Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1504 The end of the year is approaching!

The 27th day of the twelfth lunar month, Yijing
At 3:30 am, Chief Constable Yang Tao arrived at the Yijing government office. Although the working hours of the government office started at 7:00 pm according to Ye Mingsheng's adjustment, Yang Tao, who had been a chief constable for nearly 20 years, had already gotten used to the old working hours, so he still came to the government office early every day.
Although the Chinese New Year is still three days away, the Yijing government office is already immersed in a joyful atmosphere. Just yesterday, the court notified that the New Year bonus has been distributed through the Dadongsheng Bank. Everyone can go to the Dadongsheng Bank with their work credentials to collect the bonus!

Everyone in the government office seemed very happy about the news. The past year had been a year of anxiety for many people in the government office. At Ye Mingsheng's request, government offices in various parts of Daqian began to lay off employees, and the Yijing government office was the first to be hit!

As the capital of Daqian, Yijing Prefecture, with more than 3,000 employees, must set an example and take the lead!
For this reason, Liu Ning, the prefect, had to wield the stick of layoffs, and laid off nearly three hundred people in a few months.

Seeing that one after another, people around them graduated from the government office and were sent to the civilian population, those who stayed in the government office to work felt fortunate, but they also inevitably felt a sense of grief. At the same time, they were more cautious in their work, fearing that there would be any mistakes, and they also graduated from the government office··············
This background has led to a somewhat depressing working atmosphere in the Yijing government office over the past few months. Although everyone remained silent on the surface and did not dare to express any opposition to His Majesty's established policy, there was not even a complaint.

But in private, everyone is complaining, and some people even think that His Majesty's layoffs are unreasonable. In other places, the economy is not developing well, the fiscal revenue is not high, and it is difficult to pay the salaries of the poor. Under such circumstances, layoffs can barely be understood!
In a big city like Yijing, where the economy is developing so well and even showing signs of rapid growth, there is no problem with salary payments. So why are they still laying off employees?
Although there are many job opportunities in Yijing now, textile factories, cement factories, brick factories are all recruiting workers, and restaurants, cloth shops, and shopping malls are all recruiting service staff!

But are these hard work and serving jobs what we masters should do?
We are G-poor!
Although we have never been to the battlefield and shed blood and sweat for Your Majesty, we worked in the rear and also made contributions to the Fengwu Army's domination of the world and the establishment of Daqian!
Your Majesty, you cannot seize the world now, become the emperor and then kick us all away without caring about our lives!

We must continue to be the great servants of Daqian! We must eat the imperial food that is guaranteed to be harvested regardless of drought or flood!

Although they had many complaints in private, under Ye Mingsheng's pressure, they could only continue to live in fear!

In such a somewhat depressing environment, the year-end bonus has become the hope of many people!

After Ye Mingsheng took office, a rule was set. That is, at the end of the year, GFs in various places would evaluate the performance of their subordinates, and the evaluation results would be linked to your New Year bonus. Those with good performance would get more, and those with poor performance would get less...

Although the income level of these G-level workers in Yijing government office is much higher than that of ordinary workers, they can get 7 or 8 taels of silver on average throughout the year. If various subsidies are taken into account, they can get 90 taels of silver a year.

However, this amount of money can only ensure that they have a place to live, have enough food and clothing in the big city of Yijing, and save two or three taels of silver a year. Their living standards cannot be said to be very good, but it can only be said to be not bad!
If you want to save more money, you'll have to count on the New Year's bonus at the end of the year!
In previous years, Yi Jing’s New Year bonuses were at least one tael of silver and at most several hundred taels of silver, but most people received between three and five taels of silver. This New Year bonus was enough for everyone to have a prosperous New Year!
Because of this, everyone has been looking forward to the arrival of the New Year bonus, and because of the special circumstances of layoffs this year, everyone is looking forward to this New Year bonus even more!

Just over ten days ago, a piece of news spread from the imperial court that there were unusual movements by the Cumans in the north, and that the imperial court would most likely send troops to the Elunqin steppe in the spring of next year. The General Staff was mobilizing for war, and the imperial court gave the General Staff money for pre-war preparations.

Therefore, this year's New Year bonuses for various central government offices of the imperial court and the Yijing government office are likely to be cancelled or delayed!
As soon as this news spread, it immediately caused quite a stir in Yijing. Because the news was so detailed, everyone believed it to be true. Many G gappers who were originally waiting for the arrival of the New Year bonuses were completely transformed into eggplants hit by frost and began to become depressed...

But yesterday afternoon, the court suddenly announced that the New Year bonus had been deposited into everyone's account at the Dadongsheng Bank, and because of the special circumstances this year, everyone's New Year bonus has increased slightly compared to previous years. In previous years, they could get three taels of silver, but this year they can get three taels and three cents of silver.

As soon as the news came out, everyone in the central government offices, including the Yijing government office, was very happy. Those who were originally depressed and disappointed also began to celebrate. Then, as soon as they got off work in the evening, they took out their silver and started buying New Year's goods.

All the G-men who came to work at the Yijing government office at this time were not in the mood for work. They were all killing time with a smile on their faces. Everyone was waiting for the arrival of the New Year. Yang Tao, the head of the police, was no exception. He was also thinking about buying some New Year's goods after get off work in the evening.

He got off work a little late last night and only took out some silver from the Dadongsheng Bank. When he wanted to go to the market to buy something, the market was already closed.

The whole family had some complaints about this, so after Yang Tao got off work tonight, he went to the market as soon as possible to buy some New Year's goods, especially spare ribs. The elderly and children in the family all like to eat braised spare ribs. Originally, Yang Tao also felt that this year's New Year's bonus might not come, so he only bought three pounds of spare ribs!

But now that the bonus has come, I can buy more, buy five pounds of ribs!
The New Year is finally here, let’s make sure the elderly and children at home have enough to eat!
Just as Yang Tao was sitting in the classroom, drinking tea and thinking about buying spareribs, his colleague Ye Feiyang came to him mysteriously and asked:

“How much bonus did you get this year?”

Yang Tao did not answer directly upon hearing this, but said evasively:
"Fei Yang, the higher-ups asked us to keep this confidential so that we don't compete with each other..."

After saying this, Ye Feiyang continued:

"Brother Yang, just tell me, so that I can know how big the gap is between me and you, so that I can have the motivation to improve. I have only earned three taels and five cents of silver this year!"

Seeing that Ye Feiyang insisted on knowing the answer, Yang Tao didn't say anything but just made an eight gesture.

Seeing this, Ye Feiyang said with some envy:

"More than twice as much as me! Brother Yang, you are amazing!"

Yang Tao smiled and shook his head and said:

"Feiyang, I'm only going to be a constable all my life. What are you competing with me for? You're going to do great things in the future!" Ye Feiyang shook his head and said with a wry smile:

"Brother Yang, you are making fun of me. Others may not know this, but you do. I was able to become a police chief because of my family's connections. If I don't take a tael of silver from the New Year bonus, I'm already lucky. What else can I do?"

After saying this, Ye Feiyang also hung his head and sighed.

Seeing this, Yang Tao comforted him with a few words. At this time, other people in the classroom also arrived. Ye Feiyang also greeted them. At this time, Yang Tao also picked up the Yijing Morning News and started reading the newspaper. He had practiced martial arts since he was a child, and now he had grown up and was working as a constable, a profession that required him to wield swords and guns. So he used to like going to the teahouse to listen to martial arts stories...
After martial arts novels began to be serialized in newspapers, Yang Tao became a loyal buyer of Yijing newspapers. He read the newspapers for no other reason than to read the martial arts novels and read those stories about chivalry, justice, and revenge!

Just when Yang Tao was somewhat fascinated by what he saw, Ye Feiyang quietly came to his side and said:
"Brother Yang, let me tell you something!"

Yang Tao, who was interrupted, also frowned and asked:
"what's the matter?"

"That old Zhang next door! Captain Zhang only got seven taels of silver as a New Year bonus this year!"

Yang Tao's expression changed when he heard this, and at this time Ye Feiyang continued:

"Brother Yang, I think you are ahead of Lao Zhang in the position of chief constable!"

"That's not true! Feiyang, don't talk nonsense!"

"How can it be said that there is nothing? The New Year bonus is linked to the performance evaluation. Brother Yang, you get eight taels of silver, and he, Zhang, gets seven taels of silver. Doesn't that mean that in the eyes of the higher-ups, you did a better job than him this year?"

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

"Prefect Liu has always valued you very much. Captain Wang has always been in poor health and he said before that he would retire this year. Now there is a vacant position. This position must belong to you, Brother Yang!"

Ye Feiyang paused for a moment, then said jokingly:
"Brother Yang, please don't tell me that you are not interested in the position of Chief Constable?"

Hearing Ye Feiyang say this, Yang Tao felt a little itchy. Three generations of his family had worked as constables in the Yijing government office. His grandfather and father had both reached the position of chief constable, but they were always just one step away from the position of chief constable. This was also a regret for two generations of his grandfather and father.

So since the day Yang Tao entered the Yijing government as a constable, he had a goal, which was to become the chief constable of the Yijing government and fulfill the unfulfilled wish of his grandfather and father...
Over the years he has been working diligently and hard towards this goal!

After years of hard work, Yang Tao is now one of the more senior chief constables in the Yijing government office. Because Daqian was born out of the Da Zhou, many of the court systems have continued to use the Da Zhou's rules, and this is the case with the constable system!
Above the constable is the captain of the constable, and above the captain of the constable is the chief captain of the constable. During the Great Zhou period, Yijing was just the capital of Youyan. There was nothing special about it. It only had one chief captain of the constable. However, in Daqian, Yijing was the capital city with a special status, so three chief captains of the constable were also established.

Currently, two of the three chief constables are in their prime, so there should be no changes in the short term. Only Chief Constable Wang Lin has a chronic illness from a knife wound he suffered when arresting a group of bandits in his early years. As a result, he is old and his health is deteriorating. He has been taking sick leave from time to time since last spring!

Based on Chief Constable Wang Lin's physical condition, many people are speculating that he will not be able to hold the position of Chief Constable for long. Even if he does not retire on his own initiative, his superiors will persuade him to retire, and this way the position of Chief Constable will be vacant!
Under normal circumstances, the chief constable is selected from the local constables. As a result, several senior constables including Yang Tao who are qualified to compete for the position of chief constable are also eager to try.

The old Zhang mentioned by Ye Feiyang is called Zhang Haidong, a senior captain of Yijing and one of Yang Tao’s main competitors...
Although Yang Tao was very pleased with Ye Feiyang's words at this time, he pretended to be indifferent and said:

"There's nothing to be done yet! Feiyang, don't talk nonsense! The higher-ups have their own arrangements!"

Ye Feiyang knew very well that this was just Yang Tao's excuse, and he immediately said in a low voice:
"Brother Yang, let me tell you something. If you want to make progress, you must follow the steps of Prefect Liu!"

After saying that, Ye Feiyang patted Yang Tao on the shoulder, gave him a look that said "Brother Yang, you understand", and then was called away by someone else.

Watching Ye Feiyang's leaving back, Yang Tao's mind became active. He knew that Ye Feiyang was a member of the Daqian royal family and had a background, so when he said this to him now, it was most likely that he had received some news!
Just as Yang Tao was pondering in his heart, a clerk came to his side and informed him:
"Captain Yang! The prefect wants to see you!"

Yang Tao was a little surprised when he saw that Cao Cao was looking for him just when he was thinking about Cao Cao. Although he didn't know why Liu Ning wanted to find him at this time, he subconsciously accepted the task immediately, then simply tidied up his appearance and came to the classroom of the prefect Liu Ning.

As soon as Yang Tao finished his greetings, Liu Ning asked in a deep voice:
"Did you handle the case in East Seventh Alley?"

Seeing Liu Ning asking this, Yang Tao was also a little surprised, but after thinking about it, he seemed to realize something and nodded and said:
"Your Excellency the Prefect, this case has been handed over to me!"

"In that case, is there anything suspicious about this case?"

(I’m having a bit of a writer’s block lately, does anyone have any suggestions? I’m all ears!)