Chapter 489 Available People
Lu Zhiran was resting in peace in the Eastern Palace while taking care of her pregnancy, while Xiao Yanci was busy with government affairs in the former court.
The affairs of the girls' school were proceeding step by step. Outsiders had lost interest, but Lu Zhiran was always paying attention to all the changes in the girls' school.
Time flies and it is September, and the weather is still hot.
At this time, the court received a memorial from Nanyue.
The former Nanyue Kingdom was incorporated into the territory of Da Qi and renamed Nanzhao Prefecture.
Previously, the imperial court sent a local official to Nanzhao Prefecture to serve as prefect, but the official could not adapt to the climate of Nanzhao Prefecture and had been ill intermittently. This summer, he fell ill due to the heat and died in office.
This urgent letter was to announce the death and also to request the court to appoint a new official to take over.
After reading the memorial, Xiao Yanci frowned instantly.
Nanzhao Prefecture had just surrendered to Da Qi not long ago, and the people did not have a strong sense of belonging to Da Qi. In addition, there were still many indigenous people in Nanzhao Prefecture who spoke the barbarian language and were not familiar with etiquette, so management became a big problem.
While in office, that official could only be considered to have neither merits nor demerits, and did not achieve much.
This time, we must send a capable and resourceful minister to truly manage the Nanzhao Prefecture.
In addition, another matter was mentioned in the memorial.
Nanzhao Prefecture is short of troops, its border defenses are weak, and it is unable to suppress the tribal barbarians internally. There are frequent conflicts in the city. Please establish the Annan Protectorate to protect the people.
Both of these tasks are difficult to handle. The selection of personnel is very critical. If the wrong person is chosen, Nanzhao Prefecture will not only be unable to govern well, but will fall into civil strife.
This matter was of great importance, and Xiao Yanci was unable to make the decision alone, so he reported it to Emperor Defeng and summoned all the ministers to discuss it.
Nanzhao Kingdom is not a good place. For the capital, it is like a wild land. It is difficult to manage and requires a lot of effort. It is easy to die if you are not careful. Naturally, no one wants to go there.
Everyone was shirking the responsibility and no one was willing to take on the job.
After discussing for most of the day, no conclusion was reached.
Emperor Defeng pointed at these people and cursed, "You are all good-for-nothings. You would quarrel over trivial matters on ordinary days, but now when faced with a major event, you have all become silent. Has the court supported you for nothing?"
All the court officials were scolded so much that they dared not say a word, and Xiao Yanci was also scolded.
Emperor Defeng cursed and then threw his sleeves. "Within three days, you must nominate a candidate for me. If not, I will personally appoint you. You will have no choice but to do so."
After being scolded, everyone was dejected and worried that this tough task would fall on them, so they all went to Xiao Yanci to inquire about the news and complain.
Xiao Yanci sent the man away.
He was also thinking about the person to be responsible for this matter.
We must select people who are talented and truly willing to go to Nanzhao Prefecture.
After returning to the East Palace, he was still worried about this matter.
Seeing this, Lu Zhiran couldn't help but ask.
In the court, Xiao Yanci never hid things from her, because she was different from ordinary women and could give him different insights.
After hearing the whole story, Lu Zhiran couldn't help but ponder.
She mentioned someone, "What do you think of Fang Chengyu?"
Fang Chengyu, the illegitimate son of the Fang family.
The Fang family was also liquidated afterwards because of their collusion with Xiao Yanlin.
However, Xiao Yanci pleaded for Fang Chengyu in front of Emperor Defeng. It was he who provided Lu Zhiran with evidence of the Zhao family's crimes, which enabled them to follow the clues and find out the details of the Zhao family.
Therefore, Fang Chengyu was not dismissed from office, but was sent out of office.
The place where he was exiled was Cizhou, which was a grace he asked for on his own initiative because his biological mother was from Cizhou.
Cizhou is located in the southwest and is an inconspicuous little place. Previously, floods occurred in various places, and Cizhou was not spared. Most of the local officials were dismissed for their poor disaster relief. Fang Chengyu took the initiative to request to be transferred to Cizhou, but in fact he took the mess on himself.
But in just over a year, the people of Cizhou had resumed their lives, and the memorials submitted repeatedly by Cizhou were all good news.
Those memorials were all handled by Xiao Yanci. He once told Lu Zhiran that after Fang Chengyu had gained experience abroad for three to five years and achieved good political results, he would be able to be transferred back to Beijing as a matter of course.
This is also the path Fang Chengyu planned for himself.
Fang Chengyu is the only smart person in the Fang family, so it can be said that good things come out of bad things.
Xiao Yanci didn't think of him for a moment, but after Lu Zhiran reminded him, his eyes suddenly lit up.
"He's a good choice."
Everyone in the Fang family thinks of Fang Chengyu. He has strategy, vision, courage, and ability. With the success of Cizhou, there will be no problem handing over Nanzhao Prefecture to him.
His only shortcoming is that he has been sent abroad for too short a time, lacks experience, and may not be qualified enough.
But this is a tough job, and no one would compete with him for it. If someone really doubts his qualifications, Xiao Yanci can suppress other voices by vouching for him.
Xiao Yanci looked at Lu Zhiran with a sincere smile on his face.
"Zhiran, you always help me a lot. This time, thanks to your reminder."
Xiao Yanci held her face and kissed her hard, deforming her face.
All the maids in the room blushed. Lu Zhiran was angry and reached out to pinch him.
"Not dignified!"
Xiao Yanci laughed, "We are a couple in our own room, why should we be solemn?"
What's the point of doing it in your own room?
Lu Zhiran is pregnant now, so she doesn't dare let him stay around her anymore. She quickly changes the subject to business.
"Do you have a suitable candidate for the position of Protector General of Annan?"
Xiao Yanci paused, "I have a candidate, but I don't know if I can convince my father to agree."
When Lu Zhiran heard this, she thought for a moment and quickly guessed what was going on.
"Do you favor General Gu?"
Xiao Yanci smiled, "You really do understand me."
Lu Zhiran also smiled. "That's not hard to guess. General Gu was born in southern Yunnan and can adapt to the climate of Nanzhao. He's also a veteran with a lot of experience. It's a shame that he's been idle in Beijing all this time. General Gu himself would definitely agree to this."
After recuperating in the capital for nearly three years, Gu Qishan's health has mostly recovered, and he will be reinstated sooner or later.
He is a precious sword that has not aged yet. It would be a pity to put this sword aside because of some groundless rumors.
Xiao Yanci said calmly, "But my father may not agree."
He had just made some moves regarding the concubine and suppressed Emperor Defeng not long ago. Now he cannot be too assertive in this matter, otherwise the balance between him and Emperor Defeng would be broken.
Moreover, this matter involves military power, and its weight is different from that of the concubine's matter.
Emperor Defeng could give in on the matter of his concubine, but he might not be willing to let go in the struggle for military power.
Xiao Yanci could only propose this matter to Emperor Defeng, but he was not completely sure and he was not sure whether it would succeed.
Lu Zhiran was also silent for a moment.
She asked, "Besides General Gu, are there any other replacement candidates?"
Xiao Yanci shook his head with a slight headache, "The Great Qi values civil officials over military officials, so there are still too few truly capable generals."
Lu Zhiran thought for a moment and said, "I have a plan, maybe we can give it a try."
Xiao Yanci's eyes lit up immediately, "Tell me about it."
Lu Zhiran expressed his thoughts. Xiao Yanci listened carefully and clapped his hands, "Let's do it!"
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