But their mortality registers and case files will ultimately be collected here.
You can’t run around every day and end up with nothing but blank papers, can you?
Whenever Yang Ge found case files and mortality register records with doubts, he would pick them out and hand them to the old subordinates of the Fang Official Hundred Households Office under Fang Ke for verification.
He never concealed his actions of reviewing case files and mortality registers.
Caught between the powerful support of Yang Ge and Shen Fa and his indifferent colleagues, Fang Ke wasn’t hard-pressed to make a choice.
Fang Ke’s family had served in the Embroidered Uniform Guard for five generations; he was all too familiar with the unsavory tricks and the "dark under the lamp" within it...
Since Yang Ge officially took office until now, he had dealt with three Hundred Household officers and five Chief Banners.
The case with the most severe sentence involved a Chief Banner, who, lusting after a woman, murdered and took his victim’s wife.
Yang Ge didn’t even escort the man back to the Northern Town Prefectural Commissioner, but directly removed his Embroidered Uniform Guards saber at the Upper Right Battalion and had him escorted to the city entrance stele erected by himself outside the East City Gate, where he executed family discipline in public. The Chief Banner barely lasted halfway before he expired and hurried off to report to King Yama.
Afterward, Yang Ge was merely complained about in a letter by an exasperated Shen Fa, and, incidentally, had half a year’s salary penalized...
And then there was no more trouble!
It was a revelation that shocked all the Hundred Household officers and Chief Banners who were waiting to see a spectacle!
Since then, even the two deputy Thousand Household officers address Yang Ge with the honorific "Master" when speaking to him.
Even a fool could see that this Yang Ge was surely the next Shen Fa...
Arguing with such a menacing star meant courting death!
After a period of adjustment, the Hundred Household officers and Chief Banners of the Upper Right Battalion had more or less figured out their commanding Thousand Household officer’s temperament.
They knew when they could come down hard and squeeze someone to death, and knew when to be mindful of the methods used so as not to actually kill anyone.
They also knew which silver their Thousand Household officer would accept, and which silver was best not to even glance at for too long...
And if really unsure, they knew to bribe Fang Ke with good wine and meat.
Of course, once it reached Fang Ke, it was no different from having reached Yang Ge himself.
...
Yang Ge, adjusting his prison bull embroidered uniform, walked leisurely out of the bedroom.
Fang Ke waited outside the door, presenting him with a half-face mask with both hands.
Yang Ge took the half-face mask and fastened it on his face, "Which people have made it back?"
He proceeded toward the central courtyard.
Fang Ke followed closely behind him, "Reporting to Master, Master Zuo, Master Qin, both deputy Thousand Household officers are back, as well as Second Battalion’s Liu Yongguang, Fourth Battalion’s Zhang Kai, Fifth Battalion’s Wu Jianxing, Seventh Battalion’s Zhou Jian, Eighth Battalion’s Yan Qian, and Tenth Battalion’s Li Wu. All six Hundred Household officers are back as well."
"Quite a turnout!"
Yang Ge looked at him in surprise, "Adding your First Battalion, are we having over seven hundred mouths to feed in the canteen today?"
This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēwebnovel.com.
The designation of the First and Second Battalions was his way of numbering the ten Hundred Households under his command.
Wei’s military numbering system was accurate only up to the guard level; the numbering at the Thousand Households Office level was quite chaotic, some named after the elemental cycles such as Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, others after directions like front, back, left, right.
For instance, the full name of the Upper Right Thousand Households Office to which Yang Ge belonged should be "Embroidered Uniform Guard, Northern Town Prefectural Commissioner, Right Thousand Households Office."
The reason for the "Upper" before "Right Thousand Households Office" is because the Embroidered Uniform Guard is the emperor’s personal army; it is specially added for distinction, suggesting "the superior right Thousand Households Office" or "the right Thousand Households Office by the imperial carriage."
At the Hundred Household Office level, the numbering was not just chaotic but often entirely absent!
Hundred Household Offices with jurisdiction named themselves after their territories, like the previously mentioned Embroidered Uniform Guard’s Upper Right Luting Hundred Household Office.
Those Hundred Household Offices without a territory named themselves after the surnames of the Hundred Household officers, like the Fang Official Hundred Households Office led by Fang Ke.
When even the Hundred Household Offices were like this, the lower levels of Chief Banners and minor Banners were, naturally, even more muddled!
The officers of Wei had long become accustomed to this military system. They neither found it chaotic nor had any intention of reforming it.
But Yang Ge found it unbearable.
When he was a Chief Banner and a trial Hundred Household officer with fewer men and familiar faces under him, he could just about manage it.
Now as a Thousand Household officer with over a thousand men, he often struggled to keep track, frequently mixing up names and unit designations.
A few times, when he intended to call over a Hundred Household officer, he ended up summoning an entire battalion of over a hundred men...
After several such slips of the tongue, he determinedly renumbered his ten subordinate Hundred Households.
The Hundred Households were called Battalions, from First to Tenth.
The Chief Banners were referred to as Companies, with two Companies per Battalion.
And the minor Banners were referred to as Squads, with five Squads per Company.
Regardless of whether the numbers matched or if modern military structure suited the formation in cold weapon warfare...
Anyway, Yang Ge was relieved.
When he looked at the thousand or so men under his command, they were no longer a chaotic, indistinguishable mass.
Instead, it was as if he had a grid overlay in his vision, allowing him to see at a glance how many Battalions and Companies there were.
As for the Hundred Household officers and Chief Banners of the Upper Right Battalion... naturally, they were not relieved!
Initially, they had discussed privately, suspecting that Yang Ge did this to undermine their authority among the warriors, making it easier to replace them at any time.
But, as the times were not in chaos and the Embroidered Uniform Guard was famously strict in hierarchy and discipline, could their small arms ever twist the leg of someone like Yang Ge?
Over time, as they gradually adapted to the numbering system Yang Ge had established, they suddenly discovered... how splendid it was!
Fang Ke shook his head, "Replying to Master, when I was feeding in the canteen, I saw that there should be fewer than five hundred brothers; it seems a few Hundred Household officers had responded to the call and returned first, with a portion of their men still outside continuing their investigations."