PFC Chapter 7271 Various Unexpected Troubles
Chapter 7271 Various Unexpected Troubles
Chapter 7271 Various Unexpected Troubles
Chen Xi had a considerable understanding of the bureaucratic system. The morality of this group of people was not trustworthy, and they could only be restrained by institutional construction. However, the system ultimately had to be applied to people, so some things were unavoidable.
As long as something in this world is handled by humans, it will inevitably be found to have loopholes by other human beings. After all, some people come here specifically to exploit loopholes, which is quite frustrating.
Therefore, every now and then, Chen Xi would have to arrange for a group of people to go down and inspect the area. Of course, such inspections would usually be preceded by word of mouth, and it was rare for them to be carried out so suddenly as they were now.
After all, Chen Xi wasn't there to replace the staff, but to see if his subordinates could achieve their goals with clear orders. As long as they could, Chen Xi would accept any minor problems.
If Chen Xi had already notified everyone in advance that he was coming down to investigate, and yet still managed to cause trouble, then the problem was too big to be concealed, and it was time to deal with it.
In other words, Chen Xi knew that many bureaucrats had problems, but he didn't want to get entangled in the matter. After all, an overly thorough review would require manpower and resources, and improving internal control from a passing grade of 60 to an excellent grade of 90 would also require a lot of resources.
However, if a score of 60 is enough to resolve the issue, Chen Xi won't specifically pursue a score of 90, because it's not very meaningful. Therefore, Chen Xi doesn't have high expectations for the bureaucratic system. He basically turns a blind eye to things like eating and drinking, or engaging in some shady activities. As long as it doesn't cross the line, Chen Xi won't make a fuss about it.
Of course, this is only under normal circumstances. When things get really intense, then we have to be strict and severe. What does it mean to not punish the lazy or the greedy, but to punish the blind? This is exactly what this situation is about. And this time, someone was blind.
"A lot of accidents have happened?" Chen Xi asked Sun Qian calmly.
"According to the news brought back by the veterans who came back from my unit years ago, quite a few people have fallen from grace, and some have even resorted to desperate measures," Sun Qian said with a somewhat gloomy tone. Sun Qian could understand that some people had fallen from grace, after all, it was normal for those who were not prepared to be found out during such a sudden inspection. But Sun Qian could not understand the idea of desperate measures.
"A cornered dog will jump over the wall?" Chen Xi narrowed his eyes slightly upon hearing this. "How exactly would a cornered dog jump over the wall?"
"After receiving word of the incident, they forcibly seized grain from the local people to replenish the government treasury. Their methods were too violent, and people were killed," Sun Qian said expressionlessly. But at this moment, Sun Qian's expressionless face looked somewhat frightening.
"Someone was killed?" Chen Xi was taken aback. "Forced conscription?"
"Hmm," Sun Qian simply hummed.
"Where?" Chen Xi asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yuzhou.” Sun Qian said succinctly, knowing that Chen Xi was now serious.
"In the name of the Prime Minister, send two additional teams of investigators to Yuzhou, along with auditors," Chen Xi said coldly. He knew better than anyone how to handle this matter so that the bureaucratic system would remember it. Executing the magistrate who killed the man was no big deal; the local area might not learn its lesson. But if the entire prefecture was given additional auditors and an investigation team from the Court of Justice because of this incident, the local bureaucratic system would remember it for at least two generations.
Sun Qian was taken aback when he heard this. He said that he actually wanted to let Chen Xi know that some bureaucrats in the country seemed to have lost their minds and needed to be managed more effectively. However, Chen Xi's approach was quite different from what he had thought. But after thinking about it carefully, it seemed that Chen Xi's approach was more effective.
"If I remember correctly, Yuzhou seems to be in the troop mobilization test of the five southern states?" Sun Qian said after a moment of silence.
"Yes, so I'll just put them under maximum pressure. As long as there are no deaths from forced conscription, I'll turn a blind eye. But if someone gets beaten to death during forced conscription, what else is there to say? I need to make sure all the officials in this area remember this incident," Chen Xi said calmly.
Do you even understand what "high intensity" means? The troop mobilization verification in Yuzhou was already extremely high intensity. Now, because local officials requisitioned grain and caused the deaths of civilians, Chang'an has dispatched auditors and investigation teams to conduct a detailed review of all levels of counties and prefectures in Yuzhou.
To be honest, half of the bureaucratic system in Yuzhou will be punished this time!
“This…” Sun Qian was silent for a while, feeling that this move was a bit ruthless, but this operation would definitely make the bureaucratic system of Yuzhou remember what can be done and what cannot be done.
If no one dies, we'll talk things out and follow the rules. If someone dies, then we'll hold everyone accountable and follow a different set of procedures. As for the rest of you being implicated, go find the guy who's asking for trouble. You all know how to handle it if it happens again.
“Gongyou, your people come from all over the country, so you have intelligence from multiple sources. Even if it’s not all accurate, it still has reference value. Local news, when it gets to my level, tends to report good news and not bad news. I think you understand why.” Chen Xi looked at Sun Qian very seriously and said, “So I need you to gather some of the things you think are problematic and send them to me.”
As the bureaucratic system took shape, Liu Bei and Chen Xi were inevitably cut off from some of their information channels. It wasn't that those people were deliberately trying to deceive Liu Bei and Chen Xi, but rather that they felt there were some things they couldn't be sure would have any impact if they reported them, so they chose to keep them hidden for the time being.
High-ranking officials who had access to Liu Bei and Chen Xi chose to suppress matters they were unsure about and not report them. What about middle-level officials dealing with high-ranking officials, and lower-level managers dealing with middle-level officials? Basically, this was the case at every level, which led to a series of problems.
Previously, when Liu Bei was in the Central Plains, he was always opening up new information channels, that is, constantly recruiting new soldiers. So even if some veteran soldiers started to report good news and not bad news about certain things, thinking that they would solve them themselves and not let the Prince of Jin know, they could not stop Liu Bei from using the new channels to tell him what had happened.
Therefore, when Liu Bei was around, Chen Xi's channels were very secure. There were some things that Liu Bei didn't quite understand, but he could sense that there was a problem. When he came back, he would tell Chen Xi, and Chen Xi would think about it for a moment and understand what was going on. If it was serious, he would send someone to deal with it; if it wasn't serious, he would explain it to Liu Bei so that he would be aware of it.
The problem is that Liu Bei has gone to the Ganges, and Chen Xi's information channels are in a semi-paralyzed state. Although there are other channels, to understand the accurate and true situation of the lower and middle classes, we still have to rely on Liu Bei's method of personally going deep into the people. Recently, Chen Xi has been busy with other things and has no time, so after seeing Sun Qian, he thought it would be good to ask Sun Qian.
After all, Sun Qian always acted like a foreman. Even if many young soldiers knew that Sun Qian was a high-ranking official with a salary of 2,000 shi (a unit of grain), a national leader, their illusions would crumble after a while. Naturally, they would tell Sun Qian all sorts of nonsense, and some of that nonsense would contain some real information.
“Speaking of which, I do have something to tell you. I think there are some problems with it, but I don’t know what they are.” Sun Qian leaned back in his chair and said with a hint of reminiscence, “This is a story that an old soldier from Yangzhou told us when he came back.”
"Yangzhou?" Chen Xi felt a headache coming on. There was already so much fun to be had in Yangzhou, and Chen Xi really didn't want to add any more. However, since Sun Qian had just started talking, he couldn't refuse to listen. So he could only nod and listen.
"You know about renting warships in Yangzhou, right?" Sun Qian started the conversation, and Chen Xi nodded in agreement. The reason why naval cannons were being rented from the Yangzhou aristocratic families was actually due to the ship rental business initiated by the Kuaiji Shipyard. Since ships could be rented, certain equipment that was part of the ships could naturally be rented as well. Later on, they stopped performing and didn't need to rent ships; they could directly rent naval cannons.
That's pretty much the routine.
Renting warships was a business that Chen Xi knew about and approved. It was a legitimate business. Shipyards in Kuaiji and Wujun, and even Donglai Shipyard, all made their fortunes from this. After all, having such large ships, with refrigerated cargo holds, and fishing in the deep sea was quite profitable in the past.
After all, the shortage of meat in the Central Plains has always existed, and it still exists now. Therefore, as a supplement to meat, as long as the price of seafood is not too high, the government will buy as much as it comes in.
Don't be fooled by the fact that the Han Dynasty has stockpiled a lot of salted fish; these were actually preparations for a major war. In reality, the majority of the annual catch is sold, but the quantity is still insufficient. Therefore, before the small worlds became rampant and before the Demon Master Jin Si had given the fish in the sea intelligence, renting boats to fish was a very lucrative business.
After all, every haul yielded a golden five-zhu coin. As many countries as they wanted, they bought them all, and there was never any worry about sales. Especially for unusual creatures like the deep-sea giant fat pig, which were rare treasures for the people of the Central Plains who were short of oil and fat, the fishing boat charter business was very prosperous in the past.
“In the past two years, it wasn’t because of the Demon Master’s Enlightenment Golden Silk and the Small World that ordinary fishing groups have fallen into difficulties. Only a few large state-owned fishing groups can still survive, but the catch has actually decreased by 30%. That’s why you said at the court meeting that we should strengthen the fishing industry.” Sun Qian briefly explained the background, and Chen Xi nodded. Fish is a supplement to meat, and mainly because it has no cost, so of course we have to catch it as much as possible. If we don’t catch it, we will lose money!
According to the timeline, the East China Sea Fisheries Bureau is currently assembling a nation-destroying fleet to thoroughly clean up the small worlds in the Yellow Sea, Bohai Sea, and East China Sea, and to kill all the monsters near the coast!
The main purpose of this is to revitalize the fishing industry, enabling coastal residents to form fishing groups based on their villages, so that while making money, more people can also afford to eat meat.
“Both the Fisheries Bureau in Donglai and the Fisheries Bureau in Yangzhou have individuals with that kind of spiritual talent, which they use to identify the attributes of fish,” Sun Qian added. Chen Xi nodded. There were only two people with this talent, making them very important technical and management personnel, and Chen Xi treasured them quite a bit.
After all, these kinds of people know how to eat, cook, and use freshly caught fish just by looking at them, which reduces costs by an unknown amount. They are practically a fish encyclopedia!
"And then?" Chen Xi asked with a hint of curiosity.
“Ever since the Demon Master’s Spirit Awakening, a precious type of fish appeared in Yangzhou,” Sun Qian recalled. “Some of these fish are said to be good for the brain, you know that?”
Chen Xi nodded. He knew about this and had even fed it to his own child quite often for a while. Because Chen Xi fed Chen Yu and Cai Chen this stuff so much, saying it was good for their brains, the others followed suit, successfully offsetting the freight costs and even making a profit.
“After the Demon Master awakens his spirit, a type of salmon in the East Sea acquires the Demon Master’s wisdom. But that’s not important. What’s important is that this salmon is more brain-boosting than the previous ones, and even helps to unlock spiritual talents,” Sun Qian said expressionlessly.
Chen Xi, holding the teacup and preparing to drink it, was dumbfounded. What level of rare and precious material was this? How could it help to unlock spiritual talent? This was a bit too heaven-defying.
"It sounds absurd, but that's what the person in Yangzhou said. Someone even had it privately verified in Donglai, and it's true, but the probability is quite slim." Sun Qian explained simply. Chen Xi nodded upon hearing this. The probability was indeed slim, but even such a slim probability was terrifying.
"But it's a bit strange. I should have seen such a powerful fish before, or at least tried a couple of them," Chen Xi said with a hint of curiosity.
“The locals catch and eat them, and they’re quite rare. It’s just that recently, the secret in Yangzhou couldn’t be kept anymore, and the matter has been exposed,” Sun Qian said with a somewhat enigmatic expression.
"That shouldn't be the case." Chen Xi found it strange. It couldn't be that Liu Bei hadn't eaten it. If Liu Bei had eaten it, he would definitely come back and brag about it. After bragging, he would definitely say something like, "I brought you one to try too." As for eating it all by himself, Liu Bei wouldn't do that.
"That's what they say now, but I've never eaten it," Sun Qian added.
"I've never eaten it either," Chen Xi replied, confirming that he had indeed never tried it.
"That's a bit strange, since our lord hasn't eaten it either," Sun Qian said with some doubt.
"Definitely not. In other words, those veterans in Yangzhou definitely didn't get it either." Chen Xi's expression became serious. If those abstract veterans in Yangzhou had gotten it, Liu Bei would definitely have gotten some. Moreover, Huang Tao was in Yangzhou. If such a thing really existed, Huang Tao would definitely be able to bring one back alive.
As for the issue of scarcity, as long as this thing exists, even a group of old soldiers in Yangzhou would gather in a circle and pump water to get it for Liu Bei to try.
"It seems there's been a problem. I'll send a few undercover agents to Yangzhou as well," Chen Xi said helplessly. "But it should be nothing serious. It's probably just some fabricated local products to earn some living expenses. It's just false advertising, which is perfectly normal."
That's what he said, but Chen Xi didn't take it too seriously. He sent a few undercover investigators to check the coastal areas of Yangzhou. If it was just some false advertising, he would have them bring back two reports. If there was anything fishy, he would investigate carefully to find out what those people were up to.
On March 11th, we continued fighting the demon gods. Currently, there are only about 600 scattered wandering demon gods left. The efficiency of increasing the number of demon gods is no longer as good as the efficiency of eliminating them. Since we got the God-Slaying Spear, the defensive veterans with five layers of forging have also gained the combat power to kill demon gods, so the efficiency has begun to increase significantly.
Especially after Feng Hong developed the correct way to use the God-Slaying Spear, the defensive veterans became increasingly efficient in fighting the demon gods, and even started a so-called speed race.
Ultimately, most demons are just ordinary demons, not mythical creatures distorted by metamorphosis. After fighting a few and getting used to it, dealing with them isn't that difficult.
"The Yunmeng Demon God No. 432 is a mythical species with two stages. Its properties are very special, and it is suspected to be poisonous. After the second stage, all the surrounding vegetation withers and dies, and the Yunmeng swamp directly turns into sand. During the battle, it will dry up." The Han Rang duo, who went to besiege the Yunmeng Demon God No. 432, felt like they had been exposed to the scorching sun in the desert for half a year. They were covered in oil and looked extremely disheveled.
"Another mythical species has appeared." The veterans around who were accepting missions looked pained. They had relatively good solutions for regular demon gods, but these mythical species were truly monsters. Most of the time, they were simply impossible to deal with. Even top-tier seventh-level demons sometimes failed.
"Ke Ke, Brother Huang, you two go and try to determine the characteristics of this mythical species, filter out all the characteristics, and then organize a team to annihilate it. Brother Han, do you need treatment?" Yang Si, who was recently injured and was the mission issuer, called out to Huang Tao and Zheng Ke, and then looked at Han Rang and asked.
"Get me some water. I gulped down several bowls earlier, but I'm still thirsty. Be careful, this thing might have a special effect like 'conceptual thirst'," Han Rang said, looking miserable. He was utterly astonished that a mere demon god had beaten him to this state. He'd even failed to eat the demon god before. As a master chef, a super veteran with a digestive system and the ability to project his will, being defeated by a mere piece of demon god flesh was a disgrace!
"Huang Tao, Marquis Chen wants you to come over." Just as Huang Tao and Zheng Ke were preparing to receive their mission to investigate the situation of the mythical species, He Yuan came to find Huang Tao with orders.
"It seems you have other things to do, Brother Huang. Cao Chuang, you go with Zheng Ke." Yang Si took away Huang Tao's nameplate and threw it to Cao Chuang, telling Huang Tao to go find Chen Xi first.
Huang Tao nodded upon hearing this, then vanished on the spot and reappeared at Chen Xi's location. At that moment, Zhao Shuang was also inside the room reporting to Chen Xi.
"Huang Tao, you're here. There's a very dangerous mission that I need you to handle. After thinking it over, I think only you are suitable." Chen Xi's expression turned serious when she saw Huang Tao.
Damn it, I can't get up!