Chapter 1528: Chapter 1445: Not Enough Officials

“I’m exhausted.” A personnel department official from the Tang Country entered the room, grabbed the teacup on his desk, drank the overnight tea in one gulp, and sighed, “I’ve walked so much my shoes are nearly worn out!”

“What happened?” His colleague, buried under a mountain of forms and documents, lifted his head and asked knowingly with a smile.

Although he wasn’t sent out on assignment, the workload in the office was still overwhelming. He had been working overtime for two consecutive days without going home, his mind constantly muddled; even during meals, his head was filled with names and photos.

The personnel department recently had to select over 2,000 people daily, appoint more than 700 officials and clerks, and ensure that these personnel’s identification work resumes and files were sent to the appropriate locations.

The workload was unimaginable. Every official in the personnel department was busy to the point of exhaustion; just interviewing these minor officials preparing for new assignments was enough to drive them insane.

When Tang Mo assigned regional leaders, he found that more than half of them he had never even met, and the officials below them were even more obscure figures.

Some of these individuals had no administrative experience whatsoever, some were just heads of small factory workshops… yet now they were being recommended for positions like village chief or county chief.

Truly, there was no alternative. After all, the new territories conquered by the Great Tang Empire were vast; the new land of the Tang Empire was almost twice the size of Tang Country’s original territory, requiring an astronomical number of people to fill these areas.

For efficiency, many Qin Country and Chu Country officials were selected for reappointment, serving as interim workers performing their original duties until new officials arrived to take over.

If they performed well, the officials set to replace them might even be immediately reassigned. This served as an assessment of the old officials from the newly occupied areas; if they indeed had ability and hadn’t brought bad habits into the Great Tang Empire, they could retain their official status.

“I interviewed a group of Qin officials; those guys are slippery, and their words are watertight. I’m really at a loss.” This Tang Country official was still young, appearing to be under thirty.

Due to the rapid development of Tang Country, he had reached his current position at this age. He was an official who relied on skills to make a living and lacked much interpersonal experience in the old bureaucratic circles. This was a common deficiency among officials of the Great Tang Empire: their professional level was higher because their education was directly related to their profession, but they were too young in other aspects, no match for the old bureaucrats.

Simply put, they weren’t adept at navigating bureaucratic circles but were very competent at their work.

Therefore, assigning this thirty-year-old young official to interview a large group of senior Qin Country officials was indeed demanding; he was no match for those high-ranking Qin officials with decades of experience, and with a few glances from them, they saw through him completely.

By the end of the interview, he was the one answering questions… The other side just followed a routine few questions, and this Tang Country official fell into the role of a working clerk.

“Isn’t our boss handling this personally?” The official dealing with forms and documents asked, puzzled. Wasn’t their boss out early, headed to the interview venue?

“Our director went to the Prime Minister’s residence to personally invite that former Qin Prime Minister, Ying Ke.” The officer from the personnel department replied while drinking.

“I see. In that case, you needn’t worry so much; let Ying Ke choose the officials he wants when the time comes, right?” His colleague put down his pen, stretched with a contented groan, “Ah… my shoulders…”

Not only were workers in short supply, but the officials of the Great Tang Empire were also insufficient. The large number of vacancies made personnel arrangements extremely challenging. Many from the Great Tang Empire were dispatched to newly occupied areas to serve in important official positions.

Such promotions were unhealthy, prone to mismatches between ability and position, and potentially bred corruption. But even knowing this, the Great Tang Empire had no choice but to continue appointing officials to these areas.

To alleviate the pressure on Tang Country’s home officials from being drawn away too much, the Great Tang Empire employed many officials from the Qin Territory, and among them, the most important individual was the former Qin Prime Minister Ying Ke.

“Sounds easy, but if things go wrong, won’t I also take the fall? This year’s performance review… I’m afraid it’s over for me.” The official walked to the hot water pitcher, grabbed it, unscrewed the wooden stopper, refilled his teacup, and grumbled without looking back.

His cup of tea was poured yesterday, freshly finished today, now with just a base left; the newly poured hot water turned a pale yellow.

The overnight tea leaves tumbled in the glass cup like a small world. Holding the cup, the official returned to his position, sighing once more, “Ah… still, Ying Ke is the former Qin Prime Minister. If he can’t get it right, no matter how I choose, it’s useless.”

“Exactly! So, you should quickly organize the list of officials with a clean record now. When Ying Ke takes office, he’ll probably ask for it. Don’t let it be that you can’t produce it, leaving a bad impression on the new Wuyang City Lord.” With that, his colleague dove back into the mountain of documents.

The office was left with only the constant scratch of pen against paper, and after snapping out of it, the personnel department official immediately began searching through the piles of documents on his desk.

Eventually, that cup of tea cooled down, and the leaves inside gradually stopped swirling. It wasn’t until nearly nightfall, when someone returned dragging their tired body and casually switched on the incandescent light in the office, that the two busy ones realized they’d be working overtime again.

At the dinner table, Ying Ke contemplated the words of the Tang Country official who had just visited him. The Great Tang Empire was willing to pardon his crimes, with the condition that he must accept the position of Wuyang City Lord.

To him, serving as a “City Lord” was utterly beneath him, yet he had no way to refuse any conditions offered by Tang Country: they not only brought the decree from the former Qin Emperor Ying Duo but also the appointment from His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Tang Empire.

If he refused this… he estimated that his entire family might vanish without a trace. So, he sighed and, as if issuing an order, told his family, “Let’s eat!”

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Supplemental update, one chapter