The people of Songjiang, especially Huating, always regarded the Xu family as their top priority. In addition, they were all drunk, so when they heard Xu Fan's shout, they surrounded the two corrupt officials who were causing trouble.

"Stop! Don't come forward!"

"Don't come near!"

The officers brought by the two men quickly drew their weapons and shouted at the group of drunkards to retreat.

The cold icy rain hit their faces randomly, soaking the official robes of Niu Chenshi and Lin Xun'an. Their faces turned ashen and they cursed inwardly that the Xu family was so lawless that they dared to besiege the imperial envoy in broad daylight.

"What are you going to do? You two gentlemen are imperial envoys of the court. Are you going to rebel?!" Just as the two men were about to muster up the courage to attack, Songjiang prefect Zhong Zhenji got there first and scolded them harshly.

"Get out of here immediately. If you take another step forward, you will be charged with treason!"

“How dare you disobey the Lord’s words?” Huating County Magistrate Zheng Yue also quickly stood up and scolded the people who surrounded him, “Xu Ping, Xu Ming, Xu Nianzu…get out of here, get out!”

As he spoke, he kicked the drunks, which finally sobered them up a little.

The county magistrate who ruined the family and the governor who wiped out the clan took turns to fight, and finally subdued these guys who only knew the Xu family and not the court. But they still looked at Xu Fan and refused to retreat.

"You guys should leave now, don't mess around here." Xu Fan calmed down now. Did he have the capital to rebel? Obviously not.

After hearing what Uncle Xu said, the filial sons and grandsons of the Xu family dispersed one after another.

"My two lords, I will see you off." Zhong Zhengji was afraid of any further complications, so he and Zheng Yue escorted Niu Chenshi and Lin Xun'an out of Tuisi Garden.

When they came outside, they saw that the sedan chair had been smashed to pieces by the Xu family, and the bearers were lying all over the ground.

"This is really outrageous!" Zhong Zhengji stamped his feet in anger, wiped the rain off his face, and shouted, "Hurry up and bring my sedan chair over here!"

"And mine!" Zheng Yue also shouted.

In a blink of an eye, two sedan chairs, one blue and one green, were carried over, and the two men invited the two adults to get on the sedan chairs. They walked with an umbrella and escorted Niu Chenshi and Lin Xun'an to the official ship dock.

Fortunately, the official ship was safe and sound, and the two men sent the two adults on board.

After entering the cabin, Zhong Zhengji once again expressed his deep apologies for what happened today.

"Forget it." Niu Chenshi asked someone to bring cotton towels to the two local officials, waved his hand and sighed, "It's your misfortune to have such a tiger sitting on the ground."

"Alas, who said it wasn't true?" Zhong Zhenji said with a bitter face, "Let alone County Magistrate Zheng, even I, a dignified fourth-rank prefect, am just an errand boy in the eyes of the Xu family."

"Is there any prefect in the world who is more cowardly than me?" Prefect Zhong wiped the water from the corners of his eyes and sighed:

"But there is no other way. The tax silver that Songjiang Prefecture sends to the Southern Ministry of Revenue every year is directly taken from the Xu Mansion. If you anger the Xu family, you won't be able to collect a penny of tax. For the sake of the court, I can only compromise."

"It's not easy." Niu Chenshi and Lin Pingzhi felt the same way. They were colleagues who trembled in fear under the power of the Xu family.

"Now that we've come to this, can you two be honest? What exactly are you doing here today?" Zhong Zhenji looked at the two of them eagerly and said, "In these precarious times, I hope you can stick together and lend a hand to me, brother."

"Of course. If we don't save ourselves, we'll be doomed." Niu Chenshi nodded and rubbed his trembling cheeks with his hands.

"It's not really a secret. You should have heard about it in a few days." Lin Pingzhi said in a muffled voice, "The new governor of Yingtian has been decided."

"Ah, so fast?" Zhong Zhenji couldn't help shrinking his pupils. The efficiency of the court was directly proportional to the degree of attention it paid. Such a terrifying efficiency could only mean that the court was extremely concerned about the changes that occurred in his jurisdiction.

"Who is it that scared you two so much?" He didn't care about the words and asked directly.

"It's Hai Gong from Hai Gangfeng." Niu Chenshi's cheeks trembled uncontrollably again.

Lin Pingzhi also trembled and said, "The court must be really angry to let the King of Hell be the governor of Yingtian?"

"Ah, Hai Rui?" Zhong Zhenji jumped up from his chair and cried out, "Didn't the court have a tacit agreement not to use Hai Rui easily? Are they going to kill everyone?!"

"Who made the Xu family break the rules first, giving the court an excuse to close the door and release Hai Rui?" Niu Chenshi held his head, his face full of despair.

"Is it too late for me to retire now?" Zhong Zhengji actually wailed, with none of the demeanor of a fourth-rank official.

"It's definitely too late. If you want to leave, you have to wait until Hai Gangfeng finishes interrogating you. Then we can decide whether to send you to the army or exile." Niu Chenshi was not gloating at all, but said with real fear:

"If Lord Hai really wants to get to the bottom of this, I'm afraid that Lin Anyuan and I are also implicated. For now, we can only cut off all ties with the Xu family. Otherwise, if we let these unlucky people get involved, there will be no way out."

"Oh, I don't know how useful our performance today will be?" Lin Pingzhi was almost worried to death. If Lin Run hadn't gotten into trouble, he would have already set off back to Beijing.

Now, not only is there no sign of his resignation, but he also has to wait for the judgment of the Sea Warriors.

Zheng Yue finally understood why Niu Lin and the other two had acted out that scene before, but he had just entered the officialdom and did not quite understand the power of the Lord of the Sea. Finally, the three adults could not help but ask, "Is the Lord of the Sea really that scary?"

"Of course it's scary!" The three said in unison, "If you don't believe me, wait until the news spreads and see what Jiangnan will become!"

"Oh." Zheng Yue was a little curious. He and Zhang Qi, the magistrate of Shanghai, had only been in Huating for three months and had not participated in anything yet, so there was nothing to worry about.

Naturally, people who like to watch the fun don't mind making things worse.

~~

The strong wind brought down heavy rain, blowing away the lanterns and colorful pavilions in Huating County. The ** array at the entrance of Tuisi Garden was also washed away by the rain.

Many flower pots overturned, many flowers fell, making the carefully spelled word "夀" look like a pale word "甸".

The situation in the Tuisi Garden was even more chaotic. The reed shed could block the wind but not the rain. It rained as hard as it rained outside. The guests who came to celebrate the birthday were soaked to the skin.

In the cold winter of October, everyone was shivering with cold and fled out of the reed sheds, leaving the place in a mess with birds and animals scattered everywhere.

Those distinguished guests from other places could not leave immediately, so they could only stay in Wanhe Songfeng Hall. While watching the doctors coming into the inner room to treat Lord Xu, they asked each other in a low voice what had happened.

How come in just half a year, Lord Xu went from being a benefactor to a public enemy of Suzhou officials? ?

Is this the loss of humanity or the decline of morality?

ps. There is still half of the next chapter.