Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 528 Paper Armor
Settlement with iron money?
Naturally, Sun Changshi had no objection.

He was even a little happy.

In the past, merchants in Yizhou only recognized hard currencies such as gold, silver, and silk, which made it difficult for merchants in Jingzhou.

Now that Yizhou is willing to accept iron money, isn't this a great thing for Jingzhou?

Sun Changshi agreed almost without hesitation.

However, this secret agreement could not be put into writing. The two parties only reached a tacit understanding, and Sun Changshi boarded the boat again and returned to Jingzhou with a happy face.

After Sun Changshi left, Yang Jia said to Chen Baxian who came out from behind the screen:
"Are all the people in Nanliang like this?"

Chen Baxian felt a little ashamed, but he had nothing to say.

From the Southern Liang officials he had seen, almost all of them, from top to bottom, were like Sun Changshi.

Chen Baxian suddenly realized that his defeat was not unfair.

Leaving aside the military gap between officers and soldiers on the front line, the gap between officials in the rear alone is already as huge as heaven and earth.

After Chen Baxian became Yang Jia's personal guard, he quickly saw through Yang Jia's character. He was a reckless man who rose from a grassroots military officer to a high position. He could barely read and had no experience in governing a local area.

Logically speaking, if Hou Jing handed over the military, political and civil affairs near Baidi City to Yang Jia, it would be fine for Yang Jia to handle the military and political affairs, but the local civil affairs would definitely be a mess.

This was also an opportunity for Chen Baxian to come to the fore.

But soon, Chen Baxian discovered that he had made a mistake in his calculations.

Yang Jia did not have any experience in local governance, but after he took over as the defender of Baidi City, Hou Jing sent him a team.

There is no particularly powerful person in this team.

Su, the clerk in the Household Department, was greedy for money and lustful, Zhang, the clerk in the Works Department, was reckless and rude, Li, the clerk in the Law Department, was lazy, and the remaining clerks also had their own shortcomings.

The abilities of these people vary. Among them, the greedy and lustful Su Sili is the most capable. Because Baidi City was the last stop for trade with Southern Liang at that time, the task of the Household Department was very heavy. It needed to collect taxes from passing merchant ships and crack down on smuggling that circumvented customs.

In addition, there were some things related to the secrets of Yizhou, such as the production drawings of Shu brocade looms and some specialties of Shu that were banned from export. After Su Hucao took office, he strictly cracked down on smuggling and arrested several commercial spies who were bribed by the Southern Liang.

This Su Hucao may be said to have some personal flaws, but he is very clear in his official duties.

But Li Facao is just the opposite.

In terms of personal integrity, this Li Facao can be said to be a rare gentleman among this group of officials.

He never attended banquets or made friends with colleagues. His greatest hobby was to go home and rest after leaving the government office.

If it was the rest time, it would be impossible to find him because he had already gone out to travel with his servants.

Moreover, the professional ability of this Facao Li was very low. It always took him a long time to judge and handle cases. Whenever he encountered something he could not make a decision on, he would write to the inspection court for instructions. After he took office, a lot of cases were piled up in Baidi City.

But it was this group of people who assisted Yang Jia, a general who knew nothing, and really managed Baidi City. Chen Baxian could even say that they did a good job in governing it.

In terms of individual level, Yang Jia and these officials are all unqualified.

But overall, Yang Jia and these officials are very qualified as a whole for the City Lord's Mansion. Even some of their shortcomings complement each other and become advantages.

For example, Su Sili of the Household Department was greedy and lustful. As long as Yang Jia often used money issues to criticize him, Su Sili would not dare to embezzle for the time being. Then Yang Jia rewarded him with a beautiful widow to serve him, and Su Sili would work more seriously.

The lawyer Li was lazy and incompetent, but he was also cautious. When he encountered a complicated case, he would consult the superior court or simply ask for help from the state prosecutor. In any case, his main goal was to avoid making mistakes.

And this is exactly what a lawyer’s job is.

In most cases, if they are complex criminal cases, the goal is to ensure that no mistakes are made and to bring the real criminal to justice, rather than forcing innocent people to confess through torture.

Most of the time, disputes among the people are settled through compromise, and the case may have already been resolved even when Fa Cao Li was delaying.

Sometimes they may not achieve any political achievements, but instead become a symbol of peace in the local area.

After observation, Chen Baxian concluded why Yang Jia's staff team was able to govern Baidi City so well.

First of all, although these clerks each have their shortcomings, they are all very familiar with the business, which shows how terrifying the talent pool under Su Ze is.

Every dynasty has faced this problem.

There are too many people who want to be officials in this world. Except for the period when there were many vacancies in the founding period, in most dynasties there are more people than positions. Everyone wants to be an official and a high-ranking official, which leads to fierce political struggles.

Similarly, there are too few officials in this world who can actually get things done at the grassroots level.

Grassroots work is actually a job of accumulating experience. It sounds difficult, but in fact, ordinary people can do it.

But the difficulty lies in how to train these ordinary people?

This requires a problematic local bureaucratic system and a mature evaluation system.

Hou Jing did not send people here randomly. These people he sent could form a team that worked well together to help Yang Jia govern the place.

It’s scary to think about it this way.

Chen Baxian further thought that even if Su Ze invaded Southern Liang in the future, he would not even need to win over the local gentry. He only needed to send the same team of officials to control the place.

Chen Baxian had worked at the grassroots level and he understood one thing.

For the people of this era, things like family and country sentiments are too far away.

Who can make himself live a good life and have enough food to eat, no matter whether the emperor’s surname is Yuan, Xiao, or Su?
It is these grassroots officials who are related to the livelihood of local people.

The decline of the Southern Liang Dynasty, in addition to the rapid corruption of the upper class, was also closely related to the depravity of the local people.

Chen Baxian immediately developed a strong sense of crisis. These grassroots officials were working so hard. If he didn't get close to them as soon as possible, wouldn't he be able to even be a minor official?
He immediately let go of his pride and quickly became Yang Jia's aide.

It can only be said that Chen Baxian himself was very capable and was soon valued by Yang Jia.

This time, the internal conflicts in Jingzhou were taken advantage of to remove Wang Sengbian, who advocated war. This strategy was proposed by Chen Baxian and was eventually successfully implemented. Yizhou captured Kuimen without losing a single soldier.

Another plan of Chen Baxian was to purchase iron coins from Southern Liang and use them to make weapons and armor.

The plan was good, but soon Zhang Sili from the Engineering Department showed up to kill them!
The quality of these iron coins from Southern Liang is really poor!
(End of this chapter)