Chapter 332 Coming Here Because of Its Reputation
[Merit: 6071]
Ouyang Rong squatted in front of the small wooden fish, staring at the cyan-gold characters on it for a while.
During the short time he was watching, the string of cyan-gold numbers would occasionally jump up slightly.
Meanwhile, the crisp sound of a wooden fish followed, echoing in waves within the pristine, empty tower.
Ouyang Rong remained expressionless.
After a short while, he frowned slightly, stood up, wandered around the Pagoda of Merit twice, and then his consciousness left the Pagoda of Merit...
In the bedroom of Yinbingzhai, Ouyang Rong opened his eyes and let out a long breath.
It was somewhat dark in front of the bed, and the bedroom was unlit. From time to time, the chirping of insects in early spring could be heard outside the closed window.
It is the darkness before dawn.
It's just the beginning of spring, and as the saying goes, "living near the Pengjiang River is in a low-lying and damp place," and Xunyang City is located on the riverbank.
The wind on the Xunyang River, strong enough to stir a thousand sails, makes the morning temperature quite low throughout the city.
Naturally, it makes one want to stay in bed longer, unwilling to leave the warm, comforting blankets that feel like a mother's embrace.
Ouyang Rong lay in the thick bedding, with the short legs of a white-haired girl lying on her side, fast asleep, pressing against his lower abdomen.
In the darkness of the bed, apart from Ye Weilai's rhythmic breathing with her eyes closed, Ouyang Rong's open, dark eyes were fixed on the curtains above.
His expression seemed to be lost in thought.
He woke up rather early today.
Or rather, I barely slept at all last night, only dozing off for two hours before waking up and wandering around the Tower of Merit in my mind.
If it weren't for the fear that getting up would wake Ye Weilai, causing the little girl to make a big fuss and run off to tell her aunt and junior sister about her troubles,
Ouyang Rong got up early and went to his desk to take care of some business.
Starting a few days ago, the crisp sound of the wooden fish drum that kept ringing in his ears made Ouyang Rong toss and turn at night.
He hadn't expected that his dialogue with the scholars of Jiangzhou Prefecture at the Temple of the Sage Confucius would spread throughout the scholarly world, making him famous once again.
Now that the matter has occurred, Ouyang Rong is instead filled with worry and confusion.
As of this morning, he has accumulated over four thousand merits from this incident.
Furthermore, the momentum of increasing merit seems to be continuing, and the little wooden fish shows no signs of slowing down at all. It's just that the momentum has slowed down a bit after the first few days.
"If it weren't for the incident at the Temple of the Sage Confucius in Jiangzhou, wouldn't many bloody conflicts between scholars and officials have occurred as scheduled? Right now, things have only eased up a bit."
"Otherwise, will we see another tragedy like the one involving the scholars of Liuzhou?"
Ouyang Rong muttered to himself.
He felt this was not a good sign.
"It seems that the construction of the Songde Tianshu and the Four Directions Buddha statues has had a greater impact than I had previously anticipated."
"The prosperous era that the court proclaims is probably only a prosperous era for the people of the two capitals within the pass. The southeastern Jianghuai region, as a historically important tax-paying area, is also relatively wealthy. But what about other places? These are more like the silent majority."
"Hopefully, the issuance of this new imperial edict, along with the return of the Master to court, will ease the situation somewhat..."
Ouyang Rong rubbed his dry eyes.
He brushed aside the slightly itchy, glossy white hair at the nape of his neck, rolled out of bed, and walked past Ye Weilai.
He got out of bed and washed his face with cold water.
Regardless, the sun rose as usual, and it was time to go to work.
Today is another busy day; he can't escape his fate of being a workaholic.
"Get up, the sun's already high in the sky."
Ouyang Rong suddenly lifted the quilt embroidered with red and green mandarin ducks, patted it casually, and said.
"Ugh, Master, where is the sun?"
The white-haired girl, with a tuft of hair sticking out askance on her head, rubbed her pink buttocks in a daze and looked around asking questions.
Ouyang Rong chuckled and strode out the door...
"My lord, the Empress Dowager's latest decree has suddenly extended the restrictions on the various prefectures... What do you think of this matter?"
That night, in the study of Juxian Garden in the Xunyang Prince's Mansion.
A group of familiar figures gathered together. As soon as everyone arrived, Li Xian couldn't wait to ask.
What does he think?
Ouyang Rong's lips twitched slightly.
The provisions in the new imperial edict that granted leniency to the states were almost identical to the points he had put forward.
"Uncle, actually, my eldest brother had already foreseen this..."
Xie Lingjiang stared intently at her senior brother, her eyes filled with admiration, and then spoke to Li Xian and the others about the memorial.
After hearing this, the latter looked at Ouyang Rong, who remained calm, with a mixture of shock and confusion in their eyes.
"In fact, His Majesty issued this imperial edict not only because I and the other officials of the Council of State were working together to provide a way out, but also more to express his stance to the scholar who was on sick leave and not attending court, and to compromise with him."
Ouyang Rong explained softly.
Li Xian suddenly realized: "So that's how it is."
He continued his calm analysis:
"On the point of weakening the pro-Wei faction civil officials, Your Majesty and the two Wei princes share the same interests. However, it is also an unspoken agreement between the Master and His Majesty to put the two Wei princes in check and restrict their unbridled behavior."
"The Master is still mindful of the overall situation. His return to court after his leave signifies, in a sense, the temporary end of this reshuffling. His Majesty is unlikely to take further drastic measures against the court. The situation in Luoyang is now relatively balanced..."
"Now, we just wait for the next round of reshuffling to begin."
Li Dalang couldn't help but ask:
"What about Lord Ji who was dismissed, and Prefects Li and Wei who were demoted? How should they be dealt with?"
Ouyang Rong shook his head and remained silent.
Li Guo'er, who had been listening quietly, sat at the farthest point, head down, petting the cat, and whispered:
“Naturally, they become the sacrifices; Grandmother naturally wants to eliminate the most disobedient ones.”
The study fell silent for a moment.
Ouyang Rong turned to Li Dalang, whose expression was one of regret and sympathy, and said:
"The Prince Xiang's Mansion, along with our gradually improving situation, are the fundamental interests of the Preservation Faction led by Master Fu, and also the core of uniting the faction. It is a matter of status and righteousness, and we cannot afford to lose it."
"As long as these two can be preserved, many other things can be sacrificed temporarily."
"Here." Xie Lingjiang handed a peeled pear to her senior brother, turned around, and sighed softly:
"My father mentioned in his letter that he met the Master in Luoyang a few days ago. The old man's temples have turned much whiter. My father had said before that as long as we still choose to play chess on the same chessboard in the capital, there are many rules that must be followed..."
After a moment of silence, Ouyang Rong turned to Li Xian and Li Dalang and said:
"Uncle, instead of worrying and being afraid, you should focus on what's in front of you. We're only one step away, but that step is both very close and like an insurmountable chasm."
He raised his index finger: "Only by reaching that level can we change these things."
Li Guo'er put the cat down, pinched her fingers and murmured:
"The ninth line at the top: The dragon soaring too high will regret it. The ninth line at the bottom: The hidden dragon should not be used. So now it is..."
Ouyang Rong took a bite of the pear and lowered his eyes:
"Nine in the fourth place: Perhaps leaping in the abyss, no blame."
The crowd exchanged bewildered glances as they watched the two figures, their faces calm, engaging in a silent but unspoken dialogue.
Xie Lingjiang suddenly reached out, took the half-eaten pear from her senior brother's hand, and took a bite without caring about the saliva.
Everyone was stunned...
The easing of this political turmoil at the beginning of spring brought some relief to local officials and many concerned people across the country.
As his fame spread, Ouyang Rong discovered some of the troubles of being a celebrity.
Perhaps it was at the end of Her Majesty the Empress's latest imperial edict that she mentioned praising the Jiangzhou official for declining 20,000 strings of cash for cosmetics.
It's also possible that they sensed something unusual.
People from Yangzhou, Taiyuan, and Guizhou, the three provinces known for their Buddhist statues, all sent representatives to the main hall of Jiangzhou to visit Prefect Ouyang and learn from his experience.
In the following days, envoys from the three prefectures arrived one after another, and Ouyang Rong had no choice but to receive them.
However, it is worth mentioning that, unlike the wealthy prefectures of Yangzhou and Taiyuan, which only sent some low-ranking officials to learn from them.
An unexpected person arrived from Guizhou.
Lan Changhao, the Prefect of Guizhou, was one of the main figures in the recent Guizhou tragedy.
When Ouyang Rong heard Chen, the military advisor, report this matter, he couldn't help but put down the document in his hand and raise his eyebrows.
He had heard of this person, not only because of the Guizhou massacre.
This Lan Changhao, a native of Yangzhou, was a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in the second year of the Kaihuang era, seven years earlier than Ouyang Rong.
He was also very young when he passed the imperial examination in the second year of the Kaihuang era, only two years older than Ouyang Rong when he passed the examination.
At that time, the imperial examinations were mostly monopolized by powerful clans, and there were very few successful candidates from humble backgrounds in the south, only a handful each year.
Lan Changhao was a relatively well-known figure before Ouyang Rong became the youngest Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) from the south.
However, what made him famous for the first time happened shortly after he passed the imperial examination.
Lan Changhao, feeling his talents were being wasted and his position too low for his abilities, directly wrote to a prime minister from his hometown, his words uttered in a way that was sure to shock and provoke:
"The people are starving to death. Why don't you recommend a worthy successor, relinquish your post, and return home?"
Although the Jinshi degree was the most prestigious among all the imperial examinations during the Qianlong and Zhou dynasties, and was known as the "First-Rank White Robe," it was still incredibly arrogant for a newly appointed Jinshi to say such things to the prime minister.
At the time, the old prime minister, naturally too magnanimous to care, simply laughed it off and ignored it.
However, this matter was regarded as a joke by the scholars of Luoyang at the time.
However, Lan Changhao was indeed quite talented; otherwise, he wouldn't have risen to the position of Prefect of Guiyang at such a young age.
Of course, compared to someone like Ouyang Rong, who had just reached adulthood and already held the official position of Chief Administrator of the wealthy Shangzhou, he was naturally inferior.
Comparison is the thief of joy...
The Guizhou tragedy that happened before caused quite a stir.
However, this Chief Secretary Lan was not greatly affected and was only fined three years' salary.
This may be related to the special circumstances in Guizhou.
Guizhou is located in the western part of Lingnan Road. It is very remote and borders many Jizhou, which are border states where barbarian chieftains gather. The security is not very good, and many Han Chinese men have settled in the fields and stationed troops there.
The current governor of Guizhou was dismissed for committing a crime, and the prefectural affairs were temporarily taken over by Lan Changhao, the chief secretary who was familiar with local affairs.
While the Guizhou massacre had a negative impact, it also reflected the consistently assertive style of the local government.
It can only be said that Guizhou ran into the eye of the storm that time, and the public opinion inadvertently became too big. If it were any other time, if a few people died in a border prefecture, as long as they didn't appeal to the emperor, the central government would not pursue the matter.
At this moment, it's unclear whether the two princes of the Wei clan wanted to spend a fortune to buy a horse's bones, or whether this Chief Secretary Lan had curbed his arrogant nature and curried favor with a powerful figure in the court.
He was not dismissed, but only criticized and fined, after which he kept a low profile.
"What brings Chief Clerk Lan to Jiangzhou?"
"They said they came to visit the Chief Secretary and ask for advice on statue making."
Ouyang Rong sighed, but still got up and went to greet the person.
At Xunyang Ferry Wharf, they soon met the people from Guizhou.
Ouyang Rong discovered that this Chief Secretary Lan was a very tall and thin young man.
He was about the same height as Ouyang Rong, with thin lips. Although he was a man, he had a pair of phoenix eyes that gleamed with a sharp light when he looked around.
He appeared somewhat arrogant as he disembarked.
No wonder the Guizhou government acted so ruthlessly before; this person doesn't seem easy to get along with... Ouyang Rong thought to himself, his first impression.
"Lord Lan."
"Lord Ouyang."
As Lan Changhao stepped off the boat, he immediately spotted the striking figure of the young man in the white fox fur coat, who stood out from the crowd. His expression was somewhat surprised, and his slender phoenix eyes carefully examined the outstanding demeanor of this young celebrity.
Lan Changhao's arrogant expression softened slightly, and he politely cupped his hands in greeting to Ouyang Rong.
Ouyang Rong maintained his smile, inviting him into the city and treating him with great hospitality.
During the luncheon, Lan Changhao inquired about the recent events at the Temple of the Sage Confucius, and then offered a toast and praised him. However, Ouyang Rong noticed that Lan Changhao frequently looked at the sun outside the window, as if he was somewhat absent-minded.
After the banquet, Ouyang Rong, who had official business to attend to, apologized and left first.
He took the initiative to speak, promising to treat him well the next day and show him around the Jiangzhou Hall.
Unexpectedly, the blue trombone waved its hand and refused.
He politely informed Ouyang Rong that he would only be staying for two days and that there was no need for him to accompany him.
"Thank you for your hospitality today. I will not disturb Chief Secretary Ouyang any longer."
"Very well, Chief Secretary Lan, please get some rest."
Ouyang Rong nodded calmly, watching Lan Changhao and the others return to the official post station.
The following morning.
In the main hall of Jiangzhou, Yan Liulang walked in and addressed directly to someone buried in documents:
"If Your Excellency is not mistaken, Chief Secretary Lan took his men out early this morning to visit people in the city."
Ouyang Rong didn't look up: "Whom do you wish to visit?"
“Our Governor Wang.”
Ouyang Rong immediately put down his pen, a wary look on his face: "What does he want with Wang Lengran? Just a routine visit?"
"I don't know," Yan Liulang shook his head.
He paused, then added:
“My lord, last night I made a point of drinking and chatting with some of the Guizhou officials he brought with him, and I learned that when this Chief Clerk Lan passed through Hongzhou Prefecture, he also stayed for several days and paid a visit to Grand Commander Zhu of Hongzhou.”
Ouyang Rong's expression turned thoughtful: "Seeking out officials from two different prefectures in succession..."
Just then, Military Advisor Chen entered and respectfully reported:
"My lord, Lord Wang suddenly came to the government office today and ordered his subordinates to issue a decree to summon the generals of Jiangzhou Garrison to the city to discuss military affairs."
Ouyang Rong gave Chen, the military advisor, a deep look. Chen had begun to subtly curry favor with him after the Prince of Xunyang received imperial favor and became the supervisor of the Jiangnan construction project. Ouyang Rong nodded.
"Understood, thank you, Military Advisor Chen."
Chen, the military advisor, quickly waved his hand and said, "You're too kind, sir. It's nothing."
Ouyang Rong stroked his chin and muttered:
"Lan Changhao has visited Hongzhou and Jiangzhou one after another, and Wang Lengran has summoned the soldiers of the Zhechong Prefecture. Could it be that something involves military affairs?"
But he really couldn't understand how Guizhou in Lingnan Circuit, which was thousands of miles away, could be related to Hongzhou and Jiangzhou in central Jiangnan Circuit.
Could it be that the Wei family was involved? It doesn't seem likely, since coming over in such a high-profile manner would be too obvious.
Ouyang Rong shook his head.
Wang Lengran held absolute control over military affairs in Jiangzhou, guarding them strictly and never allowing him to interfere.
Previously, he was reluctant to interfere openly, fearing he might alert the enemy, which has now left him completely in the dark.
It seems we can no longer sit idly by and wait for our demise.
What if it involves the safety of the Xunyang Prince's Mansion?
"Understood." Ouyang Rong nodded and sat down calmly.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com