"Brother?"
Wen Zhong eagerly took it, opened the letter, and read it carefully several times. His hands trembled, making the paper rattle. A special kind and expectant smile appeared on his face, and he was no longer as stiff as death.
"My good brother..." His eyes flickered and he wiped his tears.
"There is a successor to the family, Wen Zhang..."
His face turned to Wen Zhong, but his smile froze for a moment, and then slowly faded away, leaving a pair of dull eyes staring at him for a long time.
"It's okay. After my uncle died, there was some conflict in the family. The Hunan people settled it. They did a good job." Guo Chuzi threw the letter on the table beside him. "As for the matter just now... the shopkeeper thinks about it carefully. Consider it carefully."
"Okay, Brother Guo, I'll go back right away."
Wen Zhong agreed, got up and walked out of the room. He looked up in the yard and saw a few thick clouds blocking the sun, which suited his current mood. Before facing death, the two of them couldn't be honest with each other, but they pretended to be brothers on weekdays. Why was there any need? This fact made him ashamed and made him feel hypocritical.
After Tongpao Chen took office, of course he had to repay the favor first. The first thing to do is to take into account the "former magistrate". He used the guise of land administration to propose to the magistrate that "before the imperial court clears the abbot, the land should be reorganized and annexation should be strictly prohibited in order to respect the emperor's move and benefit the people." The prefect expressed great approval and immediately issued an order to rectify the situation.
Chen Tongpao took advantage of the situation to find one or two faults for the small wealthy people who were not afraid of offending, and took all the fields into his arms, creating a lot of idle land for a while. These fields did not benefit the common people at all. They were all used as rewards for Mr. Chen to his old colleague and were recorded in his name. However, everyone in the yamen was influenced by Wen Zhong and Guo Chuzi, and they pretended to be deaf and dumb and managed to get over it; but the prefect was still counting the days until the new governor would take office, looking for ways to protect himself, and doing nothing else. It can only be done with a nod, not a detailed investigation.
The only remaining thing is that it is hard to repay the favor of Feng Dashen. I hope it can be done as soon as possible, and Chu Zi's condition needs to improve quickly.
Wen Zhong wandered in a dark room with his head lowered, sometimes firm and sometimes hesitant while thinking hard. Time waits for no one! The more he thought, the more anxious he became.
"I'm fine, I'm fine..." Guo Chuzi coughed out a mouthful of blood and waved his hand to the horrified servant.
There is an entire dyeing workshop, representing power and wealth; here it is just an entrustment from a friend with benefits, which may not represent anything.
"The house has to be tied to his hands alone..." Guo Chuzi felt deeply desolate. The dyeing shop he managed and supported was about to fall into the hands of others, but there was nothing he could do.
But Wen Zhong thought that these two words, friendship and justice, were his principles for doing things. If he lost them, he would be no different from a rat in the market. He is so passionate about all his advantages, because when he is in the dark, without adding some light, he will easily sink into the ground.
It's time to leave. He didn't make any more trouble this time. He took off his felt hat and went straight to the palace wearing his own rags.
"Lead me to your master." He ordered with a stern expression.
Wen Zhong's sleepiness increased, but his eyelids were twitching and his fingers were pinched tightly. Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed in his ears, and his eyes immediately looked out the door.
Wen Zhong came in slowly, winked, and signaled the family members and servants waiting on him to leave.
"Go, shopkeeper Wen... has something to say." Guo Chuzi patted his wife's hand, and all the servants left the room together.
"How? Have you thought about it?" Guo Chuzi looked at the family letter on the table reluctantly.
Wen Zhong approached the bed and knelt down heavily.
"Xiandi?" Guo Chuzi's eyes stared in surprise.
"Foolish brother, I don't dare to accept this kind of treatment. Call the Hunan people back immediately and do something important as soon as possible." Wen Zhong held his hands with sincerity in his tone.
After hearing this, Guo Chuzi was extremely excited and cried uncontrollably for a while. Then he shed tears and said to Wen Zhong: "Shopkeeper Wen, how can I repay this kindness?" He stretched his neck to salute him, and Wen Zhong hurriedly supported him: "You don't have to do this. We should order the people from Hunan to come as soon as possible to stabilize the situation."
Guo Chuzi nodded: "That's exactly the reason. But Hunan is far away from here, I'm afraid..."
"It's estimated to be more than a month." Wenzhong gritted his teeth and said, "Brother Guo can handle it."
"The governor's team is almost arriving in Jiangdu, aren't you ready to pick them up?"
The prefect turned around and said: "Take it. Of course I have to pick it up... First, clean up the governor's office and inform all departments to prepare for the arrival."
"yes."
The magistrate rubbed his hands, sat down at the table, picked up a pen and wrote "Poem to Welcome Governor Kuang's Arrival". After pondering for a long time, he finally threw the pen down angrily, "Damn it, when the governor's Yamen moved to my Yangzhou What are you doing here?"
"Have you heard anything?" Chen Tongpao opened the window of the restaurant and saw the waiter serving a plate of mandarin fish, and Wen Zhong started to eat.
While chewing the fish, he said: "We are well-informed! The new governor is called Kuang Chang. He is from Gansu. He stopped along the road and asked for a lot of benefits from the local officials. He likes flattery, ostentation and other miscellaneous things. Mr. Chen Be careful."
"I heard it's the Liu Party."
"I don't know," Wen Zhong stopped his chopsticks, "but according to rumors, he fought many battles with Liu Zhennian, and he was indispensable for coming to power in the capital. He is a loyal confidant. Instead of staying in the capital, he served as a foreign official. , it seems that a bloody storm is inevitable."
"What you said is a bit complicated." Tongpao Chen said with a smile.
"Haha!" Wen Zhong laughed and said, "Wen is a commoner, just talking nonsense! Come on, have a few drinks." As he said that, Wen Zhong picked up a pot of wine and poured it for Chen Tongpao.
"I think this person is hard to offend, but you should not try your best to please him. Otherwise, your official career will be ruined." Chen Tongpao said calmly.
"How?"
"The Liu Party is currently powerful, but it cannot hold on for long. If it is completely dependent on it, it will not be able to escape and it will not be able to exert its influence."
"What should we do?" Seeing that he said it without hesitation, Wen Zhong continued to ask with confidence.
"Find someone from Wan Heshun's side and make an alliance with them so that the governor won't dare to take action easily."
"Who is suitable to be this ally?" Wen Zhong poured another glass of wine.
"Governor of Nanjing, Ye Yongjia."
Wen Zhong's eyebrows jumped.
"In the beginning, I liked to question the police officers who came from Nanjing, especially about Wan Dang. But now it comes in handy. This Ye Yongjia has never been very attached to Wan Heshun, but he is indeed under the control of Wan Dang. Isn't it a good thing if we hand over to him not only blatantly but also to scare the Liu Party?"
"Is this guy willing to be friends with you?" Wenzhong was confused.
The colleague took a sip of wine and said, "He is afraid of the same thing as me."
When he said this, he stopped clicking: "I have to pick up Governor Kuang." After that, he left his seat and went downstairs.
