Suzhou government office signing room.

Governor Cai then heard Liu Zhengqi say half-truthfully:

"We heard that our ancestor sent the Kunshan riflemen to Xishan to suppress the bandits. We, the natives of Xishan, were all ecstatic and were discussing how to build a shrine for our ancestor. Although the villagers had to leave their hometown due to the Japanese pirates in the 35th year of Jiajing, we have always missed Xishan. Our ancestral property, ancestral house and ancestral tomb are there..."

The prefect Cai was very pleased to hear this. He was a famous official of Neo-Confucianism, clean and self-disciplined, not interested in money, but only in fame.

After hearing what Mr. Liu said, he even thought about the site selection, materials, design plan, and the renderings after completion of the ancestral temple.

"Who knows..." But Liu Zhengqi changed the subject.

Prefect Cai's face darkened immediately. It seemed that there was a change in the construction of the ancestral temple. "Who knows what?"

"Who would have thought that the second master of the Xu family, Xu Kun, would suddenly come to our house the day before yesterday and threaten that the Kunshan Gunners Battalion was going to occupy Xishan Island by force, and asked us, the indigenous people, to rise up in resistance."

"What does this have to do with the Xu family?" Prefect Cai was stunned, and then he remembered the glorious deeds of 'Zhao Zhuangyuan beating up the young cabinet minister'.

"Second Master said that his family has a personal grudge against Magistrate Zhao's family in Kunshan, and he wants to punish them to vent his anger for Big Brother." Liu Zhengqi's words were true, but he didn't mention who called Xu Kun...

"What a riot!" Governor Cai shouted, "Why would a gentry from Songjiang come to Suzhou to cause trouble?"

"They said they wanted to seek justice for us." Liu Zhengqi said with a bitter face, "But that's not the justice we want. Besides, with our grandfather here, why would we need the Xu family to stand up for us?"

"Hmph, that's natural. The Xu family has extended their hands too far!" Prefect Cai was furious.

In fact, the Xu family had been rude to Prefect Cai in the past. Whenever there was something wrong, they would always send servants to inform him, and their attitude was very disrespectful.

Like this time, she often does things without saying hello, and she really never takes him seriously.

Before Lord Xu was in office, Governor Cai could only swallow his anger and pretend not to care.

By this time Xu Jie had become a retired cadre, but the Xu family had not yet restrained themselves. Instead, they became even more outrageous, openly interfering in Suzhou's internal affairs and instigating confrontation between the people and the government!

He really doesn't take a fourth-rank prefect seriously!

New and old grudges surged up in his heart, and he hated the magistrate Cai so much that his teeth itched. After a while, he asked coldly, "Did you listen to him?"

"Of course we won't listen. We are all law-abiding citizens. How can we cause trouble for our husband's ancestors?" Liu Zhengqi quickly denied it.

Really, he was the only one who went yesterday, the rest were Zhao Hao’s people pretending to be there.

"So the Xu family threatened to kill you?" asked Prefect Cai with a gloomy face.

They actually resorted to the tactic of rebelling against the government in Shunchang. Do they still have the government in their eyes? Who is the ruler of Suzhou today? !

"It's also because Xu Kun led five hundred slaves to attack the Dasheng Bay camp yesterday..." Seeing that his husband was about to explode, Liu Zhengqi hurriedly lit another firecracker.

"What?!" Prefect Cai was furious. He slammed the table and shouted, "How dare the Xu family gather evil slaves to attack the barracks of a county. Are they planning a rebellion?!"

Liu Zhengqi was frightened and shuddered. He suddenly understood why Master Zhao was so fearless.

To put it bluntly, it’s still the old saying that the people should not fight against the officials.

No matter how small Kunshan County was, it was still a first-level government. No matter how big the Xu family was, they were just local gentry. There was no doubt about where Magistrate Cai would sit.

The butt determines the head, and the head determines the mouth...

~~

After a while of rage, Magistrate Cai asked angrily, "How many people died?"

He hated the Xu family to death. No matter what the reason, a large-scale armed conflict under his rule would be a vicious incident that would affect his career!

"No one was injured, let alone killed." Liu Zhengqi quickly reassured his husband, "They were all detained by the Kunshan Gunner Battalion."

Then he added in a low voice: "The Xu family thought that it was the villain who leaked the news, so they threatened to kill the chicken to scare the monkey."

"Huh..." Prefect Cai let out a long sigh and said in disbelief, "Even if there were 500 pigs to catch, they would still be able to bite and injure a few people. How come the servants of the Xu family are not even as good as pigs?"

Liu Zhengqi couldn't help but say, "Master Xu rashly entered the camp and was captured by the gunners. His men had no choice but to surrender."

Mr. Liu did not tell the prefect that he was the one who tricked Xu Kun into the camp.

"Xu Kun is such a loser." Cai Guoxi sneered and leaned back in his chair, his opinion of the Xu family lowered a lot. "In the end, did they release him?"

"If they don't release him, I guess the Xu family won't let it go." Liu Yuanwai shook his head and said, "Such a big thing has happened. I think I should report it to my grandfather as soon as possible to prevent him from being caught off guard."

"Well, you're not bad." Cai Guoxi nodded with satisfaction and said, "Go ahead, I will pay attention to this matter."

"Yes, my dear grandfather." Mr. Liu responded respectfully.

Just as he was about to leave, he heard Cai Guoxi say in a deep voice: "Don't build a shrine on Xishan Island. I am not the kind of person who seeks fame and reputation."

After a pause, he said quietly, "It's not proper to be in the wilderness."

Mr. Liu suddenly realized, and thought that it was because his ancestors disliked the fact that the West Mountain was sparsely populated and had no incense.

He bowed and said, "Then we will not repair the one on the West Mountain, and only leave the one on the East Mountain Island. Please do not refuse, my dear ancestor, and show your filial piety to us."

"Oh, forget it, just do it yourself." Prefect Cai waved his hand, feeling too embarrassed to take out the design drawings from the drawer immediately.

I'll let the people below do it another day...

~~

After Mr. Liu left, Prefect Cai called his aide Mr. Hu to discuss with him which design to use to build his own ancestral temple.

I only heard the staff member Mr. Hu working hard to plan:

"We must choose the best location, hire the best craftsmen, and use the best materials. We must build a top-notch ancestral temple, with a gate of five pillars and seven columns, and a courtyard of at least five entrances and a hundred acres. We must have red walls and green tiles! Brass incense burners! Sandalwood statues! Gilded guardians! We must use all the tools we can. The most important thing is that there must be a deity living in the ancestral hall, so that the incense will be prosperous. After a few years or even decades, Dong Weng will become a god worshipped by the people!"

Governor Cai's mouth watered. "How much will this cost?"

"Let those Dongting merchants pay. They have plenty of money."

"But spending too much money will still damage the reputation of this government."

"This is simple. We can follow the old precedent and partner with temples and Taoist temples. This way, all the expenses will be counted as rebuilding the temples. But in fact, the temples will become part of the ancestral temple." Mr. Hu said calmly. It was obvious that this was not his first time as a staff member.

"There is a White Horse Temple on Taihu Lake. I heard that the incense is very effective. It's better than ours..." Prefect Cai rubbed his hands, eager to try.

"Dong Weng really knows how to choose a place."

The two were talking excitedly when they suddenly heard bursts of drumbeats outside.

Prefect Cai immediately lost interest and asked unhappily, "Go see who is beating the drum and find a reason to beat him up first!"

ps. The second of three consecutive updates, please give me a monthly vote~~