Zhao Hao returned home from the Princess's Mansion and found that his grandfather was out.

Ye was not here either. She did not stay at the mansion last night but went back to Wuji's branch in Dazhalan.

"Where is the old man?" Zhao Hao took off the gauze hat on his head and handed it to Ma Xianglan who came over.

"The old man said he was going out to visit some friends." Tang Youde answered first, holding a plate of beautiful Tongzhou cherries, standing there with a flattering face. "Sir, would you like to have some fruit or tea first?"

"Hey, what's irritating you?" Zhao Hao looked at him strangely and asked, "Why are you so well-behaved?"

"Hehe, sir, have you forgotten? Old Tang has always been so well-behaved." Tang Youde blinked.

"He stole my plate..." At this time, Qiaoqiao came in angrily with empty hands.

"We're just helping you bring it because we're afraid of tiring Miss Qiaoqiao." Tang Youde smiled embarrassedly.

"Hahaha, so it was Sister Qiaoqiao who washed them!" Zhao Hao then reached out and pinched a handful of cherries, stuffed them all into his mouth, and said vaguely, "Then I dare to eat them... I was really worried that he wouldn't wash them clean."

Qiaoqiao was immediately happy. She glared at Tang Youde with pride and asked Zhao Hao with a smile, "What do you want to eat tonight? I'll make it for you."

"I want to eat a lot." Zhao Hao listed them one by one: "Boiled dried shredded vegetables, shrimp wontons, duck blood vermicelli soup, fermented rice dumplings, assorted tofu stew..."

When Qiaoqiao heard that these were all the specialties she had cooked for him, she nodded happily and said, "I thought the chefs in Beijing had spoiled your taste buds so much that you don't even want the snacks at home."

"Hehe..." Zhao Hao laughed dryly and thought to himself that if these words came out of Sister Ma's mouth, I would sweat again.

But Qiaoqiao shouldn’t have that intention, well, it must be a literal meaning.

"How could that be? I like food from all over the world, but what I miss most is the food from my hometown." Zhao Hao replied with a smile.

When Qiaoqiao heard this, her face turned red and she turned and ran away.

"Hey, why is she blushing?" Zhao Hao spread his hands. He really couldn't understand girls nowadays.

Ma Xianglan covered her mouth and smiled, with no intention of joining the conversation.

~~

In Beijing at the end of March, the sun is warm and the breeze is gentle in the afternoon.

Zhao Hao asked Zhao Shizhen and Zhang Jian to help Tang Youde move the low table, chairs, stools, and cups to the yard.

Then he lay down on the chair and immediately closed his eyes comfortably.

“This is life…”

This was the first time he had recovered from his "paralysis in the yard" state since he left Nanjing.

Tang Youde was relieved when he saw this, thinking to himself that this was the young master that Old Tang was familiar with...

Her previous capable and efficient appearance really made it impossible for him to relax.

"By the way, how is the construction of that thing going?" Zhao Hao asked Zhao Shizhen and Zhang Jian with a smile.

"It's already been built, and we're going to test it in a couple of days." Zhang Jian replied hurriedly.

"Don't experiment in the city, stay away." Zhao Hao ordered.

"I understand." Zhao Shizhen nodded and said, "This is too close to the palace."

"That's what I mean." Zhao Hao responded, and then he saw a young man with crutches walking unsteadily, also going out for a walk.

He threw a plum to the young man with crutches and said, "Xiwa, how long does the doctor say it will take for you to get rid of your crutches?"

Since falling off the roof on the Lantern Festival, this was the first time that Zhao Shixi went out for a walk. He looked a lot whiter and three times fatter, so Zhao Hao liked him much more.

"It takes a hundred days for a broken bone to heal, so it will take another month." Zhao Shixi took the plum and asked, "Uncle, has my father sent me a letter?"

"Oh, you've made progress. You still remember to ask your father." Zhao Hao threw him another peach and said with a smile, "I received a letter yesterday, but it was too late to tell you."

In fact, the letter was brought to Beijing by Zhao Liben, but Zhao Hao was afraid that Xiwa would not be able to keep his mouth shut, so he did not tell him that his grandfather was coming.

After all, the old man was ordered to return to his hometown and live in idleness, and the Zhao family’s registered residence is Xiuning, not Beijing.

Zhao Hao then told Xiwa about Zhao Jin's situation...

The elder brother and his wife left Beijing on Laba Festival last year and spent the New Year at the old man's place in Yangzhou. Then Zhao Liben sent Zhao Xian to send Zhao Jin's wife back home, while Zhao Jin set off for Guizhou.

At that time, the southwest was mountainous and difficult to travel. Zhao Jin hurried as hard as he could and finally arrived at Cheng Fan Mansion at the end of February.

But the amazing thing is that before he even arrived, he had already mediated the internal strife among the chieftains in Chengfan Prefecture that had lasted for several months.

This was due to his sufficient homework and Zhao Hao's advice.

Zhao Hao told him that the riot that occurred at the end of the first year of Longqing was not a rebellion of the imperial court by local forces, nor was it a fight between ethnic minorities and the Han people, but rather a fratricide among the chieftains due to blood revenge.

To put it bluntly, this was a "family affair" within the Shuixi An clan, the largest chieftain power in Guizhou at the time.

However, the officials of the Three Departments in Guizhou misjudged the situation and rashly sent troops to suppress the rebellion. As a result, they were counterattacked and killed, and the situation became a mess.

Now with Zhao Hao's reminder, Zhao Jin can take targeted actions.

When he was in Yangzhou for the New Year, he wrote a letter to the Guizhou Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, ordering him to conduct an in-depth investigation and verify the truth. He also wrote a letter to the Guizhou Commander-in-Chief, ordering him to hold off until the truth was found out and not to add fuel to the fire.

Unexpectedly, this one move alone worked. The An chieftains on both sides saw that the provincial government had come to investigate the case, and fearing that the court would favor one side, they took the initiative to complain to the magistrate.

The provincial governor saw that it was just as the chancellor had expected, and he immediately gained confidence. On the one hand, he tried to appease both sides, saying that the province would deal with the matter impartially; on the other hand, he threatened them that the new governor was a strict official and had good foresight. If the riots were not quelled by the time he arrived, he would definitely raise a large army to suppress them, as the first step for the new official to take office.

The chieftains on both sides had been fighting for several months, and they had already suffered heavy casualties, so they secretly regretted it. However, hundreds of lives had been lost on both sides, and there was no possibility of spontaneous reconciliation. Now that the court said it would make a fair judgment, both sides gave in and stopped fighting.

Then the three courts worked out a relatively reasonable mediation and compensation plan, such as asking one party to hand over the culprit who triggered the murder, and have him tried and executed by the court; the rest of the people on both sides paid silver to atone for their crimes, and then the silver received would be distributed as compensation to the deceased on both sides, etc.

The plan was approved by both sides, and thus a riot that had lasted for several months and left more than a thousand people dead and injured was settled without a fight.

As a result, when the elder brother arrived at Cheng Fan Mansion, he saw that "the market had returned to normal and people's livelihood had recovered."

Moreover, Chieftain An was so impressed with Zhao Jin that for the first time ever, he followed officials from all over the province out of the city twenty miles away and knelt to welcome the Minister of Justice who was very wise.

The older brother had already made a great impression before he even appeared on the stage, so it can be said that the start was perfect.

This should be very helpful for his subsequent governance of Guizhou, and he will surely be able to achieve even more impressive results than before.

~~

"In a word, maybe in less than three years, you can become a Jinyi centurion." Zhao Hao smiled and encouraged Xiwa, "So you have to resume training quickly. I heard that the assessment of the Ministry of War is still quite difficult."

"Oh..." Xiwa nodded with a bitter face. He suddenly felt that, except for not being able to go out and spend money, being lame was pretty good.

ps. The second update is here, please give me monthly tickets and recommendation tickets~~