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Yang Ge didn’t know whether the misunderstanding was his own on the term "soon,"
or whether Shen Fa was mistaken about the efficiency of those eunuchs...
In any case, he waited and waited, until even the fifteenth day of the first month had passed, but the imperial envoy never arrived.
On the eighteenth day of the first month, the grain market, which had been closed for over a month, suddenly opened.
Not only the three major grain firms but even those small grain shops that had closed due to lack of supplies were reopening their doors, selling grains at last year’s prices from August and September!
The residents of Luting County were naturally delighted, and in groups, they pushed hand carts and wheelbarrows to the grain market to purchase grain, hauling back home two big cartloads...
The grain shops, too, refused no one, imposing neither purchase limits nor price increases, letting the people of Luting buy to their heart’s content.
For a moment, it was as though the rain had passed and the sky had cleared.
It was as though the fair skies of Luting had returned.
Initially, Yang Ge also thought that these grain merchants had been scared by the movements in the capital, and that perhaps the grain crisis had come to an end there.
That was until, on the next day, he received the official document stating the imminent arrival of the imperial envoy to Luting.
All of a sudden, he realized he had once again harbored some hopes he should not have.
...
On the evening of the twentieth day of the first month, inside the main hall of the Embroidered Uniform Guards’ station in Drum and Bell Alley.
Yang Ge sat on the dais, browsing through recent work reports.
Fang Ke and Gu Tong stood below, ready to report their work at any moment.
Speaking of which, Fang Ke was now the legitimate head of the Embroidered Uniform Guard station in Luting.
As for Yang Ge, the newly promoted trial Hundred Households, his authority had already exceeded the station’s level.
It was only because the Northern Town Prefectural Commissioner had not yet assigned him a new task that he continued to work at the Embroidered Uniform Guard station in Luting.
As long as he was there, the Embroidered Uniform Guard naturally followed his lead.
As for Gu Tong, Yang Ge had already ordered him to act as the head of the General Banner, just that he had withheld his promotion letter and had not reported it upwards. Instead, he had sent up the official appointment letters of the five junior officers under him to the Northern Town Prefectural Commissioner.
Before this, in the Luting Embroidered Uniform Guard station, only Yang Ge and Fang Ke had officially appointed Colonel statuses by the Northern Town Prefectural Commissioner.
The rest of the junior officers were appointed by Yang Ge himself, nominally as junior officers of the Luting Embroidered Uniform Guard station, but their official status, in fact, remained that of strongmen without badges, embroidered uniforms, or sidearms of junior officers.
Now that Yang Ge had reported their official appointments, they were officially holding office!
The Embroidered Uniform Guard was the foremost of the Twelve Imperial Guards, with high ranks and statuses.
Starting from the lowest-ranked Colonel junior officer, they officially had a government officer’s identification.
Junior Banner, from the seventh rank.
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General Banner, full seventh rank.
Trial Hundred Households, from the sixth rank.
Hundred Households, sixth rank...
One must know, a County Magistrate is but a seventh-rank official.
Not to mention that the Embroidered Uniform Guard has low status but significant powers, snatching people up as if it were second nature.
They say the new year brings new spirits.
All the junior officers who received their official status were eager and itching to try their hand, all hoping to earn more achievements and live up to their Hundred Households superior’s life-saving support and favor.
The only exception was Gu Tong, sandwiched awkwardly between the ranks, quite uncomfortable.
When he was a junior officer, none of the junior officers had identification, and all held temporary appointments.
Now that he was standing in for the General Banner, the reported junior officers’ identifications naturally did not include him.
But his identification as the General Banner was still held up by Yang Ge and not reported upwards...
In other words, he was effectively standing in as the General Banner with the status of a strongman.
What was he to think of this?
What were the junior officers beneath him supposed to think?
At that moment, Gu Tong stood below the dais, yet felt as if he were still in the courtyard, with several pairs of eager eyes fixated on his rear... end!
He wished that a significant case would happen right then, so he could draw his blade and chop up some thieves, secure the ground beneath his rear!
But unfortunately for him, the junior officers below him all felt the same...
Although Yang Ge was not willing to waste too much effort playing power games and engaging in intrigue,
the bread he had eaten and the beatings he had taken during his years in the officialdom were not in vain!
At least when it came to handling a group more accustomed to knives than to strategy, he had more than enough ability.
In Yang Ge’s eyes, the likes of Gu Tong were generally reliable, obedient, vigorous in action, and would dare to risk their lives at critical moments.
It was just that their bad habits, formed in the border army, were too deep-rooted and resistant to correction!
Such as drinking soldier’s blood, taking bribes, receiving gifts...
The problem was they couldn’t discern which money should be taken, and which shouldn’t.
Take Gu Tong, for example, who dared to secretly accept silver from the Li Family, arranging special treatment for the members of the Li Family in prison, thinking he could hide it from him!
How could such a person not be knocked into shape?
As Yang Ge turned to a particular report, without lifting his head, he inquired, "Has that Pei Yu from the Southern Town Protectorate Office not left yet?"
Fang Ke bowed and responded, "Sir, Pei Yu is still within the city!"
Yang Ge, "Is he mingling with the people from the Li Family every day?"
Fang Ke, "Yes, sir, that is indeed the case!"
Yang Ge, shaking his head, tossed the report in his hand to one side, picked up another, and inquired, "And what’s the matter with the Kaifeng Prefectural troops passing through? Has the county office sent any documents over?"
Just as Fang Ke was about to speak, Gu Tong rushed to say, "Sir, the passage of the Kaifeng Prefectural troops is for the pursuit of a gang of bandits. The county office sent us a notification document two days ago."
He stepped forward, sifted through the documents on the desk, and presented one with both hands to Yang Ge.
Yang Ge took it with a glance and immediately flung it back at Gu Tong’s face, "A pursuit that takes a month? And they happen to block the major routes of travel from south to north? I think they’re sprinkling Sichuan pepper on a grave–spicing up ghosts!"
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