The rise of the poor

Chapter 1987 Half a Year in the East and West

After Zhu Ping'an arrived in Shaoxing, the handover with Li Tianchong went smoothly. Li Tianchong cooperated very well and handed over all the official seals, government offices, and documents to Zhu Ping'an. He also accompanied Zhu Ping'an to count the warehouses and silver. After confirming that everything was correct, Li Tianchong immediately set off for Yingtian and took orders from Zhang Jing, the Governor of Jiangnan.

On the first day of arriving in Shaoxing, Zhu Ping'an moved into the Shaoxing Governor's Office and officially took office as Governor of Zhejiang.

Although Zhu Ping'an was the highest official in Zhejiang, equivalent to a provincial official, the governor was a new thing at that time. Only provinces with some troubles (such as rebellions, uprisings, Japanese pirates, etc.) would have a governor, who was in charge of the administrative, judicial and military power of a province. Once the affairs were dealt with, the governor's position would be cancelled.

At that time, the governor was still an official sent by the central government, equivalent to an imperial envoy, and the supporting facilities were not yet perfect.

Zhu Ping'an, the nominal highest military commander in Zhejiang, is just a commander without any subordinates.

The imperial court did not provide the governor with supporting officials.

Although the three administrative, judicial and military chiefs of Zhejiang, namely the Governor-General, the Chief of Justice and the Commander-in-Chief, all took orders from Zhu Ping'an, these three officials each had their own offices and did not belong to the Governor's office.

Currently, the Zhejiang Governor's Office only has a few clerks who handle paperwork.

When the predecessor Li Tianchong was the governor of Zhejiang, he recruited three advisers in his own name to help him handle government affairs. When he left office, Li Tianchong took all three advisers away, leaving only some local clerks.

These clerks can only do low-level clerical work. If Zhu Ping'an does not want to be crushed by the mountain of clerical work, he has to recruit legal advisors.

When talking about legal advisors, Zhu Ping'an thought of Xu Wei and wanted to recruit him to assist him.

Unfortunately, when he was in Yingtian before, he had tried many times to recruit Xu Wei, but failed.

Xu Wei had his own pride. He was now determined to pass the imperial examination, enter the officialdom, and become the protagonist. He was unwilling to be a small supporting role, become someone else's aide, and accomplish other people's great cause.

In particular, he successfully passed the preliminary round of the provincial examination this year and was eager to show his skills in the formal examination.

He will not accept his own recruitment.

Only after Xu Wei had failed repeatedly in the imperial examinations and given up hope could he be recruited.

Historically, Xu Wei had to take the exam for a few more years. His repeated failures shattered his pride. After giving up hope, he finally accepted Hu Zongxian's three visits to his cottage and came out to serve as Hu Zongxian's aide, assisting Hu Zongxian in eliminating the Japanese pirates.

However, although he knew that Xu Wei would not accept his recruitment, Zhu Ping'an still wrote a handwritten letter as soon as he arrived in Shaoxing and settled Li Shu and others, and attached fifty taels of silver, and sent someone to Yingtian to give it to Xu Wei.

Xu Wei's life is still rather tight at the moment, and fifty taels of silver can give him some extra space.

She made good friends early and maintained their relationship, so when Xu Wei gave up on taking the imperial examination, she would naturally become his first choice to leave the country.

Xu Wei cannot be recruited for the time being, and ordinary legal advisors are unable to take on the heavy responsibility. There is no rush, so we can only proceed step by step.

Zhu Ping'an can only work harder himself.

It was also the first day that Zhu Ping'an's old boss and current subordinate, Zhejiang Judicial Supervisor Zhang Zijing, together with the Zhejiang Provincial Governor and the Zhejiang Military Commander-in-Chief, went to the Zhejiang Governor's Office to pay a visit to Zhu Ping'an.

"Sir Zhang, Zhu Butang was promoted from your government office. You two have a long-standing friendship, so you have to say a few good words for us."

The Zhejiang Provincial Governor and the Zhejiang Commander-in-Chief spoke to the Zhejiang Judicial Supervisor as they walked.

The two thought that Zhu Ping'an came from the Zhejiang Provincial Judicial Commissioner's Office, and he was close to the water and got the moon first. As Zhu Ping'an's old boss, Lord Zhang, the Zhejiang Provincial Judicial Commissioner, must have a special relationship with him.

"Cough cough." Zhang Zijing, the Chief Justice of Zhejiang, couldn't help coughing when he heard this.

"Hey, Lao Zhang, why are you coughing? When Zhu Butang was an official under you, you never gave him a cold shoulder, did you? You are done for now, so wish yourself the best. We have to stay away from you to avoid being implicated."

The Zhejiang commander-in-chief joked half-jokingly.

"Nonsense, Zhu Butang is young and promising, and his teacher is Lord Xu. Lord Xu has written to me to take care of Zhu Butang. How dare I show him a bad face? When Zhu Butang was in the government, I strongly supported his work. The Zhejiang Army under Zhu Butang was founded with my strong support. At that time, the Zhejiang Army's food and wages were delayed in being approved, and I even applied for it many times." Zhang Zijing, the Chief Censor of Zhejiang Province, immediately denied it.

"Then why are you coughing?" the Zhejiang commander continued to ask.

"I am really sighing." Zhang Zijing, the Chief Censor of Zhejiang Province, sighed, his eyes full of reminiscence.

Recalling the scene when Zhu Ping'an first came to Zhejiang Judicial Supervisory Office to pay him a visit, it seems like it was just yesterday.

"What are you sighing about?" The Zhejiang Commander-in-Chief and the Zhejiang Provincial Governor could not help but ask curiously.

"It's only been half a year since Zhu Butang came to my judicial office. At that time, he was just an assistant minister of the Zhejiang judicial office. Within half a year, he was promoted from assistant minister to acting deputy minister, and then to deputy minister. Now he has become the right vice minister of the Ministry of War and governor of Zhejiang." Zhang Zijing, the Zhejiang judicial office, said with a sigh.

"Haha, half a year ago, Zhu Butang wanted to visit you in your government office. Now, things have changed and it's you who goes to visit Zhu Butang. No wonder you are sighing." The Zhejiang commander-in-chief laughed and joked.

"As the saying goes, 'Thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west', now it doesn't take thirty years, half a year is enough. Half a year ago, I was your subordinate, and half a year later, I became your superior, hahahaha"

The Zhejiang Provincial Governor also followed suit and joked.

"It is obvious at first glance that Zhu Butang is not an ordinary person. His literary talent is self-evident, and his title as the top scholar in the imperial examination is the best proof of this. He is also good at military affairs. The Jingnan Defense War, the Sea Sacrifice War, and the glorious Suzhou Defense War all prove his military talent. Now that the Japanese invasion of Zhejiang is so serious, it is time for Zhu Butang to display his military talent. In another six months, I wonder what kind of merits Zhu Butang will make and what high position he will be promoted to. Lord Zhang, you have already become a close friend of his. When Zhu Butang is promoted to the central government, you will also have someone in the court."

The two continued talking.

"Yeah, that's true. If I had known what would happen to Zhu Butang, I should have taken care of him ten or a hundred times."

Zhang Zijing, the Chief Justice of Zhejiang Province, thought of the past and said with some emotion.

"Just be thankful, you did offend Zhu Bu Tang in the past. But you didn't take advantage of him but showed some care for him. You should be happy about that." The Governor of Zhejiang and the Commander-in-Chief of Zhejiang said.

"That's right." Zhang Zijing, the Chief Justice of Zhejiang, nodded.

(End of this chapter)