Chapter 68 Claiming Julu

Chapter 68 – Claiming Julu

January 8th.

Tong, his family and his troops arrived in front of Julu City eastern main gate.

This Julu City might be a medium size city worthy to invest in to form up an independent force, but it was currently surrounded by many potential enemies. At the same time, opportunities could be found here if Tong played his cards right.

Julu County and Julu City, located in the northern part of China within Ji Province, was surrounded by many medium size cities and other provinces.

On the east of Julu, Nan Pi City of Yuan family were there.

On the north, Zhongzhan City of Ji Province were sandwiched in between Julu City and Ji City of You Province. The Ji City governor was none other than Liu Yan while Zhongzhan City did not have any powerhouse which had taken control of it yet.

Jin Yang City of Bing Province, which Ding Yuan and Lu Bu was in charge of, served as a border and a buffer zone between China and the Xiang Nu tribes on the mountains far west of Julu.

Ji Province Capital, Imperial City of Ye, which was controlled by Han Fu, was situated south of Julu. This city would have its name changed to Yiwu City later in 624 A.D. and became a major county-size-city in the future.

Ganling City was also on the southeast of Julu. It was currently under control of Zhang Yan, who had betrayed Tong and his family during the last battle.

These were the only medium and large size cities that Tong had to be cautious of. The rest of the counties, such as Ningjin County or Anping County, did not have any proper city with protection brick walls, so no local nobles with sane mind would utilize them as a home base. However, Tong still thought of utilizing these territories as his military bases, strategic places for fortification or other facilities, such as steel factories or secret granaries in the future.

Tong thought about all that while he was gazing at the 5 meters height brick walls that protected the Julu City in the shape of square in four direction.

The flags with the character "Guo" was still there as no one had changed it yet.

…

Zhang Jiao rode his horse in front of the 12,000 men in formation. From the onlooker perspective from inside the city, it was as if Zhang Jiao was about to lay siege on Julu.

A messenger of Zhang Jiao rode his horse forward and read out the edict of the emperor that Zhang Jiao had received from the eunuch. After he had read it out loud, the messenger ordered the soldiers inside to open the gate and welcome the new governor, or they would be declared as rebels.

The city gate opened and officials rushed out to greet the incoming troops in frantic. They were Guo Dian's former subordinates.

"G-Greetings, my lord. We did not expect that a new governor would be appointed soon. Please forgive us for our late welcome. P-Please, please come inside."

The officials invited Zhang Jiao inside and bootlicked him along the way. Tong, Zhou Cang, Hua Shi and their 7,000 men entered the city while the rest settled down the army camps outside.

While they were entering the city, Tong whispered to Hua Shi.

"Can you do the accounting?"

"Eh? If it's only basic tables and sorting, I can. Why?"

"I need your help screening the official accounts. I'm going to purge a few useless crooks."

"Okay! But I want one more night-ticket."

Black lines appeared on Tong's face. She had not used her previous ticket yet, but she asked for more. Were every girls who was named after the days of the week perverted?

"Fine, but only use it when it's your safe day. I'm not ready for a baby yet."

"Hehe. Don't worry. You can always use my upper mouth any day if you want. Your fluid is delicious!"

Tong facepalmed himself. It was a bad idea trying to have a conversation with under-belly-button topics with Hua Shi.

Tong ignored Hua Shi and whispered to his father.

"Let's get every officials in the hall and have a meeting. We have to purge some useless leeches first."

Zhang Jiao glanced at Tong and slightly nodded.

"My lord, we are thinking of holding a welcoming banquet for you tonight. Would you give us the honor?" The bootlicking official still tried to please Zhang Jiao, who still had indifferent expression on his face.

"No. For now, can you gather every personal to the main government hall? I want to know everybody first."

"Of course, of course. Such admirable enthusiasm! Our city will surely prosper if Lord Zhang govern us!"

Both Zhang Jiao and Tong shook their head as they gave up trying to stop these people from butt-kissing.

…

The seven thousands soldiers, with Zhou Cang as its deputy general and Tong as the grand commander, had replaced the city garrison guards and all remaining militias. The former soldiers were either released from their services, or sent to the camp outside of the city to retrain by Zhang Bao or Zhang Liang.

It was a counter-measure just in case someone played a trick, or tried to kill everyone while they were inside the city. All former troops had to be disbanded and replaced with Zhang family private army.

Inside the hall, there was a small wooden stage which were painted in red and red wooden stairs in front of it. A luxurious wax-coated black table was place on the stage and a fluffy cushion was place behind it. The stage was not there for anyone to perform on, but it was the main seat of the governor.

Beside the stage, a round cauldron human-size with decorated art was emitting out fragrant incense smoke.

Round red marble pillars made of marbles lined up in orderly fashion in the hall. The red marble ground were sparkling clean, even though every officials came here with dirty shoes on every day.

The walls were almost non-existence because there were holes and windows everywhere in the walls. The walls were not in deteriorating status, but it was sculptured into many ancient folklore beasts. It entire place looked like an art museum rather than a government hall.

The wind blew in from the east without stopping, which made the air ventilation smooth and contained plenty of oxygen.

Zhang Jiao sat in the main government hall with Hua Shi standing behind him, acting as if she was his advisor or an aide. Meanwhile, Tong, who was still wearing full iron armor, stood on the lower stair. He was in the position of being second in command and a spoke person.

The officials hurried themselves and lined up on the sides, leaving the main path to the front gate opened.

Seeing that all officers were present, the representative of the officials stepped forward to the center of the hall. He bowed to Zhang Jiao and gave out a report.

"My lord, all 543 of your servants are accounted for. We are awaiting for your instruction."

Zhang Jiao nodded and looked at Tong. Afterwards, Tong spoke out.

"My name is Zhang Tong. I will be our lord spokesman from now on. The first thing that our lord wants to do, is the check our status of this city and its people. Please bring out the city treasury reports, annual budget reports, financial reports of every noble families within this city and all bills that the former governor had passed in these recent years!"

The crowd of the officials murmured. The topic of their financial status was an unspoken-forbidden topic that they all knew. Because of their past embezzlement, exploitation and corruption, none of them wanted to bring out any of their report.

"Our lord will give you half a day to get your reports prepared. Tomorrow morning we will hold a council again! If there is anyone that are present here missing tomorrow, that person and their families will be charged with treason and have their 3 generation executed!"

The officials panicked. The leader of the officials stepped up to appease Tong.

"Lord Zhang, please reconsider your order. The financial report is a sensitive topic. We …"

"BULLSHIT!! The treasury and finance reports are just simple numbers and facts! Why do you call it a sensitive topic!? How are we going to work without knowing the status of our treasury and our financial power! How can we govern and protect the lives of over 100,000 civilians! Guards! Drag this retard away and put him in a dungeon! Send 500 men to search his family residents and bring out all of his past career records and all of his treasures! I want to know why he said it was a sensitive topic!"

The crowd was in uproar. More than half of them lost the color of their faces while the remaining honest officials smirked at their troubled colleagues.

…

"Finally, a capable governor has arrived."

"Indeed. This is a godsend."

"I can't wait to see these bastards dead. They did it upon themselves."

The few elder scholars in the back gossiped among themselves while they were watching the show.

"How do you like it, teacher Lu? Do you think your decision about paying here a visit is worth it?" An elder scholar asked another man beside him.

"Hmm, at least Zhang Tong is better than Guo Dian for sure. I did not waste my time coming here in vain."

"Do you think he is worthy of your teaching?"

Lu Zhi paused as he gazed at Hua Shi, Tong and his father. The pupil in his eyes were sharp as if they could see through the skins of the three.

"Zhang Jiao is merely a puppet and he was even older than me, so he can't be taught. The girl on the back is somewhat unpredictable judging from the past records. Women cannot hold any official rank in the court anyway, so it's not worth wasting my time trying to test the water. But Zhang Tong is an interesting young fellow. I hope he can fare better than Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei. Those two are a disappointment."