Chapter 411: Chickens and Dogs Prosper
The next day, the Qin brothers were going back to their base, and Qin's mother went to see Qin Heng off herself.
She mentioned the siblings Hou Shuang and Hou Ya. They didn't come to her birthday yesterday, but they sent a gift and asked the guard at the military camp to deliver it.
Mother Qin said, "After all, the Hou brothers and sisters are relatives of Xiaojia and Xiaohan's maternal family, and they are quite polite. Now that they have fallen on hard times in Liaodong County, we should still lend a hand when it is time."
Qin Heng nodded, "Mom, I know about this."
On this day, Liu Heshan and Chen Ping were invited to Houcheng by Lu Desheng.
The two came together, both guessing why Lu Desheng was looking for them.
Lu Desheng met with the two people in person.
As soon as they met, they both bowed and said, "Greetings, Your Excellency the Governor."
"Please stand up quickly. There's no need to be so polite between us." Lu Desheng personally helped the two of them up.
"Congratulations to Lord Lu on his promotion."
Lu Desheng asked the two to sit down and said straight to the point, "Do you know that something happened to Liaoxi County Magistrate Lu Yiliang?"
"I know." The two didn't know why he brought this up.
"After I am promoted to the Governor of Pingzhou, the positions of the Governors of Liaodong and Liaoxi counties will be vacant."
Hearing this, their hearts suddenly began to beat fast.
"I'll always remember the huge risk you two took with me during the negotiations with the Xianbei. So, now that I have the opportunity, I intend to promote you both to the position of county governor."
Liu Heshan and Chen Ping: ...were very confused.
When they realized what was happening, they were in disbelief. No, the position of prefect wasn't easy to come by. How could he, Lu Desheng, just give it to them? They knew that the governor didn't have the power to appoint or dismiss prefects.
"Master Lu, you are not joking, are you?"
Lu Desheng was speechless. "Do you think I called you all this way here just to play a joke on you?"
The two of them smiled awkwardly, "That can't be done."
The two of them said, "But, this is difficult to do, right?"
"Everything depends on human effort," Lu Desheng said to the two of them. "If you have connections in the court, you can also secretly exert your influence."
Liu Heshan and Chen Ping both smiled bitterly. If they had any connections in the court, how could they not even be transferred out of Liaodong County?
Lu Desheng understood and gave them a look of disdain. "Forget it, I don't count on you for this. Go back and wait."
Before leaving, Lu Desheng remembered something and said to Liu Heshan, "Your cousin Jiang Changyun is a talented person. Don't treat him unfairly in the future."
When Liu Heshan heard this, his expression turned strange. His cousin, a talent?
Chen Ping still remembered Jiang Changyun, a ruthless and cruel man. He remembered that he had given Shi Tao croton and, in order to clear himself of suspicion, he even drugged himself. Now that Lord Lu mentioned him again, what had he done?
On the way back, the two of them felt worse the more they thought about it.
In the negotiations with the Xianbei, they had made no contributions, but they had worked hard. Afterwards, they submitted a petition to the court, asking to be transferred to a safer place to serve as officials, and they did not ask for promotions or anything like that. Even this request was rejected.
Now that Lord Lu has been promoted, he has begun to recruit them...
Some people cannot be compared, and some things cannot be thought about deeply.
Chen Ping sighed and said, "Old Liu, let's not even think about transferring out of Pingzhou."
Liu Heshan nodded and said, "Well, from now on, we will follow Lord Lu with our heads on the line."
Since they think Pingzhou is dangerous, they try to make it less dangerous!
Liaoxi County
As soon as the case was concluded, Lin Ran ordered the Shi family and those involved, such as Lu Yiliang, to be escorted back to Chang'an.
However, he led his men ahead and brought the spoils from the house search back to Chang'an to report, while the rest of his subordinates took the prisoners back.
Lin Ran took action with great fanfare.
The news that Pingzhou Governor Shi Tao was dismissed and many people were implicated, leaving two county governor positions vacant in Pingzhou, had already spread in Chang'an before Lin Ran returned to Chang'an.
Especially now that it was the end of the year, many ministers were returning to Chang'an to report on their duties and await vacancies. As a result, the news of officials who were qualified to take the next step and become county governors spread even more frequently around their residences.
All the officials who heard the news felt threatened.
At the thought of being exiled to Pingzhou, these officials shrank back, shaking their heads inwardly. First, Pingzhou was located in the remotest part of the northeast of Dali, almost as remote as a barren mountainous area. Second, if they went there, they would be subordinate to Lü Desheng.
When they thought of this, they felt suffocated. Forget it, they would never fall into Lu Desheng's hands, and Pingzhou was not a good place to go.
So these officials began to move around frequently. Those who were quick found suitable positions quickly and took up their posts quickly.
As soon as Lin Ran returned to Chang'an, Wang Dong ordered his navy to withdraw. He then left a sum of money to the remaining forces in Chang'an and leisurely rode his donkey back to Pingzhou. He loved his current life so much. His younger brothers were reluctant to leave and accompanied him all the way to the East City Gate before waving goodbye.
At this time, Song Mo considered that there were two vacant county governor positions in Pingzhou, and intended to send two ministers to Pingzhou.
But after a quick glance, he realized there weren't many suitable candidates. Especially when his gaze fell on two of the ministers, they were trembling and claimed to be ill after leaving the court.
Seeing this, Song Mo's face turned very bad.
Zhang Xian advised, "Your Majesty, the situation in Pingzhou is indeed difficult. It is understandable that the ministers are reluctant to go."
Song Mo thought that since no ministers of a slightly lower rank were willing to go, he would promote the lower-ranking ones to the rank of county governor and send them out.
In his report to the emperor two days later, Lin Ran, while narrating the Shi Tao case, briefly mentioned that the Wuliu County Magistrate Liu Heshan provided some evidence, which expanded the results of the battle.
Liu Heshan? Song Mo thought the name sounded familiar.
The eunuch chief Liang An beside him immediately reminded him that Liu Heshan and another county magistrate Chen Ping had also made contributions in the negotiations between Liaodong County and the Xianbei royal court at the beginning of the year, but the rewards given to the two were not generous at that time.
Song Mo asked the Shangshu to investigate the two men. Sure enough, there were two people in the Shangshu's office requesting to be transferred out of Liaodong County.
Song Mo remembered that because the two had just made contributions, Shang Shu had come to him specifically to ask for instructions. He was in a bad mood at the time and rejected it.
These two men were determined to be transferred out of Liaodong County, and they must have been at odds with Lü Desheng. If he promoted them, it would be the same as sending two officials from the imperial court. Furthermore, these two had previously made contributions in the negotiations with the Xianbei royal court, and if they were promoted to the position of county governor, the ministers at court would have no objections.
He promoted them from the position of county magistrate to the position of county governor, and the two of them would certainly be grateful to him as the emperor.
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