Your war hammer is too fake

"This is probably considered normal luck... right?"

As night fell, the conversations on the city wall gradually faded away.

Chapter 55: Living People

The next day, the work continued.

An Jiyue carried a palm-sized notebook with her, which was filled with work items that needed to be handled in order. The first thing to do today was to take inventory, so the girl got up at three in the morning. Since she traveled through time, she found that her irregular work and rest problem had not only not been alleviated, but had become more and more serious.

In addition to being absolutely loyal to the Lord of the Holy Scripture, the system units are no different from real people - An Jiyue always keeps this in mind. In order to avoid the discrepancy between the account and the actual objects due to "certain" reasons, the girl took out the courage to attend the morning court (Note 1) and led a group of Yulin cavalrymen who also did not get a good night's sleep to conduct a surprise inspection of the government warehouses in the inner city.

In the dim moonlight, the Yulin Guards, who were just recruited yesterday, took the official document with the seal of the Jiedushi and acted in groups of ten, suddenly taking over the defense of all the gates of the inner city. The state soldiers on duty in charge of guarding the gates were ordered to stay where they were and not leave, and they had to stay within the sight of the Yulin cavalry. Some clever ones tried to urinate when they saw that the situation was not right, but they only got the cold answer from the Yulin cavalry: Hold it in!

Glancing at the hand of the leader of the Yulin Guards, who was already on the hilt of the sword, the older soldier who was about to report to the county lieutenant secretly swallowed his saliva and silently prayed that his boss would not fall into the hands of the young lady.

The imperial guards responsible for controlling the city gates arrived at the same time. After confirming this through the mental connection with the system unit, An Jiyue led a group of imperial guards to the largest granary in the inner city. When the clerk in charge of the granary was awakened by his panicked subordinates, he saw that his workplace was as bright as day, and the granary was filled with soft white light spots inside and outside. The clerk had seen the world, and he knew that this was the entry-level spell of the alchemist [Eternal Light].

Although it was only a spell of the lowest level, even many witches and shamans in the countryside knew this trick, but being able to release and maintain hundreds of [Eternal Lamps] at the same time... Thinking of this, the clerk's legs suddenly went weak and he almost fell to the ground.

"What proportion of the grain in the government warehouse is old grain?" An Jiuyue asked.

"My Lord," the clerk kept wiping his forehead with his sleeve, "about 30-30%..."

According to the account book the girl saw yesterday, only 10% of the grain stored in the government warehouse was old grain, and it was reserved for feeding livestock and making wine. From the results of the random inspection, the total amount of stored grain was fine, and there was indeed so much in the government warehouse, but there was obviously something fishy about the proportion of old grain.

"Hmm?" The Jiedushi looked over with a sidelong glance: "30%?"

"Forty percent! Forty percent is old grain!" The clerk looked like he was about to cry: "Sir, the grain in the government warehouse is edible. It's edible! We dare not fool the court with food that is moldy, spoiled, or destroyed by rats!"

An Jiyue sighed in her heart. She knew that by the standards of the feudal era, these warehouse clerks were already first-class honest officials. She didn't know where this city came from. Did it come from a real world, or was the power of the Holy Scripture so amazing that it could weave a complete past for all the existences that came from it?

"Let's go check out the armory," she said to the accompanying Yulin cavalry.

Compared with the official warehouse, the situation of the arsenal is much better, even perfect. This may be due to the peculiarity of the Warhammer world itself. Those who dare to commit suicide in the issue of armaments will really die. The weapons, ammunition, spare parts and other materials stored in the arsenal are completely consistent with the records on the books, whether in quantity, type, or status.

When the first rays of sunlight in the morning shone on the earth, An Jiyue took a quick tour of all the major warehouses in the inner city. In general, the situation was much better than the girl expected, although there were still many problems.

At the main gate of the south wall of the inner city, County Magistrate Cao had been poking his head in for a long time. Although the county government was in the inner city, almost all county officials, including Cao Han himself, lived in the outer city: unlike the general ancient regime, the official offices of An Zhendan did not have residential functions. An Jiyue hated the idea of ​​"officials not repairing the government offices". In her opinion, the state of the government office represented the face and authority of the court. Just for that little bit of feudal superstition, they would rather live in dilapidated houses than repair the government office, resulting in the dilapidated county government office. What was going on?

The idea of ​​the creator is reflected in the setting, that is, the yamen of An Zhendan has cancelled its residential function and is just a simple office space. The daily maintenance and repair of various yamen are managed by the court, and the officials in the yamen have to find ways to solve the problem of where to live on their own, and the court can only give a rental subsidy.

Seeing An Jiyue approaching, Cao Han was about to cross his arms to salute, but suddenly he saw a frustrated clerk following behind his boss, who was already in shackles. Magistrate Cao's heart skipped a beat, and his mind raced.

Just as he was about to speak, he saw An Jiyue waving her hand. "I'm going to see the dwarves off," he heard the girl riding on a mechanical horse say, "Please take care of things before I come back."

"Yes!" The magistrate bowed deeply.

When he straightened up again, the back of the last Yulin cavalryman just disappeared from his sight. Magistrate Cao turned his head with a dark face and looked behind him. A group of county officials who came to work in the morning but were blocked by Yulin cavalrymen at the city gate avoided his cannibalistic gaze.

"Xuanshui is a military city," Cao Han said, "If necessary, military law can be applied to all matters in the city, big or small." The county magistrate's voice was not very loud, and even his emotions could not be heard: "According to the military law of the country, what is the crime of reselling military rations?"

"Reporting to the prefect," the county magistrate replied, "the whole family of the culprit shall be executed, and those within five mourning periods who are innocent shall be exiled three thousand miles."

"Then what are you still standing there for?! Are you waiting for you, Yeye, to treat you to a meal?!" Cao Han suddenly raised his voice: "Catch him!!"

Without waiting for Hu Cao to beg for mercy, the bad guys who had been waiting on the side rushed forward and hit Hu Cao with iron bars all over his head, making him roll on the ground. When Cao Han's face calmed down a little, the bad guy who had been observing his expression pushed aside the men who were still beating him, tied Hu Cao up tightly, and prepared to wait for the county magistrate to decide his fate.

"This is just a prefecture, there is no place to exile prisoners for three thousand miles," Cao Han said calmly, his hands behind his back, "Fortunately, there is a better place to go, which is most suitable for these big rats and insects to get rid of their fat and relax."

……

"Uh, so you just let them go?" Dustan asked.

"What else can we do? Kill them all? Even if we strictly follow the local laws, most of these people won't lose their heads," An Jiyue curled her lips, "Let's first assume that the 'setting' does exist that there is a thing called reselling government grain. In order to accomplish this, the county government must have already arranged everything that needs to be arranged. Even if Cao Han is not a direct participant, he must have known about it, and he must have taken a share of the benefits."

"It's only the second day. Who can they sell the grain to?" The wizard asked in confusion.

"So it's 'based on the setting'. I personally tend to believe that all individuals from the Holy Scripture were created out of thin air by the Holy Scripture, and the Holy Scripture was very considerate to make up a complete past for each individual," the young alchemist said, "You have been with your subordinates for a while, right? Do you think they are machines that act according to the program, or living people?"

Dustan showed a thoughtful expression. "The latter. Definitely the latter." He said with great certainty.

"I skipped through a few pages of the county annals last night. Wow, this city actually has a history of nearly 3,000 years," An Jiyue's expression was quite subtle. "So from their perspective, reselling grain is something that really exists in their memory and happened in the past. I even suspect that the condition of the stored grain is so 'good', with no shortage of quantity, no adulteration or spoilage, which is the result of the interference of the Holy Scripture."

"Fuck it, when I get back, I'm going to go check out Akendorf's warehouse, too." Dustan was inexplicably worried now, "I've never thought about this before. I can't even think of it!"

"Anyway, that's how it is. Just like that clerk said, the old grain is not inedible. If it doesn't work, just send it to make wine. We can also export it to make some money for the dwarves." After watching the dwarves go away at the end of the field of vision, An Jiyue turned around and said, "Let's go and have breakfast."

……

Note 1: Yes, in ancient times, if an official happened to have an early morning court session, he had to get up at three in the morning.

The author says:

Author's words: The content of this chapter is actually quite important, and it also paves the way for many plots to come. Absolute loyalty does not mean that the system unit will not cause unexpected troubles.

Chapter 56: The Celestial Empire

It seems that the matter of the old grain has been passed... As for the fact that all the officials in Xuanshui County Government had to eat old grain for a whole year, there is no need to worry about such a trivial matter.

After having a hearty breakfast in the military camp with the Imperial Guards and a high-elf mage who came to eat for free, An Jiyue took out her notebook and looked through it. The first thing to do today was to conduct a surprise inspection of the official warehouse, the second was to see the dwarves off, and the third was to deal with the problem of the auxiliary soldiers.

"How many people are there in the city who can fight in the battlefield?" An Jiuyue asked the county lieutenant.

"Sir, there are two infantry camps of the provincial soldiers, one artillery camp with 15 guns, and three land and water patrol teams," the county lieutenant answered without hesitation, "and there is also a team of tower guards in the Tongtian Tower in the city, they are well-equipped and brave."

The military system of An's Aurora was quite complex. The regular army alone could be divided into four major groups: the Central Army, the State Army, the Town Army, and the Navy. There were also some armed forces independent of these four groups. Among them, the "Central Army" originally referred to the troops stationed in the capital, which was commonly known as the Imperial Army. They were directly under the central government of the imperial court, equivalent to the "Central Army". Later, with the development of the times, in addition to guarding the capital, the Central Army was also responsible for guarding Changyuan, which was crucial to Aurora.

The Central Army would often dispatch a part of its troops to support important battlefields in the country. This dispatch would sometimes be long-term, forming the so-called garrison Central Army; in contrast, those stationed in the capital were called the Suwei Central Army. The identities of the two were not fixed, but were rotated. Whoever went out to work was the garrison Central Army, and whoever stayed behind to watch the house was the Suwei Central Army.

Then there are the state soldiers. The state soldiers are equivalent to the "local army". They are also full-time standing troops, but they are positioned as second-line forces. Among the four major forces of regular soldiers, the state soldiers are the largest, and their treatment is the lowest among the regular soldiers. They are the typical ones who get the least military pay and do the most work.

As for the town soldiers, they are a force that only emerges under the combined effect of various factors. The town soldiers are elite field troops, much more powerful than the state soldiers, and of course much more expensive. In essence, the town soldiers appeared to prevent the excessive expansion of the central soldiers. After all, as the "capital military district", if the central soldiers are too strong, it is very easy to get into some fatal troubles. In this regard, the Roman Guards and the Janissaries, another lamb-flavored "Rome", are very typical examples.

As a low-cost armed force that emphasizes cost-effectiveness, the state soldiers are cheap, but the price of cheapness is that the combat effectiveness is not so ideal. Most of the time, the state soldiers rely on their numerical advantage and the support of a small number of middle soldiers to deal with most of the enemies that appear in the Celestial Empire; however, Warhammer is a place full of "surprises" after all, and the garrisoned middle soldiers cannot always arrive in time.

It is impossible to invest more military funds to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the provincial soldiers. Strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches is the national policy of the Celestial Empire, and it must not be changed. But the problem must be solved, otherwise we can't just watch the hinterland erode, right? So the town soldiers made a brilliant appearance.

"But aren't garrison troops still 'local troops'?" Dustan, who was also present, asked in confusion, "What's the difference?"

"The reason why the provincial troops cannot be strengthened is that they are under the dual leadership of the local government and the central government," An Jiyue explained to Asur's mage, "That being said, in reality, they are limited by the communication capabilities. As long as the local government officials are more capable, the local influence and control over the provincial troops is often greater than that of the central government."

The county lieutenant was so embarrassed after hearing this that he twisted and turned in his chair as if he was sitting on pins and needles.

"The provincial troops cannot be strengthened, the central troops cannot be expanded, and the local prefects and county magistrates in various places must guard against it with all their might," the beautiful girl with silver hair and red eyes spread her hands. "Finally, the bigwigs discussed it and decided that we should stop changing the stock and increase the stock!"

Although they were also "local troops", the fundamental difference between the garrison troops and the state troops was that the former were only under the leadership of the central government and had no affiliation with the local areas. From a political perspective, this was very crucial.

There are ten military-level numbers for the Zhenbing, which correspond to the ten areas with greater defense pressure under the jurisdiction of the Zhendan Dynasty, except Weijing and Changyuan. This aspect of the setting is actually because An Jiyue was too lazy to think of names, so he directly copied the ten Zhenjiedu in the early and middle Tang Dynasty. Among them, An Jiyue's Anxi Army is stationed in Shangyang, and its main job is to guard the large area of ​​Guhai (Dimension Stone Desert). Daily, it is to fight with rats and ogres... and occasionally fight chaos demons.

"What is the Land and Water Inspection Office?" the mage continued to ask.

"That, that's what I said before, an armed force independent of the four major mountains," An Jiyue replied while recalling the settings he wrote several years ago, "The Land and Water Inspection Department is quite special because they are organized under, um, the Ministry of Industry."

"What?! You even have an army in the Ministry of Industry?!"

"Is it weird?... Well, it is a bit weird. But this is a practical need. The main job of the Land and Water Patrol is to patrol the main traffic routes and protect the merchants and travelers, which means they are responsible for dealing with all kinds of bandits. Due to the general environment, some bandits will rush over while shouting 'WAAAGH!!', and some bandits always have some strange mutations on their bodies. Even the most outrageous bandits may have been dead for thousands of years, but they are still alive and kicking."

"..."

"So the Land and Water Inspection Office came into being. The one in charge of the land route is called the Land Marquis, and the one in charge of the water route is called the Water Marquis. Except for the lack of heavy firepower, their equipment, training and treatment are basically on par with the elite field troops such as the Zhenbing."

"So why are they affiliated with the Ministry of Industry? Damn it, this is clearly overstepping the boundaries! Does the Ministry of War have any objections?"

"There's no need to be so clear about political matters. If you really want to make a fuss, the Waterway Inspection Office's work location is either the official road or the inland waterway, and both are under the responsibility of the Ministry of Works for repair and maintenance, so why not just let the Ministry of Works manage both."

"What a far-fetched reason..."

"Don't ask. If you ask, it's because they have a lot of martial virtues. Even the technical bureaucrats in the Ministry of Industry have to practice martial arts diligently and be ready to kill the enemy and serve the country at any time."

"What about the tower guards? Don't tell me this group of people are also from the Ministry of Works."

"That's not the case," the Jiedushi shook his head. "The Tower Guards are responsible for guarding the barrier tower. Just think about it and you will know that such an important place must be and can only be controlled by the emperor himself. In theory, the Tower Guards are affiliated with the Central Army, but in practice these people directly obey the emperor's orders."

"Then how do you command these people?" As soon as he said this, the wizard slapped his forehead in annoyance. He realized that he had asked a stupid question - the system units were absolutely loyal to the Lord of the Holy Scripture. Although they were the teams that came with the initial city, rather than recruited through the Holy Scripture of War, these various types of armed forces also belonged to the system units.

An Jiyue rolled her eyes at Dustan and turned to the county lieutenant and said, "General Yin is leading three garrison troops to this place. They don't have any auxiliary troops at all. This matter needs to be dealt with immediately. You just said there are two state infantry battalions in the city? How many people are there exactly?"

"My lord," the county lieutenant knew what An Jiyue was planning when he heard this, but he had neither reason nor courage to refuse, "Both buildings are not fully staffed, with a total of 802 combat soldiers and 145 auxiliary soldiers."

"Select two hundred soldiers from the combat troops and transfer them to our Anxi Army," the girl said. "Two hundred first. Too many is not good. You must make up the shortfall as soon as possible. If you are short of money, just hand me an official document."

"Yes." The county lieutenant, who had a bitter face after hearing the first half of the sentence, immediately smiled after hearing the second half.

Dustan interrupted and said, "Will they be happy to be changed from combat soldiers to auxiliary soldiers?"

"Why not?" An Jiyue asked back, "Do you know how much their monthly military pay is? I tell you, it's two and a half strings of cash, and that's for combat soldiers, and auxiliary soldiers only get one and a half strings of cash. And the combat soldiers of the garrison troops, the infantry get six strings of cash a month, and auxiliary soldiers get four strings of cash. And the garrison troops also have more opportunities for promotion. As for danger, what business in this world is not dangerous?"

"That's true." Thinking of those dangerous areas on Ulthuan that were corrupted by the power of Chaos and could only be isolated and guarded by special personnel, the mage nodded in agreement.

"My Anxi Army still needs a lot of strong men, and they have to sign long-term contracts," the young alchemist said to the county lieutenant, "You can handle this matter as well."

"Yes!" The county lieutenant quickly saluted with his arms crossed.

"By the way," Dustan looked at the scene in front of him and suddenly asked, "How much is Li Fu's salary?"

An Jiyue thought for a moment and said, "It depends on the region. For us, three strings of cash is probably enough."

"Fuck, even Li Fu's salary is higher than the combat soldiers in the state army?!"

"They are laborers who signed long-term contracts. Most of the ordinary laborers are forced laborers, and they don't get paid a penny. The court can only provide food for them." If it were the ancient Central Plains dynasty in the real world, the laborers would have to provide their own food. However, An's Zhendan still had some human touch, and they would still provide food.

"That's outrageous, isn't it?"

Chapter 57: Li Fu's Problem

Half a month later, the "Zhendan Expeditionary Force" led by Yin Siran arrived at Xuanshui.

The arrival of the expeditionary army made the Xuanshui County government feel relieved. In the past half month, An Jiyue had been vigorously rectifying the administration of officials, and she would punish people with heavy hands whenever she found a reason. Even though the girl herself thought that she had tried her best to turn a blind eye, the final result was that almost half of the county government officials were gone, either losing their heads or successfully falling down the social ladder and changing their careers to work in the mines.

For the masters, such a miserable life is like a year, and every second is torture. Fortunately, it seems that the ordeal has finally come to an end for the time being, and everyone can take a breath. After all, human energy is limited, and military affairs are particularly exhausting. Now the children and masters should not have much time to keep an eye on themselves, right?

That's what they thought until, at a welcoming banquet specially held for Yin Siran, An Jiyue publicly introduced to them a new colleague who was wearing a Feiyu costume, an embroidered spring sword on his waist, and had a stern face that said "no strangers allowed" throughout the whole banquet.

"This is Jinyiwei Zhenfushi Lu Wu," An Jiyue seemed to be smiling, but the smile was inexplicably empty, and the officials' legs were shaking. "Zhenfu Lu will be fully responsible for all matters related to the establishment of Jinyiwei Sanhe Zhenfu Division."

Of course, Anshi Zhendan also has some indispensable institutions. Considering the popularity and the deterrence that comes with it, when An Jiyue was writing the settings, she directly assigned the name of Jinyiwei to the "relevant departments" of Anshi Zhendan. After all, the Imperial City Department sounds shabby, and the reputation of Weiwei Temple is too low... As for the Black Ice Platform, the Blood Droplet, etc., An Jiyue said that her settings are all magically processed based on historical facts, not made up.

Compared with the original version, An Zhendan's Jinyiwei is a real and pure intelligence agency. In addition to the North and South Zhenfu Divisions, the Ming version of Jinyiwei also has more than a dozen Qianhu Suo. Among them, only the North and South Zhenfu Divisions are the "relevant departments" in the general impression. The rest of the Qianhu Suo are responsible for everything from honor guards to elephant breeders.

The An family version of Jinyiwei has a slightly different organizational structure. As one of the six right guards, the An family Jinyiwei is a member of the Central Army. Its highest commander is called the Commander-in-Chief, and under him are several command offices. The head of the command office is the Commander-in-Chief. Below the command office is the Pacification Office, and the head is called the Pacification Office. An Jiyue's current territory is just a large mansion, so setting up a command office is too exaggerated, and setting up a Pacification Office is just right.

Whether in terms of positioning or function, the An family Jinyiwei was the department that the court officials least wanted to deal with. They were the real henchmen of the emperor, the emperor's personal soldiers, ready to pounce on and bite anyone the emperor disliked.

There is no emperor in Sanhe, but there is a Duke Wu who is more terrible than the most strict emperor. The young female duke hates evil and has a very low tolerance for the dirty things in the government offices. Although she can tolerate a little bit, she can tolerate a little bit. What's more terrible is that although the female duke is not familiar with the various methods used by the old officials to deal with their superiors, she is determined that the old officials are absolutely not trustworthy!

"I don't know what specific methods you use to deceive your superiors and subordinates, but I know you will definitely do it." Based on this understanding, plus the years of confronting people on the Internet before the time travel, and the test of various rhetoric routines, and most importantly, the absolute control over the army, the masters found that although their female master was a rookie in the officialdom, she was more difficult to deal with than any superior.

Originally, they thought that as long as General Yin returned with the expeditionary army, everything would be fine. By then, as the governor of Anxi Army, the princess would have to turn her attention back to her real job, and naturally she would have no time to bother herself.

However, it turned out that they were too naive and underestimated An Jiyue's enthusiasm in dealing with the bureaucracy.

After the tasteless welcoming banquet, the county officials dispersed one after another, and only the magistrate Cao Han and the county lieutenant were left.

"I heard that the recruitment of Li Fu is not going well? Is it possible that the money has not arrived?" The first sentence An Jiuyue said made County Magistrate Cao feel that the collar of his clothes was inexplicably tight, making it difficult for him to breathe.

"My Lord, our county's treasury is full, and we have no worries about lack of money," Magistrate Cao carefully considered his words, "but most of the people in the city rely on military equipment for their livelihood, and their families are well-off and they have no worries about their lives. If we want to attract them to join the army and serve the court and you, even if we offer a monthly salary of four strings of cash, there will be very few applicants. Although I have done nothing and am eating the emperor's salary in vain, I also know that forced apportionment is absolutely unacceptable, and we cannot find some idle people in the market to fill the numbers."

An Jiyue stared at Cao Han's face for a long time. "The county magistrate is your man, right?" the girl suddenly asked.

Cao Han hurriedly crossed his arms: "Sir..."

"No wonder your most capable confidants all went to the mine to exercise, but you can still sit under that plaque with a bright mirror hanging high and continue to be your master of the Ming Mansion," An Jiyue waved her hand indifferently, "Even though the administration of this dynasty is still relatively clean and never punishes people for their words, there are really not many county magistrates who dare to say such things to their superiors."

"But there is one thing I don't quite agree with you on," the girl raised a green finger and shook it left and right, "Although the city foxes and community rats are all rotten to the core and there is no value or need to save them, but garbage also has its uses. Ah Ran?"

Yin Siran, who was chewing on osmanthus cake, quickly put down the food, not even bothering to wipe the crumbs from the corners of his mouth: "I am here!"

"Luwu has been taking stock these past two days," the girl looked at a certain pacification envoy who was sitting like a clock, "The current residents of this city do not like the monthly salary of four strings of cash, and I am not prepared to offer a price higher than the market price. I will only pay the salary according to the market price of three strings of cash a month, which is already high enough. Since money cannot impress them, let's change to a more attractive price."

"According to convention, state soldiers and land marquises are recruited locally. They are too deeply involved with the locals and may not be reliable. The tower guards have heavy responsibilities and cannot be easily mobilized," the beautiful girl governor held her chin with her left hand and tapped the ash wood table with her right middle finger. "I plan to clean out all the people in the city, and the time is set for tomorrow morning. This job is left to you. Lu Wu will provide a list, and you can arrest people according to the list."

"Sir," Yin Siran said in confusion, "Excuse my stupidity, but may I ask how this matter is related to recruiting laborers?"

"The more innocent the scoundrels seem, the more they are evil ghosts that want to kill the good people," An Jiyue said quietly. "Since I sent soldiers to remove these thorns that have been stuck in their flesh for too long and have become festered, won't the people be grateful to me? If I take this opportunity to send people to preach, can I recruit some people?"

"Your Excellency's wisdom is as good as that of Marquis Wu reborn. I bow to you in admiration!"

"Don't think that just because you flatter someone, and such a low-level flattery at that, your dereliction of duty can be ignored," An Jiyue glared at the man. "Recruiting laborers was a job I personally assigned to you, and you just did it like this? Did you think that I had forgotten who was specifically in charge of this matter because I asked Cao Han first?"

The county lieutenant suddenly became speechless. He wanted to explain himself but didn't know what to say.

"The recruitment of legionaries must be completed as soon as possible. Before I go to Black Rock Castle, I want to see 500 legionaries appear in the barracks." Oakley's coronation ceremony is coming soon, and An Jiyue promised that she would be there in person. "Two hundred auxiliary soldiers and five hundred legionaries should be enough. When I come back, it will be time for the army to set out."