"Sir, I have something to say."
A boy escorting Zhu Yangrui suddenly spoke, breaking the dead silence.
After Zhu Yangrui heard this, he turned his face slightly suspiciously: "Do you have a good plan?"
The young man cupped his hands and said, "I remember that you have a friend who is now serving as the county magistrate in Queshan. Why don't you go and take shelter temporarily?"
"You have a good memory!" Zhu Yangrui's eyes lit up, and he patted his shoulder with a smile, "But it's a pity that you only know one, but not the other."
The boy looked confused: "Then... what else does the master have?"
"No need to ask more, you will know when you follow me there! Drive!" I saw Zhu Yangrui turning the horse's head, giving a very loud whip, and galloping away. When the servants saw it, they hurriedly chased after him, but they couldn't reach him.
"Old friend! Long time no see! Why are you here in such a hurry?"
The county magistrate, surrounded by servants with several lanterns, walked slowly from the inner courtyard, bowed to the panting Master Zhu, and looked at him a few times.
Zhu Yangrui handed the riding whip to the servant and said with a forced smile: "There was an emergency, so we met overnight."
The county magistrate heard that something was not right, so he dismissed everyone around him and only invited Zhu Yangrui to the court to ask why. Yangrui then told him everything about the situation and expressed his intention to come and run.
The county magistrate turned pale with shock, frowned and said, "Since the superior is determined to capture you, I'm afraid I won't be able to hide you here for a long time. It would be better for me, brother, to find another plan for him."
Zhu Yangrui smiled and said: "Don't worry, dear brother, I will only stay here for three or four days, and I will never trouble you. But I need to ask you to do something: take me to see the county magistrate."
"Jianzhi County?" The county magistrate sighed helplessly, "Wouldn't it be better for you to settle down a little, silence yourself for the time being, and avoid the limelight?
Zhu Yangrui said: "I have already taken a close look at the situation in the province. As long as we can buy time and get in touch with the people above, everything will be easy to talk about. But if we remain timid, we will definitely die."
The county magistrate couldn't resist him, so he had to agree repeatedly and arrange a room for him to sleep in. At dawn the next day, he called Yang Ruitong to go to the Yamen.
But the county magistrate was afraid that the county magistrate would not be interested in rescuing him, so he left Yang Rui outside and went in alone to report his official duties to the county magistrate and at the same time mention Runing's investigation.
The county magistrate was slightly displeased after hearing this: "Xiang Zhu is a wise man in Runing. If he maintains the rural affairs, my officials, big and small, can rest assured. The superior said he would come to track down those who rebelled against the party, but he was arrested for no reason. Know what it means."
"But..." At this point, he stopped writing and looked at the county magistrate curiously, "I didn't know anything about this before, and you didn't go out on errands. Who did you hear about it?"
The county magistrate was nervous and difficult to answer, but a few laughs came from outside the door: "The county magistrate is really smart! To be honest, I, the person who experienced it, told him!"
The magistrate stood up in a hurry and saw Zhu Yangrui standing at the door, stroking his beard. He was a little startled: "Please, please sit down."
"Sir," Zhu Yangrui sat on an armchair nearby, "from what you just said, you seem to be very confused about Wan Yuzhi's decision."
"Yes, it seems that the Ye Party has no enmity with you."
Zhu Yangrui smiled bitterly and said: "I don't think so. His party has been committed to the New Deal, and now it is aggressively tracking down the land. The target must be against us gentry."
The magistrate pondered for a moment, then suddenly opened his eyes in excitement: "If it is to pursue the Blue Party and act according to the emperor's will, we will be helpless; if it is to pursue the annexation, it is not within his authority. If he writes a letter to Qingliu in the court, by If they take the opportunity to impeach, your Zhu family will be saved!"
Zhu Yangrui nodded: "That's exactly the reason. So I want to ask the county master to send someone to inform the government, let him talk to the people from Chen's party, and report the news to the court as soon as possible."
The county magistrate thought so and called two clerks: one quickly went to Xinyang to inform the Runing magistrate, and the other went to Runing to investigate the situation and asked for an arrest document as evidence.
The prefect of Runing was entertained by Wan Yuzhi for three consecutive days. He felt at ease and satisfied. He was willing to stay here for a few more days to curry favor with this boss who held the power of life and death. He had no plans to return. On this day, when he returned home slightly drunk, he saw a man standing at the door and asked who it was. The man immediately knew his name, told him his origins, and explained to him what Zhu Yangrui had entrusted him with.
The prefect didn't believe it at all, shook his head and said: "The Lord Wan came to Xinyang here specifically to hunt down dissidents. We have no enmity or enmity against him, how can he cause trouble for no reason!"
The messenger had no choice but to stay here until the evening. When the people from Runing arrived, he showed the arrest document to him and said: "If Wan Yuzhi arrested Xiangshen Zhu, the next step is to arrest you." . It’s not too late to make a living early.”
The prefect's face suddenly turned pale, and he hurriedly complied with their request, wrote a handwritten letter, stuffed the document into it, and gave it to the two men to take to the governor's Yamen to report to a certain Chen party. After many twists and turns, the news finally reached the court.
"Look, did I say anything wrong at the beginning?"
Tongpao Chen put the arrest document gently on the table, narrowed his eyes and smiled.
"Your Excellency, this is a wonderful plan," Xiangren showed a rare calmness in dealing with changes, "Should the next step be to file a letter to challenge the situation?"
"We can't be at the forefront of this matter," said Tongpao Chen, pinching his fingers. "After all, we have been fighting with the Ye Party for many years. Even if we impeach with public motives, His Majesty will suspect it is a party dispute. We should find someone who has not participated in it. A person who fights in factions...and is not afraid of trouble."
"Zeng Liang?" Guoxiang blurted out.
"Sixing, you are still smart!" Tongpao Chen was surprised and said with a smile on his knees, "Then Chen will trouble me to take action."
Zeng Liang sat alone in front of the window of the study, holding an account book and twirling his fingers, not knowing what to calculate carefully, and kept muttering in his mouth: "The remaining one hundred and eighty-eight thousand three hundred and twenty taels... Ten thousand will be deducted..."
"Zeng Shangshu!"
"Who is it?" Zeng Liang was startled and quickly raised his eyes to see the Xiang people standing in front of him, looking at him quietly.
"Oh, I was so lost in thought..." He immediately sat upright, "I didn't even realize you were coming! Sit, sit."
"Zeng Shangshu, you seem to have become calm recently. You have been busy here doing things, and you have stopped talking in court meetings." The man from Guoxiang joked.
Zeng Liang dusted off his clothes and said with a smile: "I am not a censor after all. Unless there is an urgent matter, impeachment will be done. Otherwise, wouldn't it be contempt of the court's laws?
The man from Guoxiang frowned and said, "But there is an urgent matter right in front of you, but you have never spoken out."
Zeng Liang was startled.
The people in Hunan then said indignantly: "Now the Ye Party is rampant and is doing all kinds of mischief in the government. Why do you turn a blind eye?"
