Chapter 44: Territorial Struggle (Part 2) Update
Liu Ziye still held the whip in his hand and shook it gently.
He glanced at Wang Yanpeng and pointed the whip at him: "Why are you here? Humph, it seems that you, Governor Wang, are not so clean!"
Although Wang Yanpeng was mentally prepared, he was still frightened by the pointing of the young marquis of Xiguan.
Liu Ziye circled around Wang Yanpeng, looking him up and down, questioning him, "You used to act like you were putting on an act in front of me, hoping that I would speak well of you to your cousin, the Crown Prince, and your uncle, the Emperor. But you never imagined that Governor Wang, you've probably already established connections with Yanjing!"
Wang Yanpeng had previously heard the news brought back by this team of private soldiers and knew that the young marquis of Xiguan had openly mentioned His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
Now that he had appeared here publicly, he was going to have a frank and honest talk with the young Marquis of Xiguan face to face.
He continued with a smile, "Young Marquis, that's not true. Even if I do have a few connections, they can never compare to the blood connection you share with His Majesty and the Crown Prince! I'm grateful for your kindness, Young Marquis. From now on, I will still need your kind words in front of you!"
What he said came from the heart.
If it weren't for the fact that the young Marquis of Xiguan later attributed many of the credit for managing the winter snow disaster in his fiefdom to Wang Yanpeng in his report to Yanjing last winter, I'm afraid that when this incident happened, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would never have noticed him, a governor in a remote area, and specifically asked him to step in and solve the problem of the illegal opening of the salt mine.
Originally, for some unknown reason, a memorial had been sent from Yanjing, accusing him of falsely reporting the disaster in Xiguan County in an attempt to gain political achievements for himself.
It seemed that his position as acting governor might be lost.
Then another order came, saying that although the snow disaster in Xiguan County was not as severe as that of the Rongdi and Qiang tribes, Wang Yanpeng, as the governor, had indeed done a lot to resist the disaster.
He was recognized for his performance in Xiguan County over the past few months and was officially appointed as the governor of Xiguan County.
After removing the two words "temporary" in front of the title of governor, Wang Yanpeng can be said to feel refreshed.
Although he had communicated with his clan members in Yanjing before, those people would have ignored him if they had not considered that he was a county governor after all.
His attempts to curry favor with the powerful and influential made no progress except for some private ridicule.
It was only then that he received direct instructions from the Prince's Palace for the first time.
He was instructed to go to Xiguan County to meet this group of private soldiers from the Prince's Mansion and help them hide their tracks and station them in Xiguan County.
From what he said, Liu Ziye knew that he was no longer trying to hide his relationship with the prince as he did last time.
She looked at Wang Yanpeng in confusion and said, "My cousin, the Crown Prince, is the heir to the throne of our Great Zhou Dynasty, the next emperor. Yet, I wonder why he is so secretive, sending people to hide in this desolate frontier fortress in the west?"
She glanced at the group of soldiers beside Wang Yanpeng and said with a friendly smile, "Since they are my cousin the Crown Prince's men, they are just as good as my Xiguan Marquis' men. If you had explained your identities earlier when we met last time, we wouldn't have ended up in such an awkward situation!"
When the leader of the private army saw that Marquis Xiguan was trying to be close to him, he felt a headache.
They traveled around Yanjing and had seen many powerful officials in the court. But which one of them was like the young marquis of Xiguan, who was so unconcerned about his status and tried to please and get close to the prince just because he was a low-level private soldier leader under the prince?
He leaned on his arm and replied to Liu Ziye, "I am Gu Liangzhi, captain of the private guard battalion of the Crown Prince's Palace. I would like to greet the young Marquis of Xiguan. A few days ago, something unexpected happened. Due to my duties, I was unable to reveal my identity to the young Marquis of Xiguan. I hope you will forgive me for offending you!"
This private guard captain named Gu Liang did not have formal military status. When facing Liu Ziye, he still called himself a commoner.
"Ai--"
Liu Ziye stretched out his tone and enthusiastically lifted his arm: "That's good! We're all family, there's no need to clash, right?"
She asked with a smile, "How is my cousin the Crown Prince? Is he okay? Is there anything I want you to tell me?"
Private guard captain Gu Liangzhi: "..."
He tried his best to remain calm and replied, "Well, my subordinates...are just low-ranking officials. Although we work for the Crown Prince, we don't have the opportunity to meet him directly."
"I see...it's okay, it's okay!"
Liu Ziye said it was okay, but his action clearly shook off the arm of the private army leader, and the attentive look on his face disappeared in an instant.
Gu Liangzhi and the private soldiers: "..."
He just didn't feel comfortable speaking directly, as this young Marquis of Xiguan could change his attitude very quickly.
This is good, so that I don’t have to be disturbed when traveling to Xiguan in the future.
Wang Yanpeng, upon seeing this, took over the conversation, knowingly asking, "Young Marquis, why did you choose to come to this remote, dry, and hot place today? I feel short of breath even here. Young Marquis, you are a noble and beautiful woman, and you are not comparable to us, the common people. Please don't suffer from this heat!"
"That's right."
Liu Ziye pretended to be unconcerned and said, "Last time, I had a misunderstanding with these brothers. They didn't explain their identities clearly and just turned around and left. At that time, I saw the half-cooked brine and the half-dried coarse salt by the salt lake. It would be bad to just leave them here for nothing, right?"
Wang Yanpeng and others were afraid that Xiguan Hou would say this.
After all, just now, they were in a standoff with the people left behind by Xiguan Hou.
He and Captain Gu exchanged glances.
Wang Yanpeng bowed to Liu Ziye with an apologetic look on his face. "Young Marquis, your concerns are correct. It is thanks to the care of the young Marquis of Xiguan that His Royal Highness's salt mine has not been wasted. I am not a talented official. Since His Royal Highness has entrusted me with the responsibility of handling the mining of the salt lake, I have taken the liberty of temporarily filling His Royal Highness's shoes. Thank you, young Marquis of Xiguan!"
"Oh."
Liu Ziye sneered.
Wang Yanpeng's heart skipped a beat when he heard this.
"Do you think I, the Marquis, am easy to fool?" Liu Ziye questioned.
"Don't you understand one thing? From the very beginning, it was me who said they were the Crown Prince's men. Not only have they never personally admitted it, but you haven't even produced any actual evidence today! Are you, Wang Yanpeng, really trying to deceive me by pretending to be the Crown Prince's men?"
She glanced at Wang Yanpeng and pointed at the group of private soldiers. "My cousin, the Crown Prince, is the future emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, second only to the emperor himself. If he really wanted to open a salt mine here, would he only send a bunch of sneaky, shabby guys like this?"
The crooked and ugly people who were pointed at and scolded: ...
"And you, the Governor of Xiguan County, keep saying you're following the Crown Prince's orders. Okay, then can you show me the orders from the Crown Prince's Palace?"
Even though he was mentally prepared, Wang Yanpeng was still embarrassed by Liu Ziye's commonplace retort.
As for the orders in the Prince's Palace, there naturally were none.
He tried to defend himself: "This... This humble official is indeed following the orders of the Crown Prince, but, but..."
"There's nothing, and you're trying to trick me with your cousin, the Crown Prince!"
Liu Ziye looked at Wang Yanpeng and said, "Perhaps you don't know yet. The fact that Xiguan County has salt lake deposits was reported to Yanjing by me long ago, through Major General Chi Mu, when he came to Xiguan County. This is a great gift that I, the Marquis, want to present to my uncle, the Emperor! How can I allow you, the thieving cats and dogs, to come and snatch our food!"
Wang Yanpeng was filled with astonishment: "This...this...the Salt Lake incident was actually caused by you, Young Marquis..."
"good."
Liu Ziye looked at him with amusement. "So, now tell me why this Marquis suddenly appeared here? Without the order from Yanjing, my Xiguan Marquis Mansion must guard this lake for the court and for my uncle, the emperor!"
"That Iberi has always had some dirty hands. This so-called salt mine that the Crown Prince wants, in my opinion, is it you, Wang Yanpeng, who stole it privately with the intention of enriching yourself? You're really quite bold! In the past, I thought you were a useless coward!"
The coward Wang Yanpeng was extremely upset: "No, young marquis! Even if I had a hundred guts, how could I dare to do that?"
After Wang Yanpeng was accused of this crime, he was very cautious and finally got the position of governor. Only then did his family breathe a sigh of relief.
If this young Marquis of Xiguan were to cause such a commotion and the matter were to be exposed, the official position and status in the family that he had worked so hard to obtain would be lost in one day!
Liu Ziye didn't care about him much: "Don't dare!? Then what are you doing!? I'll write a letter to my cousin the Crown Prince when I get back. I want to ask him personally whether he ordered you to do this! So that you guys won't dare to cheat people outside by using my cousin the Crown Prince's name!"
"Although my cousin is the next crown prince, even I know how strict the mining laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty are. Even if he is the crown prince, he cannot privately open salt and iron mines without the approval of the Ministry of Works! Salt and iron are the foundation of our Great Zhou. How could my cousin, the crown prince, not know such a fundamental principle of statecraft?"
Wang Yanpeng was so annoyed by the young marquis of Xiguan that he only regretted that he didn't have eight more heads.
He simply didn't know whether to say that the young Marquis of Xiguan had other intentions or was just being unreasonable!
Although he was not valued in the family, he came from a prominent family after all, and had followed the scheming Iberly for many years, so he had some daily experiences in the court.
It is well known that the current emperor is very suspicious.
In order to suppress the meritorious generals and ministers of the previous dynasty who had followed Emperor Shengzu to establish the foundation of the Great Zhou Dynasty and to build up his own power, he did not hesitate to enfeoff his close ministers when he was still in the palace and some local ministers who had clearly expressed their loyalty and support for his ascension to the throne as kings of different surnames after the King of Xiguan was enfeoffed.
He also sent several of his royal cousins to various places, and with the title of king, he suppressed the control of the old ministers of the Holy Ancestor in various places.
Over the past decade, most of the old officials have been gradually marginalized.
Now, everyone in the court is walking on thin ice, and no one knows when the emperor will finally strike with the butcher knife!
In order to save their lives, these people naturally have to find a way to survive in Yanjing.
The prince is the choice of many of them.
But how could the emperor not know?
How can we allow someone to challenge authority right under our noses?
Therefore, the crown prince of the current dynasty was also firmly suppressed by him, and no possibility of him being able to stand on his own was allowed.
Although the Crown Prince is the heir to the throne and is over 20 years old, he has never been granted any real power or position except being allowed to assist the Emperor!
But not only does the prince have the attention of too many people concentrated on him, it is also impossible for him not to have the slightest desire to expand his power.
That's why they had to go to the remote borderland of Xiguan to stockpile supplies and expand their own strength. Wang Yanpeng understood this, and he dared to take this step because the emperor was nearly fifty years old, and even though the current crown prince had no real power, his position was very stable.
Serving the new king in advance is a sure-win business!
The young Marquis of Xiguan has so many twists and turns in his mind. He knows to doubt and verify their identities, but why doesn't he use his brain to pay more attention to and analyze the affairs of the court and the situation in Yanjing?
Wang Yanpeng had a lot of ideas, but he couldn't express any of them.
Gu Liangzhi, the leader of the private army, also understood the situation and stepped forward, saying, "Sir Wang, we are temporarily unable to testify today. Continuing to argue is pointless. Since the young Marquis of Xiguan insists on a clear explanation, we will consult the emperor and then continue this matter."
"Okay."
Apart from this, Wang Yanpeng had no way to deal with this young marquis of Xiguan.
However, before leaving, Wang Yanpeng plucked up his courage and bowed to the young Marquis of Xiguan.
"Young Marquis, I have something to say to you. I wonder if you would be willing to listen?"
Liu Ziye had no objection: "Go ahead."
Wang Yanpeng then said, "You have lived in seclusion in Xiguan for many years, so you may not be familiar with many things happening in the Yanjing court."
"However, you have already reported the matter of the salt lake to Yanjing through Major General Chi Muchi. It is best not to let more people know about it. Also, I do not know your true intention in stopping us today, but I also want to say one thing: this salt lake already has an owner. I dare not touch it. Even you, the young Marquis of Xiguan... you have been stripped of your royal title and your fiefdom by the emperor."
"No matter how good the Salt Lake is, it has nothing to do with the Xiguan Marquisate."
Liu Ziye sneered disdainfully after hearing this: "Do you think I'm like you and Iberly, the kind of person who likes to embezzle and steal?"
Wang Yanpeng choked up when he heard this, covered his face and walked away.
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