CH 185

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In the following week, although the empire was in turmoil, Changshan County remained calm.

Everything was the same as before, with most people going about their normal work and lives.

The news that Changshan County had obtained unprecedented financial and military power did not cause much of a stir.

Most people didn't even know about this news, and those who did didn't understand its significance.

However, a small group of people who studied the empire's political situation and officialdom became obsessed.

Most of them were opportunists and ambitious individuals from the propaganda department.

They all believed that joining Changshan County was the right choice for their lives, and they worked like madmen, determined to get a share of the benefits from this wave.

During this time, there was still a constant stream of people joining Changshan County.

After Changshan County announced its production value and the empire announced the decentralization of financial and military power to Changshan County, the number of people joining suddenly skyrocketed.

Since the imperial system had been in place for 180 years and had gone through eight emperors, the social classes had become rigid, and the path for someone without connections to climb up was very narrow.

Under the imperial system, a normal person would need at least fifteen years to climb up to a town-level official.

And that's only if everything went smoothly and there were no obstacles in the promotion path.

Once they reached the town-level officials, they would enter a new realm.

Without special skills and opportunities, it would be extremely difficult to get promoted.

Many people were stuck at the threshold of being a town-level official for their entire lives, just like Zhao Minggong.

Lin Wen should have been the same. He was just lucky enough to skip the first fifteen years.

But his fate should have ended as the mayor of Changle Town.

However, fate took a turn after the flood, and he went directly from being a town-level official to a county-level official.

In the eyes of imperial officials, this was an incredible and miraculous promotion.

Even in the highest institution of the empire's cadre training system, no one had been promoted so quickly.

What was even more astonishing was that within just three months of taking office, he obtained the power of command, finance, and military, becoming a king in his own right.

Even the emperor's own son didn't receive such treatment, right?

Countless people were shocked by the unprecedented treatment Changshan County received, and they believed even more firmly that Changshan County would become the next emerging hotspot in the empire.

And this opportunity was the most likely to break through barriers and have unlimited prospects.

Countless people who believed in their own talents, abilities, confidence, and ambition tried various channels to transfer to Changshan County.

Apart from those who participated in the public recruitment of government officials in Changshan County, there was also a large number of people who were unwilling to take the conventional route.

They tried their best to package themselves and enhance their value, hoping to impress the legendary Sheriff Lin during the self-recommendation interview.

Although Lin Wen was busy, he didn't delegate the task of hiring to others. The personnel department and the organization department could only provide auxiliary work, and he personally came back every three days to handle it.

When he used the "Observing People's Fortune" ability, the demons immediately revealed themselves.

The black-hearted people were directly kicked out, and the completely black-hearted people were executed.

Those with upright thoughts and usable talents were assigned to Zhao Minggong.

Those with slightly questionable thoughts but still had a bottom line were assigned to various departments of the county government.

Those with average abilities but upright thoughts were assigned to frontline departments to work at the grassroots level.

If their abilities were promoted in the future, they could be promoted.

Those with average abilities but a bottom line were temporarily assigned to the tea quality research department or the newspaper cultural research department for future use.

Those without a bottom line were generally assigned to the labor department as laborers.

Of course, hardly anyone was willing to do that. They left angrily and cursed Changshan County for not recognizing their talents.

For a few individuals with strong abilities, Lin Wen couldn't bear to let them go, but he couldn't use them recklessly either. He could only transfer them to the propaganda department.

Lin Wen now treated the propaganda department as a garbage collection station. Any recyclable garbage was allocated to them to prevent them from polluting the officialdom environment of Changshan County.

In Lin Wen's imagination, since there was no ideological struggle, the propaganda department should not be of much use, so they shouldn't be able to cause any waves.

Let them fight among themselves inside, and maybe one or two people would come to their senses, change their way of thinking and values, and Lin Wen could let them out and contribute to Changshan County.

Lin Wen had already discovered that every time someone joined the county government, their contribution to Changshan County would be reflected in the daily good deeds.

When Yang Shaohu officially joined the work, Changshan County's daily good deeds soared from 198 to 225.

This proved that he hadn't misjudged Yang Shaohu's value.

While Lin Wen was pleasantly surprised, he also had great concerns.

What worried him even more was that with the payment of 571 million in taxes, Changshan County's funds suddenly became tight.

With the comprehensive development of Changshan County, the decentralization of financial and military power, self-financing of the economy, and self-financing of military expenses, the county's budget expenditures soared.

The budget total expenditure given by the finance department for this month was 971.61 million, of which, the government's salary expenditure alone was 510.22 million.

Lin Wen directly set the sheriff's salary at 1 yuan, leaving 510.03 million.

Ignoring Qin Luoshuang's objections, he also set her salary at 1 yuan, with no benefits, leaving 510 million.

A drop in the bucket.

Changshan County currently had a total of 1.617 billion in funds, but next month's total expenditure would reach 1.2 billion.

The funding issue had become a curse hanging over Lin Wen's head.The tycoons of Changshan County had been almost entirely swept away, and in the past week, only one person had been dug up, bringing in less than 3 million.

It could be predicted that the benefits of cracking down on the tycoons and smuggling had been almost exhausted. If Lin Wen could not find a new growth point soon, the economy of Changshan County would be in for a hard landing.

Lin Wen was slightly puzzled. He had been implementing a strict policy of checking smuggling and blocking exits for so long, why hadn't the main target been hooked yet?

If the plan deviated, then Lin Wen could only execute the backup plan.

Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that, as the efficiency was too low.

However, at present, Lin Wen's primary job was still to repair the large embankment. Of the more than thirty embankments in Changshan County, Lin Wen had taken on all the work, directly saving more than 100 million, and indirectly saving even more.

In his private account, there was just about 100 million in project funds. He would find a way to pay it back later, which could also fill a bit of the fiscal gap.

---

The production value report for the second week had come out, and Changshan County had unprecedentedly achieved the achievement of calculating production value on a weekly basis.

Xiang Tianhe, the deputy director of the Imperial Audit Bureau and the head of the Changshan County Production Value Investigation Committee, had specifically made a change to the production value report.

In addition to year-on-year and month-on-month, a new concept was created: week-on-week.

Week-on-week: the change in production value compared to the previous week.

The production value, which had always been calculated on a quarterly, semi-annual, and annual basis, was now being calculated on a weekly basis in Changshan County, which was truly unprecedented.

In this week's Imperial Economic Weekly, there was an additional comment under the production value report of Changshan County:

This week, Changshan County's production value continued its strong momentum, with a week-on-week growth of 18.7%, outperforming Yaojing Spiritual Capital's 16.1% (year-on-year), making it the fastest-growing region in the empire.

This proves the correctness and foresight of the decisions made by the Supreme Elder Council. They decisively set a precedent for the empire by decentralizing fiscal, military, and regulatory powers, allowing Changshan County to break free from its old constraints and become a pioneer in the empire's new economic model experimental zone.

Changshan County, as the poorest region in the empire, has achieved such astonishing development, mainly thanks to the wise leadership of the Supreme Elder Council.

Therefore, we must unwaveringly unite around the central institutions of the empire, with the Supreme Elder Council at its core, and more...

Special economic expert, Herbert Huahua, reports.

---

Rock State.

Governor's Mansion.

Zhang Shuangxi, the director of the State Administration Office, did not find the governor in the mansion. The governor's wife told him, "He went to admonish the Rock State Guard."

Zhang Shuangxi bowed and immediately went to Liuhua Lane in the east city, where he found Chang Shengkai, the governor of Rock State, in the deep courtyard of Cuihong Building.

He was lying on a large chair, with two scantily clad fireworks women feeding him grapes, and the "Rock State Guard" in front of him was dancing, their clothes becoming more and more scanty.

Zhang Shuangxi waved the women away, and Chang Shengkai was slightly displeased, asking, "What is it, Xi'er?"

Zhang Shuangxi replied, "Governor Chang, the economic weekly report for the second week."

After reading it, Chang Shengkai asked, "What do you think?"

Zhang Shuangxi said, "I believe that the position of Changshan County is basically stable and will not fall in a short time."

"So you're saying," Chang Shengkai frowned slightly, "there's no hope of lifting the blockade."

"Correct."

Chang Shengkai's face darkened, and after a moment he said, "What does that kid in Changshan County like?"

Zhang Shuangxi replied, "According to the investigation by the Military Statistics Bureau, he is very fond of money and fourteen or fifteen-year-old girls. He has a subordinate named Bai Xiuyu who has gathered at least fifty girls for his pleasure. Her sister, called Bai Yatou, is also among them, and is highly favored, suspected to be the master of the harem."

Chang Shengkai spat out a mouthful of phlegm with a "pah" sound, "Damn it, this stinky kid really has a good fortune."

Zhang Shuangxi did not speak. Because Chang Shengkai was from the Cheng elder line, he had always been targeted by the Review Council. In addition, his family's matriarchal power was strong, so the dignified governor could only sneak out to have fun.

After cursing for a while, Chang Shengkai said, "Then let Yu Nong send him money and women, and curry favor with him as soon as possible to get the smuggling channel. The capacity of the underground tunnel is too small. It's been almost a month, and only about 100 tons of hemp cigarettes have been sold. I can't even afford my whoring money."

Zhang Shuangxi bowed and took his leave.

Rock State was a completely agricultural state. In recent years, the economy had been depressed, and the prices of agricultural products had been falling again and again, making the governor's life increasingly difficult.

They relied entirely on growing and selling hemp cigarettes to survive.

And in the empire, over 90% of the consumption of hemp cigarettes was in the developed east. The best route to smuggle from Rock State to the east was through Changshan County, where the consumption was minimal, the supervision was lax, and the cost was the lowest.

But a month ago, Changshan County suddenly started to crack down, and the smuggling channels were basically cut off.

At that time, Chang Shengkai judged that the new sheriff of Changshan County wouldn't last a few months and would soon fall. So he ordered Yu Nong, the agent and smuggling leader of Rock State's hemp cigarettes, to ignore the officialdom of Changshan County and switch to underground tunnel transportation, crossing the Taixu Mountain Range to sell in Zhongzhou.

But the underground tunnel was too small, and Zhongzhou was inconveniently located, so the sales volume was very low.

In just one month, a large chunk of the funds had been lost. The wolves under Rock State, who had no meat to eat, were all howling with hunger.

As soon as Zhang Shuangxi saw that Changshan County seemed to be stabilizing, he immediately came to find the governor to change the strategy.

Otherwise, Rock State would soon run out of food. If the Imperial Guard, who was suppressing peasant uprisings everywhere, had no food to eat, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Thinking of this, Zhang Shuangxi immediately rushed back to the governor's mansion and sent a secret telegram to Yu Nong, who was far away in the western mountainous area of Changshan County.

Governor's Order:

Immediately contact the sheriff of Changshan County, bribe him with money and women, and obtain the qualification to use the transportation channel as soon as possible.

Sell the backlog of cigarettes as quickly as possible and return the money quickly.

--- Director of the State Administration Office, Zhang Shuangxi.