Chapter 104: The Prefect Takes Office

With the cabinet candidates released, there is joy in some families and sorrow in others in the court.

A new official takes office with three fires.

Whether it is the two newly entered Grand Secretaries or Grand Secretary Pang, who has been promoted to Senior Grand Secretary, they all need to make achievements.

The government affairs that had been piled up before were all included in the processing schedule at once.

The most direct manifestation is that the personnel appointments that were previously undecided were passed in the shortest possible time.

Receiving the news that the Yangzhou Prefect candidate had been confirmed, Li Mu, who was acting as the manager of Yangzhou City, very sensibly moved out of the prefectural office in advance.

"My lord, I have just received news that the new Yangzhou Prefect, Prefect Gu, Yangzhou Vice Prefect Ma, Yangzhou Assistant Prefect Zhou, Yangzhou Judge...... will arrive tomorrow.

What standard should be used to welcome them, you still need to come up with a charter."

Finishing the leadership team of Yangzhou Prefecture in one breath, Lan Linjie was uneasy in his heart.

Having the old incident of Marquis Wuyang targeting Grand Secretary Xu, he was really afraid that his lord would follow suit and give the officials of Yangzhou Prefecture a show of force first.

"According to the rules of officialdom, just arrange it normally.

Most of these people are Grand Secretary Xu's people, so I imagine they should be easy to talk to."

Li Mu said with a smile.

His superior had offended Grand Secretary Xu quite a bit before.

Although he did not directly come forward, he still supported Marquis Wuyang in his actions.

Now he had encountered a group of Grand Secretary Xu's little brothers, and who knew if there would be a few hotheads among them who wanted to vent their anger for their boss.

In officialdom, the relationship between the bosses of the camps is not good, and the relationship between the little brothers is also likely not good.

A bad relationship does not affect everyone working together.

When the imperial court appoints local officials, what it likes most is to put officials with conflicts together, so as not to let local forces collude.

"My lord, you must not be careless.

This Prefect Gu is Grand Secretary Xu's proud student, and he also came down from being a Hanlin Academician; he has an extraordinary status in the Chu faction!"

Lan Linjie reminded him cautiously.

When capital officials are sent out, they also look at people to serve dishes.

Generally, young officials who come out of the Hanlin Academy will be looked at with high regard.

Especially those who can become Hanlin Academicians, they are the ones who often brush their presence in front of the Emperor and the cabinet bigwigs.

In the eyes of the outside world, their status will be raised a notch.

Added to the special position of Yangzhou Prefect, one can determine at a glance that Gu Youwen is an official whom the imperial court is focusing on cultivating.

Usually, such officials have much more political resources at their disposal than ordinary officials.

"Rest assured, I know the importance of the matter.

The bigger Prefect Gu's background is, the more beneficial it is for us.

The current situation in Yangzhou Prefecture needs a capable and strong prefect to clean up the mess.

What he needs most is political achievements; whoever can help provide political achievements is his friend.

As far as I know, his position as Yangzhou Prefect was first recommended by Marquis Wuyang.

We do have some conflicts with Grand Secretary Xu's lineage, but it is far from reaching the point of life and death.

Some things, just do it for the outside world to see, there is no need to really become enemies."

Li Mu waved his hand and said.

The situation in Yangzhou is special; no matter who serves as prefect, they cannot do without the cooperation of the military.

Local armed forces were wiped out in the rebellion and have not recovered to this day.

The Capital Camp and the Wucheng Military Commission only temporarily took over the defense, and subsequent ones will be gradually handed over.

Although local military officers have been appointed one after another, it will take time to restore strength.

The salt tax reform was successful, but it is currently only a success on paper.

The salt industry in the two Huai regions is in a state of recovery and is unable to provide tax payments in the short term.

Salt taxes in other places are being collected one after another, and it will take some days before the money can be sent to the capital.

In the short term, the imperial court's finances are still seriously in deficit.

The states and counties under Yangzhou are even poorer.

Lacking official financial support, wanting to reorganize local troops depends entirely on the personal efforts of the generals.

Li Mu is confident that he can get money, so he dares to recruit thousands of soldiers at once; other generals do not have this courage.

In the short term, the only ones with a little combat effectiveness in Yangzhou are the thousands of regular troops under his command.

Just ending a rebellion, there are quite a few fish that slipped through the net wandering outside.

If you want local peace, there are many places that need to rely on him.

Just for this point, Prefect Gu cannot make things too ugly.

Late at night, on the grain transport ship.

"Brother Gu, Yangzhou City is about to arrive.

From the information collected, the current situation in Yangzhou is not very good.

I wonder if you have any strategy for what comes next?"

Ma Cunzhong asked with concern.

As a combination to clean up the mess, they are now all people on the same boat.

If Yangzhou Prefecture is governed well, everyone will be promoted with political achievements.

If things are messed up, everyone will go to the cold office together, and it is possible that they will be held accountable.

"Brother Ma, you are too subtle.

The situation in Yangzhou is not just bad; it is terrible.

Just looking at the three difficulties in front of us.

First, the hundreds of thousands of refugees outside Yangzhou City need us to settle them.

The dredging of the moat has been completed, and now those refugees have all been sent by Assistant Regional Commander Li to build barracks.

In the short term, there are not so many projects in Yangzhou Prefecture to continue work-for-relief, or rather, the imperial court's finances do not allow it.

How to persuade people to return and settle them properly is the first trouble.

Secondly, a large number of prisoners of war in Yangzhou need us to deal with them.

My teacher specifically explained that these prisoners of war must be handled with caution.

One cannot raise the butcher's knife, nor can one deal with them lightly.

It is best to handle it low-key, so as not to leave disgraceful memories in the history books.

Finally, the three states and seven counties were destroyed in the war, and we need to be responsible for reconstruction.

If the imperial court could allocate enough money and grain, these problems would not be problems.

But the funds allocated by the imperial court total only three hundred thousand taels, which is simply not enough to do so many things.

The local gentry in Yangzhou were also severely damaged in the war; even if they have the heart to contribute, I fear they can't do much.

The problem is thorny!"

Gu Youwen couldn't help but sigh.

In officialdom, everyone wants to climb up.

But the process of climbing up is arduous.

The more the imperial court values you, the more you have to solve problems for the imperial court.

That kind of fool who does nothing and complains all day about not being appreciated, no one looks at.

In the Great Dayu, those who do things are not necessarily promoted, but officials who have made political achievements will definitely be scrambled for by major factions.

Even if there was no background relationship before, after making a name for themselves, there will be a background coming to the door.

The reason is very simple; the current Emperor is pragmatic, and officials entering the cabinet look at political achievements.

It doesn't matter if you can't make political achievements yourself; if your subordinates can make political achievements, it can also count as political achievements.

"Brother Gu, since you have seen through the problems, things have actually been half solved.

Yangzhou Prefecture lacks money, but it also doesn't lack money.

A large number of ownerless things left after the war can all be turned into money.

The trouble now is that there are too many people eyeing them, and wanting to sell things is not an easy matter."

Assistant Prefect Zhou on the side added accordingly.

They hadn't even left the capital yet, and there were a lot of people greeting them.

From princes and nobles to hundred officials in the court, although nothing was explicitly stated, the intention to share a piece of the pie was obvious.

No matter how much ownerless land there is, it is not enough for the nobles in the court to divide.

"Brother Zhou is right; the current Yangzhou Prefecture is a big piece of fat meat in their eyes.

It seems that the distribution power is in our hands, but in reality, we cannot afford to offend anyone.

Let alone anything else, if we really satisfy their wishes, I fear it will be difficult to collect taxes in Yangzhou Prefecture in the future.

My meaning is that we can sell a portion of the ownerless land, but we cannot sell it all.

The yamen needs to operate, and leaving a portion of official fields is also an income."

Gu Youwen said helplessly.

Being an official in the Great Dayu is too difficult.

The nobles in the court cannot be offended, and local taxes must be guaranteed.

If you want a good reputation, you also have to consider people's livelihood.

Land annexation is a general trend, and no one can stop it.

As a member of the gentry interest group, they also have no way to stop it.

Unable to stop it does not mean that they agree with it.

Besides those who seek fame and reputation, the Great Dayu also has officials who want to do practical things.

Even within the Qingliu, there are not one or two officials who oppose land annexation.

It is not a betrayal of the class, but they have realized the harmfulness of land annexation.

Early the next morning, the Yangzhou gentry were already waiting at the docks, preparing to welcome the arrival of Prefect Gu.

This treatment was completely different from when Grand Secretary Xu came last time; it was like heaven and earth.

Among the local gentry, the seven most powerful families had been uprooted, and the remaining wealthy clans had all learned their lesson.

With no big shots fighting, everyone was very respectful to the local magistrate.

As the highest-ranking official currently in Yangzhou, Li Mu did not appear in the welcoming party, but was instead waiting at the prefectural office for the transfer of power.

It was not that he was disrespecting Prefect Gu, but in the officialdom of the Great Yu, there was no rule that a superior should welcome a subordinate.

No matter how high and powerful the Yangzhou Prefect was, his rank was still only Senior Rank Four, while an Assistant Regional Commander was Senior Rank Three.

Ordinary military officers had to bow to civil officials for the sake of military funding, which led to the saying that civil officials were noble and military officers were lowly.

Li Mu, who had a clear plan for military funding, clearly did not belong to this category.

Bringing a group of colleagues ashore and scanning the crowd of welcomers, Gu Youwen felt a slight sense of disappointment.

Apart from the local gentry, the only official representative was actually just a private secretary.

Not only did Li Mu, this Assistant Regional Commander, not come, but not a single one of the high-ranking military officers appeared either.

"I am sorry to trouble you all for coming here to welcome me; I am truly unworthy of such an honor!"

He felt uncomfortable inside, but he did not show it on his face.

The scale of the welcome before him was entirely standard and conventional.

There was neither a show of force to intimidate him nor any intention to curry favor.

The absence of official representatives was because the local officials were either behind him or still rushing to Yangzhou from all over the country.

Not only were civil officials in short supply, but military officers were also severely lacking.

The Beijing Garrison and the Wucheng Military Commission could not be counted; even if those generals could come to welcome him, he, Gu Youwen, would choose to avoid them.

In officialdom, if one wants to rise quickly, civil and military officials cannot get too close, especially with military officers in the capital.

"Student Lan Linjie pays his respects to the Prefect and all the other lords.

The Assistant Regional Commander has official business to attend to and cannot come to welcome you from afar.

He specifically instructed this student to prepare a banquet at the office to welcome you all.

I humbly ask you all to move there!"

Lan Linjie said, looking slightly excited.

As a mere provincial graduate, being able to meet so many imperial officials here was enough for him to brag about when he returned.

It was no wonder so many people were willing to be private secretaries; if one truly performed well in this position, one could really accumulate connections.

If he had stayed in his hometown, before passing the metropolitan examination, the limit of his reach would have been the County Magistrate.

He might even have had to queue up just to see the County Magistrate.

It would have been impossible to chat and laugh with a group of imperial officials.

"Thank you, Mr. Lan, please lead the way!"

Gu Youwen said slowly.

From the reactions of the crowd, he could see it.

Today's welcome was clearly led by Lan Linjie.

Although the local gentry had all come, they were still looking at the expression of Assistant Regional Commander Li behind Lan Linjie.

It was very rare in the Great Yu Dynasty for a military officer to have such a deterrent effect on local gentry.

From this brief contact, he knew that wanting to control Yangzhou Prefecture was not as simple as he had imagined.

The group of officials accompanying him also had very ugly expressions after disembarking.

It was unclear whether it was the effect of seasickness or because Li Mu did not come in person, making them feel they had lost face.

(End of chapter)