"Lu Tongzhi!"
"Lu Tongzhi!"
There were shouts and shouts heading towards the office of Luzhuang, the Tongzhi of Jinling Prefecture.
Just like the previous few days, Lu Tongzhi was sitting on the official hat chair, squinting and concentrating.
Upon hearing this, Lu Tongzhi opened his eyes and looked at the person walking by the door calmly and calmly. It was none other than Tong Juan Xu Yuankai.
"Lu Tongzhi! It's not good! It's not good!" Xu Tongpan shouted.
"What's wrong? I'm not a good officer?"
Xu Tongpan took several breaths of fresh air and hurriedly explained: "No. Someone is coming from above. The Minister of Hubu is here with the newly appointed prefect."
"So fast?" Lu Tongzhi was a little surprised.
Xu Tongpan nodded quickly: "I originally planned not to come, but after hearing that our people in Jinling suffered heavy casualties, the Minister of Household Affairs said that he would come with the new prefect to learn about the situation in Jinling."
"What's the name of the new prefect?" Lu Tongzhi asked anxiously.
Xu Tongpan thought for a while: "It seems to be called Qi Shaoyuan, and he is said to be from the Ministry of Husbandry."
"Where are you now?"
"We are almost arriving at Jinling City."
Upon hearing this, Tongzhi Lu Zhuang was not calm anymore. He hurriedly picked up the pipe hat placed in the corner of the table, put it on his head, and walked out quickly.
Xu Tongpan followed him and hurried away.
…
"Why did it stop?" Cen Wenxing, the Minister of Revenue, asked as soon as he felt the carriage stop.
"Envoy Cen has arrived at Jinling City," the coachman said.
As soon as the carriage in front stopped, the carriage carrying the new prefect followed suit.
Before he saw Cen Wenxing, the minister of household affairs, come out, the fellow magistrate spoke first: "The magistrate of Jinling Fucheng has met the minister Cen."
After finishing speaking, Lu Tongzhi noticed that he had said the wrong word. Looking at the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue who had not yet got off the carriage and the newly appointed prefect in the carriage behind him, Lu Tongzhi looked at the junior officials in the Yamen behind him with an embarrassed look.
Hearing that the official outside said something wrong, Cen Wenxing, the Minister of Household Affairs, became a little unhappy.
Although he is the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, he came to Jianglai today as an imperial envoy.
"Tongzhi?" After reading it once, Cen Shangshu raised his voice and asked: "You don't have a name?"
Although he didn't see it, Lu Tongzhi was still a little afraid of this superior official. He might lose this official position, so he had to change his attitude like a mouse who is afraid of cats: "It's all my fault when I return to Imperial Envoy Cen." The official was confused for a moment, a little nervous, and just said the wrong thing. The official is Luzhuang, a fellow magistrate of Jinling City."
"Lu Zhuang."
After reading it once, the imperial envoy Cen Wenxing, wearing a crimson official uniform and a pipe hat, stepped out of the carriage.
Looking at the blue sky and white clouds above Jinling City, Cen Qinqian turned his head and looked at these local officials.
I saw several standing people wearing purple official uniforms, all with their hands bowed, followed by junior officials wearing green official uniforms and light blue official uniforms, kneeling on the ground.
Knowing that the imperial minister got off the carriage, the newly appointed prefect Qi Shaoyuan behind him also hurriedly got off the carriage and walked over.
"Are you a fellow intellectual from Jinling City?" Cen Wenxing asked.
"Hui Cen Qin Envoy, that's right." Lu Tongzhi felt a little scared.
Looking at the face of the official in front of him, he looked rather ugly rather than handsome.
"Just in time, you report to this imperial envoy on the situation in Jinling City."
As soon as he came up, the imperial envoy Cen Wenxing began to show off his official power and looked at his colleague Lu Zhuang very arrogantly and somewhat seriously.
Lu Tongzhi pursed his lips and felt suddenly uneasy. However, in front of the imperial envoy standing in front of him, he did not dare to tell lies and had to tell the truth.
"Returning to the Imperial Envoy, since the disaster in Jinling City, the official has ordered people to clean up the corpses to prevent the plague from happening. However, there is no relief food. In addition, Jinling was hit by a disaster a few months ago, and the grain storehouse is empty. This is all the official can do. "
"This is unreasonable!" Cen Qinqi shouted.
Tongzhi Luzhuang was so frightened that he was trembling and at a loss.
It turned out that Cen Wenxing was still showing off his official power. Just when Lu Tongzhi wanted to say a few nice words, Cen Wenxing said first: "That's all. The previous prefect has passed away, and there is no director in the yamen. I can forgive him."
Looking at the officials behind him who had not yet stood up, and then at the faces of the people in front of him, Cen Wenxing smiled slightly: "Okay, everyone, let's get up."
"Thank you!"
After watching these people get up, Imperial Commissioner Cen looked at the new prefect Qi Shaoyuan, who was wearing a purple official uniform and official hat, and introduced to them: "This is your new prefect Qi Shaoyuan."
"Jinling City's fellow magistrate Lu Zhuang has met Magistrate Qi."
"Jinling City Guard Zhao Xingxiu has met Magistrate Qi."
"Jinling City Magistrate Xu Yuankai has met Magistrate Qi."
Hearing the greetings one after another made the newly appointed prefect Qi Shaoyuan laugh.
"Prefect Qi."
Looking at the look in Envoy Cen's eyes, Magistrate Qi saw that he had not enjoyed the scene enough, so he had to put away his happy face and said: "Okay, okay, no courtesy."
After speaking, Magistrate Qi looked at Imperial Commissioner Cen with an embarrassed smile and said nothing.
"Okay, now that we're here, let's take a look at the situation in Jinling City." After saying that, Cen Wenxing extended his right hand politely: "Prefect Qi, please."
Seeing Qin Envoy Cen's appearance, the prefect Qi Shaoyuan was frightened. This courtesy did not show that he had more power than him. The smart prefect Qi smiled slightly, pretending to be polite and stretched out his right hand: "Emperor Cen Envoy , please.”
"good."
Cen Wenxing was really rude, he responded and walked over.
But according to the official's size and etiquette, it was Cen Qin's turn to leave first, so how could he dare to complain.
The prefect Qi Shaoyuan followed him with a poop.
After passing through Jinling City, which was swept by the flood, it was clearly visible that the streets, alleys and outside the city were full of all kinds of silt. Jinling City today is better than before, and there are almost no places with high water levels in the streets and alleys.
"Cen Qin Envoy! Cen Qin Envoy!"
Upon hearing the shouts of the prefect Qi Shaoyuan, the imperial envoy Cen Wenxing turned around and looked at the prefect Qi Shaoyuan.
"There is a lot of silt in the city. Envoy Cen should take the carriage back to the magistrate's office to change into a pair of shoes. Your official uniform and shoes will be soiled later."
Listening to the concerned words of the prefect Qi Shaoyuan, the imperial envoy Cen Wenxing smiled slightly: "Prefect Qi, it's okay, it's okay. It's just mud."
After saying this, Cen Qinchao turned back and headed towards Jinling City.
Seeing such a good official who served the country and the people, several petty officials in the prefecture's yamen who followed him suddenly felt that Jinling City could be saved.
Entering the city, I saw hungry people in every corner, and occasionally heard a few pleading voices.
As soon as they saw a high official coming, many hungry people approached the imperial envoy Cen Wenxing one after another.
"Officer! Give the poor people something to eat?"
"Officer! The common people haven't had a bite of anything for several days."
"Official, please save Cao Min's father, Cao Min's father is dying."
He looked at the imperial envoy Cen Wenxing with pleading sounds.
Looking at the dirty and weak faces, Cen Wenxing didn't know what to do to comfort him.
"Folks, keep holding on. The government's disaster relief food will be here soon."
A word of comfort seemed to give the people hope, but they seemed unable to see it.
"How many days are left until this...?" asked the eldest lady.
Looking at her old eyes, fluffy hair, and dark face, Cen Wenxing continued to speak comforting words.
"Persevere, persist, three days at most, three days." Cen Wenxing vowed on the surface, but he was a little uncertain in his heart.
Upon hearing this, these hungry people had no choice but to spread out to both sides of the street to comfort the elderly and children at home.
"Lu Tongzhi, is this Yamen really out of rice?" Imperial Envoy Cen Wenxing asked Lu Tongzhi behind him.
Listening to Imperial Envoy Cen's words, Lu Tongzhi was stunned for a moment and made up a lie: "I'm really gone when I return to Imperial Envoy. I've been having a miserable life in the Yamen these days. I don't have any rice or anything to eat." Not even a mouthful of fresh water. Look, I've lost a lot of weight."
Looking at Lu Tongzhi's appearance, I didn't know whether he was thin or not, but looking at his very energetic face, he didn't look like someone who had been hungry for several days in a row, so Cen Qinqin had no choice but to ask no more questions.
Looking at the hungry people all over the place, even though he had not experienced it personally, he could still tell how uncomfortable this feeling was, and Imperial Commissioner Cen couldn't stand it anymore.
"Prefect Qi, please go back to the Yamen."
"good."
After answering, several officials, big and small, stepped on the mud and headed towards the prefect's Yamen.
Along the way, Qin Envoy Cen was tired of asking his colleagues Luzhuang. Those who knew were easy to talk about, but those who didn’t know didn’t dare to say “I don’t know” and made up a few lies to deal with Qin Envoy Cen. .
In order to keep this official position, Lu Tongzhi was really bold.
While chatting, we finally reached the prefect's Yamen.
The ridge of the prefect's Yamen is the same as the ground on the main street of Jinling City, which is covered with mud.
But when I walked into the yamen, it was different. It was clean and tidy.
"Lu Tongzhi."
"The official is here." Tongzhi Lu Zhuang looked at the imperial envoy Cen Wenxing.
Looking at the two scenes inside and outside the prefect's Yamen, Cen Wenxing asked: "The inside of this Yamen is quite clean, but why isn't the outside of this Yamen not like the inside of this Yamen?"
Looking at the ground inside the yamen, and recalling the obstacles of the yamen when he came in, Lu Tongzhi's expression changed greatly, and he complained: "Cen Qinchen, you don't know, I have been busy these days, and there are not enough people in the yamen. After taking care of the outside affairs every day, how can I have time to take care of the matters on the ground? You look at the ground, and everything in the yamen has not been cleaned."
After listening to Lu Tongzhi's words, Cen Qinqi felt a little sad for Lu Tongzhi.
"Hard work, hard work." Cen Qinqin smiled slightly.
"It's not hard work, these are all the duties of a lower official."
As soon as he finished speaking, an unexpected voice came out.
"Tongzhi is back? The kids have prepared meals."
The words from the Huofang Yamen came over, making Lu Tongzhi look embarrassed.
Seeing the fire house yamen officer walking over, Lu Tongzhi glanced at the yamen officer.
"Are you an imperial envoy?"
Cen Wenxing nodded.
