Chapter 70 – Master
January 10th.
Heads of the dead officials were hung in front of the four main gates around the city. Description and details of their crimes were written on the public announcement boards.
The scholars and nobles who could read gathered in front of the boards. Some of them read it out loud for their friends, and some of them whispered and continued their gossip hobbies.
"Suit them right! Haha!"
"Lord Zhang Jiao sure is efficient!"
"Look! Isn't that old Jiang that killed your son!?"
"… Justice has been served! I'm going to join the army now! I'll pay back this gratitude with my life!"
"Aiya! This guy embezzled over 40,000 gold! I thought he was an honest scholar!"
"You can't judge people by their looks. See that good looking head? Isn't he the popular young master Mu?"
"That's right. There is more than meets the eye."
"47 … 48 … 49 … Heck, I lost count! How many people have they killed!?"
"I heard there were others at the other gates. Want to take a look?"
"Are you nuts? We have to walk all day to reach the other gate. Count me in!"
Uproars and rumors continued to spread while the spies of other lords were busy sending this news back home.
…
Government Main Hall.
Zhang Jiao and Tong had finished this morning assembly. Today, Zhang Jiao passed a bill that they would hold an auction of the seized treasures from the corrupted officials, so they could use the gold and coins for the future government funds.
The remaining honest officers accepted the tasks with enthusiasm as they were hoping to see the change and the improvement of the city.
However, they were short on hands, so the tasks might be slower than their standards. Tong and Zhang Jiao did not mind it. They allowed the officials to work at their paces because both of them had other works to complete in the meantime.
Because of the purge, many positions in the city government were vacant. However, Tong expressed that it should be left empty for now as he had to replace the old way of the Han government system with the better one.
Tong planned to turn these ancient ways of management into a government-corporate system with his father as the CEO and the officials as the company's workers. For governing one medium-sized city, the evil capitalism conglomerate system combined with the iron-fist monarchy laws could be temporary applied here for the short-term stable growth.
Once he expanded his territories, he would have to change the governing system once more. For now, he had no suitable officer who Tong could entrust with the important politic roles.
After the bills and all agendas were done in the meeting, Tong unloaded all gold in his inventory into the treasury vault, which shocked the officials.
Some of them had heard about the rumor about "The Immortal Zhang Tong" before. As a result, half of the officials decided to join the Immortal Yellow Turban Sect which had been secretly found recently by Zhang Jiao without Tong realizing it. The desire to rebel against the Han Court was still within his veins.
The officials dispersed and resumed their duties on their roles with joyous mood, but Zhang Jiao and Tong remained in the hall. They were waiting for someone.
Meanwhile, Hua Shi, who was baited by Tong into working as a city clerk and an accountant in exchange for 10 all-you-can-eat-dual-cultivation-night tickets as her monthly wage, had her head emitting smoke, and her soul almost slipped out from her mouth.
She had collapsed on her working table as she was overworked by the zealot father-and-son duo. Trying to be a good wife for the cunning workaholic family was not easy.
Then a messenger arrived.
"Reporting, Lord Lu Zhi has arrived and is waiting in front of the hall!"
"Invite him in."
"Yes, sir!"
The messenger rushed out. After a couple of minutes, a man in mid-40s with a tidied robe and kempt hair, which was tied up with small cloth wrapped up on it, walked into the hall. He did not dress as an official, but a simple robe of a scholar. Despite being in middle age, he had traces of white hair all over his head which indicated that he was a heavy thinker.
"Greetings, Lord Zhang. I am Lu Zhi, a humble imperial inspector and the Intendant Minister of Luo Yang. Please to make your acquaintance."
Zhang Jiao nodded and exchanged pleasantries with Lu Zhi. However, Tong kept his mouth shut and continued to observe the middle-aged man.
'Humble my foot! Intendant Minister is probably the same as Chief Minister or Senior Minister. In Luo Yang, he is probably second after He Jin!' Tong thought.
In the other world history, this person was a high ranking minister and the teacher of Liu Bei, Gongsun Zan and other officials. He would later lead the main Imperial Army and proved his prowess by crushing the forces of Zhang Jiao in the year 184. However, due to the corruption and schemes by the eunuch faction, he was removed from the command post in the middle of the campaign.
Later after the Yellow Turban was destroyed, he continued to serve the Han Dynasty as minister of letters. He was known to be well-versed in both politics and teaching.
Aside from this, there was no other record of his achievement in history. Some said that he retired peacefully. Some said he was killed during the time Dong Zhuo took over Luo Yang. Despite many rumors, no solid proof had been found yet.
Tong gazed at the scene in front of his with a complicated look on his face. It was ironic that the two who were enemies in history were having a pleasant conversation in this world.
"By the way, how do you plan to revitalize the city? I see that there are still many vacancies left after the purge. Would you like me to recommend you a few personals to fill in the position?"
Lu Zhi asked with good intention. He liked what Tong and Zhang Jiao did. The process of the executions of the crook officials, the evidence and proofs, and the announcement to the public were well-planned and well-done in the eyes of Lu Zhi.
Therefore, he wanted to give them a hand as capable officials were rare specimens. These types of honest people were worth nurturing.
However, Zhang Jiao hesitated and glanced at Tong by reflex. The body language of Zhang Jiao gave away the hint to Lu Zhi, so he turned his head to Tong and cupped his fist to him without caring about seniority.
"You must be the rumor 'Immortal Zhang Tong', am I right? Please to meet you." Lu Zhi greeted Tong with a smile.
Tong had goosebumps. He was still traumatized by the sharp eyes of Feng Ji. This Lu Zhi also had the same eyes as him! Furthermore, he seemed to be more experienced than the greedy crook as his eyes had more depth as if Tong was staring into the abyss.
'There was a saying if you gaze into the abyss …' Tong thought.
"The abyss will gaze back at you." Lu Zhi replied.
Tong shuddered in fear and his eyes were wide open. Lu Zhi could read his mind?
Meanwhile, Lu Zhi had a merry laugh. He teased Tong far enough. From his experiences, not many people dared to stare into his eyes because of his rank. But if they did, they were likely to have potentials to grow up into a great man in the future as they had enough self-confident. As long as someone had self-confident but not overconfident, they would fare well with any career.
"Please forgive me for my inconsideration. Your expression gave it away." Lu Zhi bowed once again.
Tong subconsciously touched his mouth. Then he realized that this was probably one of those face reading techniques, or he let out hints by his subtle movements. Tong sighed and bowed in return as he accepted his inferiority.
"Please don't lower yourself. It should be me that thank you for your teaching. Thank you for pointing out about my flaws."
Lu Zhi nodded. He liked Tong more and more because of his humble and his ability to accept his shortcoming. Lu Zhi confirmed that Tong could be taught.
"Although you are good in military and politics, in the terms of personality, wits, culture, and maybe general knowledge, you still fall short and vulnerable to be exploited by everyone in my peers. However, I can guide you on these subjects. How about it? Won't you become my disciple?"
Zhang Jiao who was observing them by the side was shocked. Hua Shi was stunned and swallowed her soul back. Tong's mouth became "O" as he did not believe what he had just heard.
Within five seconds, Tong came back to his sense. Although he had 21st-century knowledge and cheats, he should not be overconfident or too proud of himself. Having the personality and mindset of an empty glass in this situation was more beneficial than being the full-glass type.
Moreover, Lu Zhi held the prominent position in the Imperial Court at the moment. Having him as his master equaled having his entire family under his protection. Under him, even Yuan Shao himself had to think twice before crossing with Tong's family again.
Tong knelt in kowtow and cupped his fist to Lu Zhi.
"Zhang Tong greets master!"
NOTE 1: Lu Zhi and Lu Bu has different surnames.
Lu of Lu Zhi pronounces kind of like "Lhu"
While Lu of Lu Bu pronounces like "Luuw"
NOTE 2: In Wiki, Lu Zhi born on 159 A.D. so he's only 22 at the current timeline of this story, which doesn't make any sense. Therefore, I used the references from the game ROTK 13 that he was born on 139 instead, so he could be more fit as a role of a high-rank official and mentor of Liu Bei.
I'm sorry about the confusion that might happen.
Chapter 71 – The Recommendation
Lu Zhi laughed in satisfaction while Zhang Jiao had a complicated expression. Having a high ranking official as Tong's mentor was a good news because Tong could have a bright future by studying under Lu Zhi's guidance, or Lu Zhi could write a letter of recommendation to give Tong a position in the Imperial Court. However, Zhang Jiao was still skeptical about the Han Imperial Court because he still prejudiced against the officials.
Hua Shi swept her glances at Lu Zhi and Tong. Then she yawned and continued dozing off on her working table. She did not care about any historical figure or Tong's politic scheme.
Lu Zhi helped Tong up and continued chatting.
"I almost forgot my initial question. How do you plan to rejuvenate the city?"
Tong smiled and waved his hand. A couple of soap bars and a barrel of beer was taken out from Tong's space inventory.
"W-What!? Did you just …?"
Lu Zhi was flabbergasted. From his perspective, Tong had just created several objects out of thin air. He thought that the nickname "Immortal" was just something Tong created to intimidate his opponents. But it seemed that Lu Zhi had misunderstood. Tong might really be either a sage or an immortal.
"Master, I'm planning to create a business firm that runs by the government. For starter, I'm planning to put these products to …"
Tong narrated his business plans to Lu Zhi while Zhang Jiao also paid attention to the details.
The peasants in this era had limited types of jobs. Eighty percent of them were farmers. The other ten were professional soldiers. Five percent were merchants. And the rest were specialists, such as carpenters, bow makers, blacksmiths, physicians, Taoist priests, scholars, and officials.
As a result, the majority of people were poor and rarely use coins or gold to trade for food. They offered labors or barter-traded with their neighbors to makes end meet instead.
Because of the scarceness of jobs, and for the sake of the preparation of the future drought season and epidemic outbreak next year, Tong wanted to improve their quality of life first by giving them more variety of jobs and income.
First, he wanted the government to promote the commercial businesses by pushing the government firm as a foundation. Then he would hire more staffs and probably hire laborers, commoners, and scholars into the firm.
He would make the soap and the beer as their local specialty to promote the merchants' activities in the nearby areas. Once merchants were attracted to the local products and visited Julu City, they would bring other goods into the city to trade, which would bring prosperity and various products to the people. At the same time, it would create even more jobs and enabled the cash flows into the hands of more commoners, thus, increasing the potential tax income for the city government in the future. Furthermore, commoners with money could at least have to money to buy food from either merchants or the city government to survive next year.
The income from the government firm would also be transferred into the city treasury, thus boosting the city cash flows. Then they would be able to invest in other industries to improve the quality of life for the citizens.
Lu Zhi listened to Tong's drafted plan and nodded. The idea was confusing and too new to him. The more he listened, the more he wondered if he was the master or he was the apprentice.
From his experience in Luo Yang and Han Court management, they only focus on taxes from the grain harvest and household taxes that they would get annually. But they never dibbed their hands into the macroeconomic or businesses of the lower class societies.
The wealthy nobles that Lu Zhi knew also had merchant firms and business background. But they never utilized the economic system to benefit the city this way as they narrowed their vision into their marketing and profits, but not the big picture of the masses.
"The project is too vague and grand. Will you have enough personals for it?" Lu Zhi questioned.
Tong scratched his head in embarrassment. Lu Zhi was right. Tong did not have enough talented personals to handle his business ideal.
Seeing Tong's reaction, Lu Zhi sighed. This youngster was still naïve but he had interesting ideas.
"I know a couple good people that can help you. Want me to recommend them to you?"
"Really? Yes, please!"
"I have three outstanding apprentices. I found them when I traveled in You Province. One of them has already become the Lord of Bei Ping of You Province, so I can't recommend him to you. The second of them probably still continue studying somewhere in Xu Chang. He is quite talented and diligent. I'll write a letter to him for sure. But the other one is kind of unique. He is a useless bum at the moment, but I think he will show his potential in the future."
Tong coughed and almost choked blood as his blood vessels within his throat almost ruptured from shock. He knew exactly who Lu Zhi was referring to.
"The lord of Bei Ping is Gongsun Zan. The second talent is called Gao You. And the last one is Liu Bei. I'm going to send my letter to Gao You and Liu Bei to make them come working for you."
Lu Zhi described the details of his apprenticed which confirmed Tong's conjecture, after which Tong choked again.
It was well known that Liu Bei was ambitious and stubborn. When he was young, he always bragged that he was the descendant of Liu Bang, the first Han Dynasty Emperor. He always announced that he would become someone big in the future. And at the end of his life, he actually achieved his dream at the costs of millions of lives along the path to the throne.
Tong did not want someone this ambitious among his subordinates. But after he thought about it, he could use this chance to take down the troublemaker before he rose to power.
"Then I will have to trouble master." Tong bowed to Lu Zhi.
…
…
For the rest of the day, Zhang Jiao and Hua Shi resumed their official duty to sort out documents and cleaned up the mess that Guo Dian and his corrupted officials had caused.
Meanwhile, Tong and Lu Zhi continued to chat and exchanged opinions with their insight. Lu Zhi was impressed by this youngster that he seemed to have a wide vision and unearthly ideas.
Lu Zhi also taught Tong of the techniques to judge people and to utilize the subordinates as a governor. Several organization structures were laid down for Tong, which he took notes on everything. Then, the structure of a spy organization caught his eyes.
Seeing that Tong interested in the espionage and surveillance topics, Lu Zhi was satisfied. He would prepare a few more scrolls about spies and intelligence agencies and taught Tong in the other day.
Then, the topic of the conversation changed into the politic struggle within the capital. Lu Zhi continued to narrate what had happened in the past years.
"His Highness the prince Liu Bian and Liu Xie are dead!? Liu Ping is the crown prince!?"
"Not exactly, his highness Liu Xie was still alive. Her Majesty the empress switched her son with the son of her servant in advance. The one that died was the body double. The real prince had been sent to Chang An with her highness's secret agents. But his highness Liu Bian's cause of death was mysterious. It was as if he died from old age. His body withers, his hair became white and all of his fluid in the body dried up."
The movements within the capital were shocking. The existence of another prince was impossible if he was a native. Tong concluded that he was definitely a reincarnation of an otherworlder. But the name "Ping" was something that Tong was traumatized with. He could only pray that this person was not the "Ping" that was once his nemesis.
Then, Tong recalled about the threatening messages when he entered this world. If Tong were to hold power to change fate or alter the reincarnation process, then what would he do to his enemy.
Tong had a hunch that the prince Liu Ping was likely to be his nemesis "Ping" from his previous life. If he could retain his name from his previous life, then it would also be possible for Ping to do the same. Tong decided that he had to be extra careful about this prince.
However, if Liu Ping was really in control of the Han Court, his family could be in danger.
Lu Zhi continued his story. He told Tong about Liu Ping's real mother, the Empress Song, and Ping's outburst struggle in the court when he denied the emperor's execution edict and so on.
Liu Ping was currently nicknamed as "The Monster Prince" as he had superhuman power, speed beyond human's comprehension, and his records for murdering many officials, soldiers, and executioners with his bare hands during his fight against the death edict from his father.
Then last year, Liu Ping suddenly sided with the eunuch faction and went head to head against his father, the emperor.
The emperor himself was scared of Liu Ping, so he did not retaliate against him. But the Empress He and her relative, He Jin, had politic clashes with Liu Ping in many occasions. Both sides used underhanded tactics to either assassinate or frame the other faction supporters. As a result, hundreds of innocent officials were sacrificed in this struggle. Many high-rank ministers quit their jobs in fear of being implicated in the conflict.
Lu Zhi himself also had to evacuate outside of the capital temporarily to escape this chaos, or he might also be a target by the prince and the eunuch alliance.
Then he received a letter from Guo Dian which he suddenly asked for a reinforcement against a group of bandits. Lu Zhi already knew how corrupted this city governor and his subordinates were, so he ignored it.
Afterward, he heard about Guo Dian's death, so he paid Julu City a visit to see the victor of the battle, then he met Tong and his family.
The entire story was shocking to Tong. He could not find the right word to response to Lu Zhi.
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