Lin Yutang mentioned Jiang Dao's Great Prison, which also hits the itchy spot of Gao Xingjian.

  When Gu Wu Chen first arrived in Jiangning, he served as the deputy inspector of Jiangdong. He had to establish himself in Jiangning before considering making changes. Even if there was a saying that new officials would make three moves, it was just a small disturbance, and easily hurting the interests of most people would lead to strong backlash, which is not what wise men do. Moreover, Gu Wu Chen wouldn't forget that he still had the inspector general above him, as well as a large group of people in Jiangning waiting for him to make mistakes.

  Of course, Gu Wudu was not a person who would give up seeking progress just because the situation was difficult. In these days of taking office in Jiangning, he was also thinking about finding an inconspicuous place to break through the situation.

  The Jiangdong Prison was initially jointly promoted by the Jiangning Ministry of Punishment and the Jiangdong Censorate to build a prison city, with the intention of replacing exile with long-term imprisonment and hard labor. However, within a year of its completion, the proposal for the prison city was vetoed by the central authorities in Beijing, and it became a regular prison for ordinary convicts sentenced to penal servitude under the Jiangdong Censorate.

  Seven or eight years ago, the Western Qin faction was in power and controlled the central government, viewing the Jiangning Guardian of the Mausoleum as nothing. In recent years, the Jiangning Penal Department and the Jiangdong Inspectorate have been constantly petitioning to reopen the prison city, but were repeatedly rejected by the central government. As the saying goes, "Thirty rivers east, thirty rivers west", today the Western Qin faction officials are no longer trusted by His Majesty, and the Chu Party has risen in the central government. Gu Wudian thought that now was the time when the resistance to reopening the prison city would be the smallest.

  Gu Wudu was not a simple optimist, and he knew that the character of these officials in Jiangning was really limited. They spent more time bickering with the central government in Yanjing. In the past, when the central government opposed them, they would constantly petition, and if the central government agreed, they would turn around and oppose it. Gu Wudu felt that before he brought up the proposal to rebuild the prison again, he had to make sufficient preparations, after all, the conditions for reopening the prison were not yet ripe.

  The Jiangdong Procuratorate's prison in the city had only sixty guards, relying on the Jiangning Garrison and the Jiangning Defense Army for defense; the Jiang Island Prison was isolated outside the city and located in the Zhongtianwang waters, where pirates and bandits frequently passed through, so there were twice as many guards stationed there compared to the city prison.

  Due to the fact that a considerable number of prisoners in Jiangdong Prefecture were scattered and imprisoned in various prefectures and counties, only those who were sentenced to three years or more but less than five years of hard labor and had no money to redeem their crimes were transferred to Jiang Island Prison for centralized imprisonment. (Prisoners from outside Jiangning Prefecture would try their best to use money to redeem their crimes to below three years in order to avoid being imprisoned far away from home, even if they were poor at home.) As a result of these circumstances, the total number of prisoners imprisoned on Jiang Island was less than one hundred.

  Because the number of prisoners detained is limited, the accumulated materials on the island are naturally limited. With sufficient guard forces, although there have been river bandits and pirates passing through, the vast majority will not actively disturb the island.

  Once the prison is reopened, everything will be completely different.

  After the reopening of the prison, all prisoners sentenced to exile in Jiangdong County were concentrated in Jiangdao Prison, and even those who had been exiled to the border would be transferred to the prison through various channels. The number of prisoners in Jiangdao Prison will soon exceed 1,000, and the reserve materials on the island will increase greatly, making it more attractive to the Jianghu water bandits. Another point is that managing prisoners sentenced to exile for serious crimes is obviously more difficult than managing those sentenced to imprisonment for minor crimes, and many of them are leaders of powerful gangs or mountain bandits who have committed murder and robbery, so there will be frequent incidents of prisoners escaping from prison through internal and external collusion.

  In this way, the defensive strength of Jiang Island Prison will appear to be very weak, and it can even be said that there are loopholes everywhere. Especially when the people of Jiangning are watching with a good attitude, Gu Wudeng cannot expect the Jiangning garrison stationed outside the city to provide timely rescue.

  There were too many officials in Jiangning who wanted to see a good show for themselves. Once they petitioned the central government to reopen the prison, it would only lead to a large number of recidivists escaping or attracting mobs to attack the prison. Gu Wudu thought that if he could keep his position at that time, it would be good enough, and there was no need to talk about reforming the old system.

  Requesting the central government to reopen the prison is an extremely cautious matter, and Gu Wudu would not take risks with his own future without being absolutely sure. However, when Lin Xuan proposed going to Jiang Island Prison as the warden, his thoughts became active again. If Lin Xuan really had the ability, it might be possible for the conditions to reopen the prison to be met.

  *****************

  Lin Xie said that with just three to five hundred elite troops, he could defend the Jiang Island Prison and the Jin Chuan River mouth as solidly as a golden soup. Yang Shi stood aside, somewhat disdainful, while Gu Wu dusted off his interest and began discussing with Lin Xie.

  "The Inspectorate is a civil official's office, although it still has a small amount of directly controlled military power. Perhaps only the guards at the side of officials can be considered elite, and generally, capturing bandits relies on the local garrison or village soldiers and militia. The prison guards' military strength is even less reliable," said Gu Wuchen. "You say that relying on three to five hundred elites can make the Jiang Island Prison as secure as a fortress, but I also have no way to deploy three to five hundred elites for you..."

  "Lin Fu is slightly familiar with the law of military training," Lin Fu knew what Gu Wu Chen meant, and he only wanted to take the place of military training, "Lin Fu can go to Dongyang Prefecture on behalf of the adults to recruit sons and brothers as guards."

  Although the garrison troops under the jurisdiction of the Governor's Office are the main body of the military power of the Great Viet Dynasty, this dynasty has always had a traditional tendency to control the military with civil officials. Outside the garrison system, there have been repeated cases of civil officials directly commanding soldiers, such as Shen Zong, the governor of Dongyang Prefecture, who boldly reformed the prefectural army under his jurisdiction. This is probably also because the court trusted civil officials more. When Lin Fu proposed to recruit local troops in Dongyang Prefecture, Gu Wu Chen did not feel particularly surprised, at least he thought Lin Fu had no ulterior motives.

  In Jiangning, Gu Wu Chen was the natural leader of the Dongyang Township Party, and the Dongyang soldiers recruited by Lin Mou would be directly incorporated into the jurisdiction of the Procuratorate, so these three to five hundred crack troops could be said to be his private army.

  Gu Wudu wasn't harboring any other ambitions, but he thought that in the future, having three to five hundred local soldiers at his disposal would be more convenient. He said: "Let's not talk about these things for now, first tell me about your methods for training soldiers..." If possible, in the future he would let Yang Pu, Ma Chao or Yang She directly lead these three to five hundred local soldiers to Jiang Island's Great Prison as prison guards. However, none of the three had any official titles, and their military ranks were a bit too low. Moreover, he felt that Lin Xie was still trustworthy.

  "Su Hou's 'Wu Xue Qi Jing Zhu' collects the great achievements of our ancestors in military affairs," Lin said, his eyes fixed on the books in Gu Wu Chen's hand. "I was lucky enough to read a few fragmented chapters and gained some insight into the methods of commanding troops..." He then carefully explained to Gu Wu Chen the tactics for commanding troops, governing soldiers, and deploying troops that he had been discussing with Zhou Pu during this time.

  Since ancient times, literati have had the habit of discussing military strategy on paper and fantasizing about conquering the world. Gu Wu Chen was no exception. What sets him apart is that he spent ten years in the army, giving him a deeper understanding and recognition of the art of commanding troops than those who only discuss military strategy on paper. This is also something he takes pride in. He originally thought Lin Zhen had some understanding and insight into military strategy at a general level, but didn't realize that Lin Zhen was actually well-versed in the tactics of small-scale troop deployment and training. These subtle details were precisely what those who only discussed military strategy on paper lacked. Lin Zhen spoke with great eloquence, moving Gu Wu Chen to tears after nearly ten years in the army. Yang Pu and Ma Chao came to urge him to go to the government office, but he was so engrossed in his conversation with Lin Zhen that he let Yang Pu and Yang Shi replace him at the office, telling them to rush back and report if anything urgent came up.

  Gu Wudu sighed and said, "I still suggest you go to Yanjing. Take my letter to Yanjing, as long as Tang Gong and Zhang recognize your talent, even if the imperial examination doesn't go well, you don't have to worry about not having a way out in Yanjing..."

  Lin Xie smiled and said: "Lin Xie would rather assist you in Jiangning..."

  "Are you not feeling wronged by just being in charge of the prison?" Gu Wu Chen asked, he too had hoped that Lin Xuan would stay to help him, as he was greatly lacking capable assistants in Jiangning. In his view, using Lin Xuan to govern the Jiang Island Prison and reopen the prison city held great promise. Successfully reopening the prison city and maintaining it would be a major innovation for this dynasty's judicial system.

  "Lin Xuan wants to take on this case, but still has a hint of personal feelings." Lin Xuan said.

  "Oh?" Gu Wu Chen looked at Lin Xuan.

  "Lin Xuan intends to build a warehouse at the mouth of the Jin River..." Lin Xuan said.

  It's better to be frank now than to let Gu Wu Chen feel embarrassed when he finds out later, and it would be easier for him to understand the situation if a warehouse is built at the mouth of the Jin Chuan River.

  "Ha ha," Gu Wu Chen was very satisfied with Lin Xuan's frankness, and besides, his family had a silver share in Ji Yun Society. If he didn't allow Lin Xuan to take care of personal matters at all, how could his family still have the face to take dividends from Ji Yun Society in the future? He said with a smile, "Although it is said that officials should be selfless and just, truly selfless and just people are only sung about in operas, never seen in real life. You just need to remember not to neglect public duties for personal reasons."

  "Lin Xian remembered the teachings of his seniors." Lin Xian said.

  "Ah, the recruitment of Wu Ze's matter is urgent and cannot be delayed. On the other hand, this prison officer position was obtained by chance. You can wait for my news in the next two days," Gu Wudun said naturally, "You go to govern the prison, many things need to be done gradually. You have a lot of talent and are dedicated to serving the imperial court, don't worry about your future prospects. Didn't Dong Yuan also come from a family of scholars?"

  "Thank you, sir, for promoting me." Lin Xie stood up and bowed to Gu Wu Chen.

  Gu Wu Chen and Lin Fu had lunch together, after lunch, Gu Wu Chen went to the government office to take his post, while Lin Fu and Zhou Pu returned to Ji Yun Ju. Lin Fu did not expect that persuading Gu Wu Chen to take the position of Jiang Island Prison would be so smooth, thinking about it carefully, he could also guess that Gu Wu Chen intentionally made Jiang Island Prison his first move in making a clean sweep in Jiangning.

  Lin Xie didn't know how much longer the ailing Da Yue Dynasty could last, but he knew that Gu Wu Chen's desire to reform the current bureaucratic system was extremely difficult. He and Zhou Pu returned to Ji Yun Ju, leading their horses into the courtyard, where Qian Xiao Wu said there were guests waiting. Lin Xie took a peek and saw that it was Qian Xiao Wu's old creditor, Chen Lai Wu from Xi Cheng, standing in the courtyard with a greasy face.