Chapter 2006: The Man-Eating Hexi Relief

Qian Ruoshui, Yao Yigong, and Wang Ji were assigned to various circuits—none of them held particularly high office. The highest-ranked among them, Qian Ruoshui, was merely an Administrative Assistant in Zhenzhou, not even having crossed into the "proper prefecture" tier, while Yao and Wang were still county-level officials.

In the most recent round of performance and capability assessments of prefectural and county bureaucrats nationwide, all three ranked at the top, standing out among more than a hundred local officials, and were submitted as the first wave of promotion nominees for review by the Hall of State Affairs.

That Crown Prince Liu Yang had specifically singled out these three naturally meant there was some "internal" connection. Qian Ruoshui had once served in the Court of Judicial Review, where he was known for his integrity and competence. After going to the localities and achieving results, his promotion was only natural.

As for Yao Yigong and Wang Ji, they were somewhat more special—not because the two were jinshi graduates of the same cohort, but because both had been selected by the Crown Prince to serve as gentlemen-attendants in the Eastern Palace, and were later posted to the localities. It could be said that Yao and Wang were men molded by the Crown Prince's own hand.

With someone in court, officialdom comes easy—and when that "someone" was the Crown Prince overseeing state affairs, and the men themselves possessed real ability, how could commendations and promotions be lacking for them? Indeed, even placing Qian Ruoshui alongside the other two was done so that the Crown Prince would not appear overly partial in this matter.

At this moment, in Guangzheng Hall, besides the Crown Prince, there were four senior ministers. Zhao Kuangyi, on rotation duty, remained as inscrutable as ever; Zhao Pu, with hair white as snow and a face mottled with age spots, looked drowsy and half-asleep; Lü Duan was as solemn and steady as always; and there was also Song Zhun, the newly appointed Governor of Luoyang.

"Qian Ruoshui is clean and capable, Yao Yigong is lenient and generous, Wang Ji is fierce and resolute—the three have different styles, but each has his own methods for governance and administration. What is even more commendable is that they can correctly grasp and implement the court's will." Liu Yang's gaze fell on Lü Duan as he praised the three at some length.

Catching the meaning behind the words, Lü Duan rose and said calmly and unhurriedly: "To answer Your Highness, regarding the next appointments for the three, the Ministry of Personnel has completed its review. Qian Ruoshui is to govern Fenzhou, Yao Yigong is to be transferred to Zhuozhou, and Wang Ji is to be reassigned to Tongzhou!"

Hearing this, Liu Yang was visibly hesitant. After a moment of deliberation, he raised a finger to give his instruction: "For capable officials like these, entrusting them with ordinary prefectural posts is certainly following the proper procedure, and I trust they would not fail their charge. However, His Majesty once said that good steel must be used for the blade. Now, among the local circuits and prefectures, where is talent most needed?"

Lü Duan was no ordinary man—he had already caught the flavor of the Crown Prince's words. After a brief moment of thought, he requested: "Please enlighten us, Your Highness!"

Liu Yang said directly: "Are there not still vacancies in He and Long that have given the Ministry of Personnel quite a headache? Then send all three of them there! The northwest—it tempers a man."

"Yes!" Noting the expression on Liu Yang's face, Lü Duan replied solemnly.

However, that long, wistful sigh from the Crown Prince gave Lü Duan much to ponder. The northwest could indeed temper a man, but it could also devour one. For the vast majority of officials in the realm, the northwest was no place of goodwill—one might even call it a place of evil.

Over all these years, how many capable officials and able administrators had fallen in the northwestern officialdom, how many young talents had been buried there—even Lü Duan, the Minister of Personnel, would find it hard to say without consulting the archives.

Since the Kaibao era, if one were to speak of the most unpredictable changes and the most violent reversals in officialdom, while remaining constantly under the court's attention, counting them all, it could only be the various circuits of the northwest.

The northwest was indeed a great crucible—a normal person going in would find it very hard to break out without shedding a layer of skin. And the current situation in He and Long was even more treacherous, with heavier task pressures.

After the cessation of the flawed Western Expedition policies, the next priority was recuperation and recovery—a task that demanded great effort and worry. The key lay in pacifying those "Western Expedition partisans";

At the same time, tax reform work had to be pushed forward—this was one way of licking one's wounds, but it was also a declaration of war against vested interest groups. A struggle between reformers and conservatives was inevitable, and given the nature of northwestern officialdom, it could never pass smoothly. When Pan You had carried out reforms in the capital circuit, strictly speaking, the opposition had been quite mild;

And there was another matter: local magnates and clan forces needed to be suppressed to a certain degree. Taking advantage of several court rectifications of northwestern officialdom, some local powers had indeed been steadily rising, using their most adept and habitual methods to contend with the court from the shadows.

This round of rectification differed greatly from previous ones—all vacant official posts, from prefecture level and above, were to be filled by outsiders, whether released from the capital circuit or selected and transferred from other prefectures. Not a single prefectural or county official was to be promoted from within the locality itself.

The court's attitude was quite clear—this was an indiscriminate strike against He and Long. Precisely because of this, to this day, the personnel arrangements for He and Long had still not been fully settled.

Under these premises, the quality requirements for local officials in He and Long were very high, and ordinary people would find it hard to handle. It was easy to foresee that the northwest would not be peaceful in the coming years—a fierce struggle between the outsider faction and the local faction had been brewing since the court's personnel adjustments began.

Against such a backdrop, Liu Yang had decided to send Qian, Yao, and Wang to He and Long. This was certainly a mark of recognition and esteem, but it was equally a test.

For the three men, whether this was fortune or misfortune was truly hard to say. Three pieces of fine steel—whether they would be forged into a sharp weapon of the state, or melted away and dissolved, no one could predict.

Outside the hall, the summer rain continued to pour down as if dumped from buckets, the splashing sound of the downpour giving one a sense of rumbling thunder. Liu Yang, mindful of the unusual thoughts hidden behind Lü Duan's cautious expression, clasped his hands behind his back and slowly paced to the window. Reaching out, he pushed the lattice half open, and dense raindrops, carried by the wind, rushed into his face.

Gazing at the curtain of rain and mist outside, Liu Yang knit his brows tightly and sighed: "Water and fire are merciless! Every time the rain comes down like this, it makes one's heart tremble with fear!"

"Your Highness worries for the state and the people—your ministers are full of admiration!" The one offering this flattery was Song Zhun, the newly appointed Governor of Luoyang.

After Lü Mengzheng was demoted, the vacant Luoyang post had naturally gone through another round of overt and covert struggles. In the end, the one who secured this crucial position was Song Zhun, the then Salt and Iron Commissioner.

Song Zhun was not young, his abilities were not of the dazzling genius sort, and his seniority at court was still on the junior side. However, being a zhuangyuan—top scholar—plus enjoying the Crown Prince's favor was enough to let him triumph over many rivals.

With the heavy rain threatening disaster, Song Zhun had come to the Hall of State Affairs precisely to report on the preparations Luoyang had made for flood prevention, while also seeking allocation of official grain reserves and emergency relief supplies, as well as coordination with the emergency rescue forces under the Patrol Inspectorate.

As the imperial capital, officials took such matters quite seriously—after all, they could not let the capital be flooded. Especially Song Zhun, who had only recently taken office and dared not show the slightest negligence. The Luo River flowed mightily straight through the city, and no major oversight could be permitted in this matter.

Liu Yang clearly held Song Zhun in considerable trust, saying directly: "On the capital circuit side, I am not overly worried. With you, Minister Song, and the other gentlemen present, and with the abundant human and material reserves of the capital circuit, I expect we will pass through safely! What I am concerned about is the lower reaches of the great river. Every rainy season, the prefectures and counties along its banks inevitably suffer disasters. And this year's rainfall seems somewhat out of the ordinary."

Liu Yang's concern was well-founded. Over the years, along the Yellow River, small disasters had been constant. Though the losses to officials and commoners were considerable, they had not yet reached the point of crippling damage.

The last time there was a catastrophic flood of the Yellow River was in the tenth year of Kaibao—nearly twenty years had passed since then. The great river had been peaceful for so long; by all reason, a sudden outburst of anger was a perfectly normal thing.

China had always been a land of many calamities and tribulations. At the same time, what made Liu Yang even more uneasy was that after so many years, were the flood prevention and drainage facilities along the riverbanks still sound? Were they still adequate? On this point, Liu Yang had not the slightest confidence.

Sensing the Crown Prince's anxiety, the faces of the several ministers present could not help but turn grave. Zhao Pu, who had been resting with his eyes closed, now slowly opened them, looked around the room, and turned his gaze to Liu Yang, speaking in a hoarse, aged voice: "Your Highness need not worry overmuch. The Hall of State Affairs has already issued directives, ordering all prefectures and counties along the river to maintain strict vigilance!"

"Relying on reminders alone is far from sufficient!" Hearing Zhao Pu say this, Liu Yang immediately turned around and said sternly: "Select men at once and dispatch river patrol censors to supervise on site. At the same time, have the surrounding circuits and prefectures prepare for the worst—once the water situation becomes uncontrollable, immediately carry out rescue and disaster relief! The Yellow River and the Huai are one system—if the great river is unstable, how can the Huai River remain peaceful? The two Huai regions must also be given due warning!"

Pausing for a moment, Liu Yang then turned to Zhao Kuangyi and said: "As for the Eastern Capital—Baron Guangyang may personally go to the Eastern Capital to take command!"