"Bang!"
Just when Zhang Yuan was hesitating whether to take the risk but couldn't make up his mind, he suddenly heard a bang. The table in front of him jumped up and down, and a teacup was shaken to the ground and shattered in front of him.
Zhang Ben was frightened to death.
Suddenly, Zhao Xin shouted angrily, "Marquis of Huating!"
"Your Majesty...Your Majesty is here!"
Zhang Yuan, who was still hesitating whether to take the risk, was stunned by his sudden slap and shout, and subconsciously agreed.
"I handed this Great Wilderness County over to you, is this how you govern it for me?"
Zhao Xin asked sternly, sounding extremely angry.
Zhang Yuan's expression changed drastically. Zhao Xin seemed to be chatting with him in his previous sentence, but his vague meaning seemed to be questioning his loyalty.
Suddenly the topic jumped to governance, and he was a little confused. He instinctively defended himself, "Your Majesty, in governing Dahuang County, I have always been diligent and conscientious, reducing taxes and levies, and educating the people with virtue. I..."
"Hehe, so I've wronged you?"
Zhao Xin chuckled coldly.
"I dare not, your Majesty..."
Zhao Xin interrupted him with a chuckle and sneered, "Stop being a minister. I want to ask you, since you became the prefect, have you ever stepped out of this prefecture to see how the people you rule live?"
He suddenly changed the subject, naturally out of consideration for psychological offensive.
After all, Zhang Yuan was the governor of a county and a local lord.
Later generations often understood the states of this era as provinces in later generations, and equated counties with general prefecture-level cities. They believed that the provincial governors of each state were the local princes, and the county magistrates were the next level of local officials.
Actually, that’s not true.
Whether it was the Han Dynasty in the Chinese world or the Qin system in this world, the Inspector was actually not a high-ranking official, or even a permanent official. His salary was only 600 dan, which was lower than that of some powerful county magistrates in large counties.
Only in rare cases, when the Inspector became a Governor of a Province, he was no longer a vassal, but almost a separatist force.
For example, Liu Yan and his son Liu Zhang, who initiated the provincial governor system in the Three Kingdoms period, Liu Biao, the governor of Jingzhou, etc., it is no longer appropriate to call these people princes, they are just separatist forces.
Not to mention Liu Bei who later became the purple-collared governor of Yizhou.
Under normal circumstances, the county magistrate was the most powerful local lord of the era.
The difference between them and those princes is actually just a title. Some princes even have far less territory and power than the county magistrates.
Of course, there were exceptions like the Chu State in the early Western Han Dynasty, which owned six counties. However, such states usually rebelled and were killed, or were forced to rebel by the emperor and then killed.
Such a local lord, even a mediocre official like Zhang Yuan who enjoys idle talk all day long and whose mind is full of Huang Lao's inaction and governance, still has the rebellious spirit of a local lord in his heart.
For example, when he saw Zhao Xin for the first time, he really didn't recognize him, but when Zhao Xin directly called himself "I", he recognized him instantly. The person in front of him was the Zhao Xin he had met that year when he was still in the palace.
The current emperor of the Qin Dynasty.
Then, in that brief moment, he seemed to be shocked, but it was half true and half false.
On the surface, he was indeed surprised.
But his mind was also racing, thinking about the reasons and countermeasures for the emperor's appearance.
Of course, there were some extremely rebellious people among them, such as pretending not to know him and driving him out, or even thinking of sending someone to tell the Prince of Qi and then killing him with a borrowed knife.
But Zhao Xin is the emperor after all, and he is not a decisive person, so such a decision is not easy to make.
But when the soldiers arrived, he did not stop them immediately, which explained the problem.
However, Li Cunxiao's move shocked him.
He instantly understood what Li Cunxiao meant. These soldiers could not detain the emperor, but Li Cunxiao had the ability to capture him in the first place.
He then pretended to be stern and rebuked the soldiers.
Then they ordered the secret to be strictly guarded, not to be leaked, and to kill without mercy. It was a performance just for the emperor.
This includes bowing down.
If Zhao Xin had followed the normal etiquette between the monarch and his subjects at that time, he would have helped him up and treated him with respect.
Then all that the two sides can do is to pretend to be friendly.
No matter what he is asked to do, he can always find a bunch of excuses to shirk it.
So Zhao Xin deliberately did the opposite. Not only did he not treat him with courtesy, he didn't even say "stand up".
Just let him kneel.
And she said some ambiguous words to him as if nothing had happened, saying that she missed him and that she didn't come to congratulate him.
It sounds like chatting, but also like making excuses and asking for accountability.
The purpose is to make him feel psychological pressure and have wild thoughts.
Let him scare himself.
But when he saw that the time was almost right, his expression suddenly changed. He looked at the table and shouted coldly, which instantly shocked Zhang Yuan again. He was about to be unable to bear the pressure and turned into a biting rabbit.
Then change the subject immediately, and ask him to refute and defend himself.
This rebuttal and defense naturally instantly shattered the fighting spirit that had just been aroused.
So when he explained things like "light taxes and levies, and educate with virtue", Zhao Xin was instantly relieved.
As the art of war says, the first attack is strong, the second will weaken, and the third will be exhausted.
Zhang Yuan has a character like this. Although he has some heroic spirit, it is also very weak. He was defeated the first time and eliminated the second time. This person is not worth worrying about.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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