Chapter 78: Taking Office
Time passed slowly for Yang Zhengshan, and three days later, Zhou Lan sent over the official robes and seal.
August 7th.
Yang Zhengshan, accompanied by Yang Mingwu, Yang Chengxu, and Yang Minghao, as well as fifty soldiers, left the Fortress City. The soldiers were all trained by him and were a testament to his authority.
More than fifty people, Yang Zhengshan and his men rode war horses, fully armed, and escorted the grain carts as they departed the Fortress City. The military dependents in the Fortress City sent them off, watching Yang Zhengshan leave with respectful and admiring gazes.
Yinghe Fortress was situated by the Yinghe River, which was wider than the small, nameless river below the Fortress City. However, at this time, the river had dried up, leaving only a few small puddles.
The entire Yinghe Fortress was much larger than the Fortress City, with an east-west length of over 400 meters, a south-north width of over 200 meters, and walls around 10 meters high. The outer walls were built with bluestone, making it a secure stronghold. As the residence of the prefectural officer, Yinghe Fortress was much larger than other garrisons, and its fortifications were more solid.
When Yang Zhengshan led his troops to the east gate of Yinghe Fortress, he was greeted by officials who had come to welcome him. Among them were a few who had met Yang Zhengshan before.
Deputy Commander Xu Zhen, Recording Clerk Qian Wan, and others had visited the Fortress City previously.
Xu Zhen’s face turned iron-green as he gazed at Yang Zhengshan, who was riding a horse. His scowl was due to Yang Zhengshan snatching his position. Originally, Xu Zhen had heard that Zhang Zhongxiang was being removed from office and thought he could take over as the prefectural officer of Yinghe Fortress. He had even taken the trouble to build connections at the Jing’an Prefecture and spent a large sum of silver. But as soon as he returned to Yinghe Fortress, he received news that Yang Zhengshan had been appointed as the prefectural officer.
In his eyes, this was equivalent to Yang Zhengshan stealing his position.
Actually, he was mistaken. Zhou Lan had removed Zhang Zhongxiang to make way for Yang Zhengshan. Xu Zhen thought he could take the position, but everything he did was in vain.
Of course, Xu Zhen was unaware of this, and all he knew was that Yang Zhengshan had snatched his position. He was furious.
Xu Zhen’s face turned black, and he remained silent, as did the other officials. They stood quietly at the gate, watching Yang Zhengshan approach.
“Greetings, Commander!” they chorused.
Yang Zhengshan swept his gaze over them, giving a slight nod. “You may dispense with the formalities!”
Currently, as the prefectural officer, he had only one deputy commander, one magistrate, four battalion commanders, and two trial battalion commanders under him. This was clearly not enough for a prefectural officer.
However, considering he only had over 400 soldiers under his command, it was no wonder there were so few officials.
Although Xu Zhen was unhappy, he had to put on a good face. He took a step forward and said, “The official residence has been prepared, sir. Please enter.”
Despite his disdain for Yang Zhengshan, the “mud-legged” officer, he had to maintain appearances.
Yang Zhengshan glanced at him, his displeasure written all over his face. Xu Zhen couldn’t hide his resentment.
Yang Zhengshan didn’t care about Xu Zhen’s unhappiness. He didn’t expect to have a good relationship with these useless officials.
The military preparedness in the Heavy Mountain Fortress had been neglected, largely due to the incompetence of the higher-ups. As for the military affairs in Yinghe Fortress, the responsibility lay with the officials present.
Formerly, Commander Zhang Zhongxiang bore the main responsibility, and Xu Zhen, the deputy commander, was also guilty.
As he knew, Xu Zhen had committed many wrongdoings in Yinghe Fortress, such as bullying military dependents, embezzling public funds, and padding expenses. Xu Zhen had been involved in all these.
Especially when it came to padding expenses, all the officials in Yinghe Fortress were complicit.
To think that in the Metropolitan Prefecture Office, there were over 800 soldiers under the jurisdiction of Yinghe Fortress, but in reality, only around 400. This meant that the remaining 400 soldiers were “transparent” – their salaries and provisions had all gone into the pockets of these officials.
Yang Zhengshan ignored Xu Zhen and turned to Yang Mingwu behind him. “Mingwu!”
“Here, sir!” Yang Mingwu immediately responded.
“Go!” Yang Zhengshan said calmly.
Yang Mingwu led two small flags of soldiers into the fortress.
The layout of Yinghe Fortress was similar to that of the Fortress City, with the official residence in the center, the military dependents’ quarters behind it, and a spacious training ground in front.
However, unlike the Fortress City, the official residence in Yinghe Fortress was much more exquisite.
The entire residence was built with bluestone, with two cross-shaped courtyards at the back, and over thirty rooms. It was even more spacious than the residence he had in the Fortress City.
This was clearly built by Zhang Zhongxiang himself, or perhaps by the previous prefectural officer. In any case, it had now fallen into Yang Zhengshan’s hands.
Yang Mingwu didn’t care about the other officials’ expressions and led the soldiers directly into the official residence, taking charge of the important facilities such as the study, account room, warehouse, and granary.
Yang Zhengshan indicated that he didn’t need the traditional three-day celebration for taking office and was ready to take drastic measures.
“Search it!” he said calmly.
Yang Chengxu and the others immediately brought out the account books and began to examine them.
Any official residence had its own account books, recording the income and expenditure of silver and grain.
Of course, there would be fake accounts. However, these fake accounts all had loopholes and could not withstand scrutiny.
In the past, everyone had been in cahoots, thinking that as long as they got along, everything would be fine. Even when the higher-ups came to audit, each family would just offer a small gift to get by.
So, the accounting in Yinghe Fortress was not very rigorous.
Yang Zhengshan didn’t need to take action himself; Yang Chengxu and the others only needed to flip through the books once to discover many problems.
(The chapter ends here)
Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter