Chapter 190 Encountering obstacles everywhere
Ma Di took Liu Yin to the Beijun Army again, and this time he did get in unimpeded. Previously, the general had stood up to stop him, and he had no power to stop Liu Yin, who was already a miscellaneous general.
Several people went straight to the place where the Northern Army was responsible for recording, and Ma Su once again encountered such a large number of bamboo slips.
"When can I have a follower who can help me with calculations? I have to do this myself every time." Ma Su secretly complained while picking up a pile of bamboo slips and doing calculations very skillfully.
"I will personally fight the war, take the lead in government affairs, and even check the accounts myself... Look at my fate, don't be exhausted in the end."
Among all the ways to die, dying from exhaustion is undoubtedly the most torturous. I wish God could be human.
But while Ma Su was complaining and calculating, Liu Yin was watching his general's movements curiously. He found that his general moved very quickly, just swiping and scratching on the ground a few times and it was enough. Then record it, then erase it and quickly count the next roll.
As for why he didn't do it on paper... the main reason was that it was too expensive, and Ma Su was really reluctant to part with it.
Although paper is relatively easy to use in this era, the price is not within the reach of ordinary people. Even until the Tang and Song Dynasties, paper was not a common commodity.
For example, in ancient classical Chinese texts, the main reason for a few characters and several sentences was to omit space and reduce costs.
When paper became cheaper in the Ming Dynasty and novels appeared, the language was basically close to vernacular.
Every time he thought of this, Ma Di regretted why he returned to Shuzhong so early. The papermaking workshop he improved in Longyou hadn't been put into use yet, so he came to Chengdu.
I can’t find out whether qualified paper will be produced in the future...
Soon, very soon, Ma Di had already completed checking the entry and exit records for a month. For Ma Su, just one month's records are enough to get a general understanding of the family background of this wealthy family.
For example, the Qiao family, the private military clan mostly enters and exits through the west gate, and their main destination is the front line of Xichong County in Brazil. There should be 300 private soldiers in Chengdu, but the exact number in Xichong County is unknown.
There are also the Du family, the Zhou family, and the private soldiers basically all have this number.
"The Qiao family's foundation is mainly in Bazhong, the Du family's foundation is all in Fucheng, and the Zhou family's core is in Langzhong..." Ma Su touched his chin and felt a little troubled.
Obviously, the number of private soldiers of these Shu Han clan is very scary. A rough estimate shows that the private soldiers of Chengdu's wealthy families can number three to four thousand people.
This is not ordinary scary. You must know that the entire five schools of the Southern Army only have 3,000 soldiers.
And the most important thing is that the private soldiers and slaves in Chengdu are just the tip of the iceberg. The true foundation of the great clans lies in the local areas, namely Shuzhong and Bazhong.
"Taken together, even if the decree prohibiting private soldiers is implemented, it will probably not be easy to implement." Thinking about going to Bazhong and Sichuan to supervise and check private soldiers, the sheer number of things to do gives Ma Su a headache .
Why is it so difficult to die?
"General, have you finished the liquidation?" Liu Yin asked carefully when he saw Ma Su stopping his movements.
"It's almost done. We have a rough idea of how many slaves and private soldiers of wealthy families in Chengdu." Ma Di waved his hands, looking a little helpless.
"But even so, what we see is only a drop in the bucket compared to what the big clan actually owns. If we really want to check them all, we probably have to go to Bazhong and Shu County."
"I can only say that it is very troublesome!"
After the liquidation was completed, Ma Su was going to go to Tingwei again to see if he could get the prototype of the decree first.
This was a very tedious task, and Ma Di was already prepared to stay up in Tingwei for several days.
However, before Ma Su could go to Tingwei, he was stopped midway.
"Captain Ma, our master admires your reputation, so he held a banquet in the house and ordered me to invite the general to the banquet!" An old man who looked like a butler and several servants stopped Ma Su and saluted Ma Su respectfully. .
"Your master? Who is he?" Ma Di frowned, feeling something was wrong.
"The great scholar Zhou Shubuye!" the steward replied slowly.
"Zhou Shu?" Ma Su suddenly realized that he was the richest Zhou family in Chengdu.
It seems that his actions have aroused the vigilance of the local faction. Does he want to win over?
"I'm sorry, business is too important. I, Ma Su, don't have time to go to the banquet. Let's talk about it another day." Ma Su waved his hand and said straightforwardly.
After saying that, Ma Su took Liu Yin and took a detour regardless of what the Zhou family's housekeeper said.
To be able to become a steward of a wealthy family, you must have good eyesight. Seeing that Ma Di refused very decisively, he stopped pestering him and turned around to return to his life.
In fact, the local faction itself does not want to make things worse, and they will not have a hard time once things get bigger. Therefore, the Zhou family represented the local forces and took the lead in wooing Ma Di.
However, it's obvious that Ma Su doesn't like this. Now that I am sure of this matter, let alone a Confucian scholar, you are not a beast!
Ma Di's direct rejection was sent back, and Zhou Shu also frowned.
"Is this Ma Youchang the reincarnation of the Iron Bastard? It's not good to be so deprived of oil and salt." Zhou Shu shook his head. As a local official, he had the lowest position but had a strong voice. The main reason was that his family was rich.
They are the richest men in Bazhong and also local cowards. Basically, mentioning their names in Bazhong is easier than mentioning the imperial court.
"But no matter how hard it is, there is still no one we can't win over in front of my Zhou family!"
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When the local wealthy Zhou family began to plan how to win over Ma Di, Ma Di was once again rejected by Tingwei.
Officials from Tingwei said that such a big thing cannot be done without an order from the Prime Minister's Office or an edict from the palace. No matter what Ma Su said, Tingwei always said that he would act according to the rules.
I have to say that if the Prime Minister says he won't help you, he really means he won't help you at all. And as long as the Prime Minister's Office does not express its position, all the officials in the court will be in a wait-and-see mode, determined not to wade into your muddy waters.
There was no other way, so Ma Su could only go to the attendant Guan Xing to see if he could follow Liu Chan's path. However, the reply Guan Xing gave him soon was even more disappointing. The palace responded that everything would be subject to the Prime Minister's Palace.
Come on, the ball has been kicked back.
"Kicking football is really a heritage with a long history. Is it so popular so early?" Ma Su worked hard for two days and didn't get anything done. He felt his blood pressure was high for a while.
There was no way, Ma Su could only think of another way, at least legislation could not be implemented within his authority.
After being rejected again, Ma Su returned to his house exhausted, ready to rest for a day before making plans.
Ma Di's own home was in a remote area of Chengdu. In order to create opportunities for the assassins, Ma Di didn't even keep any slaves and dismissed them all.
If it weren't for the fear of waiting for the assassin instead of the thief, Ma Di would even want to sleep with the door open every day.
However, when Ma Su dragged his tired body back to his house, he suddenly felt something was wrong as soon as he entered the house.
There's someone in the house!