Chapter 439: External Evils

"You are Wang Fu? I hear you're in charge of External Affairs matters in Linxian and Huixian?"

Liu Minyou looked at the tall, burly man before him — one of the sworn sons who had captured the Purple-Gold Beam alive back then, given a sinecure as a Battalion Commander, and assigned by Chen Xin to deal with local officials in Linxian.

"Yes, my lord. This humble one is Wang Fu. Before he left, Lord Chen arranged for me to work in the External Affairs Department. I've always dealt with the county offices in Linxian and Huixian."

Liu Minyou grunted. This Wang Fu did not look like a good man at first glance. Though he was very respectful toward Liu Minyou, he always seemed to be stealing glances when looking at people, and a hint of ferocity would occasionally flash in his eyes.

Liu Minyou paused, then said, "Strictly speaking, External Affairs does not fall under my jurisdiction. But recently Director Song and Vice Director Yang have both been occupied with other matters. This time Lord Chen entrusted me to conduct a review on his behalf, so I called you in for a chat. If you have any difficulties, you may also tell me."

The moment Wang Fu heard the words "Lord Chen," he immediately knelt and said, "This humble one thanks Lord Chen for his concern..."

"Get up and speak, get up and speak. Dengzhou Garrison does not encourage kneeling rituals. Here in Linxian we've already encountered several people kneeling — did Zhu Daichun not teach you?"

"No, no, Lord Zhu did teach us. It's just that with the Purple-Gold Beam... I got used to it among the bandits."

Wang Fu carefully stood up, his eyes glancing at the iron-tower-like dumb monk beside him.

"In your daily dealings with local officials, are there any difficult points?"

"To answer my lord, nothing too difficult. If those dog officials dare make excuses and obstruct, this old man just draws his blade to scare them. If those donkey-balled bastards dare not give face to Dengzhou Garrison, this old man won't let them off..."

Liu Minyou hurriedly cut him off. "Wang Fu, I tell you, when dealing with the localities, you still need to be prudent. Scaring them is fine. Drawing blades is unacceptable — don't make people treat our Dengzhou Garrison as bandits."

Wang Fu bowed slightly at the waist. "My lord, you don't understand. These dog officials in Linxian need scaring. Before he left, Director Song specially instructed me that local officials fear trouble breaking out in their territory. It just so happens that I'm someone who surrendered from the bandits, so the county magistrate fears being charged with driving people to revolt. That's why I have to be fierce. Otherwise the magistrate won't pay me any attention. Using this trick, the magistrate obediently gets things done."

Liu Minyou gave an "oh." Hearing that it was Song Wenxian's instruction, he felt it was not his place to say much. Song Wenxian had quite good relations with all departments in Dengzhou, and with Chen Xin he was even more like snakes and rats in the same den. External Affairs reported directly to Chen Xin. This time Liu Minyou was merely entrusted to review it on Chen Xin's behalf; on specific matters it was not good to oppose Song Wenxian, lest he make things difficult for the people below.

"Since Director Song said so, then carry on as you have been. But don't go overboard in anything. Though the localities may fear you for a time, they will also impeach you. If it draws the imperial court's attention, that won't be a good thing either."

"This humble one knows that too. So I often give those clerks some gifts as well — what Lord Song calls a big stick in one hand and a... branch in the other. Anyway, you have to give some silver. I'm not boasting now, but in Linxian there's nothing that can't be done. The street toughs and ruffians in town all listen to me. From small matters like land disputes to big ones like murder and arson, even when garrison households fight with locals, I'm the one who settles it..."

"How do you settle it?"

"This old man draws his blade to scare them."

"Alright, alright." Liu Minyou shook his head and cut him off. "Wang Fu, let me tell you, the Inspectorate will also supervise your External Affairs Department. If you commit murder or arson without cause, you will likewise be punished."

Wang Fu was stunned for a moment. "Wasn't it said that the Trading Company can kill? I've met Wang Erya from Linqing — she said local officials remember both favors and beatings. And those people from the Intelligence Bureau, can't they kill too? Why is it that when I commit murder and arson it's not allowed?"

Liu Minyou was momentarily dumbfounded. He had not expected Wang Fu to say something like that, and for a moment found it hard to explain. Capital carried blood with it, and this was becoming more and more evident in the Trading Company. The expansion of cotton cloth had not even begun yet. Once that behemoth of an industry started up, he did not know what the Trading Company would become.

He put on a stern face toward Wang Fu and said, "Each department has its own rules. The Intelligence Bureau and the army are in the killing trade — of course they commit murder and arson, but not recklessly. Otherwise what use would military law be? Since you belong to External Affairs, do not exceed the scope of External Affairs. If External Affairs also uses blades to conduct external affairs, then you might as well merge into the Intelligence Bureau."

"I reckon merging over would be even better..."

Liu Minyou waved his hand impatiently and dismissed Wang Fu.

The dumb monk beside him said blankly, "This Wang Fu is interesting. That Wang Erya speaks sense."

Liu Minyou glared at him. "Sense my foot. What kind of people does Song Wenxian have under him? Chen Xin did well to place him in Linxian — keeping him in Denglai would be a disaster. We've finished checking Linxian these past few days. Tomorrow we head back to Linqing."

The Four Seas Trading Company's Linqing branch was right next door to the original Dongyue Tobacco Workshop. After the gruesome case of the Dongyue Tobacco Workshop proprietor, the Linqing business community was extremely fearful of Wang Erya. The proprietor's relatives had even filed a lawsuit in Jinan, but by then Xu Congzhi had already hooked up with Chen Xin, and the Regional Inspector paid no attention to the case. The Linqing Department Magistrate dared even less to interfere. Now that Wen Tiren held full power, he had sent his household servants to Jinan to greet Xu Congzhi, and the Four Seas Trading Company faced no obstructions anywhere in Shandong.

Linqing was now an important base for the Trading Company, because the Dongyue Tobacco Factory here also had a production function directly under the Trading Company. This year Zhou Laifu had already applied to produce Wendeng Incense at Dongyue. The Wendeng Tobacco Factory was resisting on grounds of easy leakage of secrets, and the dispute was about to reach Liu Minyou.

Besides Zhou Laifu, Wang Erya was also vigorously supporting it, proposing the Trading Company's secrecy measures and citing various cost-related reasons. Liu Minyou had been here two days, both spent under Wang Erya's lobbying. In the end he had no choice but to hide in his own small courtyard and have the dumb monk block Wang Erya outside.

In the afternoon, Wang Daixi came in from outside, holding a stack of ledgers in her arms, wanting to report the audit results to Liu Minyou.

Wang Daixi wore a white fox-fur coat, her complexion quite rosy. She walked over the accumulated snow in the courtyard, speaking quietly with the dumb monk as she came. When she saw Liu Minyou in the main room, she immediately put on a smiling face.

"Mr. Liu, the silver accounts and goods inventories have all been checked. The audit teams from Dezhou, Liaocheng, and Jiningzhou have also returned. Linqing I checked myself."

"Mm." Liu Minyou reached out to take the stack of documents. Before he even began flipping through them, he was drawn by the bright color of Wang Daixi's attire. He took an extra glance and couldn't help smiling. "This rouge is applied very well. But don't use those so-called whitening products — they contain too much lead and mercury. Using them does no good for the body, and later it won't be good for your children either."

"Ah! Really?" Wang Daixi hurriedly wiped her face twice.

"Of course it's true. Tell the women in your Finance Department not to use those whitening products." Liu Minyou turned back to continue reading the documents, saying as he did, "That mercury is definitely over the limit — it's harmful to the body."

"Mm, I'll remember. I'll tell them when I get back." Wang Daixi answered obediently in a low voice. Though she was from a powerful department in Dengzhou Garrison, in front of Liu Minyou she always felt there was so much she didn't understand, and she never played politics with him. Taking advantage of Liu Minyou looking at the ledgers in his hands, she secretly watched his profile, her eyes flickering.

"It seems Wang Erya keeps things quite tight. There aren't many errors or omissions in the accounts anywhere. It's just this... this figure can't be verified."

Wang Daixi had been absorbed in watching him when she suddenly realized Liu Minyou had stopped speaking. She froze for a moment, then hurriedly replied, "These summer and winter 'greetings' are everywhere. Zhang Dahui in Jingshi reports even more. What's reported is this amount, but how much was actually given is truly impossible to verify. There's no guarantee there isn't some embezzlement. The Trading Company is still relatively good — they have rules. Gift money must be delivered by two people together, but it's also easy for two people to keep each other's secrets. Any more people and the officials won't permit it. It's really not very convenient."

Liu Minyou pondered and said, "Then perhaps we could check their accounts at the money shops."

Wang Daixi said quietly, "Brother Liu, it's better not to check. Linqing has money shops as numerous as ox hairs. Checking their accounts at the Four Seas Money Shop is useless. Even if they embezzled, they'd exchange it for silver notes at other money shops and carry them. You can't find it. The Finance Department has checked in previous years too, all with little effect."

Liu Minyou frowned. "The leak in this area is rather large. Do you have the amounts checked in Dezhou, Jining, and Liaocheng? How much for department magistrates, county magistrates, and clerks respectively?"

"Yes, I do. Department magistrates around two thousand a year, county magistrates one to two thousand. For clerks it's based on their local prestige. There are also the customs posts. In some places it's calculated by the year, in some places by the boat. Linqing is also more than those other places, so this silver is hard to calculate."

"Record the figures. I'll go back and ask Song Wenxian and the others. This matter should also be reported — it would be better that way, to avoid the Trading Company sending gifts and External Affairs sending them again. If they're roughly the same, then we'll set a standard for them in the future. The canal route will follow this calculation. Anything exceeding it must have a reasonable explanation."

Wang Daixi blinked. "Then Brother Liu, you always talk about dividing powers. Could we let only External Affairs handle managing local officials, and the Trading Company would no longer have expenditures in this area?"

Liu Minyou lowered his head and thought. Suddenly the image of Wang Fu surfaced in his mind. He immediately shook his head. "Forget it. The Trading Company deals with the localities far more often than External Affairs does. Don't tie their hands. Besides, External Affairs' accounts are also a muddled mess — we still can't verify them."

"Alright." Wang Daixi answered obediently, without the slightest insistence.

Liu Minyou turned his head to look at her. That thirteen-year-old little girl from back then was now a graceful, beautiful young woman. He couldn't help smiling at her. "Daixi is a grown young lady now. There aren't many people in Dengzhou Garrison who don't fear you now. It's also thanks to your own capability — the Finance Department is managed very well. No one can say anything about it."

Wang Daixi giggled, showing a hint of girlishness for the first time. She said to Liu Minyou, "It's all learned from following Brother Liu. If the few of us little beggars hadn't happened to meet you two brothers back then, grass would be growing on our graves by now."

Liu Minyou widened his eyes. "You still call yourself a little beggar — aren't you afraid those department heads and battalion commanders won't fear you after hearing that?"

Wang Daixi raised her head proudly. "I'm not afraid at all. Weren't they all trackers and refugees before? How were they any better than beggars? The other day I invited Brother Gouzi and Brother Erhui for drinks. We just talked about our begging days right there in the tavern. What's there to be afraid of?"

Liu Minyou laughed in spite of himself. "That's true. Your Brother Chen and I can also be counted as refugees. You're very good — you haven't changed your simplicity." He finished and sighed. "External Affairs and the Trading Company both have to deal with the outside world and will always pick up this or that bad habit. But within our Dengzhou Garrison it must not be so. Some people think currying favor and cutting corners is a kind of cleverness. Their eyes see the advantages they can gain, but they don't know that they've lost even more advantages their eyes can't see. If everyone curries favor and cuts corners, then where does anyone gain advantages from? In the end, what is lost will certainly be more than what is gained. People are still better off being a bit simpler." (To be continued...)

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