Chapter 153: Fuzhou Prefect

The reward arrangement ended at 9:00 pm, and the rest would continue tomorrow. Because there were many older officials, they were afraid that they would not be able to stand under the sun.

It was almost time, Song Yuzhu left first, and the officials below also left one after another. Some familiar people gathered in groups of three or five and went to a nearby restaurant to have lunch.

Some people take this opportunity to make more friends. Such good opportunities don't come often. If you can climb up to a high position, perhaps your future career will be smooth sailing.

Han Song was standing at the back. When he heard from above that the meeting was over for the day, he turned around and prepared to leave.

As soon as he raised his foot, the county magistrate beside him called out, "Hey, Lord Han, I thought you weren't coming. Why haven't I seen you guys these days?"

The person who was speaking was Liu Zhouting, the magistrate of Pingbei County. Although Pingnan and Pingbei differ by only one character, the life in the two places is completely different.

Pingbei County has no sand dunes and the land is more fertile, so the local people are much richer than those in Pingnan County.

However, the two counties had deep-seated grievances, and the county magistrates also disliked each other, which initially started because of a piece of farmland.

There is a fertile field at the junction of the two counties. Although the field is closer to Pingbei County, it has been cultivated by the people of Pingnan County since ancient times. A few years ago, it was suddenly occupied by the rich gentry of Pingbei County. The local people were unwilling and clashed with the other party.

Unexpectedly, Liu Zhouting brought the yamen runners to arrest the people of Pingnan County and brought them to the yamen, and forcibly took the land to Pingbei County.

After Han Song learned about this, he naturally refused to give up. He first went to the government office to argue but was turned away. He then reported it to the provincial government, but still received no news. In the end, he had no choice but to take a few hundred civilians to take the land back. From then on, the two of them had a grudge against each other.

Han Song said coldly: "Master Liu, you are worrying too much. I have been staying at a friend's house for the past few days. I have not been able to see you since I did not go out."

"Oh, I see. I thought Lord Han was hiding under a tree with his servant again."

On the way here, Han Song and Maodou were resting under a tree and were seen by Liu Zhouting. He deliberately drove the carriage past them to mock them.

"Jinghuai, why aren't you leaving yet?" Not far away, Xu Bing was waving at him.

"Hey, here it comes."

Han Song turned his head and said, "When you have time, you should take more care of yourself." After that, he hurried towards Xu Bing, leaving behind County Magistrate Liu with a terrified face.

That...that's Left Prime Minister Xu Bing? !

How does he...he he he know the Prime Minister?

Seeing the two people getting along so well, Liu Zhouting's face instantly turned from red to black and finally pale. It's over, it's over. He has offended them so much!

*

Han Song came over, but Xu Bing didn't ask him what had just happened. He knew that his friend was very proud and would never ask him for help.

"I heard there's a new restaurant opened in the city, the food is really good, would you like to go with me to try it?"

Han Song smiled and said, "Why not?"

The two walked to Xianweiju, a restaurant opened by a southerner. The interior was fresh and elegant, and the signature dishes were all southern cuisine, known for their freshness.

The people in the prime minister's residence had already booked a private room in advance, and the two of them went upstairs and sat on the low couch to chat.

Han Song picked up the teapot and poured tea for Xu Bing, and filled his own cup as well.

"Tingfang, I have a question in my mind. Many of the officials who received the reward this time did not report what they did to the court. How did the emperor know about it?"

Xu Bing picked up the teacup and moistened his throat, with a meaningful expression on his face: "I can't explain this matter clearly, I can only tell you one thing, when we went north from Xuzhou to attack Sheng's army, he was able to draw the nearby mountain topography overnight."

Han Song took a deep breath. So His Majesty is really the incarnation of a golden dragon? !

*

The people in the private room next door were also confused.

More than 20 officials from Fuzhou sat together, led by Zhu Bi, the prefect of Fuzhou.

He was playing with a pair of priceless Hetian jade walnuts in his hands, and the expression on his face was unpredictable.

"How did he know all these things?" Zhu Bi suddenly spoke, with only confusion in his tone and no respect for the emperor at all.

Liu Pan, the deputy governor who sat below him, said, "I think the emperor may have planted spies in various places, so he knows everything so well."

"Then tell me, do we have his spies in Fuzhou?"

Liu Pan smiled apologetically and said, "Of course... not."

If that were true, how could he have been able to get away with it until now?

Everyone knows that Zhu Bi, the prefect of Fuzhou, was nicknamed Zhu Shengren. Not only did he compare himself to the emperor and built a palace in the local area, he also married hundreds of women as concubines. He was a real local emperor.

The people were angry but dared not speak out, but there was nothing they could do about him. First, Fuzhou was too far away from the capital, and it was difficult to pass on the message.

Secondly, Zhu Bi’s methods were too cruel. If he found out, his relatives would be in trouble, so everyone had been enduring.

When Zhu Bi came to Beijing to attend the officials' meeting this time, he originally wanted to randomly select a few of his subordinates to deal with the matter.

As a result, they heard that they would have to be checked before entering the capital, so they had no choice but to call the county magistrates to the provincial capital in advance, and use threats and inducements to them on the way there, telling them that if they dared to come to the capital and talk nonsense, they should be careful about their relatives!

A county magistrate whispered, "Perhaps...perhaps the emperor is really the reincarnation of a golden dragon, and can see things that ordinary people cannot see..."

Zhu Bi rubbed the walnut faster and faster, and suddenly a jade walnut flew out of his hand and fell to the ground and bounced out.

The county magistrate was startled and quickly bent down to help him pick it up, handing it over with trembling hands.

Zhu Bi did not reach out to catch the walnut, but instead smashed another walnut hard on his head, causing it to bleed.

"Please spare my life, sir!" The county magistrate knelt on the ground and begged for mercy.

Zhu Bi helped him up with a fake smile: "Go and take care of the wound on your head quickly, don't let anyone see it."

The man nodded tremblingly and quickly asked the servant to help clean the wound.

Zhu Bi was upset, worried that the emperor would find out what he had done. "Why do you have to hold an official meeting for no reason? Are you really bored?"

*

On the third day of August, the weather was a bit gloomy, and a dark cloud hung right over Shangjing.

Song Yuzhu sat on the dragon throne, listening to officials from all over the country reporting their plans. Song Yutong also sat beside him. During this period, Song Yuzhu intentionally brought her to see the world. Although she was young, she learned a lot of things that she could not learn from books.

Today's plan report is the focus of this meeting. As the saying goes, "a bad soldier makes a bad general." Whether a place can develop well depends not only on the local existing resources, but also on its leadership.

A good leader can lead a local area to rapid development, but of course an incompetent governor can also bring disaster to the area.

The local governors also understood the importance of the report, so many of them began preparing half a year in advance. Of course, there were also some who crammed at the last minute and asked familiar officials for help and wrote a report overnight, just hoping to get by.

The first person to take the stage to speak was Wang Huan, the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture. He was formerly the Left Censor-in-Chief and was promoted by Song Yuzhu only last year.

A new official has three things to do upon taking office. This guy is very aggressive and the content of his report is very practical, setting a good example for other officials.

He elaborated on the development focus of Shangjing in the next three years. As the capital of the country, it is no exaggeration to say that Shangjing is the most prosperous city in Daqi.

However, Shangjing also has fatal disadvantages. Its small geographical area is not conducive to future development. In addition, many outsiders have flocked to Shangjing in recent years, making housing prices sky-high and restricting the lives of Shangjing residents.

Wang Huan proposed not to reconstruct the old city area but to focus on the surrounding areas and build a new city to alleviate the problem of high housing prices in Beijing.

At the same time, we should invest in the construction of buildings, and avoid building large courtyards to reduce the housing pressure in Shangjing. We should encourage foreign merchants to invest in Beijing, strengthen the construction of the capital's periphery, and allow the entire Shangjing to accommodate more people.

After Wang Huan finished his report, almost all the officials behind him wiped the cold sweat from their heads. With such a brilliant example in front of them, it was hard to stop them.

As one official after another finished their reports, Song Yuzhu's brows gradually furrowed.

Jizhou, Zhongzhou and Binzhou are better, and Zhengzhou and Huzhou are also average.

When we arrived at Suzhou and Hangzhou, two major economic provinces, we were a little disappointed. As economically strong provinces, there was almost no innovation and development, and they still enjoyed the dividends of the canal and used the convenient waterways to develop trade.

Song Yuzhu knew that they were seeking stability, but blindly seeking stability would not work, so he planned to transfer the governors of these two states next year.

Of course, there are even more stupid things. The Yangzhou prefect actually regarded brothels as a pillar industry. Although Yangzhou is famous for its skinny horses, he didn't really think that this was something that could be put on the table, did he? !

Song Yuzhu scolded him angrily and drove him away. The prefect of Yangzhou looked as pale as death, knowing that he would be demoted at any time.

When the officials behind saw this situation, they became more and more frightened, fearing that what they said would displease the emperor and affect their future careers.

The report of the Xizhou prefect was the longest, taking half an hour to read. He made plans for the more than 30 counties under his jurisdiction.

However, although it was long, at least it could be seen that the author had put his heart into it. After he finished reading, Song Yuzhu picked out two questions for him to solve first, and then let him go.

It was soon the last official's turn. A fat man with big ears walked up to the balcony.

"My name is Zhu Bi, the prefect of Fuzhou. I have the honor to attend this officials' meeting..." The moment he heard his name, Song Yuzhu immediately sat up straight.

"Zhu Bi." Song Yuzhu suddenly interrupted him.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Bi shuddered and immediately stopped speaking.

He bowed and walked to Song Yuzhu and said, "I wonder what your majesty wants me to do?"

"I heard that you have another name in Fuzhou, Zhu Shengren?"

Zhu Bi was horrified, and he knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly: "Your Majesty, who said this? You must be slandering me! I would never dare to call myself a saint even if I had a hundred guts!"

Song Yuzhu sneered and continued, "Don't worry, I will tell you your sins one by one."

"During his tenure, he embezzled more than one million taels of silver, built a palace and selected concubines in Fuzhou. He abducted a woman and tied her to a stone when she refused to obey him, and then drowned her in the sea. You also tattooed his family members and exiled them to an isolated island near Fuzhou, where they starved to death..."

With every word Song Yuzhu said, Zhu Bi's face turned paler. When he heard "You have to take Qiushi every night to be humane", he completely collapsed.

The emperor is definitely not a human, otherwise how could he know such a private matter? !

The reason why Song Yuzhu knew these things was just a coincidence. Some time ago, he sent Li Jie to Fuzhou to build a rubber factory. As a result, when he looked at the map, he saw the palace in Fuzhou.

At that time he was thinking, wow, who is so brave to build such a big palace imitating the imperial palace in Shangjing.

When Song Yuzhu went to check, he happened to see Zhu Bi robbing a woman. He was so angry that he planned to send someone to arrest him overnight.

Zhao Xiao advised him to wait a few more days. Anyway, the meeting was about to begin, and it would not be too late to settle the accounts after he arrived in Shangjing.

"Zhu Bi, do you plead guilty?" His voice was followed by a loud thunder.

Zhu Bi twitched, his eyelids fluttered, and he fell straight to the ground.

The eunuch stepped forward to check for a while and said, "Your Majesty, he was frightened to death..."

This time, the rumor that Song Yuzhu was the incarnation of a real dragon came true.

(End of this chapter)