Chapter Thirty-Seven: Entering Guangwu

  After a detailed discussion with Chen Lin, Li Chong said that once they arrived in Guangwu, all civil matters would be handled by Chen Lin. Chen Lin naturally agreed and repeatedly expressed his determination to do his best.

  Li Zhong had no other choice, although he knew that Chen Lin was good at writing beautiful articles, but there was no one else to use, and he himself had no experience in governing a county, Ta Shi Cai still had to lead the army, so he could only let Chen Lin rush to put up a show.

  Actually, Li Chong was being overly anxious. Someone like Chen Lin, who had received elite education, might have some difficulty governing a prefecture, but managing a county would be absolutely no problem.

  After resting for two days in Jiuyuan, Li Chong ordered the army to set out, and they traveled day and night, arriving outside Guangwu County on March 8.

  Li Chong arrived at the city gate and saw that over a hundred people had come, so naturally there were guards who came to ask questions. After checking Li Chong's credentials, the guard hastily returned to the county to report the news.

  Guangwu County was a medium-sized county town at that time, but unlike the Central Plains, the city walls were all built with bricks and stones, over 10 feet high, exceptionally strong, presumably to prevent invasion by alien tribes.

  Before long, the county magistrate of Guangwu led his men to see Li Chong. After examining Li Chong's credentials, the county magistrate hastily bowed and invited Li Chong into the county government office.

  To show the majesty of the government, the county yamen was surrounded by walls and can be said to be a relatively closed area. As soon as he entered the county yamen, Li Chong saw the main hall at a glance. The main gate of the main hall faced south, which is the standard southern yamen northern residence architecture. He stepped into the main hall, took a look around, and County Magistrate Wang Shen invited Li Chong to sit in his office (equivalent to a small office) to receive him and offer refreshments.

  After sitting down and chatting briefly, Li Zhong finally understood the situation in Guangwu County. He realized that he was not filling a vacancy left by someone else, but rather the position of Magistrate of Guangwu had been vacant for some time. Since the previous incumbent's departure, there hadn't been enough time for the imperial court to appoint a new official before the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, and the county's affairs had been managed by the County Lieutenant Wang Shen in the meantime.

  After listening to Wang Shen's words, Li Chong felt that things were a bit tricky. The Wang Shen in front of him was about 40 years old, in his prime, and Li Chong didn't believe he would willingly give up power. Whether Chen Lin could suppress him or not was still a question, if not, the only option was to secretly eliminate this person.

  It has to be said that after several major battles, Li Chong's heart became much more ruthless and he often had thoughts of taking people's lives.

  Of course, this is the worst plan. As long as Wang Shen is content with his current position, Li Chong is still willing to keep an old man like him. After all, Wang Shen has been working in Guangwu County for many years. Thinking of this, Li Chong asked: "County Lieutenant Wang, from now on, Chen Lin will be in charge of civil affairs in Guangwu, and you will assist him, can you?"

  Wang Shen smiled and said: "Of course I will follow your instructions, sir. I will definitely be careful in my actions."

  Seeing Wang Shen's attitude of following orders, Li Chong felt a little more at ease. Whether Wang Shen was truly assisting Chen Lin with sincerity could only be known later, for now, he could only let Chen Lin take matters into his own hands.

  Li Chong then asked about the most pressing issue, which was population, as it related to his military manpower.

  Wang Shen was familiar with the major and minor matters of Guangwu, and immediately replied: "At present, Guangwu has a total of 3,124 households, 12,713 mouths, and 2,245 able-bodied men."

  "Hmm..." Li Chongjing calmed down and started thinking quietly to himself. He knew that Guangwu was a small county, but he hadn't expected the population to be so sparse. To be known as a "magistrate" in the Han dynasty, one had to have a registered household of over 10,000 people; otherwise, they were just called a "county head".

  In other words, Li Zhong's official title should be called Guangwu Chang, rather than Guangwu Ling.

  But this is just a matter of title, don't mind it. The key is how many soldiers can be recruited from the more than 2,000 strong dings. Is it one in three or one in five? Li Chong has not yet exhausted his military strength to the point of recruiting sweepers as soldiers, let alone having enough armor and weapons to equip these soldiers.

  "How much grain is left in the warehouse?" Chen Lin was in charge of civil affairs and naturally asked about what he cared about.

  County Lieutenant Wang Shen heard this and sighed, somewhat embarrassed, saying: "Not to deceive you, Lord Chen, inside the treasury there are only a thousand stones of grain, copper coins have long been gone, now even the miscellaneous officials' salaries can't be paid out, what's left is all that has been stored up over the years, if you go and see for yourself, you'll know."

  Chen Lin also lowered his head and fell into thought, he now somewhat regretted agreeing with Li Chong, it would have been better to agree with Wang instead, at least then he wouldn't have to worry about food.

  As soon as Chen Lin thought of the wolf-like soldiers under Li Chong's command, he felt a chill run down his spine. He dared to guarantee that if he couldn't fill the bellies of these thugs, he would be torn into pieces and swallowed whole in an instant. Food! Food! Chen Lin pressed his thumb against his temple, pressing hard.

  After briefly mentioning the situation in Guangwu County, Wang Shen revealed a hesitant expression.

  Li Chong saw that Wang Shen had something to say and smiled: "County Magistrate Wang has something to say, why be hesitant?"

  Wang Shen looked around cautiously before speaking in a low voice: "Actually, sir, the most important thing to control Guangwu County is to have good relations with the Zhang family."

  "What's Zhang's family doing?" Li Chong asked.

  Wang Shen said slowly: "The master of the Zhang family is Zhang Cai and Zhang Wenhe, the largest merchant in Guangwu County."

  Li looked at Chen Lin again, and Chen Lin understood, asking: "I don't know what origin this Zhang family has, why does Wang County Magistrate fear them so much?"

  Wang Shendu raised his wine cup, took a sip, and only then said: "It's not certain that the two masters of the Zhang family know, but surely the two masters of the Zhen family in Jizhou have heard?"

  Chen Lin thought for a moment and then smiled: "Isn't it the Zhen family of Tai Bao Zhen Yan..."

  Wang Shen cupped his hands and said: "Lord Chen is indeed knowledgeable and has a strong memory, I admire him."

  Li Chong was bewildered and wondered who this Zhen Yan was. But he didn't ask, figuring Chen Lin knew and he could find out later.

  If it is Zhen Luan, not many people know him, but there is a person in the Zhen family who has made a name for himself in history, that is, Emperor Wei Ming's wife, Zhen Luo. The real reason why Zhen Luo became famous is that her younger brother-in-law Cao Zhi wrote an article called "Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River" for her. It is said that Cao Zhi had a crush on his sister-in-law, so he wrote this famous article.

  Anyway, Zhen Luo is considered one of ancient China's great beauties.

  "What's the relationship between Zhang's family and Zhen's family?" Chen Lin asked.

  "An alliance through marriage!"

  "Haha......" Li Chong laughed twice and asked: "Is Zhang's family power very great?"

  "It's huge!" Wang Shen nodded and pointed to the northwest, saying: "The Zhang family has a close relationship with that side, and there is a shadow of the Zhang family in all the leather goods, salt, iron, and other businesses in Guangwu. Moreover, the Zhang family has more than 200 private soldiers, each skilled in archery and horsemanship, not to be underestimated."

  Li Chong furrowed his brow, he now had only over 200 soldiers under him, while the Zhang family's armed forces were almost as strong as his own. It was indeed a difficult situation. Although he could suppress the Zhang family with justice on his side, according to Wang Shen's words, Guangwu County was already under the control of the Zhang family. If they really fought, he might not be in an advantageous position.