Chapter 593: Generous Rewards and Trust, Strict and Certain Punishment

Wan Shihe's positioning of the Emperor's party was almost a farce. His positioning was to support all the Emperor's decisions. This was also the reason why no one joined the Emperor's party from him over the years, because the moral gentleman Hai Rui was still active in the court, making Wan Shihe, who didn't have much integrity, look even more shameless.

Therefore, the local officials who could do things were all directly worshiping the Emperor's mountain.

Yin Zhengmao, Ling Yunyi, Pan Jixun, etc., were all uncompromising Emperor's party members. They could only rely on the Emperor to exist.

Zhou Liangyin learned to flatter the Emperor before he even entered the door. He himself was a base scholar, and he had no moral pressure at all. In his view, the loyal and patriotic Hou Yuzhao was a weather vane. Hou Yuzhao was very capable, and the reclamation of the entire Daning Guard and Liaodong was all carried out according to the reclamation plan Hou Yuzhao requested back then.

Now Hou Yuzhao was even more amazing. He put forward a general outline for the Wang Hua of the current Suiyuan, Liaodong, and the Northern Parallel Military Commission: "Great Ming, all are Wang Min (subjects of the King)."

Hou Yuzhao, this kind of minister who was not good at communicating with ministers, not good at human relationships, had a heart of innocence, and had clever ideas, also had bad luck. Zhou Liangyin just took off his disguise and turned back into a base scholar.

Hou Yuzhao, this kind of pure minister, no longer had living space. How rotten must the Great Ming court be? By that time, only by becoming a base scholar could one continue to live.

Zhou Liangyin sat at Wan Shihe's mansion for a long time, mainly communicating about the many details of meeting the Emperor. This was the first time Zhou Liangyin met the Emperor in eleven years. The things that happened back then had happened for so long, and Zhou Liangyin was still very nervous.

And the place where the Emperor chose to meet Zhou Liangyin was also interesting: in the Wu Ying Tower of the North Great Camp, after reviewing the military horses, the Emperor summoned him.

"Student pays respects to Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty, long live, long live." Zhou Liangyin performed the great ceremony of five bows and three kowtows.

"Exempt from ceremony."

Zhou Liangyin just stood up, and his heart was beating like a small deer, immediately jumping to his throat. Of course, it wasn't because he saw a beauty, but because he saw Qi Shuai (Qi Jiguang) looking at him.

Zhou Liangyin was afraid, afraid of seeing Qi Jiguang.

And there were two other thousand-household officers, who were Li Rusong's younger brothers, Li Rubai and Li Ruzhen.

"Qi Shuai, this is the Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Northern Parallel Military Commission, Zhou Liangyin, who has been reclaiming wasteland in Liaodong for several years," Zhu Yijun introduced the civil official in front of him to the military generals.

Zhu Yijun personally examined Li Rusong's two younger brothers, and they were far inferior to Li Rusong—a world of difference.

For example, this Li Rubai was addicted to alcohol. In Liaodong, he was dismissed from his hereditary thousand-household position because of drinking and delaying things. Later, Li Chengliang really had no choice but to send Li Rubai to the capital to enter the Lecture Hall.

This Li Rubai, relying on being the son of the Marquis of Ningyuan and his own older brother leading the cavalry battalion of the Capital Battalion, formed cliques in the Lecture Academy, oppressed the low-born junior officers, and caused such a disturbance that he was reprimanded by Zhu Yijun in the eighth year of Wanli and thrown into the Southern Camp to serve as a military officer.

The Great Ming had two Capital Battalions. One was the Capital Battalion before the first year of Wanli—a group of weak, sick, and disabled people, rotten goods that couldn't be supported, filled with various military nobles who had been eating and waiting to die because of the Emperor's grace. This old Capital Battalion was in Daxing County, just receiving salaries without looking at things.

Zhu Yijun had never been to the South Great Camp once, and he didn't visit or look at it during the New Year.

The new Capital Battalion was the Capital Battalion formed after the first year of Wanli. If military nobles had ambitions, they needed to pass the assessment of elite soldiers and then pass the selection of the Lecture Hall before they could enter the Capital Battalion to serve.

If they felt that their ancestors had fought all the battles of several generations and didn't want to make contributions, only wanting to carry cages and walk birds, they could eat salaries in the South Camp until they died.

When Li Chengliang reported to the capital the year before last, he specifically ran to the South Great Camp in Daxing County, hung Li Rubai upside down, and beat him severely, almost making Li Chengliang sick with anger.

And Li Ruzhen was timid and cowardly, more clearly, afraid of war, completely opposite to his elder brother Li Rusong.

As a military general, being afraid of war was a general's incompetence tiring the three armies. Li Ruzhen was

Li Ruzhen was not hung up and beaten by Li Chengliang, because when Li Ruzhen was growing up, Li Chengliang was fighting for his life in Liaodong against the Tatars and the Jianzhou Jurchens; Li Ruzhen's personality was largely caused by the precarious living environment.

Among Li Chengliang's several sons, only Li Rusong was very capable, while the others were in the category of ordinary people, and could even be described as straw bags, having no military talent and even less interest in reading; however, military talent is something that Li Chengliang was extremely lucky to have found even one.

Li Rubai and Li Ruzhen were suddenly called to the Wu Ying Tower today, naturally to see Zhou Liangyin.

Li Rubai was very wild; he didn't even fear his own father; when he was hung on a tree and beaten, Li Rubai still shouted that if he had the ability, he should beat him to death!

But in front of Qi Jiguang, Li Rubai was as obedient as a quail, and even his speech became a bit gentler.

No matter how angry Li Chengliang was, he wouldn't beat his son to death; a tiger doesn't eat its own cubs; but Qi Jiguang governed the army extremely strictly; if Li Rubai's behavior had really been under Qi Jiguang, he would have been punished by military law hundreds of times over.

"Your Majesty, I met Censor Zhou once in the second year of Wanli; at that time, he went to the Daning Guard, and I was digging white clay at Taotu Mountain in the Daning Guard; at that time, Censor Zhou was a bit plump and slightly frivolous, unlike now, being so capable." Qi Jiguang's reply spoke of the grievances between him and Zhou Liangyin.

If Qi Jiguang really had resentment in his heart, he wouldn't have taken the initiative to mention the past in front of the Emperor; this seemed like reminiscing, but it was actually letting go.

Now that he is the Duke of Fengguo, even if the Emperor doesn't consider the private feelings of the teacher-student relationship in military studies, he must give face to this Duke of Fengguo who has made great military achievements for the Great Ming, pacified the Japanese pirates in the south, and destroyed the northern barbarians; as long as Qi Jiguang doesn't mention it, the Emperor must severely punish Zhou Liangyin in front of Qi Jiguang.

The reason Zhu Yijun set the place for the audience at the Wu Ying Tower and called Li Chengliang's sons and Qi Jiguang to his side was to settle the old case.

Zhou Liangyin did not make a false accusation; when Qi Jiguang attacked the Daning Guard, he indeed wanted to take risks for merit and attack the Quanning Guard to gain the initiative on the battlefield, because at that time Qi Jiguang was not sure if that was his last time going beyond the frontier, and at that time the situation in the imperial court was not clear; determining the route was still the main contradiction back then.

And Li Chengliang back then indeed blamed the remonstrating officials and used big tigers to scare these remonstrating officials.

Qi Jiguang took the initiative to mention that Zhou Liangyin was a bit frivolous back then, which was attributing the behavior of the low-born scholar back then to being young and ignorant, not knowing the hardships of the frontier.

Zhu Yijun looked at Zhou Liangyin; this was also a gate of hell that Zhou Liangyin had to pass; if he wanted to govern a region in the future and wanted to rise rapidly, this matter had to be clarified and explained, and there had to be a result.

"Your Majesty, back then I ate without plowing and wore clothes without weaving, failing to embody the intention of the imperial court to revitalize, which was failing to be loyal to the Emperor's great ambition; I wagged my tongue and stirred up trouble, which was truly an evil act that pained those close to me and gladdened my enemies; military affairs are a major matter of the rise and fall of the imperial court, and I should not have spoken about what I did not understand; fortunately, the country has a holy monarch, and no great disaster was caused, but I should still be severely punished to warn others." Zhou Liangyin took a deep breath, admitted his past remarks, and brought trouble to the imperial court's revitalization.

At the same time, he also accepted the Emperor's punishment for him, and he had no complaints.

Zhou Liangyin had been on the frontier for ten years, and he already knew the stakes of the events back then; the contradiction had intensified to the point of clashing with weapons, and any possible opportunity had to be grasped, otherwise, one wouldn't know when the next opportunity would come.

Zhou Liangyin could now empathize and understand why the battle-hardened Qi Jiguang wanted to take risks; it was the existence of low-born scholars like him that made the usually steady Qi Jiguang intend to settle the north in one battle.

"I thought Censor Zhou was going to blame me for making you live in a cow shed." Zhu Yijun looked at Zhou Liangyin, his tone full of scrutiny.

His old habit of being naturally vigilant against civil officials flared up.

"I have never lived in a cow shed; there were official residences in the yamen..." Zhou Liangyin was stunned; he didn't know how to respond.

In the Daning Guard, the yamen he lived in was renovated from the Ning Prince's mansion back then! And he had never said he lived in a cow shed.

He was an official; it was indeed hard to reclaim wasteland on the frontier, but who would dare to make him live in a cow shed? If he lived in a cow shed, what would the officials below live in? A pigsty?

"Your Majesty, the past is the past; Your Majesty has already made a punishment back then; one matter cannot be punished twice; if I continue to haggle over every ounce, it would be putting Your Majesty in a situation of unclear rewards and punishments; if rewards are generous and credible, and punishments are strict and certain, the country will flourish." Qi Jiguang clearly stated that he had forgiven Zhou Liangyin and would not make things difficult for him in the future; the starting point was believing in rewards and punishments.

"If rewards are generous and credible, and punishments are strict and certain"—this sentence comes from Wen Zhong, a minister of King Goujian of Yue.

King Goujian of Yue endured hardships and accumulated national strength; on the eve of attacking the Wu state, the King asked: Can we attack Wu? Wen Zhong said: Yes, as long as rewards and punishments are clear, we can destroy Wu; the King was still somewhat lacking in confidence, so Wen Zhong let the King light the palace.

King Goujian of Yue really lit the palace on fire and made a promise: those who successfully put out the fire would be rewarded as if they had defeated the enemy, and those who didn't would be punished as deserters; three thousand Yue soldiers covered themselves in wet clothes to put out the fire, and after that, not one person retreated; after the fire was out, Goujian fulfilled his promise.

If rewards are generous and credible, and punishments are strict and certain—if a monarch can achieve this, the hearts of the people can naturally be used.

"Censor Zhou, why don't you thank General Qi for his magnanimity?" Zhu Yijun smiled and said to Zhou Liangyin.

"Thank you, General Qi!" Zhou Liangyin said extremely sincerely; since he had said in front of the Emperor that he would no longer make things difficult, then in the future Qi Jiguang would definitely not make things difficult for him; Zhou Liangyin believed in Qi Jiguang's promise.

In fact, Qi Jiguang had long forgiven him; when he was reclaiming wasteland in the Daning Guard and Quanning Guard, without the support of the Regional Commander of Yingzhou, Wang Rulong, he, a civil official, wouldn't have been able to do anything about those horse bandits and northern barbarians, even if he had a belly full of ideas; farming and fighting were never separate; Zhou Liangyin asked Wang Rulong for help, and Wang Rulong chose to support him.

In the thirty-eighth year of Jiajing, Qi Jiguang recruited guest soldiers in Yiwu, and Wang Rulong brought his brothers out of the mountains; from that time on, Wang Rulong followed Qi Jiguang through thick and thin, fighting countless hard battles; for the things Zhou Liangyin did, if Qi Jiguang had been unwilling to forgive him, Zhou Liangyin would have found it difficult to move an inch, and might even have died on the frontier.

Qi Jiguang had never advocated turning his blade inward, which was also the reason why the officials in the past thought Qi Jiguang was easy to bully.

Qi Jiguang had chosen to forgive him, so even if Li Rubai and Li Ruzhen had a belly full of words, they didn't dare to say them in front of the General; they dared to blow their beards and stare at their old father, but they were indeed very honest in front of Qi Jiguang, as honest as Li Rusong.

"If you don't understand military affairs, don't talk nonsense in the future and make people laugh; steam engines use coal to burn water; according to the remonstrating officials, digging coal disturbs the earth's dragon veins, so they should burn wood; they speak lightly, but where would the wood come from?" Zhu Yijun still admonished Zhou Liangyin a couple of times.

If one really listened to the nonsense of these low-born scholars who knew nothing, then the rockets of later generations should burn coal, and it should be anthracite.

Military professionalism is very, very strong, and this thing requires some talent; if Qi Jiguang had really listened to the words of the remonstrating officials, the Great Ming would have been broken into by the Tuman Khan long ago.

"I respectfully obey the holy instruction." Zhou Liangyin bowed his head again to accept the order.

"Did Grand Secretary Wan tell you? The Master recommended you as the Provincial Governor of Shanxi; the gold, silver, copper, iron, coal, and alkali from Shengzhou and Womagang all have to enter through Xuanfu and Datong; this place is the vital point for civilizing Suiyuan, and it must not be lost; when necessary, you must also help the Viceroy Pan, so that Suiyuan doesn't fall into chaos." Zhu Yijun sat up straight and explained the main task of going to Shanxi.

Civilizing Suiyuan—the trade between the Great Ming and Suiyuan, with the establishment of the post road, the more it reached this point, the less it could be neglected; if any chaos were to break out, the fragile trust between the Great Ming and the northern barbarians of Suiyuan would be broken.

Before a consensus that all in the Great Ming are subjects of the King is formed, one must be vigilant.

"To be more explicit, beware of a handful of stubborn fools among the northern barbarians who use various means and various names to delay the Great Ming and the northern barbarians' thousand-year plan for reconciliation; for all in the Great Ming to be subjects of the King requires at least thirty years, and requires the monarch and subjects to be of one heart and ten thousand men to exert one strength, only then can we be invincible." Zhu Yijun did not speak empty words or clichés, but was straightforward.

"I obey the decree." Zhou Liangyin accepted the order.

The Emperor also asked about many things he had seen and heard on the grasslands, many things Zhu Yijun had never heard of, yet they were happening under his rule; for example, there was actually extensive farming on the grasslands, planting beans and highland barley; for example, not everyone on the grasslands could ride horses, and they weren't all born on horseback; for example, the importance of iron pots to the people of the grasslands, etc.

"I take my leave." Zhou Liangyin finally finished his audience with the Emperor, and after thanking Qi Jiguang again, he left the Wu Ying Tower.

Zhu Yijun said helplessly to Qi Jiguang: "Does the General know Song Rentong?"

"I have heard of him; his nickname is Earth-Walking Sun." As the Duke of Fengguo, Qi Jiguang naturally read the court gazettes; for this Song Rentong of the Xishan Coal Bureau who invented the shield tunneling machine by referring to shipworms, Qi Jiguang really knew him, and also knew his nickname, Earth-Walking Sun.

Earth-Walking Sun is a mythological figure who is good at earth-walking and can travel a thousand miles a day.

"It is quite fitting." Zhu Yijun nodded; names can be mispronounced, but nicknames are not; this nickname is indeed appropriate; he continued: "This Song Rentong likes a prostitute named Liniang; in Song Rentong's eyes, this Liniang has turned over a new leaf, but in the fraudulent marriage case supervised by Wang Chonggu, this Liniang is a swindler."

Qi Jiguang's brows twisted into a knot and he said: "Could this case really be a miscarriage of justice as Song Rentong said?"

Qi Jiguang naturally saw the big show of Song Rentong accusing Wang Chonggu; if he, the Duke of Fengguo, needed to express his stance, he only had one attitude: wherever the Emperor's sword points, the blade of the Capital Battalion will follow!

Whoever the Emperor wants to deal with, just give the order.

"That's not the case; the death penalty requires three reviews; this case was investigated and supplemented three times back then, and the evidence is as solid as a mountain." Zhu Yijun shook his head: "This matter actually has a follow-up; after work started this spring, the woolen official factories and the various weaving bureaus prohibited any former prostitutes from entering the factories."

"The Vice Minister Wang issued the order; the official factories are not places to hide dirt; these prostitutes used the identity of weavers in the official factories to whitewash themselves, making the official factories very passive, so Vice Minister Wang directly cut it off and prohibited prostitutes from entering the factories."

Giving these prostitutes a way out—who gave Wang Chonggu a way to live? There were many such cases, and the official factories became the background and backing for them to blackmail and extort?

Why did Song Rentong believe Liniang so much? Wasn't it because Liniang was a weaver in the woolen official factory?

"Your Majesty, I actually think that in this matter, Vice Minister Wang indeed had concerns, and it doesn't count as violating the imperial court's policy of abolishing the low-born slave status." Qi Jiguang expressed his opinion; the Emperor had plenty of reasons to deal with Wang Chonggu; he could just find one from the memorials of the low-born scholars and list dozens of charges.

This was not going against the Great Ming's policy, the Emperor's will, or the general policy of abolishing the low-born slave status to change the relations of production.

Zhu Yijun spread his hands and said: "Vice Minister Wang also had no other choice; at first, he thought that after severe punishment, this matter would pass, but contradictions appeared; after the fraudulent marriage case in the capital was concluded with public beheading, Vice Minister Wang discovered that the official factories and weaving bureaus belonging to the Ministry of Works in the Great Ming all had this phenomenon of fraudulent marriage to varying degrees, so the craftsmen in each official factory had emotions."

"These emotions are very strong; the weavers who had previously turned over a new leaf were isolated, scolded, pointed at, and insulted to varying degrees; in the Southern Yamen Li Zhizao, there was a weaver of prostitute origin who had turned over a new leaf for seven years, and under such pointing and scolding, she threw herself into the river and died."

"Sigh."

It had been so long since the fraudulent marriage case came to an end; if no new situation had appeared, Wang Chonggu would not have issued such a sweeping policy; it really wasn't lazy governance, it was that he had no good way, and could only do this.

The craftsmen had strong emotions, which was understandable, because the reputation of the official factories was damaged, which was equivalent to the reputation of all craftsmen being damaged; this kind of thing had already happened in the capital, and if the imperial court still sat by and watched, it would be allowing such things to happen, and the craftsmen's emotions manifested as discrimination.

Therefore, a response had to be made, and the only way was to sweepingly prohibit prostitutes from entering the official factories; if there was no response, the emotions of these craftsmen would get out of control, and if any other messy things happened, the weavers who had turned over a new leaf would also suffer.

The result of doing this was that in the relations of production between prostitutes and their madams, the prostitutes had no final retreat, and their bargaining power was greatly reduced; in this day and age, most prostitutes were sold to charity halls when they were young and were forced to become prostitutes, not voluntarily entering the world of smoke and flowers for silver.

"One piece of bad meat spoils the whole pot." Qi Jiguang leaned back in his chair and said somewhat helplessly.

When Zhu Yijun and Qi Jiguang talked about this, they were talking about the official factories refusing to accept women who had turned over a new leaf, but they were actually also talking about Suiyuan; there was a handful of ambitious people among the old northern barbarians who, with various purposes, incited the people to follow them in making trouble, and in the end, it was the whole of Suiyuan that suffered.

This was also the matter that Zhu Yijun warned Zhou Liangyin a thousand times to pay attention to.

Li Yougong was the most active and busiest eunuch in the Great Ming; he brought the Emperor's imperial decree punishing Shen Shixing with a demotion of three ranks to Songjiang Prefecture to announce the decree; there were some things in it that Shen Shixing needed to know, and some things that he didn't.

For example, Zhang Juzheng suspected that Shen Shixing had problems and wanted to increase his punishment—he didn't need to know that;

The Emperor personally issued a decree to catch the private secretary Dong Wei and bring him to justice, proving that he was innocent—Shen Shixing had to know this.

Shen Shixing kowtowed to thank the Emperor for his grace; he was actually quite anxious; although he had made some achievements in Songjiang Prefecture, this was indeed a major mistake; a demotion of three ranks was not a problem, as long as he was still in the position in Songjiang Prefecture, he could still make contributions.

"The Emperor has the intention to preserve you; you don't need to worry about matters in the court; everything is handled by the Master and the Emperor, just do your work with peace of mind." These words of Li Yougong were somewhat ambiguous, making Shen Shixing think that he had been preserved by Zhang Juzheng.

But Shen Shixing was Zhang Juzheng's disciple and had known Zhang Juzheng for more than twenty years; he knew Zhang Juzheng's character too well; this teacher of his was different from other teachers; Zhang Juzheng's style had always been: your achievements are yours, and no one can take them away, but your mistakes are also yours, and no one can bear them for you.

Gao Gong was not like this; Gao Gong could blatantly shield the Jin people when it came to the grand plans of the world.

After Shen Shixing received the imperial decree for a demotion of three ranks, he immediately understood that everything was just imperial favor.

"That Shanghai Magistrate Yan Shixuan collided with you; the Emperor learned about it from the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commandant Luo Bingliang; since there was a conflict, the Emperor issued a decree to transfer Yan Shixuan to Hangzhou to serve as Prefect; this is a promotion, and another person was chosen from the Jin people to come to Shanghai County." Li Yougong spoke of the new personnel appointments.

Yan Shixuan was really not being promoted in name but demoted in reality; a seventh-grade magistrate leaping to become a fourth-grade prefect was a leap over the dragon gate in the officialdom.

For Yan Shixuan to be promoted properly, from a seventh-grade magistrate to a sixth-grade assistant prefect, a fifth-grade vice prefect, and a fourth-grade prefect, it would take at least ten years of work.

A fifth-grade vice prefect is a very clear watershed; many people have spent their whole lives without passing the fifth-grade vice prefect to be promoted to a fourth-grade prefect.

With Shen Shixing demoted three ranks, someone had to be promoted three ranks, so Yan Shixuan, who had taken down the Hailong Gang, was the only suitable candidate.

"The officials in the court were quite surprised; this Yan Shixuan actually didn't accept bribes from Hai Lao Si, and even controlled the yamen runners of the county yamen in his own hands." Li Yougong was curious about how Yan Shixuan managed to do this.

Before the Embroidered Uniform Guard intervened, the imperial court didn't know clearly that Hai Mingyuan was Hai Lao Si; Hai Lao Si, as a head runner, relied on the Xu family to establish the Hailong Gang; this Hailong Gang had always been in Hai Lao Si's hands, which meant that for all these years, the yamen runners in the county yamen had more or less been Hai Lao Si's people.

Sometimes, it's not about having noble character or integrity that keeps one from accepting bribes; when you are in the torrent, many things are beyond your control.

Private secretary Dong Wei issued summons to Yan Shixuan every month, making Yan Shixuan go to the prefectural yamen to be scolded, and Yan Shixuan couldn't do anything; his evaluation was poor, so he was naturally dismissed.

"Yan Shixuan does not use local clerks and yamen runners." Shen Shixing briefly introduced Yan Shixuan's method; he didn't use locals; the local gangs were already very impolite, and even the private secretary by the Provincial Governor's side could be bought off, so Yan Shixuan chose to employ people from other places.

In this way, a relative balance was formed.

"In that case, I will go to Shanghai County first to announce the decree and handle the business." Li Yougong intended to go and ask Yan Shixuan personally; this was also the experience of struggle; the struggle between the imperial court's officials and the hereditary local yamen runners was a compulsory course for the imperial court's officials.

Li Yougong rushed to Shanghai County; Shanghai County was even more prosperous than Huating County, where the prefectural yamen was located, because there were no city walls; the Huangpujiang was filled with barges, and along the Huangpujiang were continuous workshops and streets lined with shops; various flags hung on the streets, with big characters written on them like wine, lodging, inn, rice, oil, food, etc.; Li Yougong rode a tall horse through these streets.

Yan Shixuan was very tall, over six feet, but very thin; he looked like a shrewd scholar.

"I kowtow to thank the Emperor for his great grace." Yan Shixuan kowtowed to thank the Emperor for his grace; he was a bit surprised that he was promoted three ranks; he had thought that by offending the man of the heavens, Shen Shixing, his official career would be bleak.

In his view, not actively taking the blame for Provincial Governor Shen, which led to Shen Shixing being demoted three ranks and serving as Provincial Governor with the rank of a Director of the Ministry of Personnel, becoming a joke in the Great Ming, was offending Shen Shixing.

The perspective of the imperial court and Yan Shixuan's own perspective were different.

But as a result, he, Yan Shixuan, left Songjiang Prefecture and went to Hangzhou to serve as Prefect; serving as Prefect in Hangzhou, if he did well, wanting to become a Provincial Administration Commissioner or even a Provincial Governor was not impossible.

"It seems Magistrate Yan is not overjoyed." Li Yougong was curious; this Yan Shixuan was only surprised, not overjoyed, when he heard he was promoted three ranks.

"There are still many things in Shanghai that haven't been finished; the most urgent matter right now is the iron horse factory; once I leave office, I'm afraid Provincial Governor Shen will consider Jinshan Guard instead of Shanghai County." Yan Shixuan hesitated again and again before telling the truth; he said worriedly: "Provincial Governor Shen is a gentleman, at least he won't neglect public duty for private reasons."

"Shanghai County is still the most suitable."

There is also competition between localities; Shanghai County, Qingpu County, and Jinshan Guard all wanted the iron horse factory, especially Jinshan Guard, which was a strong competitor, after all, the shipyard was over there.

Shen Shixing is a capital official, an imperial envoy, and the Emperor's order is greater than heaven; he wants to complete the task given by the imperial court in the fastest time, so if there is a personnel change in Shanghai County, Shen Shixing will definitely change the location.

"You'd better think it over; if you decline the imperial grace this time, wanting to be promoted three ranks again will be as difficult as ascending to heaven." Li Yougong had not expected that Yan Shixuan would not be overjoyed at being promoted three ranks, and was even a bit unhappy.

"Who is succeeding me?" Yan Shixuan was naturally hesitant; this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"Yao Guangqi, Magistrate of Jimo County, Shandong." Li Yougong told him the candidate for the new Shanghai County Magistrate, the son-in-law of Wang Chonggu's younger brother Wang Chongyi, the direct descendant of the Jin Party, the King of Kelp, Yao Guangqi.

Yao Guangqi had an official degree; he followed Ling Yunyi to Shandong to serve as a supervisory official, and after working for such a long time, he also obtained a promotion and became a magistrate.

"Him? Then I'll go to Hangzhou." Upon hearing this, Yan Shixuan immediately said: "Originally, it wouldn't be many days before the cotton from Shandong would be sent to Songjiang; he has to escort the cotton over; since it's him, then there's no problem."

Yao Guangqi is the clansman of the leader of the Industrial Party, Wang Chonggu! The kind of clansman who would be exterminated to the third degree of kinship; this iron horse factory will definitely be able to land.

It is better for men of the heavens to fight men of the heavens; all of them have deep backgrounds; he is just an ordinary *jinshi* whom even Wang Jiaping wouldn't take as a disciple; the fighting between gods really made him feel embarrassed.

"The Emperor is curious about how Magistrate Yan governs Shanghai County." Li Yougong explained his purpose.

Yan Shixuan thought for a long time and said: "To answer this question, it's easy to say in a few words, but I'd still like to take the angel to see Shanghai County."

This question seemed easy to answer, but explaining it clearly was really difficult.