I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 63 Taking office
After several months of hardships, I finally returned to Suzhou.

Zhao Zi said that although he was reluctant, the first thing he had to do after returning to Suzhou was to visit Zhu Jie.

Most officials in the southeast today were appointed by Zhu Jie. Zhu Jie could even treat the prefects and county magistrates as slaves, ordering them around like slaves, a testament to his immense power.

Zhao Zi said that since he was trapped in this situation, he would have little opportunity to disobey Zhu Jie in the next six months. He had to wait until at least the eve of Fang La's rebellion before confronting Zhu Jie head-on.

Those who are half a step ahead of the times are pioneers.

Those who are two steps ahead of the times are martyrs.

Sense of rhythm is very important. Zhao Zi said that he only wants to be a pioneer, not a martyr.

On the day he returned to Suzhou, Zhao Zicheng didn't even have time to go to Murong's house. He just asked Murong Yan to take the steward and the servants home first, and then he went to Yingfeng Bureau alone to report.

After leaving for almost half a year, the doorman at Yingfeng Bureau didn't recognize him at first glance. It was only after Zhao Zicheng handed over his business card that he was quickly led in.

Zhu Jie didn't let him wait too long. After he had sat in the tea room of Yingfeng Bureau for only two cups of tea, Zhu Jie met him in person.

"Student greets my husband." Zhao Zicheng took a deep breath and tried his best to control his emotions.

Zhu Jie's reaction surprised him a little.

Zhu Zhen managed a smile and said casually, "You've done great things in Tokyo! You've even earned the appreciation of Lord Liang. I won't be able to order you around anymore."

Zhao Zicheng's mind moved, and he quickly calculated that it must be the message that Liang Shicheng brought to Zhu Zhen, and it arrived before him. Zhao Zicheng quickly responded appropriately:

"It was simply a coincidence. When I was delivering the flower and stone consignment to the Imperial Household Department, I noticed that everyone there was slow to act, so I said a few words. Unexpectedly, Lord Liang was so open-minded and actually accepted my advice. It's all thanks to your support that I have this opportunity."

In front of Zhu Zhen, this little bit of face had to be given. No matter what Zhao Zicheng thought in his heart, he had to emphasize on the surface that he had no intention of actively changing his allegiance.

Zhu Zhen raised his hand to stop him from continuing, saying indifferently, "No need to explain. How can I stop you from contributing to the country? You are all loyal to Your Majesty and working for the court."

I heard that your father was so well-respected by the imperial court that he inherited his grandfather's title and was even appointed Magistrate of Jiaxing. This is a cause for celebration. If you have time, you can come back and visit your hometown."

(Note: Historically, the name Jiaxing was not changed until the protagonist's son ascended the throne. However, for the sake of ease of reading, I will refer to it as Jiaxing in advance.)
This news really surprised Zhao Zicheng.

By the time he left Bianjing, he had already guessed that his career would be smooth sailing in the short term, and he was also pretty sure that the "uncle from the imperial clan" he'd met at Fanlou before leaving was Emperor Zhao Ji. However, Zhao Zicheng had never expected that his own father would be rewarded and receive the title without any downgrade.

It seemed that the imperial edict announcing his father's succession to the title had arrived in Jiangnan before him. Xiuzhou was very close to Suzhou, and Zhu Zhen was well-informed and had known about it in advance.

Zhao Zicheng pondered this idea briefly and quickly deduced a few key points: If it was just to protect his career, then that was probably Liang Shicheng's intention. But if the reward extended to his father's title, then Liang Shicheng would definitely not be able to interfere.

As a eunuch, Liang Shicheng never dared to make the decision to grant the royal family's side branches the title without lowering their ranks, or to split the title by "extending favors", and he had no need to get involved in such trouble, so this decision could only have come from the emperor's will!
In this way, Zhu Zhen’s source of information is obvious: Zhu Zhen should have known that Zhao Zicheng went to Tokyo this time, probably by chance and directly won the favor of the emperor himself!

Zhu Jie may not know the specific details and does not dare to ask.

But this is enough. After Zhao Zicheng figured this out, he felt relieved.

Of course, Zhao Zicheng still had to pretend to be innocent on the surface.

Zhao Zicheng met the emperor's uncle and was appreciated by him.

Zhu Jie also knew that Zhao Zicheng had met his uncle, the emperor.
But Zhao Zi said that he couldn't show that he knew he had met his uncle, the emperor.

Nor could he pretend that Zhu Zhen knew that he had met his uncle, the emperor.

The logic is a bit confusing, but you can figure it out if you think about it a little bit.

……

After Zhao Zicheng got the right measure, communication with Zhu Jie became much smoother.

He adhered to the principle of knowing what he should know and not knowing what he should not know, which was enough to ensure that everything would go smoothly for him as an official in Suzhou in the next year and a half.

Zhu Zhen politely asked him a few more questions about his ideas on governance, wanting to see if Zhao Zicheng had any unrealistic "three major initiatives for a new official" plan.

Zhao Zicheng also responded appropriately, essentially saying, "It's almost winter now, and this year's taxes and levies have certainly already been handled by my predecessors. I'm new here and unfamiliar with the customs, so I should listen, watch, and learn more, and not act rashly. For the rest of the year, I'll focus on developing ingenious construction methods, benefiting the people, and teaching and encouraging good deeds." In plain words, the autumn tax season was over, and since he had just returned to Suzhou, he wouldn't touch anything regarding taxes and levies or official administration.

I would consider helping the chief officer to farm, develop technology, take advantage of the winter farming off-season to build water conservancy projects and other small initiatives that benefit the people, or provide work-for-relief, but I wouldn't cause any trouble otherwise.

During his communication with Zhu Jie, Zhao Zicheng also learned that the current magistrate of Suzhou was the same County Magistrate Li from half a year ago.

County Magistrate Li, who had always been a close friend of Zhu Zhen, had been promoted to County Magistrate on the spot because of his contributions in recovering the Flower and Stone Gang and suppressing Shi Sheng, the pirates of the "Sea Sand Gang" in Taihu Lake. The vacant position of County Magistrate was left to Zhao Zicheng.

Zhao Zicheng also knew that he would likely be promoted again relatively quickly. He couldn't directly become a county magistrate upon his initial appointment. This was simply due to the limitations of the imperial court system. There was no precedent for directly granting the rank of seventh-rank county magistrate to a newly appointed student who was a top-ranked Jinshi in the imperial examination system. After all, they weren't the top-ranking Jinshi in the traditional imperial examination system. Therefore, even with good connections above him, he had to transition to the rank of eighth-rank county magistrate first.

Since he was also going to be promoted, there was no need to clash with Magistrate Li. Anyway, when the time came, either Magistrate Li would be transferred to a nearby outlying area, or he would be promoted half a level to a nearby outlying area. One of them would definitely leave.

……

After Zhao Zicheng met with Zhu Zhen, fulfilled the etiquette, and understood the situation, he left Yingfeng Bureau and rushed to the county government office to meet with his supporting actor, County Magistrate Li.

Communication with Magistrate Li was much smoother. He simply conveyed the various layers of conflicting interests he had just considered, hinting that there was no conflict of interest. This winter and even next spring, he would only focus on minor matters that wouldn't interfere with the magistrate's ability to make money or appoint his cronies.

County Magistrate Li heard the hidden meaning in his words. Seeing that County Magistrate Zhao would not interfere with the collection of money and grain, nor the administration of officials, and only wanted to be in charge of some construction or work-for-relief tasks, perhaps with some additional educational work, and would not ask the county to allocate more money and grain, the two sides immediately reached a tacit understanding.

Originally, those government-run projects were all lucrative opportunities, but the key was how much money and grain the project managers had to ask the government for. If the money and grain could be raised on their own, or at least without the government's involvement, and they could go and collect the contributions from the wealthy families themselves, the higher-ups would be too lazy to interfere.

Of course, Zhao Zi said he definitely wouldn't engage in levies; he simply sought this excuse to facilitate his own technological advancements in farming. As for a source of money and grain, he decided to temporarily find another way to pay for official positions and win over people. This situation couldn't last long anyway, so he had to give before he could take.

Zhao Zicheng estimated that this winter, and even next spring, within half a year, the county's chief and deputy officials would be able to take care of their own affairs and not interfere with each other's affairs.

According to original history, Fang La would officially launch his rebellion in October of next year, exactly one year from now, though it might happen slightly earlier due to the butterfly effect. He would avoid conflict with his superiors until next spring, prioritizing his own development and establishing a firm foothold.

……

Only after establishing stable relationships with all his superiors did Zhao Zicheng finally have time to return to his residence.

The county magistrate was supposed to have his own official residence, but it was only his first day back and the place had not been tidied up yet, so as usual he returned to the Murong family's manor to stay temporarily.

Zhao Zi said that he was already the father and mother of the county, so of course the Murong family would not refuse. Previously, because they had no normal male heir to take over the family, they had been forced to retreat again and again due to the years of flower and stone gangs, and had to endure all kinds of concessions.

Now they finally had a close official protecting them, and they could finally stop being bullied. Even if Suzhou was levied with more flowers and stones in the future, it would not fall on them.

It was already late at night when Zhao Zicheng arrived at Murong's house. He even had dinner with Li Zhixian at a social gathering.

Murong Yan was waiting for news from him, not daring to rest. Even Murong Yan's mother and sister were waiting in the backyard for news.

"Did you get in touch with Zhu Zhen and County Magistrate Li smoothly? Did you get any trouble?" As soon as Murong Yan saw him, she poured him tea and asked about his well-being.

"Don't worry, everything is going according to plan. It's a bit of a pleasant surprise. Zhu Zhen seems to know that I had another good fortune in Tokyo, and he no longer dares to treat me as someone he can order around. But it's more likely that he has more servants who are more convenient to use, so he doesn't bother to provoke me.

County Magistrate Li and I have reached a tacit understanding. This year, I will not be responsible for taxation and administrative matters. He also turned a blind eye to other non-profitable aspects, leaving them to me. I'm mainly asking for the right to share responsibility for corvée labor during the winter farming off-season. If there are opportunities for water conservancy projects or work-for-relief programs, those will fall under my jurisdiction, but the county will not provide any money or grain. If I want to expand cultural and educational programs, that's fine, but again, no money will be provided; I'll have to raise the funds myself.

Zhao Zicheng is equivalent to the deputy county magistrate in charge of government projects and science, education, culture, health and other work.

The Murong sisters and Duan Yuyan, who was listening in from behind the scenes, did not understand for the time being what Zhao Zi wanted these powers for. They just thought that he wanted to keep a low profile for the time being and avoid Shangguan's edge.

After Murong Yan expressed her doubts, Zhao Zicheng also briefly explained: "It won't hurt to ask for the title first. I also need to do some things of my own and find a way to place Yang Zhi's soldiers.

Throughout this journey, although Yang Zhi obeyed my orders absolutely and strictly followed them, that was based on our personal relationship and old favors. Now that I'm back in Suzhou, I still have to follow the official rules for the time being. I'm only the county magistrate and have no right to mobilize him.

"But the imperial court often ordered the garrison troops to carry out construction projects and water conservancy projects in the local areas, finding some work for the troops who weren't engaged in combat, as long as the local governments provided them with money and food. I used this as an excuse to find a pretext to expand Yang Zhi's troops and train them diligently. Zhu Jie is becoming increasingly aggressive. I believe that sooner or later, Jiangnan will be in chaos, and the signs are becoming increasingly obvious."

-

PS: The map has been changed and the drama has switched to officialdom. There is a lot of background information that needs to be explained, so I will go through the diary as quickly as possible. Don’t think it’s too boring.

The second update tonight will include some farming scenes, which will be quickly completed.

(End of this chapter)