Hai Rui saw the expression on his wife's face and said helplessly.
"I haven't thought clearly yet whether I should agree to the Imperial Envoy and serve in the Inspectorate!"
"Why don't you go? Do you know how many people dream of this? This may be your last chance in this life!"
After hearing what her husband said, Hai Rui's wife Wang became furious and couldn't help but retort.
"Since ancient times, the capital has never been a good place!"
"The water in this capital city is very deep. If a small wave comes down, everyone will be ruined. I'm afraid..."
After Hai Rui finished speaking, he immediately turned his eyes to his wife, Wang, with a look of hesitation on his face.
"But if you miss this opportunity, I'm afraid you will never have any hope of promotion! Do you want to be an unknown county magistrate here for the rest of your life?"
"Isn't there a saying that the higher you stand, the further you can see? Didn't you say before that you wanted to help the world and realize your own ambitions?"
"Sometimes, only when you reach that position can you be free from shackles and unleash your ambitions! Otherwise, how can you, a seventh-grade magistrate, help the world?"
After Hai Rui's wife, Wang, finished speaking, she poured her husband a cup of hot tea with a worried look on her face.
After hearing what his wife Wang said, Hai Rui seemed to have made some kind of determination, with an inexplicable light shining in his eyes.
For some reason, he suddenly recalled a sentence Zheng Michang once told him.
"Listen up, in the officialdom, you have to be like the light!"
When Hai Rui was deep in thought, Wang did not interrupt him, but chose to stay by his side quietly.
After a long time, Hai Rui came back to his senses and said to himself silently: "Ah, be like the light and the dust? No! Maybe there is another way to go, and no one in the past and present dares to say that they have walked the entire journey of this way."
"In that case, let me, Hai Rui, give it a try!"
Hai Rui suddenly stood up from his seat, his eyes seemed to be burning with fire, and his whole person was full of fighting spirit!
Then, he turned around with a determined look on his face and said solemnly: "I will go to the Governor's Mansion in person later to meet with the Imperial Envoy and officially take up his post in the Inspectorate!"
After Hai Rui finished speaking, he left the room without looking back, and immediately went to the county office, where he wanted to finish all the remaining official duties.
…
Jiangxi, Nanchang Prefecture.
At this moment, Jiangxi Governor Cao Shunhe was anxiously waiting for news from his subordinates.
After a while, a burst of chaotic footsteps was heard. His subordinates knelt on the ground and reported in a deep voice.
"Report to the Governor, according to your order, the nearby guard station has sent soldiers from Shanshui to go to the river near the wrecked ship to salvage it, but still found nothing."
"The official salt that sank into the water was not found!"
After Cao Shunhe learned the news from his subordinates, he couldn't help but became furious: "Send more people and continue to look for me!"
"I don't believe it. The official salt on more than 20 ships just disappeared?"
"Yes, Lord Governor! Your subordinates will go and report your order to the capital commander."
After the subordinate responded, he quickly left.
Cao Shunhe seemed to have lost all his strength, and he fell back on the chair feebly.
Just a few nights ago, more than 20 large ships responsible for transporting official salt from the government had an accident while passing through a narrow local river. Several large ships were involved in the undercurrent, hit the rocks and sank!
When the government received the distress message and rushed to the scene for rescue, they suddenly discovered that more than 20 large ships, except for the ones that sank, were all docked intact on the shore.
Not only that, the people on the ship and the thousands of kilograms of official salt it carried were also missing.
Cao Shunhe knew very well that the whole thing had a strange atmosphere.
He was quite familiar with the river where the incident occurred. According to common sense, the fleet should be able to pass through safely.
But it happened that the fleet responsible for transporting official salt had an accident here!
"Come here, bring me the hydrological map of the nearby area!"
Perhaps to verify his conjecture, Cao Shunhe ordered.
"Yes, Lord Governor!"
The guard on the side took the order and left, and soon, a complete hydrological map appeared in front of Cao Shunhe.
"The fleet had an accident here. There are few people around here, so it's an excellent place for an ambush!"
Cao Shunhe pointed with his finger at the place where the fleet accident happened, continued to look around, and came to this conclusion.
"But there aren't any well-known bandit gangs around here?"
Cao Shunhe put away the map and fell into deep thought.
After a long time, Cao Shunhe finally figured out the stakes behind this, and then said to himself silently.
"I see, the government's salt-carrying ship has capsized, and the government's salt reserves have also bottomed out."
"It will take at least two months for the next batch of official salt to arrive!"
"In these two months, if people want to obtain salt, they have to spend a lot of money to buy private salt from those salt merchants."
"And this group of salt merchants took advantage of this opportunity to hoard and make huge profits!"
"If something happens to the government's fleet transporting official salt, it must be this group of salt merchants who are planning it behind the scenes!"
"If you think about it more boldly, it is absolutely impossible for that group of salt merchants to achieve this point. In other words, there are some officials involved in the whole thing, and there are a lot of them!
"Maybe they are sending people to secretly monitor me now!"
When Cao Shunhe thought of this, he couldn't help but break into a cold sweat, and then he suddenly raised his head.
In a daze, several figures flashed past the door.
"Huh~"
Cao Shunhe breathed a long sigh of relief and forced himself to regain his composure. Then he called his subordinates and spoke in a deep voice.
"Bring this map to me!"
"Yes, Lord Governor!"
After the visitor answered, he took the hydrological map.
Unexpectedly, after leaving the room, he did not walk towards the room where the map was stored, but quickly left in the opposite direction to his destination.
After looking around, he saw that no one was paying attention, and then entered a room.
"Did he notice anything?"
A rather dull voice came from the room.
"Your Majesty, no, he has been studying this hydrological map!"
The visitor said, respectfully presenting the map in his hand.
"Continue to keep an eye on him. If you make any move, report it directly to me!"
"Yes, sir!"
After the visitor responded, he left quickly, taking the door behind him.
At this moment, Cao Shunhe had roughly guessed his current situation. Someone was secretly monitoring him!
"No, we have to find an opportunity quickly to pass the news on."
"Otherwise, if these salt merchants are allowed to do whatever they want, the people of Jiangxi will suffer!"
After thinking for a moment, Cao Shunhe quickly made up his mind to report the news to the court.
"Right now, the official channels are definitely closed. Maybe, as soon as I hand over the memorial, someone will stop me!"
"At that time, not only will it not have any effect, but it will also alarm the enemy!"
"Well, if only I could submit the memorial directly to His Majesty, there wouldn't be so much trouble."
When Cao Shunhe thought of this, he couldn't help but give up on himself.
(End of chapter)
