Chapter 152 Liang Emperor Yan Xun
Li Yishen knelt down and took two steps forward. "Sir, you must save me! If anything happens to me, you..."
"How am I?" Bi Chong's voice suddenly rose. Seeing that Li Yishen was trembling all over and dared not speak anymore, he looked at Yang Yao who was standing beside him.
"Yang Tongpan, you are new to Jiangzhou, so I guess you are not familiar with this city yet."
Bi Cong clapped his hands, and the servants brought in a heavy box, which was opened in front of Yang Yao. It was full of silver.
"This is seven hundred taels of silver, as travel expenses for Yang Tongpan's inspection of Jiangzhou."
"Sir, this..." Yang Yao was shocked. How could the travel expenses be so high?
"You have heard what Magistrate Li said just now. In the future, many affairs in Jiangzhou will require the hard work of Yang Tongpan. This travel fee is just a greeting gift.
What, could it be that Yang Tongpan thinks the money is too little and doesn't like it?"
The last sentence was clearly threatening.
Yang Yao has been in the officialdom for many years, how could he not understand what Bi Cong meant?
Li Yishen and Bi Cong were obviously in the same line. He heard everything about the corruption just now. The money was both hush money and a gift to bring him into the gang.
If he refused to accept it, he would fall out with his boss and his position as an official would be over.
Yang Yao immediately knelt down and said, "Thank you, Mr. Prefect!"
"Yeah." Bi Cong's expression eased a little and he let him leave.
After Yang Yao left, Bi Cong looked at Li Yishen and said, "Li County Magistrate, Yang Tongpan has to clean up your mess. The travel expenses..."
Li Yishen seemed to have found a life-saving straw, and kowtowed like crazy, "I paid for it, it's all paid for by me! I will pay it back tomorrow!"
"Okay, go back and settle the victims first. If you are reluctant to part with that little bit of money again, don't blame me for not being able to protect you."
"I understand, I understand!" Li Yishen thanked him profusely and left.
Bi Chong sighed, it was really annoying to deal with this group of idiots, and then called his trusted butler.
“You must leave immediately and go to the capital with this secret letter and two memorials, and be sure to hand them over to the Third Prince in person.
He will know how to deal with these two memorials after seeing them.”
…
"What!? You said... the Luo River burst its banks, where did it flood?"
Ah Cai lowered his head and said, "Second Madam, the flood has flooded... flooded Dujiazhuang."
Du Lanfang stood there as if struck by lightning, staggered two steps, his mind going blank.
The Dujiazhuang that was flooded by the flood was her mother's home!
Zhu Hongming also pushed the door open at this time and asked loudly: "Where is Chao'er? Is Chao'er back? "
"No, I told Chunzhi to come back after the ninth day of the first lunar month..." Du Lanfang murmured as if he had lost his soul.
"What!?"
Zhu Hongming was shocked and raised his hand to hit her in anger, but he finally held back and yelled at her:
"Did you know that the dam in Long'an County broke? And you still want Chao'er to go back?
Do you know how many people have died in Long'an County now? "
Du Lanfang's eyes were wide with tears. When she asked Chao'er to go back, she never thought that something like this would happen!
Du Lanfang suddenly rushed out like crazy, "I want to find Chao'er, I want to find Chao'er!"
Zhu Hongming hugged her around the waist and pushed Du Lanfang back into the house.
"What are you looking for? The government has even blocked the road, so we can't get in!"
"What should I do? Chao'er, my Chao'er, it's all mother's fault—" Du Lanfang broke down and cried, shaking Zhu Hongming by his clothes and asking him what to do.
Zhu Hongming closed his eyes in despair, and in an instant he seemed to have aged dozens of years, with tears rolling down his cheeks.
"What else can I do... I can only wait for news from the government and pray to the Buddha to protect Chao'er and keep him safe."
…
Three days later, in the Imperial Palace, inside the Ziyun Hall.
A sandalwood desk was placed in a corner of the hall. On the desk was a chessboard with black and white chess pieces arranged in an orderly manner.
Yan Yuze held the white piece in his hand and after thinking for a while, he decided on one piece.
The man opposite him was wearing a black robe embroidered with gold dragons. He was clearly not yet fifty years old, but his face showed the vicissitudes and haggardness of an old man.
It was the current emperor of Daliang, Yan Xun.
In the middle of summer, Emperor Liang was holding a small hand warmer, squinting his eyes and smiling at the chess sets in a gentle voice.
"Sixth brother, I haven't seen you for a few months. Your chess skills have improved."
"Thank you very much, Royal Brother." Yan Yuze's smile was exactly the same as Emperor Liang's.
Emperor Liang raised his hand slightly, and the palace maid beside him came forward and took away the chessboard.
He stood up by holding the corner of the table, and Yan Yuze followed behind him. The two of them turned around a screen and saw a lifelike painting hanging on the wall behind the curtain.
That was the "Two Dragons Playing with a Pearl" that the Third Prince Yan Changwen had presented to Yan Yuze at the Longchang Academy celebration.
Emperor Liang looked at the painting with a meaningful look in his eyes, "The third child is becoming more and more troublesome now."
Yan Yuze stood there silently and did not respond.
"What do you think of them?" Emperor Liang looked at Yan Yuze and laughed, "You can say whatever you want. I watched you grow up, too. If you had no interest in the throne, I would have wanted you to take over."
Yan Yuze waved his hand and said with a smile: "Goodbye, my brother. I am used to living a carefree life. At most, I can help you share the burden. If I really become as tired as you, I won't do it.
As for Xiuyun and Changwen...Xiuyun is too straightforward and reckless, lacking some sophistication, while Changwen is thoughtful and deep-minded, and I'm afraid that his cleverness may backfire."
"Haha..." Emperor Liang looked back at him with admiration, "You are the only one in the whole court who dares to say this to me, but it is also the truth."
Emperor Liang and the brother Yan Yuze were extremely close, and everyone in the world knew it. Emperor Liang trusted him even more than his two sons.
"You must be aware of the flood that broke the dike in Long'an County, Jiangzhou, submerging thousands of acres of farmland and causing countless deaths and injuries among the people, right?" Emperor Liang asked him.
"I know."
"The prefect of Jiangzhou, Bi Cong, was promoted by the third brother, and he did have some achievements. After the Long'an County dam burst, he sent two memorials to the third brother, both about killing the Long'an County Magistrate Li Yishen. One wanted to kill him, and the other wanted to save him.
Yesterday, the third brother came to test my attitude, and I only briefly mentioned the matter of embezzlement, and then this memorial came into my hands. "
After Emperor Liang finished speaking, he pointed to the memorials on the table.
Yan Yuze opened it and took a look. It was full of evidence of Li Yishen's corruption and abuse of power. He requested Emperor Liang to severely punish the corrupt officials.
In his words and deeds, all the crimes were pushed onto Li Yishen, while the rest of the people were cleared of all charges.
"How does your royal brother plan to deal with this matter?" Yan Yuze asked after putting down the memorial.
Emperor Liang's eyes still lingered on the painting "Two Dragons Playing with a Pearl". "Let them fight it out. Without some ruthless tactics and scheming, how can they hold on to the throne in the future?
It's just that the third brother has been acting more and more erratically in recent years, and has even colluded with the pro-war faction in Uzbekistan. It's time to suppress him.
Sixth brother, I will leave the matter of Long'an County's dike breach to you. If necessary, you can mobilize the six ministries to assist in this matter. I will also assign you a few deputies..."
Emperor Liang paused for a moment, thinking about the candidate in his mind.
"Brother Emperor, I have a bold idea." Yan Yuze suddenly bowed and said, "This year's autumn examination has just ended, and the Longchang Academy that I am temporarily in charge of has produced several good talents recently, but they are still young and lack experience.
Why not take this opportunity to let them exercise, firstly so that they can apply what they have learned, and secondly so that they can understand the difficulties of people’s livelihood.”
"Well, this is a good idea." Emperor Liang nodded. "If I assign you a senior official from the imperial court, I'm afraid it will cause too much noise and make the officials in Jiangzhou wary. You can take a few students with you so that you can keep a low profile."
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