1008 Governor, the Ninth Prince is the Great Lord of Heaven

One should not seek work that is not within his jurisdiction. The Ninth Prince is a prince, not the emperor. The emperor can order the punishment of corrupt officials and stop the practice of gift-giving. As a subject, the Ninth Prince does not want to do something that would offend people and steal the emperor's limelight.

The officials below presented gifts as a gesture of goodwill, and also as a sign of the direction of the trend. Through the gifts presented by the officials, the Ninth Prince could tell which of them were the Emperor's confidants, and which officials could be recruited for his own use.

The Ninth Prince has great influence in the capital, but due to his status, his power in the local area has developed extremely slowly. This time he was so ostentatious, and he also had the intention of winning over local officials. Under such circumstances, how could he refuse to accept gifts from the officials below?

He didn't want to tell Feng Qingchen these things directly. Some things can be done but not said. It's better to understand it in your heart. It won't be nice if you really say it out loud.

Feng Qingchen couldn't accept that he accepted gifts from officials below him, so he made Feng Qingchen see clearly the consequences of not accepting gifts.

When the Ninth Prince and Feng Qingchen sneaked into the Governor's Mansion in Liaocheng, it was already past dinner time, but the lights were still on. Even though the Ninth Prince did not come, the officials of Liaocheng did not leave. They all stayed in the Governor's Mansion.

Of course, these people were not drinking and having fun. In fact, they didn't even have the heart to eat.

"Do you think the Ninth Prince is dissatisfied with our Liaocheng officials? Not only does he not accept our hospitality, but he also refuses to accept our gifts."

"Yes, yes, I heard that the Ninth Prince is not like this in other places. He will accept the gifts from the officials at his discretion."

"What should we do now? How did we offend the Ninth Emperor?"

"What exactly did we do wrong? Was it that the gift we gave was too small?"

The officials spoke one after another, their words revealing anxiety and fear. Finally, they all looked at the governor with sad faces: "Sir, please tell me one thing. Is it the emperor who is dissatisfied with us, or is it the ninth uncle who is dissatisfied with us?"

"Yes, sir, what do you think we should do? The Ninth Prince will leave tomorrow. If we can't think of a solution and let him leave like this, what are we going to do?"

"Sir, how about we go and find out if we have offended the Ninth Prince in some way? Then we can increase the gift by another 30%?"

"I heard that the Ninth Prince has a confidante. Did we fail to please her when we welcomed her today? Did we prepare gifts for her that didn't include any for her, and did that make the Ninth Prince unhappy?"

Uh... As those people talked more and more outrageous, the expression on Feng Qingchen's face became more and more weird.

How does this involve her? It has nothing to do with her.

The Liaocheng governor had a gloomy face, completely lacking the authority he had during the day. After hearing everyone's discussion, the governor spoke solemnly, "I'll have someone go and ask around, and you guys go back and prepare. Give me a 50% increase in the gift. If it still doesn't work, I'll have no choice but to wait for the people in the capital to come and take off my official hat."

In the eyes of this governor, if the Ninth Prince refused to accept his gift, it would mean that his career as an official was over. When others heard this, they were also extremely uneasy.

After another round of discussion, Feng Qingchen was no longer interested in listening and motioned for the Ninth Prince to take her away. After leaving the Governor's Mansion, Feng Qingchen saw that the Ninth Prince looked calm and asked, "Did you expect this a long time ago?"

"Hmm." Things like this don't require any thinking.

"What will happen if you never accept gifts?" Feng Qingchen thought seriously.

If the Ninth Prince never accepts gifts, these people will probably get used to it, and once they get used to it, they will stop giving him gifts.

"The officialdom has its own circles. If I never accept gifts, I will not be able to integrate into that circle. Qingchen, I am a prince, not an emperor." One should do what is appropriate for one's position. Since he is not an emperor, he cannot stay outside of this circle.

He needs the support of officials to do things, and in fact the emperor needs the same. If he offends all the officials, and the people below him pretend to obey his orders but actually disobey them and work together to deceive, even the emperor will be in trouble.

"Okay, I understand." Feng Qingchen sighed depressedly.

She understood the darkness of the officialdom, but she could not accept that the Ninth Prince was in cahoots with those officials. However, it was understandable if she thought about it. Since ancient times, no honest official could climb to a high position. Such officials could not integrate into the officialdom and would soon be squeezed out.

If the Ninth Prince wants to win over officials, he cannot act arrogant and conceited, as this will only hurt the officials' feelings.

"It's good that you can think it through. Some things cannot be avoided just because you don't want to. Qingchen, if you want to change the rules of this world, you must have enough power. The rules passed down in the officialdom for thousands of years cannot be changed just because you want to. The late emperor hated these officials very much. Back then, the late emperor made a great determination to punish these corrupt officials who were just sitting there doing nothing, but in the end, he almost cleared out all the officials in Dongling and almost shook the foundation of the country."

It is true that the emperor has supreme power, but when his subjects are his enemies, the emperor has to compromise. There was an incident in the previous dynasty where a subject deposed the emperor.

Feng Qingchen was silent for a while, and then he said, "So what are you going to do about today's incident?"

"It's okay. I will just refuse the gift they present tomorrow. Then I will ask someone to submit a memorial to the emperor and ask him to send someone to investigate the fault of the Liaocheng governor." Since I have refused, I will refuse it to the end and take down all the officials of Liaocheng at the same time. It is not easy to investigate the faults of two officials.

"Ah... isn't this too much?" Feng Qingchen felt a little uneasy that a governor had to step down because of his own reasons.

"What is wrong? If you have offended someone, you must remove the danger. No official in the officialdom is innocent. There are only those who stand on the wrong side. If you stand on the wrong side and offend someone you shouldn't offend, there is no need to continue doing it."

The fate of the Liaocheng governor was already determined when the Ninth Prince and Feng Qingchen talked about it. The next day, when the Ninth Prince and Feng Qingchen left, the officials of Liaocheng really presented him with a gift that was 50% more than before, but the Ninth Prince still refused to accept it.

The officialdom has its own rules. The Ninth Prince Uncle did not accept the gift before, but now that the other party added a gift, the Ninth Prince Uncle accepted it. If this spread out, the Ninth Prince Uncle's reputation would be ruined, and everyone would think that the Ninth Prince Uncle was a greedy person.

From now on, if any official made a mistake and wanted to seek help from the Ninth Prince, after the gift he sent was returned, he just had to make the gift more expensive. If he was still refused, it would be because the Ninth Prince was too greedy.

There are principles for accepting gifts. The Ninth Prince refused to the end. Everyone just thought that the officials of Liaocheng had offended the Ninth Prince and were in trouble, and no one said anything about the Ninth Prince.

After leaving Liaocheng, the Ninth Prince continued to do what he had done before, which reassured the officials below him. However, less than ten days after the Ninth Prince left, news came that the governor of Liaocheng was arrested and imprisoned for seizing civilians' land and killing innocent people.

All officials in Liaocheng who were close to the governor were also imprisoned for various crimes...

The Ninth Prince said that Liaocheng officials who oppress the people deserve to be put to death!