Chapter 18 Taking Office

  Seven days later, Chenliu Prefecture.

  Zhou Jian and Wang Quan went to the prefectural government to pay their respects to the governor, received their official seals, left Chenliu, and headed to Jiwu to take up their posts.

  My county is located in the southeast of Chenliu Prefecture, at the junction of Yanzhou and Yuzhou, adjacent to Liangguo, Yuzhou.

  After traveling over 200 miles and walking for two more days, they finally arrived at the city of Jiwu.

  I am also considered a big county, with over 40,000 mouths to feed. However, this number is only what's recorded in the official register. In reality, these years have been plagued by natural disasters and man-made calamities, and the number of people dying from famine has increased dramatically. Whether the actual population is really that many is unknown.

  The county town is still quite lively, with people coming and going at the city gate from time to time. There are many dishes on the table, but they are mostly monotonous and lack nutrition.

  Two county guards stood under the city gate, collecting entrance fees from citizens and merchants lining up to enter the city. The amount of money they collected was also not done according to regulations, but rather at their whim, extorting as much as they pleased. Many people were angry but dared not speak out, holding back their breath and swallowing their anger.

  "Halt."

  Zhou Jian and his party had just arrived at the city gate when they were stopped by a fierce-looking guard.

  Another guard looked at the carriage and then at Zhou Wu's bright armor, his eyes lit up immediately. He thought to himself that a fat sheep had finally arrived and shouted: "One hundred coins per person, two hundred coins for the horse, one thousand coins for the carriage."

  Wang Quan hastily stepped forward and shouted: "The county magistrate is here, why haven't you retreated?"

  "County Magistrate?"

  Two guards were stunned, both somewhat perplexed.

  Wang Quan took out the seal and angrily said: "The new county magistrate, Lord Zhou, has come to take office. How dare you extort money from him? Who gave you the guts to be so lawless? Get out of my sight!"

  The two gatekeepers were stunned and hastily stepped aside, exchanging uneasy glances.

  Zhou Jian would not bother with these low-ranking gatekeepers, and entered the city directly to hand over the official documents at the government office.

  It wasn't until everything had settled down that it was already late afternoon.

  Wang Quan had long been worn out and had lost his temper, busily running back and forth, and was also considered to be doing his best.

  The county magistrate is small, but it is a local official, and there are many things that can be done.

  The next day, there were husbands from various villages, traveling officials, and heads of various pavilions who came to pay their respects.

  Zhou Jian promptly assembled all the officials of the county government, and as soon as they saw each other, he began to implement his plan.

  After everyone had dispersed, only Wang Quan remained.

  Zhou Jian stood up and walked out, saying as he went: "Let's go take a look at the treasury."

  Wang Quan hastily agreed and rushed out of the county government office, calling a small official to lead the way outside. However, he was thinking about how Zhou Jian had just taken office and his first act was to go inspect the treasury, wondering what his intentions were.

  The so-called treasury refers to grain warehouses and armories, as well as money vaults.

  Apart from Qianku in the county government, the remaining grain depots and armories are not within the county yamen.

  Zhou Jian brought Zhou Wu and several attendants, under the leadership of Wang Quan and a small official, to first inspect the military equipment depot.

  The arsenal was a large mansion in the north of the city, guarded by more than a dozen soldiers. Due to years of neglect, the house was very dilapidated.

  Zhou Jian glanced around and asked a soldier, "Are there any weapons or armor in the storehouse?"

  The soldier hastily pointed to a warehouse and replied: "There is, just inside."

  Zhou Jian casually tossed the reins of his horse to a follower and signaled for the soldiers to open the warehouse, striding in with large steps.

  The warehouse was empty, with only a few dozen pieces of cowhide armor left, and some wooden guns, bows, and other equipment that had already rotted and could no longer be used. There wasn't even one iron ring-handled knife.

  Wang Quan followed behind and took a glance, his heart was already hanging in suspense.

  In recent years, the imperial court has been selling official positions at a price, and officials who have held office for many years in order to advance their careers have all thought of ways to accumulate wealth after taking office. All the money that was supposed to be used to purchase military equipment was embezzled by them, and no military equipment was purchased at all.

  These things in the treasury are obviously inferior goods that have been stored for many years and nobody wants.

  If these instruments were valuable, they would have been sold long ago and wouldn't be here now.

  Zhou Jian's face was expressionless, and he didn't say anything. He had expected this outcome a long time ago.

  He came out of the armory and went south of the city to inspect the grain depot.

  Zhou Jian walked a few steps, then suddenly said to Zhou Wu: "Send someone to Anhui County and let Jiang Qin, Chen Fang, and Hu San bring all the people to our place immediately. Bring their families too. They won't need to go back to Anhui County again."

  Zhou Wu hastily replied with a "yes" and immediately ordered one of his attendants to leave the team to handle it.

  Zhou Jian said again: "Find a few more houses, and wait for Jiang Qin and Chen Fang to come over and live."

  Zhou Wu nodded and took note of it at the same time.

  Upon arriving at the granary, it was just as I had expected. The stored grain was less than 1,000 dan. With a population of over 40,000 people and an annual harvest of at least 10,000 dan of grains, the granary's storage was less than 1,000 dan, revealing the general corruption of the local government.

  Zhou Jian didn't say much more and went to inspect the Imperial Camp again.

  There are eight hundred soldiers in our county, but the actual number is less than five hundred.

  Zhou Jian was well aware of these false and deceptive means. The county government issued military rations to the soldiers based on a count of 800, but there were less than 500 soldiers. Where did the rations for the extra 300 people go? It didn't take much thought to figure it out.

  The soldiers in the county were mainly responsible for maintaining law and order, similar to the police in later generations. The highest official was the county commander.

  Less than five hundred soldiers, and most of them have a vegetable color on their faces. The old and weak account for more than half, and the strong men are less than two hundred.

  Zhou Jian said nothing and walked out of the military camp, calling out without looking back: "Wang Quan."

  Wang Quan suddenly came to his senses and hastily said: "Your subordinate is here, what instructions does Your Excellency have?"

  Zhou Jian said: "From now on, pay the soldiers' wages and grain according to their actual numbers. When there's nothing going on, have them practice a few more times, buy some military equipment and armor, and repair the martial preparations well."

  Wang Quan hastily replied: "Your subordinate obeys."

  "Stop thinking about getting rich all day, as long as you do your job well, gold and silver will naturally not be lacking. From now on, don't put a single coin of the company's money into your pocket, got it?"

  Wang Quan was somewhat sweating and hastily said: "Your subordinate does not dare."

  Zhou Jian nodded and thought to himself, "You wouldn't dare anyway." He swung his sleeve robe and strode out of the military camp.

  Night, the backyard of the county government office.

  Zhou Jian called Zhou Wu and several quick-witted attendants to discuss matters, discussing the general direction of the future. He felt a bit helpless in his heart. Although Zhou Wu and others had been taught by him with great effort, they were limited by their natural talent and were not satisfactory in terms of strategy.

  Efforts made tomorrow are important, but whether or not one becomes a great talent depends mainly on innate ability.

  Some people are born with quick wit and sharp vision, outstanding talent, combined with later efforts, eventually become great talents.

  But the vast majority of people, no matter how hard they work afterwards, cannot become excellent strategists.

  Zhou Jian couldn't help but think of those famous strategists who were renowned for their genius, and he had no idea where they were now. The only one he knew was still only nine years old, which was basically like trying to quench a thirst with distant water.

  There are hardly any reliable people under his command, and when discussing business, he can only temporarily bring in Zhou Wu and a few others to make up the numbers.

  "Sir, I'm afraid this is not a place where we can stay for long!"

  Zhou Jian's eyes shone with praise, and he nodded in agreement: "What Zhou Wu said is right, this place isn't suitable for a long stay. The top priority now is to quickly dispatch people to purchase grain, fodder, and military equipment, and then recruit 1,000 robust men from the refugees for training, all of whom should be under the age of thirty."

  Another attendant, Chen Liangdao, said: "Young master, a thousand men is no small number, and it's likely to arouse the court's suspicion."

  Zhou Wudao said, "This problem is not big, we can train separately, each of us will be responsible for fifty people. Although Jiang Qin's two hundred brothers are still lacking in experience, they are all old soldiers and can take charge as the lowest-ranking squad leader."

  "Exactly, too many people will indeed attract suspicion. As a small county magistrate, I privately recruited over a thousand men and horses to practice every day. If the imperial court issues an edict, I'll have to take you all back to Anhui County with my tail between my legs. It's commendable that you can think of this point, so let's do as Zhou Wu said: divide the thousand men into special training groups, and after Jiang Qin's two hundred brothers arrive, disperse them among the troops as squad leaders, each of you responsible for fifty men."

  Zhou Wu said, "With over a thousand people, even if we split up, the target is still quite large and will easily attract attention. It's better to leave the county border and find a remote area in another county for special training. Moreover, there are many bandits in various places now, so we can disguise ourselves as bandits and rob wealthy households to get grain locally. This way, we won't need to come back to fetch grain and fodder, which will save us a lot of trouble."

  Zhou Jian said: "This method is not bad, but you have to disguise yourselves and can't let people take pictures of you."

  "Rest assured, young master," Zhou Wu said with a smile. "Even if we are to rob, we must make thorough preparations. Not only should we avoid being seen by others, but also anyone who sees us must be silenced."

  Zhou Jian nodded, "Cannot kill innocent civilians."

  Zhou Wu hastily responded with a "yes", this didn't need to be instructed, he also wouldn't take action against innocent civilians.

  Chen Liang hastily said: "I went out for the past two days and found that the officials in the county government are imposing taxes and labor services, extorting without limit. The people are suffering and cannot speak out, losing their land and homes, and many are fleeing in desperation. It's truly unbearable. As you are now the head of the county and have always been kind to the poor and suffering people, it is necessary to reduce the burden on them. If nothing is done, I fear that it will bring about infamy."

  Zhou Jian swept him a glance and asked, "This county government is small, but there are more than 100 big and small officials. I really want to remove them all and send them back to reclaim land and open up wasteland. But who will govern the place? Can you do it?"

  Chen Liang scratched his head and dryly said: "This, I'm afraid I won't be able to handle it."

  Zhou Jian smiled and said, "That's it, even if I know that these officials are all rice worms, but I've just arrived here, unfamiliar with the place, even if I want to govern internal affairs, I have to take it slow. Moreover, I don't have much energy to spend on internal affairs."

  Everyone nodded, I am not a place to stay for long, even if you want to govern the country, there is not much energy to squander.

  Zhou Jian said, "You all pay attention to this for a few days and see if there are suitable people to take on the roles of xiang er fu, you xun and ting chang. I'll make time to get rid of these rice worms and at least let the common people breathe a sigh of relief. Otherwise, being an official for a term but not alleviating the burden on the common people is like leaving in the future, my own people will curse my spine."

  Everyone hastily agreed and prepared to go find a candidate.