Chapter 28: The Awesome Su Changqing

Su Wen’s words made He Sui choke.

His words made sense. When He Sui gained benefits through the crown prince, he was very satisfied with life. But now, he felt that the world was unfair.

Su Changqing smiled and asked, “Do you think the Qian Prefecture is bad?”

He Sui gritted his teeth and said, “Of course! If I go there, I might have to spend up to ten years there. Even if Young Master Su and I have some arguments, you shouldn’t ruin my life.”

Su Changqing didn’t answer. Instead, he asked, “Tell me, why do you want to become an official?”

He Sui raised his head and immediately recited, “Naturally, it is to put into practice what we’ve learned. We have to govern the country to ensure its stability and allow its people to live in peace!”

The answer was not a politically correct one, but rather He Sui’s innate thoughts. Hearing this, Su Changqing smiled in response before asking, “So the people of Jiangnan Prefecture are commoners, but the people of Qian Prefecture aren’t? Jiangnan is rich and peaceful, so why do you need to govern it? When you are in office, you can practically just laze around and wait to die.”

“Three years later, the Crown Prince will then give you a new appointment. If you want to be promoted, it is indeed a good path, but if you want to govern the country and ensure stability, do you really need to be there?”

“In your eyes, I’m a fraud minister. But if you only want to get promoted and make money, what difference is there between you and me?”

He Sui was at a loss.

Su Changqing smiled again and said, “In addition, not everyone can be a crafty villain minister. I became the top scholar when I was nineteen years old. Three years later, I was sent to the poor county in the Northern Border, Qiurun. The entire area was a war-ravaged piece of land, and the poor of the common people were not inferior in any aspect to your destination. There were three county magistrates that died there in the past four years.

After I took over, I trained up soldiers to protect the county, ensured the safety of the commoners, as well as converted the aristocratic families there to work for me. I fought against the enemy outside the county and personally led people to open up a trade route. For five years, I got an excellent evaluation every year and even earned 240,000 taels of silver during my tour. When I left, the local people erected a monument for me and even sent me off with the Myriad Citizen Parasol[1]. What do you think of this corrupt minister now?”

By the side, Su Wen’s mouth was wide open.

Wasn’t his father a little too awesome?

What the f*ck? There was no cheating involved?

Looking at Su Changqing in shock, He Sui muttered, “How is that possible? Don’t lie to me.”

Su Changqing smiled and said, “You can go to the official records office in the Profound Language Pavilion to find out. Every county who has had a magistrate with outstanding performance will have their official records and achievements written down. It’s just that the area is too messy and complicated, thus ordinary people don’t know about it.”

Su Changqing continued, “As an official, regardless of whether you are poor or rich, whether it is difficult for you to achieve political achievements or whether it is easy, we still have to do it. This is because the place where you are an official is the land of the Great Zhou. The people under your rule are the people of the Great Zhou.”

“If you only want to promote yourself and make money, wanting to rely on the Crown Prince to get in through the backdoor to get to a good place is very normal. But unfortunately, the Crown Prince’s words are not as effective as mine, so your back door did not open. A good place is naturally given people with better connections, right?”

At this moment, a servant came in and reported, “Master, Second Young Master is back and wants to see you.”

“Let him come over.”

Su Yu’s return was within Su Changqing’s expectations.

Su Yu entered the living room and looked at He Sui in surprise.

He hadn’t expected this guy to come looking for his father.

However, he didn’t care. He bowed towards Su Changqing, and then said, “Father, I don’t want to serve in the study as a Royal Secretariat. I want to be sent outside. It’s best if it isn’t a prosperous area like Jiangnan Prefecture. If I can go to a poor county like Brother He’s, it would be best.”

Su Changqing smiled and said, “What a coincidence. Your Brother He came to our house to cause trouble because Father placed him in Pingliang County. However, you instead dislike your role as the Royal Secretariat. This is really the case of both parties desiring what they have not gotten.”

Su Yu countered, “At present, this child has no experience in governing and knows very little about the common people at the bottom. I have never gone outside the capital. I often think that if I were in charge, would I really be able to lead the common people to live a good life? Would I be able to obtain the love and respect of the common people? This child wants to personally go and give it a try, and not just face the cold memorials in the capital.”

“In addition, I hope that Father will not arrange for my career as an official in the future. I only want to be promoted with my own abilities.”

Su Yu came here mainly to talk about this.

By the side, He Sui’s face had turned red.

He suddenly realized that he was truly inferior to these people that he had always looked down on.

When Su Changqing heard Su Yu’s words, he was silent for a moment before saying, “In that case, you can accompany He Sui. I will report to His Majesty tomorrow and transfer you to Qian Prefecture. Remember, when you reach there, you have to do your best to govern the region. Even if the passion in your heart dissipates, you have to stay true to your original ideals.”

This was Su Changqing’s advice to Su Yu.

After saying that, Su Changqing looked at He Sui and said with a smile, “As for you, you can think of the transfer to Qian Prefecture as my revenge. You can also treat it as me feeling that you need more tempering. You can think whatever you want. However, I’ll give you a promise. As long as you can get a passing evaluation for three consecutive years, I will transfer you out of Qian Prefecture. This requirement isn’t high, right?”

He Sui stood up and bowed deeply before leaving.

“I will give you three consecutive years of excellent evaluations!”

Those were the last words he spoke within the Su Residence.

After leaving the Su Residence, He Sui returned to the Profound Language Pavilion.

He went to the official records office. This place was typically devoid of people.

For most people, they preferred to write beautiful essays and compose poems, rather than reading boring documents.

After searching for a long time, He Sui finally found the Qiurun County that Su Changqing mentioned.

He found out Su Changqing’s condition before and after he took up his position.

Indeed, everything was as Su Changqing had said. Under extremely adverse circumstances, Su Changqing entered the county alone and interacted with them. He persuaded the local aristocratic families, earned the loyalty of people, pacified the commoners, found talents, and even trained troops to protect the borders. His every detail, thought, and reasons were recorded.

Only then did He Sui realize that this was the Profound Language Pavilion’s true treasury. In fact, it far surpassed the so-called Sage Books they had always been reading.

All kinds of schemes and tactics were recorded down in this office.

He stayed in the area, reading everything he could find, until the sky darkened. The more he read, the more impressed he became.

Su Changqing had shown his true mettle of what it meant to be an exemplary official. Utilizing whatever resources and connections he had, he coordinated and ensured that the interests of all parties were maintained. Only then did he manage to resolve the herculean task he had been given.

…

Meanwhile, within Wen Jinming’s house, a man was sitting in front of him. He was the Royal Censor who had sent up a complaint against Yan Luoying in the palace today.

That person placed a stack of banknotes on the table and shook his head with a sigh. “Lord Wen, things didn’t go well. I’ll return the banknotes to you.”

Wen Jinming hurriedly said, “Lord He, don’t be anxious. His Majesty hasn’t expressed his opinion either. Once I have evidence against Yan Luoying, we can continue with our duet.”

Lord He glanced at Wen Jinming and said, “Right now, Su Wen and Yan Luoying are standing together. Our Royal Censorate does not want to offend Minister Su. Lord Wen, let me give you a piece of advice. If the benefits are cut off, so be it. If you anger the Su family, your position as a guard will come to an end. They will crush you like an ant.”

With that, the Censor bid farewell and left.

Only Wen Jinming remained in the room. He stared at the stack of banknotes on the table and fell into deep thought.

After a while, he smiled bitterly and said, “Even if I don’t provoke them, they might not be willing to let me go now.”

[1] Direct translation of 万民伞, it symbolizes a tradition in Ancient China where the commoners would send off those officials who were ending their term with a brightly decorated parasol.. It represents that this official was immensely well-liked and well-received by the commoners, who had cared for the people as though the commoners were their children