Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 1539: Chapter 482: Pacification, Prefectural Governor’s Whereabouts, Ji Hong’s Entrustment, Earning Trust_2

This Xue Zijing really does have some means!

“The Subordinate Department Chief of the Slave Village counts as a fat post. The Six Department Heads just let Xue Zijing act like this and do nothing?”

The Six Department Heads naturally did not rank as high as Yanling County Governor Chu Tianxu, but in terms of official grade, they were on the same level. All six only needed to obey the orders of the Town Six Departments above them; they had no subordinate relationship to the Prefectural Governor. Moreover, judging from Chen Cang’s multi-ethnic joint upper structure, to become a Six Department Head, their own background and strength were definitely not weak.

Though Xue Zijing was the Grand Master, he was after all an outsider. And Chen Cang had an unwritten rule by default: both Grand Masters had to be Tribulation Body Realm powerhouses. So Xue Zijing taking the post of Grand Master was actually breaking the system; the Feudal Town high echelon had already been unconvinced by him.

Letting him deal with the Slave Village like this was at most a matter of face, but appointing four Branch Leaders as Subordinate Department Chiefs of the Slave Village touched their vital interests. It was impossible for the Six Department Heads to have no reaction at all.

The profit to be made from the Slave Village was obviously immense. The Manager in charge of all internal administration was naturally a massive fat post. If Xue Zijing had spread the favor evenly and divided it among the Six Departments, it would still be arguable. But directly letting four rebel leaders take the post was indeed a bit too much. Even if the Six Department Heads, constrained by Xue Zijing’s status as Grand Master, did not dare openly resist, there was no way they would do nothing.

Just as Xia Hong had guessed, Ji Hong shook his head and replied, “Of course that was impossible. The Six Department Heads immediately raised doubts against Xue Zijing, believing this move inappropriate. But Xue Zijing said nothing, offered no explanation; he only took out the Grand Master Token and forcibly pressed down the Six Department Heads.

The Six Department Heads were not convinced and jointly memorialized the Town City General Office. The Minister of the Ministry of War, Chu Baihe, even sent a memorial directly to Commander Chen Liwu. His reasoning was that nearly four thousand Soldiers of the Lu River Camp had been killed; if the rebel party was not thoroughly investigated, it would be impossible to appease the four thousand unjust souls of the camp, and the morale of the Chencang Army would also be damaged.”

So it really was a challenge on the stage!

Chu Baihe’s reasoning was actually quite reasonable upon closer thought.

From a god’s-eye view, Xue Zijing’s handling had many advantages: it could deal a heavy blow to the Frost Ash Association, reduce the governance cost of the Slave Village, ease the slaves’ resistance against the mid- and upper-levels of the Feudal Town, and so on…

But from the perspective of all the military households and mid- to high-level personnel in Chen Cang, it was a completely different matter.

These people rebelled, and not only did you refrain from punishing or killing them, you even promised them high positions, even granting them such a fat post as Subordinate Department Chief. No matter how you claim these measures will benefit the Feudal Town in the future, for now it is all too easy to hang on you the charge of muddled rewards and punishments—perfectly justified and extremely reasonable.

But then again, institutional reform was by nature something that brought short-term pain and long-term benefits. Not everyone was blind to this; it was just that where one’s backside was seated decided how one’s head thought. Defending one’s own interests was a matter of course and an eternal truth.

Xue Zijing’s approach was clever, but his methods were too crude. That it would arouse the opposition of the Six Department Heads was not surprising at all.

Xia Hong lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then continued asking, “Ten years is too short, so Xue Zijing plans to administer strong medicine and forcibly push through Yanling’s reform. With the Landgrave’s support, he likely isn’t afraid of these people going to the Town to file complaints. So what happened after that?”