Chapter 102 Wine and Meat Rot Behind Vermilion Gates While at the Roadside, People Freeze to Death (1)
Outside the Lu County Governor’s Office.
Countless citizens knelt by the roadside, not to seek justice, but to persuade Cui Heng to stay.
At this moment, more than ten days had passed since Wang Qinghe and Xie Beixing were hung on the flagpole of the city gate tower.
Everyone knew about Cui Heng’s letter to the other counties.
The citizens of Lu County naturally knew about it as well.
Hence, starting from three days ago, citizens would gather outside the Governor Office to petition for Cui Heng to stay as the Governor of Lu County.
Although when Liu Litao was the County Governor in the past, the commoners were also considered to be living and working in peace. But everything was afraid of comparison.
After Cui Heng came here, he split up the rich merchants’ fields and wiped out the merchants, families, sects, and other forces that bullied the commoners. The standard of living of the commoners had risen by countless levels.
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Any normal person would hope that the place they lived in would always be managed by an official like Cui Heng. In the Governor’s Office
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Liu Litao reported helplessly, “Lord, the people can’t bear to let you leave. May I ask how we should handle this matter?”
Cui Heng was still looking at the map of Fengzhou’s 13 counties. He smiled and said, “You’re the Deputy. You should already have some ideas, right?”.
Liu Litao fell silent for a moment before nodding. “Lord, you have a sharp eye. I have indeed thought of a solution.”
Cui Heng nodded lightly and said, “Speak.”
Liu Litao said in a low voice, “My Lord, the people are worried that after you leave, if another Governor comes, those who have already been purged will counterattack and ruin their hard-earned lives.
“As long as the people know that even if you leave Lu County, your eyes will still be on this place, and the previous government decrees will continue to be implemented here, it should be able to reassure the people.”
“You mean…” Cui Heng pondered for a moment and chuckled,” You want me to not let go of my jurisdiction over Lu County even when I sit in the position of Fengzhou’s State Overseer?”
“Lord, this is the will of the people.” Liu Litao bowed and asked, “After you become the State Overseer of Fengzhou, can you imitate the provincial governor system of the Great Jin and set Lu County as the direct jurisdiction of Changfeng Prefecture?”
Changfeng Prefecture was the capital of Fengzhou and also the main city of the Fengzhou Prefecture.
If Lu County was under the jurisdiction of the State Overseer, there would be no need to establish a new Governor.
He only needed to keep the Deputy Governor and Captain in charge of political and military affairs. At the same time, he would send an official directly under the State Overseer’s capital to inspect the entire army regularly and report back to the state capital.
This situation was similar to the situation when the Country of Jin was established. At that time, that position was even called the State Governor.
At that time, the world had just been set. In order to divide the power of the local authorities, the Imperial Court divided the 13 states into 241 counties, which were all independent and equal.
The central government would regularly send State Governors to inspect the local government affairs and report the results of the inspection to the Imperial Court to maintain direct jurisdiction over the local government affairs and military affairs.
At that time, the territory of a state was only an inspection area. The State Governor did not have direct administrative and military authority. He did not even have an official office. He could only visit everywhere and report back to the Imperial Court regularly.
The inspection area was not fixed, and they had to change places every year.
The mountains were high and the roads were long. The journey was tiring. The power they held was small, and the benefits were poor. Only the labor was genuine.
However, this situation only lasted for a few decades before stopping.
As the various counties were independent and the local power was too scattered, they could not resist the uprising of the revolutionary armies that often rebelled, nor could they suppress the various large sects and families. Therefore, the Great Jin Imperial Court could only change the State Governors to State Overseers and allowed them to set up offices and recruit officials. The Prime Minister also had great military power.
“In ancient times, the State Governors only needed to inspect a State. There was no special case where a State Governor sent people to patrol a County.” Cui Heng smiled and did not object to this. After thinking for a moment, he said, “It is possible to set up a prefecture-level county, which is called “Fu County”. Sir Liu, who do you think can be appointed to oversee?”
“Of course it’s Lord Chen.” Liu Litao understood what Cui Heng meant the moment he heard the name of the official position.
And Hui Shi was indeed the most suitable.
Now, Hui Shi was already in charge of 17 Counties. If not for Cui Heng sending him out to deliver a letter at the last minute, he would probably be in charge of 21 Counties at the same time.
In order to implement Cui Heng’s new decree in the various counties, Hui Shi had already offended all the families, sects, and merchants in the county. Many landlords had also written down Hui Shi’s name and kept it in their homes, cursing him everyday in secret.
There was absolutely no room for reconciliation.
Actually, if he didn’t know that Hui Shi was Cui Heng’s sharpest knife, Liu Litao would have persuaded Cui Heng to appoint Hui Shi as the new Governor of Lu County.
The commoners would definitely not object.
After all, Hui Shi had long stood on the opposite side of those who wanted to counterattack.
“Hui Shi is indeed a good candidate.” Cui Heng nodded slightly and said, “Since the matter of Fu County has been decided, and there’s also a Deputy Governor, you have to choose a good successor.”
“Deputy Governor?” Liu Litao was stunned when he heard that. Wasn’t he the Deputy Governor? However, he quickly reacted and said in surprise, “Lord, are you bringing me to Changfeng Prefecture?”
“After choosing a successor here, I’ll bring you over.” Cui Heng chuckled and said, “A State Overseer also needs someone to help him with government affairs. You’ve done well recently. Tell Chen Tong to find a successor too.”
“Thank you, my Lord!” Liu Litao knelt down on the spot in excitement. He was so excited that his entire body was trembling. He never dreamed that he would have the chance to become a state official in his life.
