Chapter 159 Leaving Beijing
“Back to Your Highness, Zhang Xiuting has a deep background, and I dare not act rashly. Moreover, the evidence I had before was not sufficient. In order to win his trust, I had to pretend to be complicit with him. Only then did I Enough evidence has been collected," Shi Jingbo said.
Zhao Xing was noncommittal upon hearing this. Why did he join in the conspiracy just to gain trust? He should have been in the same boat.
Now that the ship was in danger of sinking, I chose to jump off the ship to save myself.
However, Zhao Xing did not intend to go into details. Shi Jingbo reported to Yangwu County Magistrate. If he punished him himself, who would dare to report?
Not only would Zhao Xing not punish him, he would also use him.
Shi Jingbo's backstabbing is very shameful in the officialdom. If he wants to gain a foothold in the officialdom, he can only rely on Zhao Xing.
"In order to collect evidence, you worked hard and endured hardships. You are so relieved. If you find out that it is true, I will definitely reward you." Zhao Xing said.
“Thank you, Your Highness!” Shi Jingbo said excitedly.
He chose to report Zhang Xiuting, and he went through a battle between heaven and man in his heart.
Zhong Zhong's signs indicate that His Highness the Crown Prince is not just talking, but is ready to take action.
Zhang Xiuting was too deeply involved with the landlords and squires in Yangwu County, and chose to go against His Highness the Crown Prince.
But he is different.
After all, he was just the county magistrate. Although he also received benefits, Zhang Xiuting was more in charge.
Shi Jingbo is betting again this time, betting that if he exposes and reports Zhang Xiuting, His Highness the Crown Prince will not hold him accountable for his faults, but will instead reward him.
Even if he loses the bet, he has the merit of exposing and reporting, and at most he will be dismissed from office.
If you and Zhang Xiuting work together to hide the truth, you will be exiled even if you can save your life.
Now it seems that I made the right bet.
Zhao Xing chatted with Shi Jingbo for a while, asked him about the situation in Yangwu County, and then left.
Shi Jingbo did not ask Zhao Xing when he would attack Zhang Xiuting, and bowed and retreated.
Zhao Xing tapped his fingers on the table unconsciously. Shi Jingbo was the first, definitely not the last.
There were only three county magistrates involved by Guo Zixuan before. Although the others had some problems, they were not serious.
Zhao Xing cannot rashly replace all county magistrates, and he does not have so many trusted people to replace.
Although he selected some people from Xinke Jinshi, these people lacked experience. Not only were they not familiar with the conditions in each county, they could not cope with such a situation.
Sheng Changbai and the other three are the ones he thinks have the most outstanding abilities. Qi Heng has also been fooled around and has been unable to open up the situation until now.
Talk about Cao Cao, Cao Cao arrives.
While Zhao Xing was meditating, a young eunuch came in and bowed: "Your Highness, Young Master Qi sent someone to deliver a letter."
Sanshui stepped forward to take it. , sent to Zhao Xing.
Zhao Xing took it and opened it and read it. In the letter, Qi Heng described a series of things that happened after he took office, some of the mistakes he made, and finally expressed his desire to ask for help.
"I finally came to my senses." Zhao Xing smiled.
He knew about the situation at Qi Heng a few days ago, but did not intervene. Even the original back-up team avoided Weishi County where Qi Heng was located.
In Zhao Xing's view, lack of experience can be exercised, and this time itself is an opportunity to exercise.
He wanted to see when Qi Heng would discover the problem and ask for help.
"Go find Yin Hanzhang." Zhao Xing ordered.
"Yes." Sanshui responded and retreated.
Zhao Xing put the letter aside and continued to review Zazi.
About half an hour later, Yin Hanzhang walked into the hall.
After waiting for him to see the ceremony, Zhao Xing asked: "How is the situation in each county?"
"Back to Your Highness..."
Yin Hanzhang told the news in each county in detail Read it again.
Those who went to various counties to drum up their grievances were found by the spies he had placed over the years.
Not only were these people persuaded by him through various means to stop being private, they were also under his protection.
Despite this, more than a dozen people who complained were still killed, and even many of the people who protected them died.
After Yin Hanzhang finished speaking, he took a careful look at Zhao Xing's face.
This time it was his negligence. He originally thought that this place was at the feet of the emperor. Even if someone assassinated the people who complained, he did not dare to use too many people. Unexpectedly, those people were even crazier than he imagined.
After hearing this, Zhao Xing did not mean to blame, but was very interested in another piece of news.
"You mean that when the Shen girl passed by Weishi County, she invited Qi Heng to meet at the inn at night?" Zhao Xing asked.
“Back to Your Highness, that’s right.” Yin Hanzhang said.
"The Shen girl is a good wife." Zhao Xing murmured.
Although the atmosphere of the Song Dynasty was not as open as that of the Tang Dynasty, it was not as feudal as that of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
The girl's house wouldn't be open to the public, and she wouldn't even show up to talk to a man, just gossip or something like that.
Just like Zhao Xing invited Zhang Guifen and others to sit around the tent and chat at the polo club, it would not be considered a violation of etiquette.
But that's all in public, not in private.
It would be a violation of etiquette for Zhao Xing to take Zhang Guifen and the others to Jinmingchi.
He just invited a few concubines who have already been confirmed. He is both the prince and the only son. Even if he violates etiquette, no one in the court will use this as an issue.
But the situation of the Shen girl and Qi Heng is different. Although the two are engaged, if they meet at night, spreading the word will have a great impact on the reputation of the two families.
The Shen family comes from a scholarly family and must be very strict with girls. Under normal circumstances, it is impossible for a Shen family girl to do such a thing. Even if Qi Heng takes the initiative to go, she won't see him.
But the real situation was that she took the initiative to invite him, and the two of them chatted in the room for a long time.
Combined with Qi Heng's letter, Zhao Xing came to the conclusion that Qi Heng only asked him for help after being persuaded by the Shen family girl.
As a result, his rating of Qi Heng was greatly reduced.
Zhao Xing shook his head, no longer thinking about these side details, looked at Yin Hanzhang and asked: "Where is the evidence?"
The people who complained were assassinated, and Zhao Xing was actually very angry.
But Yin Hanzhang cannot be blamed for this matter. Zhao Xing's positioning of the intelligence system is only an intelligence system, and it does not have a certain degree of force like Jin Yiwei.
Moreover, the intelligence system is now secretive and does not even have an official identity. If it raises some thugs and is discovered by others, it will be suspected of rebellion.
Even if his father had only one son like him, he would not dare to gamble.
The evidence he asked about was whether he had found out who sent it.
Yin Hanzhang also knew this. Hearing this, he said: "We have found some clues. It will take some time to prove it."
"Why didn't you tell Gu?" Zhao Xing said lightly.
He could not pursue the assassination of the people who complained, but he could not care less about Yin Hanzhang's failure to report.
"Your Highness." Yin Hanzhang said with some cold sweat on his forehead: "I just learned the news not long ago. I wanted to wait for the investigation results to come out before reporting it to Your Highness."
Zhao Xing did not speak, just looked at it like this. Looking at him.
Although Yin Hanzhang did not raise his head and couldn't see Zhao Xing's gaze, he could feel it.
Sweat was pouring from his forehead, and cold sweat was oozing from his back.
The reason why he did not report it was because he was worried that Zhao Xing would blame him, so he wanted to report it after finding the evidence to reduce his guilt.
After a long time, Zhao Xing withdrew his gaze and said coldly: "Go back and get the thirty pieces. If you do it again, first think about whether your neck is hard."
He can naturally guess some of Yin Hanzhang's little thoughts.
Had it not been for the lack of a suitable replacement, Zhao Xing would have been ready to replace him.
However, this incident also reminded him that the intelligence system cannot be controlled by Yin Hanzhang alone, and he must find someone to control it.
Now that Yin Hanzhang can delay the news in order to reduce his punishment, he may conceal the news from him in the future for some benefits.
"Yes!" Yin Hanzhang breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this.
Zhao Xing looked at him without saying a word, putting a lot of pressure on him.
"Write it down first, I am going to Yangwu County in the near future. If there is any trouble in each county, be sure to report it as soon as possible." Zhao Xing ordered.
Now it is time for him to take action personally and show his determination.
"Yes!" Yin Hanzhang responded quickly.
"Go." Zhao Xing waved his hand.
…………
Zhao Xing thought well. In the next few days, some officials came to him to report.
Seeing that the time was right, Zhao Xingqiu met with his father and proposed to go to Yangwu County.
Yangwu County is located to the east of Bianjing, more than a hundred miles away from Bianjing, and is one of the outermost counties of Kaifeng Prefecture.
Counties closer to Bianjing have fewer problems, while counties farther away from Bianjing have fewer real powerful people.
This is also the reason why Zhao Xing chose Yangwu County.
The officials were a little hesitant about Zhao Xing going to Yangwu County in person, but in the end they agreed despite Zhao Xing's pleading.
After all, Yangwu is not far from Bianjing, so there will be no danger.
After receiving his father’s permission, Zhao Xing returned to the East Palace and made arrangements.
This is the real time he left Bianjing when he grew up. Although he went to the polo field outside the city before, he was still within the scope of Bianjing.
This time he went to Yangwu County. Although he did not leave Kaifeng Mansion, Zhao Xing was very excited.
If possible, Zhao Xing would still like to travel around and see different scenery.
But he knew that this situation was almost impossible.
When I went to Yangwu County, my father hesitated for a long time before agreeing. If it was far away, my father would not agree at all.
Even if he ascends the throne in the future, he will not be able to leave Bianjing easily.
So Zhao Xing was still full of excitement about this outing.
Originally Zhao Xing wanted to take Yu Yanran with him, but after thinking about it carefully he gave up the idea.
He went to Yangwu County not for sightseeing, so it was a bit inconvenient to take Yu Yanran with him.
Early that morning, Zhao Xing, escorted by Yu Yanran, boarded a carriage, and under the protection of a thousand forbidden troops, left the city from the east gate and headed towards Yangwu County.
During this trip, except for my father, even the accompanying guards only knew about it before departure.
It’s more than a hundred miles away, and you definitely can’t reach it by land in one day.
We stopped in a county town to rest for the night.
For the sudden arrival of His Royal Highness, the county officials were frightened. However, after Zhao Xing entered the city, he went directly to the inn without meeting these officials. He left early the next morning, which made these officials baffling.
(End of this chapter)