"What? Lin Hai actually dared to control the court officials? If the governor of Xichuan is already like this, then Lord Bai has been in Xiangyun for some time, right?" Yuan Min said nervously.
"Control? Perhaps. You know Gao Bin's background. His family only rose to prominence decades ago during the war against the Xia Kingdom. Do you think, with his family's strength and salary, he could afford to live in such a luxurious prefectural residence and use a full set of crystal tableware? I saw it when we went to his house. Even the walls of his house were inlaid with broken crystals. Even His Majesty wouldn't dare use that!"
As for Bai Ang, remember I told you there are many ways to get rid of an official. The fact that Bai Ang is still alive shows they've adopted a more robust approach. We bet that no matter what Bai Ang wrote in his memorial to the Central Government, it won't be delivered to his prefectural governor's mansion. The memorial from Xiangyun Governor that the Central Government received was probably written by Lin Hai.
Upon hearing this, Yuan Min's right hand unconsciously touched the knife on his waist, fearing that at any moment a Qinghe agent or militiaman would jump out from the shadows of the bushes and stab him.
Yes, the prefect is already in such a state, so the death of a few thousand households is really not a big deal.
"Since Lin Hai behaves like this, why did the leader still want to come here to see if he can influence him?" Yuan Min was sweating profusely, perhaps because summer was not completely over yet.
"Because the Empire needs Qinghe, and it also needs Lin Hai." Yan Zipei said with a wry smile, "If the Empire can fully control Qinghe, then this war will definitely give the Empire an absolute advantage. If Lin Hai is willing to go to Zhongdu to take up the post, I am willing to kneel before Your Majesty and guarantee him the position of Prime Minister. After all, it seems that the people in the Central Government can no longer be relied upon. Although this possibility is one in a million, for the sake of the Empire, I must try my best no matter what."
Yan Zipei looked at Yuan Min and said softly, "Besides, we also want to see with our own eyes what this legendary Qinghe is like, and see if Lin Hai is worthy of us personally taking action against him."
"But the leader is taking such a risk..."
"There's nothing risky. Although we're here under the pretext of recuperation, we're still imperial officials after all. Given Lin Hai's current state of mind, as long as we don't offend him, we can be safe. After all, look at these caravans; half of them are heading to the interior of the empire. This means that at least today, Lin Hai has no intention of rebelling."
Yan Zipei drank bowl after bowl of tea. The tea stall owner had already been stuffed with silver and driven to the side. The people who made tea and fetched water at the tea stall were all brought by Yan Zipei. If a caravan worker thought of buying a cup of tea at the tea stall at this time, he would be driven away by Yan Zipei's spies.
In response to this, the security officers who were patrolling the street came over several times. After learning that Yan Zipei had paid for the entire tea stall, he didn't say anything. He just asked the tea stall owner to hang a sign that read "Private" under the sign to avoid misunderstanding, and then left on his own.
Yuan Min chased after him and wanted to put some change into the yamen runner's pocket, but got into big trouble. The yamen runner took Yuan Min back to the tea stall, checked everyone's pass carefully, and asked about their origins. When he found nothing unusual, he gave Yuan Min a half-hour lesson. The course content was mainly about Qinghe's clean government construction and the harm of bribery to society.
Seeing Yuan Min nodding and scraping to a lowly yamen runner with a bitter face, and trying to show that he had learned something, Yan Zipei finally showed his first smile of the day.
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