Chapter 159

Chapter 159

Han Zhang's unusual behavior had Tongpan Yang and the others feeling uneasy.

After they withdrew, they quickly gathered to talk it over.

Tongpan Yang asked with a dark expression, "What do you all think this Han fellow is really cooking up? Just moments ago he was cutting someone down to size to intimidate us, and now he's suddenly gone quiet?"

"Cooking up? Nothing good, that's for sure."

Tongzhi Zhou took a sip of tea before continuing, "This Lord Han of ours is a real piece of work. Sure, he comes from a humble background, but he's got one scheme after another brewing in that head of his!"

"I've heard that before he even entered official service, the Crown Prince took a shine to him and took him under his wing. Later, the Crown Prince's big wins—the petition drum and that fertilizer that boosted crop yields—both had his fingerprints all over them."

"That's also why, even after he turned down the marriage to Chang Gongjun, ticked off the Eastern Palace and His Majesty, and got kicked out of the capital, he still landed the job of Prefect of Yunyang."

"Most importantly, he's managed to tick off not just the royal family but the noble houses too... yet somehow our Lord Han didn't end up dead on the way to his new post..."

Just thinking about Han Zhang's tricks sent a cold shiver down their spines.

Boy, they'd really stepped on Han Zhang's toes today!

Immediately, one hot-headed clerk just had to blurt out, "Lord Zhou, since you knew so much about this Han fellow, why didn't you give us a heads-up?"

If they'd known Han Zhang was such a tough nut to crack, they wouldn't have so openly tried to put him in his place today.

In a flash, everyone shot Tongzhi Zhou dirty looks.

Seeing that, Tongzhi Zhou didn't bat an eye. He made a big show of glancing at Tongpan Yang, then let out a theatrical sigh:

"Ah, folks, it's not like I didn't want to give you a heads-up, but... I just got word from the capital myself. There just wasn't time to fill everyone in."

His words were smooth, but that little move of his was so obvious nobody there was fooled.

Given how things stood between them, it was plain as day that Tongpan Yang wanted to put the screws to Han Zhang. Tongzhi Zhou didn't dare cross Tongpan Yang, so he just played along like a good little subordinate.

And Tongpan Yang, who had even better connections in the capital than Tongzhi Zhou, would naturally have known all this too.

So if Tongpan Yang knew Han Zhang was a tough customer and still led them to poke the bear, he must have had a plan.

All of a sudden, everyone turned to him with hopeful eyes: "Lord Yang, you got a good plan for this?"

Tongpan Yang: "..."

If I had a plan, would I have just asked you guys what you think?

Sure, he had connections in the capital, but he honestly hadn't known all these details about Han Zhang.

Either his backers in the capital had left him in the dark, or someone had swiped the letters meant for him—and the latter seemed way more likely. And he even had a pretty good idea who.

Tongpan Yang shot Tongzhi Zhou a murderous glare. That old fat pig was screwing him over again!

Under that glare, Tongzhi Zhou just sat there cool as a cucumber, thinking, So what if I'm screwing you over, you old buzzard?

He was a Fifth Rank Assistant Prefect, while Yang Wenqian was just a Sixth Rank Vice-Prefect. But because Yang had better connections, he bossed him around left and right and even made him bow and scrape. He'd been choking down this resentment for ages.

Having gotten the scoop on Han Zhang first this time, he'd already planned to use Tongpan Yang as his "trial balloon."

If Han Zhang was a tough nut to crack, then Tongpan Yang would be the one to take the hit charging in first;

If Han Zhang was a pushover, he'd just keep playing the groveling sidekick to Tongpan Yang like before.

Tongzhi Zhou did the math in his head, then beamed at Tongpan Yang like a grinning Buddha and said:

"Lord Yang, your connections in the capital put all of us to shame. I'm sure you already knew all this ages ago."

"So if you still led us to put the squeeze on that Han fellow, you must have a trick up your sleeve. Please, Lord Yang, you take the lead on this!"

That speech really painted him into a corner.

Stuck and unable to admit he'd been played, Tongpan Yang shot Tongzhi Zhou a dark look and forced himself to say:

"What's there to get worked up about? I've got this handled. No matter how tough Han Zhang is, he's just a demoted prefect stuck in Yunyang. A big shot from out of town can't push around the local bigwigs!"

"Yunyang's a whole different pond than the capital. If some outsider wants to make waves, he'd better have what it takes!"

"Everyone, keep your eyes peeled from here on out. I'd like to see just what kind of splash he can make!"

...

The yamen crew had dared to openly mess with Han Zhang earlier because they didn't know much about his track record in the capital.

Now that Tongzhi Zhou had filled them in on what a handful he was, they dropped their smug attitude and got on guard.

But to their surprise, Han Zhang didn't hit back in the days that followed, and he didn't make any move to grab power either.

Instead, he just buried his nose in the towering stacks of old yamen ledgers, not giving a damn that his authority was being gutted!

That left Tongpan Yang and the rest scratching their heads and getting even more jumpy.

After all, whether you looked at his record in the capital or how he'd carried himself on day one at the yamen, nobody could mistake him for a pushover.

The quieter he stayed, the more it felt like he was cooking up something huge.

But no matter how wound up everyone got, Han Zhang just spent his days flipping through ledgers, sipping tea, taking strolls, or shooting the breeze with a few low-level yamen clerks—looking for all the world like a guy happy to coast in a do-nothing job.

And in truth, everyone's suspicions were correct.

The reason Han Zhang hadn't made a move against them yet was simply that he was new to his post and hadn't yet gotten a full picture of Yunyang Prefecture's situation. Rashly seizing power would only backfire.

As the saying goes, sharpening the axe doesn't delay the chopping of wood. If you want to kill chickens and chop firewood, you first need to sharpen your blade.

So besides reviewing the yamen's past account books, Han Zhang wasn't actually doing nothing. Every day, he would find a few people in the yamen to chat with.

The first person he approached was the night watchman, Old Zhang.

Han Zhang stepped forward and asked with concern, "How many years have you been keeping the night watch at the yamen, Old Zhang? Is your monthly wage enough for your household? What do they usually give for the holiday gifts each year? Are they satisfactory?—And who in which department handles those holiday gifts?"

Old Zhang was a bit flustered, but these questions weren't exactly secrets.

Though the current Lord Han didn't have real power yet, he could still easily punish a lowly watchman like him. He certainly didn't want to end up like Wang San.

So, despite his unease, Old Zhang answered carefully:

"Thank you for asking, my lord... I've been at the yamen for nearly ten years now. My monthly wage is eight qian of silver, barely enough to get by. The monthly allowances and holiday gifts are handled by Clerk Yuan under Registrar Liu of the personnel office... The holiday gifts are usually rice and meat."

Han Zhang was shocked upon hearing this: "What? Eight qian of silver? According to court regulations, local yamen servants should receive at least one tael of silver per month. Why is Yunyang Prefecture short by two qian?"

Old Man Zhang: “...”

What’s so surprising about that? Isn’t it normal for the higher-ups to skim a little off the top at every level?

Still, even so, having it called out like that, Old Man Zhang couldn’t help getting riled up.

Of course—every month, the higher-ups pocketed a full two qian of silver from him. That alone could buy his whole family a ton of stuff!

Their conversation wasn’t exactly private; other yamen runners nearby pricked up their ears to listen in.

Within half a day, the topic of docked monthly wages had sparked a buzz among the lower-ranking runners.

Like Old Man Zhang, everyone had long known about the exploitation of their pay, but hearing it spoken aloud still got them all riled up.

The big shots up top feasted on fine food and had more silks than they could ever use—yet they still had to squeeze these few bits of silver from the underlings. They’re nothing but bloodsuckers!

—

The second person Han Zhang “chatted up” was Auntie Li, the kitchen helper at the yamen.

Han Zhang carried a pot of cheap tea, sat down on the doorstep of the kitchen courtyard, and said with a smile:

“Auntie Li, keeping busy? You’ve been looking a bit off lately—any troubles at home? Go on, tell me. I may be new here, but if I can help, I will.”

Auntie Li was picking vegetables; at his words, her hand twitched, and a few leaves fell to the ground.

She groaned inwardly—the higher-ups had just told them not to have anything to do with this Lord Han, so why was he coming to talk to her now?

If she said even half a word wrong and messed things up for the big shots, she couldn’t handle the fallout!

But given Han Zhang’s rank, Auntie Li also feared she’d end up like Wang San, so she put on a smile and said, “Oh, my lord, you’re too kind. The family... everything’s fine at home, just fine.”

“All good, then? Good.”

Han Zhang nodded, took a sip of his tea, and then went on casually, “Speaking of which, our Yunyang Prefecture might not be as rich as some other places, but it’s not as bad off as people say. I’ve gone through the yamen’s ledgers and noticed that during festivals, we hand out a good amount of rice, flour, oil, and meat.”

“Just now, passing by the clerical office, I saw that Clerk Yuan was telling people to move this year’s Mid-Autumn gifts into the storeroom—oh, that pork was so fatty it was dripping, and the rice and flour were top-quality, freshly harvested... pretty generous, really.”

“I hear your daughter-in-law just had a chubby little grandson? This year’s festival gifts—don’t hold back. Perfect time to render some lard and make a pot of fine rice porridge to build up the little one’s strength.”

“...”

At that, the smile on Auntie Li’s face froze.

Her fingers, still gripping the vegetable stem, went a little white, and her lips moved, but not a sound came out.

She’d seen that fat meat and fine rice in the storeroom, sure—but that was for the officials and the “well-connected” runners.

What was handed down to the lowliest laborers and kitchen hands like her was always the leftover, watered-down scraps. Fat pork and fresh rice? Yeah, right!

Since her grandson was born, he hadn’t even smelled meat.

But the kids of those clerks, secretaries, and advisors up top—they were so spoiled they didn’t even want meat anymore.

Auntie Li’s lips trembled for a long time before she forced out a smile that was uglier than tears: “My lord is right... this year, this year everyone... will have a proper festival again.”

“Good to hear. As long as you all actually get these festival gifts, I can rest easy. Honestly, before I came here, I’d heard that some local yamen clerks make a habit of messing with the wages and gifts of the lower staff—swapping good stuff for bad, shortchanging weights and measures...”

“I come from a poor family; when I was young, I got pushed around plenty by corrupt officials like that, and I hate that kind of dirty business more than anything! Hearing you say that puts my mind at ease.”

“Oh, by the way, this morning my husband sent over two sheep, said to add a bit of meat to everyone’s pot—there’s plenty to go around. You work hard at that stove, so when lunch is ready, make sure you have a couple extra bowls!”

Han Zhang’s tone was warm, and after a bit more small talk, he picked up his teapot and strolled off without a hurry.

Auntie Li: “...”

She couldn’t hold it in anymore. She threw the vegetable roots aside, ran into a corner, covered her face, and burst into loud sobs.

Eat meat? That mutton had long since been handed over by the kitchen steward to the six clerical offices—all that was left now was the bones!