Chapter 1539: Establishing a Province

Li Jingsi deliberately spoke with brimming confidence, currying favor with the marshal. "The troops under his command are mostly northerners, unused to ships and seamanship — that much is true. But is anyone born knowing how to handle the water? A few more training sessions and they'll pick it up. Japan is an island nation, but it's not all that far from the mainland; a boat ride won't cost too much time. Brigadier Zhao is a fine commander, and his soldiers are elite troops. There's absolutely no way they can't overcome this small difficulty. Marshal, please set your mind at ease and watch your men go on to win great merit and serve the nation!"

Because the Central Plains and Jiangnan had been pacified, with only a few border regions still at war, the Great Han army was now effectively divided into several major operational groups, each overseen by a marshal.

Although the marshals were all old brothers of many years, as close to one another as kin, they were now each of marshal rank, with countless subordinates under their command — men all waiting to rely on them for promotion. And so, based on the strength each held, several distinct factions had subtly formed.

Earlier, thanks to the achievement of destroying the Jianzhou Jurchen regime, the Northeast Army and its commander Chen Sheng had held the highest prestige and reputation in the military, and naturally the greatest number of high-ranking officers promoted from the northeast. Recently, however, the situation had shifted slightly.

Setting the other marshals aside for the moment, the two marshals who controlled the great armies of the northwest and southwest — Duke of Cao, Ji Xiang, and Duke of Cai, Shi Manqiang — were now, in terms of momentum, quietly catching up to Duke of Ji, Chen Sheng.

The armies these two marshals controlled, due to years of continuous campaigning, were now no smaller in scale than the Northeast Army. Moreover, because the Liaodong campaign had gradually wound down, the only places left to consistently earn military merit were within their jurisdictions. Thus, the officers of their two factions had also been promoted in large numbers. No matter how hard Liaodong worked to mop up the remaining Jianzhou rebels, how could its prestige and results compare to those two regions, which raised large armies year after year to suppress the Mongols and the Ming remnants?

And so, the faction that had once dominated the military was now suddenly being squeezed by two new factions, its original standing quietly beginning to waver. Under these circumstances, the senior officers of the Northeast Army were growing anxious at heart, constantly seeking a new place to seize military merit in order to solidify and maintain their position.

When word came that the Emperor intended to launch a campaign against Japan and appoint Zhao Song as its commander, the Northeast Army's senior leadership breathed a sigh of relief.

The Emperor appointed Zhao Song as commander of the Japan expedition partly because Zhao Song was bold and resourceful in battle, and partly as a reaffirmation of Liaodong and the Northeast Army's standing in the military.

The conquest of Japan, it was clear to see, would be the Great Han's largest military operation in recent years. If it succeeded at the first stroke, then as long as Zhao Song and the regiment directly under him were rewarded for their merit, the Northeast Army faction's prestige would naturally surge once more, returning it to its former status.

It was precisely for this reason that the entire Northeast Army, from top to bottom, placed such immense importance on Zhao Song and this expedition, not daring to be the least bit negligent.

Though not a military man himself, Li Jingsi had, after all, been tempered by many years of experience and was an extremely sharp judge of character. Thus, his flattery and ingratiation with the Duke of Ji proved remarkably effective. And once he got talking, his mind grew focused, and his body, which had been on the verge of collapse, recovered somewhat.

"Lord Li..." Just as he was about to close his eyes and rest a while longer, he heard a greeting from beside him.

He turned his head and saw that the one addressing him was none other than Staff Officer Ning Zeguang. This rather refined and genteel officer, despite having stood for so long, showed no signs of the same exhaustion that afflicted him.

"Lord Ning, what guidance do you have for me?" he asked, somewhat curious.

"My rank is low and my position humble — how could I presume to offer guidance to Your Excellency?" Ning Zeguang smiled faintly. "I merely have a matter I wished to ask you about."

"Staff Officer Ning, please ask freely. I will tell you everything I know."

"I wonder, regarding the matter of establishing a province in Liaodong — to what stage has it progressed?" Ning Zeguang shifted his gaze, looking once more at the distant ocean waves, as if inquiring about some trivial affair.

"Mm..." Li Jingsi's expression, however, instantly grew grave.

He pondered for a moment before answering in a low voice. "The Cabinet... the Cabinet has more or less settled on a plan. Some time ago, the Cabinet even dispatched a special envoy here specifically to inquire about matters requiring attention after the province is established. I'm afraid... I'm afraid the establishment of the province is not far off."

After the new dynasty was founded, it expanded vigorously in all directions, greatly increasing the territory compared to the former Ming era, and thus added many newly conquered lands. The "Liaodong" where they now stood, for instance, broadly referred to an immense expanse of land; the mopping-up forces dispatched from Shenyang had even fought their way to Sakhalin Island.

Since these newly conquered lands had been incorporated into the Great Han's territory, it naturally followed to establish civil administration and governance institutions modeled on the Great Han heartland. Liaodong had been largely pacified over the years, so the Cabinet had long been planning to establish provinces, prefectures, counties, and other local government organs throughout the Liaodong region.

As a newly founded dynasty, the Great Han followed the former Ming system in many respects. Apart from separately designating Xuzhou — the land where the dragon arose — as its own province, the jurisdictions of the original local provinces, prefectures, and counties saw little change. However, because the military and government had been separated, there was no longer a need to appoint civil officials to oversee multiple provinces, so the court did not establish the post of Viceroy; the highest local administrative official was the Governor.

According to the system established by the court, local governors were responsible solely to the Emperor, appointed and dismissed by his specific decree. Without the palace's consent, the Cabinet could not appoint a governor, and the governor's rank was very high, equal to that of Cabinet ministers. In practice, however, when a governor's post fell vacant, the Cabinet would normally recommend candidates; if the Emperor had no objection, the appointment was issued directly as an imperial decree. Thus, in effect, the Prime Minister could also oversee the governors of various regions. This approach prevented the Cabinet's power from expanding excessively while also avoiding disorder in local administration, balancing imperial authority with the Cabinet's ministerial power.

The new dynasty's provincial-level offices were modeled on the Cabinet, with multiple specialized bureaus established to handle different affairs. Additionally, having learned the lessons of the previous dynasty, local offices incorporated clerks and externally hired runners into the official government roster and paid them salaries according to rank.

In the former Ming era, to save on government expenditure, the authorized staff of local offices was kept very small, and the salaries of clerks were set extremely low. Moreover, they had no path whatsoever to transition into the ranks of proper officials; they could only remain petty functionaries forever, with no upward mobility in sight.

As a result, to support their families, these people tried every means to generate extra income, and because they had no path for advancement, they acted with utter impunity. In the end, they deceived their superiors and hid the truth from those below, oppressing the common people in every way to seek private gain, causing the populace to live in misery and cry out in grievance — which in turn proved highly detrimental to the court.

The new dynasty learned from the previous dynasty's lessons. On one hand, it vigorously investigated official misconduct; on the other, it brought these people into the scope of officialdom, granting them salaries sufficient to support their families. The experience in local governance gained from the early days in Xuzhou was rapidly extended to the Han interior provinces.

Furthermore, the Cabinet promulgated regulations on official appointments, stipulating that runners and clerks could also be promoted to local chief officials based on their work performance. This gave these people — who were familiar with local administration and adept at handling local affairs — room to rise, and also added to the court a number of officials capable of understanding the people's conditions. In the current court's view, such officials were far more useful than Presented Scholars who could only flourish a pen.

Because this set of policies looked after the interests of the previously neglected runners and clerks, they embraced it wholeheartedly, and its implementation was extremely swift. Thus, alongside the reforms at court, this reform of local government was also proceeding steadily. By now, the provinces within the former Ming territory, with the exception of Sichuan and Yunnan where circumstances were more unusual, had largely completed it.

That said, only the new dynasty — which relied on industry and commerce and had broadly expanded its financial resources — possessed the capacity and resources to carry out such reforms.

With the reform of the interior provinces complete, the Cabinet began to turn its gaze to the newly conquered borderlands, seeking to use the methods of extending the interior's government model, along with migration, to integrate these lands into the Great Han and make them fertile territory for the Han people.

The Liaodong region was chosen first, because, firstly, it had been largely pacified and no longer faced the risk of external invasion; secondly, the land there was reasonably fertile, allowing for the large-scale migration of farmers from within the passes; and moreover, the region held abundant coal and iron deposits, making it even more worthy of development.

After two years of preparation, the matter of establishing a province in Liaodong had formally entered the Cabinet's agenda. As the current Governor of Liaodong, Li Jingsi's opinion naturally served as an important reference for the Cabinet, which had consulted him many times on the details of establishing the province.

The military naturally observed the correspondence between the Cabinet and Governor Li, but adhering to the principle that soldiers must not interfere in politics, they could not very well ask the governor directly. However, this matter was simply too significant, so Ning Zeguang intended to use this opportunity to sound out the governor's stance in a less deliberate manner.

"So the establishment of the province is indeed a bowstring drawn taut..." Ning Zeguang nodded slightly, his expression rather complex. "Your Excellency handles matters with astuteness. Once Liaodong becomes a province, you will surely be able to shepherd its people."

"Who becomes governor is a matter that only the court and His Majesty can decide — how could someone like me presume to comment..." Li Jingsi spoke modestly, yet unconsciously betrayed a hint of self-satisfaction. "I have always thought only of serving His Majesty loyally and devoting myself to the nation; I have never entertained thoughts of such things."

For a former dynasty Presented Scholar to utter such words was rather peculiar; a sharp-tongued person might well have mocked him to his face. Ning Zeguang, however, remained perfectly composed. "It seems the matter is indeed all but settled. But, Lord Li, although we call it Liaodong, the territory our army now occupies is vast indeed. Surely they won't establish just a single province?"