Chapter 873 – Northern Overlord (Part 10)
Yang Si felt an instant toothache; how did he end up with such a leader?
He silently complained inside, but his face showed no hint of discontent.
He stepped forward and said, “My Lord, if it’s as you say, it might put you in a difficult position.”
“Oh? What difficult position do I have?”
With a helpless sigh, Yang Si responded, “The Old Patriarch has been managing Chongzhou for years, and he has single-handedly handled Hujun. The former may be palatable, but the latter is likely filled with the Old Patriarch’s loyal old guards… Each place has its own rules. If we barge in and interfere abruptly, those elderly folks will use their seniority to cause trouble, bringing these matters to the Old Patriarch’s attention. Isn’t that going to ruin your father-daughter relationship with him?”
Liu Zhi was willing to step back and take a backseat, but it didn’t mean the other side would just vanish into thin air.
The old guards who once followed Liu Zhi wouldn’t hold grudges against Jiang Pengji, would they?
If this issue wasn’t resolved, no matter how good their father-daughter relationship was, it wouldn’t withstand the scheming and provocations of others. Sooner or later, trouble would arise.
Haven’t there been countless tales throughout history of fathers and sons at odds, brothers at each other’s throats?
Jiang Pengji raised an eyebrow and stated, “My father has retreated from the forefront. All matters concerning Chongzhou and Hujun are now decided by me. Those old folks who think they can take advantage of their age in front of me, even if it’s my father, they won’t be spared. I’ll make things clear with him.”
Yang Si sighed in relief, “That’s wonderful.”
Jiang Pengji scanned the room, “Are there any other questions?”
Silence filled the air, as no one seemed to have any objections left.
They all understood, sooner or later, they would have to confront the Northern Frontier. It was better for their Lord to plan ahead than scramble at the last moment.
The military generals were confused earlier, but now their slow minds finally caught up, secretly elated.
From their perspective, as their Lord took control of Chongzhou and Hujun, the ones needing to work hard would surely be the civil officials.
Little did they know, overtime was a collective activity, and no one could escape it.
After a moment, Jiang Pengji addressed everyone, “Since there are no opinions for now, take a look at this.”
She gestured for Wan Er, who smiled and stood up to distribute several bound volumes to everyone.
Shangguan Wan was not only part of the administration’s female department, she was also the female teacher at Wanzhou Academy.
Ever since Xie Qian brought Wan Xuan from Zhong Zhao to Wanzhou, Jiang Pengji had roped in this grand Confucian to enlighten the academy’s students.
To replace Shangguan Wan in her teaching role, she reassigned personnel from the female section of the administration to teach the academy’s female students.
After her marriage leave, not only was Li Yun returning to work, even Shangguan Wan was back in the administration, once again serving as Jiang Pengji’s assistant.
Li Yun eagerly watched his wife approach him, handing over a neatly bound volume.
He reached out to take it, secretly brushing his fingers against Shangguan Wan’s delicate hand, his heart fluttering, only to be jolted awake by her slap.
“Unruly.”
Shangguan Wan muttered softly, while Li Yun was left feeling wronged.
Brushing past that interlude, Shangguan Wan finished distributing everyone’s volumes and returned to her previous spot, sitting upright.
She tilted her head to ask Li Yun, “Han Mei, what does it say here?”
With varying levels of education, only Dian Yin was a complete illiterate.
Li Yun glanced at Dian Yin’s volume, then at his own, and found it strangely identical!
And by identical, I mean not just the text, but even the size and shape of each character, every horizontal and vertical stroke precise.
If he could spot this oddity, imagine how the meticulous strategists felt.
Among them, some, like Qi Guanrang and Xu Ke, already knew the reason, while others were filled with confusion.
Jiang Pengji interjected, “I know what you are wondering; we will discuss this later.”
Everyone: “…”
You know what’s infuriating?
Not finishing your thought!
The crowd could only stifle their curiosity and carefully examine the contents of the volumes.
From the handwriting, it was evident this was their lord’s work.
“From today until the war with the Northern Frontier begins, the contents inside outline the challenges we will tackle over the next few years. To give you a clearer understanding, I’ve categorized them into major and minor items,” Jiang Pengji said. “Three major aspects; the first is governance, the second is land reclamation, and the third is military training. Let’s first discuss the governance aspect. All of you here are outstanding talents, but each of you has only two hands and no more than one body. If it were only Wanzhou, you might manage well, but with Chongzhou and Hujun added, it’ll become overwhelmingly difficult. So I’m seeking your opinions on whether we should choose a suitable time to issue a recruitment order.”
Qi Guanrang and the others stayed silent, but their internal voices were unified—
Recruit! Recruit! Recruit!
If they didn’t issue a recruitment order for fresh blood, they’d all be buried under paperwork!
However, issuing a recruitment order wasn’t just a casual matter.
If the content of the order wasn’t appealing, scholars across the land might not be interested.
Thus, they pushed the task onto the most eloquent among them, Feng Jin, tossing the responsibility directly into his lap.
Feng Jin silently cried inside and stepped forward to inquire about the details.
When it came to writing the recruitment order, he was merely the ghostwriter; the core ideas had to come from the lord.
Jiang Pengji pondered and said, “Regardless of status, only talent matters.”
With that statement, the entire room fell silent.
Feng Jin’s expression stiffened for a moment but quickly returned to normal.
Currently, the selection system demanded that candidates come from noble backgrounds while also possessing virtues like kindness, duty, and filial piety.
Take Dongqing’s evaluation system for example.
Noble status, virtue, and knowledge belong to the top three categories, while appearance, ability, and temperament belong to the bottom three.
Among those top three, noble status and virtue took up nine-tenths, while knowledge was just one-tenth.
In other words, if you’ve opened your eyes wide at birth and hit the jackpot with a good family, even if you turn out to be a fool later, you’d still be ten times more noble than countless low-born scholars. When both classes are placed side by side, the imperial court always prioritizes the former over the latter.
Jiang Pengji looked around and asked coldly, “What? Do you have objections?”
Her inner circle had been rigorously selected; aside from Feng Jin being a high-class handsome lad, the rest only had “high” and “handsome.”
From the perspective of a low-born scholar, they couldn’t possibly oppose Jiang Pengji’s proposal.
Regardless of status, only talent matters—these eight words spoke volumes about the struggles in the hearts of countless low-born scholars.
Many low-born scholars weren’t lacking in ability; it was their background that held them back; they didn’t even have the ticket to leap into greatness.
Feng Jin maintained his calm demeanor, stating, “Jin has no objections.”
The others echoed their agreement.
“I think you all have no objections either,” Jiang Pengji said, bluntly adding, “Talented individuals can help lighten your burdens and move forward together; while untalented burdens will only add to your workload. Do you all think I’m right?”
The crowd: “…”
From this perspective, it truly is a universal truth!
