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“Hey, Chen Qing…

Oh, no, Lord Chen, you’ve just returned?”

At the entrance of the Government Office, an exhausted Chen Qing, with bleary eyes, had just barely managed to rush back with coachman Old Meng.

Having toiled back and forth for two days, Chen Qing, whose eyelids were struggling to stay open, suddenly became wide awake upon seeing a familiar group of faces sitting and drinking porridge at the entrance.

“When did you guys get here, Gu Beiquan, the top scholar?”

The one addressed as the top scholar, Gu Beiquan, twitched his cheek slightly, put down his porridge bowl, and stood up: “This subordinate pays respects to the Prefectural Governor.”

Although the others were reluctant, they too set down their porridge bowls and performed the salute: “We pay respects to the Prefectural Governor.”

“No need for such formalities, we are all old classmates…”, Chen Qing said with a smile that narrowed his eyes into slits, though his words were merely polite gestures.

Standing to the side, Ma Erniang, upon seeing so many scholars paying respects to Chen Qing, couldn’t help thinking to herself: The son of the Chen family has really made something of himself, becoming the Prefectural Governor.

It looks like he’s finally come into good fortune, unlike my worthless boy who hasn’t learnt a thing from his studies and has even picked up his deadbeat father’s bad habit of gambling…

While thinking, she hurriedly served the young Prefectural Governor a bowl: “Quick, have some of this freshly cooked meat porridge with ginger in it, it’s just the thing to ward off the chill.”

With so many officials around, this was a golden opportunity to get to know them better, which might help secure good positions for her two sons.

Chen Qing, enticed by the smell, quickly dished out bowls of porridge for both himself and Old Meng.

“Our Prefectural Governor Chen seems to have been quite busy,” the top scholar said, casting a disdainful look at Chen Qing, who was gulping down the porridge as if he hadn’t eaten for days: “I heard you arrived at Lyuzhou City days ahead of us, yet there’s not a single change to be seen here.

I wonder what the Prefectural Governor has been so busy with?”

Chen Qing, slurping his porridge, didn’t feel like responding to the comment.

With Lyuzhou City in its current sorry state, even if I busied myself for a month, could you make any changes?

“Now that you’ve seen the situation for yourself, Lord Chen, do you have any thoughts?” another tall scholar said leisurely while sipping tea.

Without even looking up, Chen Qing could tell it was the voice of Shen Bangyan, the newly minted Second Place Scholar, which immediately darkened his mood…

These jerks, just because they’ve had their fill, they can’t stand to see him enjoy a bowl of porridge?

The coachman, listening in, also felt uncomfortable.

Although he too thought that his master was somewhat unserious, at the very least, he was still out working hard for Lyuzhou and had been on the road all night.

What had these gentlemen done besides make noise…

“Daddy, what smells so good?”

From inside the carriage, Ghost Doll, lured by the aroma, sleepily opened the carriage curtain.

What a cute child!

Everyone was taken aback when they saw the child poking its head out from the carriage, looking like a porcelain doll enshrined in a temple, eliciting feelings of affection.

The group of scholars, previously dissatisfied, all displayed gentle smiles at the sight.

They thought to themselves how plain Chen Qing looked, yet he had such a beautiful child…

Whoosh…

Suddenly, a morning breeze blew, and the entire carriage curtain was swept open.

Smiles froze on everyone’s faces!

That’s huge…

Even Ma Erniang, a woman who had given birth to two children, blushed at the sight.

What’s with this child?

How could it be so majestically endowed at such a young age?

What has he been eating to grow like that?

“Cough cough!” Chen Qing choked on his porridge and hurriedly put down the bowl to pull the carriage curtain shut: “Cough…

Ma Erniang, do you have any loose clothing for kids?

Give me two pieces for the child to wear for now.”

“Oh, oh, eh?

Chen Qing?

You have children?”

Chen Qing, trying to laugh it off, was about to come up with an excuse when another gigantic head poked out of the carriage.

“Good heavens…”

Ma Erniang was scared into retreating, while everyone else also jumped in shock.

“What is this?”

“Ah…

this…

cough cough…” Chen Qing coughed to clear his throat before explaining: “It’s a mountain turtle.

According to some villagers, it’s an auspicious creature.

Since…

Lyuzhou has witnessed some unspeakable evil events, I thought it would be good to bring an auspicious creature over to soothe the people’s hearts.”

Pfft!

Some choked on their porridge and the leading top scholar, Gu Beiquan, scoffed: “So, our Prefectural Governor has been so busy he couldn’t be seen, all because of this?”

“Lord Chen…,” finally, a familiar middle-aged face at the side spoke up.

“Your Majesty entrusted you with such responsibility because he values you.

The greater the trust, the less you can afford to fail the divine grace.

This…”

Recognizing the voice, Chen Qing didn’t need to look to know who it was.

Who else could it be but Lyu Yiqi, who always spoke in the tone of an old senior?

He wasn’t in a hurry.

He knew why these Imperial Scholars resented him, just like those Tsinghua and Peking University graduates who didn’t take too kindly to a third-tier university coder like himself stepping into a senior management role at Tencent.

But at least those high-achievers had solid technical skills and coded well.

They were haughty, but they didn’t bungle their tasks.

However, what use were these men, who commanded the world but had no practical skills, to him?

He couldn’t care less about expending effort on them…

“Seeing the current situation here, what thoughts do the lords have?” Chen Qing, while taking a sip of tea for a mouth rinse, slowly countered with a question, “If anyone has a brilliant idea, I will not hog the credit.

I’ll immediately submit a report guaranteeing support and offer up this position of Magistrate to those of ability.

The Imperial Court is in urgent need of capable hands.

As long as one is willing to make a military pledge guaranteeing the resolution of Lyuzhou City’s crisis, I am sure the Imperial Court would make an exceptional promotion.

So, which lord is willing to give it a try?”

Upon these words, the previously incessant Imperial Scholars abruptly fell silent.

After a moment, Chen Qing sneered, “Oh, after all that, you have no ideas?”

“Minister Chen!” Gu Beiquan snapped irritably, “Do you think the arrangements from above are some kind of child’s play?

The Imperial Court has already made careful plans, and of course, it is a matter of everyone performing their own duties!”

“Oh, so the top scholar Gu endorses the Imperial Court’s arrangements,” Chen Qing put down his tea cup, his smile fading, “In that case, how I conduct my duties is certainly not subject to your criticism, right?”

“You…”

Gu Beiquan’s face reddened with anger, and the other scholars also looked displeased.

Only Shen Yuan, the recently appointed Second Place Scholar, gave a light sneer, his eyes still radiating that same pride.

“Since it’s a matter of every man to his duty, let’s stick to the Imperial documents then,” Chen Qing said, glancing at Ma Erniang and the coachman standing beside him looking lost.

He smiled and continued, “There are no outsiders here, so let’s discuss it right here.”

Chen Qing took out the documents and said, “According to the documents, Scholar Gu is to be the Administrative Commissioner, and Shen the Second Place Scholar is to be the Deputy Prefect…

huh?”

Chen Qing was taken aback, finding it unreasonable.

Why should the position of the one ranked second be one rank higher than that of the top scholar?

Many of the scholars without powerful backers were also puzzled by this inconsistency, but as the top scholar, Gu Beiquan just snorted coldly and didn’t say much, not even daring to show any displeasure toward the newly appointed Second Place Scholar beside him.

The reason was that he knew the other’s background.

Shen Yuan hailed from the Sorcerer Academy, and with such a background, ten top scholar titles would not measure up.

In the Great Jin Dynasty, there was a vast divide between sorcerer officials and non-sorcerer officials, as vast as heaven and earth.

If not for the scarcity of sorcerers, ordinary persons like them would never have gotten their chance to hold office.

Chen Qing didn’t dwell on it for too long and continued, “According to the usual practice in the Provincial Government Offices, the Administrative Commissioner and the Deputy Prefect can be assigned elsewhere or work with me in the same city.

If they choose to work with me in the same city, then the Deputy Prefect and Administrative Commissioner will need to oversee grain transportation, supervising arrests, river defenses, agriculture, and other matters.”

“Lyuzhou is one of the major commercial routes in Jiangnan, and river defense is especially crucial.

With the Imperial Court withdrawing the naval forces, we can only rely on the neighboring provinces for assistance for now.

Rebuilding the river defenses and attracting merchant ships back is of urgent priority.

So, which of you is willing to take up this challenge?”

“This…” Gu Beiquan was instantly at a loss for words.

He had not expected Chen Qing, who came from a peasant background and had no formal training in governance, to speak so authoritatively right from the start.

And to know to throw the toughest issues out first.

Everyone knew that river defense was a matter of great interest, involving the registration and management of shipping goods and dealings with the military commander in charge of troop movements.

With the current animosity between civil and military officials, the toughest tasks were those involving dealings with military generals.

As an Imperial Scholar with a non-magician background, he didn’t have the confidence.

He muttered, “I have shallow knowledge and insufficient experience for such significant governmental affairs, I’m afraid I can’t handle them.

Perhaps…

Minister Shen might take a look?”

Shen Yuan, being a magician himself, presumably had more confidence than himself.

Upon hearing this, Shen Yuan frowned.

He was in fact eager to compete for the responsibility of river defense, not only for the glory but also for its lucrative aspects.

However, he was more informed than Gu Beiquan; he knew who the new Commander was since he had left the Capital City.

If it had been anyone else, it might have been manageable, but the one coming this time was the madman from the Weichi Clan, and that truly made him hesitant.

After a moment’s thought, he said, “Lord Chen, given the scarcity of officials in Lyuzhou, it seems wasteful for all three of us to govern in the Lyuzhou Prefecture.

Perhaps…

it might be better for us to be assigned elsewhere?”

He realized that if he couldn’t contend for river defense, then the remaining tasks of grain transportation, supervising arrests, and agriculture were all duties with slow returns.

Especially under the current situation in Lyuzhou, any issues that were being passed down were thankless jobs, and instead of vying for power in such a mess, it was better to be assigned to a key county as the chief official.

This way, he wouldn’t be under anyone’s thumb and there’d be more room to achieve political success.

Gu Beiquan, upon hearing this, also brightened up, clearly realizing the same thing and promptly said, “Minister Shen is correct, with such a shortage of personnel, being assigned elsewhere would indeed be for the best…”

Chen Qing curled the corner of his mouth, already anticipating their response.

When leaving the Capital City, Wei Gongcheng had already hinted to him that the new Commander of Lyuzhou seemed to be Weichi Peng’s eldest illegitimate brother, a particularly troublesome person.

Any of these top scholars or runners-up with a bit of insight wouldn’t think of competing with the madman from the Weichi Clan.

But he wasn’t swayed by such considerations.

Madman or not, he intended to keep all governmental affairs in Lyuzhou within his grasp – city defenses, river defenses, he wouldn’t allow them to fall into others’ hands.

This was crucial for the plans he had later on.

Even if Heaven’s King descended, he would still contend!