Chapter 226: An Audience Requested

When Cao Bianjiao led his troops back to Lintao Prefecture and brought the envoys of the Tumed tribe with him, Cao Wenzhao immediately took more than a dozen Mongol envoys and hurried to Pingliang Prefecture to pay respects to Sun Chuanting, the Shaanxi Governor who was inspecting Pingliang Prefecture.

Since wiping out Gao Yingxiang and pacifying Ningxia Town, Sun Chuanting's main energy had been devoted to matters such as military farmland and settling the people.

Cui Shisheng, Xie Renxing, Yang Mingsheng and others, along with a large number of officials from Xi'an Prefecture, were transferred to Pingliang Prefecture to assist local officials in launching large-scale efforts to gather roving refugees, build water conservancy works, and reclaim wasteland for farming.

The successful experience of Xi'an Prefecture was transplanted wholesale to Pingliang. Combined with the extremely abundant water resources of the Hetao region, vast tracts of fertile wasteland, and the large surplus grain from Xi'an Prefecture's consecutive bumper harvests as support, Pingliang Prefecture completely shed its former appearance of sparse population and listlessness, becoming bustling beyond compare. Groups of people reclaiming wasteland could be seen almost everywhere across the Hetao plain. New villages stood quietly at the edges of freshly cultivated fields. Nearly a million refugees were spread across the vast Hetao plain, and almost no face showed numbness or despair any longer—one by one, faces full of vitality came alive again.

Sun Chuanting ordered all clerks and runners from the Governor's yamen and various local government offices to be dispatched, divided into small teams, each responsible for implementing the various regulations formulated by the prefectural government.

To mobilize the enthusiasm of the lower-level clerks handling affairs, and following the pay raise standards Zhu Youjian had implemented in the capital, Sun Chuanting distributed the large sums of silver seized from suppressing bandits directly as subsidies into the hands of every person handling specific tasks, stating clearly that His Majesty had provided the silver from the privy purse as subsidies. This approach greatly increased the zeal of officials and runners at all levels. Combined with the inspections of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Censors, the various policies for settling the people were by and large implemented very well.

After the winter wheat was sown, building water conservancy works became the top priority of the entire slack farming season.

Under the survey and guidance of officials from the Waterways Bureau of the Ministry of Works, large waterwheels were being erected along the Yellow River, with channels built of green stone beneath the wheels running straight to the fields. When spring came the following year, these fertile lands on both banks of the Yellow River would no longer worry about lacking water for irrigation. That a bountiful harvest was in sight had become the consensus of everyone from officials down to common folk.

"Since Your Excellency the Governor personally came to Pingliang, the second half of the ninth year of Chongzhen is a year this subordinate will never forget. This subordinate never imagined that government officials ought to respond to disasters and the people in this manner, nor has he ever seen such unity between officials and common folk, working together to overcome hardship! Everything Your Excellency thinks and does breaks new ground in history. Having Governor Sun governing Shaanxi is truly Shaanxi's fortune and the Great Ming's fortune! This subordinate never realized that being an official could bring such joy. Now my heart is filled with soaring ambition—I only wish to follow Your Excellency in achieving even greater accomplishments!"

Xie Yannian, the Prefect of Pingliang, said with a ruddy face, cupping his hands toward Sun Chuanting.

Xie Yannian, nearing forty, was a jinshi of the fourth year of Tianqi. After passing the examination, he had been shuffled through prefectures and counties across the Great Ming. Though he had indeed made some achievements in governance and gradually risen to the fifth rank, he had always served in remote and desolate places.

He had been in Pingliang for four years. According to the new regulations of the Ministry of Personnel, when his term ended next year he would be transferred to serve elsewhere. Lacking powerful backing at court, Xie Yannian knew well that a capital post was out of the question, a transfer to the prosperous Jiangnan region on equal terms was also difficult to arrange, and his most likely fate was to serve in a major prefecture in Shandong, Henan, or Huguang.

Though he harbored deep dissatisfaction toward the court, reality was what it was—with connections at court, being an official was easy; without backing, he had no choice but to accept his lot.

Out of pessimism and disappointment about his future, compounded by years of drought in Shaanxi with refugees and bandits rising on all sides, and the court providing almost no support to local governments in Shaanxi, Xie Yannian, overwhelmed and struggling to hold on, gradually grew lax in his official duties.

Besides his various grievances against the court, Xie Yannian was also very pessimistic about the overall situation of the Great Ming. With natural disasters, man-made calamities, and the roving bandits growing ever more powerful, how much longer could the court hold out?

All of this had undergone tremendous change since last year. Especially this year—after the new Governor Sun Chuanting wiped out Gao Yingxiang, made Pingliang Prefecture another important base for settling Shaanxi's refugees, and adopted a series of direct and effective measures, Xie Yannian's gradually cooling heart burned hot once more.

His words just now were not flattery; they truly came from the bottom of his heart.

Sun Chuanting's leading by personal example and the various policies he promoted completely shattered the convention of government offices always standing aloof and lording over the people. They also transformed Xie Yannian's understanding: being an official could both benefit the people and bring one a tremendous sense of accomplishment and pride.

"This subordinate feels exactly the same as the Prefect! In his conduct, Your Excellency accomplishes what others cannot, does what predecessors never did, rescues millions of people from fire and water, and annihilates thousands of bandit troops in an instant—all such deeds leave this subordinate far behind. To serve under Your Excellency in this lifetime is truly this subordinate's great fortune!"

Fang Wen, the Vice Prefect of Pingliang, also bowed in praise.

Because of his meritorious service in wiping out bandits like Ma Jinzhong, and because Sun Chuanting had been unstinting in his praise in the merit report, Fang Wen, formerly the County Magistrate of Lingtai, had been promoted by leaps and bounds to the sixth-rank post of Vice Prefect of Pingliang. The post of County Magistrate of Lingtai was temporarily filled by Yang Mingsheng, whom Sun Chuanting had elevated.

Although Yang Mingsheng was only a government student by status, Sun Chuanting, upholding Zhu Youjian's will of appointing people by virtue, morality, and ability, submitted a memorial to the Ministry of Personnel while also sending a memorial to Zhu Youjian, laying out the meritorious deeds of Yang Mingsheng, Cui Shisheng, Xie Renxing and others over the past two years. Zhu Youjian, in his appreciation, instructed the Minister of Personnel Zhou Yun to approve Sun Chuanting's recommendation.

Sun Chuanting's action also gave hope to the many clerks who lacked scholarly credentials but had outstanding practical abilities: as long as they worked with dedication, they too might one day govern a region like Yang Mingsheng, rather than spending their entire lives mixed among the lower ranks, ordered about by their superiors.

"The path of officialdom must prioritize holding fast to one's original intentions—only thus can goodness be maintained from beginning to end. When we first read the books of the sages, what was in our hearts but thoughts of wealth and glory? Even if one becomes an official for personal gain, when that gain is achieved, if one incidentally improves the livelihood of the people under one's governance—why not welcome such a perfect outcome benefiting both sides? I detest most those officials who disregard public interest and oppress the people to satisfy themselves! When such men hold office, they ignore the suffering of the people, spending their days thinking only of fine wine, beautiful women, and currying favor. They wield the authority granted by the court yet make no use of it for the people's benefit! Such mediocre officials and wicked clerks deserve to be killed by all! Shoucun, Xiuzhi, you must remember well what I say today. In the future, no matter what rank you rise to, let benefiting the people be your priority in all matters. Only thus will you not betray the teachings of the sages, and only thus can your conscience find some peace!"

Sun Chuanting sat upright in the main seat of the second hall of the Pingliang Prefectural office, his piercing gaze fixed on Xie Yannian and Fang Wen below. Both men, upon hearing this, rose with solemn expressions to bow and receive his instruction.

After several months of working together, Sun Chuanting had developed a good impression of these two young officials, Xie Yannian and Fang Wen. In carrying out the series of decisions he had formulated, both men were able to set aside their dignity and personally go to the front lines to participate in the process of settling refugees—a rare and commendable quality in the officialdom of the Great Ming.

Whatever their motives, for months the two men had spared no effort, traveling tirelessly among the various prefectures and counties of Pingliang, throwing themselves wholeheartedly into every assignment. It was precisely their exemplary leadership by example that kept officials at every level beneath them brimming with drive, and allowed the various measures for settling refugees to be implemented more effectively.

Sun Chuanting was very satisfied with the various achievements he had made since taking office in Shaanxi, and secretly felt proud: looking across the Great Ming, whether in suppressing bandits or settling the people, who could achieve such tremendous accomplishments in just two short years? Hong Chengchou? Lu Xiangsheng? Those useless men in the Grand Secretariat? Those mediocrities in the Six Ministries? Hmph, hmph!

Regarding the Emperor's promotion of Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng to Grand Secretary, Sun Chuanting felt slight dissatisfaction in his heart, but quickly came to terms with it: without the two of them, Hong and Lu, struggling to hold things together for years, even if he had entered official service he would have faced an unmanageable mess—such an outcome was truly unthinkable.

Just then, Xie Renxing hurried in from outside the hall. After greeting Sun Chuanting, he reported: "Your Excellency the Governor, Regional Commander Cao of Lintao has arrived outside the yamen. He says the envoys of the Mongol Tumed tribe request an audience!"