“Knock, knock, knock.”
The urgent knocking on the door startled Wang Jin, who was browsing the System Mall.
“Come in!”
A Bao walked in, holding an envelope, and presented it to Wang Jin.
“Young Master, your letter.”
Wang Jin took it, opened it, and read it carefully.
“Enmmm, Prefectural Governor, Nanyang Commandery Prefectural Governor of Yue Province. I originally thought I’d only get a County Magistrate position, but I didn’t expect to become a Prefectural Governor.”
Upon hearing this, A Bao quickly congratulated him.
“Congratulations, Young Master! A Prefectural Governor oversees over a dozen counties. We’ve ascended to the heavens in one step.”
“Heh, this Nanyang Commandery is poor. It’s been harassed by the Yue people for years, and its coastal areas are frequently plundered by the various islands to the southeast. Otherwise, how could I have gotten a Prefectural Governor position? This is a hot potato.”
“According to my teacher, the previous Prefectural Governor died of illness in office, exhausted from overwork.”
“However, this Prefectural Governor position truly came as a surprise. My teacher is really powerful.”
In the Great Jin, a Prefectural Governor had absolute control over the officials in his commandery. Within a commandery, besides the Prefectural Governor, the Commandant, and the Prefectural Assistant, who were appointed by the central government, all other subordinate officials were chosen by the Prefectural Governor himself. For self-selected subordinates, the Prefectural Governor had absolute control, almost capriciously selecting, promoting, and demoting them according to work needs or his own preferences. Even for a centrally managed official like the Prefectural Assistant, the Prefectural Governor could exercise absolute control, because the Prefectural Assistant was merely an assistant, equivalent to a deputy. If he complied with management, everything was fine; if he didn't, the Prefectural Governor could completely bypass the Prefectural Assistant and directly assign tasks to lower-level leaders. Within a commandery, the only official the Prefectural Governor could not fully control was the Commandant, because the Commandant held military power. Even so, the Commandant was still a subordinate official, under the leadership of the Prefectural Governor.
Moreover, he had absolute control over the administration of subordinate counties. The Prefectural Governor could pursue criminal responsibility for county officials, even expelling them; he could dispatch his own subordinates to temporarily govern subordinate counties, thereby depriving the County Magistrate of his administrative authority. The Prefectural Governor also established the Inspector, a supervisory official, who frequently patrolled subordinate counties, keeping them under constant supervision and control.
More importantly, he had the privilege of recommending officials and commoners within the commandery to the central government, meaning the Prefectural Governor could recommend talented individuals from his commandery to the central government. In other words, your talent first needed to be recognized by the Prefectural Governor to have a chance of being appointed by the Emperor. Another career path for gentry children within the commandery, besides the imperial examinations, lay in the hands of the Prefectural Governor.
According to Great Jin law, the Prefectural Governor had almost absolute decision-making power over criminal cases, possessing judicial authority to hear criminal and civil cases within the commandery; at the same time, the Prefectural Governor also had judicial interpretive power, and could, within the framework of national law, rule on guilt or innocence, and the severity of crimes. It can be said that for cases within his commandery, the Prefectural Governor's judgment was final, and there was generally no opportunity to appeal to the central government or request a retrial.
He had almost absolute discretion over local finances. The commandery's financial sources included land tax, public land of the commandery, mountains, seas, ponds, market rents, and other miscellaneous levies. The sources were relatively broad, and more importantly, the allocation was relatively free. The central government had an auditing System for the commandery's financial income and expenditure, but it only required the commandery to submit financial reports to the central government at the end of the year, and these reports were not very detailed. Therefore, the Prefectural Governor had almost absolute freedom in allocating local finances.
What Wang Jin valued even more was the Prefectural Governor's considerable discretion over local military forces. Adult males aged twenty-three or older had to serve two years of military service, one year of which was served in their own commandery, known as “regular soldiers.” These local troops within the commandery were dispatched by the Son of Heaven and the Prefectural Governor through shared tallies. The daily management of the regular soldiers was handled by the Commandery Commandant, but the Commandery Commandant was essentially just a deputy in charge of military affairs; the Prefectural Governor was the true commander of the army. This was especially true for border commanderies bordering foreign tribes, which bore the heavy responsibility of protecting the territory, ensuring the peace of the people, and resisting invasions.
If it weren't for Nanyang Commandery's current economic collapse and depleted military strength, a Prefectural Governor position would never have fallen to Wang Jin. A Prefectural Governor was already considered an Advanced official in the Great Jin official System, equivalent to a municipal party secretary in Wang Jin's previous life, and a Earth-Grade city's top leader with both military and political power.
However, as long as Wang Jin took office, there would be no problem with raising troops, and he could legitimately expand his influence. As the highest official of a commandery, he could sell salt if he wanted, smuggle weapons if he wanted, sell grain if he wanted, and also exchange a large number of low-priced goods for sale through the System Mall.
Moreover, the Yue Province Governor, Chen Dao, was currently indulging in pleasure all day long and was not an intelligent, capable, and power-hungry person. With money paving the way, he would surely be unstoppable.
“Ding!”
“Assistant notification: Main Quest has been released: Take control of Nanyang. Reward: One random hero.”
Wang Jin patted A Bao on the shoulder.
“A Bao, are the luggage, personnel, and travel arrangements all in order?”
“They’re ready, Young Master. We can depart anytime.”
“Good, we just need to wait for the letter of appointment to arrive, and then we can set off.”
“Also, have A Bao prepare to purchase carriages and more provisions. There will be people joining us along the way.”
Wang Jin would summon the soldiers he had drawn during the journey, before reaching Nanyang Commandery, so he could show off his strength upon arrival.
“Yes, sir!”
This was the good thing about the A Bao and A Bao brothers: no matter what happened, they knew what to ask and what not to ask, and they could keep their mouths shut.
Among the nearly one hundred Jianghu individuals Wang Jin had taken in, these two brothers were his most favored. Although they weren't the most skilled in martial arts among them, they became their leaders.