Chapter 506: with translation of chapter title

In just a few days, Hezhou seemed to have changed its appearance.

On the main street, the previously listless shops are now almost fully open, and many new stores are also in frantic preparation.

Conversely, perhaps a large number of city residents left the city, accepting the county office's resettlement, moving to villages outside to settle and reclaim wasteland. Strangely, this large-scale exodus of people did not affect urban shop business; instead, business improved somewhat.

The garrison troops inside and outside the city, as well as the workers who went to Qing Mountain to open mines, are now considered high-income earners in this city; they contribute a large portion of income to these shops, while the remainder comes from the original old customers.

Most venues in this city were originally beyond the means of ordinary people; what they could access were nothing more than the basic necessities of firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, clothing, and food.

That day, after Chen Wuji made a round of visits in the city, he met the scholars recommended by Yuan Qi.

Getting these people to come was not easy.

Chen Wuji sent his personal guards to invite them, but on the first attempt only two people agreed to come.

The others either refused to meet, or threatened that Chen Wuji would have to kill them if he could, saying it was absolutely impossible for them to serve him, and so on, spouting a lot of nonsense.

Chen Wuji is now busy to death every day, but he has no time for the whole 'three visits to the thatched cottage' affair.

Moreover, these fellows hardly seem worthy of Chen Wuji's three visits; the information Yuan Qi gave had already written a clean background for these people.

When the first invitation failed, Chen Wuji the second time directly sent troops to fetch them, bringing them all over in one go.

Still in the familiar Qinzhi Hall, Chen Wuji threw a stack of paper in front of these scholars.

"These are some places where the office is urgently short of talent; you look for yourselves and pick whichever you like." Chen Wuji got straight to the point, without a word of pleasantries or nonsense, simpler and cruder than modern interviews.

The office is currently severely short of staff; if it weren't so, he wouldn't have resorted to this measure.

These people are unwilling, but he also has to let them choose a satisfactory post from this batch of duties.

A group of scholars looked at each other, and after hesitating for a while, even though each of their expressions was extremely unwilling, they still picked up the papers on the desk and each began to read a few sheets.

"Commandant, may I know what this is?" a scholar suddenly asked, holding up the paper in his hand.

"Paper!" Chen Wuji said casually while leaning on his desk, "This will be Hezhou's biggest specialty from now on; if anyone among you is interested in this, there are also some duties here responsible for it."

That scholar followed up, "I want to see the person who made this; if the Commandant can grant this modest request of mine, I will do whatever duty the Commandant assigns me."

"Sure, there are two people behind the creation of paper, and I am one of them; you have already met me, so ask any questions you have." Chen Wuji said casually while munching melon seeds.

The scholar was stunned, he looked Chen Wuji up and down, his face full of disbelief.

"What's with that expression? Hard to believe?" Chen Wuji raised his eyebrows slightly.

The scholar bowed and said, "Indeed it is somewhat unexpected; may I know how this is made?"

"I cannot tell you; this involves confidential matters."

"I understand; then I have no objections and am willing to follow the Commandant's orders."

Chen Wuji laughed, "You're straightforward; just asking that one question and that's it?"

"I do have a few other questions, but since this is confidential, I won't ask further." The young scholar bowed sincerely and said, "On behalf of all scholars, I thank the Commandant; this is nothing short of a treasure for scholars worldwide."

"It is inherently a treasure!" Chen Wuji said confidently.

"It is more convenient and cheaper than bamboo slips, and easier to preserve; how could it not be a treasure?"

Chen Wuji's single remark stirred up a thousand waves; this group of scholars, instead of studying the duties listed on the paper, gathered together to discuss the paper itself and its possible other uses.

The topic instantly went off track to the grandmother's house.

Chen Wuji waited a moment, seeing that they had no intention of stopping, he lightly coughed and said, "Take your time researching the paper privately; first look at what you have in your hands."

These scholars then fell silent at once and began earnestly studying the duties listed on the paper.

To Chen Wuji's slight surprise, not a single person boldly said they would not do it.

It seems sending troops to fetch them was a very correct choice.

"I heard the Commandant has reduced market taxes and land tax; why aren't there positions like the various assistants, clerks, orderlies, and jailers of the Household Bureau listed here?" a scholar asked, standing up.

"The Household Bureau of the prefecture office is temporarily not short of staff," Chen Wuji said.

"But given the Commandant's grand proclamation, the existing staff of the prefecture office is absolutely insufficient; it would be appropriate to add a few clerks to assist the Sihou Staff Officer." The scholar came forward and made this suggestion to Chen Wuji.

How could Chen Wuji not know how severely the Household Bureau is short-staffed, with those clerks each doing the work of several people; it's not that he is unwilling to add staff to the Bureau, but rather other places have loopholes and are even more strained.

"Why do you want to go to the Household Bureau?" Chen Wuji asked.

"I want to see whether the things the Commandant has done are real or false."

Chen Wuji's face darkened somewhat, "How long have the prefecture's notices been posted? You've spouted big talk; could this be false? Where have you been studying, kid?"

"I know, but I still want to see; this is quite rare. If everything from top to bottom is exactly as the Commandant's notices say, then I would be very willing to serve as a lowly soldier under the Commandant, handling household duties in peacetime and taking up my sword to follow the Commandant in battle in wartime." The scholar said proudly.

"The Lingnan Six Commanderies are utterly corrupt; the Court... I won't speak ill of the Court, but the reason I don't is basically that there's nothing to say. If the Commandant truly matches his words with deeds, what would it matter if we risk our lives? We scholars read the sages' books; we cannot just look and not act, hiding in the mountains as petty people."

"You kid, you sure talk a lot; what's your name?" Chen Wuji was quite pleased with this person.

"I am Xu Zhang!"

"Good, from now on you will be an assistant to the Sihou Staff Officer and work in the Household Bureau." Chen Wuji waved his hand, assigning this fellow his duty, then said to everyone, "The promotion logic in the Hezhou Prefecture Office is simple: reward merit, punish fault."

"Although your starting point for now is all as clerks, as long as you achieve administrative performance, I can promote you to official rank at any time; there are many vacant positions above, and whoever has the ability will rise."

"Speaking of this, I must mention the Sihou Staff Officer, Lord Zhang Xun; he too was formerly a clerk, and when you have free time you can consult him more for experience on promotion and wealth."