Chapter 292 I Have a Dog

Shi Maoqing continued to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

"In my opinion, you should go to this cadre training class as soon as possible. We have a different set of Taoist traditions from the Great Zhou Dynasty, and the knowledge system is also different. We mainly study mathematics, chemistry, physics, etc. If you go there, you will not only have to learn a completely new Taoist tradition, but also learn cultural knowledge from scratch. You won't be able to come back for several months. If you want to come back and help me soon, or if you want to reach a higher level in the future, you really need to go to this cadre training class early."

Shi Maoqing was a little undecided when he saw that Song Luo spoke directly and sincerely.

This time, I will probably have to study at home for a year.

This year, after he comes back, will there still be a place for him in Jiangling Prefecture?

The little girl Song Luo in front of me looks petite and cute, and she speaks and acts directly and without any ulterior motives, but who knows what she is planning.

Qi Erbian also advised, "Master Shi, your ability to stay in office proves that at least your conduct and work are still up to the test. You are only in your forties and have a bright future ahead of you. Working for His Royal Highness Prince Zhao, all you need to do is be diligent and responsible, and you will have many opportunities for promotion in the future. You must not neglect your studies. If you do, you will also be neglecting your own future. Not to mention you, even I studied in Jinzhou Prefecture for a full six months before being sent out. Jiangling Prefecture is too far away from Jinzhou Prefecture. New policies, new ideas, and new things there are only the last to be introduced to us. If you don't study further, you will be left behind. Don't blame me for not reminding you that being an official in Jinzhou Prefecture is completely different from being an official in the Great Zhou Dynasty. The people from Jinzhou Prefecture are all fierce and aggressive, and they are the kind of people who can study ten hours out of twelve hours a day—"

Shi Maoqing's eyelids twitched when he heard this. What new policies, new ideas, new things? The Zhou Dynasty hadn't changed in many years. What new could Jinzhou Prefecture have?

Qi Er's words aroused Shi Maoqing's curiosity.

However, Qi Er and Song Luo had already started chatting casually.

"This piece of land won't work. It's too close to the city. If the city expands in the future, we'll have to move."

"That's right. We also have to consider the sales direction. This year, the demand for cotton clothes still comes from the colder north, so we have to choose a mountain forest slightly further north. This way, transportation will be more convenient."

"It's a pity that the cement road hasn't been built yet in our area. Otherwise, our transportation would be more developed and it would be more convenient to get in and out. No, I have to write a letter to ask for it. Minister Qi, you have a good relationship with His Highness, so please put in a few good words for me."

"That's for sure. You and I are both in Jiangling Prefecture, shouldering the survival of hundreds of thousands of people. Even if I lose face and annoy His Highness, I will steal, rob, or cut in line. I will definitely fight for a cement road for our Jiangling Prefecture!"

"Has the comrade from the Department of Agriculture in charge of standardized breeding arrived?"

"I'm the first one to arrive on my bicycle because I'm the fastest runner. They'll probably be here four or five days later."

"They haven't arrived yet, so we can start the publicity work first."

"The publicity department hasn't arrived yet."

"No, time is money, time is life. Minister Jiang has allocated one or two hundred people, let's use them first. Jiangling Prefecture is too far away from Jinzhou Prefecture. We are already one step behind. If we don't seize the time, we will easily be ranked last in the year-end assessment!"

"That's right, that's what I meant. Whoever has people, we'll just grab theirs! Besides, there's been no fighting on the front lines these days, and Minister Jiang has plenty of elite soldiers and generals from Jinzhou Prefecture. Let's just go and poach Minister Jiang's people!"

Shi Maoqing couldn't help but feel terrified when he heard this.

Oh my God, these two girls are trying to snatch Minister Jiang’s people!

As expected of someone from Jinzhou Prefecture, his style of doing things is so tough!

But Shi Maoqing didn't know why, but felt even more excited.

Being an official requires you to be energetic and competitive!

These two girls don’t want to rank last in the year-end assessment, and Shi Maoqing doesn’t want that either!

Now the three of them are on the same boat, so they have to work together!

The two girls were chatting back and forth when a soldier came to report: "Minister Qi, Lord Song, and Minister Jiang are waiting for you at the government office!"

The two men had just arrived, so naturally they had to build good relations with the general stationed here, not to mention that the general stationed here was Jiang Yongkang!

The legendary young general who conquered three provincial capitals in one go, and Minister Jiang who held a high position at such a young age!

This old man was the one who fought with Your Highness to establish the empire, and he is also a well-known figure in Jinzhou Prefecture!

Not to mention the distant past, just look at the current famous players like Zhang Wanjun, Lu Fei, Chang Zizai, etc., almost all of them were trained by Jiang Yongkang!

He is a real big boss!

The boss had a meeting with them, so the three of them had no choice but to run as fast as they could. When they arrived in front of the government office, Song Luo was still a little nervous.

Shi Maoqing had dealt with Jiang Yongkang a long time ago, so they were considered acquaintances.

Song Luo grabbed Qi Er and said, "Minister Qi, why do I feel more nervous meeting Minister Jiang than meeting His Highness?"

Qi Er forced a smile, "To be honest, I'm nervous too."

"Why? Aren't you an old member of the Xu family's cadre?"

"Minister Jiang has been in the east for the past two years, and I haven't seen him much. Moreover, he's a brave and skilled warrior, a renowned general in Jinzhou Prefecture. How can I not be nervous?"

Thinking of a certain rumor, Qi Er was no longer so nervous. She smiled and said to Song Luo, "But... according to legend... Minister Jiang is extremely handsome... and is the dream husband of many girls in our Jinzhou Prefecture."

"really?"

Shi Maoqing sighed inwardly: See, see, it's really not fun to work with a little girl. These two or three sentences have already brought up her appearance.

However... Jiang Yongkang is indeed a young and promising man with a handsome face. Not to mention in Jinzhou Prefecture, even in Jiangling Prefecture, he is the dream husband of thousands of girls!

I remember when Jiang Yongkang first entered the city, so many young girls flocked to the roadside just to catch a glimpse of him from afar.

But Minister Jiang was only concerned with official duties, not the slightest bit of romance. Facing the enthusiasm of the Jiangling Mansion girls, he only responded with a cold face, which really made the girls sad.

The three people walked into the government office with their own thoughts, and Jiang Yongkang deservedly sat in the main seat.

There were no official etiquette in Jinzhou Prefecture, and kneeling was not allowed, so the three people just bowed slightly as a greeting.

This made Shi Maoqing feel unable to adapt no matter what.

The three people sat down in order of their rank.

Then Song Luo bravely looked at Jiang Yongkang.

I exclaimed in my heart: He is indeed handsome.

As expected of those who followed His Highness in the early days, each of them is a dragon among men.

However, Jiang Yongkang seemed a bit colder than those people from Jinzhou Prefecture. There was always a hint of alienation in his eyes, and he was neither cold nor warm to them.

Jiang Yongkang's face was expressionless. Perhaps because he was used to the ups and downs in the military camp, his style of action was even more direct. He didn't exchange pleasantries and asked directly, "What arrangements does His Highness have for Jiangling Mansion?"

Song Luo knew it was his turn as the prefectural lord to answer, so he immediately said, "This area has a warm climate and abundant rainfall, and has always been an important grain-producing area. Therefore, the task assigned by the city lord is mainly to increase grain production, and then use cotton planting to drive other industries and increase people's income. Of course, supporting policies from Jinzhou Prefecture must be implemented. Universal education, standardized animal husbandry, and smallpox vaccination must all be prioritized."

"Have you brought everyone?"

"Minister Qi and I arrived first. The main force should be behind us. We expect everyone to be on duty within five days."

"Whatever you need, I can cooperate."

"Not for now. We recruited a large number of new personnel during last year's civil servant assessment, so we have enough manpower for now."

"Okay, Jiangling Prefecture is in a special location, close to the frontline battlefield. You must be more vigilant when doing things here."

"Understood. Before we set off, the Ministry of Education organized a training course for border personnel. We are all aware of the pros and cons involved."

Jiang Yongkang seemed to smile slightly, "Your Highness always considers everything he does."

No one dared to respond for a moment.

However, Shi Maoqing could not adapt to the simple officialdom of Jinzhou Prefecture, which did not require polite greetings.

Jiang Yongkang continued, "Is there anything new in Jinzhou Prefecture? Or any new developments?"

Song Luo had no choice but to look at Qi Er.

Qi Er thought for a moment, "Now the research institute has shrunk the clock down to half the size of a palm, enough to make a pocket watch. It's currently selling for at least 12,000 yuan a piece, and the market is in short supply."

Jiang Yongkang raised his eyebrows slightly.

Palm-sized?

This seems to be just a small step, but he knows that the people in the institute must have put in a lot of effort for this.

"Hu Wei died suddenly some time ago. After Minister Zhao took over the Supervisory Department, he discovered a lot of evidence that Hu Wei had failed to perform his duties. All posthumous benefits for Hu Wei have been revoked, and he has been publicized as a negative example among the officials. The booklet will be distributed soon."

"I already know that."

Although he was at the very border of Jinzhou Prefecture, Jiang Yongkang was well-informed. He and Xu Zhenying had been in frequent correspondence over the years, and sometimes Xu Zhenying would even write in advance to ask for his opinion.

Perhaps he is the only one who knows why Hu Wei fell, how he fell, and how he became disgraced.

She was such a proud person, yet she expressed such frustration and regret in the letter. He wanted to dig out Hu Wei's corpse and whip it again!

"Let's talk about something else. Didn't Your Highness say he wanted to start a newspaper? Do you have a model?"

Qi Er shook his head. "The newspaper incident is very serious. Before I left, they were still reviewing the content. But I think they will be done soon."

"Okay, if you need anything, feel free to come to me. The development of Jiangling Prefecture is in your hands."

Several people quickly responded, "No, no."

Jiang Yongkang just greeted everyone, gave a few instructions, and then took his men out.

Jiangling Prefecture was the place where he stayed the longest.

It seemed that since they chose to rebel, he and Xu Zhenying had been spending less and less time together.

Three years passed in the blink of an eye.

In the past three years, he has been traveling all year round and has hardly ever returned home.

I don’t know what she looks like now, tall or short, fat or thin, but I think with her personality, she can live well no matter where she is.

If it weren't for the intense war this year, he really wanted to go back and take a look.

Otherwise, why not take advantage of Xu Lezhi's marriage and find a reason to go back?

Jiang Yongkang was thinking this, but he saw A Tao standing nearby with bags of various sizes, constantly moving closer to the stalls, as if he was taking the opportunity to make a big purchase.

Someone nearby smiled and explained, "A Tao recently took his annual leave and is going back to Qianzhou to visit his relatives. Isn't this a lot of luggage to carry back?"

"Atao has to go back. His family is moving west, right? It's over a thousand kilometers away! We don't know when the war will end, so we have to take advantage of this New Year holiday to go back and see our parents."

"Ah, speaking of which, I don't know what those soldiers on the other side are doing. They haven't fought lately! If they don't fight, then we should just fight them! In my opinion, why not take advantage of their silence and attack the Ming Wang's lair in one fell swoop!"

"What's the point of beating them? To help alleviate poverty?! Don't you see that Jiangling Prefecture is in ruins and needs to be rebuilt? We have to develop it first. The fishermen in the east are so poor that they have nothing to wear. There's no point in beating them."

"Hey, hey, hey, what did that kid buy again?! Look at his smiling face, this is not to meet his parents, look at that kid buying cosmetics, it's obvious that he wants to meet his sister!"

"Which sister?!"

"Who else? It's the little girl next door, Miaohua, that he talks about every day!"

Jiang Yongkang looked over and saw that A Tao was holding a little rabbit in his hand. The little rabbit was jumping around in his hand. Someone joked, "Why don't you buy cosmetics, but a rabbit?"

Ah Tao patted his chest and said, "Go away, what do you stinky men know? Miao Hua likes to raise rabbits. I gave her a rabbit, and as soon as she sees the rabbit, she will think of me. Do you understand?!"

This was followed by a burst of booing.

Jiang Yongkang seemed to be thinking about something.

He... seemed to have thought of a gift for Xu Zhenying's sixteenth birthday...

The following spring, when flowers were blooming, Xu Zhenying received a gift from Jiang Yongkang, which was delivered by A Tao.

It is a snow-white puppy with big eyes, thick hair and a lively personality, a bit like the Samoyed of later generations. It is still small now, like a small dog. Considering the distance, I am afraid it was still a small puppy when I bought it.

Xu Zhenying held it in his arms and couldn't let go.

Although she had never raised a dog before, mainly because Old Man Xu didn't allow her to, she had raised many small animals.

The puppy seemed to understand human nature and knew who its owner was. As soon as they met, it snuggled into Xu Zhenying's arms and hummed from time to time, which was extremely cute.

Xu Zhenying was very happy in her heart, but pretended not to care on the surface. After all, she was barely the monarch of a country now, so she had to be calm.

"Sending a dog from Jiangling Prefecture is a waste of time and money, isn't it?"

Ah Tao said with a smile: "No harm, I have to come back to help my parents move west anyway, and I also came back to see His Highness and report on our war in the east."

"How's the war going in the east?"

"Those bastards on the other side haven't made any moves in the past two or three months! They're probably scared by our firearms and are trying to figure out how to defeat them. We brothers are itching to get our hands dirty, but Minister Jiang won't let us do anything, so we've had no choice but to cook meat soup in front of their city gate every day, making them ravenous! Then every night we use a loudspeaker to explain our policies to them, telling them that the people here have meat every meal and can pick up money with their eyes closed, so they can't sleep!"

Xu Zhenying found it funny.

She was naturally aware of the battle situation in the east, and many of the insidious methods were proposed by her. As the saying goes, to attack a city, you must first attack its heart. Anyway, in this era, except for those trained in Jinzhou Prefecture who had the concept of defending their country, the other soldiers would follow whoever gave them money.

As for luxuries like ideals and beliefs, they cannot understand them either.

This is also why the prisoners surrendered quickly.

It doesn’t matter who we fight with, as long as we are full, isn’t that enough?

"Your parents are moving west? How is the situation in Qianzhou?"

Ah Tao naturally knew that Xu Zhenying was concerned not only about his family but also about the westward migration of the entire Qianzhou. He thought for a moment before answering, "Almost half of the native people of the entire Qianzhou have left. The mountains are obviously much emptier, but there are still many families who are unwilling to move west."

"What's the reason?"

"They are just timid. They want to wait until the people ahead have explored the route and sent a letter back to inform them of the situation before they make a decision."

Xu Zhenying couldn't help but sigh, "But if this continues, with more and more people coming from the west, there won't be any good preferential policies in the future."

"I mobilized a lot of people when I went back this time. Most of them still trust the city lord, but some are really used to life in the mountains, especially the elderly, who are reluctant to leave their hometown."

"But I have to go out and explore the world," Xu Zhenying said, but he also knew how difficult it was to get people to leave their hometown. "Last year, there was a drought for two consecutive months. I'm worried that if there's enough rain this year, Qianzhou will be full of mountains and forests, making landslides and mudslides more likely to happen."

"That's what I told my parents, otherwise they really wouldn't want to move."

Xu Zhenying nodded, "When will you go back?"

"I'll leave when I see you."

"Well, when you go back, tell Jiang Yongkang that the reason the fighting in the east has just stopped is because Prince Ming has been sending people to steal our firearms blueprints. They just haven't succeeded yet. You must remember not to let your guard down and stay vigilant. I guess if they can't steal the blueprints, they will always find other ways. What I'm most afraid of is Prince Ming and Prince Li joining forces. While they haven't stolen the blueprints yet, you might as well practice guerrilla warfare with Prince Li's men. Anyway, Prince Li has been beaten to a pulp now, so we should take this opportunity. We can't touch Prince Ming's territory yet, but we can always make some moves on Prince Li's territory."

"But if the Li Kings move, I'm afraid the people in the east will immediately move. They won't just sit back and watch us dominate. Minister Jiang said that a three-way balance of power is the best situation. If we attack the Li Kings, the Ming King will definitely take action, and we will be attacked from both sides."

Xu Zhenying smiled, "Be a little more clever. Send some brothers to pretend to be bandits and go to the territories of the Big and Small Li Kings to recruit some brothers. Then, step by step, we can eat away at their territory. Who would know that you are soldiers from Jinzhou Prefecture? In this three-legged tripod, wouldn't two of them be ours?"

Ah Tao stared at Xu Zhenying with shock in his eyes, then bowed deeply: "Your Highness... this move... is truly brilliant!"

This strategic thinking seems to be even more brilliant than Minister Jiang’s!

No wonder Minister Jiang always said that he was a soldier brought up by His Highness. They didn't believe it before, but now they see that Minister Jiang's dark side and habit of shooting arrows from behind were learned from the man in front of them.

This time, looking at the young girl again, A Tao no longer felt that she was soft-hearted and easy to talk to.

This... His Highness is clearly a wolf in sheep's clothing!

A Tao retreated with lingering fear.

Soon, excited shouts could be heard from inside the house, "Houfang, Qumin, Xiaohua, I have a dog! Come and see, my dog ​​is so cute!!"