Castle of Black Iron

Kangzhou Province was a major province in Peacewest Military Region. Peacewest Military Region Headquarters was located in Kangzhou City the capital city of Kangzhou Province. After Peacewest Military Region was turned into a theater of operations, all the authorities in Peacewest Military Region adapted to the system of the theater of operations. The Agricultural Administration in Kangzhou City also became a powerful hub which was responsible for the logistics of the entire theater of operations. Therefore, Zhang Tie’s field headquarters was set in the Agricultural Administration in Kangzhou City.

Like the judicial authorities of Taixia Country, the agricultural authorities of Taixia Country were also classified into 6 levels. The supreme agricultural authority was called the Agricultural Ministry under the leadership of the agricultural minister. Those on the level of the military region were called agricultural administrations; those on the level of the province were called agricultural temples; those on the level of prefecture were called agricultural yamen; those on the level of the city were called agricultural agencies; those on the level of the country were called agricultural center. After Zhang Tie was appointed as Weiji General, all the officials in the agricultural authorities of Peacewest Military Region from agricultural administration to agricultural center became Zhang Tie’s subordinates. Additionally, the main officials of all agricultural authorities in Peacewest Military Region would become Weiji envoys and directly follow Zhang Tie’s order.

Agricultural authorities were previously important among those authorities in Taixia Country. In the theater of operations, logistics counted most besides combat. Weiji General who could make arbitrary decisions would rule all the agricultural authorities in Peacewest Military Region and take control of the industrial and agricultural production as well as the distribution and transportation of various materials across the theater of operations. Actually, Zhang Tie’s power was even much greater than the director general of the Agricultural Administration of Peacewest Administration. He was only close to the commander of Peacewest Military Region.

The moment Zhang Tie got off the airboat, he had seen a lot of people in red, green, blue and purple official uniforms bowing deeply to him at the same time. Zhang Tie glanced over them and found that there were over 200 people at present. All the main officials of agricultural authorities on provincial and prefectural levels in Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Military Province had already arrived. Besides these officials, those main officials in the Peacewest Agricultural Administration were at present.

It was grand. Among these people, the lowest rank was Class VII director of agricultural yamen; the highest rank was Subordinate Class III director general of the Peacewest Agricultural Administration, which was also one level inferior to Zhang Tie.

As it was his first time to be greeted by so many officials of Taixia Country, Zhang Tie felt strange. He suddenly felt that he might be destined to be related to the agricultural authorities of Taixia Country. After killing Han Zhengfang, he was greeted by so many agricultural officials of Taixia Country. That was too dramatic!

‘Am I born to conquer people in the uniform of agricultural authorities of Taixia Country?’

Watching this scene, Zhang Tie couldn’t help but mutter inside.

“Get up…”

“Thank you, general!” Over 200 people answered in unison before straightening up their bodies.

“This Agricultural Administration is so large!” Zhang Tie looked around as he found the Peacewest Agricultural Administration covered vast land. The square in front of him was greater than 800 m in both length and width. It could hold 5-6 airboats at the same time. The square was surrounded by red walls, green tiles and trees. Behind the shades of those green trees, Zhang Tie saw a lot of houses and the well-carved auspicious beasts Chiwen on the ridges of those houses, which looked pretty magnificent.

‘Those houses should be the workplace of the officials of Peacewest Agricultural Administration. My residence should be behind this square.’

“From now on, all the affairs in the Peacewest Agricultural Administration would be chaired by general. We all will follow your lead!” The official in the front of the team of officials opened his mouth.

“You must be Director General Lu Yanyu!”

As Zhang Tie said it, he moved his eyes onto the official in the front of the team who was at his 60s given his look. In a vermilion and purple uniform and a jade belt being embroidered with auspicious clouds, which was attached with a pair of dragon-shaped golden hooks, this man should be the director general of Peacewest Agricultural Administration. Agriculture was the foundation of the country. Additionally, weather counted most in agriculture. Only the director general of agricultural administration of military region could wear a jade belt which was decorated with dragon-shaped golden hooks and auspicious clouds. As only that person’s uniform was matched with them, he must be the director general of Peacewest Agricultural Administration.

After Zhang Tie became Weiji General, the director general of Peacewest Agricultural Administration became Zhang Tie’s assistant. What Zhang Tie had not imagined was that Lu Yanyu was not even a knight. He had just lit over 600 surging points and was still far away from being a knight. However, after thinking about it for a second, Zhang Tie immediately understood that there was no mandatory request on the cultivation base of the officials in Taixia Country except military titles such as provincial governors and Cheji General, which people below knight were not qualified to compete for. Therefore, it was nothing strange for Lu Yanyu to be the director general of Peacewest Agricultural Administration although he was not a knight.

“Yes, this humble official is Lu Yanyu!” The official answered calmly. After throwing a glance at the 3 walnuts in Zhang Tie’s hand, he slightly lowered his eye light in a serious and distant way.

Zhang Tie was adapting to his newly grown strength by fiddling with those walnuts. If a playboy who butchered fowl and walked a dog every day did it, they would definitely feel that he was fickle. However, when it was done by Zhang Tie, everybody at present felt that Qianji Hermit had great confidence and was steadfast; otherwise, he couldn’t be so relaxed. After seeing their main general behaving in such a calm way, all the other officials gradually felt reassured.

‘A man who could be my grandpa given his age is going to be the assistant of this young man. Of course, Lu Yanyu couldn’t be completely calm inside; however, as Weiji General was appointed by the commander-in-chief, Lu Yanyu couldn’t say no to it. Additionally, I’m not here to win popular support from these officials. I’ve got something more important to do. Therefore, I don’t care what Lu Yanyu and the other officials who are stealthily glancing at me with amazed looks think about it. It’s fine if they could accomplish the tasks that I’ve assigned to them as it’s their commitments. I will award them too. However, if they played any motherf*cking trick with me, I would not blink my eyes even if I had to chop off all of their heads. After being accustomed to the mountains and seas of corpses, hundreds of people are nothing but sh*t. What I want to do could never be easily destroyed by anyone.’

Zhang Tie didn’t care what these officials thought and whether they were complete or not. He only wanted the result. By then, Zhang Tie finally understood why big figures should have a breadth of mind; because a decision of Zhang Tie would influence the fates of tens of billions of people, even more. By contrast, the life and death, honor and humiliation of hundreds of people became trivial.

“Have all the Weiji envoys in Peacewest Military Region arrived?” Zhang Tie asked Lu Yanyu straightforwardly.

“The 4 Weiji envoys of the agricultural temples in Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Military Province have been here; all the Weiji envoys from the 219 prefectures in the other 4 provinces have also arrived, except Zhao Shixian the Weiji envoy of Yuan Prefecture in Huanzhou Province, Dianbo the Weiji envoy of Gonghe Prefecture in Kangzhou Province and Qinshuren the Weiji envoy of Sihuan Prefecture in Military Province!”

“Why?” Zhang Tie asked calmly.

“Zhao Shixian the Weiji envoy of Yuan Prefecture, Huanzhou Province is too old. As he was busy arranging refugees for a few months, he has already fallen sick and been on bed for many days. He couldn’t trek for a long time anymore. He’s receiving medical treatment and recuperation at home. Dianbo the Weiji envoy of Gonghe Prefecture, Kangzhou Province suffered obstacles in his airship on the way to Kangzhou City. As a result, he had to land in the wilderness; he couldn’t find any traffic tool for the time being; therefore, he’s late. Qin Shuren the Weiji enjoy of Sihuan Prefecture, Military Province encountered dike breaching in Yongshui River on the way here. As many villages and towns are inflicted by the flood and over 500,000 people were in trouble, Qin Shuren used his airship to transport refugees in the emergency. Therefore, he’s late. The 3 people have already sent a message to me…”

“Zhao Shixian passed out due to tiredness after arranging refugees for a few months. He’s serving the country at his full effort. He deserves the award. From today on, Zhao Shixian will be promoted to a higher official rank. When he recovers, assign him to the Peacewest Agricultural Administration and let him be responsible for the prison. As for the Weiji envoy of Yuan Prefecture, Huanzhou Province, I will select someone else who’s strong and young!” Zhang Tie glanced around all the others as he continued, “Dian Bo’s excuse is too ridiculous. If he’s had people check his airship in advance, how could such an emergency arise? As Dian Bo is indolent and not good at managing his subordinates, I don’t think such a person is suitable to the position of Weiji envoy because this position is too important and military demands don’t allow any negligence. I will remove him from office from now on. Now that Qin Shuren is providing disaster relief, let him stay there and save people first. After finishing that, he could return to Sihuan Prefecture directly. Send what we will negotiate about today to him in terms of documents. Additionally, as Military Province didn’t suffer any flood until today, the Peacewest Agricultural Administration should assign someone there to investigate the dike breaching. If it was caused by people, punish them severely…”

The 3 prefectural Weiji envoys who had not arrived faced utterly different fates only after Zhang Tie’s brief words. Zhao Shixian promoted to a higher official rank and would be responsible for the prison of the Peacewest Agricultural Administration; Dian Bo’s official post was directly removed. Qin Shuren was easily released. After tasting Zhang Tie’s decisions which were made in such a short period, all the officials at present including Lu Yanyu felt their hearts racing as they started to show their reverence to Zhang Tie sincerely…