Chapter 210: Eat, Sleep, and Beat the Prince

If you want to break up a fixed, corrupt and almost stagnant department, you must first allow the personnel in this department to flow.

As a member of the slacking group in his previous life, Zhou Tieyi has a deep understanding of this kind of thing. Many times it is not that you want to slack off, but the entire department is slacking off. If you don't slack off, you will seem out of place.

Many ambitious young people gradually lose their ambitions after entering this kind of department.

The same is probably true for the God-Extermination Division in Tianjing.

Even though most of the people here are appointed officials because of their family background, is there no one among them who is ambitious?
The simplest example is Shentu Yuan and Hao Ren.

As long as they are given the opportunity to see hope, they may even be more ruthless than ordinary people and understand the value of opportunities better because they have been exposed to politics since childhood.

Therefore, you must first let the "water" flow, let everyone see the channels for promotion or demotion, break the stability of the stagnant internal structure, and differentiate the diehards and fence-sitters. You cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach, otherwise it will hurt those "spectators" and make the entire department go against you.

Then he thought about it himself and decided to support a group of small flag officers from humble backgrounds within the God-Slaying Division.

The "poor family" here refers to the poor family by ancient standards.

This group of poor people have a certain family background and are able to get started on the path of cultivation. What they lack now is a step to advancement.

However, if one wants to let this group of poor families balance the nobles, it is far from enough to rely solely on the local people in Tianjing. In fact, many of them have close ties with the nobles in Tianjing because their families are in Tianjing, and they may not be able to fight against them.

Therefore, this requires the opening of local and central circulation channels.

Let the governors of the 49 states and local God-Exterminating Divisions recommend talents to come to Tianjing, and let these local geniuses compete with the nobles of Tianjing. In this way, the entire lower level of the God-Exterminating Division can be revitalized, or at least it will not be stagnant.

For the Tianjing God Punishing Division, this also has a huge benefit, which is to strengthen the Tianjing God Punishing Division's control over the God Punishing Divisions in various places.

When Zhou Tieyi was learning about the Tianjing God-Slaying Division before, he discovered one thing, that is, the pacifiers who really wanted to do something would not seek promotion, but would rather stay in the God-Slaying Division in each state.

In addition, the headquarters of the Tianjing God-Slaying Division was suppressed by hundreds of families, and its position was weak.

Then a very simple situation is formed.

The main stem is weak and the branches are strong.

This is a conflict within the God-Slaying Division, between the headquarters and the local areas.

Therefore, four of the six deputy commanders are required to tour the country in order to demonstrate the authority of the God-Slaying Division headquarters.

Unfortunately, this is always just a facade.

If the Zhushen Division headquarters really wants to strengthen its control over local pacification envoys, it will need a group of grassroots backbone personnel trained by the headquarters.

As long as there are enough grassroots backbone personnel on standby, even if there is a problem with the local pacification envoy, Zhou Tieyi is even confident that he can directly dismiss the pacification envoy of a place without affecting the operation of the local God-Slaying Bureau. This is the real imperial sword, much more powerful than the four commanders who tour the world!
The people present were not fools. They spent half an incense stick of time thinking thoroughly about the role of Zhou Tieyi's further study and selection system.

Nan Jinsong was the first to speak, "It's a good idea, but whether it's selection or further study, I'm afraid it's not easy to do."

After Nan Jinsong opened his mouth, Zhou Tieyi was basically certain that he was the substitute for Commander Wei Shaoan.

Zhou Tieyi chuckled, "You have been in office for so long, you don't want to offend anyone, then let me do the offending. If anyone doesn't want to be selected, I will naturally let him get out of the God-Slaying Division!"

There are so many second-generation people in the God-Slaying Division that even the attendance was in chaos before. It is even more difficult to demote the second-generation people to local areas.

This requires someone to take the blame and bear the enormous political pressure.

None of the original God-Slaying Division members came to do anything, and Zhou Tieyi did not expect these people who were just sitting there doing nothing to get the job done, so he came and offended people himself.

After hearing what Zhou Tieyi said, everyone else showed a strange look on their faces.

Of course they knew that Zhou Tieyi had the courage and background to accomplish this.

I just didn't expect Zhou Tieyi to be willing to do this.

Although the God-Slaying Division was influenced by hundreds of factions, the majority of officials in the division were still from the military meritorious service lineage.

By doing this, Zhou Tieyi is actually offending the interest groups behind him.

Zhou Tieyi continued, "We will let the people go down, and let the pacification envoys below send the genius up. They will definitely not be willing, so we will use the simplest inducement."

"I will petition His Majesty to open up secret realms such as the Soldiers' Tomb to train personnel for the Tianjing God-Slaying Division headquarters."

In this world, cultivation is still the most important thing. Even the emperor knows the importance of cultivation, let alone the people below him. Tianjing is the place with the richest cultivation resources in the entire Daxia.

Even many advanced cultivation resources are simply not available there.

As long as the news gets out, even if the local pacification envoys try to stop them, their geniuses will find a way to escape to Tianjing.

Zhou Tieyi only needs to train his own team in this round of selection and training. After all, his own inspection institute is in charge of the assessment authority for selection and training.

Hearing the word "soldiers' grave", Jiao Guoping, the director of the warehouse, was the most sensitive. A gleam of light flashed in his eyes, "Will His Majesty agree?"

Soldiers' tombs are related to the foundation of the country. Generally speaking, only when the front-line troops have made great contributions will the soldiers' tombs be opened to the best soldiers. The remains of the martyrs will be sent to the soldiers' tombs, and their companions who send their remains in at the same time will get the opportunities inside the soldiers' tombs.

The most famous resource is the sunken iron found in soldiers' tombs.

Although their God-Slaying Division claims to be a military strategist, it has been declining over the years and originally did not dare to even dream of such a thing.

Zhou Tieyi said meaningfully, "Your Majesty will agree. Just because our Tianjing God-Slaying Division was useless before, it doesn't mean we won't be useful in the future. Not only will we be useful, we will be of great use!"

The emperor began to practice Taoism and fell from the realm of a saint. His control over Tianjing plummeted.

According to Guan Guan, the former Tianjing was basically a forbidden area for gods and evildoers, except for extremely special gods and evildoers like her.

And now, the gods and evildoers in the Taixu Illusion Realm have begun to use the [method of ancestor worship and deification] to stir up the ambitions of local aristocratic families. It will surely not be long before they set their sights on Tianjing.

Even if they cannot destroy the entire Tianjing in one go, they want to force the emperor to take action in order to determine how much strength he has left.

And this is what Zhou Tieyi said, the great use of Tianjing's God-Slaying Division, so as long as he can truly reform the God-Slaying Division and make it stronger, then the emperor will allocate resources to it.

Everyone understood what Zhou Tieyi meant, but since this involved His Majesty's cultivation, no one present wanted to be too involved. Wei Shaoan interrupted and said, "The selection and further study system is a good idea."

His words set the tone for the second function of the Inspection Office, and what followed was the huge division of power within it.

Zhou Tieyi said, "We will have an examination every three months and select candidates for further study. How about I make a list of candidates and have the commander sign it?"

Wei Shaoan is the commander-in-chief of the God-Slaying Division and the nominal highest official. Matters involving personnel transfers, promotions, and demotions cannot bypass him.

At the same time, he also needs to borrow Wei Shaoan's power to quickly implement this system.

Although the God-Slaying Division is now in a situation where the main body is weak and the branches are strong, Wei Shaoan has been the commander for so long and is a top-three cultivator himself. There must be a group of his confidants among the local pacification envoys, otherwise Wei Shaoan would be too much of a failure.

Zhou Tieyi was not going to delay and asked for the right to examine and nominate, leaving the decision-making power to Wei Shaoan, basically dividing the power of further study and selection equally.

The rest of the people, including the commander Gongsun Chou, all listened with envy and looked at Wei Shaoan eagerly.

Wei Shaoan certainly would not share such a heavy authority, and he directly worked with Zhou Tieyi to confirm the matter, "Yes."

After the first two statements about the authority of the God-Slaying Division were confirmed, the look on everyone's face when they looked at Zhou Tieyi changed.

As the situation in Tianjing changed, everyone analyzed Zhou Tieyi's methods.

However, when this miraculous method was used on themselves, everyone realized how powerful it was.

There are two countermeasures. One is to expand the power of the God-Slaying Division externally. Zhou Tieyi and the assistant commander Gongsun Chou decided on it, and at the same time gave everyone some imagination about the expansion of power.

Zhou Tieyi and Commander-in-Chief Wei Shaoan finalized the authority to internally reform the Zhushen Division, and at the same time, they also strengthened the Zhushen Division headquarters' control over the other party.

Not only did the two strategies fail to shake the stability of power within the Zhushen Division, but because of his joining, the authority of the commander-in-chief, the deputy commander, and the inspector was further balanced. They restricted each other and were interconnected, forming a stable power triangle.

It seems that Zhou Tieyi has the least authority among them, as both places require others to stamp, but he is in charge of the most. He is the one who does things, and both ends go hand in hand. As long as there is a problem on one end and he does not want to stamp it, Zhou Tieyi can use the other end as a comparison group to report to the emperor.

Your Majesty, please see, it’s not that I, Zhou Tieyi, don’t do anything, it’s that someone doesn’t want to do anything. Otherwise, why do I do one thing well but another one poorly?
It’s a pity that this Zhou family member doesn’t become an official.

Everyone present sighed in their hearts.

Nan Jinsong is the one who feels the most uncomfortable now, because as Wei Shaoan's substitute, he estimates that Zhou Tieyi will help Gongsun Chou expand his power in the future. Then, as a deputy commander in Beijing, his power will naturally be relatively reduced.

But Wei Shaoan had already agreed to it just now, so it was naturally not appropriate for him to go against his will at this moment, otherwise Zhou Tieyi, Wei Shaoan, and Gongsun Chou would join forces to put pressure on him.

Everyone looked at the third function of the Inspection Institute as assigned by Zhou Tieyi.

"The power to review operational records, treasury expenditures, and prison cases."

After reading this, Jiao Guoping from the Warehouse Court and Hou Lejun from the Criminal Court looked uncontrollably grim. Just as they thought, a "mother-in-law" really had fallen from their heads.

Jiao Guoping said carefully, "Sir Zhou..."

Zhou Tieyi interrupted directly, "Everyone, you all know what the God Execution Department was like before."

When Zhou Tieyi said this, he started to mock everyone, and he was just short of pointing at everyone and saying, "You guys are all trash!"
"If all of you are far-sighted people, then I, Zhou Tieyi, would not be here. Since the emperor asked me to come to the God-Slaying Department and set up the Supervisory Office, it means that he wants to reform the God-Slaying Department. The emperor did not say this explicitly, but everyone knows it in their hearts."

"I'm here to reform the God-Slaying Division, not to play house with you all!"

These words formed a sharp contrast with the political tactics Zhou Tieyi had used before, and seemed extremely arrogant and bullying.

"Inspector, inspector. I have established the Inspection Office. If it doesn't even have this little authority, then how can we talk about inspection? What do you think, Lord Commander? It's impossible that the Lord Commander wants to use my sword to kill those who are just sitting there doing nothing but eating and drinking in the Divine Department, but he doesn't even have the courage to do it, right?"

This made Wei Shaoan, a shrewd man, unable to help but put his hand on the armrest of the chair next to him.

He was just thinking that Zhou Tieyi's plan was very good and how to make good use of Zhou Tieyi's sword to cut down the military meritorious official. Now Zhou Tieyi directly hit upon his thoughts and made it clear to everyone.

"Mr. Zhou, you are too kind."

Wei Shaoan turned a blind eye.

Zhou Tieyi looked at Jiao Guoping in the warehouse yard and said, "President Jiao, you are in such a hurry to speak, is it because there is something you haven't settled yet?"

Being scrutinized by Zhou Tieyi, Jiao Guoping laughed dryly and said, "The accounts of the warehouse are handed over to the commander every year for printing and reported to the Ministry of Revenue for review. How can there be no cleared accounts? Lord Zhou is joking." Zhou Tieyi took the opportunity to look at Hou Lejun, the director of the Criminal Court.

Hou Lejun snorted coldly, "Don't worry, Lord Zhou. Our prison hasn't been open for several years. There aren't even a few flies in the prison."

"That's good, that's good."

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "I am a member of the Zhengying Hall of the God-Slaying Department. We are all aboveboard. I am just playing it safe and giving His Majesty an explanation. Otherwise, I will not be worthy of the title of Inspector and His Majesty will lose face."

Wei Shaoan sighed. For the first two strategies, Zhou Tieyi completed them through the strategy of forming alliances and making coalitions. The most important thing was that these two strategies were to expand the authority of the God-Slaying Division. Everyone would support them, so he didn't need to use his power to pressure others.

After the first two strategies were implemented, everyone had already seen that Zhou Tieyi had the ability and responsibility to reform the God-Slaying Division, so Zhou Tieyi would then come up with a strategy that required using force to overwhelm others.

Since we have both the stick and the date, the Inspection Office was established.

"Let's do it this way. From now on, each hospital will submit a copy of the audit to President Zhou. After President Zhou reviews it, I will seal it."

The next thing was to inspect the number of officials in the institute, determine their ranks, the courtyard where they would work, and many other miscellaneous matters. Zhou Tieyi did not ask for any additional configuration. Like the other institutes, he asked for one deputy director of the sixth rank, four governors of the sixth rank, and a number of clerks of the seventh and eighth ranks.

After the entire department system and functions were completely divided, Wei Shaoan would seal it and then report it to the palace for filing, thus forming a standard.

After a discussion, the day had basically passed.

When Zhou Tieyi came out of the God-Slaying Division, the sky was filled with crimson sunset glow.

Zhou Tieyi looked towards the crimson sunset in the distance.

He had previously promised the playboys of Wu Xun that he would go out and have some fun after his eldest brother finished the gambling match. This was a way to win over the playboys, at least to make them feel that he had 'not changed' and was one of their own.

Zhou Tieyi would certainly not refuse such a cost-free benefit. It just so happened that the inspection institute had been confirmed today, so he could take the opportunity to screen again who were his own people and who were not.

Only then could he determine which military merit officials of the God-Slaying Division should be punished and which ones should be demoted in public and promoted in secret, and sent to local areas for training so that they could be cultivated into his confidants.

“I hope we are all one family.”

Zhou Tieyi smiled and got on the bicycle.

With Zhou Tieyi's notification, within half an hour, all the playboys among the White Tiger City's military heroes gathered in Zhou's mansion, including the fourth prince Li Jing.

"Brother Zhou, you finally want to have some fun."

This was a general's legitimate son who was one year younger than Zhou Tieyi. His name was Liu Zong. He took advantage of his young age and said with a smile, "We have long wanted to prepare a celebration banquet for Brother Zhou, but we just never had the chance. Today, we must get drunk. Maybe we can even become fellow travelers with Brother Zhou."

As he spoke, he winked at the Fourth Prince Li Jing with a cunning look, and the playboys around him also laughed along.

For men, telling dirty jokes is the best way to narrow the class gap.

Zhou Tieyi also chuckled and reached out to grab Liu Zong and squeezed him gently.

Liu Zong immediately cried out in pain.

"You are so disrespectful, kid."

To win over different people, you need to use different methods. It's okay to flirt with these sons of military honors in romantic occasions, but anyone who takes it seriously is a fool.

Liu Zong begged for mercy, and Zhou Tieyi let him go.

"Okay, let's talk flirtatious later at the banquet."

Liu Zong agreed with a smile, "By the way, Zhou Ge'er, you haven't told me where you're going to have fun today? Xiaoyao Tower or Chunfeng Pavilion?"

These two are both famous entertainment places in Xuanwu City. Above them are only Linshuixuan controlled by the crown prince and Tianbaolou in which the seventh prince has a stake.

But Zhou Tieyi has a rift with the Crown Prince and the Seventh Prince...

Zhou Tieyi kept smiling and asked, "Why don't you go to Linshuixuan?"

Liu Zong's smile froze.

The playboys around who were originally smiling also looked embarrassed.

Everyone just wants to come out and have fun, no one wants to stand in line.

And if this team doesn’t stand properly, someone will die!

Only the fourth prince Li Jing clapped his hands and smiled, "My dear brother is indeed a wonderful person!"

Zhou Tieyi smiled.

When Zhou Tieyi smiled and led everyone and his personal guards to Linshuixuan, most of the military meritorious playboys fled due to urination or illness. Zhou Tieyi did not stop these idiots, but from then on, everyone was just a passerby, so don't blame Zhou for being ruthless.

Ever since His Majesty began practicing Taoism to seek immortality, there are now three things in Tianjing that you can never go wrong by doing.

Eat, sleep, and beat the prince.

Especially since I, Zhou Tieyi, have just received an award from His Majesty, that represents His Majesty’s will, and it cannot be wrong.

······
Prince's Mansion.

Crown Prince Li Can was having dinner when suddenly a servant hurried in with another person beside him. He was the chief steward of Linshui Pavilion, "Your Highness the Crown Prince."

Li Can said kindly, "Tong Su, have you had your meal yet? If not, why don't you have some with me?"

The fact that his subordinates came in to report during meal time was enough to show that the matter was very important.

However, Li Can had been the crown prince for so long that he knew that the more urgent the moment, the more he should appear calm so as not to panic his subordinates.

The easiest way to appear calm is to invite your subordinates to dinner.

Eating is never a wrong thing to do.

"Your Highness is kind and gracious." Su Tong replied, "I came here to report something."

"what's up?"

Prince Li Can picked up a piece of beef and pretended to be nonchalant.

"Zhou Tieyi brought his men to Linshui Pavilion tonight. I'm afraid they have bad intentions. I don't know how to deal with them, so I came here to report."

If he were an ordinary person, Su Tong would certainly not be so cautious, as this would only make him appear incompetent.

But Zhou Tieyi is different. He really can't understand it and can't deal with it.

Prince Li Can paused as he picked up the beef. Looking at the table full of delicacies, he suddenly felt that the delicacies had lost their fragrance.

Taking a deep breath, Crown Prince Li Can put down his bowl and chopsticks and told the servants, "Please invite Mr. Luo to the study."

In the study room.

Crown Prince Li Can dismissed his attendants, leaving only him and Luo Miao.

"This is outrageous! This is simply too much!"

There are no outsiders, only confidants, so the prince certainly does not need to hide his true emotions.

Luo Miao did not ask the question at the first time, but said, "Your Highness, a gentleman should be cautious when alone."

Prince Li Can took a deep breath to calm himself, then bowed to Luo Miao and said, "Sir, your teaching is correct."

Then he smiled bitterly, "But I don't know why. Ever since the incident at Fengyu Lake, I've been feeling uneasy and easily angered whenever I think of Zhou Tieyi."

Luo Miao pondered for a moment, and did not comfort Crown Prince Li Can's answer casually, but said seriously, "Your Highness is connected to the world, so you must have some magical powers. Since you are annoyed with Zhou Tieyi, it is enough to show that Zhou Tieyi is a huge threat."

Prince Li Can's eyes flashed with a fierce light. He walked to the desk, picked up a string of Buddhist beads and fiddled with them. "Why do you think so?"

After talking about metaphysics, Luo Miao began to explain the specific reasons, "Zhou Tieyi's visit to Linshui Pavilion today is proof! His purpose is to force Your Highness to show up and fight with him. By then, no matter if he is right or wrong, Your Highness will be wrong!"

Crown Prince Li Can paused while moving his Buddhist beads. "Yes, I am the only one who made the mistake in the world right now. Father cannot tolerate it..."

A strong feeling of sadness welled up in his heart. From childhood to adulthood, he always believed that he was the one who would inherit the destiny, but everything changed since his father began to try to practice Taoism.

Over the past three years, with the help of his adviser Luo Miao, he has become more cautious.

But no matter how cautious he is, he can't stop others from provoking him.

Especially now that Zhou Tieyi is deeply favored by his father, who knows whether this is Zhou Tieyi's own idea, or whether Zhou Tieyi is following his father's instructions to come and test him?
After all, the people in the world who are most dissatisfied with my father's Taoism, apart from Confucianism, are myself. In fact, my resentment is far greater than that of Confucianism. As the crown prince, I am the one who is most capable of cleaning up the mess left by my father's Taoism with the help of Confucianism.

So what would the emperor think?
"Sir, do you have any advice for me?"

Luo Miao thought about it seriously and said, "The only solution now is to feed the tiger with humans."

"who?"

"Zhao Fuer."

Prince Li Can instantly understood what Luo Miao meant, which was to let Zhao Fuer continue to fight with Zhou Tieyi, and he would support Zhao Fuer behind the scenes. In this way, it would be a matter between Zhou Tieyi and the Zhao family, and he could also get away.

Moreover, it was very normal for Zhao Fuer to fight with Zhou Tieyi in Linshuixuan.

Even though Zhao Fuer was Li Can's cousin, Li Can did not hesitate at all, "I'll have someone notify Zhao Fuer right away."

Half an hour later, the person who notified Zhao Fuer came back and brought bad news to Crown Prince Li Can.

Zhao Fuer left Beijing for a long journey, and he set off overnight on May 8th, so he did not notify anyone.

(End of this chapter)