The people are demoralized, officials are corrupt, bandits are rampant, and the environment is bad - these are the four major problems facing Wu Lai. These four problems are long-standing problems, difficulties, and of course, challenges.
Everybody wants to live in peace. Although bandits are rampant, the number of attacks on Salt Marsh Town each year is still limited. Compared with the bandits who only appear every once in a while, the ruffians, thieves and bullies on the streets are what make the townspeople most uneasy. That is why Wu Lai tailored this street cleaning operation for the townspeople. Obviously, it was very successful. The current Salt Marsh Town is still a little far from being able to leave doors unlocked at night, but whether it is the residents of this town or the outside vendors, they no longer have to worry about one or a group of people suddenly appearing and stopping them when walking anywhere in the town.
The greatest benefit of the successful implementation of the Street Cleaning Operation is to reassure the people. Compared with the Street Cleaning Operation, although the canal protection project is only a part of the City Strengthening Plan, its effect on rallying the people is greater than that of the Street Cleaning Operation. Think about it, townspeople who rarely interacted with each other in the past now get together every day, work together, cooperate with each other, become closer to old friends, and more familiar with new friends. How can they not be harmonious?
Bringing together the people is the basis for punishing corruption, cracking down on bandits, and completely changing the face of Yanhuan Town. Harmony does not mean that it is solid enough for Wu Lai to respond to a call in the critical moment of Yanhuan Town, so Wu Lai still has a lot to do.
As soon as the report that Baker presented to Lunvington left the town, Puya set off with two young men from the Daishan team. Judging from the fact that all three of them were riding two horses, Puya had something urgent to do.
Two days later, Turles returned and went straight to the official residence to find Woolley as soon as he entered the town.
"Lord Wu Lai, with you here, Salt Marsh Town will surely regain its glory." Turles flattered with a smile as he walked into Wu Lai's office.
"It's nothing. Sit down and talk." Wu Lai was not polite. He would not take Tours' words seriously. Besides, this level of flattery was a common etiquette among Assyrian citizens. No matter how fancy the words were, they were just politeness and did not represent the other party's position and attitude.
Turles did not sit down as he was told. Instead, he waved his hand and said, "Lord Woolley, you are busy with work, so I will not bother you any more. I have to go back to the salt fields to check. I have been in Lovington for so many days, and I don't know if those guys have been lazy. I almost forgot that I came here to inform you that Lord Job will send one or two salt inspectors to check the salt production in ten days."
"Oh? Aren't you in charge of all the salt fields?" Wu Lai asked, frowning.
"Of course I'm responsible for this." Turles smiled with a hint of pride. "However, the reception is the town's business, Lord Wu Lai, don't say I didn't remind you that the Salt Supervisor is here to find fault, so we have to deal with it seriously."
"Okay, I see." Wu Lai nodded and said with a smile, "Thank you for your reminder."
"As I should, Lord Wu Lai, you don't know that there are so many inspections of this kind, and basically every time they come suddenly, without any advance notice." Tours smiled even more, and after he finished speaking, he didn't say goodbye, but just flicked his sleeves and walked out the door.
Wu Lai glanced at Turles's back, smiled bitterly and shook his head, muttering to himself: "Poor kid, he's showing off such a common trick..."
As the carriage drove out of the town and headed for the salt field, Turles still had a smug look on his face, because he knew who was ordered to inspect -
Job is both the treasurer of the city-state of Lovington and the director of the salt industry. It is natural that he is prominent as he holds two positions, but he has a lot of things to worry about, after all, he is doing two jobs. Fortunately, he has two good assistants, Naru and Wall.
The salt industry of Longvington not only made it important in the Assyrian territory, but also led to the creation of a number of salt-related official positions, such as Naru and Wall as salt supervisors.
The title of Salt Supervisor may sound insignificant, but it is actually not the case. Everything related to salt within the city-state of Rovington is under the jurisdiction of the Salt Supervisor. It is not wrong to directly say that Naru and Wall are the actual salt industry supervisors, because Job, the salt industry supervisor, has always been only responsible for issuing orders and seeing the results, while Naru and Wall are the ones who are in charge of the specific operations. Rovington has so many salt fields, salt wells, salt merchants, and salt warehouses. If they really want to visit them one by one, they would have to be on the road for most of the year. Therefore, under the Salt Supervisor, there are four directors each. The two Salt Supervisors divided the Rovington salt industry into two parts, one in the south and one in the north. Naru is in charge of the Salt Marsh Town.
This Naaru is no simple man. He is already in his early fifties. He had served in the Second Legion for a long time before and had made many military achievements. However, he was unlucky and made a big mistake on the eve of his promotion to lieutenant general. He had to retire and was silent for seven years before he showed his talent again. It has been almost five years since he served as the Salt Commissioner of Rovington. During these five years, he has gained countless fear and hatred, and was nicknamed "Black-faced Naaru".
The inspection of Naru ten days later was specially arranged by Job. The purpose was naturally to teach Wu Lai a lesson, otherwise he would not have come to this Salt Marsh Town.
To put it bluntly, Naru is here just to cause trouble.
You are quite good at fighting bandits, but so what? The twists and turns in these situations cannot be solved by force, young man. Turles said this to Wu Lai in his heart, feeling proud.
However, Tours's little pride soon turned into anger and surprise, because as soon as his carriage entered the salt field, his cheap brother-in-law Udon stopped the carriage with a sad face.
"Turles! I was beaten by that bastard Wuleglindo! He also stole two trucks of salt..." Not only did Wudong look sad, but his voice was also tearful. Needless to say, his grievance was not fake.
"What?!" Tours frowned.
After listening to Wudong's crying, Turles' lungs almost exploded, but he was a man who preferred to use his brain rather than his hands. After hesitating for a long time, he sighed quietly and comforted Wudong with kind words. In his eyes, Wu Lai was a tyrannical villain. Anyway, someone was going to deal with him, so it was more important for him to guard his own territory and not let this guy come in to cause trouble.
…
Wu Lai became even busier. Although he still had no idea what the inspection routine was, he could basically determine that they came here specifically to cause trouble. In this case, it was necessary to make preparations early. Besides, there were some things that had to be done now.
According to Assyrian custom, apart from the special positions for mining, there are only four town-level officials: the governor, the public security, the finance, and the public protection. It seems that the configuration is quite complete, but in fact it is not the case.
There are no written restrictions on officials taking leave in the Assyrian territory, and the length of leave is entirely up to their own conscience. A more powerful archon like Wu Lai can at least impose some restrictions, but he only makes some time restrictions. There is no reason to prevent officials from taking leave.
Wu Lai was ready to achieve something to benefit the people of Salt Marsh Town. If the people under his command took turns to ask for leave in tacit understanding, many things would not be accomplished.
Of course, the consul could also take over the work of a certain official directly, but Wu Lai was obviously unwilling to do so. He might have the energy to handle one official, but if he took on two or three at the same time, he would definitely be powerless.
This is the situation in Salt Marsh Town right now. Wu Lai has only been here for a few days, but the three of them have already taken turns to ask for leave, so Wu Lai has to sit in the official residence most of the time every day, dealing with requests and reports, and also meeting with the townspeople and listening to their trivialities, whether reasonable or not...
In a word, he was busy but didn't accomplish anything. Fortunately, Gulu and Sibanok helped with the things outside the official residence, and Baker, the greedy guy, also cooperated. Finally, Wu Lai felt a little comforted despite being exhausted both physically and mentally.
Wu Lai certainly didn't want this situation to continue, so his solution was to set up departments, using these small departments to subdivide and digest the responsibilities of public security, finance, and protection of the people, so that someone could be responsible for each matter in a timely manner. In this way, he, as the consul, could focus his main energy on resisting foreign aggression and making the town prosperous.
It was easy to set up a department, the rooms in the official residence were enough if we squeezed together, and there was no big problem with manpower - Tours's territory was in the salt field, and Wu Lai didn't want to get involved there yet. The other three already had assistants, and with the addition of a few minor nobles from the town, they would be complete. They would also spend some time on a few targeted training courses to make it clear what they should pay attention to and what they should abide by, and the rest would just be running-in.
However, Wu Lai's actions were obviously somewhat contrary to the norm, but aren't rules made by people? Apart from the factors of future preparation, given Wu Lai's temperament, it was impossible for him to let these guys manipulate him.
The premise of "I will remain unmoved no matter how strong the wind blows" is that no matter how others move, they will not cause trouble to you. However, Wu Lai's current situation is not so comfortable. Those guys in the city of Lovington have shown their hostility towards him, but have not yet launched a decent attack. However, the storm will come sooner or later, and you can't expect luck to resist it...
…
After reading Baker's report, George frowned, then slowly opened his mouth, reached out for the brass bell on the table and rang it. As soon as the bell rang, there was a soft knock on the door.
"Come in." George put the bell back on the table.
"Lord George, what can I do for you?" A man who looked to be about twenty-five or twenty-six years old pushed open the door and walked in. His name was Sean. He was born into a minor noble family and was George's civil servant.
"Sean, how many years have you been with me?" George asked.
"Reporting to Lord George, it will be five years in two months," Sean replied.
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"It's been almost five years. Well, time flies." George sighed and asked with a smile, "Sean, if I asked you to work in a town with tough conditions for two years, would you be willing to go?"
"As you command." Sean was delighted, but his face remained calm. Being George's civil servant was glorious, but it was not as good as being a proper official. Not to mention the prestige, the benefits were much more generous.
"The Salt Marsh Town Tribune Hubble was attacked and seriously injured. The town governor, Woleglindo, requested to arrange for a new tribune to take office. After much thought, I think you are young and flexible, and you are the most suitable." George glanced at Sean with a smile, "But I have to remind you that this Woleglindo is not one of us."
Sean was stunned, then nodded: "Lord George, I remember that Wuleglindo is not one of us."
"Saltmarsh Town is a major salt-producing town. The governors have always been our own people, so everything has been going smoothly. But now two consecutive governors have been exceptions. This is not a good sign. When you go there, you have to find a way to make this Wulaglindo give up." George continued to give instructions.
"I will, Master George," Sean said.
George nodded with satisfaction: "You prepare for the next two days, and I will arrange the rest. I will take up the post the day after tomorrow morning."
"Okay, Master George." A smile appeared on Sean's face.
At night, George drank with Job in the mansion.
After taking a sip, George pushed away the hand that the maid extended to him and asked Job with a smile, "Do you think the attack on Hubble has something to do with Woolley?"
Job frowned and shook his head, saying, "It should have nothing to do with him. Hubble poses no threat to him. There is no reason for him to do this."
"It's hard to say. I plan to have him stay in Rovington for a few days to accept the accountability of the city-state nobles' meeting. After all, such a big thing happened in his jurisdiction, and the impact is bad." George shook the wine glass, squinting his eyes to watch the wine in the glass swirling, and said, "By the way, remind this kid that Connor has no say in Rovington."
"Then who has the final say? The First Legion? Qiyuan?" Job asked with a laugh.
"No." George narrowed his eyes, "We are the real masters."
Job nodded with satisfaction and said, "Since you plan to hold Wulaglindo accountable, I will let Naru go a few days in advance."
"Okay." George nodded slightly and raised his glass. "Cheers to the future."
With a slight sound, the two wine glasses clinked together...
At the same time, Sean was also drinking in his own mansion, but it was obviously too lively here. Taking office as the peace officer of Saltmarsh Town was certainly worth celebrating. In this case, how could he be without wine, maids and friends?
Not long after the banquet started, Sean became drunk. Seeing him like this, the guests had no reason not to take advantage of the situation. After a round of toasts, Sean even had difficulty standing.
Although he was drunk and his steps were shaky, Sean still insisted on raising his glass to express his gratitude: "Oh, my dear friends, I am very excited, very excited. Finally, I finally made it. I, Sean, will soon go to Salt Marsh Town to make money, bags of gold coins, and to deal with that Wu Lai, um, what is it, you must not know, Lord George, why, why, why, do you want me to deal with him, I know, hehe, I know..."
Sean grinned foolishly and patted his chest repeatedly. Suddenly his body swayed and he fell backwards. Fortunately, the person sitting next to him was quick to catch him, otherwise he would have suffered a little.
After Sean staggered to his feet again, he turned his head to look at the person who grabbed him, and suddenly laughed: "I was wondering who it was, it turned out to be Lieutenant General Sean. You have been quite generous recently..."