Chapter 370 Let Prince Jing come to see me
"I don't gamble anymore!"
Haitang crossed her arms, snorted coldly, and her face looked like an angry anime character, tilting her head to the side at an angle of 40 to 50 degrees.
The teardrop mole at the corner of the eye becomes more and more conspicuous.
"Haha, then let's bet one month's salary, that should be fine." Zhao Duan joked. When joking with female colleagues, one should know when to stop.
The journey was too arduous, with fighting and killing happening all the time, so he deliberately made fun of Mo Zi to relieve his tension.
"It's a deal," Haitang sighed. "Rather than that, why don't you go out and check on your two eccentric guards first? Do you know what it means to win people over? I see they're injured too."
"I understand." Zhao Duan smiled and walked back to the deck.
With a quick glance, he locked onto a corner of the deck, where a warrior and a sorcerer were sitting and regulating their breathing.
The knuckles of Lang Shiba's hands were cracked, and he was pouring strong liquor from a ceramic bowl onto the wounds, grimacing.
The socially anxious person Ji Yue squatted on the ground, hugged his knees with his hands, curled up into a ball, with his black hair hanging down, covering his entire face.
"How is your injury?" Zhao Duan walked over with a smile and squatted on the ground.
Lang Shiba was a little surprised. He forced a smile on his thin, weathered face covered with stubble.
"It's just a minor injury. It will heal in a few days of rest. It won't delay the protection master's journey."
Ji Yue raised her head slightly from her knee-hugging position, revealing her faint eyebrows and eyes beneath her wet black hair, and said softly, "It's... okay."
The old social terror.
"I prepared it for you." Zhao Duan took out a wooden box, in which were two large pills, one red and one white.
He gave the red one to Lang Shiba and said, "It's for external injuries."
The Northern Swordsman, who was once a general of Jubei City but now lives in hiding, accepted the medicine calmly and poured it into a green-skinned gourd, turning it into medicinal wine. "Thank you, sir."
Zhao Duan nodded and gestured for Jiyue to take the white pill: "It is used to restore the magic power of the sorcerer."
"Thanks……"
Ji Yue uttered two words in a mosquito-like voice, then carefully stretched out his pale hand, but found nothing.
Zhao Duan suddenly moved the box away, then handed it over again, saying with a smile, "I'm curious, since I can't see the pupils in your eyes, can you see people clearly?"
"...Okay." Ji Yue answered dryly, then stretched out his hand with a scar on his wrist for the second time, but again grabbed nothing.
Ji Yue: “…”
Zhao Duan, who had suddenly moved the box away for the second time, smiled and said, "One more question. Your clothes are wet, don't you need to change? There are dry clothes in the cabin."
Jiyue: “No need.”
Then, between her black hair, her two white pupils saw the young official in front of her and she said "Oh" and handed over the box of pills.
Ji Yue learned his lesson and didn't dare to reach out.
"Here you go. I won't tease you anymore." Zhao Duan laughed, stuffed the box to her, stood up, patted his butt and left.
These two guards are people with great stories. They are different from ordinary infantrymen. How can they be easily won over?
At the current stage, it is nothing more than increasing familiarity.
Ji Yue held the pill in her hands in a daze, and looked at Zhao Duan who was leaving carefully several times.
After making sure that no one was looking at him, he quickly swallowed it, like a small animal afraid that its food would be snatched away. As a result, he ate too fast and choked and rolled his eyes...
"Here." Lang Shiba handed over a bowl of medicinal wine, as cold as a killer.
"..." Ji Yue picked up the medicinal wine and swallowed the pill, then handed it back: "Thank you..."
But Lang Shiba ignored him completely and went to the side to drink alone.
Ji Yue silently hugged her knees, her black hair covering her face.
…
…
Soon, the official ship successfully entered the Huting Wharf.
When Zhao Duan and his party got off the boat, they saw that the dock was under martial law and a group of civil officials in official robes were waiting eagerly.
Among them are many important figures such as the Huaishui Provincial Governor.
However, what was surprising was that the person standing at the front of the queue of officials was not a few people in crimson robes, but a person in a green robe.
"Master Zhao! I have waited so long for you, and you are finally here!"
The middle-aged man in the lead, who looked familiar, came forward to greet them with a big laugh.
"Feng Ju?" Zhao Duan was slightly startled, his expression surprised. "Of course it's you, Chief Feng."
The middle-aged civil servant in front of him was none other than Feng Ju, the head of the Ministry of Personnel, an old acquaintance.
At the beginning of the time travel, Zhao Duan took advantage of the power of others to deceive Feng Zhushi into falsely accusing Li Yanfu and dragging him into the "Imperial Party" camp.
Later, when Princess Yunyang and Marquis Xiajiang were dealing with Zhao Duan, they kidnapped Feng Ju's family and threatened them.
Zhao Duan lent a helping hand, and the relationship between the two deepened. In the following months, they contacted each other less and less, but during the holidays, Feng Ju would send gifts to the Zhao family.
On the way here this time, he looked through the list of officials in Huting and saw Feng Ju's name, but thought it was a duplicate.
"Haha, Lord Zhao is busy with family and national affairs, so he may not have paid attention to the Ministry of Personnel's transfer order." Feng Ju smiled brightly:
"The imperial court has established a special office, the 'Merchant Department', to facilitate the opening of the market. I, Your Majesty, have been honored to be promoted to the position of Fifth Rank Doctor in the Merchant Department. This time, I will be presiding over the opening of the market on behalf of the imperial court. From now on, I will also be in charge of all matters concerning the imperial merchants."
Fifth-rank doctor...if you only look at the official position, it is really not high.
But this is indeed a case of "small position but great power", which can be seen from the fact that Feng Ju still has to stand in front of the Huai River Governor.
This is similar to the governor who left the capital, who was only of the seventh rank but could act on behalf of the emperor. His actual power was so great that it could not be measured by rank.
"In that case, we should congratulate Doctor Feng on his promotion." Zhao Duan smiled.
Feng Ju felt ashamed and unworthy, and said humbly that he dared not.
If we talk about party affiliation, Feng Ju should be considered a member of the imperial party promoted by Zhao Duan. Ninety percent of his achievements in reaching his current status are due to Zhao Duan.
Feng Ju even suspected that the core reason why the empress placed him in this position was his relationship with Zhao Duan.
He also secretly made up his mind that when Zhao Du'an arrived, everything here would be under the command of Lord Zhao.
"Your Excellency has had a long journey. I have already prepared a place for you to stay."
Feng Ju warmly invited everyone to get on the carriage and arrived at a private garden called "Humble Administrator's Garden".
According to him, it was the private residence of a local "royal merchant" in Huting, and it was specially vacated for Zhao Duan to stay.
The garden style of the private residence is full of Jiangnan charm, with small bridges and flowing water, white walls and black tiles, rockery and flower ponds... Although it is late autumn, because this place is close to the south, there is still a lot of greenery.
Zhao Duan, surrounded by a group of officials, entered the main hall of the garden and exchanged some pleasantries.
He also learned about the current situation in Hu Ting from Feng Ju.
…
"Your Majesty, please forgive me."
In the main hall, Feng Ju, who was left alone, bowed and said:
"The market opening is approaching, and almost all the invited forces have arrived. Here is the list."
He presented a large volume with both hands.
Zhao Duan weighed the roster, but didn't rush to look through it. He placed it on the coffee table and said with a smile:
"Just tell me briefly the general situation first."
"Yes," Feng Ju replied, and after a moment's thought, he said:
"Huting is now roughly divided into three factions. One is the imperial court and the confirmed imperial merchants. These are the ones who have pledged their allegiance to us in the past few months. According to the higher-ups' requirements, half of the quota has been reserved for small and medium-sized merchants. The remaining half is for the local nobles who were the first to pledge their allegiance to the imperial court and actively accept the new policies."
"The second force is the merchants and local families affiliated with the seven kings.
Aside from Prince Jing coming in person, the other seven princes did not come in person, but instead sent trusted confidants to secretly monitor those under their jurisdiction to prevent them from defecting to the imperial court.
Zhao Duan raised his eyebrows and interrupted: "Are you talking about the Seventh King?"
Feng Ju nodded and said seriously:
"Prince Huai'an is quite special. Unlike the seven princes who clearly opposed the situation, Prince Huai'an's attitude was ambiguous and wavering. He belonged to the neutral faction. In fact, besides Prince Huai'an, there were many others in the neutral faction, and the local nobles made up the largest number of them."
Zhao Duan was not surprised and said calmly:
"The new policies themselves are aimed at these noble families. They resist in their hearts, but dare not openly oppose the court and get close to those princes. Therefore, their attitude is wavering, which is understandable."
Feng Ju nodded in agreement and said hesitantly:
"I've been keeping an eye on things these days and have discovered that Prince Jing and others are secretly contacting these neutral factions, trying to win them over and unite them to oppose the opening of the market. If this group of people really unite, then even if the court forcibly opens the market, with these people working together to block it, I'm afraid that commodity trade will be difficult to carry out."
The implementation of any policy cannot bypass local authorities.
Even if a merchant has obtained the qualification of an imperial merchant, if he is blocked and squeezed by major forces during the course of doing business, it will be difficult for him to do business.
Zhao Duan said seriously, "So, neutrality is so important?"
"Yes," Feng Ju said seriously:
"We can't win over the nobles who wholeheartedly follow Prince Jing, Prince Mu, and the others, but we can win over the wavering neutrals. We don't need them to turn to us. As long as we can prevent them from turning to the Seventh Prince, we'll be halfway there."
"Half is not enough." Zhao Duan frowned and said.
Through Feng Ju's narration, he also realized the difficulty of the Huting situation and was immediately glad that he had come in person.
Otherwise, if no one is keeping an eye on this place and Prince Jing and others really mess things up, the court’s finances will not be relieved and there will be big trouble again next year.
"I understand. I will find a way to deal with this matter."
Zhao Duan said calmly:
"But before that, I need to meet our royal merchant first."
Let’s not talk about the neutral faction for now, but at least he needs to keep a close eye on the imperial merchants to prevent anyone from turning against him at the last minute.
He would only feel at ease after personally reviewing this group of his own people and having them take sides and express their stance in public through his own interviews.
Feng Ju stood up, smiled and nodded:
"Okay, I'll make the arrangements right away. Actually, everyone here is eager to come visit you, and they're all waiting outside."
Zhao Duan smiled. He came to Huting this time without any official position.
But everyone knows that this envoy Zhao who came from the capital is the real person who calls the shots and represents the empress.
"By the way, where does Prince Jing live?"
Zhao Duan suddenly stroked his chin, a smile in his eyes:
"Since we're all going to meet, please pass on a message for me, saying that I'm asking Prince Jing to come over for a chat."
(End of this chapter)
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