"Yes, I will rember the Lord Marquis’s teachings."
"Very well, rise." Ye Zi’an returned the two booklets to him.
After thinking for a mont, he picked up the banknotes and said, "Assistant General Liu, delivering ssages or items is sothing everyone should be doing, in the future, don’t casually include banknotes. Such bad habits cannot be encouraged."
Assistant General Liu blushed and said softly, "Without a bribe, things can’t get done. That’s the way it’s always been."
"What did you say?" Ye Zi’an motioned with his hand and said, "Co, co, sit over here and tell , how did you use to bribe people. Rest assured, we’re just having a chat today, and I will certainly not disclose it was you who told ."
Assistant General Liu was sweating, his voice was so low, yet it was still heard.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he thought for a mont and said, "Lord Marquis, since you asked, I’ll tell you, this is not tattling, but this is how it really is. Although the court disburses the military stipends on ti every quarter, the stipends are not directly sent to our military camp but to the governntal office. Our camp has to retrieve it from there. You know Prefect Lan, although he doesn’t deduct our stipends, every ti we have to pay him a little respect, otherwise, he can hold back the stipends for ten days to half a month."
"I am the dignified Assistant General, in charge of all the stationed troops in Zhejiang Prefecture, supposedly my rank is even higher than his. Yet, because of the stipends, every ti I see him, I have to act subservient. When he withholds my stipends and I ask him about it, he just says they haven’t arrived yet or that there’s been a delay. Only when I bribe him does it get resolved."
"Once, I was so outraged that I had a big fight with Prefect Lan. He said, don’t bla him, every ti those bringing food supplies arrive, he has to offer so respects too. He said the matters of the military camp aren’t his governntal office’s responsibility, surely he couldn’t be the one to pay the bribes out of his pocket? Thinking it over, I gave in."
He continued, "This is common. Let’s talk about when the court’s stipends are limited, if there’s a year of disaster and I want to apply for more stipends, I first have to send a morial to the Ministry of War. Then the Ministry of War would present it. At this ti, when I send the morial to the Capital City, I have to include banknotes in it. Otherwise, my morial would disappear without a trace."
Ye Zi’an felt a chill in his heart, the selfishness of Great Zhou’s officials was too great.
"You’ve sent them too?"
"Heh," Assistant General Liu awkwardly scratched his head, "I know this isn’t good, but there’s no other way. Take the Assistant General in the Northeast, for example. He’s a fellow townsman. Over the years, we’ve often been in contact. Five years ago, there was heavy snow in the Northeast, and the soldiers were still wearing single-layer armor because the issued cotton-padded clothes were unwearable. They weren’t filled with cotton but willow catkins, and after two washes, they would be so torn it left only two layers of cloth. He wanted to apply for so silver to buy cotton-padded clothes for the soldiers. Because he didn’t include any banknotes in his morial, not only was the morial returned, but it didn’t get returned until April the following year."
Ye Zi’an was furious. Soldiers bleed and sweat to protect the country, yet they can’t even secure basic necessities — isn’t this chilling their hearts?
No wonder when rebellions occur in various places, the nearby stationed troops are slow to pacify them. They’re probably disheartened and thinking of having a new ruler.
"Assistant General Liu, since you’ve shared so much with today, I have sothing to say to you as well. From now on, this kind of thing will never happen again. If it does happen when I’m still an official in the court, you may write directly to Marquis Changning’s Mansion, and I will personally present it to the Emperor."
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