Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 154: Newbie Zone
Xia Lin was definitely stuck at the fifth rank, and he knew it very well. He would not have a chance for promotion until the crown prince ascended the throne.

But this is enough. The fifth-rank Censor is already the highest official. Although the Censor is an imperial envoy when meeting officials, there is a word "outside" after Xia Lin's title. The word "outside" means that he is a censor who cannot meet the emperor.

Everyone knows what this means. Let's talk about Zeng Ming, he is also an old dog. He couldn't develop in the court as well as Gao Shilian, so he developed outside. What did Gao Shilian say about him? In just a few years, more than 400 imperial censors supervised him.

This means that the value of this position has been diluted to the point where it is dispensable. In the past, when people heard about the Censor, they were a little afraid, but now everyone treats it as a joke and just treats it as a favor by inviting them to a meal.

They occupy half of the civil and military officials in the court, but Zeng Ming has trained an army of freeloaders to patrol the whole country.

Hard tactics are useless, and soft ideas are ineffective. If you want to be a seventh-rank county magistrate, you have to see the face of the local governor first. If you can't make it, just arrest a deputy. More than 190 county magistrates have been dismissed in three years. Who can we complain to? The headquarters of the Imperial Censorate in the capital was too embarrassed to report to His Majesty.

How else to say it?
"Your Majesty! This month, our department has arrested 97 corrupt county magistrates."

This could even make the emperor laugh in the hall. You know, it makes people laugh instead of anger.

It is said that although Zeng Ming was one of the Three Dukes and the deputy prime minister of the dynasty, people in the court and the public did not like to describe him as having a high position and power, because he was really a bit useless, or it could be said that his department was a bit rubbish.

Xia Lin was also aware of this, so while he was explaining how he came to be a fifth-rank imperial censor, he also explained to Lao Zhang how useless this thing was.

"A few days ago, two imperial censors came to the county. I asked my county magistrate to entertain them. I didn't even let them use the 388 standard for a massage. I just used the 188 standard as a token of my respect."

Xia Lin's words made Lao Zhang laugh out loud, and then he asked, "Then what do you want this fifth-grade item for? Is it for fun?"

"Are you stupid? Are you stupid? No, Zhang Zhongchun, how come you have become such a blockhead in these years? The official position changes with the person. The fifth-rank censor is a nominal position, but the county magistrate is a real position. The fifth-rank is equal to the lower governor's office or the upper state Sima, and can lead 8,000 brave soldiers. This is the key point. I have 8,000 soldiers under my command. It is impossible for me to be a fifth-rank censor and a seventh-rank county magistrate. Either I should be promoted to another place, or the county position should be raised on the spot, and the fifth-rank county city should be a small state."

"Hmm~" Lao Zhang nodded: "It seems that the emperor is quite impressed with your business battle this time."

"How can I not commend you? Just think about how much money, grain, and people I saved him, and how many troubles I quelled for him. As for the way those grain merchants play, no kidding, if they are allowed to play like this, there will be a risk of rebellion in various places. If the rebellion along the Yellow River becomes a large-scale one, the refugees will become a riot army, and maybe even the roof of the court will be blown off."

"What's next? What are you going to do?"

"What? What do you think I asked you to come here for?"

"I do not know."

"You're trying to improve your reputation! You idiot." Xia Lin stood up and pointed to the north. "Zhang Zhongchun from Yuzhang Academy led the students to comfort the victims, practice medicine, and benefit the people."

"A little too big, a little too small. Not enough to bless the common people."

"Hmm~" Xia Lin was silent for a moment: "Then let's save people. In five days, nearly 200,000 refugees will arrive here, and this is their last stop. 200,000 people are endless, and the county's manpower alone is not enough. These people are filthy and they are inevitably sick. The students over there and ours are all educated people. According to the contents of the medical books, you should do a good job of epidemic prevention for these people. After all, the weather is getting colder, and we can't just drive them into the river."

Old Zhang was silent for a moment, then he twirled the newly sprouted goatee on his chin and said, "Isn't this a bit difficult?"

"Difficult? Don't you want to talk nonsense? If it's not difficult, then why do you come? Do you know how big a commotion this time is? The prince, the little prince, the governor of Guozhou, and the newly appointed Minister of Revenue are all coming to supervise this matter. You better pay attention."

"I see." Lao Zhang nodded: "Put on a big show."

"Yeah, that's about right. Just watch it." Xia Lin yawned after he finished speaking. "Let's go to the next restaurant. I heard there will be a Persian dancer performing today. Her belly dance is so smooth."

And just when they were going to the restaurant, various bigwigs had already gathered in Hongdu Mansion, including the newly appointed Minister of Revenue Yang Anfu, the young Prince of Lin'an, the Prince of Teng, Lao Guo, etc., as well as a large number of officials of various types.

These people were the ones who came to supervise the migration of the refugees. All the officials in the capital looked embarrassed. The new Minister of Revenue Yang Anfu said, "The number of refugees this time is the third largest since the founding of our dynasty, with a total of nearly 210,000 people. Can the Jiangnan Road accommodate them?"

What he was worried about was also what everyone was worried about. After all, so many people were pouring into one place. These were not ordinary immigrants but a huge number of disaster victims. This would be a huge problem that would make people's scalps numb in any region, and it could even be said to be a disaster.

"Ugh……"

Prince Teng sighed and said, "Lord Guo, you are in charge of government affairs, what do you think?"

"What am I looking at? Who came up with this vicious trick? It's really horrifying. Don't use such despicable tricks on me. You are more than harming people." Several officials who advocated migrating to Jiangnan Road blushed and their expressions suddenly became gloomy. They stood there looking both dusty and bright.

"Don't say that. It is our job to share the worries of the court. You should control your temper." Prince Teng spoke at this moment. As the prince in charge of finances, he is now the biggest backbone here.

"Uncle Wang, the relocation of 200,000 people was the result of a joint discussion between my nephew and the officials in the Ministry of Revenue. Although we know it is difficult, there is really nowhere else to go. Jiangnan Road was not affected by the disaster and is relatively stable. These disaster victims are also civilians. We can't just leave them starving for thousands of miles."

The young prince sighed and stepped forward and said, "I hope the counties and cities in Jiangnan Road can take in some of the people."

"Okay, we will set off tomorrow and recruit officials from various states and counties to join us."

The enfeoffed princes here are actually similar to a small imperial court, and they have their own system from top to bottom. Why is Prince Teng stuck on the Jiangnan Road? It is because he is the least likely to rebel. The threats from all directions are isolated on the Jiangnan Road. In addition, Lao Guo's Po Lu Army is feared throughout the world, so no matter whether it is a noble family or a rebellion, they have to think twice.

It is a sin to say the least, that the strongest Po Lu Army in the world actually became the internal guard to prevent the Rebellion of the Eight Kings of the previous dynasty and the rebellion of the aristocratic families. It is truly ridiculous.

The prince immediately went to the throat of Jianghuai Road and Jiangnan Road with a group of county officials, which is the junction of Changmen and Fuliang.

After two days on the road, when we arrived in Fuliang, there were less than three days left before the victims arrived, and it was a sunny and windy day.

This group of officials, both big and small, got off the boat. When many county magistrates and provincial governors from other counties saw Fuliang County the moment they got off the boat, even those officials who had been there before couldn't help but exclaimed in admiration, while those who had never been there couldn't help but exclaimed "Wow".

The infrastructure construction in Fuliang has never stopped, because if it stops, thousands of people will lose their jobs, so they have been working all the time. What they are working on now is a flood control landscape measure called "One River, Two Banks". These people have never seen such a beautiful flood control embankment. The outside is made of bluestone, and no one knows what material is used to glue the inside, but it looks very solid.

When you climb up the embankment, you can just see Doufulong below. At first glance, it seems to be bustling with traffic and flowers. The beautiful little building has a sense of leisure and contentment, and with the dark green mountains in the distance, it looks like a painting.

"Everyone says Fuliang is a good place, but I didn't expect it to be so well-deserved."

The magistrate of a remote county stood there gazing at the sight, feeling dizzy. After all, this was the place that even His Majesty praised so highly. What a great place... After all, you have to compare goods before you buy them. His own county only had a few scattered businesses on one street, most of which were small vendors and peddlers. The population loss had been particularly serious in recent years, and now it seemed that all of them had flocked here.

Just look at the main streets centered on the county government office, which are divided into different blocks in a crisscross pattern. There are even smaller streets within the blocks. Each block has its own function, and is equipped with a fire station and a watchtower. Just like in the capital, there are red-clad constables patrolling the streets.

"Good boy~ Fifth Rank County."

Someone took a sharp look and found that the clothes on the constable were of different colors. The red-clothed constables in the fifth-rank county were no longer called constables, but had to be respectfully addressed as Ban Ye.

"It really is a fifth-grade county."

The county magistrates around were so ignorant that they stretched their heads to look over there, their eyes so envious that they were almost spitting fire.

A fifth-rank county is the highest standard of county system at present. Even an ordinary state is of the fifth rank. When a county reaches the fifth rank, the concept is completely different. It can even report directly to the capital without going through the governor.

This alone is already quite impressive. Normally, the local governor would take the initiative to recruit and even try every possible means to arrange the county magistrate of the fifth-rank county to be his own person, otherwise it would be a very terrifying thing.

But Governor Guo seemed to have no self-awareness. After getting off the boat, he called out to Prince Teng and the other two sneakily and mysteriously ran away. It was really in a blink of an eye, which could be called extremely fast.

The remaining officials began to stroll around here, and this new Minister of Revenue was also here for the first time. During his last southern tour, this gentleman was still in the north in charge of the Grassland Economic Free Trade Zone.

"How much tax did we have to pay this year?" He turned his head and asked the person accompanying him: "Go check."

"No need to check. The conservative tax payment this year is 570,000 taels, Lord Yang."

Yang Anfu turned around suddenly and saw a young man wearing a fifth-rank county official uniform standing next to him.

"Hello, Minister Yang!" Xia Lin stepped forward and saluted: "Fuliang County's tax revenue this year is expected to exceed 600,000 taels."

(End of this chapter)