Even though Zhao Xun was the eldest son of Duke Chengguo of Zhou Dynasty, he was amazed when he came to Huangzhou Governor's Yamen.
What kind of government office is this? It's clearly an extremely luxurious private garden.
Although Huangzhou is rich, it has nothing to do with the governor.
The governor was just a temporary official, receiving a salary from the court.
The imperial salary is customized, and it is impossible to get more money for any official level.
The Huangzhou Governor's Yamen was able to build such a luxurious building, which shows that Zhao Qian had income other than his salary.
As for what the income other than salary is, everyone understands it and it is self-explanatory.
Zhao Xun couldn't help but think of the famous "Jie Stone Inscription":
Your salary is your salary, the people are fat and the people are anointed. It is easy for the people to abuse you, but it is difficult for God to bully you!
Just sixteen words, easy to understand but shocking!
But Zhao Qian, the governor of Huangzhou, obviously didn't understand the reason.
Of course, Zhao Xun knew that he could not make Zhao Qian repent. The purpose of his trip was to test Zhao Qian and see if this old fox would show his fox tail.
Zhao Xun waited for a while to make some tea, but Zhao Qian, the governor of Huangzhou, arrived late.
When he saw Zhao Xun, he quickly raised his hands and saluted, saying: "My lord, the imperial envoy, forgive me. I am busy with official duties, so I missed the reception from afar. I hope your lord, the imperial envoy, will forgive me."
Zhao Xun squinted his eyes slightly and smiled lightly: "What did Governor Zhao say? You are the official of Huangzhou. It is your responsibility to handle official affairs. Only when you have handled official affairs can you be free to do other things, right? As for me, I don’t care about these trivial etiquette.”
When Zhao Xun said this, he was actually testing Zhao Qian. How could Zhao Qian not hear this?
"That's not okay. Official business is official business, etiquette is etiquette, and it cannot be confused."
Zhao Qian said in a deep voice: "Come here, serve tea to the imperial envoy. Use the best Huangzhou Maofeng."
After saying that, he sat down beside Zhao Xun and asked in a very respectful manner: "I wonder what the imperial envoy has to teach you when he comes here?"
"Well, that's right."
Zhao Xun was neither sad nor happy, and said slowly: "I heard that there has been a proliferation of illegal salt in Huangzhou recently, and the quality of the salt cannot be guaranteed. There are actually cases where people are getting sick from eating it. I wonder if Governor Zhao has heard about it?"
Zhao Xun is best at observing micro-expressions, and this time he observed Zhao Qian with this mentality.
If Zhao Qian's facial expression is even slightly strange, Zhao Xun can catch it and conclude that Zhao Qian really has something going on in his heart.
The next step is to collect evidence, which is what bad people are best at doing.
But this Zhao Qian is also an old man who has been in the officialdom for many years. He was not deceived by Zhao Xun, but nodded and said: "The lower officials have also heard about this matter. It is some profiteers who are smuggling salt. Their salt is of poor quality. People who eat it will suffer from stomachaches at the least, and headaches and fever in the worst cases. It is really hateful."
"Oh? I wonder where these profiteers are now?"
"Imprisoned in the Governor's Yamen Prison."
"Oh? Can I go and have a look?"
"Of course, I wonder when the imperial envoy would like to go?"
"Now."
Zhao Xun said without hesitation.
...
...
Places like dungeons are always cold and damp.
The dungeon of the governor's office in Huangzhou Prefecture is no exception.
Zhao Xun, accompanied by the governor Zhao Qian, came to the prison and smelled a putrid smell when he entered the prison.
Zhao Xun frowned instinctively, but in order to find out the truth, this little pain was nothing.
Zhao Xun is not only a bad person, but also a practitioner!
At least so far, the governor Zhao Qian has behaved normally and doesn't seem to have any evil intentions at all.
Zhao Xun even had some doubts about the accuracy of the information provided by the bad guy Anqi blacksmith Zhang Chongzhi.
Zhao Xun's principle of dealing with things is not to punish a good person unjustly, nor to let a bad person go.
If Zhao Qian is really guilty, Zhao Xun will not let him go.
But if Zhao Qian is not guilty, Zhao Xun will not unjustly accuse him.
"Be careful, Imperial Envoy. There are steps ahead."
Zhao Qian was obviously very familiar with the dungeon and reminded him very thoughtfully.
The moment Zhao Xun joined the bad guys, Jia Xing told him something that was of great benefit, that is, the order of a place can be judged from the number of prisoners held in the dungeon.
If the Great Hell Prison is overcrowded, the order of this place will definitely not be good.
On the contrary, if there are not many prisoners in the dungeon, then the order in that place should be pretty good.
And this Huangzhou Dungeon belongs to the former.
Zhao Xun couldn't help but frown.
But he couldn't conclude anything based on this alone.
Maybe it's just that the governor Zhao Qian enforced the law strictly and was selfless?
The standard of law enforcement depends entirely on the parents and officials. Some people are strict and some are loose. There is nothing wrong with that.
"Prince Zhao, where are the profiteers you mentioned imprisoned?"
"Report to the Imperial Envoy, at the far west end."
Zhao Qian said loudly: "Just follow this road to the end."
Zhao Xun hummed softly and strode forward.
Zhao Qian followed him slowly, just one position behind Zhao Xun.
After about a few dozen breaths, Zhao Xun walked to the westernmost cell. He looked closely and was really shocked.
"How is this going?!"
It turned out that all the people in the cell had hanged themselves.
He would die sooner or later, but he died at the moment when Zhao Xun arrived!
Zhao Xun felt very angry, turned around and rushed towards Shi Zhaoqian to question.
Zhao Qian had an innocent face, spread his hands and said: "Your Majesty the Imperial Envoy, this subordinate doesn't know anything about it either... Where is the cell leader, get over here quickly!"
Zhao Qian scolded him sternly, and the jailer rolled up to them and kowtowed immediately: "Your Majesty the Governor, Your Majesty the Imperial Envoy. We don't know about it either. Maybe the jailer on duty drank too much last night. I didn’t notice that these profiteers committed suicide out of fear of crime, causing a tragedy.”
Zhao Qian kicked the cell head away and cursed: "What a waste. What did I tell you on weekdays? You are not allowed to drink while on duty! Drinking will cause trouble! What about you, you turned a deaf ear to what I said? Right? What should we do now? Tell me what we should do now?"
After saying that, he kicked the prison head hard again.
"Oh, Lord Governor, have mercy on me. Lord Governor, please have mercy. I know my mistake. I will never dare to do this again."
The prison head repeatedly begged for mercy.
If Zhao Xun was really a playboy with no social experience, he might have been deceived by Zhao Qian.
But Zhao Xun was a man of two generations, so if he couldn't see such tricks.
It was clear that Zhao Qian was playing a double act with the cell leader.
"You don't have to be too angry, Governor Zhao. It's not good to get hurt by anger. I don't think it's better than this. I'll let him inspect the corpses first to see how these merchants died."
"What the Imperial Envoy said is true."
Zhao Qian quickly followed the words and said.
"That being the case, your Majesty, please take a rest and leave this matter to your subordinates."
...
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