Chapter 334 The Poor Scholar from Top to Bottom
"The moon shines brightest in one's hometown; I understand the feeling of being far from home."
Ouyang Rong suddenly nodded and sighed:
"Sometimes at night, I think about it and realize that nothing is more important than going home."
Qin Heng glanced at Ouyang Rong's expression a couple more times:
"Has Prefect Ouyang not been home for a long time?"
Ouyang Rong nodded: "It's alright, I just went back last night."
Qin Heng was taken aback for a moment, then realized what he meant and nodded with a smile: "This humble general often dreams of it too. Where is Chief Secretary Ouyang's home? Is it far away?"
"It's not far."
Ouyang Rong put down his teacup, thought for a moment, and looked up at the roof.
A hint of reminiscence flickered in his eyes. He casually gestured with his hand, muttering, "A round trip, it seems, is less than ten meters..."
Qin Heng asked in confusion, "Rice? Isn't that grain? How long is this distance?"
"fine."
Ouyang Rong lowered his gaze, smiled, and said, "Just a joke."
Qin Heng nodded, "Prefect Ouyang's words are quite interesting."
Ouyang Rong looked out the window, pondered for a moment, and suddenly said:
"General Qin is reluctant to let his soldiers return home, and I understand that feeling deeply as well. The Guizhou Prefecture, Hongzhou Governor's Office, and Jiangzhou Prefectural Governor's Office have indeed acted improperly in postponing this matter."
"When I return, I will write a letter on their behalf, doing my part in this small way."
Qin Heng exclaimed with delight, "Thank you so much, Chief Secretary Ouyang!"
He rose to bow, but Ouyang Rong pressed his shoulder down:
"Wait, let me explain. Although I have submitted a memorial, I cannot guarantee that it will be effective."
"In military affairs, I have not had any outstanding performance in the past, and I may not have much say in the eyes of His Majesty and the other officials. However, if it involves water management or people's livelihood, the higher-ups may pay more attention to it."
"Therefore, General Qin is prepared that my memorial will be useless."
Qin Heng nodded vigorously, his tone somewhat excited:
"That's only natural, how can we force it? Chief Clerk Ouyang's petition on this matter has already offended Chief Clerk Lan, Governor Zhu, and Prefect Wang to some extent."
"It is already a good thing that Captain Su and his men of the Third Regiment were able to stand up and plead for them. How could I, a humble general, fail to do my best to reprimand them?"
Ouyang Rong nodded with satisfaction, then his expression turned serious: "However, I also have a small request."
"Please speak, Chief Secretary."
"Could you please provide me with a list of the three hundred soldiers dispatched by the Jiangzhou Garrison Command?"
"What does the Chief Secretary want with this list...?"
Qin Heng glanced at Ouyang Rong's calm expression, his words caught in his throat, and he hesitated for a moment without asking any further questions.
"Can."
A moment later, the two exchanged a knowing glance and toasted each other...
On the afternoon of the third day after their reunion at Yunshui Pavilion, Ouyang Rong received the list of soldiers from the Third Regiment of the Third Zhechong Prefecture in Jiangzhou, sent by Qin Heng, the Righteous Commandant.
Ouyang Rong put down his official duties and flipped through the document.
The regiment was originally planned to have 300 men, but the third regiment actually had more than 290 men.
"Captain Su Qian, Standard Bearer Xie Li, Squad Leader..."
Ouyang Rong lowered his eyes and muttered to himself, glancing over the screen briefly.
Indeed, most of them were decent local men from Jiangzhou.
Immediately, he took the list and went to the inner treasury of the Jiangzhou main hall, searching through the household registration files by name and military household.
Ouyang Rong randomly selected a dozen or so documents and found the addresses of their families in Jiangzhou one by one.
Write it down and leave.
The next day, Ouyang Rong summoned Yan Liulang, went to a secluded place, and gave him some instructions.
A moment later, the latter left with a booklet in his hand...
Several days later, in the afternoon.
In the main hall of Jiangzhou, Ouyang Rong was working at his desk.
Yan Liulang strode in, still wearing his unassuming casual clothes, and Ouyang Rong dismissed the others.
Yan Liulang reported on the investigation over the past few days.
"My lord, the addresses of the military dependents you gave me, except for those who have moved away, all the others are indeed registered households."
"I inquired about them one by one these past two days, and it turns out that their sons are indeed stationed in Guizhou to farm and guard the border."
"And in the last ten days, a batch of letters have been sent back home, they should be from Guizhou, and all is well..."
Yan Liulang spoke of everything, big and small.
"It seems to be true. It's not as complicated as I thought. It shouldn't be some underhanded operation by the Wei family."
Ouyang Rong nodded, poured Yan Liulang a cup of tea, and handed it to him:
"Sixth Brother, you've worked hard."
Yan Liulang couldn't help but praise, "It's not hard work at all, Your Excellency is indeed cautious."
Ouyang Rong shook his head helplessly and muttered, "It's more like paranoia..."
A short while later, Yan Liulang left.
Ouyang Rong let out a long breath and glanced at the list of soldiers from the Third Regiment stationed in Guizhou on the table.
He pursed his lips, straightened his back, and reached into the pen holder to pick out a suitable wolf-hair brush...
As promised, Ouyang Rong submitted a memorial to the throne.
They protested against the Guizhou Provincial Government's breach of trust and delays, and opposed such frivolous actions.
Unfortunately, ten days have passed, and this memorial has vanished without a trace.
Ouyang Rong sighed softly.
Unlike the previous memorial which went unanswered, this time, Ouyang Rong could almost guess the outcome.
The reason is simple: in terms of military affairs, he did not have any authority or outstanding achievements in the eyes of the imperial court.
Therefore, their speeches naturally carried less weight than those of local military commanders such as Governor Zhu of Hongzhou and Wang Lengran of Jiangzhou.
A few days later, during a break from his busy work, Ouyang Rong heard Chen, the military advisor, jog in and whisper in his ear:
"My Lord Chief Secretary, Chief Secretary Lan is here again. The ship has just docked."
Upon hearing this, Ouyang Rong rubbed his temples with his fingertips.
Because of the Liuzhou massacre, Lan Changhao was impeached by an imperial censor. Therefore, according to procedure, he had to go to Yangzhou, the capital of Jiangnan Circuit, to report to the governor of Jiangnan Circuit.
Not long ago, after conspiring with the Governor's Office of Hongzhou and the Prefect's Office of Jiangzhou to postpone the meeting, Lan Changhao went to Yangzhou to report on his duties.
They should be on their way back, passing through Jiangzhou.
Ouyang Rong thought for a moment and then went to greet him politely.
Soon, at the same old spot on the dock, they met the tall, thin, and arrogant-looking Chief Secretary again.
"Lord Lan."
"Lord Ouyang."
Lan Changhao cupped his hands in greeting, a slight smile playing on his lips, his tone extremely polite.
Ouyang Rong entertained him and found that Lan Changhao seemed to be in a good mood, and his tone and attitude were much better throughout the journey.
It seems that it's not just a matter of the report meeting in Yangzhou going smoothly... he thought to himself.
Not long after, Lan Changhao bowed and took his leave politely.
That night, Yan Liulang suddenly visited the residence in Huaiye Lane.
Upon meeting, he immediately informed Ouyang Rong of some news:
Lan Changhao hosted a banquet at Xunyang Tower for Wang Lengran, General Yang, and other key officers and generals.
After listening, Ouyang Rong remained silent for a moment, then shook his head.
"Your Excellency, this Chief Clerk Lan is so rude! Since he's a guest from afar, Your Excellency always treats him with great respect. But what he does is, every time he comes, he only goes towards the Prefect's residence, which is already bad enough."
"Now you're hosting a banquet for local officials in public, but you've deliberately omitted Prefect Ming. Was this intentional or accidental?"
Yan Liulang, holding his sword, let out a cold laugh:
"Or perhaps he doesn't really think he's on the same level as a prefectural governor. He's just lucky that Guizhou is short of a governor, so he's just temporarily in charge of the prefecture's military and political affairs. Ha, now he doesn't even respect me, the chief administrator?"
Ouyang Rong glanced at the indignant Yan Liulang and shook his head: "I don't know."
He paused for a moment, then said calmly, "Maybe they know I'm going against the grain."
He turned and left.
The following afternoon, Qin Heng suddenly extended an invitation.
Ouyang Rong went quietly.
On the third floor of Yunshui Pavilion, in a private room, the two met again.
Qin Heng remained expressionless and said directly:
"The official document has arrived, adopting the suggestion of Chief Clerk Lan, the prefect of Guizhou, to extend the stay of the 1,500 soldiers stationed in Guizhou for one year."
"At the same time, the garrison troops dispatched to other provinces were also delayed by one term... to cooperate with Lan Changhao in stabilizing the local order in the remote Guizhou Prefecture..."
His nostrils twitched slightly: "Ha, three years after three years, and now another year. The commander's words are nothing but jokes."
Ouyang Rong nodded: "Just as I thought."
"Did the Chief Secretary already guess that?"
"Um."
Qin Heng fell silent. Ouyang Rong leaned forward, lowered his eyes, poured him a cup of tea, and calmly analyzed the situation:
"I am also concerned about the interests of Chief Secretary Lan Changhao, and I have a rough idea of what's going on."
"The reason for requesting this batch of stationed soldiers to extend their stay by one year, besides avoiding the gap caused by instability during the rotation, is also the ulterior motive of saving Guizhou a sum of money on military expenses in the short term."
"As is customary, soldiers whose terms of service expire and who are transferred out are required to pay the outstanding military pay in a lump sum, as well as cover their severance travel expenses."
"Not to mention the new soldiers who have been rotated in, they also need to be treated well and settled in, which is another expense."
Qin Heng's brows furrowed more and more as he listened.
He was a professional military officer with a straightforward mind, and he had never thought about the implications of this before.
For a moment, I was somewhat stunned.
Qin Heng looked at the young man in the white fox fur coat who was pausing with his head down and taking a sip of tea with admiration.
"In fact, this is the duty that the garrisoned prefectures should fulfill. After all, these border prefectures have much more autonomy than ordinary prefectures like ours, and they have more taxes to retain that they don't have to pay."
“Guizhou is a large continent in the western part of Lingnan Circuit. If it were just about such petty calculations, this year might be a bit difficult, but the Guizhou government is not incapable of coming up with this money…”
"The reason for the one-year delay is that this Chief Secretary Lan was calculating another account in his mind, which was a much more complicated and important account than the garrison's pay."
"What account?" Qin Heng couldn't help but ask.
Ouyang Rong savored the gradually sweetening tea in his mouth, lowered his eyes, and continued:
Buddha statue.
"The Great Buddha of Guizhou by Her Majesty the Empress".
"Lan Changhao traveled around and delayed the project for a year in order to squeeze out time and money for the construction of the Buddha statue."
"His Majesty's new imperial edict had also extended the deadline. Now, a year is enough time for him and the Guizhou Grand Hall to build an expensive golden Buddha statue for His Majesty."
"Well, as for the rotation of the garrison troops, let's talk about the money and provisions needed a year from now."
Qin Heng's tone suddenly became louder: "Saving military funds to build Buddha statues, how could he do such a thing?"
Ouyang Rong nodded:
"Whether to extend the stay of the stationed soldiers who have already compromised and had their stay extended for another year, or to pay their salaries and rotate the soldiers to make them live in poverty and hardship, this is a simple question for Lan Changhao."
"Moreover, with the banner of building a Buddha statue in hand, the postponement will naturally proceed smoothly."
Qin Heng was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked:
"What about a year from now? Who knows how much the Buddha statue will cost? What if we run out of money after the statue is finished? Will the Guizhou government be able to squeeze out more military funds a year from now?"
Ouyang Rong gazed at Qin Heng with a complex look that was both silent and unspoken.
The latter stopped speaking.
The two stared at each other in silence for a long while.
The answer lies in their hearts.
Not long after, Qin Heng left indignantly.
Ouyang Rong sat in front of the small tea table, silently fiddling with the tea set.
He carefully finished the half-cold tea in front of him before getting up and leaving.
Not a single drop was wasted.
The next day, in the morning.
Xunyang Ferry Wharf.
On an official boat belonging to the Liuzhou Grand Hall, the boatman untied the ropes, preparing to set sail.
On the dock below the ship, two groups of people slowly approached.
The leaders of both groups were dressed in crimson official robes and walked side by side.
"Thank you for taking the time to see me off, Lord Ouyang."
"You're too kind, Lord Lan. It's a pity I didn't invite you to dinner; I failed to fulfill my duty as host."
"It's alright, we can eat here again next time. There are quite a few unruly people in the mountains of Guizhou, and they are very restless. I must go back soon. Lord Ouyang, we are all His Majesty's subjects, and our duties are paramount."
"Um."
Ouyang Rong reacted calmly, turned to look at Lan Changhao, whose chin was raised, and suddenly asked:
"Lord Lan seems to be in a good mood."
"It's alright."
Lan Changhao's gaze wandered, surveying the bustling Xunyang Ferry with its thousands of sails moored around it, and he sighed:
"Speaking of which, I really envy Lord Ouyang, being able to serve in such a beautiful place with such good scenery."
Ouyang Rong replied, "Guizhou is also a good place; otherwise, why would His Majesty allow such a large Buddha statue to fall here?"
"But it still can't compare to Lord Ouyang's Jiangzhou."
Lan Changhao curled his lip: "Lord Ouyang knows perfectly well that Guizhou is the poorest and has the most difficulties among the four prefectures in terms of statue making."
Ouyang Rong's words were meaningful:
"No matter where we are or how difficult it is, maintaining stability and allowing people to live and work in peace is the most important thing. Every place has its difficulties and its own set of challenges. Otherwise, what would be the point of having us scholars in official robes?"
Lan Changhao stopped, turned his head, looked at Ouyang Rong for a moment, and nodded:
"Yes, that makes sense. Lord Ouyang has a great vision. Also, thank you, Lord Ouyang, for writing the petition to postpone the meeting and for sending 20,000 strings of cash for cosmetics. On behalf of the people of Guizhou, I thank you, Lord Ouyang."
"Lord Lan, you're too kind." Ouyang Rong shook his head, paused, and asked, "I recently heard that the garrison troops in Guizhou have had their deployment extended by a year?"
Lan Changhao smiled: "Lord Ouyang, did you really only hear about this 'recently'?"
Ouyang Rong was not angry and patiently gave instructions:
"After Lord Lan returns, it would be best to appease or reward the stationed soldiers and provide a proper explanation. Guizhou is a special case, and stability is of utmost importance..."
"The rumors are true. Lord Ouyang is indeed an admirable gentleman who not only cares about the affairs of this state but also about the affairs of the world."
Lan Changhao offered his praise, then asked in his usual tone:
"So Lord Ouyang thinks I'm incompetent, which is why he submitted a memorial opposing the postponement, right?"
Ouyang Rong met his gaze without flinching, and reminded him, "Please think about it, Lord Lan, how long has it been since the Guizhou scholars' tragedy?"
Lan Changhao snorted coldly: "Our Guizhou is more of a foil to Lord Ouyang and the red flower of Jiangzhou."
Ouyang Rong asked, "Lord Lan, please speak frankly."
"Lord Ouyang, don't pretend you don't know."
Lan Changhao flicked his sleeve, his tone somewhat displeased, and said:
"I do not have the same opportunities and conditions as Lord Ouyang, who passed the imperial examination at a young age, became famous at a young age, became the Chief Administrator of Shangzhou at a young age, had a great Confucian scholar as his teacher, had the support of five surnames and seven noble families, and was favored by the officials in the court, not to mention that he may also be on the Emperor's mind."
"You have a bright future ahead of you, but I don't have such good luck."
"I'm not as carefree as Lord Lan makes me out to be," Ouyang Rong said earnestly, his eyes fixed straight ahead.
"I have heard of Lord Lan's deeds. He is also a young talent who passed the imperial examination at a young age and is no less capable than others."
"His achievements, his youthful talent... Are you laughing at me for overestimating myself back then?"
Ouyang Rong replied decisively, "No, on the contrary, I think Lord Lan is quite remarkable. How could he be so unrestrained without great talent?"
"But do you know that after I clashed with that old prime minister, my career has been secretly hindered, and people are avoiding me like the plague?"
He shook his head: "I don't know."
Lan Changhao laughed until tears streamed down his face:
"Hahaha, so what if you're talented? Without connections or influential people to help you, you're just a roadside weed, unnoticed by anyone."
Ouyang Rong remained silent.
Lan Changhao suddenly agreed: "Lord Ouyang is right. We scholars in official robes do indeed need to be cautious and vigilant in maintaining stability and ensuring the safety of the people."
He changed the subject: "But if you can't even keep your official position, or even if you're just a nobody, then what's the point of protecting it?"
After speaking, Lan Changhao stood tall and proud, his back arrogant, leaving only one sentence:
"Lord Ouyang, just watch. Guizhou may be poor, but the Buddha statues it produces are no less impressive than those from Jiangzhou."
Ouyang Rong turned to look at his retreating figure, a thousand words escaping his lips, but all that remained was one sentence:
"Have a safe journey, Lord Lan."
"I take your kind words as a blessing."
(P.S.: Sorry for the lateness)
(End of this chapter)
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