Chapter 57: Unraveling Pound's Puzzles Along the way, Pang De, who was accompanying Tian Ze, looked extremely conflicted. "Lingming, what's wrong? What's confusing you?" Tian Ze asked. Pang De was only fourteen years old at the time. He was about to be appointed as a county official in Liangzhou, but was tricked by Tian Ze to come. Because he was still young and had some talent in internal affairs, Tian Ze simply took him with him to train him. "My lord, why don't you listen to the explanation of the state and county departments and deal with this matter?" Pang De couldn't help but ask. "Why should we listen to his explanation? And why should we deal with it?" Tian Ze asked with a smile. Pound hesitated, not knowing how to answer for a moment. Tian Ze glanced at the busy farmers in the fields, smiled slightly, and said, "Ling Ming, you know that I often make secret visits to various places, but do you understand what I feel most deeply?" "what?" "At the beginning, I conducted research with the idea of acting on behalf of the people. I deliberately hid my whereabouts and avoided local officials. Once I found any injustice, I would immediately investigate and deal with it thoroughly." "But gradually, I found that this was problematic and not very effective. Because what you hear may not be true, and what you see may not be comprehensive."
"Many businessmen and ordinary people speak from their own standpoints. Their words are full of strong subjective assumptions and personal emotions. Some are true and some are false, some are exaggerated, some are concealed, and some are deliberately misleading." "Although most people are honest, they don't have much knowledge and vision, and their attitudes towards many issues are often one-sided. You have to listen to what these people say, but you can't believe everything either." "Just like what the old man said just now. The neighboring village uses water from the same river as their village. If there is too much water in the canal of the neighboring village, it will inevitably cause damage to the interests of their village. So it is normal for him to be dissatisfied." "But is what he said true? Or is it right?" Tian Ze said meaningfully. The young Pound seemed to understand something, but still felt it was a little elusive. Tian Ze continued, "I have investigated similar things before. There is a river and two villages. The water level of the canal in one village is higher, and the water level of the other village is lower." "But in the end, it was found that the canals in different villages have different lengths and areas, different terrains, different canal sections, different flow rates of rivers, different land areas and different water requirements. Many factors have differences, which will affect the water level of the canals." "It is normal for the depth and volume of water in the canals to vary. Each county has professionals who are good at this and plan them in a coordinated manner. If they are exactly the same, that would be a problem." "But many people don't understand this, or rather, they don't want to understand it. They just want their village to have more water than the village next door." "That's understandable. After all, the severe drought in the past two years scared them, and they fought hard for water. It should be much better after this year." “Again, we must listen to these questions, but we must not believe them completely either.” "If I were to do the canal work myself, it would take too long, enough time to research several more villages, and the cost-effectiveness would be too low." "Besides, if we ask Guoyuan and others to explain at this time, it will cause trouble for them and will easily put pressure on local officials. Because in their eyes, my attitude is often more important than the facts." Tian Ze laughed at himself. "It's human nature. Even if there is no injustice, they may take action to dispel any perception I may have, to show they care." "If they really raise the water depth in this village without any consideration, it will be counterproductive and will affect the fairness and authority of the government." "As a leader, you must avoid acting on impulse because of your own likes and dislikes, or even destroying the laws you have made." "If there is solid evidence or it is a major incident, I will naturally consider handling it personally. But for this kind of thing, the best way is to just remind them to prevent them from ignoring the matter due to carelessness, and let them handle it on their own." "If it's the national and county officials..." Pang De asked hesitantly. "Do you think Ji Bu is just there to eat and do nothing?" Tian Ze heard the implication of Pang De's words and said with a smile. "After they finish handling it, they will keep it on file and prepare a separate copy for me to review. What's more, it's not like I won't come again. If I come back one day and find that there really is a problem, that would be a real big deal." A sharp light flashed in Tian Ze's eyes.
Although he didn't like to mess with his subordinates, he hated it even more when his subordinates treated him as a fool. "Every profession has its own specializations. A superior cannot act arbitrarily or listen to one side only. Let the Ministry of Discipline and the Ministry of Agriculture handle this matter." "Let's take a step back and say that if the two are colluding with each other, even if I listened to the explanations of the local officials and Guo Yuan, what can I do? I am far less knowledgeable about agricultural water conservancy than Guo Yuan, and I just let him fool me. Even if I ask him to make corrections, he will find a way to get away with it." Hearing Tian Ze's nonchalant self-mockery, Bond scratched his head in embarrassment. "My purpose of coming here is not to inspect, but to conduct research. The inspection will be carried out by professionals from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Discipline." "The main purpose of my investigation is to understand the real situation and identify problems, so as to facilitate subsequent policy reforms." "I see a lot of problems because local officials are unprepared. But these problems are not all the fault of local officials. Many of them are widespread and difficult to solve. These are what I focus on." "It is normal for problems to exist at this lowest level. For example, even if this incident was not the government's fault, it shows that the government officials in charge of this matter still lacked in propaganda and education." "But after all, they are all newcomers who have just started, so we shouldn't be too harsh on them. This situation is normal. Besides, let alone them, even if I were to do it, I might not be able to take good care of all the villagers." "If they can really do it perfectly, I will consider giving them a promotion. Even though it's just a small village, it's not that easy to manage well." After talking for a long time, Tian Ze smiled when he saw that Pound looked thoughtful. "Lingming, you are one of the few people in the army who is both civil and military. I have high hopes for you." "Whether you are leading troops in battle or governing a region, the principles are the same." "If you are just a general or a minor official, maybe you can just do your job yourself." "If you are a commander-in-chief or even a governor, you must learn to delegate power and know how to identify, employ, and train people." "In the face of a huge army and vast territory, the power of one person is extremely limited. No matter how powerful one is, it is difficult to take care of everything. Only by learning to control the people under your command can you really get things done." "Okay." While chatting, the two of them had unknowingly walked to a seemingly inconspicuous carriage, and Tian Ze brushed the dust off his body. "Let's go. It's almost noon. We should find a place to rest. Let's go to the next village and find another family to listen to what they have to say about this matter and get a free meal." (End of this chapter)