefect’s office for a talk and a reprimand. In the counties near Jianxing, they are cooperating and have registered quite a few people.”

"What about other places?"

“It takes a long time to travel back and forth between the nine counties of Huaijun and the surrounding counties. We can only barely manage to investigate all the county magistrates and settle the accounts and population.”

Knowing he might be seen as trying to exonerate himself, Prefect Ji honestly replied, "If the Prefect doesn't come, I can't control the situation... Even if he doesn't come, at least issue an order first."

One reason is the issue of ability.

On the other hand, his authority is too low, making it difficult for him to accomplish anything.

Of course, the most important thing is determination.

Apart from Song Shi'an, no one in the world can handle this mess.

Only he could have succeeded in establishing military settlements.

"rest assured."

As Prefect Ji was filled with anxiety and fear, Song Gan gently placed his hand on his shoulder and comforted him with a smile, "Just stabilize the situation. Everything will be resolved once the Prefect arrives."

.........

"Sir, the grain was swallowed up by Zhang Cun, and he only gave my master half of it. The magistrate even had his men beat up my master!"

Kneeling before a respected elder, who appeared to be around seventy years old and sat in the main hall, a steward in blue robes tearfully filed a complaint.

"He beat someone up?" The old man's eyes were filled with disbelief, but even more so with unwillingness to accept it. "He swallowed the grain and beat someone up?"

"Yes," the steward said, choking back tears. "My master is still bedridden."

"Didn't you say you were one of my people?" The old man asked coldly, his eyebrows slightly closed.

How dare a mere county magistrate touch his own people?

Although he had retired, he was still a fourth-rank official in the imperial court.

Those were high-ranking officials who could attend court assemblies.

“I told him, and he knows it, but…”

Knowing no one would believe him, the steward began, "Zhang Cun, using the pretext that Lord Song was coming to Cishan to inspect the county town, ordered all the wealthy households in Cishan to lend their grain to the county government. But after lending it to him, they couldn't get it back and were even forced to return the money to the wealthy households at market price. The wealthy households were dissatisfied and had their men blockade the county government. Then Zhang Cun mobilized his able-bodied men and beat up everyone who was blocking the government office..."

"This Song Shi'an is truly remarkable."

The old man quickly analyzed everything.

"Sir, did Lord Song find out that the county government's grain had been bought?" The steward thought this matter should be kept secret, so how did he find out so quickly after only being there for a short while?

“Of course,” the old man said. “What I didn’t expect was that he wouldn’t investigate further.”

He knew that Song Shi'an was a very strong-willed person who couldn't tolerate any injustice.

It's like in Beiliang, where so many powerful families were wiped out in one fell swoop.

Now he has money, power, and troops, but he has not acted swiftly and decisively, cutting through all corruption and evil to thoroughly eradicate it.

In that case, he wouldn't be afraid.

But this young man soon understood this principle after entering officialdom: be pragmatic, not impractical.

"With Lord Song behind them, won't we be unable to get the grain back..."

"Damn it! Is this something to be proud of?" the old man cursed. "You want the grain back? Why didn't you use your brain when it was lent to you in the first place!"

Because, in principle, both buying and selling are illegal. Who would dare to speak out?

“What you say is true, sir.” He lowered his head weakly and added in a low voice, “But Zhang Cun is shameless. He told everyone about it and said it was for Song Shi’an’s land reclamation plan, so that he would bear the blame.”

"Of course, he has a very strong backer now. If he doesn't completely side with Song Shi'an, he's doomed."

"My master listens to everything you say, sir. He won't cause any more trouble unless you give the order." The steward looked up at the other person with teary eyes, saying with great grievance, "But this time, it was my master who was hit, but it was directed at you..."

"They're here because of Lord Situ."

The old man wasn't provoked, but if he didn't take a stand in this matter, he'd be a coward. So, he calmly said, "Kill a few people."

"..." The steward tensed up and stammered, "At this point, killing someone might provoke Lord Song and lead to retaliation, wouldn't it?"

"He's using Song Shi'an's name, but does Song Shi'an really back him up?" the old man said. "If Song Shi'an gets involved, then he'll be in trouble."

"..." The manager didn't understand.

"Just do it, you won't understand even if I tell you."

"Yes sir!"

.........

"Your Excellency, something terrible has happened! The registrar and two criminal officers went out of the city to inspect the tenant farmers and haven't returned for a long time, so our men went to meet them, and then... and then..."

"Tell me, and then what happened?"

"Then they saw the three of them hanged from a tree in the middle of the road!"

"..." Upon hearing this, Zhang Cun's face turned deathly pale, and cold sweat broke out on his brow.

"That must have been done by those wealthy families!" the young master said tremblingly. "They're retaliating against us!"

"Who else could it be..."

"After this incident, all the brothers were in a state of panic. The able-bodied men in the militia also wanted to quit and refused to obey orders, saying that they hadn't embezzled any money, so why should they risk their lives for us!"

People's hearts are breaking down.

The local "Master Huang" is too ruthless.

"Tell all the able-bodied men in the militia that they don't need to leave the city," Zhang Cun said. "And summon more men and distribute all the swords, spears, and shields from the armory. First, defend the granary and the county government office..."

"This is such a big matter, we're doing it for the Prefect, why don't we go to the Prefect and ask for his help?"

"Foolish!" Zhang Cun cursed as soon as he finished speaking. "Did the prefect receive a single penny of the money from selling the grain? If we don't resolve this ourselves and it implicates the prefect, he'll personally send his army to kill us before these powerful families in Cishan even have a chance to eliminate us!"

The empty warehouse is something they have to solve themselves.

This matter involves Lord Song. If word gets out that 'Lord Song is doing business with wealthy families and cheating each other,' then all the powerful families in the county will boycott Song Shi'an.

It wasn't that he felt sorry for Song Shi'an.

Rather, given this person's methods, he would never blindly engage in a head-on battle with aristocratic families.

To reiterate: if you want Lord Song to clean up your mess, did you give him a single penny of the money you embezzled?

Why aren't you going yet?

Seeing that he was still standing below the hall, the magistrate asked impatiently.

"Your Excellency, this is such a big matter, even if I were to go and inform them..." The clerk, a ninth-rank official, had been killed like this, and the county government didn't dare to utter a single word. How could he feel safe? So he smiled and said, "Why don't you go and say the word yourself, Your Excellency, and I'll go and inform them?"

Tang Zun sighed, then stood up, tugged at his sleeve forcefully, and said irritably, "Fine, let's go then!"

.........

"After this inspection, I found that all the county magistrates under the Crown Prince are completely rotten."

Xin Yue, who was traveling with Song Shi'an, said with some disdain.

“Completely expected,” Song Shi’an said calmly. “The Crown Prince’s most capable subordinate is someone like Jia Guihao. What else can you expect from them?”

“I just think that even these people were handpicked, so are the rest of the princelings even worse?” Xin Yue asked.

“Among the princelings, there is only one pure white flower,” Song Shi’an said, turning to look at her with a smile.

"Is it just you?" Xinyue asked.

“No.” Song Shi’an raised his finger and pointed it at her.

"..." Xin Yue was speechless.

“You are the kind of person who would be angry at corrupt officials, kill people because they are being beaten, and feel pain because of their plight… There is no one better than you,” Song Shi’an sighed.

“I’m just a good person, impulsively doing what I think is right.” Knowing what he wanted to say, Xin Yue comforted him calmly, “But you are a good official.”

"where……"

Even if you know that corrupt officials have powerful backers but don't investigate them; even if you know that wealthy people are extorting money from the government but don't punish them; even if you see people starving but don't open the granaries.

These words made Song Shi'an feel better.

Song Shi'an was not an emperor.

Moreover, even the emperor cannot do whatever he wants.

In this era, a good person is seen as a chivalrous knight-errant who punishes evil and promotes good.

To become an official, one must be politically astute.

It's not entirely about protecting one's reputation, but rather about conserving strength to fight real opponents.

"We're almost at Jing County," Xin Yue said. "Why don't we stop by and take a look, or just take a boat directly to Jianxing?"

“Jing County is the county of my old friend Wang Shuishan, so naturally I have to go and take a look,” Song Shi’an said.

“Don’t some of your clansmen also live in this county?” Xin Yue reminded her.

“There are some collateral branches,” Song Shi’an said. “What, do you think he’s also been corrupted by my relatives?”

"He's not exactly corrupt, but it's probably going to be tough for him."

"Go and see for yourself."

The two continued walking along the main road.

After walking for a few miles, they came to a small post station.

A large sign hung in front of the post station, with the words "Grain Relief Office" written on it.
As soon as they arrived, the official at the post station called out, "Are you here to register for military farmland?"

In ancient times, especially in rural areas, literacy was virtually nonexistent, even though the imperial examination system had become widespread.

Therefore, it is generally assumed that ordinary people are illiterate.

“We are tenants of a wealthy family in the neighborhood,” Song Shi’an replied.

"Tenants can also register for land reclamation!" the man shouted. "Our Lord Wang said that any tenant who brings farm tools and oxen to participate in land reclamation will receive a reward from the imperial court!"

"When can we start cultivating the land?" Song Shi'an asked.

"Let's wait for the prefect to take office and register first."

"Is this where I can get relief food?" Song Shi'an shouted.

"Yes, any refugee can come and receive relief porridge," the man asked. "But aren't you a tenant farmer?"

"Yes, but my master said that if I participate in land reclamation, he won't give me any surplus grain..."

As soon as Song Shi'an finished speaking, the man's face darkened.

Immediately afterwards, he left the watchtower and disappeared from their sight.

"What's going on?" Xin Yue asked, puzzled.

"It really does seem strange." Song Shi'an also sensed that the atmosphere among the officials here was a bit off.

"However, Wang Shuishan did a good job by taking the initiative to provide food relief to the disaster victims," ​​Xin Yue agreed.

Just as the two were puzzled, the door of the post station was opened.

Five men, clad in armor and carrying bows and arrows, dressed like soldiers, stepped forward. The man from before asked sternly, "Who is your master?"

"What, what's wrong?" Song Shi'an feigned fear.

"Don't you know?" the man said. "Lord Wang has decreed that anyone who embezzles the surplus grain of tenants within the territory of Jing County will be fined 100,000 coins!"

(End of this chapter)