It's really hard to just farm peacefully.

Jiang Yan didn't believe Cao and Yang when they said they also needed to memorize things. Or rather, the standards for memorizing them were completely different from the standards for her.

Thinking about how she had been lazy during the second half of the interview, trying to give a brief explanation like Cao Jishi but being asked to give a detailed answer instead, Jiang Yan felt that she, as a clerk, was just acting as an ancient version of a human database, not a database administrator.

Once she had memorized all the information, and then, like a search engine, input, retrieve, and output repeatedly, Jiang Yan felt her head was about to explode just thinking about it.

No, we must change this person's role as a tool!

But before finding an opportunity, Jiang Yan first changed the oil in the lamp on her desk. She had endured the black smoke for a long time, but she needed to spend more time reading materials and couldn't continue to harm her eyes.

Gradually, a soft cushion appeared on the stool, and one, two, or three small wooden boxes appeared on the table.

Jiang Yan glanced at the contents of the paper, but her hand grabbed a handful of nuts from the wooden box, peeled them with some effort, and then slowly chewed them in her mouth.

Secretary Cao and Secretary Yang had been watching Jiang Yan for several days, thinking she would give up this inappropriate behavior, but there was no reaction.

Upon hearing the soft cracking sound of a nut shell once again, Cao Jishi gave Yang Jishi a wink.

Secretary Yang coughed lightly, then said solemnly, "Jiang Shuzuo, this is the place for administrative affairs. No food or drink is allowed. Please keep quiet."

No need for silence, no need to keep quiet? Jiang Yan had been cramming a lot of information into her brain, and her thinking was still a bit sluggish.

She looked at Yang's office with a puzzled expression, then at Cao's office, and then suddenly realized something. She walked to the table with a wooden box in one hand and a stool in the other: "Shall we eat and chat?" As a subordinate, it seemed a bit inappropriate to completely ignore her superior and eat alone.

Yang, the secretary, listened to Cao, the secretary's opinion.

Cao Jishi was somewhat exhausted. Why would the Fourteenth Prince send a clerk who couldn't understand hints, and a young woman who was more than twelve years younger than him and not in good health? Even a few harsh words from her sounded like bullying.

He couldn't help but sigh inwardly, but his hand reached out and symbolically took a few nuts from the box.

Yang's Office: ? ? ?

Over freshly brewed hot tea, the three ate snacks and chatted idly. Cao and Yang, the secretaries, mainly shared their work experiences, while Jiang Yan listened attentively.

Perhaps feeling that they had also violated the rule of "staff members do not eat," they lacked the confidence to demand that Jiang Yan not repeat the mistake, or perhaps they found that eating snacks while working made people happier. From then on, the two secretaries never raised any objections to Jiang Yan's behavior again.

However, Jiang Yan guessed that there might be another important reason why they didn't disagree with her: that they wanted to build a good relationship with her so that they could get some benefits from her in the future.

It was only after Jiang Yan and Cao Jishi had grown closer and spontaneously recited four lines of poetry in front of her oil lamp that she realized that the two of them had been secretly longing for and coveting lamp oil.

Jiang Yan had planned to attract potential customers to Dongshan Village when she replaced the lamp oil, but both Cao's and Yang's offices were very indifferent, which made her feel somewhat frustrated.

"How could we not want it!" Cao Jishi said excitedly. "But this lamp oil is so rare. Even the Lord, Lord An, and the stewards don't have enough. The little bit allocated to us is far from enough."

Jiang Yan wholeheartedly agreed. This year, the village set aside seven jin for her, but even that would feel insufficient to last a year.

"However... the new batch of lamp oil has only been out for less than a month, and you've already used it all up?" The amount issued by the manor is far too small. Jiang Yan began to ponder how to ask the steward in charge of miscellaneous items for a lamp oil subsidy.

"It's so dark indoors in winter, how can we get by without lights?" Yang Jishi sighed.

……

Through the information he kept taking notes, Jiang Yan's perspective underwent a dramatic change.

Initially limited to Dongshan Village and parts of Rongcheng County, her perspective expanded to Rongcheng County and surrounding counties after joining Chunying's team. Now, she can glimpse the two-thirds situation across the entire Northern Jin territory.

The reason why only two or three points were obtained was mainly because the information obtained focused on the central and western regions of Northern Jin, and most of it was based on the situation two months ago.

However, Jiang Yan took notes very carefully on the detailed guidelines for document drafting that Yang's secretary had pointed out... From today onwards, she will begin to get in touch with the latest developments in this country.

……

After a year and a half of power struggles and annexations, the entire territory of Northern Jin was roughly divided into six spheres of influence.

The Beiting Protectorate, Nanqi Prefecture, Heding Prefecture, Xiding Prefecture, and Changning Prefecture, located in the north, belonged to the Song family.

Among them, the Fu brothers, Fu Jian and Fu An, were the Song family's most steadfast allies and governed the eastern part of Ha Dinh Prefecture.

The original Zheng family power in Changning Prefecture was taken over by Song Zhen, the niece of General Song and the second wife of the deceased Governor Zheng.

The Chang family, originally a powerful force in Xiding Prefecture, split up, and the clansmen who broke away shared control with officials sent by the Song family.

It is worth mentioning that Chang Qing, the former prefect of Heding Prefecture and aunt of Fu Nulang, served as the head of a prefecture in Xiding Prefecture.

The southern regions of Guyuan Prefecture, Nanjiang Prefecture, Min Prefecture, and the southern part of Donghu Prefecture belonged to the Xie family. Xie Tian, ​​the former governor of Guyuan Prefecture, was in charge of military affairs, while his wife Li Ming'e and his niece Xie Changqiong were in charge of political affairs.

Because of the effective governance of Governor Mo Xian, there are no obvious opportunities for exploitation within the Central Plains Prefecture. In addition, the prefecture has maintained a balanced and neutral stance due to its casual acquaintances with the Song and Xie families.

The capital was still under the jurisdiction of Udande. After the palace coup in the second year of Jian'an, he changed the dynasty and became emperor despite being poisoned and seriously injured, and has held the throne ever since.

The northern part of the Eastern Protectorate was previously governed by Governor Cai Yuanqi. Recently, due to the Xie family's continued encroachment, it is seeking an alliance with Udande.

As for Chang'an Prefecture... Fu Jian is still hesitant about whether to make the five counties bordering Xiding Prefecture his next target for conquest.

He convened his staff several times to discuss the matter, but each time he could not find a reason sufficient to persuade General Song Cheng to raise troops in the near future.

Jiang Yan was summoned to Fu Jian's study again after many days. This time, she reported the latest situation in Chang'an Prefecture—nothing had changed.

The study was filled with a silence that everyone had anticipated. Jiang Yan suddenly remembered overhearing a whisper between Secretary Cao and Secretary Yang: "The lord wants to take advantage of the Xie family's focus on the Eastern Protectorate to maintain the upper hand, but..."

"But Chang'an Prefecture is guarding the western frontier, and foreign tribes outside the borders are eyeing it covetously. If we act rashly, it is very likely that one move will affect the whole situation. General Song cannot agree to this."

It seemed that Fu Jian was determined to clash with the five neighboring counties, but Jiang Yan gradually realized that he was not doing it to compete with the Xie family.

Regardless of his true intentions, Jiang Yan was exhausted by the stalemate. Not only was she frequently pulled aside to inquire about his recent situation, but she also had to rack her brains with the two secretaries to come up with a pretext. If she couldn't come up with one, she had to continue to endure the oppressive atmosphere.

"If he's so eager to expand, why doesn't he set his sights on the capital?"