Qin Fang was stunned: "The prefect of Hedong Prefecture?"
The yamen runner said: "Today, the six prefects of Renzhou have arrived and are staying at the post station. Lord Du has discussed the imperial grain franchise plan with them. Since Yunxiang County is under the jurisdiction of Hedong Prefecture, the prefect wants to discuss the imperial grain franchise plan with you. So Lord Yang said that he would host and invite the two of you to his house. What do you think? Lord Yang said that if you are busy, he can do it another day." Qin Fang thought about it.
He was in the Beast Mountain Taoist Temple during the day. No wonder County Magistrate Yang sent someone to wait for him here. "It's okay to go."
"Yes."
Qin Fang said to Tao Shan: "Tao Shan, go back and tell the county magistrate that he doesn't need to wait for me for dinner. I'm going to discuss things with Yang County Magistrate."
Tao Shan: "Yes."
Qin Fang followed the yamen runners to the county yamen. Yang County Magistrate and the prefect of Hedong Prefecture were discussing things in the hall. They didn't know whether Qin Fang would come today, so they could only wait. When they heard the servants come to report that General Qin was coming, the two stood up. The
prefect of Qiguo was a regular fourth rank. Yang County Magistrate went out of the hall to pick up Qin Fang. The prefect of Hedong Prefecture naturally would not go. After all, his official rank was higher than Qin Fang, and there was absolutely no reason for him to pick up Qin Fang.
When County Magistrate Yang came out of the hall, he saw Qin Fang coming in. He hurriedly bowed and said, "General Qin."
Qin Fang also bowed and said, "Sir Yang, I'm late."
County Magistrate Yang said, "Not late, not late. You are very busy." He knew that Qin Fang was on the Beast Mountain every day, and it was time for him to get off duty. Coming here right after his shift was already a great honor for him. "General Qin, our Hedong Prefecture Governor Liu is inside. I will introduce him to you."
Qin Fang: "Thank you, Lord Yang. To be honest, I haven't visited Lord Liu since I took office. Unfortunately, the emperor gave me a secret mission, so I can't leave Yunxiang County. I can only apologize to Lord Liu." Logically, Qin Fang should have gone to pay a visit, but a series of things happened, and Qin Fang had long forgotten who the boss of Hedong Prefecture was. Even Yang Haiyan, who has always been careful, didn't think of it, otherwise he would have reminded him long ago.
Qin Fang followed County Magistrate Yang into the hall. Hedong Prefecture Governor Liu had already stood up. He also heard what Qin Fang and County Magistrate Yang said outside. Qin Fang's voice was not light when he spoke, and he must have intended to tell him that he didn't deliberately not go to pay him a visit.
However, no matter what Qin Fang's reason was, Lord Liu was still uncomfortable. Although he knew that Yunxiang County had a new city defense general before, he didn't meet him, so he didn't care. Now that he met him and the other party didn't go to see him, he had some subtle thoughts in his mind. However, the other party's teacher was Du Ke, and he didn't have the courage to fight Du Ke.
However, he already had a bad impression of Qin Fang.
Qin Fang didn't think so much. When he saw Lord Liu, he saluted: "I have seen Lord Liu." Saluting is just clasping fists and bending waist. Military generals don't kneel down when saluting, unless it is a special situation.
Lord Liu said, "General Qin, please sit down, no need to be polite."
Qin Fang said, "Thank you, Lord. I am new to the officialdom and don't know much about some of the etiquette in the officialdom. My family is poor and no one taught me these things. In addition, not long after I took office, the emperor sent a secret order that I could not leave Yunxiang County, so I haven't reported to you yet. Today, I apologize to you." Qin Fang apologized sincerely. He was indeed negligent in this matter. Therefore, he also told him frankly that later the emperor sent a secret order to let him monitor those people in the Ministry of Industry who were researching gunpowder in the Taoist temple of Shoushan Mountain. He didn't even have a day off, let alone remember the matter of the prefect of Hedong Prefecture. However
, Qin Fang overlooked one point. Du Ke and the emperor would listen to some of his trivial things, but Lord Liu would not listen. To Lord Liu, Qin Fang's words were arrogant, telling him that he had the Emperor's support.
Lord Liu's face darkened, but he soon smiled and said, "General Qin is a busy man, so it's okay if he doesn't come for such a small matter."
As a bystander, Yang County Magistrate clearly saw Lord Liu's expression. He and Qin Fang had not known each other for long, but he had some understanding of Qin Fang's character. He was not the kind of arrogant and willful person. In addition, Qin Fang was busy with the military camp and the Beast Mountain as soon as he arrived in Yunxiang County. He was indeed busy all the time.
But no matter how busy he was, he should take a day off to pay a visit to Lord Liu. So in this matter, no matter what reason Qin Fang had, Qin Fang was indeed wrong. But it was difficult for County Magistrate Yang to explain to Lord Liu. After all, he worked under Lord Liu, unlike Qin Fang. Although Qin Fang was only a fifth-rank official and Lord Liu was a fourth-rank official, Lord Liu could not control Qin Fang because civil officials and military generals have always been under separate jurisdiction.
If a civil official wants to be promoted, he needs to be assessed by the Ministry of Personnel, while military generals have always relied on military merits to be promoted. Therefore, the Ministry of Personnel cannot control military generals.
In Qi State, under the emperor, the six ministries have the greatest power. In fact, in the previous dynasty, there was also a prime minister. With the prime minister, the power of the six ministries was divided. After Taiyuanzu revolted and established Qi State, he directly abolished the prime minister system in order to consolidate power. Therefore, the power of the six ministries was at its peak.
Among the six ministries, the Ministry of War controls military power.
There is also the issue of military power involved here.
In Qi State, military power and military authority are two different concepts.
For example, the Marquis of Yonghe has military power, and he can command 50,000 Yonghe troops.
However, as the Minister of War, Du Ke has no military power, but he has military authority, and he has the right to transfer the Marquis of Yonghe. Simply put, military power manages soldiers, and military power manages barracks.
In extraordinary times, the Ministry of War has the right to directly issue transfers to barracks, which is military power.
The emperor may not have military power, but the Minister of War is his man, and he holds military power.
Qin Fang and Lord Liu exchanged greetings, and County Magistrate Yang sent someone to serve the dishes. Because they were talking about serious matters, County Magistrate Yang did not send anyone to serve. He asked someone to prepare a table of wine and food, and personally poured wine for Lord Liu and Qin Fang. "Lord Liu, General Qin, I offer you a toast today."
Today, they were talking about serious matters, so Qin Fang didn't want to drink. However, since Lord Liu was here, it would be bad to refuse, so he said, "Lord Liu, drinking is harmful to your health, why do n't we
just do whatever we want?" Lord Liu thought, don't military generals love alcohol? This guy is really a nuisance. Although he thought so, he couldn't say it. He said, "General Qin is right, we can do whatever we want. General Qin, Lord Yang, do whatever you want." He took a sip of the wine.
Qin Fang said, "Thank you for your consideration."
The three of them drank a few sips of wine, ate a few bites of snacks, and then talked about serious matters. Lord Liu asked: "General Qin, Lord Du mentioned in the meeting with us today that our Hedongfu franchisee is General Qin. What is General Qin's plan for the future? I heard from Lord Du that after the franchisee, there are agents. The franchisee produces potato flour and sweet potato flour, and then the agents sell potato flour and sweet potato flour. Is that true?"
Qin Fang said: "That's true. I have discussed this with Zhuo Jing. We Only production, the sales are handled by the agents below. However, the imperial grain is the emperor's brand, and now it is potato flour and sweet potato flour. Maybe in the near future there will be other grains, and these grains will have a unified price across the country. "
Lord Liu said: "I understand this. Lord Du mentioned that potato flour and sweet potato flour are sold to outsiders at seven cents per catty, and the price that franchisees pay to agents is five cents per catty."
Qin Fang said, "That's true."
Lord Liu said, "We have one prefecture and four county towns in Hedong Prefecture. If General Qin's family wants to trade, shouldn't they look for five agents?"
General Qin said, "Yes, we plan to let Lord Yang be in charge of the agent in Yunxiang County. As for the others, we don't know and don't know for sure. Lord Yang, what do you think of the Yang family?" County Magistrate Yang
didn't expect such a good thing to happen. He hurriedly said, "Thank you, General Qin." Life was indeed difficult for their family. His salary was not enough to support the whole family. Fortunately, they had some savings in the past. Although they were not poor now, they had old people and young children to take care of. County Magistrate Yang was living very frugally. Moreover, they were not locals, so they had to spend money to buy land here. After all this operation, the savings they brought when they first came here were almost spent.
Regarding the potato flour and sweet potato flour, Yang County Magistrate did have this idea, but he hadn't mentioned it yet, because he didn't know whether the Qin family wanted to do this business in Yunxiang County. Now that he heard Qin Fang take the initiative to talk about it, he was really grateful.
Hedongfu watched them interacting and decided to give Qin Fang a try, so he said what he was thinking: "General Qin, what do you think about the remaining agents in the prefecture and other counties?"
Qin Fang said: "Everything depends on character, just like choosing franchisees, they have to be of good character." Qin Fang was not a fool, "I wonder if Lord Liu has this idea?" If it was the prefecture, if he bypassed Lord Liu and chose other families, it would probably not be justified. Therefore, Qin Fang could only ask Lord Liu first.
Lord Liu thought that Qin Fang was still on the right track. However, he said in an official tone: "The imperial grain franchise plan was organized by the emperor, and it is the responsibility of the ministers to do their best for the emperor." Qin Fang did
not think he was stupid, but he had to say that he was not thick-skinned enough to speak like Lord Liu. "Then I will discuss it with the teacher after I go back. Since our Yunxiang County is a trial camp, we must be extra cautious." In fact, we still have to investigate the background of this Lord Liu.
Lord Liu heard it and said indifferently: "That's as it should be. Lord Du is meticulous in doing things. General Qin follows Lord Du, and he really follows a good teacher."
Qin Fang said: "The teacher is strict with himself, and I must not disappoint the teacher."
Then, they complimented Du Ke, and the dinner ended.
Qin Fang said: "Lord Liu, my general's mansion and the post station are in the same direction. I will take you to the post station."
Lord Liu nodded: "Thank you very much."
Yang County Magistrate also said: "This humble official just needs to digest the food after dinner, and I will also take Lord Liu."
Qin Fang looked at Yang County Magistrate.
Lord Liu didn't think that Yang County Magistrate's behavior was problematic. He was the prefect and Yang County Magistrate was the county magistrate. Wasn't it right for him to send him to the post station?
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