As soon as Su Zongshan came in, he saw these familiar faces and looked at the unfamiliar room. His heart tightened and he knew that he had fallen into Ye Yongjia's trick. Fortunately, he was always calm when faced with problems, neither flustered nor startled. He went to talk to Ye Yongjia with a smile.
"Master Ye, don't you want to check the files? Why did you call so many people here? They are all officials from my Zhongshu Province..."
Ye Yongjia bowed deeply and said: "I'm really sorry. Ye has a more important matter to ask for, so I'll put the file aside for now."
"You never told me beforehand." Su Zongshan shook his head.
"This is all because the Hunan people bullied others too much, forcing me to go to a dead end. I have no choice but to do this trick. I hope the Prime Minister will forgive me!" Ye Yongjia bent down and lowered his head heavily, his voice a little choked.
"That's all, that's all," Su Zongshan waved his hand, "I won't punish you, but I won't get involved in your grudges with the good prince. My only suggestion is that you should work together, put aside the past grudges, and don't Fighting for the little bit of power at hand.”
Ye Yongjia continued: "Ye doesn't want to do this, but that guy has already stirred up trouble. If you sit back and do nothing, I'm afraid it will only increase his arrogance and make the fight more intense. If you can put an end to this discussion immediately and return the memorial, not only will you have It’s good for lower officials and even more good for the court!”
"What's more, what's more..." He immediately turned around and faced the officials, bursting into tears, "My colleagues in Zhongshu Province can't stand what the Xiang people have done. Can't you make up your mind? "
Su Zongshan saw that Ye Yongjia was in deep sorrow and Ming Huiguang had earnest eyes, so he couldn't refuse directly, so he asked everyone: "Is this what you think?"
The officials were very aware of the temper of the Hunan people and did not dare to offend the Ye party, so they had no choice but to keep their mouths shut and say nothing.
Zong Shan saw that no one came to help them, so he immediately changed his mind and stopped being stubborn. Instead, he smiled politely and said, "It seems that Ye Shangshu didn't lie to me. You guys have indeed turned to his side. The right way is for everyone." It's hard to disobey this, so I will write a letter to inform him and send back his memorial."
After Ye Yongjia heard this, he quickly took Ming Huiguang and bowed his head to thank him: "Prime Minister, you are so kind. I will never forget your humble position!"
Su Zongshan immediately used paper and ink in this room, wrote a letter to be conveyed to the people in Hunan, and asked the director of Zhongshu to deliver it to him. At this time, the people of Hunan were discussing matters in Chen's house. After receiving this letter, they were very angry and threatened to go to the court to argue. However, they were held down by Chen Tongpao. The former was very puzzled: "You asked me to write a letter to challenge you. Why do you want me to give up again today? Alas, I really don’t understand your thoughts..."
Tongpao Chen replied calmly: "Don't panic, your piece of paper is enough to let the thief fall into my trap."
"What?" Xiangren's eyes were stunned, "You mean, you...had expected this?"
Ye Yongjia smiled mysteriously: "Yes. Sixing may not know that this move is called a feint attack in the art of war."
As early as more than ten days ago, Wan Yuzhi arrived in Xinyang. From the day he set out, the governors of various prefectures heard the news, and they were all horrified. They did not hesitate to organize banquets, wine, extravagance, and extravagance to serve the chief minister who was out of Beijing for an inspection, for fear of attracting attention. His hatred was retaliated.
Wan Yuzhi has always been a wild and unrestrained person, and he was very happy to see them entertaining them so diligently. Not only did he not stop them, he even stopped and entertained along the way.
"Sir, we have to leave quickly today, otherwise if we miss our trip, your responsibility will not be light."
Two petty officials followed Wan Yuzhi closely, holding the bridle and walking slowly on the official road. One of them looked at the newly rising sun and then at the escorting team behind him, feeling worried.
"Calculate for me, how many days are left before the time limit?" Wan Yuzhi controlled the horse's bridle and asked.
The clerk pinched his fingers briefly and replied: "Not much more... only five days."
Wan Yuzhi laughed loudly, raised his whip, pointed forward and said: "With so many days left, how can we miss our trip! Didn't you see that Runing is not far ahead, and Xinyang is just a stone's throw away!"
After that, he pulled the horse's head again and shouted towards the rear: "Soldiers, would you like to drink a few more cups with me?"
"Of course!" The crowd cheered. The clerk could only shake his head and sigh, muttering: "That's good..."
The group of people had not gone far, and when they arrived at the farm outside Runing City, officials from the city came out to greet them and stood in two rows. Magistrate Runing walked in the front, pulling the reins of Wan Yuzhi's horse and saluting with a smile: "Your Majesty, I have been ordered by the Holy Spirit to investigate the case. It has been a long and dusty journey. It is really hard. I have prepared a banquet for you. I came here to express my condolences, I hope you will appreciate me."
"It seems I can't leave again..." The clerk rolled his eyes and whispered to his colleagues.
Wan Yuzhi jumped off his horse and returned the greeting: "Since you have such kind intentions, I would rather obey your orders respectfully. Come on, everyone, dismount. Let's walk into the city."
Wan Yuzhi asked the clerk to lead the horse. He followed the prefect talking and laughing, and gradually walked to the edge of the field. He saw crisscrossing streams in front of him, ridges stacked on top of each other, wheat as if it were covered with gold, and there was a gentle breeze blowing. The scene was so pleasant that he couldn't help but feel happy. He paused.
Just as he was immersed in it, a harsh sound of firecrackers suddenly sounded nearby. Looking back, he saw that it was hanging in front of a wealthy family. Several children in rich clothes were surrounding an old servant, laughing and playing there.
"Which family is this?" Wan Yuzhi glanced coldly, "It's not a festival, so why are these firecrackers going off?"
The magistrate smiled and reported: "The owner of this mansion is the number one villager in Runing. His surname is Zhu, his given name is Yangrui, and his courtesy name is Xianshi. Today is his birthday, so the mansion is decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations. It’s a big celebration.”
Wan Yuzhi pondered for a while and asked, "How is this Zhu Xiangxian usually doing?"
"Excellent," the magistrate next to the prefect praised, "this man is no better than the evil gentry elsewhere. He is upright and resolute. He has eradicated all bad governance in the clan, restored family tradition, and has the responsibility of being a leader. He is very important to the villagers." Rewards and punishments are clear, very prestigious, and everyone is in awe."
Yu Zhi then thought to himself: "There must be something fishy about this man being so respected by the government." Since Mr. Ye wants me to investigate the land affairs, why not take this opportunity to spy on the situation of these squires? So he made up his mind and turned to ask the magistrate: "Since Mr. Zhu is so virtuous and highly respected, Wan also wants to meet him. I wonder if I can invite him over at the banquet later and have a chat with him?"
After hearing this, the prefect nodded quickly: "Of course! I will send someone to ask for Mr. Zhu right now, but he is not here and we still need to look for him. Don't be impatient, sir."
Wan Yuzhi smiled and said, "I won't be impatient. We will go into the city first and wait slowly."
