The 197th chapter “How do you expect me to swallow this!”(part 2)
Bohan shakes his head: “Your Excellency likes to joke, the treasury still has reserves and food supply can easily last more than three months.”
Du Wei sighed: “Since it’s like this then I won’t pursue the past. However, why is it that my coffer only has 190,000 gold coins when the summer report stated there were 210,000 in revenue?”
Bohan’s tone became sharp: “There is always a cost in daily functions!”
“Nonsense!” Du Wei suddenly erupted in anger: “Bohan Governor! Do you really take me for a clueless child? The empire’s financial management should always have a budget in place for the upcoming season. Summer didn’t even end yet and you already depleted the quarter’s income? Humph, is your Nuling Province also governed in such a way?!!”
Bohan is stunned
Du Wei then pulled out something form his pocket and tossed it in front of Bohan: “While coming here, I passed by four of your cities and found out these places didn’t even hand in their financial reports yet! Governor Bohan! Your own summer income isn’t even spent yet so why is the income from my Desa Province all spent?!”
Bohan turned red.
Du Wei’s accusation really is humiliating but Bohan really didn’t have an answer to reply with.
It was months ago when the capital came with news that the Desa Province is to be classified as Du Wei’s land. He may be a financial genius and the empire’s tool to deal with the Northwest, but that doesn’t mean he is a nice guy without ambitions. In his mind, the two territories already belonged to him, yet, with a single command, he lost half of his asset. Such an outcome would naturally irritate him to no ends.
Since it’s come to this, he might as well go all the way and squeeze as much as he can with the remaining time. As his own coffer fills up with wealth, he used the revenue from the Desa Province to feed his own Nuling Province.
Once Du Wei arrives, the only thing awaiting the kid is an empty casket known as the Desa Province!
At that time, let’s see what the kid can do without money or food in this barren landscape! If he can’t overcome this hurdle, Bohan knows it is only a matter of time before the Desa Province falls back into his palm!
Since Du Wei is peaking like this already, Bohan no longer wished to continue his act: “Duke, what is that you want?”
Du Wei suddenly sucked in all his temper and smiled instead: “Not much. Since you already spent my summer revenue, then I’ll let it go. However, the fact that my provincial treasury is empty…. Governor Bohan, since you can’t give me a reasonable explanation, then I will just have to report this incident up to the empire’s financial department and inspectorate department.”
With that, Du Wei stood up and headed for the outside. Just before he walked through the door, Du Wei suddenly stopped and gave Bohan one last glance: “Oh yes governor Bohan, incidentally, I also visited the cell in the inspectorate department. The conditions are really good.”
These words caused Bohan to go completely dark. Even though he was really annoyed by this, but he did not pay any head to Du Wei’s threat.
Du Wei may be grand in the capital, but this place is the Northwest! After so many years, Bohan would naturally hold some authority over this place. Moreover, the very fact that he can survive here for so long means he has a strong backing too!
In any case, he’s been away for so long that he doesn’t actually have a firm grasp on the capital’s situation. Because of his lack of detail, he only know that this young duke played a vital role in the coup incident and gained Prince Son’s appreciation.
In his mind, his evaluation of Du Wei is that he is only someone being favored by Prince Son!
He wants to climb up to the leader’s level? Dream on!
Out of Bohan’s room, Philip that was waiting at the door quickly followed from behind: “Your honor, having a falling out with Bohan right now….. I’m afraid….”
Instead of Du Wei replying, it was this General Longbottom that replied: “Boy, you don’t understand. The North is different from the South. The hypocrisy style is feasible in the South, but it won’t work here. If you take a step backward, they will take two steps forward! And if you show any form of weakness, the enemy will trample all over you! If the Duke was a little softer in there, I fear the governor would have been even more thorough. By then, don’t even mention 190,000 gold coins, there won’t even be a hair left!”
Philip nodded in understanding after thinking it over.
Du Wei casually spoke, “I’m not angry, that was just a show for the guy to see. But after seeing this Bohan today…… Alas, I’m a bit disappointed. This guy does have some skill, but he’s too narrow-minded. I didn’t arrive at the Northwest yet and he already made me out to be an enemy. Humph, he wants to give me a show of strength eh? Let’s see who will get the last laugh then.”
Du Wei then smiled wryly: “I didn’t expect when I come to the Northwest the first one to head-butt with me is this governor and not the Northwestern Army.”
“This … … Sir, are you really going to report this to the financial Department and the Inspectorate of the Empire?” Phillip asked cautiously, after all, in the heart of the young man, he still retains his admiration towards this Bohan of the Northwest.
“Report! Of course I will report him.” Du Wei spoke in a light tone: “if I don’t do anything, he will really think I’m afraid of him. But I also know that the report is not very useful, the Regent is not a fool so he won’t take any actions just for me. Bohan’s personality may not be very good, but his skills are there and the empire still needs him to deal with the Northwestern Army. Nonetheless, it’s still good to give him some trouble.”
Philip was stunned: “that’s it?”
Although he is still a novice in the political world, Philip’s take on Du Wei’s move is childish and immature. Why hurt someone when you are not benefitting?
“This is only the first step.” Du Wei patiently explains to the promising young man: “I’m just making a gesture so Bohan understands that we cannot be bullied. I have some other methods to make Bohan yield … … Humph, you dare swallow my entire coffer eh?! Whatever way you swallowed it will be whatever way you will spit it back out!”
Since he’s not seeing eye to eye with Bohan anyways, there’s no long any reason to stay. Once resupplied, Du Wei and his party immediately left for the Desa Province that very day.
After a few days of travel on the road, the team finally entered the premise of the Desa Province’s territory. Seeing the desolate land around, Philip could only shake his head in disappointment: “Aigh, it’s no wonder this place is known as the empire’s most barren region.”
As for as the eye can see, the only memorable feature was the yellowish dirt on the ground and even the villages they came across were lifeless without people. Continuing like this for two days, they finally came across their very first city. Though small in size, it should have been a joyous occasion, but Du Wei was soon infuriated by the situation!
This Governor Bohan sure is thorough because there wasn’t even a penny left in the city’s coffer! On the surface, these city officials were extremely respectful and polite, but after handing over their position, these bastards didn’t even waste a second to take their leave.
He was still angry, but Du Wei didn’t want to waste any more energy on these guys. Bringing in the 80 scholars from Mr. Blue Ocean, they quickly began their job of taking over the posts in the local government.
This way around, Du Wei’s speed of moving forward was significantly hindered. However, there was an upside to it all. Because of Bohan’s method of having his people emptying the coffer prior to their departure, the whole process of taking over became a whole lot easier without the involvement of money.
Going about this for 15 days, Du Wei finally arrived at the capital of the Desa Province, Anglia City.
Anglia City is located at the Northwestern part of the province. Backed by the Kilimanjaro mountain range, one didn’t need to look far to see the endless dragon spine (Mountain) running through from the north to the south.
When his convoy entered the city, the remaining officials also came out to receive them like all the rest. However, Du Wei simply ignored them and went straight for the city coffer to confirm the contents inside.
Sure enough, the capital’s treasury still had the reserve mentioned in Bohan’s report.
A provincial treasury with only a thousand weapons and enough food for one season….. And a total gold count of the saddening number of 190,000.
Fortunate enough, Du Wei is not short on money. His business in the capital is earning him quite the wealth, and…… There’s also the fortune coming in from the United Kingdom.
Looking at Anglia’s city’s decrepit condition created a sharp contrasting effect when compared to Bohan’s Mulan City. For a capital of a province, the city only numbers around 80,000 citizens and the wall was so ragged that Du Wei suspected it was never renovated since the war from 20 years ago!
The truth is, it is exactly like Du Wei speculated.
Also, the city premise was very small. Measuring at an overall length of 10 li, the city wall really didn’t match up to a province’s capital.
(1 li = 500 meter)
“Your honor, I feel we ought to give the wall a good repair.” Longbottom only needed one look to make him frown: “This sort of beaten wall really won’t be much of a defense if a large band of thieves comes charging.”
Indeed, a southern section of the wall had already collapsed. As long as there is an enemy attack, they only need to give a single charge to give the final push before the remaining rubble falls apart.
“Fix?” Du Wei contemplated the idea as he moved his lips left and right: “Such a bad wall has no maintenance value. Rather than fixing it up, why not build a grander city!”
