Chapter 875: It’s not easy to be an official
Feng Ziying had already looked at this famous city when he entered Luanzhou City.
The walls are covered with blue bricks, and the moat formed by diverting water from the Luan River is about ten feet wide. The suspension bridge stands tall and the battlements are majestic. You can even see the turrets on the top of the city wall. It is obvious that the city still maintains a certain degree of stability standing on the bank of the Luan River. The vigilance may be due to the fact that the southern invasion of the Chahar people more than ten or twenty years ago is still fresh in the memory of people here.
Wenfeng Pagoda and Bixia Yuanjun Temple in the south of the city are very famous in the entire Yongping Prefecture. Feng Ziying had heard about them before she came to Yongping, so Feng Ziying planned to use her time to visit them.
Yongsheng Inn is the best inn in Luanzhou City.
Traveling privately in private, Feng Ziying had no intention of staying at an inn. In contrast, he would rather spend some money to live in a better place. After all, he was bringing a woman with him, and he could also hear more things in such an inn.
For him, it is important to get familiar with the situation as quickly as possible through various methods so that he can get started with all aspects of affairs as soon as possible.
Even though Wu Yaoqing collects information for her from all aspects, Feng Ziying still hopes to feel something most intuitively, which will help her make judgments.
"Luanzhou is second only to Lulong County in Fuguo, where the government is located. Its land area, fertility and population are second only to Lulong, and far better than other counties." Wu Yaoqing sat opposite Feng Ziying, "Zhizhou Xie Wenli, a native of Dengzhou, Nanyang, Huguang, is quite smart and capable. He was born in the 33rd year of Yuanxi. However, he had a bad relationship with the local gentry family. Because of his cruel methods, he also caused a lot of backlash. The gentry often wrote letters Complain to Beijing,..."
“Oh? Where is the main contradiction?” Feng Ziying asked.
"First, Mr. Xie has repeatedly cleared the land in the county, especially those who used the name of Weitun to occupy land, and cracked down on powerful people; second, he used laborers in the county to repair rivers and embankments, but the big gentry in the county thought that they should first The embankments on both sides of the Luan River around the county were built, but Mr. Xie advocated building the line from the south of the city to the intersection of Hulu River and Dingliu River first, because this embankment is in the worst condition, and most of them are homesteaders, while the upper reaches are mainly large households. soil of,…"
The prefecture has the right to determine the direction of use of labor force and work-for-relief according to the situation every year. If the state is to be in a stable situation and try to avoid the emergence and outflow of refugees, then it must focus on repairing areas dominated by ordinary farmers, otherwise in the event of a flood disaster , these people's ability to resist disasters is much weaker than that of the gentry and wealthy families, and if they fail, there will be a turmoil.
“So Mr. Xie is a good official who loves the people like his own son.” Feng Ziying said with a smile.
"That depends on how you look at it." Wu Yaoqing shook his head, "This person has a strong and harsh personality, and he is particularly harsh on the gentry and wealthy households, even to the point of being picky. Therefore, the gentry and wealthy households in the county also hate and fear him. We get The news is that some people are even willing to take risks..."
Wu Yaoqing's words made Feng Ziying become nervous all of a sudden. I didn't say it before. If he takes up the post of Tongzhi and something unexpected happens to an official like Zhizhou, it will really be another slap in the face.
“Yao Qing, is this true?”
"It's just some rumors. We think it's unlikely. Although there are some contradictions, it shouldn't be a direct confrontation. Killing officials and agreeing to rebel will kill the three tribes!" Wu Yaoqing shook his head, but hesitated. "But the information obtained by the informant said it was very accurate, which made me a little unsure."
Wu Yaoqing began to consciously spread informants half a year ago. Although Feng Ziying said that the main ones were in the northern Zhili prefectures, he still hinted that Yongping Prefecture and Shuntian Prefecture would be the focus. Shuntian Prefecture is the seat of the capital, needless to say, But the specific mention of Yongping Prefecture naturally has a profound meaning, so not only did he find some manpower through various channels, but he also asked Ni Er for many people who were originally from Yongping Prefecture counties and had just settled in the capital in recent years. people, selected some astute people from them, and let them return to their hometowns in various capacities.
According to Wu Yaoqing's requirements, these personnel themselves must have legitimate professional protection, such as county government officials and inspection department personnel, such as doing business, such as Li Zheng, such as a large gentry helping to clean up customers. This is also a quite grand project. project.
Fortunately, Feng Ziying said before that there are no restrictions on money and silver. The key is to be able to play a role. Once he takes office in Yongping Mansion, he must be able to quickly report the situation of various states and counties to him through another channel other than the government. After collecting it, you can't let yourself grasp the situation only by relying on the official line.
Feng Ziying is very worried about the reporting channel of the government. If he has enough time and spends three to five years to slowly operate the business, it is not a problem. Or maybe he just wants to make a fortune, like Zhu Zhiren, or he is just excused. , either let it go, or you can hang out for two years.
Anyway, the identity of this co-prefect is a very subtle role. If you want to take care of things, you can get involved in everything. You are considered the deputy of the prefect. If you don't want to take care of things, there is a prefect above you, and there are also general judges and referees in the prefecture. There are officials from the Experience Department, the Zhaomo Office, the Prison Department, the Taxation Department, the Miscellaneous Bureau and the Confucian Officials. This does not include the six-room officials. They are all responsible for their own responsibilities. Naturally, there are people to take care of things and do things.
But Feng Ziying came to Yongping Mansion not just to plating gold, he wanted to show off his ambitions here.
Not only is it rich in coal and iron resources, which can enable you to carry out your ambitions in the future, and even become the foundation of your business, but it also has excellent ports that can be developed. It is also a transit link connecting Liaodong, North Korea, Japan and Shandong by sea. stand.
Furthermore, the news he received was that Yongping Mansion was very uneasy. Although there were factors involving the government, the army, local gentry, and pirates at sea, there was also the biggest hidden danger - the White Lotus Sect.
with the news coming from Shandong, the people I arranged to go in a few years ago have already reported back, and they followed the clues from Linqing all the way to Luanzhou.
This made Feng Ziying a little unbelievable.
Linqing is still some distance from Luanzhou, and the first news I got was that the outsiders who played a big role in the Linqing Civil War came from the south, from Caozhou, Yuncheng, and Juye. Why? Now he suddenly turned to the north, and happened to be in Luanzhou under the jurisdiction of Yongping Prefecture where he was going to be Tongzhi?
This is too much of a coincidence.
But if you have a map, you can see it. This is actually not too coincidental. From Linqing, you can go up the canal and pass through Hejian Prefecture and counties to reach Tianjin Wei, and Tianjin Wei is actually far away from Yongping Prefecture. Looking at each other, there is the coastal area of Shuntian Prefecture in the middle, which is Baodi County.
But the news from there is very certain. Although the White Lotus Sect in Shandong is very active, most of them obey the instructions from Beizhili. The Zhang Jing and others were all from Beizhi, and later on, the local Chuantou from Shandong gradually began to be promoted and became leaders.
Thinking of this, Feng Ziying's heart became heavier and heavier. According to what was said there, Luanzhou was probably the core area of the White Lotus Sect, well, it was also called the Eastern Mahayana Sect, and now it is also called the Wenxiang Sect, but Leting, Qian'an, Changli There are also quite a lot of White Lotus sect activities, and it is said that some people from the town guard have joined the faith.
Although I am not sure whether the information from the other party is accurate, there is no doubt that the activities of the White Lotus Sect in Beizhili, especially Yongping Prefecture, are extremely rampant, even exceeding those in Shandong.
"Yao Qing, please arrange for someone to follow up and investigate this matter. I don't want to encounter such a bad thing just after taking office." Feng Ziying realized that the various crises hidden in Yongping Mansion may be more complicated than she imagined. , it’s even worse, but since it’s already here, I’m afraid I can only go through it with the mentality that if I don’t go to hell, who else will.
"Don't worry, sir. We have arranged for someone to conduct a detailed investigation. It's just that we still have fewer manpower here. The time is too short, and many people's connections have not yet been established." Wu Yaoqing is not without regrets. If he had been there two days earlier, After three years of planning, with his own methods and Feng Ziying's unstinting financial support, he will definitely not be in the current situation of fumbling in the fog.
"Well, I think even if something like this is about to happen, there should be a focus of intensification. We should still have some time, so you just have to hurry up." Feng Ziying sighed, "Yao Qing, how many years have this Yongping Mansion been here?" I’m afraid the food won’t taste good.”
Wu Yaoqing smiled calmly and said, "Sir, the food at the Yamen of the Lianghuai Salt Transport Bureau is not delicious. The private salt dealers there do anything for money. I have several broken ribs. It was when these private salt dealers sent people to kill them."
“Oh?” Feng Ziying did not expect that Wu Yaoqing would have such an experience, and asked curiously: “What’s going on?”
"It's nothing. They noticed the secret thread that arranged the entrance, and then they set up a trap for me to go to the joint to meet. Then it was an ambush and a sniper killing. Fortunately, I had a little more foresight and arranged for two subordinates to take over. Otherwise, I would have died. It had to be left there on the spot.”
Feng Ziying frowned. Indeed, it is inevitable to encounter such things when engaging in intelligence, but it is definitely important for Wu Yaoqing to personally provide intelligence. "Yaoqing, you can't often come forward in person for this kind of thing. You have to cultivate one or two trustworthy people." Assistant, help, just go and hire the person you need to find. If you have someone you can trust in Beizhi, just hire him, everything else is easy."
Wu Yaoqing pondered for a moment, "Sir, I don't have many connections in Yongping Mansion, but I still have some connections in Shuntian Mansion. In addition, Hejian and Baoding have more contacts with Yongping Mansion. I plan to start from We are also looking for some manpower here in Hejian."
"Go ahead and do it. If you need me to come forward, just let me know." Feng Ziying doesn't need to be suspicious of others. After all, Wu Yaoqing is his own personal staff and has no official status. Many times, if he comes forward on his own, he will often be worse than Wu Yaoqing. Persuasion works much better.
In fact, this is what Wu Yaoqing was waiting for. After all, Feng Ziying's identity is there. Not to mention the famous name of Xiao Feng Xiuzhuan in the capital city, just his identity as the son of Governor Ji Liao can make many people from three religions and nine sects jealous. If it is added to The 18-year-old senior fifth-rank Yongping Mansion member knows his identity, and it can really be said that he has no disadvantages.
But no matter what he says, others will still have doubts, but as soon as he comes forward and says a few words to reassure them, many things can be solved easily.
"Then I will go and do it. In addition, I also got some information about the investigation that the adults asked me to do in Yongping Mansion. The specific situation is complicated and it may take some time to sort it out." Wu Yaoqing was full of confidence.
(End of this chapter)