Chapter 822 Young General vs. Rich Lady 125
Another half a month passed, and Huo Xiao finally finished dealing with these trivial matters and returned to Pingyang City.
It was almost the New Year, and Pingyang city was decorated with lights and lanterns everywhere. The front of the Goddess Temple was hung with colorful lanterns. There were dragon dancing artists, vendors pushing stalls selling food, and children playing with rattles. There was laughter and joy everywhere.
The factories have been closed for the holiday, and the projects of bridge and road construction and canal digging have been temporarily suspended. The workers and laborers have received their wages and food, so they can have a prosperous year.
The North was peaceful. In Wangdu City, Gou Xun was so angry that he threw the teacup in his hand!
"He is planning a rebellion! He was hiding it before, but now he has no scruples at all. Listen to what people are saying outside. They say he is the god of war who has been blessed by heaven and is invincible!"
"Who does he think he is? A few years ago, the Huo family was just a slave, smelling of horse manure, fit only to serve the King Wei's horse. Luckily, they were freed from slavery and became good citizens, but instead of being grateful, they are shaking in the face, even daring to disobey the imperial edict!"
"A mere son of a horse slave is worthy of being blessed by God! I think God is blind. Pingyang City is a good place. It can produce extra food out of thin air. Why is such a good place occupied by the son of a slave?"
"How exactly do you do things? Huo Xiao occupies Pingyang City and Guangling City, has an army of more than 100,000, and is still recruiting soldiers. If he hadn't occupied the upper reaches of the Lu River, his reputation would have spread all over the world, and this Prime Minister would still be kept in the dark!"
The officials of the Prime Minister's Office knelt on the ground. The military officer was in charge of military service and military affairs. At this time, he had to bite the bullet and persuade:
"Prime Minister, calm down! It's all because of Lu Yongxin's uselessness. There have been news coming from Guangling City. We all thought that Lu Yongxin had taken over Pingyang City and restored its vitality with the food in the city. That's why he defeated the three kingdoms and drove away Beirong, Qi, and Lu. Who knew that Lu Yongxin had already defected to Huo Xiao!"
"The people we planted should have died. The news that came over was all intentional by Huo Xiao. However, no matter how powerful Huo Xiao is, he is only a general and can only fight in battles. The prime minister still has the final say in Wangdu City and the entire Wei State."
This touched Prime Minister Gou's heart. He sat down and snorted coldly, "Everyone, get up. Forget it. Huo Xiao has taken back the land upstream of the Lu River. That's a good place. This is also a good thing."
"But he has taken up such a large area, and he will never have to worry about food again, which will make him more difficult to deal with!"
The military officer suggested, "After all, it's all Wei's land. The prime minister can just send people to take care of it. Does he dare not let the court officials enter the city? We have to hurry up and not let the regent get there first. We have to control the entire Lujiang Shang capital in our hands."
Gou Xunshen agreed. "You should hurry up and let our people take the official seal and letter of appointment to take office. Let's go there first. Huo Xiao will definitely not hand over power easily. But it doesn't matter. Just wait. His mother and brother are in Wangdu. He will return to Wangdu sooner or later!"
Gou Xun sent all his subordinates away and walked around the room anxiously.
He had already taken away Mrs. Huo's imperial edict and found an excuse to search and confiscate the Huo family. Unfortunately, the Huo family was already an empty shell with no money. Even the servants were dismissed. There was only an empty house left, and Mrs. Huo and Huo Chi were arrested.
He didn't dare to really kill the person. If he really killed the person, Huo Xiao would definitely come back, but the first thing he would do when he came back would be to kill him. He didn't want to gamble with his own life.
Mrs. Huo and Huo Chi were locked up for a few days and must have been beaten. Mrs. Huo couldn't move, but Huo Chi was a grown man and wouldn't die even if he was beaten.
Even after things got to this point, Huo Xiao still refused to come back, so he had no choice but to let the man go.
Now the Huo family is an orphan and a widow, living in the most shabby streets, associating with the lowest class of untouchables, and leading a very miserable life.
Gou Xun opened the door and went out, calling the housekeeper, and asked: "How are the mother and son of the Huo family? Is Huo Chi still unwilling to surrender to me, the Prime Minister? As long as he can persuade Huo Xiao to return to Wangdu, I will guarantee him a life of luxury and wealth, and he will never have to suffer in that dirty place again."
The housekeeper lowered his head and said tremblingly, "We have sent people to keep an eye on them. They don't have much income and are hungry from time to time. Huo Chi can read and do accounts, so he found a job as an accountant. I sent people to ruin the deal, and now he can only do hard labor."
"I sent someone to deliver money yesterday, but he drove him out. He still hasn't had enough of the hard times and refused to persuade his brother to come back."
Gou Xun knew that it was useless to rely on the mother and son of the Huo family. Huo Xiao was very hard-hearted and would rather his mother and brother suffer than look back at Wang Du.
But he still couldn't swallow this breath, and cursed: "Useless things! What's the point of raising you if you can't even subdue a half-grown child! Selling hard labor? Humph! I want to see how long he can hold out. Go and think of a way to stop him from having too much comfort. Get out of here!"
The housekeeper left quickly. This job was really difficult. How could he control someone who couldn't even be scared in the Ministry of Justice's prison? And he couldn't really kill him.
He did not dare to tell the prime minister that Huo Chi's martial arts skills were also good. West City was indeed poor, but there were many people from all walks of life. Not long after Huo Chi had been there, he had gained a group of bad friends. It might not be possible to kill Huo Chi.
Gou Xun hesitated for a long time, but finally decided to go to the palace to find the regent.
When the Regent saw Gou Xun, he smiled and said, "What a rare guest! Prime Minister Gou is so powerful that he can handle anything without asking me for permission. And now he still comes to ask me for help."
Gou Xun pinched his nose and saluted. He was the prime minister, the head of all officials, but he was only a minister. The regent was a prince and a grand tutor appointed by the late emperor himself. His position was unshakable. Even though he had already grasped the administrative power in the court, he had to bow his head and salute when he saw the regent.
"Your Highness is joking. I am just too busy with palace affairs to have time. I still respect Your Highness very much in my heart."
The regent sneered, "I am not worthy of this position! When you were a minor official, I promoted you because you were honest and loyal. Who knew you were such an ungrateful person! You took the position of prime minister, planted your cronies, formed a clique for personal gain, and deceived the emperor! If I were not here, the Wei Kingdom would have changed its name to Gou!"
Gou Xun was also aroused to some extent. He straightened his bent waist and said in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "Your Majesty, are you really dedicated to the public? You hold on to the jade seal and won't let go. His Majesty the Prince of Wei and the Queen Mother have nowhere to turn to for help. They can only rely on the power of me to get the jade seal back!"
Mentioning the regent made him even angrier. "Don't you also want to control the imperial seal to command the ministers? If I can't get the imperial seal, you can't get it either! I simply gave it to the young prince Wei. In fact, it fell into the hands of the queen mother, a woman. She still has to listen to my opinion on how to use the imperial seal."
Gou Xun took a deep breath and suppressed his anger. "Your Highness, calm down. No matter how much we fight, it's just because of our different political views. We both want to make Weiguo stronger. If Huo Xiao really rebels, Weiguo will be in danger!"
"The Regent should think of a way to deal with Huo Xiao."
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