"What should we call the two officers?" Ye Yongjia asked them as he pulled them.
"A certain person's surname is Zhang," said the officer from the palace, "that person's surname is Yan."
"I'm here to discuss the matter of standing guard. I believe you both know that," Ye Yongjia saluted, "Let's go in and talk."
"Your soldiers are all twenty-five, right?" Ye Yongjia asked.
"That's right." They both replied in unison.
"Okay, plus the people from the inspection department, how much area can you control?"
Officer Yan was speechless and hesitated for a long time before he said, "One door and one street are enough."
Ye Yongjia raised his eyelids in surprise, wondering why he only wanted to inspect this place; then he thought again, he was Lu Fangxuan's subordinate, and it was useless to talk more, so he just let it go. Then he said: "Okay. Then... what does this person from the palace say?"
Seeing that the man had said this, Officer Zhang did not dare to cause trouble, so he nodded and said, "One street is enough."
"Where do you want to stand guard?" Ye Yongjia asked.
Officer Yan didn't reply. Instead, he went to the wall and pulled out a map. He spread it on the table and smiled: "It's convenient to search according to the shape."
Officer Zhang used his fingers to search along the route on the map, his eyes quickly stopped at a place, he pressed there and said: "There are many people here, and thieves come and go at night, so you must worry about it. Zhang wants to set up a sentry here to guard against it." .”
Ye Yongjia lowered his head and saw that it was the entire territory of Confucius Temple.
On the surface he remained silent, but in his heart he knew very well that Wan Heshun wanted to make some money for himself in this happy alliance. The advantage lies in the amount of merit at the end: Confucius Temple is such a crowded place, and if there is no incident on New Year's Eve, the team standing guard there will definitely take the greatest credit.
Despite this, such an outcome would not cause the Mainland Party to suffer any losses and would only create mutual unhappiness. Wan Heshun's intention was very simple, he wanted to cause such unpleasantness to show that he was not submissive to Lu Fangxuan.
Ye Yongjia completely understood the intentions of King Wanjun through Officer Zhang's few words. Even though he had done many "good things" for Wan Heshun, now that he was facing the danger of the entire Nanjing, he was unwilling to cooperate with Wan Dang anymore.
"In my opinion, only the Confucius Temple needs to be on all vigilance, and there is nothing else to worry about..."
Officer Zhang looked at him expectantly, his eyes bright and clear; Officer Yan was more gloomy - he felt that the matter was probably a foregone conclusion.
"Therefore, we should order you and General Yan to take turns guarding, so that it will be effective." Ye Yongjia said wisely after observing their expressions.
Officer Zhang thrust his hand hard at the map, almost breaking the paper.
"What?" His eyes were full of anger and confusion.
Ye Yongjia just rubbed his eyebrows and didn't look at his expression at all: "If we take turns to hand over the work, the two of you can be a little less tired, and at the same time you can get this great contribution, why not? Officer Zhang, don't you want to have some free time? ?”
"Well said! Well said!" Officer Yan praised Zhang endlessly and clapped his hands without waiting for Zhang's reply.
Officer Zhang had no choice but to hold back his temper and muttered: "Thank you, Lord Magistrate..."
After the two parties negotiated a satisfactory result, Ye Yongjia left the inspection department and rode back to the Yamen. Officer Zhang was full of interest when he came, but left in annoyance when he returned. He could not figure out when Ye Yongjia straightened his back and became strong-willed. Because of this, Officer Zhang paced several times in the room dully.
Before the sadness was over, soldiers suddenly came in with the tent opened and reported: "All the soldiers in the Inspection Department have been sent back to the Yamen by the thieves of the Lu Party!"
Officer Zhang was so shocked that he almost jumped up: "Is the person named Yan crazy?!"
"You...you..." Officer Zhang felt angry, "Go and ask him, what the hell is going on!"
"yes!"
"Be gentle when you talk to that guy!" Officer Zhang hurriedly told him. When he saw the soldier leaving, he sat on a chair and waited anxiously.
After a while, the man came back into the tent, knelt down and reported: "General, according to the thief, he was entrusted by Wei Chong's Wei Secretary's Office to send the officers and soldiers back to the Yamen. I don't know whether it is true or not."
"Wei Chong...Wei Chong..."
Officer Zhang murmured for a while, then smashed his fist on the table: "Let them make trouble, we won't interfere... just enough to make Ye Yongjia suffer a little!"
New Year's Eve seems to come slowly. The "open curfew" notice has been posted for a day, and the people naturally welcome it. The haze since the Wanlu Party War no longer seems to have enveloped Nanjing.
There were loud gongs and drums everywhere, lanterns were hung along the long street, and the orange-red light was bright and dazzling, shining directly into Wanlu Erfu. Lu Fangxuan was having a banquet with Qi Zi and others, and the hall was full of noise. Wan Heshun was simply preparing a few dishes, eating fruits and melons with his family, and quietly watching Cai Xianqing's opera.
Mr. Wei, whom Cai Xianqing always admired, was not idle either. Instead, he walked to Huaiqing Bridge, revisited his hometown with Xia Yuanlong, and played some chess.
Still in the tea shop, the tea master happily brought tea over to watch the two of them play chess.
Just like back then, the people still formed a wall, with people on three levels inside and three outside with their feet up, just to watch the two 'sages' play chess.
"How is it?" Xia Yuanlong smiled and said, "Is this a good idea? Have you not stayed here for a long time?"
Wei Huai looked around hesitantly and said in a cold tone: "Okay."
"Ji Min, Brother Zhong Fang got to know us here, so today can be regarded as a worship service." Xia Yuanlong said with a bitter smile.
"But our momentum is getting stronger," he continued, "all the parties can no longer control us, and reforms to save the people seem to be just around the corner. This is a great comfort to Zhong Fang's spirit in heaven!"
"Do you really think so?" Wei Huai asked.
"Isn't it?" Yuan Long's tone seemed to leave no room for doubt, "The academies in Suzhou have been managed well by Zhu Che, and academies have been opened as far away as Jingzhou. Isn't it as good as what I said?"
Wei Huai sighed: "Suzhou is not very satisfied with me."
"This is..." Xia Yuanlong leaned over and Wei Huai whispered a few words to him, but unfortunately they were all lost in the crowd.
After hearing this, Yuan Long advised: "It's normal to have different opinions, but they are all people who are committed to reform and will not ignore the overall situation and cause too much trouble. Don't worry."
Having said this, the soldiers standing guard in the distance changed again quietly.
With a sly smile, Wei Chong hurried into the study, kowtowed to Ye Yongjia, and saw that he was drawing something on the map with a serious face.
"Have you gone to see it?" Ye Yongjia asked.
"I went to see it. There seems to be something wrong with Huaiqing Bridge." Wei Chong reported, covering his snickering face with his sleeves.
"There are obviously not enough manpower there, that's what Officer Zhang said."
When Ye Yongjia heard Officer Zhang's name, he started to have a headache - maybe this was because he was stumbling upon himself, the prefect.
