Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 742 The Six Departments of Xijing
For the next period of time, everyone continued marching according to plan, while also constantly dispersing.

The group led by Father Tomás and Captain Henry was, by all accounts, a main force. However, at the meeting, Bishop Daoyan told them that Saxony and the regions further north were areas where the royal court had previously had less activity, and the resources they could obtain would be limited. Therefore, they couldn't allow so many people to flood in at once. According to the government's calculations, another 1500 people needed to be reduced. Therefore, it was decided that their unit would also leave from there.

Princess Jeanne ordered them to turn southwest and march towards Württemberg. They were to keep a low profile for the rest of the month, and then on the first of the following month, suddenly and ostentatiously turn south, pretending to be the main army, and under the pretense of avenging Father Huss, to attack Constance on the shores of Lake Constance.

This place is the meeting place of the Grand Council. Because the meetings are very long, Catholic clergy, scholars and related secular nobles from all over Europe gather here.

According to reports from France, a large number of high-ranking clergy and prominent scholars, including the rector of the University of Paris, are currently attending a conference there. Many are scheduled to work there for a year. As a result, the area has attracted a large influx of businesspeople and service providers. This previously little-known town has expanded rapidly.

However, halfway through the meeting, trouble struck. Sigismund led his army away to quell a rebellion in Bohemia, leaving the region largely undefended.

Perhaps because the main sites of the uprising were quite far away, although some people made preparations—for example, the delegation from the University of Paris was very sensitive and immediately hired an additional group of mercenaries to guard against bandits and "bandits" who might rise up in response, and also strengthened the protection of important figures—the overall defenses there were still relatively weak.

If the Ming army were to suddenly appear at this important location, the attendees in Constance would certainly panic and frantically seek help.

At this point, Sigismund's army would still be following Wu's main force, circling in the north. Therefore, they could only call upon the anti-Hussite nobles in the south of the empire who did not directly follow Sigismund, ordering them to gather and guard the area around the meeting place. In this way, the available mobile forces in the area were effectively locked down.

While the local nobles were preoccupied with other matters, the main force of the Ming army would quickly move southwest, passing through this region. In this way, the resistance and danger of the march would be greatly reduced.

Furthermore, once the enemy begins to assemble, Thomas and Henry will move again, heading west to Strasbourg. That is a place of great influence for the royal court, and the local authorities will arrange for them to rest and recuperate before turning north to join the other scattered forces and await the final battle.

His Excellency the Bishop reminded everyone that the journey would be complex, so it was important to maintain communication with local officials, militias, and nobles and merchants who cooperated with the government. On the one hand, scouts should be sent out to gather information from various sources; on the other hand, one should not unconditionally trust everyone, because in such a complex situation, many people, even those within the government, may not be reliable.

Other officials and generals took his instructions very seriously, because the current administrative institutions were almost entirely rebuilt by him.

After being driven out of Paris, King Wu, deeply saddened by his defeat, began to seek new ideas. Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng advised him, citing the story of Shao Kang who "had a field of one cheng and a land of one lv," suggesting that he start his business from this village. Thus, they began to establish their own territory and directly adopted the royal court system to build an administrative management system.

However, there were few precedents to refer to in Europe for this system, and there was a lack of sufficient management personnel. Moreover, the mechanism of the royal palace was ultimately not a complete system. Many official positions were forcibly added to meet the needs, resulting in situations where the officials under the royal palace were actually local officials.

The locals' welcome of them actually exceeded the expectations of King Wu and his entourage.

After being driven away by the nobles and the citizens of Paris, they were initially quite disheartened and felt hopeless. However, King Wu, Qi, Huang, and others were all very proud, and simply fleeing back to Dadu was unacceptable. Moreover, the marriage between King Wu and Princess Jeanne had been hastily arranged because both sides were in a hurry, without consulting their wives and children. If they were to return home now, it was uncertain whether they would be welcomed back.

Therefore, they could only retreat to the countryside and struggle to make ends meet. However, after gaining some reputation, people flocked to them. The speed at which Wu's "territory" expanded even made the King of Wu struggle to keep up.

In many places, it was less about establishing government offices and more about incorporating local groups who had lost their livelihoods and sought refuge with them. If the administrative system of the Ming Dynasty were followed, even if all literate people were included, it would not be enough. Therefore, the conditions for establishing a complete set of government functions have always been lacking.

As for how to increase or decrease profits and losses, prioritize maintaining and expanding the most critical functions, and adjust the official system as needed... well, King Wu and his advisors were mostly based in the capital and rarely went down to the grassroots level. Asking them these questions would only result in either wild guesses or guesswork.

Furthermore, the Wu King's team had consistently failed to clarify many fundamental theoretical points. The Wu King himself simultaneously sought to weaken the power of the vassal states while advocating for the Zhou rites, leaving many confused about his true intentions. Under these circumstances, the various subordinate organizations within the royal court were also in disarray.

The only well-organized entity was the Bureau of Works of the Prince's Palace. Due to the special circumstances of the Wu Prince's Palace, these people were frequently responsible for organizing road repairs and water conservancy projects. Many projects, especially the construction of major roads, required cross-regional coordination and organization, even bringing together people from different principalities who spoke different languages.

Putting everything else aside, just organizing these people to work together, providing them with food and lodging, is a considerable challenge. Therefore, the organizations under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) are the most well-established and efficient. As for other aspects, it depends on the specific circumstances.

In the previous war, the central institutions of the Wu Kingdom's government were also attacked and damaged, and even the Wu King himself was temporarily out of contact. With the central government inoperable and the local authorities unable to locate it, coupled with a lack of contingency plans and experience in handling the situation, many government institutions were nearly paralyzed.

Amidst this chaos, Bishop Daoyan, who had arrived as an envoy, stepped forward and began to restore order. He reassured everyone, saying that this wasn't necessarily all bad. With the previous institutions shattered by the war, it was a good time to rebuild and reorganize the areas that were difficult to improve before. He then dedicated himself to this work.

Daoyan stated frankly that to cope with the war and the actual needs after this phase of combat, a more formalized central organization must be established. The existing structure of the Prince's Palace was unsuitable for the current situation of the Wu Kingdom; the previous temporary measures were too rudimentary, and the allocation of resources in many areas was unreasonable. For example, the largest institution, the Bureau of Works, was now so large that its staff was far from sufficient, with a large number of officials being forcibly attached to local governments; conversely, the largest army in the Wu Kingdom was perpetually vacant, and now, with its numbers reduced, almost everyone was assigned to an officer position… These situations all needed to be addressed. Therefore, he advocated following the example of previous dynasties and establishing a "Western Capital" outside the capital of the Ming Dynasty to form another complete central organization to cope with the rapidly changing situation.

He said that during the Hongwu reign, the then-Crown Prince Tianping was specifically ordered to inspect Xi'an to determine its suitability as a capital. However, due to the long-standing devastation of the Guanzhong Plain, the plan failed. This also demonstrates that when the territory is too large, a capital located in a remote area can indeed hinder administrative capacity. Therefore, calls for establishing a secondary capital have never ceased.

Currently, no region in the Ming Dynasty is farther from the capital than Wu. The transmission of official documents and the exchange of goods are extremely difficult. Furthermore, the local customs and conditions differ greatly from those in the Central Plains. Under these circumstances, requesting the establishment of a Western Capital here is entirely reasonable.

The Wu vassal state had already established numerous local prefectures and counties, and set up various departments and offices in each region. However, the central government of the vassal state was rather chaotic and had never explicitly adopted these organizational structures. Now, it was time to take this opportunity to organize the complete Six Ministries.

As for the issue of official status, since the distance was too great when he arrived, the court granted him a tally and considerable authority to act as he saw fit, which allowed him to first organize a temporary organization. Then, he could write a letter, have it sent back by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and await the emperor's approval.

During this period, everyone will act as proxies, focusing on getting the necessary functions running. If they agree, they'll all be officially appointed; if not, they'll see if the court has a better plan or come up with another title—it shouldn't have too much of an impact. And if anything goes wrong, he's willing to take responsibility.

Seeing his stance, everyone agreed. The people below the King of Wu respected him even more, hoping he would use his knowledge and abilities to seize the opportunity to implement the complete Ming system that everyone had always wanted but had never been able to put into practice. However, he was rather cautious, stating that whether the Ming system was suitable for the local conditions still needed to be observed and that it should not be blindly applied.

For this very purpose, he personally participated in the organization and deployment of the army to practically observe the operation of local governments, and based on his observations, he made large-scale adjustments to many institutions. Therefore, matters concerning the court—which local government was more efficient, which had abundant resources, and where public sentiment was wavering—all passed through his hands. His advice was undoubtedly the most authoritative at the time.

However, this time, Father Tomash and Captain Henry, unusually, did not agree with his opinion.

They were quite confident about the harassment operation. Many in their ranks were seasoned veterans, having traveled extensively and dealt with all sorts of people, knowing how to handle such situations. Henry even thought that since they were already in the area, why bother with a feigned attack? They might as well try attacking Constance.

He suggested that instead of raising a flag first, they should advance to the vicinity of the town. He would personally lead a select group to infiltrate the town and prepare. Once the main force arrived, they could coordinate an attack from within and take it down in one fell swoop. They had used the same method to control Kutná Hora before. Constance was a mixed group of people, and the influx of outsiders had overcrowded the town, making it even more difficult to manage. This approach offered a good chance of success.

The high-ranking priests Sigismund summoned will likely be hiding in the city's fortresses, guarded by soldiers, and might be difficult to deal with if time permits. But in any case, a direct attack like this will certainly be far more effective than merely showing themselves to intimidate the enemy. And what if, with God's blessing, they really do manage to teach the church a lesson and wipe out all those priests and scholars?

But neither the princess nor the bishop approved of his plan.

Princess Jeanne told him that war requires considering risks and rewards, and the problem with this plan was that the rewards were too low. It seemed that if successful, it could eliminate many of the enemy's scholars and priests, but in reality, these people were insignificant to begin with.

Putting everything else aside, she knew the character of the University of Paris very well. If the final battle didn't succeed, even if a group of people were killed, it would only make the rest of the university happier. They would only condemn the heretics' atrocities while rejoicing that the old man occupying the position was finally dead, giving them a chance to advance.

On the contrary, as long as they can defeat Sigismund, the headmaster and professors will naturally come to their side and start arguing that they are the righteous side. There's no need to pay them any attention; they'll do everything themselves and then come knocking on their door asking for a reward.

When she was in the Purple Horde, she heard a storyteller named Mr. Luo tell stories of the Three Kingdoms. Later, upon reflection, she realized that these scholars were no different from storytellers and novelists in the marketplace—storytellers sought to please the common audience and receive tips; while scholars sought to please the powerful nobles and receive tips.

However, after spending a lot of time with the nobles, these people actually started to think that the noble status was also their own, an opportunity to prove their position. As a result, they became arrogant and even dared to bare their teeth in front of their masters. But once they showed a little power, they would quickly recognize reality and know what they should do.

Attacking Constance carries certain risks. A siege will incur losses, and if the advance is slow, the force may be besieged by other nobles claiming to uphold the Church, endangering this valuable main force. The rewards for these risks are negligible, making it not worth the effort.

Moreover, in terms of effectiveness, a mere scare would suffice. Captain Henry and his team, having spent years on the front lines, were too down-to-earth with the local clergy and intellectuals they encountered, and might not realize it. But from what she knew, these scholars and intellectuals from the University of Paris and the church, while not particularly capable, had the loudest voices in all of Europe, and would definitely keep calling for help, making it impossible to quiet down. There was absolutely no need to worry about not being able to get help.

Everyone agreed that it made sense and accepted it. Two days later, Tomash and Henry led the team off.

The streamlined troops continued their northward advance. Prior to this, "Bishop" Daoyan and "Acting Minister of Rites," Sir von Leberg, had made preparations, cooperating to withhold the letter personally written by the King of Wu to the northern princes, preventing another diplomatic failure. During this period of withholding the letter, Daoyan personally dispatched envoys to frequently engage in diplomatic activities. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Rites, through its connections with Hanseatic League merchants, successfully contacted the powerful frontier family of Kizov in Brandenburg and persuaded the local old nobles who were at odds with the Hohenzollern family.

The other party promised to sell them provisions and keep them informed. They also said that if the situation changed, they could potentially cooperate further. Therefore, the journey north was no longer a major obstacle.

(End of this chapter)