Chapter 294 A Good Strategy
"Unfortunately, this plan is very expensive and takes a lot of time to implement."
"Besides, whether or not the floods can truly be eradicated is uncertain, of course..."
Ouyang Rong shook his head, returned to his desk, took out a map of Xunyang City, and sighed with lowered eyes:
"The most crucial point is that the floods in Xunyang City are not severe. In most years, the floods caused by the Xunyang River being blocked by Shuangfengjian, at their most turbulent, only submerged the edge of Xingzifang."
"Because Xingzifang is the lowest point in Xunyang City, and it is located on the west side, closest to Shuangfengjian outside the city."
"After all, it didn't threaten important neighborhoods like Chaisang, Xiushui, and Lianxi, so the Jiangzhou government naturally didn't care much."
"This excellent water management strategy has become a thankless task, no wonder it has been sitting in the warehouse for so many years."
Ouyang Rong put down the old bamboo slips in his hand, leaned on the table, and sighed softly:
"However, this ward is inhabited by most of the people of Xunyang City, most of the laborers, peddlers and porters of Xunyang Ferry, as well as people from all over the country who come here to make a living... They all live in this ward."
"Xingzifang has become the poorest area in the city, which is indeed due to inherent reasons such as its susceptibility to flooding. But what about the Jiangzhou government, which should have been fulfilling its responsibilities, and its inaction over the years?"
There was a moment of silence at the table.
"Knock knock—"
Two slightly bent fingers suddenly tapped the twin peaks on the map with some force.
“Building the Donglin Buddha...is a good opportunity.”
The slender shadow cast on the wall by the candlelight on the table suddenly swayed violently.
A young scholar, barely twenty, laid out paper and ground ink, his profile showing concentration as he wrote furiously, his head buried in his work.
No one knew that a new policy concerning Xunyang City for decades would be gradually sketched out on a gentle, fine night by an ordinary pen.
...
"These letters should be mailed out today."
In the morning, in a government office in the main hall of Jiangzhou, Yan Liulang, who had just sat down to rest, looked up in a daze and saw the figure of the young clerk who had suddenly appeared in front of the door, blocking the sunlight.
Yan Liulang looked down at the stack of letters handed to him by the prefect on the table, and then reached out to take them.
"Yes, Your Excellency." He belatedly nodded, "Uh, this is to be sent to..."
"Wang Caozhi, Manager Ma and the others."
"Send it to Longcheng County first. If I'm not mistaken, they should be over at Zheyi Canal now, inspecting the construction of the new ferry crossing they've invested in."
"Send it there. If it's not there, Magistrate Diao will pass it on."
"Oh, okay, Your Excellency."
Yan Liulang immediately jumped up and strode out the door.
Ouyang Rong strode away from the government office.
Before leaving, Yan Liulang faintly heard the departing figure of the Prefect Ming in the long corridor ahead, leaving behind a soliloquy:
"This is a great deal; they'll all come, right?"
...
After sending letters to the partners with whom I had previously had a pleasant working relationship,
Ouyang Rong has temporarily returned to his normal work schedule.
In the afternoon, I would occasionally take a stroll around Shuangfengjian outside the city, take out my notebook, and refine some plans.
On the way back, I no longer avoid it, but also pass through the bustling Xingzifang, blending into the local life and looking around.
However, every morning, Ouyang Rong would regularly check in at the Jiangzhou main hall.
Perhaps if he were to be fined again, he would really have to eat snow on New Year's Eve, because Yuan Huaimin has been on duty every day without fail lately, making Ouyang Rong feel like he's a stranger.
Seeing him arrive every day with dark purple eye bags and looking dazed, Ouyang Rong couldn't help but ask:
"What does Yuan Sima do every night?"
"I am truly sorry, Chief Secretary. With the New Year approaching, there are many poetry gatherings and banquets in the city. My talent is widely known, and I have received many invitations. I cannot refuse their kind invitations."
Yuan Huaimin said solemnly, "However, I dare not drink too much, for fear of making mistakes. I have just slept less, but it will not delay my roll call. Please rest assured, Chief Secretary."
Ouyang Rong nodded: "Sir Yuan has quite a few events to attend tonight. Take care of yourself."
Exhausted from further complaints, he offered a reminder and then let him pass.
However, the position of Jiangzhou Sima was a post with no real power, and there were minimum regulations that required one to stay for a certain period of time after signing in during the morning before one could ask for leave early.
So every morning after arriving at the main hall, Yuan Huaimin would sit opposite Ouyang Rong and stare at him intently.
Ouyang Rong had business to attend to in the morning and didn't have time to deal with him. Poor Yuan Huaimin had nothing to do, so he looked around aimlessly, his mind wandering, just like he was in prison. He forced himself to stay awake and dared not fall asleep, thus incurring the charge of dereliction of duty.
With an extra person around, Ouyang Rong found himself being somewhat disturbed.
"My lord, last night the rain was torrential and the wind was fierce, the clouds were unusually bright, and the weather suddenly changed. Because I was still asleep, I was caught off guard and unfortunately caught a chill!"
"I only realized it at cockcrow. But it was too late! I humbly request half a day off to go home and rest..."
That morning, Ouyang Rong received another leave request from Yuan Huaimin, as usual. He glanced at it and his lips twitched.
Ouyang Rong discovered that the reasons given in the early departure requests written by this Yuan Sima every day were all different: yesterday it was angina, today it was catching a cold, tomorrow it was a fall injury, and they wrote them with reason and evidence.
"Yuan Sima's literary talent is quite good."
Ouyang Rong approved it with a red brush. Anyway, he was just getting in the way, so he usually approved early leave requests without making things difficult.
"Thank you, Chief Secretary."
Just a moment ago, Yuan Huaimin was frowning and listless. But after taking the leave slip, he walked out of the main hall with undisguised joy. Once outside, he straightened his back and looked very proud. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought that Yuan Sima Sheng had returned to Chang'an Jingzhao Prefecture.
Ouyang Rong shook his head.
I thought that once the matter was over, I could finally work in peace and quiet.
However, on this day, after Yuan Huaimin took leave as usual, Ouyang Rong was left to work alone in the main hall.
As for Wang Lengran, he was a compassionate person who enjoyed meeting with famous scholars and eminent monks from Mount Lu and having quiet conversations in the backyard, so he didn't come here often.
Suddenly, a familiar attendant followed the clerk into the main hall, hesitating to speak: "Master, something terrible has happened, Commander Yuan..."
"What's wrong with him?"
Ouyang Rong put down his pen and followed his attendant to the stables. As soon as they arrived, he witnessed a scene that made his eyelids twitch violently:
The stable door that originally belonged to "Dongmei" was wide open and empty, while not far away, a dark red shadow was chasing after a green-robed official.
The clatter of hooves, angry neighing, and the terrified voice of a man echoed across the open space of the courtyard.
The servant leaned closer and whispered, "Master, as soon as I arrived, I saw Dongmei chasing Yuan Sima. It seems that he released Dongmei, but I don't know how she angered the horse..."
“This…” Ouyang Rong turned his head and looked at the paper and pen scattered on the ground in front of the empty stable. His eyes twitched.
Not far away.
Yuan Huaimin was running ahead, crying and begging for mercy.
Dongmei's eyes reddened, and she chased after him relentlessly.
Of course, a man can't outrun a horse. Although a certain Jiangzhou Sima tried his best, taking advantage of the small open space, which limited the horse's movement, and the man's small size and ability to turn around, he managed to weave left and right.
But in the end, Dongmei gradually closed the distance between them.
"My lord, help me... Ahhh!"
Before Yuan Huaimin could finish speaking, Dongmei caught up with him and sent him flying.
Ouyang Rong and his attendant both subconsciously lowered their heads and closed their eyes slightly; for a moment, they could not bear to watch.
The shoes flew off.
Fortunately, there was a large pile of horse feed where Yuan Huaimin flew and landed, which cushioned his fall.
"Go quickly and save them!"
Ouyang Rong hurriedly ordered his attendant, and he rushed forward immediately to stop the furious Dongmei from trying to retaliate...
The next day.
At the main entrance of Jiangzhou Hall, Yuan Huaimin, his face bruised and swollen, limped over to take his roll call.
Ouyang Rong put down the bamboo slips, frowned, and said, "Sima Yuan is so badly injured, he should rest for a couple of days. What are you doing here?"
"This humble official must report for duty." Yuan Huaimin nodded: "Don't worry, Chief Secretary, this minor injury won't delay my reporting for duty."
Ouyang Rong said helplessly, "You're injured like this, even if you didn't come, I wouldn't have penalized you."
Yuan Huaimin thought for a moment and asked cautiously, "Now that you're here today, can you make up for the day you missed before?"
"..."
Ouyang Rong immediately frowned, shook his head, and refused to bargain with him.
Yuan Huaimin scratched his head, walked over, and carefully sat down, wincing in pain. He then took out some liniment and applied it to his lumbar spine.
Before long, having finished all that, he took out a poetry collection with a worn cover and opened it to pass the time. He seemed to have found some exceptional lines, clapping his hands and laughing from time to time, but then his wound aggravated him, and he clutched his waist and gasped for breath.
Ouyang Rong, who was engrossed in processing official documents, noticed all of this out of the corner of his eye.
He's quite an optimist... he thought to himself.
Yuan Huaimin seems to be able to get over even the saddest things quickly, and adapt to even the worst places after a while, without ever hiding his true feelings.
Having a colleague like that isn't so bad.
Ouyang Rong looked up and asked:
"After you took leave from me a few days ago, you didn't spend it all going to the stables to see 'Dongmei,' did you?"
"This..." Yuan Huaimin's face immediately turned awkward. He avoided his gaze and said somewhat embarrassedly:
"I apologize, Prefect Ouyang, but I just wanted to observe them up close and gather some information... There are very few fine horses in this Jiangnan region. I haven't seen many since I left Chang'an, so I'm eager to hunt them."
"Does Yuan Sima like BMWs that much?"
"Hobbies from when I was young."
Yuan Huaimin looked out at the sky, his eyes filled with a hint of reminiscence:
"Back then, I was probably the same age as Prefect Ouyang, with the same thick hair as you have now, dressed in fine clothes, riding a spirited horse, full of vigor and ambition..."
Ouyang Rong interrupted: "Let me correct you, I'll have this amount of hair from now on."
Yuan Huaimin sighed, "Even his stubbornness is exactly the same as mine back then."
"?"
Ouyang Rong put down his pen and nodded: "Tell me about how stubborn you were back then."
Yuan Huaimin smiled without saying a word and touched the turban on his head.
Ouyang Rong looked at him and said:
"I will not leave the city for the next two days. Since Yuan Sima is fond of horses and skilled in painting, I will lend you Dongmei."
"Really!" Yuan Huaimin exclaimed with delight.
"Hmm." Ouyang Rong said without looking up, "But you have to grant me one request."
"Please speak, Chief Secretary Ouyang!"
"Although the Jiangzhou Sima does not have much to do in his official duties, there are quite a lot of documents piling up in the Jiangzhou Hall at the end of the year. Yuan Sima, please take some of them and add to the burden."
Ouyang Rong lowered his head to write, and chuckled softly.
Yuan Huaimin hesitated for a moment, then turned to look in the direction of the stable.
"good!"
Ouyang Rong hadn't expected that Yuan Huaimin, who liked to slack off, would agree so readily.
In the following days, after Yuan Huaimin clocked in every day, he sat obediently in the seat opposite Ouyang Rong and dealt with the extra stack of official documents on the table.
There weren't many official documents, and Ouyang Rong initially just wanted to find him something to do so that his colleague wouldn't be idle.
Before leaving each time, Ouyang Rong would check Yuan Huaimin's work and find that he had handled it quite well.
Somewhat unexpected.
The main reason is that I didn't have high expectations beforehand. After all, given Yuan Huaimin's unreliable behavior in the past, it was hard to have any expectations.
So, Ouyang Rong was somewhat surprised to find that he had completed the task in a very orderly and methodical manner.
I seem to have underestimated him a bit before.
However, Ouyang Rong gradually discovered a pattern.
Every morning, Yuan Huaimin would be given a stack of official documents, whether thick or thin. He would write furiously and then put down his brush within ten breaths before the noon bell rang to signal the end of his shift. His face would be tired as he got up to hand in his work.
This is the same every day, without the slightest error.
To verify this, Ouyang Rong deliberately doubled his workload one day.
As a result, Yuan Huaimin still completed his daily tasks without compromising quality before lunch break at noon.
The points card is locked tightly.
Ouyang Rong was amazed.
Is this how you slack off? Sure enough, he's still the same Yuan Huaimin as before, without the slightest change.
Ouyang Rong nodded.
"He's clearly intelligent and has plenty of energy, so why doesn't he do more?"
"There was absolutely no initiative, right?"
Ouyang Rong, seated in the main hall, muttered to himself as he watched a colleague's cheerful figure disappear as he rushed out to find "Dongmei" after finishing his shift. He shook his head.
"Should we only do things that are meaningful?"
This morning.
Ouyang Rong returned from his inspection of the Jimin Granary in Dehua Warehouse.
Entering the Jiangzhou Hall, passing through the corridor, and approaching the main hall, one can see Yuan Huaimin's dazed figure in the distance.
Ouyang Rong suddenly slowed his pace, entered the main hall, and approached slowly.
The young historian, barely twenty, moved with the aura of a hidden dragon, his figure gliding away like a swimming carp.
He walked up behind Yuan Huaimin.
Ouyang Rong looked closely and saw Yuan Huaimin writing something in a small booklet, pausing occasionally to think and making circles and marks.
Ouyang Rong stopped and spoke without looking closely:
"Have you finished your official duties?"
He did not have a habit of peeping into people's privacy.
"ah!"
Yuan Huaimin was so frightened that he dropped his calligraphy brush and quickly hid his notebook, still shaken.
"Prefect Ouyang, why do you walk so silently?"
Yuan Huaimin bent down to pick up his pen, asking with a mournful expression.
"It's because Yuan Sima was so engrossed in writing."
Yuan Huaimin observed Ouyang Rong's expression and asked cautiously:
"Has Your Excellency seen what I wrote?"
Ouyang Rong nodded, and Yuan Huaimin immediately looked distressed. Ouyang Rong said softly:
"It's a poem that's famous throughout the land. I never expected that Yuan Sima would produce such a big one without making a sound. I hope it doesn't contain any veiled insults directed at me, this annoying superior."
Yuan Huaimin stared wide-eyed at Ouyang Rong.
"It's made up."
Ouyang Rong waved his hand and returned to his seat.
Seeing his pouting expression, Yuan Huaimin breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to touch the small notebook in his pocket.
Ouyang Rong suddenly turned around: "Could it be that I guessed right?"
"..."
Yuan Huaimin shook his head as if playing a rattle.
(PS: Just got off a trip and landed in Qingdao...or2) A friend recommended a fantasy novel: "This Cowardly Jie Sect Can't Stay Anymore"
(End of this chapter)
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