Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 1539: Chapter 482: Pacification, Prefectural Governor’s Whereabouts, Ji Hong’s Entrustment, Earning Trust_2

This Xue Zijing really does have some means!

“The Subordinate Department Chief of the Slave Village counts as a fat post. The Six Department Heads just let Xue Zijing act like this and do nothing?”

The Six Department Heads naturally did not rank as high as Yanling County Governor Chu Tianxu, but in terms of official grade, they were on the same level. All six only needed to obey the orders of the Town Six Departments above them; they had no subordinate relationship to the Prefectural Governor. Moreover, judging from Chen Cang’s multi-ethnic joint upper structure, to become a Six Department Head, their own background and strength were definitely not weak.

Though Xue Zijing was the Grand Master, he was after all an outsider. And Chen Cang had an unwritten rule by default: both Grand Masters had to be Tribulation Body Realm powerhouses. So Xue Zijing taking the post of Grand Master was actually breaking the system; the Feudal Town high echelon had already been unconvinced by him.

Letting him deal with the Slave Village like this was at most a matter of face, but appointing four Branch Leaders as Subordinate Department Chiefs of the Slave Village touched their vital interests. It was impossible for the Six Department Heads to have no reaction at all.

The profit to be made from the Slave Village was obviously immense. The Manager in charge of all internal administration was naturally a massive fat post. If Xue Zijing had spread the favor evenly and divided it among the Six Departments, it would still be arguable. But directly letting four rebel leaders take the post was indeed a bit too much. Even if the Six Department Heads, constrained by Xue Zijing’s status as Grand Master, did not dare openly resist, there was no way they would do nothing.

Just as Xia Hong had guessed, Ji Hong shook his head and replied, “Of course that was impossible. The Six Department Heads immediately raised doubts against Xue Zijing, believing this move inappropriate. But Xue Zijing said nothing, offered no explanation; he only took out the Grand Master Token and forcibly pressed down the Six Department Heads.

The Six Department Heads were not convinced and jointly memorialized the Town City General Office. The Minister of the Ministry of War, Chu Baihe, even sent a memorial directly to Commander Chen Liwu. His reasoning was that nearly four thousand Soldiers of the Lu River Camp had been killed; if the rebel party was not thoroughly investigated, it would be impossible to appease the four thousand unjust souls of the camp, and the morale of the Chencang Army would also be damaged.”

So it really was a challenge on the stage!

Chu Baihe’s reasoning was actually quite reasonable upon closer thought.

From a god’s-eye view, Xue Zijing’s handling had many advantages: it could deal a heavy blow to the Frost Ash Association, reduce the governance cost of the Slave Village, ease the slaves’ resistance against the mid- and upper-levels of the Feudal Town, and so on…

But from the perspective of all the military households and mid- to high-level personnel in Chen Cang, it was a completely different matter.

These people rebelled, and not only did you refrain from punishing or killing them, you even promised them high positions, even granting them such a fat post as Subordinate Department Chief. No matter how you claim these measures will benefit the Feudal Town in the future, for now it is all too easy to hang on you the charge of muddled rewards and punishments—perfectly justified and extremely reasonable.

But then again, institutional reform was by nature something that brought short-term pain and long-term benefits. Not everyone was blind to this; it was just that where one’s backside was seated decided how one’s head thought. Defending one’s own interests was a matter of course and an eternal truth.

Xue Zijing’s approach was clever, but his methods were too crude. That it would arouse the opposition of the Six Department Heads was not surprising at all.

Xia Hong lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then continued asking, “Ten years is too short, so Xue Zijing plans to administer strong medicine and forcibly push through Yanling’s reform. With the Landgrave’s support, he likely isn’t afraid of these people going to the Town to file complaints. So what happened after that?”

“The Landgrave should not be in the Town. The Six Departments made no response at all; only Commander Chen Liwu, on the fourth—meaning yesterday—sent over a handwritten letter. After the County City Six Department Heads finished reading it, they were all dumbfounded.

That letter said that for the next ten years, the Yanling Six Departments, in all their actions, including the dismissal and appointment of Chief personnel, were to take Prefectural Governor Chu Tianxu as their principal.”

Not Grand Master Xue Zijing, but Prefectural Governor Chu Tianxu as their principal!

Xia Hong keenly caught this point from Ji Hong’s words, and his eyes immediately lit up.

“Lord, you’ve probably heard it too. From this letter of Chen Liwu, we can see that many matters in Chen Cang are not decided solely by Landgrave Chu Longteng. The Chen Family’s influence in Chen Cang is terrifyingly great, to the point that even the Landgrave must be wary.

The Six Departments accused Grand Master Xue Zijing, who held the reins of government, before the Town City, yet the reply did not come from the Landgrave but from Commander Chen Liwu, the military leader—this in itself is a bit abnormal.

Chu Longteng is one hundred percent in support of the reform. The idea of using Yanling as a pilot site was something he decided on by forcefully overriding opposition. Following that logic, for the next ten years, the Yanling Six Departments ought to be centered on Xue Zijing, the Grand Master.

So this letter from Chen Liwu cannot possibly represent Landgrave Chu Longteng’s will. In other words, Commander Chen Liwu has the ability to act without following the Landgrave’s intentions.

“He hasn’t completely defied Chu Longteng’s intentions either. After all, Chu Tianxu is the only one among the Chen Cang high echelon who supports reform. As long as he cooperates wholeheartedly, Xue Zijing can still carry out the reform smoothly.

Not handing full control of the Yanling Six Departments to Xue Zijing at most counts as jamming things a bit, adding more variables to the reform.”

Xia Hong lowered his head and pondered for a moment, a trace of a smile flashing in his eyes.

No matter how good a system was, in the end it still depended on people to implement it. This reform of Xue Zijing’s touched the interests of too many senior figures in Chen Cang; it was already riddled with difficulties and full of countless variables. Now even Commander Chen Lixin, whose status could rival that of Landgrave Chu, had stepped in.

The difficulty of smoothly pushing the new system through Yanling County over the next ten years could well be imagined.

Not even as a joke, Xia Hong could already make a prediction now: the probability of this reform of Xue Zijing’s failing was over ninety percent.