Chapter 84 You're Crazy
There was even a hint of grievance in Zheng Yun's voice:
"People in Chang'an always say that there are many barbarians in Yan. Let's take a look. Among the sixteen states in Yan, who is more barbaric than King Li?"
Li Heng listened to him quietly until he asked, "Are all the people in Chang'an so rude?"
Li Hengcai hurriedly said, "Of course not! It's just that this Li Wang may have encountered a big setback and his temperament has changed drastically. He was not like this before!"
Zheng Yun snorted coldly, "I will file a complaint with the emperor! Lord Li will testify for the Zheng family and tell His Majesty everything the King of Li did."
Li Heng nodded repeatedly: "This matter is indeed too reckless of the Li King. Master Zheng, just write the petition, and I am willing to report it for you."
The two men were cursing the King of Li and talking about filing a complaint with the Emperor, when suddenly a minor official came to report: "The Lord has urgent news."
Li Heng took a look at it and was shocked at first, then he said to Zheng Yun happily: "God helps me! Master Zheng doesn't need to write a petition, the emperor's envoy is here!"
He directly showed the urgent letter in his hand to Zheng Yun. In just two sentences, it said that the emperor had sent an imperial envoy to Yanzhou and Governor Li was ready to receive him.
The two speculated about the purpose of the imperial envoy's visit, and remembered that Huo Zian had led people to assassinate King Li before, but all the people in the group were killed by King Li, and he even used the corpse to blackmail Li Heng.
And Huo Zian is still in the hands of King Li, and it is unknown whether he is dead or alive.
Li Heng guessed that the imperial envoy must be Prince Yu, and sent someone to find out the true situation of Prince Li.
The assassins sent out did not respond for a long time, and the news of what King Li had done since he came to Yan was reported back to Chang'an one by one.
Prince Yu must be worried that Prince Li will become too powerful in Yan, so he quickly sent people to investigate. If Prince Li is too powerful, he must find a way to clip his wings.
Even, get rid of him secretly!
The more Li Heng thought about it, the more he felt it was very likely. He hurriedly discussed with Zheng Yun and decided to keep his troops in place for the time being, but to spread the news that the King of Li had extorted 100,000 taels of silver from the Zheng family and detained 1,000 people from the Zheng family as slaves.
At the very least, we must let Prince Yu's people know that the Zheng family has a deep hatred for Prince Li. In this way, when the imperial envoy arrives, as long as the Zheng family expresses their willingness to cooperate with the imperial envoy.
Not only can we get rid of our enemy King Li, but we can also make friends with King Shangyu, killing two birds with one stone!
Zheng Yun was convinced. He also felt that a prince who had experienced a palace coup and was exiled to the border by the emperor, but was still not honest and committed evil at the border, naturally violated the emperor's taboos.
Even if the imperial envoy doesn't want to kill him this time, he will at least make him lose a layer of skin!
At that time, after the Zheng family borrowed the imperial envoy, they taught him a lesson and let him know that a strong dragon cannot defeat a local snake. Who is the boss in Yan?
Because the imperial envoy's trip had to be kept secret, Zheng Yun was scolded by family members after returning to the Zheng family. They paid money as compensation but still refused to return him. The Zheng family suffered heavy losses this time.
Zheng Yun, the acting head of the family, silently endured all of this and secretly gritted his teeth and said, "Wait! Once the imperial envoy arrives, you will know how I will restore the prestige of the Zheng family!"
…
"Mr. Gu, what exactly is the imperial envoy going to Yanzhou for? Haven't you found out yet?" Grandpa Ling asked anxiously.
Originally, he thought that once he entered Yan territory, it would be extremely convenient to go to Yanzhou, and he could arrive there in less than ten days by riding a fast horse.
Unexpectedly, once we entered Yan territory, we still had a hard time moving forward. The checkpoints in each state were extremely strict, and the people of Yan were very xenophobic.
When they hear that you have an accent from another place, they will not let you in no matter if you are a Taoist priest or a monk.
Every time they passed through a provincial capital, they relied on Gu Changxiao's secret guards to dispatch them, or bribed the guards to pass through at night, or disguised themselves as merchants and paid large bribes.
Grandpa Ling secretly estimated that it would cost at least several hundred taels of silver to reach Yanzhou. He was not familiar with Yanzhou and did not know how to walk along the mountain path.
There are so many blind bears and wolves here that you can sometimes see them during the day. There are even more outlaws, and the horse thieves and mountain bandits are extremely vicious.
Now he didn't dare to take Jin'an with him, because the grandfather and grandson were alone, old and young, and very poor.
Thinking of going to Yanzhou to find Jinsui, she could only hold on to Gu Changxiao's thighs.
Uh, it's really unfair to use the phrase "clinging to someone's thighs".
But there is no way! Before, Grandpa Ling dared to say that he was Gu Changxiao's savior. And Gu Changxiao did treat him and Jinan as benefactors.
But when I heard about what Jinsui did along the way, it was like one thing after another was passed on to me, and I felt less gratitude.
Until the reputation of "the cruel king is inhumane" spread throughout Yan, Grandpa Ling felt that Gu Changxiao was a good and cultured man because he did not beat them up in a fit of rage to vent his anger.
As a result, Gu Changxiao just endured it, even in teahouses and restaurants, listening to storytellers and people in the market talking about it as a joke.
He even described in vivid detail the news coming from Chang'an, saying that when Prince Li was the crown prince, he did not have a concubine and was surrounded by men serving him.
Sure enough, he was useless at that time! But why would such a useless person force the emperor to revolt? What would it matter if he seized the throne when he had no descendants? Some people said something even more disgusting: "You say he doesn't like women, no, he can't touch women without his ox, so is he a rabbit god?"
Jinan asked quietly, "Grandpa, what is a Rabbit?"
Grandpa Ling was so angry that he wanted to go up and question those gossipers. When Prince Li was the crown prince, he was wholeheartedly serving the people.
Once you are down and out, you guys are just making up stories about people? Moreover, discussing the royal family in private is a serious crime! But Gu Changxiao held him down, and said with gratitude: "Don't pay attention! This is Yandi, and the people have always had little respect for the royal family in private."
"and……"
Grandpa Ling and Jin'an looked at him together, but saw Gu Changxiao smiling. When he saw that smile, they both thought he was mad.
But I heard him say: “And it’s quite interesting.
I always thought that Taoist Xiao Ji was a little crazy, but now I think it would be nice if I could be as reckless and crazy as he is."
Grandpa Ling hurriedly took out three copper coins to tell fortunes: "She is not crazy, you are crazy!"
Fortunately, the divination looked auspicious, otherwise Grandpa Ling would really have to take him to the Taoist temple to perform a ritual to see if he was possessed by some evil spirit.
Didn't you scold Jinsui before? Why are you agreeing with Jinsui's actions when they are getting more and more outrageous?
Especially when the news spread that King Li had detained thousands of tenants of the Zheng family and forced them to open up wasteland and build roads.
The people don’t care why the Zheng family came to King Li’s territory?
The rumor was even more exaggerated. It was said that any mule passing through the border town would be stopped and forced to work on the mill for three days.
When he heard that King Li not only detained people from the Zheng family, but also demanded food expenses from the Zheng family, a full 100,000 taels of silver, and when the Zheng family refused to pay, he took people to the Zheng family's ancestral tomb to cause trouble.
Look, is this something a human would do? It has brought shame to the royal family! How could a prince do this? No rogue in the green forest would dig up someone's ancestral grave! If the news of what the King of Li did had spread before, the people would think he was crazy, and even think that he was not sent by the court to disgust the Yandi gentry.
But now, most people sympathize with King Li.
"He's inhumane, why bother with him so much?"
(End of this chapter)
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