Bab 90: Sima Clan Arrived!
Chapter 90 – Sima Clan Arrived!
Sima Fang came to Julu with his family in secret.
As a minor official in Luo Yang and close relationship with Cao Cao, he and his family managed to slip away from the political battlefield in the Capital unharmed. Afterward, they temporary settled down in an outskirt village within Wen County, north of Luo Yang and west of Henei City.
He received the invitation letter from Lu Zhi last month, which intrigued his curiosity toward the city and Zhang Tong.
Sima Fang knew that Lu Zhi would not accept a disciple easily. He only guided a few promising individuals after he had judged that the potential disciple was a righteous man. Therefore, he interested in the person who had won the battle of Anping and made the stubborn Lu Zhi took him under his wings.
Furthermore, he wanted to investigate the whereabouts of his eldest son, Sima Xin. The last piece of information he had was from Guo Dian said that Sima Xin deserted Guo Dian army when they were raided at night.
He suspected that Sima Xin should already die in the battle. Or else, he would have contacted him ages ago.
With all these reasons, he accepted Lu Zhi's invitation and came here with all of his clan members.
After he reached the gate of this city, he was astonished.
Heads of corrupted officials hung in front of the wall nearby the gate. Wooden boards were placed there with written information about the crimes they had committed before the execution.
A few wooden public announcement boards were also situated there alongside the road. It was the announcement of the new laws of Julu, which forbad anyone with a private army or carrying a weapon to enter the city. All private troops had to camp at the designated areas outside the wall, and all they had to report the number of troops and purpose of the visit to the garrison army outside the gate.
Sima Fang approved of these actions by the city government. It intimidated the random thieves, noble-wannabes, officials, and gangsters in the areas and made them cowered away in fear. It showed that the authority meant business when it came to upholding the laws and justice.
He complied with the laws and let his private escorts camped outside of the city while he entered the city alone to observe the situation inside.
When he got inside, he was even more impressed.
Normally in the small and medium-sized city like Julu, there should always be gangs of hoodlums, undisciplined soldiers, or immoral nobles swaggering around and causing troubles.
However, inside the walls of Julu, no sign of disorder and chaos could be seen anywhere. The only one with weapons inside were the garrison guards, who were patrolling the areas in a group of five.
There were small sentry booths in every intersection of the main road. A large letter on top of the buildings was "Police". Although Sima Fang was not familiar with the word, after he observed the garrison soldiers at work, he could figure out that these were the reasons behind the order of the city.
These sentries could be easily seen everywhere, so the people could ask for help immediately if there was an unexpected incident. They were the eyes of the authorities that warded off all evildoers in the areas.
By touring the city for half a day, Sima Fang booked a courtyard from an inn to stay and went out of the city to call his family members in.
From that day on, Sima Fang kept a low profile and observed the environment, the people, the soldiers, the merchants, and the nobles.
He was baffled by the order of the city in the week he was staying. No triad activity, no noble oppression, no soldier asking for a bribe, everything was too peaceful!
Despite the calm and relaxing neighborhood, the citizens did not stay idly at home. All able men and women always went out somewhere in the inner areas of the city in the morning and came back home before dusk. They looked tired when they came back, but they had smiles on their faces.
From Sima Fang's experience in the Capital, there should be signs of hopelessness, worries, and other negative feelings on the face of the commoners as the life was harsh. In this city, he had yet to see such face, let alone, he could not find a single beggar!
All citizen seemed to possess some money on them as each of them had a coin purse hanging on their waists.
In the Capital, even a well-being commoner hardly carried a coin purse around because of thieveries and common robberies. They usually barter-traded with their neighbors instead of carrying cash to buy something from the shops.
Because he could not come up with an explanation of such phenomenon, Sima Fang made a decision to visit Lu Zhi and inquired him about the city development today.
…
"Tell me, senior Lu. What has happened to this city?"
Sima Fang swallowed his pride and asked about the topic that bugged him for a week.
Seeing the confused look of his acquaintance, Lu Zhi chuckled. He narrated everything that Tong had done in the past few months.
"He … purged half of the nobles and their families!?"
Sima Fang gulped down his saliva. Zhang Tong was too ruthless when he was dealing with corrupted nobles.
"Well, he didn't kill everybody. Only the ones that resisted were killed along with their families. The families of the surrendered were spared. But the nobles were still executed in the end."
"Then, the reasons why the city was so peaceful …"
"It's the new laws, Jiangong. Without a weapon and a private army, no sane person will dare to commit any crime, or he will be killed by the patrolling guards on the spot."
Sima Fang nodded. Although he was so shocked that he forgot to breathe, he regained his calm quickly. He fell into deep thought as he was recalling what he had seen in the past week.
"I see. So that's the purpose of those guard sentries. It intimidated all evildoers away. But, senior Lu. Why do the people go to the inner city every day? Something happens there?"
"Oh, it's nothing. They just go to work."
"Work?"
"Yes. Zhang Tong opened a few factories and hired thousands of people for labors and other jobs."
"Wait, does he hire to women, too? I saw women went there."
"Yes. Most of the workers are actually women if you don't know. I was shocked when I heard about this project from Zhang Tong, too."
Sima Fang frowned. Something was not right about this massive hiring. If Zhang Tong recruited so many people, where did he get so much funding to do so?
"If he hires so many people, will the city be able to pay all of them?"
Lu Zhi grinned and answered.
"Did you know that there was an auction yesterday?"
"Yesterday? Ah, yes. I've heard of it but I didn't attend. I hate crowded places."
"Did you know how many taels of gold that Zhang Tong has after the auction ended?"
"Tell me. I have no idea."
"Three million!"
Sima Fang also spat out his tea. Three freaking millions? Even the royal treasury house never stored more than a million. How could a lowly governor and his son amass this amount of gold in a short period of time?
Lu Zhi burst out in laughter after he saw the reaction of his junior. He decided to prank Sima Fang a little more.
"Zhang Tong still has another business with the Yuan family. We estimated that we can get another half a million or so by the end of this month."
Sima Fang glared at his senior. He did not like to joke around as he was raised to be a serious person throughout his life. He tried to read Lu Zhi's face if he was lying. However, Lu Zhi spoke the truth.
"You're not joking, aren't you?"
"I've never jested."
"…"
From Lu Zhi's facial expression and subtle gesture, he did not lie about the half a million, but Sima Fang knew that he was messing around in the latter part.
"Alright. I believe you. Now that I'm here, what do you want me to do?"
"For that, I think you should come with me to the morning assembly tomorrow. I think Zhang Tong will give you an assignment at the time."
"Hmm. Okay. I'll be here early tomorrow. I'll take my leave then, senior."
Sima Fang got up and bid farewell to Lu Zhi. He was about to leave, but a servant came running to bring in a report.
"Lord Lu Zhi, young master Zhang Tong has come to pay you a visit."
Lu Zhi tilted his eyebrows in surprise while Sima Fang stopped his feet and looked back at his senior.
"Perfect timing. Invite him in."
"Yes, sir!"
…
Five minutes later, Tong walked into the courtyard.
He followed the courtesy that Lu Zhi had taught him by bowing to Lu Zhi and the guest, then he introduced himself as he was the junior.
"Greeting sir. My name is Zhang Tong. I'm the current deputy governor of Julu. Please to meet you."
Lu Zhi nodded in approval of Tong's etiquette. His manner was much better than the obnoxious Liu Bei by miles. Lu Zhi could not help but missed the rowdy youth back in You Province.
On the other hand, Sima Fang was scanning Tong from head to toes. Though he was the senior and he was already 33, he did not show a proper manner when someone greeted him politely.
"Zhang Tong, I have a question that I want to ask you."
Sima Fang watched Tong with cold eyes. However, it changed into tranquil eyes after a few seconds.
Sima Fang calmed his heart and emotion. Then he dropped a bomb.
"Did you kill my son?"
Hadiah
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