The heavy snow on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month only appeared in the Taiyuan area of Xuanfu, Datong. The capital was not affected by the heavy snow, and the weather began to get warmer.
"Sir, Deputy General Yang of Datong Town has sent you a gift." A servant dressed as a servant came to Han Xu and respectfully handed over a gift list.
The butler standing aside took the gift list, raised his hands and sent it to Han Xu, saying: "Master, this is the gift list."
Han Xu reached out and grabbed the gift list, glanced at it, handed it back to the butler, and said: "Everything that can be used on it is taken out and used immediately, and the things that are not needed temporarily are stored first."
"Yes." The butler took the gift list and put it in his sleeve.
As the chief steward of the Han family, his father is also a cabinet minister and a high-ranking member of the Donglin Party. He receives ice and charcoal gifts from local officials every year, and he has long been accustomed to this.
Han Xu picked up the blue and white porcelain bowl and blew in the hot air inside.
"Why don't you back down?" The housekeeper scolded him when he saw that the servant who came to the study to deliver a gift order did not leave.
The servant hunched over and faced Han Xu and said, "Sir, here is another letter from the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Datong. The person who sent the letter asked me to hand it to you personally."
As he spoke, he took out a letter from his arms and handed it forward with both hands.
"Oh? Is there still a letter?" Han Xu moved the blue and white porcelain bowl away from his mouth, glanced at the letter in the servant's hand, and said, "Bring it here."
The housekeeper took two steps forward, took the letter from the servant, and handed it to Han Xu.
Han Xu took the letter, glanced at the paint on it, and then tore it open bit by bit along the edge, and finally pulled out a piece of letter paper filled with words.
There was a lot written densely in the letter. Han Xu, who was reading the letter, slowly frowned when he read half of it.
When he read the contents of the letter, he placed the envelope and letter paper on the table at hand, and said to the servant in front of him: "Where is the person who sent the letter? Is he still there?"
"Yes, yes, I asked him to stay a little longer. He is right outside the house now." The servant nodded repeatedly.
Han Xu pursed his lips and said, "Go and bring him here, I want to see him."
"Yes, little one, go and bring him here." The servant agreed and then left the study.
Han Xu turned around and said to the steward on the side: "Take my post, go and invite Mr. Zhao, the Minister of Industry, and Mr. Yang, the deputy censor of Zuodu, and tell them that I have something to discuss with them."
The housekeeper agreed, turned and left the study.
Not long after, the servant who left earlier came in from outside the study with a middle-aged man in a long gown.
"Master, I've brought you here." The servant said respectfully to Han Xu.
The middle-aged man bowed his hands to Han Xu and said, "Student Zhou Xun has met Mr. Han."
The student showed that he was a scholar and did not kneel down. He also showed that he had a great reputation and could meet officials without kneeling.
Han Xu took a look at the man named Zhou Xun in front of him, pointed to the letter beside him, and said in a calm tone: "Did you send this letter?"
"As for Mr. Han, this letter was sent by the student on behalf of my lord." Zhou Xun said.
Han Xu's face darkened and he said, "Do you know that this letter contains some things that framed the imperial officials. Once word gets out, your family will be dismissed from office, or at worst, arrested and brought to Beijing for questioning. Do you know that?"
"I dare not lie to you, sir. The contents in the letter are all true and there is no false accusation." Zhou Xun said with an unchanging expression.
Han Xu stared at the face of Zhou Xun in front of him and looked up and down, and finally said: "Take the letter back, and tell Yang Guozhu when you get back, so that he can be the deputy commander of Datong with peace of mind, and don't hide anything, otherwise even if someone protects him, He, I will also take away his black gauze hat."
"Your Majesty Han, it is clear to you that Datong East Road guerrilla general Liu Heng offended the King of Shunyi through the tiger-character banner business. The Mongolian army may go south at any time. At that time, the people of Datong will be in dire straits. Please take the people of Datong as your example." Please read and punish Liu Heng, the guerrilla general of Datong East Road." Zhou Xun bowed deeply to Han Xu.
Han Xu knitted his brows together, with a look of dissatisfaction on his face, and said: "What you said is just a family opinion. If the Datong East Road guerrilla general you said is really what you said, the Datong governor and the commander-in-chief should also come forward. When did a deputy commander-in-chief take over? Could it be that Yang Guozhu was so arrogant and domineering in Datong that he even ignored the local governor and commander-in-chief?"
As a cabinet minister, he was dissatisfied with Yang Guozhu's behavior of going beyond his superiors.
In his eyes, if Liu Heng and the tiger-character flag were really as written in Yang Guozhu's letter, it would have been the governor or the commander-in-chief of Datong who came forward, rather than a deputy commander-in-chief writing a letter to inform him of this.
"My lord, unless my lord is unwilling, it is true that the governor of Datong and the commander-in-chief have been bribed with gold and silver and are colluding with Liu Henghang." Zhou Xun defended Yang Guozhu.
Snapped!
Han Xu slapped the table.
Zhou Xun, who was standing below, was trembling. Only then did he realize that the Master Han in front of him was a leader of the Donglin Party and one of the assistant ministers of the imperial cabinet.
Han Xu scolded: "How dare you, a young man, to slander an important minister of the imperial court like this? Come and drive him out."
The servant in the room hurriedly stepped forward, pushed Zhou Xun with his hand, and said at the same time: "Go, go, go, what dare you to offend my master?"
The servants pushed Zhou Xun around.
At this time, Zhou Xun knew that his previous words had angered the cabinet minister, so he did not dare to continue speaking and allowed the servants of the Han family to drive him away.
After Zhou Xun was kicked out by his servants, the study became quiet again.
Han Xu glanced at the letter on the table, and finally chose not to throw it away, but put the letter into an envelope.
Although he did not throw away the letter, Yang Guozhu's actions had already made him dissatisfied. He believed that Yang Guozhu had done such an incident because he was demoted to deputy commander-in-chief, and wanted to use this to return to the position of commander-in-chief.
The more this happened, the less he felt that Yang Guozhu could be reinstated as the commander-in-chief of the army. If it were not difficult to demote Yang Guozhu, he would have arranged for Yang Guozhu to be a commander at the guard station.
More than half an hour passed.
Han Xu ate some snacks in the study, and he no longer felt as empty and uncomfortable as when he first went to court.
"Sir, Master Zhao and Master Yang are here." The housekeeper came to the study.
Han Xu took a sip of tea, swallowed the residue left by the snack in his mouth, and then said: "Please come here quickly."
Not long after, the housekeeper came in from outside the house with Zhao Nanxing and Yang Lian. At the same time, another man came to Han Xu's study with them.
"Master Han."
Zhao Nanxing, Yang Lian and the man who entered the study at the end bowed their hands and saluted.
Han Xu didn't dare to take the big one, so he stood up from his seat and said with a smile: "Master Zhao, Master Yang, and Mr. Wang, please sit down."
