Liu Tan was a little surprised: "Found it?"
To be honest, he didn't have much hope at first. After all, this person chose a very good place and hid among the refugees, making it difficult to find him.
Of course, the most important thing is that Liu Che is here, and Liu Tan doesn't want to make things too bloody. He also wants to maintain his image in front of Liu Che and be a good person.
No matter what, he had to wait until Liu Che left before he could take ruthless action to deal with those people.
Unexpectedly, Liu Che was so quick that he actually found the person.
Liu Tan asked curiously, "Who is it?"
Liu Che directly threw the note to him. Liu Tan took it and took a look at it. He couldn't help but raise his eyebrows: "He is actually an alchemist."
Liu Tan sneered and said, "This alchemist is too pessimistic."
You should know that since he started fighting against counterfeits, many alchemists have fallen at his hands. Of course, many of them were indirect, so his reputation may not have spread among the alchemists yet.
Liu Che sneered: "You can't catch him, what's he worried about?"
Liu Tan: ...
Didn't we agree to not expose someone's shortcomings when scolding him? Why did Liu Che always expose his shortcomings?
Liu Che puffed up his cheeks as he looked at his son, smiled, turned his horse's head and said, "Let's go back."
It's better to catch the man now, so that he can help his son deal with it before he leaves. Otherwise, what if his son is soft-hearted and is deceived and doesn't get to the bottom of it?
Liu Che simply didn't believe that this whole matter was planned by this alchemist. There must be someone behind the scenes planning this. He needed to dig this person out, otherwise it would sooner or later become a hidden danger of instability.
Since Liu Che has said he is going back, no matter how much others want to play, they have to go home too.
However, before leaving, Liu Tan left Zhu Shanfu in Xi'an Yang County.
Sang Qian was somewhat surprised. Liu Tan told him bluntly, "You've been in Xi'anyang Commandery for two years now. Although it wasn't long, even my father praised your good governance. With your talent, you shouldn't be stuck in such a small place any longer. However, since there's no one to take over, I'll leave Zhu Shanfu with you to train for a while. You should also look for someone to succeed you. If you can find someone to take over, then there won't be any problems."
After hearing this, Sang Qian almost burst into tears on the spot. He could finally leave this shabby place. He really didn't expect that being a county magistrate would be so difficult. There were problems everywhere. Moreover, unlike the central government, as a county magistrate, he had to take care of not only the people's livelihood but also the law.
Sang Qian had not studied the law very thoroughly before, but that would not have been a big deal. After all, he had a lot of experience and could solve cases with his personal qualities.
The trap is that Jiang Chong is serious!
Since Liu Tan started doing quarterly summaries, Jiang Chong also followed suit. Every quarter, the county magistrates from all regions had to submit the case files for that quarter, and the case verdicts on the files had to clearly state which law the verdict was based on.
Of course, not all cases must comply with the law. Sometimes, leniency may be given for personal reasons, but this must be made clear. In short, it must be reasonable.
So while handling affairs, Sang Qian also had to take time to read the law books. Even if he didn't memorize them, he had to make sure he was familiar with them so that he would know where to look up the laws when he encountered a case.
It has to be said that Jiang Chong's move made the county governors from all over the place hate him to death, but there was nothing they could do because he had the King of the North as his backer. Everyone felt that these two places might not be able to withstand the King of the North's sharp sword, so they could only do as they were asked.
Now Sang Qian felt that he finally saw hope of liberation, and he quickly said, "Your Highness, rest assured. I will do my best to find the right person and work hard to cultivate Zhu Zhuangyuan."
Liu Tan looked at him and said, "Let me be frank. The person you find to replace you doesn't have to be better than you, but he or she can't be too bad either, otherwise I will throw you back."
Sang Qian: ...
Their prince was truly unique, but Liu Tan's words did calm Sang Qian's excited heart a little.
After the initial excitement, Sang Qian felt a little reluctant when he thought that he was about to leave here and many of the things he had planned were not completed.
Of course he will not give up the opportunity for promotion, so it is indeed important to find a successor who can continue his path.
If Liu Tan directly transferred someone over, he would have nothing to say and would not care about anything else, letting the other party do whatever they wanted.
But now Liu Tan has given him the opportunity to train a successor, and he would be a fool if he doesn't seize it.
Of course, if possible, his first choice would naturally be Zhu Shanfu, but Zhu Shanfu... is older than him, and his ideas are already set, so he may not agree with his views. Fortunately, Liu Tan did not want Zhu Shanfu to take over Xi'an Yang County, so he can find another suitable candidate.
After Liu Tan kept Zhu Shanfu, he thought about it and transferred Yan Xingsheng to his side. As for Xiao Cheng, he decided to leave him to Huo Guang to teach.
After all, Yan Xingsheng is more sensitive in economics, while Xiao Cheng is best at general affairs.
Liu Tan himself didn't know much about general affairs. What he usually did was to be a hands-off boss. Unless he was researching something new, he would just give orders and wait to see the results, not caring about anything else.
Yan Xingsheng was naturally excited. Zhu Shanfu's path now seemed very clear, or rather, the paths of all the top three seemed relatively clear. The outstanding ones would be brought to the prince and the prime minister to study, and when they were almost ready, they would be sent out to be county magistrates, and then promoted step by step from county magistrates to county governors.
As long as nothing goes wrong, there is really a promising future.
After leaving Zhu Shanfu behind, the group quickly returned to Shuofang City.
When they just returned to Shuofang City, neither Liu Che nor Liu Tan took the matter of the alchemist seriously. Now that they had caught the man, they just waited to get his confession and then see what happened.
What he didn't expect was that the alchemist was very stubborn and insisted that he saw it by observing the stars at night. He spread the ballad to attract the attention of the King of the North. After all, he was a commoner and could not see the King of the North. The King of the North didn't seem to have a good impression of alchemists, so he could only use this method to make the King of the North pay attention to him.
Liu Tan was so angry that he almost laughed: "Then he really put a lot of effort into it. Should I thank him?"
Liu Che suddenly spoke up: "Observing the stars at night? What did he observe? Let him tell us."
Liu Tan's sneer froze on his face, and he suddenly had a bad premonition - it seemed that the alchemist's method was very much to Liu Che's liking.
He couldn't help but sigh. Maybe he would have to expose the counterfeiting on the spot.
However, astrology... this really touched upon his blind spot in knowledge. He had no choice but to wait and see what the alchemist had to say.
The alchemist was brought up quickly. Perhaps because he had been in prison, he did not look as sage as the other alchemists in people's impression. Instead, he looked in a dishevel.
However, even in this situation, the alchemist's back was still straight, and he looked quite upright.
After the Taoist priest entered the hall, he knelt down and saluted Liu Che. Liu Che leaned on the table and asked nonchalantly, "I heard that you saw something unusual when you observed the stars at night. Tell me about it."
Liu Tan sat aside without saying a word, his mind already desperately searching for knowledge about astrology, but after searching around, he found nothing... There was no other way, he had learned other things at least in school or out of his own interest, but he had never come across something like astrology.
It felt like his weakness was suddenly discovered, which made Liu Tan very uncomfortable.
However, Liu Tan thought about it in his mind and felt that even if what this alchemist said was not in his favor, his importance to Liu Che should be greater than that of this alchemist, right?
Anyway, he had already deleted the memorial requesting reinforcements and had taken precautions in advance, so there was no need to worry too much.
Thinking of this, Liu Tan became quite calm instead. He sat there waiting to see what the alchemist would say.
The Taoist priest bowed his head and said, "I observed the stars tonight and found that Mars was hovering near Ziwei Star. The brightness of Ziwei Emperor Star has gradually faded, obviously affected by Mars. Mars has gradually brightened since two years ago, which is in line with the King of the Northern Territory's departure from the capital. Your Majesty, please observe this carefully."
Liu Tan sat there in silence, his mind racing over the positions of Ziweixing and Yinghuoxing. One was the North Star, the other Mars. Aren't they worlds apart? How could they possibly be together?
He couldn't help but subconsciously look up, wanting to see if there was any celestial phenomenon that he couldn't understand, but when he looked up, he only saw the roof of his own house, so he had to retract his gaze and turn to look at Liu Che.
Then he saw Liu Che lean forward slightly and asked, "Oh? So you've been observing for two years?"
The alchemist replied, "Yes!"
When Liu Tan saw Liu Che's action, his heart sank. This meant that he was very interested.
But think about it, it is impossible for Liu Che's values to change in such a short time, especially since this person mentioned the Purple Star Emperor as soon as he opened his mouth, which was equivalent to mentioning Liu Che himself.
If the Purple Star Emperor Star becomes weak, it must mean that something bad is going to happen to the Emperor. It would be strange if he doesn't care.
Liu Che asked again, "If that's the case, why are you coming to the northern border to spread songs instead of going to Chang'an?"
The Taoist priest lowered his head and said, "I am afraid that my skills are not good enough, so I want to meet His Royal Highness the King of the Northern Territory to confirm it in person. Unfortunately, His Royal Highness the King of the Northern Territory seems to be prejudiced against us. I cannot meet His Royal Highness, so I have no choice but to resort to this last resort."
Liu Tan couldn't help but say, "Now that you've seen me, what do you think?"
The alchemist looked up at Liu Tan, then stood there in a daze for a long time, staring at Liu Tan without saying a word.
Seeing him like this, Liu Tan found it quite amusing and said, "Are you making up new lyrics on the spot?"
Liu Che had an unpredictable expression on his face, but he did not blame Liu Tan for interrupting him. He just squinted his eyes and looked at the alchemist with murderous intent in his eyes.
After a while, the Taoist priest fell to the ground and said, "It is my fault."
Liu Tan: ????
No? Why are you changing your tune so quickly? I'm still waiting to get back at you!
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