Chapter 78 Talent Poaching (2/2)
”I might be acquainted with him, but we're not close enough to be called friends. Why did you ask?”
”I wish to invite Sima Fang and his family to this city as well. Can you invite him, too? Oh, I almost forgot it again. Can you also send a letter to your disciple Gongsun Zan? I wish to ask him for a favor. Say, if he had a subordinate with the name 'Zhao Yun' with the courtesy name 'Zilong', could he lend the person to me? Or maybe we can use our agents to locate him first and invite him to join us instead of approaching Gongsun Zan.”
Lu Zhi gave Tong an odd stare. He did not know what this eccentric disciple of his tried to achieve, but he accepted the requests and promised Tong that he would write letters to them later.
Lu Zhi had no idea why Tong stressed that he wanted Sima Fang and Zhao Yun no matter what. He decided to dispatch the newly trained spies to the capital and Beiping City to gather the information about the two.
…
…
February 10th.
Tong and Lu Zhi completed the new constitution and the new laws for the citizens of Julu. The details were presented in the morning assembly which shocked Zhang Jiao and everyone.
The officials debated and argued at each other for the entire day because of it, but they eventually agreed to comply after Zhang Jiao suddenly blurted out certain words.
”Don't forget. We are blessed by the child of Heaven …”
The eyes of the 200 officials glinted for a second, then they reverted back to normal as if nothing happened. Meanwhile, the rest of the officials looked at each other in confusion because the majority of their colleagues suddenly shut their mouth.
Afterward, one of them expressed their agreement, after which the other 199 staffs followed suit as if they were part of the flash mobs.
Tong and Lu Zhi stared at the scene, baffled by the sudden reaction of the 200 officials. Although it was a strange turn of events, they did not mind it because their objective was completed.
…
February 15th.
The announcements about the new laws were posted on the local signboards around the city.
”From this day onward, all citizens of Julu City will have to report to the authority at the city hall to make an identity token for yourself. By the end of April, if any citizen is found without any identification token, he will be arrested.”
”Second announcement, only Julu city government can buy the food that farmers had harvested from the government farms. No merchant can buy the grain or provision directly from farmers. The violator will be arrested and prosecuted by the laws. However, merchants can still sell food to the citizens of Julu.”
”Third announcement, the price that the city hall will purchase the grain from the farmers will be fixed at 5 tons of any vegetable, grain or other kinds of provision per one gold or one coin per five kilograms of any provision.”
”Fourth announcement, from this day onward, the farming tax will be reduced to 20% of the harvested crops, and the seeds of various types of vegetables and grain will be provided by the city hall for free. However, the farmer who wishes to request for the seeds must have an identification token made by the city hall and must plant the crops on the city government's territory. Any violator who steals the seeds to somewhere else will be arrested and prosecuted by the laws.”
”Fifth announcement, all lands in Julu District territories that is currently owned by any person must be sold back to the city government. The price …”
”Sixth announcement, unauthorized personnel cannot hire or possess any private soldier within the city …”
”Seventh announcement, no weapon is allowed within the following areas …”
”Eight announcements …”
”Tenth announcement …”
”Twentieth announcement …”
Series of announcements from the city government were lined up in an orderly fashion. The scholars who came to read the news were in awe. They could not help but cry out.
”A massive change is coming. Zhang Jiao is planning something big!”