Chapter 158: 156 Internal Administrative Adjustments

The rear residence of the Regional Commander's mansion.

Fei Rulan came out beaming to welcome them: "Greetings, Fourth Uncle. Greetings, Sister."

"Haha, no need for such ceremony," Fei Yinggong laughed. "I haven't seen you in years, Lan'er, and now you're the wife of a Regional Commander."

Fei Rulan said, "That Regional Commander title of my husband's doesn't really count."

"Greetings, Sister Lan." Fei Ruhui cupped her fist.

Though they were cousins, they had actually met only once; Old Master Fei had refused to accept Fei Ruhui.

Seeing that she was dressed as a married woman, Fei Rulan asked, "Did my brother-in-law not come?"

Fei Ruhui answered, "He's busy with matters at home."

Busy with what matters?

Managing a bandit lair, of course.

Noticing that the only maid in the courtyard was Xiyue, and that Fei Rulan herself was helping serve tea and pour water, Fei Yinggong couldn't help saying, "It's awfully quiet here. Why not keep a few more servants?"

Fei Rulan answered with a smile, "My husband has already abolished slavery — how could our own household go against that? We've hired six laborers for the courtyard. That's not too few."

"So that's how it is," Fei Yinggong said, purely fishing for information, and changed the subject. "Is there any news of Eldest Brother?"

Fei Rulan said, "Father is now the Vice Prefect of Huzhou Prefecture."

Fei Yinggong laughed. "His promotions have certainly been quick."

The family drank tea and chatted idly until evening, when Zhao Han finally returned. Fei Ruhe and Fei Chun came as well.

Once the dishes were laid out, Zhao Han raised his cup. "Let me toast Fourth Uncle!"

"You're too kind." Fei Yinggong laughed heartily.

Fei Ruhe also raised his cup in toast. "Fei Chun and I left home intending to seek out Fourth Uncle. We never expected to find Brother Han instead — and to have built such a grand enterprise."

"If you'd found me," Fei Yinggong said ruefully, "you'd probably still be bandits right now."

Zhao Han merely smiled and did not broach the subject himself; he had already guessed what Fei Yinggong had come for.

After cups had been passed back and forth for a good while, Fei Yinggong finally could not hold back. "Ah, I never planned to rebel, but then the Sweeping King suddenly popped up next door. With you to the east and the Sweeping King to the west, I'm caught in the middle and it's miserable."

Zhao Han said with a smile, "As long as there's no fighting, no one's going to fix their eyes on Fourth Uncle's territory."

Fei Yinggong's territory lay deep within a stretch of unbroken mountains — remote, poor, and truly not worth much.

Militarily, however, it was extremely important. Once Tianhe Town was occupied, Zhao Han could easily defend against enemies from the west. Had Fei Yinggong not been entrenched there, Zhao Han would have sent troops to take it long ago, since the area was originally under Luling County's jurisdiction.

The Sweeping King was also in an interesting position. If Zhao Han expanded northward, the Sweeping King's territory would be completely shielded by Zhao Han. Government troops would have to destroy Zhao Han before they could move against the Sweeping King — or else Huguang would have to send troops to attack him.

Seeing that Zhao Han still would not speak openly, Fei Yinggong had no choice but to raise the matter himself. "How about I come work under you?"

"Excellent, most welcome." Zhao Han smiled.

"What are your conditions?" Fei Yinggong asked.

Zhao Han stated clearly: "First, land must be redistributed. Including Fourth Uncle himself, each person may retain at most twenty mu. Of course, since Fourth Uncle's side has more mountain land, you may keep a few extra mu as circumstances allow. Second, if Fourth Uncle wishes to serve in the military, you must disband your own force and have it broken up and integrated into the Great Unity Army. Third, Fourth Uncle may only serve as a Picket Commander, provisionally leading ninety-some men, and you may not be stationed at Tianhe Town."

Although Fei Yinggong had anticipated something like this, he still could not suppress a surge of resentment.

He was bringing territory and troops to join Zhao Han, yet Zhao Han intended to swallow and digest him whole.

That alone he could accept, but giving him a senior military post would have been acceptable too. Who would have thought he would only be made a Picket Commander, with not even a hundred soldiers under him.

Zhao Han explained, "Working under me, there are only two paths. One is to start from the middle or lower ranks. The other is to create your own domain. Take Gujian Mountain, for example — he came in directly as naval commander, because I had no naval force and relied entirely on him to build and train one. Or Tian Younian — he came in directly as head of the Weapons Office, and he had to build that office from scratch himself. Even Li Banghua first stepped forward to establish the grain bureau and only rose after achieving results."

"Fine, I'll be a Picket Commander." Fei Yinggong agreed helplessly. He believed that with his ability, plus the Fei family connections, he would rise after a few battles.

Zhao Han laughed heartily. "Welcome to the fold, Fourth Uncle. Come, let us all drain this cup!"

Everyone raised their cups and drank deeply.

Zhao Han then said to Fei Ruhui, "If Elder Sister wishes to work, you may join the propaganda corps. Here, women can hold office too."

"That would be wonderful." Fei Ruhui was delighted.

After rambling on for a while longer, Fei Rulan suddenly said, "Ruhe is no longer young. I've been looking for a year and have finally found a suitable family."

"From where?" Zhao Han asked.

Fei Rulan said, "The niece of Yuan Yunlong, a juren of Anfu County."

Zhao Han did not express an opinion, only asking further, "What is the Yuan family's situation?"

Fei Rulan had clearly done her homework. "The Yuan clan of Anfu is a branch of the Yuan clan of Yichun, descended from Yuan An, Minister over the Masses of the Han — the grandfather of Yuan Shao's grandfather. Though the Anfu Yuan clan comes from a great lineage, this branch declined long ago. Since the founding of the Great Ming, they have yet to produce a single jinshi. The juren Yuan Yunlong's household has over three hundred mu of land in total, but the clan members are numerous. Even twenty mu per person would not be enough."

This was the sort of small landlord who, apart from being forcibly divided, actually suffered no loss at all.

Zhao Han permitted landlord households to retain twenty mu per person. But when the Yuan family's land was divided out, there simply was not enough to reach twenty mu per person; each received only eighteen mu.

Fei Rulan added, "This Juren Yuan has already failed the metropolitan examination five times. He is utterly disheartened about passing the jinshi exam, and his family has no money to buy him an office. As a result, Juren Yuan is extremely active in his work and has already been promoted to town chief in Anfu County. He even wrote an essay praising the land redistribution."

"This man can be given special cultivation," Zhao Han decided to hold up Yuan Yunlong as a model for the gentry.

Fei Rulan said, "I also had someone inquire about Juren Yuan's niece. She is fifteen this year, dignified and graceful, sensible and reasonable, and skilled in poetry and painting as well."

Zhao Han immediately agreed. "This is an excellent match!"

Fei Ruhe sat to the side grinning foolishly. He was not particularly picky about women, as long as they were not ugly; this fellow had his mind set single-mindedly on doing great things.

The next day, Zhao Han dispatched the propaganda corps and grassroots officials to accompany Fei Yinggong back to take over Tianhe Town.

If one included the great mountains on both banks, the area was very large, but the arable land was pitifully scarce.

If Fei Yinggong's son-in-law Yang Fengsu could actively cooperate with the land redistribution work and handle it well, Zhao Han could appoint him town chief of Tianhe Town. In this way, Luling County would have nine towns, with Tianhe Town being the poorest — ninety percent of its arable land was barren mountain soil, and in the future they would probably have to rely on sweet potatoes as their staple.

After a meeting to discuss it, everyone felt that nine towns under one county was too many, and the salary expenses for the grassroots officials could not be borne.

So they fine-tuned Luling County's administrative divisions, dismantling one of the towns into four parts and merging each into neighboring towns. All the officials of that town were sent to White Egret Isle Academy for further training, to await assignment in newly expanded territory.

Thus, Zhao Han finally possessed the entirety of Luling County, while maintaining an administrative structure of eight towns for the county.

Immediately after, the Regional Commander's mansion also underwent adjustments, with the framework as follows —

The Regional Command.

The Secretariat, the Personnel Selection Office, the Government Affairs Office, the Propaganda Office, the Finance Office, the Military Affairs Office, the Justice Office, the Integrity Office, the Public Works Office, the War College.

The Secretariat is, of course, Zhao Han's secretarial body. It has three chief secretaries, with some civilian clerical staff under them. They answer only to Zhao Han and may not interfere in the affairs of the various departments — a fundamental difference from the Grand Secretariat of the Great Ming.

The term "secretary" already existed in ancient times. Zhao Han could not be bothered to use the title "Keeper of Documents" and simply changed it to "secretary."

The Personnel Selection Department, equivalent to the Ministry of Personnel, is headed by Pang Chunlai.

The Government Affairs Department was formerly headed by Li Banghua; now Huang Shunfu, the County Magistrate of Luling, has been promoted to serve as its director.

The Propaganda and Education Department, equivalent to the Ministry of Rites, is headed by Chen Maosheng.

The Finance Department, equivalent to the grain supervisor of the Great Ming, is headed by Fei Chun.

The Military Affairs Department, equivalent to the Ministry of War, is headed by Li Banghua.

The Punishments Department, equivalent to the Ministry of Justice, has promoted Zuo Xiaoliang, the County Magistrate of Anfu, to serve as its director.

The Anti-Corruption Department, equivalent to the Censorate, is headed by Xiao Huan.

The Public Works Department, equivalent to the Ministry of Works, is headed by Song Yingxing.

The Military Council, equivalent to the Five Chief Military Commissions, is headed by Fei Ruhe.

As for Tian Younian, he serves as the director of the Armaments Bureau under the Military Affairs Department.

This framework was set up on a rather grand scale; fortunately, the territory is not large, and the officials and clerks are not yet bloated.

But three counties' worth of territory certainly cannot sustain it — after all, there are still so many town-level officials. The territory must be expanded just to afford them.

Do you think the Great Ming court did not want to govern at the grassroots level?

More officials mean more salary expenses too!

Zhao Han would at least need to double his territory before his financial situation could ease a little.

Some even felt that the town-level apparatus was still too numerous, and that Luling County should be reduced to six towns, and Jishui County to five.

This suggestion was not made in jest; everyone, including Zhao Han himself, had seriously considered it.

The economic base determines the superstructure — an agricultural society cannot support an overgrown bureaucratic class. Before, when the number of regular soldiers was small, it was barely manageable. Three thousand regular soldiers drawing monthly pay instantly tightened Zhao Han's purse strings.

Just as the Regional Commander's headquarters had finished reorganizing, an old man arrived to pay his respects, bringing with him all the scholars of his clan.

"This old man Liu Yingkui pays his respects to the Regional Commander!"

"Elder, please rise at once."

Liu Yingkui pointed to the clansmen behind him and said, "All the men of my Liu clan are willing to serve the Regional Commander. Though we have no juren, we have five xiucai, twelve child students, and the rest are all schoolboys."

Zhao Han smiled. "Have them all come to White Egret Isle Academy. After the spring plowing, I will make my own arrangements."

Liu Yingkui added, "Liu Tongsheng is my nephew. That he fled with his entire household has nothing to do with my branch of the family. I beg the Regional Commander not to hold it against us."

"Elder, please set your mind at ease. I do not practice guilt by association," Zhao Han said.

Liu Yingkui continued, "These Liu clan scholars — the Regional Commander may use them as he pleases, even as common clerks. I have already admonished them: the Regional Commander has his own methods in employing men. So long as they work diligently, the Regional Commander will not treat them poorly."

Zhao Han smiled. "The elder possesses great wisdom… I myself am of meager learning and poor calligraphy, but I shall display my slight skill before a master and write you a scroll."

"Many thanks to the Regional Commander for bestowing his calligraphy," Liu Yingkui said, overjoyed.

Zhao Han casually wrote four characters: "A Household of Virtue." The content did not matter; he could have written "Eat Meat Tonight" and it would have served the same purpose.

Liu Tongsheng had fled with his entire household, taking his silver with him, yet Liu Yingkui brought all his clan's scholars to offer their service. These great clans could not all be treated with one stroke of the knife.

The main reason was that case from a few days ago, when Zhao Han laid his cards on the table and made his stance clear.

Liu Yingkui was willing to take a side and approved of Zhao Han's methods. The tougher Zhao Han appeared, the more convinced he became, believing that the Liu clan could share in the merit of following a future dragon.

Of course, those who detested him were also many. Just yesterday, another gentry family fled with their entire household.

(End of chapter)