As soon as Zhu Yixuan entered the old city, he found that it had changed beyond recognition. The scenes that he was familiar with in the past were all gone, leaving only devastation. There were also some thugs wandering on the streets, with flickering and wandering eyes, as if they were looking at their next target.
Meeting Zhu Yixuan's murderous eyes, the thugs were frightened and fled away.
Zhu Yixuan slowed down and waited until he arrived at the Zhu Mansion.
The butler seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw him.
Without waiting for the housekeeper to speak, Zhu Yixuan ordered, "Settle the eldest young lady first."
The housekeeper's face turned pale, "Master, the Madam is not..."
Zhu Yixuan glanced at him coldly and said, "Just go if I tell you to. Why are you asking so many questions?"
The housekeeper didn't dare to say anything more and went to do it quickly.
Zhu Yixuan went to Master Zhu's yard. As soon as he entered the door, he saw his father with bandages on his legs. He looked haggard. He felt sad and angry. "Dad, how are you?"
When Mr. Zhu saw his son, who looked so handsome, all the grievances he had accumulated during this period turned into tears. "Yixuan, you're finally back! Dad was bullied so badly! Woo woo woo"
"Dad, don't cry first, tell me what's going on!" Zhu Yixuan frowned. When they entered the city, they were stopped by the garrison. He suddenly realized that these garrison soldiers were different from the border soldiers. He wanted to find out the other side's background, but they had a bad attitude and ignored him.
In addition, he was accompanied by Cen Mingzhu, who could not be seen in public, so he could only grit his teeth and endure it.
Master Zhu cried and slammed the table when he was excited, "It's all because of those two bastards Lu Tong and Shen Yi. One is a country bumpkin who hasn't even left Zhaohua County, and the other is a mud-legged man who gets so arrogant when he gets the upper hand. How dare they humiliate and plot against us like this? It's really hateful!"
Zhu Yixuan frowned, "Dad, what's going on with those garrison troops? Lu Tong and Shen Yi don't seem like the people who can dispatch those garrison troops."
The letter that Mr. Zhu sent him only said that Lu Tong and Shen Yi were committing crimes and were lawless, and that they were targeting the Zhu family. He also said that he could not hold on any longer, so Zhu Yixuan hurried back.
On the way, he had already thought about how to deal with Lu Tong and Chen Yi, but as soon as he entered the city, he was given such a big "surprise".
He still has ways to deal with Lu Tong and Chen Yi, but it is hard to say about those stationed troops. He doesn't even know who is in charge of them.
Master Zhu shook his head. "I don't know either. I can't find out. It seems that even the prefect can't control them."
"You don't even know who is in charge?" Zhu Yixuan almost laughed out of anger.
His father doesn't seem like the kind of person who would do such a stupid thing.
Master Zhu felt even more aggrieved when he saw his son was unhappy. "Do you think I don't want to find out? There is no way to find out! I even tried to get in touch with Lu Tong to learn more about the garrison troops, but Lu Tong kept his mouth shut and didn't reveal a single word! That day, Master Gao and his group went to cause trouble with the garrison troops, and three of them were killed, and a member of our family was also chopped off."
When talking about this, Mr. Zhu's hands trembled slightly, betraying his inner fear and anxiety.
He had been a tyrant in Zhaohua County all his life, and everyone treated him with courtesy! This was the first time he encountered such a troublemaker who was completely helpless, and he really didn't know what to do.
Zhu Yixuan's expression suddenly changed. Seeing that Master Zhu had no useful information, he could only appease him first and then go out to find the housekeeper.
"How is the eldest young lady?"
The housekeeper bowed respectfully and said, "The eldest young lady has not come out since she entered the yard, and she did not give any instructions."
Zhu Yixuan nodded, "Send some more people to watch her and don't let her leave the room. Just send her three meals a day."
The housekeeper responded reluctantly, wanting to ask but not daring to.
In just a short while, Zhu Yixuan had already walked out of the Zhu Mansion.
Zhu Yixuan arrived at the county government office and found that the gate was closed. There was only one yamen runner outside who was drowsy. He hurried forward and said in a gentle voice: "Sir, I am Zhu Yixuan of the Zhu family. I want to see the county magistrate."
The yamen runner woke up instantly when he saw the silver, and accepted it very naturally. His tone of voice also became more humane, "Master Zhu, you came at an untimely time. Our county magistrate is still recovering from illness!"
"Recuperating?" Zhu Yixuan raised his eyebrows, his eyes full of suspicion.
Seeing that he didn't believe him, the yamen runner wanted to point to the sky and swear, "Master Zhu, I can lie to anyone but you. Our county magistrate is really sick. I don't know who instigated those ruffians to cause trouble and beat our magistrate. They say it takes a hundred days to heal a broken bone, but our magistrate still can't walk!"
Zhu Yixuan was stunned again. His father didn't even tell him such important news. It was very likely that his father was responsible for Lu Tong being beaten.
Thinking of this, Zhu Yixuan's face darkened even more. He immediately gave the yamen runner another ounce of silver and said in a gentle voice, "Sir, I dared to come back, and I don't know what the current situation in the city is. Can you tell me in detail?"
"No problem!" The yamen runner gave up his seat to Zhu Yixuan and moved to the other side. "To say that Zhaohua County has really changed a lot in the past few years, it is understandable that Master Zhu does not understand. Let's not talk about other things. Just take the mining as an example. It was ordered by the emperor and supervised by the imperial envoy. Our urban area has long been out of the jurisdiction of our county magistrate.
You said those people are making a fuss, what's the point! Our Lord is not omnipotent, now he can only manage the people, when it comes to the mines, he can't intervene, absolutely can't intervene. "
The bailiff kept waving his hands.
Zhu Yixuan showed no emotion on his face and continued to ask, "Are you saying that those stationed troops are under the jurisdiction of the imperial envoy? Who is the imperial envoy?"
The yamen runner shook his head. "I don't know about this. I guess even our masters don't know. At the beginning, the garrison was brought here by the prefect. When the prefect came, he told our county magistrate that the mining was completely handed over to the garrison. From now on, our masters only need to cooperate with the garrison and cannot interfere in other matters.
The garrison leader looked very important, and even the prefect was polite to him. I only saw him from a distance, so I couldn’t see him clearly.
The more the yamen runner spoke, the heavier Zhu Yixuan's heart became, and he began to regret bringing Cen Mingzhu back.
Just when Zhu Yixuan was stunned, Shen Yi came over.
The yamen runner quickly stood up and saluted, "Sir, are you okay?"
Shen Yi waved his hand gently and smiled, "It's much better now. I came to the county government office today to deal with the official business that has accumulated during this period of time."
When Zhu Yixuan heard the words "Mr. County Magistrate", he felt mixed emotions. Not long ago, Shen Yi was a small commander-in-chief who was suppressed by him in the military camp. Now that the other party has become an official, he is actually inferior to him.
"Brother Chen!" Zhu Yixuan put away his complicated emotions, clasped his fists and bowed to greet him.
Chen Yi seemed not to notice the complicated expression on his face, and only nodded politely and distantly, "Master Zhu is back. Calculating the time, the three-year mourning period has already come. Why didn't he establish his career at the border, but instead came back from afar?" (End of this chapter)
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