Otherworld Advance Team -
Chapter 1553 - 1546: Lingyun Government
Chapter 1553: Chapter 1546: Lingyun Government
Yichuan Long was both literary and martially skilled; he knew the measure of cultivation, keeping himself at a level of cultivation he deemed reasonable, and not pursuing absolute strength. Instead, he dedicated time to reading and studying, which is precisely why he became renowned throughout Kyushu.
However, the case of Yichuan Long also reveals a problem, which is that aristocratic families are mostly unwilling to let such talents join the government and would prefer to have them serve within their own clan.
Despite the fact that most official positions now require direct appointment or dismissal by the Imperial Court, local influential families still maintain their own miniature government systems.
This mainly stems from the government policy of establishing private offices, a system inherited since the foundation of Dongsheng Empire and a compromise made due to the power of those influential families at that time, which is also considered a historical issue.
The so-called establishment of private offices meant that clans could build their own government agencies and appoint officials. This privilege was mainly for the large aristocratic families, who had extensive households and businesses to manage, including military and civilian affairs, thus necessitating the management of such private offices.
Although the establishment of the civil official system has led to more than half of official positions being taken over by the Imperial Court, these aristocratic families still retain the right to establish private offices and appoint family members to manage their territories.
Nevertheless, the establishment of private offices has essentially become historical, and the Dongsheng Cabinet and the Imperial Court have not approved the establishment of new private offices for nearly a hundred years. However, for those aristocratic families that have already established offices, they do not have the power to abolish them.
It should be noted that if officials appointed by the Imperial Court begin to organize their own teams, then all members of these teams can be registered as governmental officials and enjoy national allowances. This is essentially also a method used by the Imperial Court to weaken the influence of the aristocratic families.
That is to say, to give a simple example, the County Magistrate of Lingyun Province is an official appointed by the Imperial Court and is within the official ranks. But he can recruit learned individuals to work at the government office, and although these people are not part of the official rank, they can still register to receive the Imperial Court’s stipend.
However, this practice has a drawback, which is the issue of drawing salaries from a non-existent workforce, fabricating team members to obtain more stipends. This kind of issue exists more or less throughout Kyushu, with only the degree of severity differing. In order to weaken the influence of the aristocratic families, the Imperial Court has no choice but to turn a blind eye to such losses.
So, essentially, the old saying holds true: there is no perfect system, because humans are the ones implementing the system.
As for the official appointments made by the aristocratic families, the stipend has to be provided by the families themselves. Such matters can be treated perfunctorily, but cannot be completely disregarded, for that would dampen the enthusiasm of outstanding clan members to stay and serve in their own family.
While the people of Kyushu face the three major pressures of the Imperial Court, the aristocratic families, and the Sects, these three forces are not an iron triangle. Both the aristocratic families and the Sects represent the martial power of Cultivation families, while the Imperial Court, representing civil powers, actively suppresses both, which for the people of Kyushu, is not necessarily a bad thing.
After passing the border, the Advance Team officially stepped into Kyushu’s territory. The first sight that greeted them was the bustling market within the pass, an important border checkpoint between Fengyu and Kyushu as well as a key distribution center for import and export trade, the destination of many traders.
They brought Magic Crystal minerals from West Outer Heaven to sell here, and then in turn, they would transport a batch of goods from Kyushu back to West Outer Heaven to sell, profiting from the price difference between the two.
Because these Magic Crystal Mines were heavily taxed by the Wuyun Sect and the border officials of Kyushu, their prices were rather high, and only members of the aristocratic families could afford them. Nonetheless, the sales of Magic Crystals were still incredibly good, and the goods would be bought up in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea once they hit the market.
The markets in Kyushu did not have the extravagant auction system. Such a bourgeois economic system was not something that merchants in the early stages of a commodity economy would—or dared to—implement. It is important to remember that their customers were mostly from the aristocratic families. The social hierarchy placed them, the Warriors, Farmers, Artisans, and Merchants, at the bottom, and they dare not offend these powerful entities.
Crossing the market was a journey of more than ten kilometers along an official road paved with broken stones. It’s worth mentioning that the quality of the roads within Kyushu was significantly better than those within Fengyu.
The terrain within Lingyun Province is a typical karst landscape, where a flat surface might suddenly rise to a hundred-meter tall hillock. Roads, houses, and fields spread amongst these steep hills.
After walking along the official road for more than ten kilometers, the group finally arrived at Lingyun Government, the first major city of Kyushu. It also serves as an important city for import and export trade, bustling with travelers and merchants.
Since the Dongsheng Court began weakening the influence of the aristocratic families, a considerable number of citizens were liberated from the control of these families and registered as citizens in the household registration system.
The liberated populace flowed like river water, vitalizing the movement of people and the trade of goods within Kyushu, creating a moment of prosperity for the Dongsheng Empire.
Having witnessed all this, the members of the Advance Team finally had reason to believe that the Dongsheng Empire indeed possessed sufficient financial and human resources to support the war efforts in West Outer Heaven.
As a once strategic pass and heavy town, Lingyun Government’s town size was quite vast, with housing buildings stretching from inside the city all the way to the suburbs, forming new settlements along the roads outside the city, known as Gathering.
The small town outside the city that the Advance Team passed through was known as Luo Yue Gathering, its size not small, with a population of around ten to twenty thousand, equivalent to a county.
It should be noted that although Gathering is on par with a county, it is not an independent administrative unit but rather an administrative unit attached to the government; counties themselves do not have their own Gathering, but only subordinate towns and villages.
In Kyushu, Gatherings are essentially a product of urban population expansion, with the agglomeration effect of large cities continuously attracting the populous. Added to this, the Imperial Court allowed the free movement of the population to ensure that it would not be controlled by aristocratic families again. Thus, with the development of the commodity economy, this agglomeration effect became even more apparent.
However, Gatherings also have their disadvantages, as small cities attached to larger cities, they lack the protection of city walls. In times of war, they can only seek shelter within the city, leaving their own homes at the mercy of marauding troops.
The best solution to this problem currently is probably to construct city walls, transforming these Gatherings into satellite towns of a major city. Of course, that’s what people from Earth would call them.
Some prosperous cities often have several Gatherings, all with city walls built around them. Some even connect to the main city or nest within each other, forming a matryoshka doll-like phenomenon of cities within cities.
But most of the time, Gatherings lack city walls because Gatherings are administrative units that belong to the government, and their destruction does not affect their administrative standing.
Passing through the bustling Luo Yue Gathering, the group entered the city gates under the leadership of Xihe and arrived in the city.
As a large city, the streets of Lingyun Government were quite wide, with the streets being able to accommodate four or five sedans driving side by side. Every two hundred meters along the street there was an archway, and the group passed through six consecutive archways before they finally reached the Government office in the city center.
By this time, the County Magistrate of Lingyun Government had been waiting at the entrance for a long time. Seeing the group arrive, he enthusiastically stepped forward and respectfully bowed, saying, "Official Luzun Hong welcomes all the distinguished guests to Lingyun Government."
Cheng Ziang stepped down from the carriage and bowed back respectfully, saying, "Disciples under the Saint seat of Azure Dragon and White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise, offer their greetings to the head official."
Following his move, the remaining three also bowed to Luzun Hong.
Luzun Hong appeared to be around his forties or fifties with somewhat graying facial hair. He had a well-fed look, not appearing overly harsh, but there was an air of lingering arrogance between his brows, probably due to his status.
His name alone suggested that he wasn’t an ordinary man like Xihe, but a standard offspring of an aristocratic family. Furthermore, the surname Luzun is not simple, as it is the State Clan of Tong State, with the dominant clan there being the Luzun Clan.
It’s said, "one may carry the State Clan name but not necessarily govern the state," clearly, this scion of the Luzun Clan was assigned by the Imperial Court to the neighboring Hua State’s Lingyun Province to serve as County Magistrate.
Luzun Hong was about 1.7 meters tall, not particularly tall, but he stood out in a crowd; however, he seemed somewhat overshadowed in front of the Advance Team, as both Cheng Ziang and Hu Daoke were taller than him.
He wore elegant official attire and had a relatively obese figure. This was understandable as the County Magistrate was equivalent to the mayor of a prefecture-level city, naturally he had no worries about food and drink.
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