Chapter 458- Personally Leading
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
8th month, 17th day, Shanhai City.
Xiao He represented Ouyang Shuo to send off the philosophers. Weirdly enough, Xiao He could not seem to find any signs of Su Qin. Thinking back to Ouyang Shuo’s expression, Xiao He felt a chill run down his spine.
Although the event had ended, Shanhai City had grown busier instead.
The establishment of the Shanhai Guards, the law college, the change in personnel of Xinan University and Army Military Academy, the welcoming of the Confucians scholars who came over to listen to Kong Zi, and more.
Luckily, Ouyang Shuo had officials handling all these matters, so he did not need to personally settle the matter. After dealing with the philosophers’ debate, Ouyang Shuo turned his eyes back to the Zhaoqing Battlefield.
Based on the intel Baiqi had sent, just yesterday, fifty thousand alliance army vanguard troops had housed themselves in Yun An County. Yun An County was located north of Cangcheng County, just a short distance away.
Shortly behind them, the hundred thousand alliance army main force also arrived.
A huge battle was about to erupt.
At the same time, the 2nd and 4th division of the Tiger Legion had just crossed the Qiongzhou Straits. To rush to Cangcheng County, they still needed two weeks.
The anabasis squadron, on the other hand, had reached Jiaozhou Harbor.
Along with the alliance army gathering up, on the main battlefield, Shanhai City Army did not have any advantage anymore. At this point, it was time to send out their trump card, the Guards Division, to assist them.
Black Snake had previously promised him that they had successfully infiltrated Wulong County, and they had the Lord there sign an alliance contract with Shanhai City. Ouyang Shuo promised him the position of a County Magistrate and a rank of grade 1 viscount.
The Guards Division could teleport there at anytime.
The only problem was based on the battle report, the alliance army had eighty thousand troops at the back. Would it be enough to purely relied on the Guards Division?
At least till now, South Alliance had not shown any weakness.
Hence, Ouyang Shuo was ready to personally set out. Firstly, he had settled the required matters in Shanhai City, so they did not need him present. Secondly, he wanted to get in on the action. After all, staying in the city was really boring, and his body was growing sore.
Once he took this trip, he could not return to Shanhai City in a short time.
The Battle of Zhaoqing, logistical preparations, the Battle of Chiyou, and the like would definitely take up a lot of time. He would probably return to Shanhai City at the time of the next battle map.
The fifth battle map trigger point would be the presence of fifteen prefectures in the country.
Twenty odd days had passed since the Battle of Julu ended. In this period of time, King County, Pill Sun County, and Xunlong County had all upgraded to prefecture grade.
The China region was seven territories from reaching the fifteen prefecture target. Ouyang Shuo predicted that within two months, they would not trigger the fifth battle.
Despite this, before he left, Ouyang Shuo still needed to carefully plan all matters.
“Men!”
“Present!”
“Summon the Guards Division. Tomorrow, they will set off together with me!”
“Yes my Lord!”
When the guard heard his orders, he excitedly turned around and left. If the Lord was about to head to battle, their two hundred personal guards squad would have to follow.
At 2 PM, Ouyang Shuo gathered the four directors and Xiao He to discuss certain matters.
In just one morning, the news that the Lord would head out to battle had spread amongst the entire Nanjiang Governor-General House. Although in the eyes of Xiao He and the civil servants, it was normal for the Lord to take charge from Shanhai City, they did not dare to try and persuade him.
In a chaotic world, for the Lord to personally lead the troops was really normal.
“For this trip out, I don’t think I’ll return in a short amount of time. During this time, apart from important matters that will be sent through letter to me, Senior Minister Xiao He will handle all daily matters.”
This decision was the outcome of Ouyang Shuo’s heavy deliberation.
During the war between Chu and Han, Liu Bang went to war, while Xiao He guarded the back and ran the country. Hence, Xiao He had the ability to take up this task.
The only disadvantage of this choice was that Xiao He had just joined, so his prestige was not too high. However, through the philosophers’ debate, he had shown beautiful work and started to gain recognition.
Furthermore, with the instructions of Ouyang Shuo, there would not be much problem. This was also the reason why Ouyang Shuo called the four directors over. As long as the four of them supported him, everything would be okay.
When Xiao He heard this command, he stood up and bowed solemnly, “Thank you, Lord, for your trust.” Xiao He knew the preciousness and degree of importance of this trust.
When the four directors saw his actions, they all nodded one by one.
Ouyang Shuo nodded and continued, Toward the four departments, I have some plans.”
“Please instruct us!”
“Firstly, the Military Affairs Department. Apart from supporting the front lines, you have two more missions. First, perfect the logistics support system. Second, set the military rewards system and the military rank system.”
“Yes, my Lord!”
This matter was of utmost importance to him, and Du Ruhui understood its significance.
“Next, the Administration Department.” Ouyang Shuo looked at Fan Zhongyan, “The department will make use of the philosophers’ debate and the new people to start a personnel change.”
The four directors and Xiao He were astonished; they could all smell blood.
“We took over the other two prefectures of Qiongzhou and Leizhou just a short while ago. To ensure the stability of the two, in terms of officials, we had to take a discount. Now that stability has been restored, it’s time to solidify our rule.”
Ouyang Shuo was resolute, “I recommend that the Administration Department use one to two months to test all the officials in the territory. The worthy will rise, while the poor will be sacked. It’s a good opportunity for the students that graduated Xinan University and the scholars we have recruited.”
To put it bluntly, of the current officials in the territory, more than half lacked proper training and were raised from the ground up.
The reason why such a situation occurred was naturally because they lacked talents when they were building the territory. Even Shanhai City had faced the same situation, with Zhao Dewang and some others as examples.
As Shanhai City had taken over those territories, their problems were now theirs.
However, undeniably, amongst this batch of people, the fire had moulded a few talents like Zhao Dexian. However, sixty percent and above remained useless, slowly becoming a burden to the territory.
Ouyang Shuo was slowly receiving news of corrupt officials in the various Houses and counties. Some officials had started to leech off the people. Ouyang Shuo naturally could not tolerate such actions.
The territory did not have a complete talent selection system like the imperial examinations. Even if they wanted to implement such examinations, they currently lacked the ability. At the current stage, they could only choose personnel through the tests and examinations of the Administration Department.
This job not only used up a lot of time, but it also affected the interests of many parties.
If they did not act carefully, situations might occur.
To prevent such a scenario, they had to implement these tests quicker, and they needed to remove this tumor from the territory.
If they just let these people do as they wished, this small cancer would continue to grow into a huge aberration. At that time, not only would they hurt the people, it could even affect the entire rule.
Ouyang Shuo was exceedingly wary of this point.
This was also part of the reason for his establishment of the Shanhai Guards. The future Shanhai Guards would act as a sharp sword that hung over the heads of the civil servants and the military generals to instill fear.
In the road to kingship, wars only formed the surface, and internal rule was the main matter. Only by ruling well could one amass enough energy to start wars and expand.
If not, blindly expanding would mean destabilizing the base. In the end, just like a sandcastle, it would look good but crumble with a small push.
Undeniably, taking this job would make it extremely easy to make enemies.
Ouyang Shuo believed that only the fair and uncorrupt Fan Zhongyan could take this task.
“Xiwen, this matter depends on you.”
“Don’t worry, my Lord!”
The Lord’s worries aligned with his own. To him, as long as he could stabilize the rule and help the people, his personal loses did not mean anything.
Ouyang Shuo nodded; he believed that Fan Zhongyan had the ability to do so.
“Let’s talk about the Internal Affairs Department.”
When Wei Yang heard these words, he focused. From the missions the Lord had given to the Military Affairs Department and Administration Department, Wei Yang did not dare to lower his guard. The senses of the lord were truly sharp.
Each request he made cut directly into the jaguar of each department.
Wei Yang had heard that the Lord had single-handedly built the entire structure of the Nanjiang Governor-General House. Before this, he had some doubts; he vaguely thought that Fan Zhongyan and the others were acting humble.
Now that he thought about it, he was genuinely impressed.
Although the Lord was young, he had the foresight of a king. No wonder Fan Zhongyan, Du Ruhui, and other great people would respect him so much.
In truth, Wei Yang was not the only one shocked.
In Xiao He’s heart, waves had also broke out. This was the first time he had seen the Lord plan for the future of the territory. He basically performed like a born king.
In comparison, the Liu Bang he had followed was nothing.
“The matter the Internal Affairs Department needs to handle would be the establishment of a perfect inspection, judgement, and review system. In the future, the case settling powers will be handed to the internal affairs director of each House and not their Prefect or County Magistrate.”
This action broke the olden tradition.
In the olden days, the County Magistrate handled all cases.
In Ouyang Shuo’s eyes, such a choice was stupid.
A County Magistrate should take charge of the overall picture, not judge cases. This command aimed to make the Internal Affairs Department establish a real world politics and law committee.
In the department, the Law and Order Division was in charge of maintaining law and order and catching criminals, the Procuratorate Division would judge and review cases, while the Supervisory Division took charge of regulating officials and taking up charges.
Ouyang Shuo wanted to give up power and allow them to truly run. His first step was to remove the County Magistrates and the Prefects’ power to deal with cases.
Purely this first step was astonishing.
When Wei Yang heard this command, he felt his blood boil. The feeling of a huge burden had never felt so good.
