Chapter 301: Resignation... See the Imperial Envoy!
What’s the purpose! ?
A gust of autumn wind blew from the mountains into the small courtyard. The dust on the stone table rolled like waves, and several clusters of brilliant golden chrysanthemum rhizomes swayed in the courtyard.
Zhao Duan looked at the performance of the county magistrate who had taken the blame with a strange expression, thinking that there really was such an unlucky person... He had just shouldered the blame for Wang Chusheng, and he had offended himself again.
He shook his head and was about to speak.
Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves rumbled outside the county government office.
Accompanied by noisy movements.
"What's going on?" Wang Xiancheng, the stern-faced and rat-eyed Wang Xian Cheng, was showing off his authority. He turned around and was stunned for a moment, not knowing why.
"Someone is here, why don't you go out and take a look?" Zhao Duan joked.
You care... Wang Xiancheng glared at him.
After a slight hesitation, he pushed open the courtyard door, letting the policeman at the door keep an eye on him, and ran out.
The county government office is not big. After passing through two hanging flower gates, you have reached the "sixth room".
As soon as Wang County's prime minister showed his head, he bumped head-to-head with the catcher who reported the news. He uttered an ouch and was about to curse angrily when he saw the catcher saying: "The imperial envoy and the prefect are here! Bringing many soldiers! "
The imperial envoy went to the countryside to inspect?
Wangxian Cheng was stunned for a moment, and when he was panicking, he saw Wu Yangyang from the Yamen taking the lead in breaking into two rows of soldiers, holding swords and menacingly.
Then, a group of people stepped into the Yamen surrounded by people.
At a glance, there were more than a dozen of them, and the most eye-catching one was the prefect Sun Xiaozhun who was wearing a scarlet robe.
"Master Futai! Come to the county government office. I'm sorry to welcome you from afar..."
Wang Xian Cheng immediately showed a flattering smile, his old face was like dried orange peel.
Sun Xiaozhun was panting. He nodded slightly when he heard this, turned to the "imperial envoy" beside him and said:
"Sir, this is..."
"This way."
However, the "imperial envoy" did not stop at all.
After only briefly identifying the direction, they followed the guidance of the brown security paper, led a group of people in Jinyi, skipped each other, and walked towards the side courtyard where the "prisoners" were detained.
"Eh? Imperial envoy?"
Magistrate Sun was stunned for a moment and had no choice but to follow him again.
But he didn't notice that Wang Xiancheng, who had just knelt down to him, was already struck by lightning.
Because, just now, he took a quick glance and saw that the young man who was respectfully called "Imperial Envoy" by the prefect had the same appearance as the suspect in the Yamen.
Where in the world are there exactly the same people?
“It’s broken!” Wang Xian Cheng’s heart skipped a beat and he quickly turned around to follow.
At this time, Magistrate Sun was also carried to the side courtyard door with a confused look on his face.
"Back off!"
Hou Ren fiercely threw out his scabbard, knocking the guard guard to the ground. The slightly dilapidated courtyard door was pushed open by Qian Kerou.
Squeak——
With the door open, both parties inside and outside the small courtyard can see each other clearly.
Zhao Duan smiled slightly: "You are here."
"Sir!" The round-faced secretary shouted with excitement in her eyes.
Magistrate Sun just now managed to squeeze in from the outside. When he happened to see this scene, he was obviously stunned for a moment, and his mind was buzzing.
Wait...why...
He subconsciously turned his head to look at the "imperial envoy" beside him, only to see that noble man who had been silent and expressionless since he entered the city raised his hand and wiped his face, restoring Shen Juan's original smiling appearance.
He held the colorful mask named "Jiuyi" in both hands, which was quite similar to Picasso's painting style. He respectfully came to the "Gongzi Ge" in the courtyard, bowed down and presented it with both hands:
" Sir, the property must be returned to its original owner, but I really can’t pretend anymore.”
The remaining few people approached the Jinyi Colonel, stepped forward, and at the same time cupped their fists and saluted:
"Subordinate, please see the imperial envoy!"
Chen Hong, the green-robed censor, slowly stepped forward, and the deputy saluted the two of them in turn:
"Master Zhao, Princess, you two are frightened."
Xu Junling nodded slightly, and everyone smiled without showing their teeth.
Song Juren froze in his position.
Magistrate Sun was dumbfounded.
"Master Futai...wait a minute..."
behind.
Wang Xian Cheng, who was wearing an eighth-grade official robe and a seventh-grade black gauze, hurriedly rolled in and half shouted.
Immediately, there was a pop, his knees weakened, and he fell to the ground. Cold sweat instantly poured into the waterfall, soaking through his clothes.
The sinister-looking face looked at this scene with dullness and horror, and the black gauze hat on top of his head tilted and fell to the ground.
"Imperial... imperial envoy... county... princess?"
Wang Xian Cheng's vision went dark, he felt like he had fallen into hell and couldn't breathe.
Zhao Duan raised his hand, took the disguise mask, and sat still. The wind and clouds swept across the crowd, and finally landed on the Taicang prefect whom he finally saw at this moment, and smiled: "Sun Xiaozhun? No. I thought that I would meet you as a suspect in this county government office."
After a pause, he said quietly:
"You are a good parent."
Sun Xiaozhun's forehead was covered with cold sweat in an instant.
…
Outside the county government.
"Xilulu..."
The two horses stopped suddenly. Coach Xie reined in the reins and looked at the county government office that was tightly blocked by the cavalry from a distance, with a strange look on his face.
He followed him all the way here. He originally wanted to find an opportunity to report to the magistrate alone, but he didn't want to and followed him to the county government office.
"Master, why are you here at the county government office? Ah, it's those people's carriage!"
The young man Xiao Wu suddenly raised his hand and pointed at the two carriages parked outside the Yamen in the distance.
"Keep your voice down!"
Coach Xie covered his mouth, his expression solemn and confused.
The master of his family, and the man and woman from out of town, were in the county government office. The front leg was arrested, and the rear leg of the imperial envoy arrived... Could it be that those two people were really some kind of suspects? Attracting government pursuit?
"I'll wait here. You go back to Zhuangzi immediately and explain the situation here."
Coach Xie suddenly said to him:
"Lest we delay our return and make our family worried."
"Oh..." The young man was a little reluctant, but he still turned the horse and ran towards Songjiazhuang.
However, after leaving for a while, Xiao Wu ran back again, with an agitated expression:
"Thank you, Master. Unfortunately, there is another group of horsemen coming outside the town. They are all wearing robes of the same color as the prefect. They seem to be high-ranking officials, coming this way!"
Senior officials of rank four or above...
In the head of Xie Jiaotou, the Chief Envoy and the Inspector came to mind, two big figures in charge of the entire Linfeng, and he was greatly shocked.
Suddenly the suspicion just now was overturned.
If he was just a thief, how could he have alerted so many big shots to come?
"Could it be that he is a noble person? A noble person who can make even the second-grade officials come to see him in person?"
…
…
Taicang County Government!
In Houya, another courtyard usually reserved for county magistrates, Zhao Duan and Sun Xiaozhun stepped into this small courtyard one after the other.
The princess and others all went to the second hall in front of the county government office to rest.
Leave them alone here to talk.
Different from the dilapidated courtyard that was idle and used as a temporary "detention center" just now, this one is much more orderly, but still simple.
Just extra clean.
Behind it is the private residence where the county magistrate lives daily. This large yard occupies a very large area.
A small shaded pavilion was built in the corner.
There is a small low fence in the middle of the courtyard, filled with patches of brilliant autumn chrysanthemums.
At a glance, it occupies almost half of the courtyard. When you raise your head, standing in the courtyard, you can clearly see the red mountains in the distance.
The view is superb.
In addition, there are two particularly fat white geese raised in the courtyard.
This will see strangers come in, flapping their wings and making a quacking sound.
But after Zhao Duan glanced at him, he timidly fled to a tree in the corner.
"Whoosh-"
The cold autumn wind blew and the autumn chrysanthemums all over the courtyard were swaying neatly. Zhao Duan felt the cool breeze blowing on his face and praised with his hands behind his hands:
"What a beautiful natural scenery. When I left the capital, I thought that I would leave the bustling capital and come to this big mine. There would probably be nothing interesting to see. However, I didn't expect that after one day in Taicang, I saw many things that I had never seen before. Wonderful scenery.”
You'd better say "scenery" in a literal sense...
beside.
Magistrate Sun, who has a capable temperament and is known for doing things vigorously and resolutely. Due to his dark skin and thin appearance, he looks older than his actual age.
When walking, he was half a step behind the imperial envoy.
In terms of grades, both of them are in the fourth grade.
However, the status of the imperial envoys who leave Beijing is similar to that of the governor, and the chief envoy must be extremely polite when he comes.
He was a district magistrate, even less temperamental, and immediately said: "Before I was transferred here two years ago, I thought like an adult.
However, the place I stayed in before was more miserable, so I didn’t care. After coming here, I realized that the scenery here hundreds of years ago was far better than it is now.
However, the mine is getting bigger and bigger, and there are more explosions and collapses, which makes the scenery not as good as before. "
"That's a pity," Zhao Duan said in surprise, turned his head, glanced at the Taicang magistrate, and said:
"However, although the scenery is beautiful, it cannot fill the stomachs of the people. Mining will benefit the country and the people. When I came, I saw that the local people were quite wealthy. For example, the Songjiazhuang. I heard from the princess that it would be good if it was placed on the Huai River. ”
Sun Xiaozhun couldn't figure out what he was thinking, so he had to say safely: "What Mr. Zhao said is absolutely true. Not only does the Taicang Silver Mine collect silver for the court every year, but the wages the government hires for mining are also much better than those of Nongsang." If there are more, over time, you will naturally be richer than elsewhere.”
There was a pause.
Sun Xiaozhun glanced at the young and handsome imperial envoy.
Seeing his indifferent expression, he cautiously said:
"Master Zhao, I really didn't know that you came here privately incognito and was arrested by the magistrate of this county... I really did not know that I was negligent in my duty..."
Zhao Duan waved his hand with a warm smile, no anger visible:
"Sun Futai's words are serious. I made this secret visit all the way just to see the situation among the people with my own eyes, so as not to stand too high and not be able to see the tiny dust underneath.
When I was in the capital, the Grand Master also told me that after serving as an official in the court for a long time, you will not be able to grasp the local spirit, think about things, and decide national policies, and it will be easy to fall into the wrong place...
What's more, when people are walking on the road, it is easy to be blinded by strong winds. The higher you stand, the stronger the wind, right? The wind and sand cover the sky and the sun?
Wouldn’t this case of silver mining corruption cover His Majesty’s eyes? That's why we, as ministers, need to travel thousands of miles for His Majesty to come and have a look. Do you think this is true? "
Sun Xiaozhun could only nod his head:
"That's what Mr. Zhao said."
"So,"
Zhao Duan looked at him with a smile:
"Look, if I hadn't personally visited the people, how would I have suffered like this?
Haha, Sun Futai, please rest assured. I am not that unreasonable person. It is a major case now and the whereabouts of the suspect are unknown. You want the people below to be more vigilant and guard against death. This is the way it should be.
It is not wrong to capture this officer, but it is to fulfill one's duty. "
"...Your Majesty, you are magnanimous."
Sun Xiaozhun was confused by what he said, and he became increasingly unsure of what the imperial envoy really meant, so he could only choose to praise him safely.
"but……"
The next second, Zhao Duan changed the topic, stopped suddenly, stared at him, and said with a smile: "I have something unclear, and I would like to ask the receptionist to clarify my confusion."
(End of chapter)