Chapter 373: Official Document

Time: The next morning.

Location: The Fuzhou Governor's Office.

A procession of about fifty men was slowly approaching the Fujian Grand Inspector's Office.

Two Knights riding abreast led the way. These two men, fully armored and helmeted, sat astride tall, powerful horses, barreling forward so boldly that all petty crooks scattered before them along the road.

Behind them followed the gong-bearers and placard-bearers. The gong-bearers were responsible for making noise along the way to drive off idlers, while the placard-bearers were responsible for holding high the signboards, informing the common folk which mighty tiger was out on patrol again.

Further behind came the Great Ming-style soldiers, clad in brand-new bright red Padded Jackets and leather armor, with Copper helmets on their heads. A few dozen men marching in neat, uniform steps was all too common in Later Generations, but in this era it was unique, so the pedestrians along the roadside all turned their heads to stare.

Guarded in the center by the soldiers were two identical four-wheeled carriages, their bulletproof windows affixed with dark-tinted space film.

A moment later, when the carriages came to a steady stop before the Fuzhou Governor's Office, guards opened the door of one of them. The next moment, the Great Ming Fujian Coastal Defense Assistant Regional Commander for Xiamen and other areas, with the rank of Deputy Commander, Cao Chuan (false), stepped down from the carriage.

Vice Cao Jiangjun did not linger after disembarking, and was soon ushered through the side gate of the Fuzhou Governor's Office, surrounded by several tall bodyguards.

Just as on previous days, once Vice Cao Jiangjun entered the gate, a gatekeeper had long since come out to greet him and lead the way.

But unlike previous days, beside the gatehouse stood an extra person: a middle-aged man dressed like a scholar in a black straight-hem robe — Master Bo, Bo Daxing.

With his hands clasped behind his back and chest puffed out as he stood by the roadside, Master Bo spotted Vice Cao Jiangjun the moment he passed before him — Cao Jiangjun, clad in his third-rank bright red robe with a tiger rank badge, was so strikingly distinct that even concealed among numerous bodyguards, Master Bo recognized him as easily as a firefly in the dark.

Comrade Zhang Dongdong, who was striding past with eyes fixed straight ahead, naturally did not notice that an old man nearby was staring at him full of hatred.

And this old man, after watching his target disappear into the distance, could only shake his head helplessly before he, too, walked out the main gate of the Fuzhou Governor's Office.

Although Master Bo had still harbored a sliver of hope before coming today, once he saw the true face of "Cao Jiangjun," he had to admit one thing: the image on the Cao Datou was not this man.

This was the advantage of an Exquisite product. Whether on Currency or the Cao Datou, the portraits were all vividly lifelike; even if Master Bo had wanted to force a connection, he could not conflate the differing facial shapes of Zhang Dongdong and Cao Chuan.

Yet even though he had now seen the real Cao Chuan, surrounded by layers of troops and flaunting his arrogance, for some unknown reason, Master Bo still had an inexplicable feeling: the portrait on those banknotes should be Cao Chuan — because in his judgment, only the Rebel ringleader Cao Chuan had the standing and the motive to print his own portrait on Currency.

It was not until he boarded his carriage parked outside the Fuzhou Governor's Office that Master Bo, still unable to figure out the crux of the matter, realized his head was beginning to ache.

"Master, back to the residence?" At that moment, the Household Staff outside the carriage interrupted his master's thoughts.

Master Bo, now thoroughly disappointed with Xiong Wencan, no longer Intended to linger here; he was heading to a new Battlefield: "Back to the residence. Pack the luggage, book a ship ticket. We are going to my esteemed father-in-law's residence."

Great Cao Jiangjun, who had not noticed this interlude at all, went straight all the way to Lao Xiong's study, and by then Comrade Lao Xiong was already standing at the study doorway, all smiles.

"Cao Chuan pays respects to Your Excellency!" Upon seeing Lao Xiong, Zhang Dongdong hurried forward two steps, cupped his hands, and bowed.

Truth be told, ever since everyone's circumstances had been improving in recent years, the relationship between a certain Cao and the Fujianese officials and merchants Led by Xiong Wencan had grown increasingly harmonious.

This was inevitable. Historically, after Zheng Zhilong's Recruitment and Amnesty, he only cared about keeping all the profits for himself, and he could not produce any industrial or commercial strategies for everyone to Make a Fortune together.

The Transmigrators' side was different: their formidable industrial production Capability and ravenous hunger for raw Materials mobilized all the idle capital in Fujian. Silver buried in the ground and large batches of surplus population that would originally have become a source of social unrest now all found outlets, and Resources were rationally allocated.

In this wave of development mania, besides the first group of merchants who got rich quick by eating crabs, the next to Make a Fortune were the high officials everywhere who had the initial Advantage in information. Mining, Transport, wholesale, Agency Rights... all sorts of exploding commercial activities allowed everyone to profit.

As for the top-tier high officials, like Lao Xiong and Provincial Administration Commissioner Cai Shanji, they practically made money just by lying down: the Agency Rights to any random sought-after Commodity was enough to let a big shot eat and drink his fill.

Thus, some happy troubles inadvertently arose: some time ago, during a gathering, several big shots with very good relationships hinted, intentionally or otherwise, at their willingness to help Cao Jiangjun choose a courtesy name.

Ancient literati had the custom of giving formal names or courtesy names to close juniors or martial figures. A representative example of this was Zheng Chenggong: his childhood name was "Freebie," later a private tutor Named Him "Sen," and still later, when he went to the Imperial Academy in Nanjing for advanced studies, his teacher "Water Too Cold" gave him the courtesy name "Damu."

Later still, Comrade Zheng Damu was granted the Ming imperial surname "Zhu" by the Longwu Emperor, given the name "Chenggong," and enfeoffed as Loyal and Filial Earl, thus known to the world as "Zheng Cixing," "Zheng Guoxing," and "National Lord"; and because he was later enfeoffed as Prince of Yanping by the Yongli Emperor, he was also called "Zheng Yanping."

In short, for a big shot to be willing to bestow a courtesy name upon a crude martial man was a gesture of goodwill.

However, Zhang Dongdong was put on the spot at the time. The issue of a courtesy name was somewhat akin to an era name — how could he dare let a few Ming officials choose a name for that Emperor? This kind of issue could be blown up or downplayed, and in the right context could be blown completely out of proportion; he did not want those Rebels stuck on the island to pin some label on his head — ah, being a puppet was hard!

Fortunately, Zhang Dongdong was quick-witted at the time, so he hastily muddled through by citing the excuse that he still had elders in his family... People from Later Generations had almost no concept of "courtesy names," which was why the Transmigrators, including Cao Chuan, had never taken this issue seriously all along.

Then, after Zhang Dongdong's urgent telegram was sent to the Cabinet, people finally remembered: it was time to choose a courtesy name for His Majesty the Emperor.

Fortunately, the voting procedure was very convenient, and the matter of the courtesy name was settled that very night: after dozens of rounds of real-time screening on the Forum, the final winner was "Pokong" — a name rich with profound meaning and saturated with thick fantasy-novel flair.

... One point worth noting is that this courtesy name was produced without the Emperor's own Knowledge, which goes to show that the democratic process within the Transmigrators was still satisfactory.

Thus, from then on, whenever Comrade Zhang Dongdong moved about in Ming officialdom, he began to be addressed by his courtesy name.

Seeing Xiong Wencan waiting at the study doorway, Zhang Dongdong went up and hurriedly cupped his hands in salute: "Cao Chuan pays respects to Your Excellency."

Xiong Wencan, who was standing at the study door to welcome his guest, hastily reached out to support him: "You and I now serve as ministers in the same hall; from now on, you absolutely must not stand on such ceremony!" — In terms of official rank, Cao Chuan, this substantively appointed Assistant Regional Commander with the concurrent title of Vice General, was of the Upper Third Rank, while Xiong Wencan's own substantive official rank was actually not high either: Right Deputy Chief Censor was likewise an Upper Third Rank official. Hence Xiong Wencan's remark, "You and I now serve as ministers in the same hall."

Of course, stories of civil and military officials treating each other as equals like this only happened in a minority of cases, such as right now.

Throughout the Ming Dynasty, except for the founding period, the status of military officers declined generation by generation thereafter. By the mid-to-Late Ming, the civil official stratum had thoroughly suppressed the military men; usually, a Fifth or Sixth Rank military officer was worth less than nothing before a Seventh-Rank Civil Official.

This situation would be completely reversed in the impending Late Ming collapse. It was the same in every dynasty: military men bounced back from rock bottom in chaotic times, and warlords killed civil officials as easily as slaughtering chickens — this was the so-called cycle of order and chaos.

And the reason Xiong Wencan was so courteous to Cao Jiangjun now was not because he foresaw the coming chaos, but because the two sides had now genuinely become political allies of equal standing: equal official ranks, each possessing their own strength, complementary Resources, and mutual benefit through cooperation.

After a few pleasantries, the two entered the study, and a moment later, servants served tea.

Next, they got down to business. Xiong Wencan picked up an official document from the table and patted it in his palm, then said with a chuckle: "The reason I asked you over today is because of this official document from another province. Come, take a guess — from which direction did this document come?"

Seeing that Lao Xiong was in a good mood today and had actually decided to be coy, Zhang Dongdong put his mind to work: Since it was a document from another province, and Lao Xiong had specifically asked him over for it, then this document could not escape being from either the Capital in the north or Guangzhou in the south.

Transmigrator Zhang Dongdong knew that historically, after Zheng Zhilong's Recruitment and Amnesty, quite a few official documents had come from Beijing demanding that he lead his troops north to share the Emperor's burdens.

However, when Zhang Dongdong carefully calculated the time, he felt the likelihood of the document coming from Beijing was not high: it was now early July, and historically, Yuan Chonghuan would not behead Mao Wenlong until the end of this month.

Mao Wenlong's death led to the complete unshackling of the flanking Battlefield that had always pinned down the Manchu Qing forces, and the resulting first Manchu Qing incursion would begin in October. So Beijing should have no major events happening right now, and Chongzhen would not be summoning him for a King's Rescue At This Time Point.

Having figured this out, Zhang Dongdong combined it with the recent social intelligence reports he had received regarding Guangdong, and he guessed the origin of this document: "Could it be an official document from the land of Yue?"

"Hahaha!" Xiong Wencan burst into laughter. "Well guessed! It is indeed from the Guangdong Governor Yamen."

At that, Lao Xiong handed the official document over to Zhang Dongdong.

Although he had absolutely no prior exposure to classical texts, ever since becoming a puppet, Zhang Dongdong had diligently crammed the relevant Knowledge. By now, though he still fell a bit short, he could already understand official documents with their fixed formats and standardized phrasing.

The content of this document seemed very jumbled at first glance, rambling at length and pulling in all directions; but after Zhang Dongdong read it through carefully once, he understood its core message: requesting troops to assist in suppressing the sea bandit Liu Xiang.

"It seems Old Liu really has pushed Wang Zunde to desperation," Zhang Dongdong nodded inwardly at this. "In that case, this old man is about to get promoted again."

Having figured it out, Cao Jiangjun raised his head and said to Lao Xiong: "May I ask what Your Excellency's thoughts are on this matter? Should this humble general go, or should he not?"

Xiong Wencan stroked his beard and nodded, very satisfied with Cao Jiangjun's attitude: whether from the perspective of political experience or that of an ally, Cao Chuan ought to have first sought his opinion on this matter.

Now that Cao Chuan had done the right thing, he then voiced his own thoughts: "In this old man's view, General, it would be best if you undertook this arduous trip."