Thief Emperor

Chapter 513: Lord Du and Brother Pei

"Just right."

Du Qian sat under the pavilion and said with a smile, "The Censorate we talked about after the New Year should be set up now. According to Lord Li's suggestion, this office should be called the Censorate."

"Master Fei is the first Jiangnan Criminal Supervisor."

Du Qian continued, "In the past few days, the 500 soldiers that General Zhou gave to the Censorate should have been almost all delivered. At this moment, Master Fei is also busy inspecting the various states and counties."

"What do you think, Master Fei?"

Fei Xuan thought for a moment and said, "Before I came here, I asked the two eunuchs from the capital, and they said that the court not only sent them to Nanjing to look for me, but also sent dozens of people to post notices in various counties in Jiangnan."

He looked at Du Qian and asked, "Is it inappropriate for me to go downstairs at this time?"

“This is the right time.”

Du Qian chuckled and said, "With Master Fei, the imperially appointed inspector, as our Jiangnan judicial inspector, those who have evil intentions can settle down. Moreover, if there are really people with evil intentions, Master Fei will most likely contact you."

According to the imperial court's decree, Fei Xuan succeeded Li Yun as the Inspector of Jiangnan. In other words, Fei Xuan is now nominally the chief governor of Jiangnan. If someone does not want to be under Li Yun's control, or simply wants to rebel against Li Yun, Fei Xuan's banner is the most appropriate one.

After hearing this, Fei Xuan thought about it seriously, and then asked, "The benefit is to let me go and lure those people to jump out on their own initiative?"

“That’s a little bit, but not entirely.”

Du Qian said softly: "My original intention was to let Master Fei go down there and take a look, so that most of the people in Jiangnan can feel at ease."

"Master Fei, you can rest assured. The Duke of Fu has more than 70,000 soldiers and horses under his command. Even if General Su Sheng's troops are not in Jiangdong, the remaining generals are fully capable of keeping the situation under control and preventing any chaos."

"However, both Lord Li and I have informed several generals that if any unrest is discovered this time, heavy measures must be taken."

"Master Fei should know what kind of means are used by the heavy hands in the army."

No matter what the matter is, as long as it reaches the military level, it at least involves human lives, because the government still needs to investigate the case and convict, and it also requires evidence, but the military does not need that.

Once the army takes strong action, it will definitely not be a matter of just one or two people dying.

Seeing Fei Xuan's expression change slightly, Du Qian said softly: "So, Master Fei, if you can calm down the unrest as a prosecutor this time, it means that you have saved the lives of those people."

Du Qian smiled and said, "Even if he is arrested and charged in prison, it is better than being taken away by the army, Master Fei, don't you think so?"

Fei Xuan took a deep breath and said, "Well, old man, I will leave in the next few days."

"At this time, if there is unrest, it must start from the southernmost part of Jiangnan East Road. I will ride my horse to the south. I don't have enough people to bring with me. Please write me a document and I will borrow soldiers from General Li Zheng in the south to do the job."

Du Qian only thought about it for a moment, then nodded in agreement and said, "Okay, I'll write a document to Master Fei in a moment."

Fei Xuan's entire family, young and old, all settled down in Jinling, and he had made it clear that he wanted to follow Li Yun. It was unlikely that such a person would cause trouble.

After the two of them discussed the details, Fei Xuan was about to go home to prepare, but was stopped by Du Qian. Du Qian looked at him and smiled softly, "Master Fei can't go to the south alone. This time, Master Fei should take all the officials from the literary society who were previously assigned to the Censorate with him, so that they can see the world and do some work."

When Fei Xuan heard this, he immediately understood that Du Qian wanted to train these grassroots officials as soon as possible. He nodded first, then frowned and said, "This time, we will definitely go there on horseback. It will be hard all the way. I wonder if those young people can hold on."

"We have to support it even if we can't. Jiangnan is most in need of officials at the prefecture and county level right now."

Du Fuyin looked at Fei Xuan and whispered, "If there are 30 officials at the prefecture and county level among those admitted to the literary competition, then we don't need to pay any attention to this so-called imperial edict issued by the court."

"It can be viewed as a joke."

Today, among the chief officials of more than 30 prefectures and counties under Li Yun, except for a very few that are headed by Li Yun’s relatives and the county magistrates who were his subordinates during the Yuezhou and Wuzhou periods, the rest of the prefectures and counties are basically still headed by Zhou’s ministers.

There is no other way, for the sake of stability.

Although the prerequisite for the chief officials of these states and counties to continue to serve as officials was that they all expressed their loyalty to Li Yun, and most of them were truly loyal to Li Yun, they were not trained in the Jiangdong system after all.

No one knows whether there are some people here who have ulterior motives.

And if, if not all, at least most of the officials in the subordinate states and counties are people trained by Li Yun’s own system, then even if someone wants to make a move, they won’t be able to do so.

Fei Xuan nodded and said, "Okay, I'll make the arrangements right away. I'll leave Jinling in three days."

Du Qian bowed to Fei Xuan, and the two said goodbye at the gate of the government office. After that, Du Qian returned to his study, where he saw Yao Zhong holding a pile of documents and placing them on his desk. Seeing Du Qian walk in, Yao Zhong hurriedly said, "Mr. Du, I have already taken care of the things you asked me to do. I have placed them on your desk, waiting for your review."

Du Qian nodded first, then sat down, looked at Yao Zhong, and said with a smile: "I am not yet thirty, it is really inappropriate for you to call me brother Yao. We are colleagues in the same room, so just call me by my courtesy name."

"Don't dare."

Yao Zhong lowered his head and said, "I have worked under Lord Du for a short time, but I have learned a lot from him. It has been very beneficial. If I am not a few years older than Lord Du, I should call him my teacher."

What Yao Zhong said was a bit exaggerated, but not entirely false. Due to his background, he might be as smart as Du Qian, but in terms of vision and knowledge, he was not as good as Du Qian, and the gap was quite large.

After all, knowledge in this era was limited, and many books were rare or even unique. It was possible that a book that Du Qian casually opened from his father's bookshelf when he was a child was a treasure that people like Yao Zhong would never be able to see in their entire lives.

"That's too much. That's too much."

Du Qian pressed his hand to signal Yao Zhong to sit down, then smiled softly and said, "Brother Yao is from Wuzhou, and can be considered a native of Jiangdong. If you know some virtuous and talented people from Wuzhou or Jiangdong, you can write a letter and ask them to come to Jinling. I will meet them."

Du Qian paused and continued, "Those who can stay will be recommended to the Lord." Yao Zhong's heart started pounding when he heard this!

Du Qian's words may sound insignificant, but they are related to an extremely important power, the right to recommend personnel!

This is a very important authority in any group. Currently, only Du Qian can directly recommend officials to Li Yun or even directly appoint officials!

And Du Qian gave him the right to recommend, which means that within a few years, a group of his fellow townsmen like Yao Zhong might appear in the small court of Jinling and become the "Wuzhou School"!
He, Yao Zhong, will become the absolute core of this faction!
Yao Zhong took a deep breath, then looked up at Du Qian, as if he wanted to see if the Du prefect was testing him. After a long while, he finally spoke, "Mr. Du, I know that we are short of officials in Jiangnan, but I think that at this moment, it is better to have no one than to have someone who is not qualified."

"As for the talented people I know, there are probably only two or three who can be used. After I go back, I will write to them. If anyone is willing to come to Nanjing, I will report to Lord Du."

Du Qian hummed, lowered his head and flipped through the documents. As he flipped through them, he said, "Jiangnan can now be considered a small court, but this small court is in great need of civil servants."

He looked up at Yao Zhong and said meaningfully: "You and I both have the responsibility to help the Duke of the Mansion and fill the necessary civil service positions."

Yao Zhong took a deep breath, still unable to hide his excitement.

He knew in his heart that if he could improve the civil service system in Jiangnan, even if he was just helping Du Qian, the position of prime minister in the future would at least be the prime minister of Jiangnan.

We can’t do without him, Yao!

"Your subordinate..."

He stood up and bowed deeply: "Thank you, Mr. Du, for your support!"

…………

Yuezhou, Baling.

Li Yun has led his troops into Baling. While posting notices to reassure the people, he has also begun recruiting soldiers in Baling.

Mr. Li's fame is now known to almost everyone in the eastern part of Jiangnan. If he recruits soldiers in the eastern part of Jiangnan now, no matter how many new soldiers he wants to recruit, he will be able to recruit them all in a month at most.

Some people even try to use connections and bribe people to send their children into Li Yun's army.

In other words, the young men of Jiangdong can all be said to be Li Yun's source of soldiers.

However, in Jiangnan West Road, Li's reputation was not so useful. After a few days of recruiting soldiers, the effect was certainly not bad, but it was not particularly good either.

At least, it is not as good as in Jiangnan East Road.

The shadow of a famous tree, the shadow of this big tree, Mr. Li, has not yet had time to be reflected on the Jiangnan West Road.

However, these things cannot be rushed, and Li Yun was not in a hurry. He recruited new soldiers while coordinating military supplies.

That day, he was in the military camp, looking through the roster of new recruits, when Zhou Bi trotted up to him and whispered, "Second brother, Master Pei is here."

Li Yun was stunned for a moment before he realized who Master Pei he was talking about. After thinking for a while, he smiled and said, "Let him in."

Soon, Pei Zhuang strode to Li Yun, clasped his fists and said to Li Yun: "Master!"

Li Yun dropped the brush in his hand and said with a smile: "I have already mastered the spear skills that Brother Pei taught me. I was talking about Brother Pei earlier and wanted to practice with him. Brother Pei is coming over now."

"really?"

Pei Zhuang exclaimed: "I practiced with that gun for more than three years!"

He was a martial arts fanatic, and soon he and Li Yun were talking enthusiastically about gunmanship. The two of them were so excited that they almost went out to fight. When they were about to go out, Pei Zhuang suddenly remembered something serious. He coughed, pulled Li Yun back to the room, and whispered, "Mr. Li, I remembered something serious."

"My son sent me a letter, asking me to meet the governor privately and tell him that the imperial edict was now issued by Wei Quanzhong, and neither my son nor His Majesty can make the decision."

"My son said, please don't hate the court, and don't hate your majesty."

"No hate, no hate."

Li Yun smiled and said, "My position is meaningless. I am fired so that I can be with Brother Pei and focus on martial arts instead of burying myself in paperwork all day and wasting my energy."

Pei Zhuang grinned and said, "I also think that you are suitable for martial arts training. It would be a pity if you don't concentrate on martial arts training with your physique."

"If you concentrate on practicing martial arts, you will definitely be a great master in the future!"

Li Yun joked with him for a few words, then he became serious and said softly: "Brother Pei, since you can contact Master Pei, please tell him a message for me, then."

"Let's just say that from now on, I will no longer be an official of the Great Zhou. The court can immediately send people to take over all the prefectures and counties in Jiangnan, as well as the tens of thousands of troops in Jiangdong."

Mr. Li sat back in his seat, stretched his muscles, and said with a smile: "As soon as the court people arrive in Jinling, I will immediately withdraw and go back to my hometown in Xuanzhou to farm."

Now, even Pei Zhuang could hear Li Yun's anger, and he said cautiously: "Master, you..."

"Are you angry?"

Li Yun shook his head and smiled.

"I am very happy."

(End of this chapter)