Chapter 358 The Chief Officer is Really Bad
Gao Jia told him with great emotion that although Xingyuan Prefecture was flourishing, the corruption exposed in the past two years was also particularly prominent. Taxes and incomes in various counties and prefectures were rising rapidly, and those scoundrels who could not keep their integrity stretched out their black hands to take bribes.
The brothels and theaters in the city were prosperous, and business was booming. However, the government treasury was opened up by these rats, and in every verified case, the amount of money embezzled from the court was terrifyingly large.
Of course Zhao Yulin knew this.
Every dynasty has been fighting corruption, but there are always daring corrupt officials. Moreover, as wealth grows, they become more greedy and ferocious.
To solve this problem, the key is that the chief officials in all places must have a clear mind. If the chief officials are honest and upright, there will be many honest people in this place. If the chief officials are rotten, corruption will definitely become a trend from top to bottom.
Zhao Yulin suggested to him that he should organize the new social concepts about the new Song Dynasty published in the Hanshui Morning News and discuss them again, advocate equality and freedom, break the past official-centered system, encourage people to sue officials, let the people supervise together, and collect clues with rewards. The situation of combating corruption will definitely improve greatly.
What Zhao Yulin needs to solve most right now, besides concentrating his forces to fight against the invasion of the Mongol Empire , is to prevent someone from proclaiming himself emperor and restoring the throne.
You know, he abolished the monarchy and established a republic nearly a thousand years ahead of schedule. Although there was a source, the foundation was seriously unstable. The scholars of this era were educated to be loyal to the emperor and not to serve two masters. Officials of all sizes would kowtow and shout "Long live the emperor" when they saw the emperor or the royal token.
The next day, Zhao Yulin inspected the Hanzhong garrison and left Fengzhou, passing through Tongqing Prefecture and going to Tianshui in Qinzhou.
In Lingzhou of Hetao, the commander-in-chief of the Mongolian army, Prince Kuoduan, the Khan of the grassland, has learned that Zhao Yulin, the commander of the Shenwei Army, has arrived in Hanzhong. He rushed all the way from Linzhou and is currently analyzing the military situation in detail.
After a comprehensive visit to the border defense, Commander Android told him not to worry, because there was no major change in the military situation on the border. In recent months, the army of the New Song Dynasty had been training, exercising and reorganizing the army as usual, and there was no sign of a large army gathering for war.
Kuoduan had fought with Zhao Yulin many times before and knew how powerful he was. He never followed common sense in command and dispatch. Kuoduan ordered all places to be careful, strengthen vigilance, send more investigators, and prevent surprise attacks by the Shenwei Army.
The atmosphere of war immediately enveloped the western section of the Song-Mongol border. Guards were quickly added to the city gates and passes, and the intensity of the city guards' inspections was greatly increased. On the official road, many scouts galloped back and forth to gather information.
Zhao Yulin crossed Xihe Prefecture and entered Tietang Gorge in Tianshui, where he found that many garrison troops along the way were on duty with focused expressions.
He suddenly felt strange. What was going on?
Who ordered this waste of time and money?
The team arrived at the Iron Coffin Cliff, and the garrison troops guided them to cross the cliff quickly. Zhao Yulin asked Chu Yuxuan to find out, and then he found out that it was the governor of Qinzhou who personally commanded 2,000 garrison troops to check and guard at the entrance of the gorge to ensure the safety of Tietang Gorge.
After Zhao Yulin came out of the most dangerous canyon section, he saw the Qinzhou officials who came to greet him and said angrily: He is just a commander of the Shenwei Army, there is no need for such a grand ceremony.
The prefect bowed and said: "Hongsheng greets the commander-in-chief. Your safety is related to the stability of the new Song Dynasty. I dare not be careless."
Then an official from Shunfeng reported: There was news the day before yesterday that the Northern Barbarians were going to sabotage Tianshui and intended to harm the Commander. They were too late to uncover the Northern Barbarians' secret agents, and seeing the situation was critical, Lord Hong mobilized the garrison to go out of the city to welcome the Commander.
Zhao Yulin sighed and said that he had wronged everyone and that they had exhausted all the trouble. Then he smiled and called for them to go into the city.
After drinking the welcoming wine hosted by Mr. Hong, he came to the back hall and said happily that he had not expected that Lord Hong had already taken charge of Qinzhou. It was a cause for celebration, congratulations.
Hong Sheng humbly said that it was all thanks to the support of Lord Zhao and the princess, and he didn't have time to thank them enough.
Hong Sheng was the leader of a group of Jiangdong talents including Zhao Feiyan who smuggled from Lin'an to Sichuan. During the Battle of Guyuan, Zhao Yulin met Hong Sheng when he airdropped into the isolated city of Guyuan. At that time, Hong Sheng was a scholar sent to Guyuan by Hanzhong Academy for internship.
I didn’t expect Gao Jin to appoint him as the governor of Qinzhou so soon.
Zhao Yulin saw the orderly streets in the city and was very satisfied with the clean and tidy appearance of the city. He felt that Hong Sheng had good governance capabilities.
He reminded Hong Sheng that he should not be impetuous at a young age, but should be modest and prudent and work hard, as he still had a long way to go.
Hong Sheng was delighted. This was the Third Young Master caring about him and reminding him to work hard to have a bright future in his career. After having a cup of tea with him, the Third Young Master left carefully.
The next day, Hong Sheng followed the team and sent them a long way.
Zhao Yulin smiled and said, "After sending you thousands of miles away, we will have to say goodbye eventually. Let's go back. He has walked this route before and the terrain is relatively safe, so it's okay."
The boy said goodbye to Zhao Yulin and left. When his followers saw Zhao Yulin going away, they said that the Third Young Master was only a little old, but he spoke in an old-fashioned way, like an old gentleman or a senior official.
Hong Sheng raised his big hand and touched the follower's head and said: You deserve it, did we just say that the Third Young Master was just a random thing?
Haha, these young people are very observant. They even noticed Zhao Yulin’s emotional changes.
The official roads to Lanzhou all run through river valleys. Although there are some elevation differences, it is not as steep and dangerous as Tietang Gorge. There are also endless horse caravans traveling along the way, and it has long become a busy trade route in the west.
Zhao Yulin walked on the official road for five days and saw Wang Hancheng coming from afar.
He laughed and said that we were old brothers, why did we have to run so far to be polite?
Han Cheng said that he was not being polite, but was giving a warning that a spy from the Northern Barbarians had sneaked into the border with the intention of assassinating the Third Young Master.
Zhao Yulin laughed and said that life and death are up to God and he has nothing to fear.
Wang Hancheng immediately said seriously that the third young master does not believe in God or evil, so we must not be careless.
The two men laughed loudly and rode their horses straight to Gongchang Prefecture.
When he entered the government office, he saw a familiar woman coming out to serve tea. After hearing the introduction, he realized that it was Wang Youling, Han Cheng's new bride.
Zhao Yulin was immediately surprised.
Wang Youling's face flushed. She served some tea, sat for a while, and then left.
Han Cheng smiled and said that his eldest brother had never married. One day, when he was inspecting the academy, he found that Miss Wang was a teacher there and had never married. He found someone to match them up and they actually succeeded.
Zhao Yulin picked up the tea bowl and used tea instead of wine to congratulate, and said with a smile that his brother was very resourceful, as he managed to marry Qin Gong's most talented woman.
Wang Hancheng said a little proudly that he was just a rough guy and it was a great honor for him to meet Miss Wang. However, some people said that Miss Wang was the daughter of a criminal, so he asked the third young master to make the decision.
Zhao Yulin smiled and said that he was pretending to fight and had forgotten the rules of our Shenwei Army. The Shenwei Army does not engage in collective punishment. In order to raise military funds for our Shenwei Army, Miss Wang once took the lead in demolishing the ancestral hall. She has long been a member of our Shenwei Army. She is not only innocent but also a meritorious person.
Han Cheng was happy and wanted to have a good drink with him.
Zhao Yulin asked him to invite Wang Youling out as well and toast the couple with a glass of wine. He wanted to toast Wang Youling with a glass of wine to thank her for donating her property to support the Shenwei Army.
When Wang Youling met Zhao Yulin on the old road earlier, he wanted to assassinate him for revenge.
However, Zhao Yulin did not care about her ignorance. He personally set her bones and saved her life. He also wrote a letter of certification to notify the counties along the way to let her go back to Gongchang Prefecture, so that the girl could meet the third young master who was open-minded and dedicated to serving the people.
Gradually, I even fell in love with him.
Of course, Zhao Yulin had no idea about Wang Youling's emotional changes. He only knew that this woman wanted to rob her own home in order to raise military funds for the Shenwei Army. She dug up the Gongchang Mansion, which was once Guo Chongma's residence, and searched for her family's treasures, completely ignoring Guo Chongma's anger.
Finally, they demolished her family's ancestral hall, dug out a large amount of gold and silver and sent them to Ma Ling in Fengxiang Prefecture.
He must remember this feeling.
After praising them, Zhao Yulin stood up and toasted them both solemnly, and Wang Youling accepted it generously.
The next day, Zhao Yulin was about to leave Gongchang for Lanzhou, but was stopped by the old owner of the troupe, who asked him to play a song for the people of Gongchang Prefecture.
Zhao Yulin walked past the stage and saw that the street was full of common people, shouting that they wanted to listen to the Third Young Master's music. More and more people were watching, which made Wang Hancheng very anxious. He quickly mobilized soldiers to maintain order. Brothers of the Shenwei Army stood up upstairs and downstairs in the shops on both sides.
The old boss handed over his gold-inlaid lock with both hands and shouted, "Gentlemen, applaud, the third young master is going to play a song for us."
Zhao Yulin couldn't delay any longer.
Firstly, the old teacher had taught Zhao Yulin how to play music, so he was half a master. Secondly, the venue was already crowded with people, clapping their hands and making loud applause.
The people are full of expectations.
He held the suona above his head and signaled everyone to be quiet. After praising Gong Changfu, he played the famous suona piece "Passionate Yellow Earth" that he had adapted.
Zhao Yulin has been practicing martial arts for a long time and has a very strong internal energy. Some time ago, he practiced harmony exercises with the head woman. His abundant internal energy made the music sound powerful and mellow even from a long distance, which immediately attracted the people at the scene.
These common people had never heard such powerful and full music before, nor had they ever seen him play so freely. They were soon infected by the sound of the suona and began to dance to the rhythm.
It had been a long time since Zhao Yulin had played music in such an open-air environment. He was moved by the grand atmosphere on the scene, which stimulated his potential and made him play freely. The music was sometimes high-pitched like reaching the sky, sometimes low like a dragon's roar, and soon it was like thousands of troops and horses, with tens of thousands of warriors dancing majestically.
When Zhao Yulin put away the suona, everyone at the scene was still lost in the music. He returned the suona to the old troupe leader, jumped on his horse, bowed to the people and said goodbye.
At this moment, everyone suddenly woke up and shouted: What a good song, wonderful song, the third young master is playing a divine song.
Third Master, take care.
Third Master, have a good trip...
