Chapter 156: Two Powerful Figures Whose Words Carry Weight

Zhao Hengyi's proposal regarding the military drill made Magistrate Liu Rui's eyes light up instantly.

Even though Liu Rui still lagged far behind his senior fellow apprentice, Zhang Qicheng, when it came to official career advancement, he was nonetheless a remarkably shrewd individual compared to the average person.

As the saying goes, a mere hint of the zither's strings is enough to convey the musician's deep intent; Magistrate Liu grasped Zhao Hengyi's meaning in a single flash.

With the local militia formed by the guards of Elm Tree Bay, the militias organized by the other prominent families in Dangyang County would undoubtedly be made to look like mere mobs of stray dogs and chickens. There was even a chance that the drill would completely terrify those wealthy local gentry out of their wits!

And just who was Lord Zhao Hengyi?

He was none other than Liu Rui's dearest friend and most intimate ally!

With the Elm Tree Bay militia backing him up, the resistance he, as the magistrate, would face in implementing various government policies in the future would surely be drastically reduced.

To put it bluntly, throughout the three hundred years since the founding of the Great Yan Dynasty, not to mention at the imperial court, even down at the local level, powerful clans and the gentry class were inextricably linked with deeply intertwined relationships. Forget about a minor magistrate like Liu Rui; even someone like Zhang Qicheng, the Prefect of Jiangling, would have to first infiltrate the inner circles of those powerful clans and gentry elites if he wanted to accomplish anything.

The only thing Liu Rui could consider fortunate was that when his senior brother Zhang Qicheng had spent silver to secure him an actual substantive post in the outer administration, he had chosen Dangyang County.

Although Dangyang County was situated within the jurisdiction of Jiangling Prefecture, it had been impoverished since ancient times. No prominent clans had ever taken root here, and the few wealthy households that did exist possessed little to no influence in the imperial court; mostly, they merely clung to powerful families within Jiangling City, or rather, they could not even be said to be clinging—they merely shared some superficial connections.

While such an environment offered little room for skimming profits, for someone like Liu Rui who had never intended to make a fortune through officialdom, it was far more relaxed than serving as an official in a wealthy region.

Only at this moment did Liu Rui experience a sudden jolt of cold realization: could it be that when his senior brother pulled strings to secure this outer post for him, he had already taken all these factors into account?

In the realm of officialdom, he was truly no match for his senior brother. In fact, the gap between them filled Liu Rui with a profound sense of defeat.

In truth, spending silver and pulling connections to send Liu Rui to Dangyang County as magistrate was indeed an intentional move by Zhang Qicheng.

One must understand that Dangyang County was a place Zhang Qicheng had selected only after expending a great deal of effort and conducting meticulous investigations and analyses.

After all, the junior martial sister, who was Liu Rui's beloved white moonlight and whom he had taken as a concubine, possessed a special background. In a place like Dangyang County, she would not attract undue attention, ultimately sparing them a great deal of unnecessary trouble.

However, Zhang Qicheng had not anticipated that his utterly useless junior brother would only now begin to grasp the underlying taste of it all, failing completely to realize that such an arrangement contained his profound care and concern for their junior martial sister!

Of course, it was also fortunate that Liu Rui had not comprehended this underlying meaning; otherwise, he probably would have immediately picked up his brush to write a letter, cursing that scoundrel Zhang Qicheng to hell and back!

Just because Zhang Qicheng's newly taken concubine happened to bear a seven-tenths resemblance to their junior martial sister, Liu Rui, despite being the Magistrate of Dangyang County, had never once gone to Jiangling City to pay respects to his senior brother.

In the current officialdom of the Great Yan Dynasty, where personal relationships and connections were valued above all else, this behavior made him a total anomaly. Yet Zhang Qicheng, the newly appointed Prefect of Jiangling, did not shy away from acknowledging his relationship with Liu Rui.

By now, the entire official circle of Jiangling Prefecture knew that Magistrate Liu of Dangyang County was the junior brother of the new prefect, and the story of how the two had previously bustled about on behalf of their patron preceptor, Yu Qingzhi, was on everyone's lips.

With this bond of affection in place, as long as Zhang Qicheng remained in office as the Prefect of Jiangling, Liu Rui could rest easy and perform his duties as magistrate without a single worry!

Naturally, Liu Rui's persistent refusal to visit Jiangling City to pay respects to his senior brother was, in the eyes of officialdom, a violation of unwritten taboos.

After all, when a superior official assumed a new post, all other officials, big and small, would line up to pay their respects. For a mere magistrate of Dangyang County to act so out of step could only mean he harbored deep resentment and dissatisfaction!

Regarding this matter, Zhang Qicheng, acting as the senior brother, took the initiative to cover for him, claiming simply that Dangyang County had suffered from natural disasters, leaving countless tangled and complex affairs to deal with, and that it was entirely normal for Magistrate Liu to be unable to tear himself away. After all, as officials, their primary focus should always be the livelihood of the people!

As a result, officials large and small derived two different interpretations from this.

The first interpretation, naturally, was that the two senior and junior brothers were intentionally avoiding each other to dispel suspicion, and that in private they were undoubtedly as close as thieves.

The second interpretation was that there was a vast age gap between the two brothers, meaning Zhang Qicheng undoubtedly viewed his junior brother much like a younger member of his own family, tolerating or even indulging his unbridled behavior. Consequently, Liu Rui was quietly branded with the label of a pampered young hedonist.

As for the possibility that the two brothers had broken off relations and turned into sworn enemies who would never see each other again—not a single soul believed such nonsense.

Walls have ears, and as Zhang Qicheng took office as Prefect of Jiangling, every single thing he had done in the past was dug up and scrutinized by officials at the prefectural level.

Previously, in order to secure a substantive outer post for his junior brother, Lord Zhang had scraped the soil three feet deep while in office, ruining his own official reputation and sacrificing his official career. While this left many officials sighing with emotion over Lord Zhang's profound loyalty and righteousness, it also made them fiercely envious of Liu Rui's incredible good fortune.

Following ordinary human logic, with a senior brother comparable to an elder in the family, what absolute fool would pick a fight with him?

Forget about starting a conflict; people would be scrambling all over themselves just to show gratitude and grovel at his feet!

Such a senior brother was practically akin to a second set of parents. Why, even offering up one's beloved wives and concubines from the inner chambers would still make for a touching and widely circulated tale of virtue!

If Liu Rui knew what those officials were thinking, he would undoubtedly pull out a saber and go on a killing spree!

Damn it all! If it weren't for the fact that that old thief Zhang Qicheng insisted on picking a concubine who looked seven-tenths like their junior martial sister, this official wouldn't be at such irreconcilable odds with him!

Hand over his beloved wives and concubines on a silver platter, my ass! Just watch how this official tears that old thief to pieces!

The military drill of the Dangyang County militia was organized in great haste, but its actual impact was solid and undeniable.

Those gentry and wealthy households still held the impression that organizing a militia meant nothing more than selecting a few sturdy household servants, purchasing some swords, spears, and staves, and hiring one or two renowned martial arts instructors to teach them some combat skills.

However, when the guards and hunting teams of Elm Tree Bay marched past those wealthy gentry fully armed, mounted on tall steeds, and radiating that fierce, blood-soaked aura born of actual battle and slaughter, everyone finally understood a crucial truth: compared to Elm Tree Bay and that Lord Zhao, Baron of Cangwu, the militias they had painstakingly prepared were nothing more than children playing house!

This realization dawned upon everyone present: henceforth, in Dangyang County, the only two figures whose words carried real weight were absolute powerhouses.

One, naturally, was Magistrate Liu, who had his senior brother, Prefect Zhang of Jiangling, as his backing; and the other, well, was the formidable and well-armed Lord Zhao Hengyi, who held the title of baron!