Chapter 423 Officialdom Violence
Xiao Xia set up a temporary military camp outside Wu County, and a thousand soldiers took over the east gate of Wu County at the same time. In less than half an hour, Sima Li Qiliang came running in in a panic, holding a large file bag in his arms, and he knelt directly outside the military camp.

Soon, Fang Xuanling, an aide, walked out of the barracks and asked with a smile, “Is it Sima Li?”

Li Qiliang said tremblingly: “Yes, this is a list of money, grain, and material property for future use. It’s not that I neglect His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin. I submitted it to Governor Wei a long time ago. He has been holding back and refusing to sign it. I have no other choice!”

Fang Xuanling took the file bag and asked, “Do you have a signature?”

“I have stamped every page!”

“Go ahead! I will tell His Highness your difficulties. As long as you have a good attitude and do not confront His Highness with malicious intent, His Highness will not kill you!”

Li Qiliang said with a sad face: “You must explain for me. I am a small official with no backing. How dare I confront His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin?”

“Don’t worry! His Highness Prince Jin has never been a murderous devil. As long as you work seriously and don’t oppose the General Manager’s Office, you will be fine. His Highness wants to take a look at the list first and will summon you tomorrow!”

Li Qiliang thanked him repeatedly, stood up and walked away with one foot deep and one foot shallow.

Fang Xuanling turned back to the barracks, walked into the big tent, and handed the file bag to Xiao Xia, “Your Highness, this is the record list sent by Sima Li Qiliang. He said he submitted it a long time ago, but Governor Wei has been holding back and refusing to sign it, so he has no choice!”

Xiao Xia took out the inventory and looked at it. There were a lot of materials and properties of all kinds. There were hundreds of official ships alone, as well as a large number of official fields and houses.

Xiao Xia nodded, “Let the Chief Secretary and the Sima come to see me tomorrow. You can make arrangements. Select ten warehouses for inventory tomorrow, with a focus on the money and grain warehouses.”

“I understand. I’ll arrange it right away!”

After hesitating for a moment, Fang Xuanling asked cautiously, “Does Your Highness really want to kill Wei Yue?”

Xiao Xia said calmly: “I have already given him a chance. If he leaves today, he will not die. If he does not leave, he will be assassinated by his enemies within three days. He should be smart and leave quickly.”

Fang Xuanling sighed and said, “Now, no one in Jiangnan Road dares to challenge Your Highness anymore, but Your Highness has also completely offended the Wei family!”

Xiao Xia smiled and said, “That may not be the case. The Wei family has more than one branch!”

Inside the county government office, Wei Yue put the governor’s seal into a box and placed it on the table. His staff whispered, “Governor Wei can take the seal away and go directly to the court to file a complaint.”

Wei Yue shook his head. “You don’t know that murderous devil. He killed all the Tuyuhun and Dangxiang nobles. You can see how cruel and bloody he is. If I don’t give him face, I will die in the canal for no apparent reason. Let’s survive first!”

“What will happen to the salt merchants when the envoy leaves?”

Wei Yue snorted heavily, “I’m just avoiding the sharp edge temporarily. If he dares to touch the salt merchants, it will be a dead end!”

At this time, the Chief Secretary Gu Changqing walked in. Wei Yue quickly winked at his staff, and both of them stopped talking.

Gu Changqing asked with concern: “Are you really going to leave?”

Wei Yue sighed hypocritically and said, “What should I do if I don’t leave? Let him kill me to shock the officials in Jiangnan Road? I can’t afford to offend him, so I can only hide. From now on, Wujun will be handed over to Gu Changshi. Gu Changshi should be very happy!”

“Your Excellency is too kind. How can I be the governor?”

Wei Yue sneered and said, “What is the chief secretary doing here? Are you afraid that I will take the governor’s seal away?”

Gu Changqing said calmly: “I am only here to remind you that the King of Jin is cruel and merciless. If he finds out that the seal is missing, I am afraid your life will be in danger!”

“After all, you are here to get the seal, so I will grant your wish!”

“This is not a favor, this is a rule. When the governor leaves office, the seal will be temporarily handed over to the chief secretary.”

Wei Yue snorted heavily and reluctantly handed the official seal to Gu Changqing, “You should try to please him! Maybe Gu Changshi can fulfill his wish and become the governor of Wujun!”

“According to the court’s rules, our Jiangnan family can only serve as deputy positions!”

“As long as you understand!”

Wei Yue asked his staff to pick up the luggage and walked away quickly.

Gu Changqing smiled at Wei Yue’s back and said, “I wish you a safe journey!”

Wei Yue ignored him. An hour later, Wei Yue left Wujun with his staff and family and returned to Luoyang by boat.

The next morning, Xiao Xia came to the county government office, and Gu Changqing brought all the officials to pay him a visit.

Xiao Xia looked at the official seal, then put it away and said to Sima Li Qiliang, “Your attitude is okay, so I’ll give you another chance. Let me ask you, is the list you brought accurate? Do you have any internal lists?”

Li Qiliang bowed and said, “Your Highness, there is no internal inventory. I have checked it and the actual items match the inventory!” “Wu County is so big, have you checked the warehouses in each county?”

“I am responsible for guaranteeing the warehouse in Wu County. I have asked them to check the warehouses in other counties, but I have not conducted random inspections.”

Xiao Xia nodded, “I believe you. I’m going to check some warehouses today. You cooperate with my men!”

“I will definitely cooperate!”

Fang Xuanling stepped forward to say hello, and the two left together. He also called the official in charge of the county government warehouse and the warehouse in Wu County.

Xiao Xia asked Gu Changqing again: “Are you a local?”

Gu Changqing nodded and said, “Your Highness, my ancestor is Gu Yong, a famous minister of the Three Kingdoms period, and he has lived in Wu County for generations.”

Xiao Xia smiled and said, “Now that the governor has left, you will temporarily take over as the governor of Wu County. Do the things I ask you to do well. I will not treat you unfairly!”

Gu Changqing was shocked. “According to the court rules, our Jiangnan family can only serve as deputy positions, and the position of governor can only be vacant. I cannot take over temporarily.”

Xiao Xia said coldly: “Now it’s my rule!”

Gu Changqing understood a little bit, and quickly bowed and said: “I will definitely obey your highness’s order!”

“The first thing is to clear the property and verify the capital. How do you distribute the extra income between the county government and the counties?”

“Half and half!”

Xiao Xia nodded, “From now on, it will be 244. The county government and prefecture government will each give 10% to the General Administration Office, and I only want 20%.”

“I humbly obey my orders!”

“Then I saw that there are a lot of supplies in your warehouse, such as medicinal materials, oil, wood, copperware, etc. The quantity is not small. How did you get them?”

“They are all accumulated. Some are illegally confiscated, some are ownerless properties, etc. They have been accumulated slowly over decades, and many of them have no accounts!”

“Apart from the taxes levied by the imperial court, are there any surplus money, grain, and cloth?”

“There will definitely be some extra, but it shouldn’t be much. Your Highness can take half.”

Xiao Xia smiled and said, “It depends on the quantity! If the quantity is not much, I won’t take it, but there seems to be 100,000 stones of black beans in it. I want them all. I need to raise horses, and then all the materials except money and food will be transferred to the General Manager’s Mansion.”

Gu Changqing nodded, “I will definitely do it!”

Xiao Xia added: “You should have received a Jin Wang order a few days ago! About the cancellation of the checkpoints.”

“Yes! Yes!”

Gu Changqing said quickly: “I heard that all the counties have received it at the same time. I guarantee that they will all be demolished within three days, and there will be no more soldiers at the city gates.”

“It would be best if this were the case. At the beginning of next month, I will send troops to each county to inspect. If none of the demolitions have been done, the county magistrate will be dismissed. If only part of the demolition has been done, the county magistrate will be given a low-level evaluation. You should know what a low-level evaluation means.”

“I know!”

Generally, the lowest evaluation score for officials is medium. There are very few below medium and almost no below medium and below below. The so-called below below means that all evaluation items are poorly evaluated and the person is not suitable to be a county magistrate. The county magistrate will be dismissed from his post, and even if he has strong connections with the court, he must be demoted.

“I will stop here. You can remind the counties yourself! Don’t go against me by pretending to obey me.”

“I understand the humble position!”

Xiao Xia took a sip of tea and continued calmly, “The third thing is to come to the General Administration Office at the end of this month or the beginning of next month. Gao Changshi wants to discuss dredging the canal with you. Wu County is the largest part of the Jiangnan Canal. I suggest that you bring the county magistrates of all counties with you. Of course, you can come by yourself. This is not a mandatory requirement, but I believe you understand what I mean!”

How could Gu Changqing not understand that after he took the county magistrates to Jiangdu, they would have to listen to him when they came back.

“I will supervise the removal of checkpoints in all counties and will come immediately!”

Xiao Xia then wrote a temporary appointment letter for the governor and handed it to Gu Changqing, thus ending the conversation.

Some things cannot be said too early, Xiao Xia could only say so much and leave it to see whether the Jiangnan family behind Gu Changqing would make the move.

(End of this chapter)