Dou Deming and Cui Zhi are rivals who are constantly trying to take down each other. Therefore, Dou Deming deals with Su Dingfang for Cui Zhi, while Cui Zhi deals with Li Yifu for Dou Deming.
Dou Deming had served as a county magistrate in other places. His transfer to the capital as a county magistrate was just a transition, a preparation for his next position as the Prefect of the Capital.
Unexpectedly, the eldest grandson of the emperor appeared out of nowhere and recommended Li Yifu, who came from a poor family, thus ruining his official career.
As the saying goes, cutting off someone's path to officialdom is tantamount to killing their parents.
Dou Deming's hatred for Li Jue was like a surging river, never-ending.
Therefore, he not only had to deal with Su Dingfang and Li Yifu, but also had to bring down Li Jue, the powerful figure behind them.
"well!"
"I want the yamen runners to fabricate a few wrongful convictions, and then have the censor charge him with dereliction of duty. Wouldn't that be a way to take his official position back?"
"Wrongful conviction?"
Upon hearing this, Cui Zhi's eyes lit up, and he thought to himself, "Why didn't I think of that?"
However, this is the difference between having served as a local official and not having served as one. Having witnessed all sorts of bizarre things happening in the local area, one naturally knows how to deal with people.
"Does Brother Dou have acquaintances in the Wannian County government?"
"have!"
"One of my cousins is a county magistrate there!"
"Oh, no wonder..."
"If it's just a wrongful conviction, I have an idea. How about we stage a murder to create a false impression and lure Su Dingfang into our trap..."
"oh?"
While the two brilliant strategists were plotting how to deal with Su Dingfang and Li Yifu, Changsun Wuji was also secretly making arrangements.
However, compared to these two brilliant minds, Changsun Wuji's methods were undoubtedly much more sophisticated.
He simply had the Prefect of the Capital keep assigning tasks to the two men, keeping them busy all day long, and then waited for them to make mistakes.
There's a saying in officialdom: "The more you do, the more mistakes you make; the less you do, the fewer mistakes you make; and if you do nothing, you make no mistakes."
As long as two people want to do something, they are bound to make mistakes!
In fact, Changsun Wuji didn't need to do anything malicious; the tasks Li Jue assigned to Li Yifu and Su Dingfang were enough to keep them busy for months.
After taking office, Su Dingfang immediately inspected all the neighborhoods in Wannian County, paying particular attention to the rivers that flow through the county on time. He quickly formulated a detailed plan for dredging and clearing the silt.
However, his proposal immediately drew opposition from everyone in the county government.
The registrar, Du Huaiyuan, was particularly vehement in his opposition.
"Your Excellency, dredging the river requires money and provisions, but our county government has absolutely no money or provisions..."
Su Dingfang frowned in displeasure upon hearing this.
"Who said dredging rivers requires money and grain?"
"With hundreds of thousands of people in Wannian County, if each household contributes one person, it will be enough to dredge the river!"
"Does the county magistrate intend to conscript laborers?"
"right!"
"Your Excellency may not know this, but our Wannian County is different from other county governments. We need the approval of the Prefect of the Capital to conscript laborers."
"This is easy to handle. I'll send a document to the Prefect of the Capital right away..."
Du Huaiyuan smiled faintly upon hearing this.
"Then let the county magistrate issue the document. Once the prefect of the capital approves it, we can then figure out how to dredge the river..."
The next day, Su Dingfang sent a document to the Prefect of Jingzhao, and personally delivered it.
His actions immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of the Prefect of Jingzhao, because there are rules in officialdom. Even though Wannian County is adjacent to Jingzhao Prefecture, the county magistrate cannot go there directly. Instead, he must send yamen runners and clerks to deliver documents.
Upon seeing this, Lu Junfang, the Prefect of Jingzhao, merely smiled coldly.
"Put it down. I will review it when I have time."
"Then I'll have to trouble you, sir!"
Su Dingfang had always been in the military and had no idea about the intricacies of civil service politics. In his mind, since he had already placed the approval documents on the desk of the Prefect of the Capital, it would certainly take two or three days, if not the same day, for approval.
However, he returned to the county government office and waited for five days without receiving a reply, which infuriated him.
On the sixth day, Su Dingfang went to the Jingzhao Prefecture again, wanting to inquire why the Jingzhao Prefect had not approved the request. Unexpectedly, he didn't even see the Prefect, but only a clerk who informed him that the Prefect had gone to the Secretariat for a meeting.
Seeing this, Su Dingfang could only return dejectedly and sat alone in the hall, lost in thought.
Su Dingfang's work could not proceed, and Li Yifu also encountered trouble.
The dredging of the waterways in Chang'an City not only concerns Wannian County, but also Chang'an County.
The two counties are squeezed into one large city, with Zhuque Avenue as the boundary between them. On one side is Wannian, and on the other side is Chang'an.
The river, having flowed for millennia, will inevitably pass through Chang'an.
Therefore, Li Yifu also reported to the Prefect of Jingzhao, requesting the conscription of laborers to dredge the river.
However, his report disappeared without a trace and was never approved.
However, unlike Su Dingfang's sullen anger, Li Yifu quickly took advantage of his past position as an official in the Eastern Palace to inform his eldest grandson of his predicament through an acquaintance.
Li Jue was in class when he suddenly saw a little eunuch throw him a note. He immediately opened the note and read it. He was so angry that he raised his eyebrows when he saw that Li Yifu was in trouble.
What kind of incompetent officials did Li Er employ? They even made excuses and obstructed the dredging of a river.
Just as Li Jue was getting angry at the note, Xiao Yu unexpectedly walked behind him with his hands behind his back and took in all the contents of the note.
Xiao Yu had long heard that Li Jue had promoted several officials from humble backgrounds. He had no particular feelings about people from humble backgrounds or aristocratic families and did not think there was anything wrong with it.
Now that he sees the people Li Jue promoted getting their comeuppance, he doesn't even need to ask around to guess what happened.
It must be those officials in the court who are obsessed with family background who are unhappy and are secretly making things difficult for the people Li Jue promoted.
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