Chapter 484: Pacification, the whereabouts of the Commandery Governor, Ji Hong

The 291st year of the Chen Cang calendar, the fifth day of the twelfth month.

This was exactly the tenth day after Ji Hong reported the strange occurrences at the Jiang residence to Chen Tianhong.

On the top floor of the main building of the Jiang residence, Xia Hong looked at Ji Hong, whom he had not seen for a month. After listening to his explanation, he smiled and asked, "So, you are following Chu Xuanfeng's orders, risking your life to spy on my situation?"

Upon hearing this, Ji Hong immediately nodded and said softly, "Ten days ago, Chen Tianhong must have been frightened by the Lord. After returning to the residence in a panic, he immediately took me and the Deputy Director of the Jiang residence to the Commandery Governor's residence to see the First Prince, Chu Xuanfeng..."

As for what happened afterward, there was no need for Ji Hong to explain; Xia Hong could roughly analyze it from the increasing number of Xianyang-level auras around the Jiang residence recently.

Clearly, the Commandery Governor's residence had determined that there was a problem with his identity.

After Ji Hong finished speaking, Xia Hong raised an eyebrow and asked, "Chu Tianxu is not there. Is the First Prince, Chu Xuanfeng, currently in charge of the Commandery Governor's residence?"

Seeing Ji Hong nod, no look of surprise appeared on Xia Hong's face.

Experts in the Tribulation Body Realm usually do not stay in one place for long, especially in places with many people; they are even less likely to stay for long.

He had lived in the Lin Chu Commandery Governor's residence for nearly half a year near Cai Qiu, and he had never even seen the Commandery Governor, Cai Qiuyang. In the Lin Chu Commandery, the one who usually made the decisions was the First Prince, Cai Yunlan.

Clearly, the situation here at the Yan Ling Commandery Governor's residence was the same.

However, not long after Ji Hong nodded, he seemed to have thought of something else. He shook his head, frowned slightly, and asked, "That is not necessarily true. On the fifth day of last month, the Lord met the Chen Cang Taiyi, Xue Zijing, at the Shigui Restaurant by chance. You should still remember that, right?"

Xia Hong immediately nodded. It was highly probable that Jiang Xinfan had investigated Xue Zijing's identity through Ji Hong, so it was not strange that Ji Hong knew about this.

"Xue Zijing lived in the Commandery Governor's residence for a month. It was only at the beginning of this month that he officially moved into the Yan Ling Department Office and began to take charge of the Six Departments to carry out comprehensive reforms..."

Hearing Ji Hong mention the reforms, a flash of light suddenly appeared in Xia Hong's eyes.

【Take Yan Ling as a pilot for the reforms, with a ten-year period. As long as it is proven that the reforms are feasible and can strengthen Chen Cang's power, they will be promoted throughout the entire vassal state after ten years.】

Xia Hong already knew about this news regarding the reforms, as Ji Hong had already conveyed it to him through Jiang Xinfan on November 30th.

Ji Hong mentioning this now was clearly to pave the way for what he was about to say.

"Regarding the rebellion in the Lu He Valley at the end of October, all the hundred-mile millet fields were burned, and nearly four thousand soldiers of the Lu He Camp were killed in action. This year's millet harvest was also looted by the rebel forces of sixteen slave-status villages during the chaos. The originally expected 310,000 jin of millet to be collected was reduced to only 140,000, less than half.

Because of all these things, the Commandery Governor and the heads of the Six Departments were naturally furious. Starting from the beginning of last month, the Six Departments sent people down to the Lu He Valley area separately to thoroughly investigate the rebellion. As of the end of last month, the Six Departments had killed nearly two thousand people one after another and had successfully identified four branch leaders. The subsequent investigation has not ended, and it seems they will not stop until all those involved in the rebellion are identified..."

The matter of the Lu He Valley rebellion was bound to be exposed eventually.

Xia Hong had long expected this, so he was not surprised. However, hearing that the Six Departments had killed nearly two thousand people but only identified four branch leaders, he still showed some surprise on his face.

"Twelve branch leaders have not been identified. Although the people in the slave-status villages are not strong, they still have some backbone!"

Xia Hong had basically witnessed the entire rebellion in the Lu He Valley. Taking the Qingwu Village as an example, whether the sixteen leading branch leaders continued to stay in the village or packed up and fled afterward, in his opinion, the possibility of escaping the pursuit of the Commandery's Six Departments was minimal.

The Shuangjin Society's branch members numbered in the thousands or even tens of thousands. As long as the people above divided and provoked them slightly, providing a few names and then following the clues to find the mastermind should not be a difficult task.

But a month had passed, and only four branch leaders had been identified. This situation was indeed beyond Xia Hong's expectations.

"It is not strange. The people in the slave-status villages have been oppressed and exploited for a long time. The hatred of the vast majority of them for the Commandery's Six Departments is greater than their fear. The uprising at the end of October probably allowed them to see hope for resistance, so this time, facing the investigation of the Six Departments, they indeed showed no lack of backbone.

However, it is not them that the subordinate wants to talk about..."

The buildup ended there. After Ji Hong paused, his expression suddenly became a bit more solemn, and then he continued: "On the first day of this month, the first thing Xue Zijing did after moving into the Yan Ling Department Office was to call a halt to the Six Departments' thorough investigation into the Lu He Valley rebellion. At the same time, he also called back the people sent down by the Six Departments, not only pardoning the four branch leaders who had been identified but also letting them serve as the jurisdiction managers in their respective villages."

This was to adopt a policy of pacification toward those slave-status villages!

Xia Hong's gaze narrowed slightly. He continued to look at Ji Hong, waiting for what he had to say next.

"After the four branch leaders became jurisdiction managers, they immediately defected. In one fell swoop, they informed on more than thirty thousand members. Even the branch leaders of six slave-status villages followed suit and took the initiative to surrender to the Ministry of Justice. Subtracting the two branch leaders who fled, the Shuangjin Society only has four branches left in the Lu He Valley, and these four are also in a precarious situation. If the Yan Ling main branch intends to abandon them, it was only because I took the initiative to increase investment that those four branches were preserved."

Blocking is not as good as dredging; this has been the truth since ancient times!

The Commandery did not need to do anything; giving the position of a jurisdiction manager was enough to let these branch leaders reach the sky in one step. Along with the disintegration of the Shuangjin Society, it was only natural.

This Xue Zijing really has some means!

"The jurisdiction managers of the slave-status villages are all considered lucrative positions. Did the heads of the Six Departments just let Xue Zijing act like this and do nothing?"

The status of the heads of the Six Departments was naturally not as high as that of the Yan Ling Commandery Governor, Chu Tianxu, but in terms of rank, both sides were equal. The six heads only needed to follow the instructions of their superiors in the Six Departments of the Zhencheng and had no subordinate relationship with the Commandery Governor. Moreover, judging from the upper-level structure of Chen Cang, which was a multi-ethnic alliance, their own background and strength were definitely not weak to be able to serve as heads of the Six Departments.

Although Xue Zijing was a Taiyi, he was, after all, just an outsider. Moreover, Chen Cang had an implicit rule that the two Taiyi must be served by experts in the Tribulation Body Realm, so Xue Zijing serving as this Taiyi was actually a violation of the rules. The high-level officials of the vassal state were already dissatisfied with him.

Letting him deal with the slave-status villages like this was at most a matter of face, but appointing the four branch leaders as jurisdiction managers of the slave-status villages was a matter that concerned their vital interests. It was impossible for the heads of the Six Departments not to have any reaction.

There was no need to think about the benefits of the slave-status villages; they knew there were many. The manager responsible for all management within the village was naturally a lucrative position. If Xue Zijing had distributed the benefits equally among the Six Departments, it would have been fine. Directly letting the four rebel leaders serve was really a bit too much. Even if the heads of the Six Departments were afraid of Xue Zijing's status as Taiyi and did not dare to resist or disobey, it was impossible for them to do nothing.

Just as Xia Hong guessed, Ji Hong shook his head and replied: "Of course it is impossible. The heads of the Six Departments questioned Xue Zijing for the first time, thinking that this move was inappropriate. But Xue Zijing did not say anything, nor did he explain. He just took out the Taiyi token and forcibly suppressed the heads of the Six Departments."

The heads of the Six Departments were not convinced and submitted memorials to the General Department of the Zhencheng one after another. The head of the Ministry of War, Chu Baihe, even submitted a memorial to the Lingyi, Chen Liwu. His reason was that nearly four thousand soldiers of the Lu He Camp were killed. If the rebel party was not thoroughly investigated, the four thousand wronged souls of the camp could not be comforted, and Chen Cang's military morale would also be damaged.

Sure enough, they were going to compete!

Chu Baihe's reason was actually very reasonable if one thought about it carefully.

Xue Zijing's way of handling things had many benefits from a God's-eye view. It could deal a heavy blow to the Shuangjin Society, reduce the governance costs of the slave-status villages, and alleviate the resistance of the slaves to the middle and upper levels of the vassal state, etc...

But from the perspective of all the military households and middle and high-level personnel in Chen Cang, it was a completely different matter.

For those who rebelled, not only did you not punish or kill them, but you also promised them high positions and even gave them lucrative positions like jurisdiction manager. No matter how many benefits you say these measures will have for the vassal state in the future, for now, the charge of failing to distinguish between rewards and punishments could easily be placed on your head. It was absolutely justified and extremely reasonable.

But then again, reform was originally a matter of short-term pain and long-term benefit. Everyone might not necessarily fail to see it, but the butt determines the head. Maintaining one's own interests is a natural and eternal truth.

Xue Zijing's approach was smart, but the method was too rough, and it was not strange at all that it would cause opposition from the heads of the Six Departments.

Xia Hong lowered his head and thought for a moment, then continued to ask: "Ten years is too short, so Xue Zijing intends to use strong medicine to forcibly promote the Yan Ling reforms. He has the support of Fangbo, so he is probably not afraid of these people complaining to the Zhencheng. Then what happened?"

"Fangbo should not be in the Zhencheng. The Six Departments did not have any reaction. Only the Lingyi, Chen Liwu, sent a handwritten letter yesterday, the fourth day. After reading it, the heads of the Six Departments in the Commandery City were all dumbfounded."

That handwritten letter said that in the next ten years, all actions of the Yan Ling Six Departments, including the removal and appointment of the heads, would be based on the Commandery Governor, Chu Tianxu."

It was not based on the Taiyi, Xue Zijing, but on the Commandery Governor, Chu Tianxu!

Xia Hong keenly captured this point from Ji Hong's words, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

"The Lord probably heard it. From this handwritten letter from Chen Liwu, it can be seen that many things in Chen Cang are not decided by Chu Longteng, the Fangbo, alone. The influence of the Chen clan in Chen Cang is terrifying, to the point that even Fangbo has to be wary of them."

The Six Departments complained to the Zhencheng about the Taiyi, Xue Zijing, who was in charge of the government, and the one who replied was not Fangbo, but the Lingyi, Chen Liwu, who was in charge of the army. This in itself was a bit abnormal.

Chu Longteng was 100% supportive of the reforms. The idea of using Yan Ling as a pilot was decided by him despite the opposition. According to this deduction, in the next ten years, the Yan Ling Six Departments should be based on the Taiyi, Xue Zijing.

Therefore, this handwritten letter from Chen Liwu could not be the intention of Fangbo, Chu Longteng. In other words, the Lingyi, Chen Liwu, had the ability to act without following Fangbo's will.

"It did not completely disobey Chu Longteng's intention. Chu Tianxu is, after all, the only one among the high-level officials of Chen Cang who supports the reforms. As long as he cooperates vigorously, Xue Zijing can still carry out the reforms smoothly."

Not handing over all the Yan Ling Six Departments to Xue Zijing could at most be considered adding trouble and increasing more variables for the reforms."

Xia Hong lowered his head and thought for a moment, a smile flashing in his eyes.

No matter how good the system is, it ultimately depends on people to implement it. Xue Zijing's reform touched the interests of too many high-level officials in Chen Cang. It was already full of difficulties and existed with countless variables. Now even the Lingyi, Chen Liwu, whose status could be compared to Fangbo Chu, had taken action.

One could imagine the difficulty of wanting to promote the new system smoothly in Yan Ling Commandery in the next ten years.

Even without joking, Xia Hong could give a prediction now: the probability of Xue Zijing's reform failing was as high as 90%.

The situation in Chen Cang was really too complicated.

Xia Hong temporarily put these thoughts aside, raised his head, and asked with a smile: "Is this the new news you brought me today?"

"It is and it is not. Just now the Lord said that the Commandery Governor, Chu Tianxu, is not in the city, and the Commandery Governor's residence is currently managed by the First Prince, Chu Xuanfeng. I said it is not necessarily so. The reason lies here. After the handwritten letter from the Lingyi, Chen Liwu, was sent to Yan Ling Commandery City last night, the subordinate heard a piece of gossip saying that Xue Zijing and the heads of the Six Departments, seven people in total, were called to the Commandery Governor's residence to discuss matters that night."

Hearing this news, Xia Hong's gaze became slightly solemn.

Calling the Taiyi, Xue Zijing, and the heads of the Six Departments to the Commandery Governor's residence overnight, the First Prince, Chu Xuanfeng, did not have this qualification.

Therefore, what Ji Hong wanted to express was that at this very moment, Chu Tianxu was highly likely in the Commandery City!

"Why, are you worried about my safety?" ===== CHAPTER 485 =====