Chapter 1463: Training (Part 2)

Zhao Mingming entered the Household Department, Fan Lianyin went to the Ritual Room, mainly responsible for education, while Zu Daosheng went to the arrest room to work as a constable.

Generally speaking, their three jobs rarely overlap.

Any work that does overlap must be extremely arduous and prone to problems.

Zhao Mingming didn’t expect that just two months into her job, after barely familiarizing herself with the county government’s domain, she would encounter multi-department collaboration issues.

The court has ordered that this year, the population nationwide, arable land, house numbers, and other such circumstances must be tallied.

To put it bluntly, it’s a nationwide census of population and arable land statistics.

Since the founding of Hua Country, there have been two previous counts, this being the third.

As a small officer in the Household Department, Zhao Mingming has to go to the grassroots to conduct the statistics, and due to insufficient personnel, the Household Department deploys manpower from other departments.

Fan Lianyin from the Ritual Room was the first to be tapped for labor, and naturally Zu Daosheng from the arrest room wasn’t spared either.

The three returned to the office with a bunch of booklets, only to discover that the boxes moved back this morning were already empty.

Zhao Mingming, despite her good temper, couldn’t help but explode, banging the booklets onto the office desk and asking with hands on her waist, "Where are the blank booklets?"

The old clerks who were working diligently looked up at her and casually said, "Everyone has taken them."

Zhao Mingming: "I was the one who moved those blank booklets back."

The old clerks ignored her.

Fuming, Zhao Mingming spun in place, and Fan Lianyin and Zu Daosheng hurriedly calmed her down.

Looking at the empty box, Zhao Mingming suddenly burst into laughter.

The clerks in the room, hearing her laughter, couldn’t help but raise their heads from their desks to look at her; is this person mad?

Zhao Mingming seemed to think of something amusing, grasped her waist, and laughed until tears came out.

Now even Fan Lianyin and Zu Daosheng looked at her worriedly, wondering if the Crown Princess had been driven mad.

After laughing, Zhao Mingming let out a breath and said to Fan Lianyin and Zu Daosheng, "Let’s go back and fetch some more blank booklets."

The so-called blank booklets are simply notebooks with blank pages, commonly used office supplies, and also the fastest consumed items in every county office.

Before entering the Household Department at the county government, Zhao Mingming had no idea that the consumption of blank booklets was fraught with so many complexities.

Paper is cheap; not only can bark be used to make paper, but straw, hay, bamboo, and bagasse can also be used, so paper prices are low, five cents can buy a ream, a ream being a hundred sheets.

This is regular writing paper.

Other papers, differing in size, hardness, etc., vary in price, but office writing paper is priced equally, not based on worth.

So she didn’t think there was any contentious interest in paper.

But after entering the Household Department, she realized that there were significant interests tied to paper in the county government.

Not to mention the suppliers behind the paper, the white booklet consumption in the Household Department meant that once a box was brought in, it was depleted quickly.

Everyone within the Household Department seemed to carry home so much blank paper that it was enough to last for three generations.

All this paper is purchased with the county government’s finances.

Zhao Mingming has heard several times from both the Chief Clerk and the County Magistrate complaining that the county government consumes too much blank paper and the costs are too high;

She has also repeatedly seen the paper mill’s managers in front of the Household Department trying to collect debts, despite it being the county government owing money to them, yet the managers have to beg, and the debtors act like lords.

Zhao Mingming went to fetch blank booklets again; this time, she didn’t move boxes but just got ten booklets, distributing three each to Fan Lianyin and Zu Daosheng, keeping four for herself, and took ink with her as she left.

Due to her assertive nature, the clerks in the Household Department ostracized her, assigning her the most arduous and remote villages.

As newcomers, Fan Lianyin and Zu Daosheng were also given unfavorable locations, not far from her.

The county government has a regulation that stipulates when tallying population and assets, there must always be two or more clerks traveling together, otherwise the data is not deemed accurate.

So the three of them simply arranged to act together.

The three took their newly acquired blank booklets to the countryside, knowing they might be gone for ten days to half a month. They prepared plenty of dry food, and each brought some grain, then hitched their horses and set off.

Their departure was of little concern to the county government; three rebellious newcomers, just starting out, presumed righteous, yet unaware of how unwelcome they were.

So they used a little more paper?

It’s not as if they spent money.

Riding her horse, Zhao Mingming said to Fan Lianyin and Zu Daosheng, "I am so incompetent; I can’t even manage a Household Department, let alone govern the whole country. It’s no wonder Mother told me to hone my skills at the grassroots level."

Fan Lianyin replied, "How can we blame the Crown Princess? It’s your status; you’re not in charge, so they naturally don’t heed you."

"Indeed," Zhao Mingming held the reins, "so I must become their leader! Even if I’m not the Chief Clerk of the Household Department now, I have to curb this trend,"

Fan Lianyin nodded repeatedly, "I’ll listen to the Crown Princess!"

Zu Daosheng nodded as well.

Zhao Mingming said, "Let’s finish the tasks at hand first; once we return from the countryside, humph!"

Her superior is the Chief Clerk, and to catch his eye, she must complete the nationwide population and property survey thoroughly.

Only after making an impression on the Chief Clerk can she address the issues in the Household Department, or even the county government’s atmosphere.

Of course, she could also directly bypass her superiors, such as the Chief Clerk, County Magistrate, Prefectural Governor, and propose reforms directly to the court, but that would be a top-down approach, no different from her mother’s past governance reforms.

This time she wanted to try another way and see just how many methods there are to reform governance?

While in the Household Department, realizing this was what refreshed Zhao Mingming, dissipating days of resentment.

"Let’s go; let’s head to the countryside!" Zhao Mingming whipped her horse, leading from the front.

Fan Lianyin and Zu Daosheng quickly caught up.

Once they reached the location, they first needed to find the village chief, who would lead them into the village.

Some village chiefs would accompany them throughout; others, busy with work in the field, seeing the youthful Zhao Mingming trio, would simply lead them to the village and then head to the fields, saying, "If I don’t go, the wife at home will scratch me."

Zhao Mingming didn’t force him and let him go.

She took the blank booklets and visited households one by one, but it was the busy farming season, and during daylight, people were scattered, leaving either children or elderly who couldn’t work at home, so they needed to shout for responses.

Zhao Mingming saw this and decided not to go house by house anymore. She pocketed the blank booklets and went to observe the villagers harvesting wheat.

After watching for a while, she chose an elder to help, and from somewhere fished out a sickle, hitched up her robe, and went into the fields to help with the harvest.

She had followed Zhao Hanzhang into the fields every year, so these farm chores came naturally, and she quickly blended in with the farmers.

Fan Lianyin and Zu Daosheng, as her companions, also joined annually when the Emperor encouraged agricultural engagement and acted as role models, so they could handle it too.

The three of them quickly integrated, and by dusk, when work concluded, everyone in the village knew that officials had arrived from above to tally population and land, but couldn’t find anyone, so they had spent a day harvesting wheat with them.

That evening, the villagers warmly hosted the trio, who handed over their personal rations from the grain they brought along.

The villagers quickly declined, saying, "You’re here; how could we let you provide grain? It’s embarrassing for us."

"Precisely, times are good now, there’s extra grain at home, and enough food to eat."

But Zhao Mingming insisted on passing it over, saying, "This is the court’s rule; when officials visit the countryside, they must carry their own rations, not take from the people. If found violating this, we would be impeached and held accountable."

The villagers were aware of this rule. However... in recent years, adherence had been lax among officials.

Seeing the determined young trio, reminiscent of officials visiting the countryside in earlier days, the villagers gently accepted their rations, not making things difficult for them.

A villager even took a knife to slaughter a chicken for them, saying excitedly to the wide-eyed trio, "It’s been years since officials visited our village; we’re happy today, so let’s eat chicken."