When Xu Jie saw Yuan Xi getting on the carriage, he hurriedly ran to the carriage and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, I have prepared a little wine in the house, and you can invite it in the evening."
Yuan Xi listened and said: "Don't bother Magistrate Xu, I have to inspect the military camp tonight."
"There are a lot of things going on in the city now, so Magistrate Xu needs to worry more."
Xu Jie heard this and quickly agreed.
Yuan Xi thought for a while and said, "One more thing. Magistrate Xu is going back to summon the officials in the city. When I find a new place to live, let them come and see me."
"Starting from tomorrow, buildings will be set aside to build a free school in the city. Officials will go to the free school every day to copy classics and conduct corresponding teaching and selection according to official positions."
"Spring plowing will begin soon. All officials will follow Han laws and plow the land together with the people without any mistakes."
"Finally, I want to see the money and food accounts in the city tomorrow morning."
Xu Jie was shaken by this series of words and his head was buzzing. He barely remembered Yuan Xi's words, and cold sweat suddenly flowed down.
Many officials in the city were appointed through his connections, and many of them were unlearned and unskilled. If Yuan Xi wanted to meet them, wouldn't his secrets be revealed immediately?
What does it mean to be taught by a volunteer official?
Also, when I look at the accounts tomorrow morning, it’s obvious that I didn’t give myself a chance to prepare!
Isn't it true that you can't play tricks?
When he became anxious, he raised his head and saw that Yuan Xi had already ridden away.
Guo Jia followed Yuan Xi and said with a smile: "If I were him, I would probably find a way to save my life now."
Yuan Xi said calmly: "Then it depends on whether he crosses the line."
"Speaking of which, sir's plan has achieved what he expected. From what I see, it seems to be quite greedy."
"I was worried that I had no excuse to scare the officials and nobles, but he did it for me."
After hearing this, Guo Jia shook his head and said, "It's only been a month, and he doesn't know how to advance or retreat."
He thought that Xu Jie was really unlucky this time. Although Jicheng was the administrative seat of Guangyang, it was not taken seriously among the counties and towns in Youzhou.
Maybe Xu You sent Xu Jie over at that time because he had the intention of being in trouble under the lamp.
But looking at Yuan Xi's behavior now, I don't know what his thoughts are. He attaches great importance to Jicheng, and he is afraid that he may turn Jicheng into the seat of Youzhou in the future.
Xu Jie was so lucky that he bumped into him, but he could only blame himself for not knowing.
Zhao Yun quickly found a place. Yuan Xi went over to take a look and was quite satisfied. There were simple houses inside, with straight walking paths, no redundant and complicated landscapes, and several halls that were extremely spacious and practical.
It's not that he doesn't want to live in a mansion with a landscape garden. With the financial resources of the Zhen family, it doesn't matter if he builds another one. But now that Jicheng is in dire need of development, what will the people in the city think if they engage in luxury and waste?
He watched everyone busy carrying luggage and books, and had already made plans to summon the officials in the afternoon. If the elected officials were of good ability, Xu Jie might still be able to survive.
Seeing the soldiers coming and going on the street, the small vendors on both sides of the street were frightened at first and had put their stalls indoors early.
But after more than half an hour, they found that nothing seemed to have happened, so they came out in twos and threes and gathered together to murmur.
"It seems that the new envoy is not as bad as Xu Peipei."
"Bah, I don't believe it. It only took two days for the true colors to be revealed."
"That is, instead of hoping that he will be kind-hearted, it is better to hope that he will leave quickly."
"What you said is wrong. General Zhao is very strict with his soldiers. Isn't it Xu Peipi's yamen who blackmailed us?"
"Do you really believe it? They must be in the same group! They will definitely divide all our filial piety money when they return!"
The speaker was an old blacksmith. He had lived on this street for decades and was used to the wind and rain. His words immediately won the approval of the people around him, and everyone nodded.
He was leaning on a cane and holding a linen cloth on his leg, with blood clots faintly oozing from it. It was obvious that he had been injured not long ago.
Someone next to him said angrily: "Dad Qian was injured. I thought the envoy was here. Let's help him file a complaint."
"In this case, if this envoy protects Xu Peipei, wouldn't we have harmed Father Qian?"
Someone immediately said: "It's absolutely impossible. Didn't you see that Shijun and Xu Peipei looked together? They were laughing happily!"
He said mysteriously: "Have you not heard that this new envoy is a descendant of the Yuan family?"
"He is originally a child of a noble family, how can he be punished and skinned for this matter?"
"I think you are overthinking it!"
After hearing this, everyone shook their heads and sighed. Father Qian lived with his granddaughter. A few days ago, the Xu family took a fancy to his granddaughter, who was said to be brought into the mansion to be a maid.
Of course, Father Qian didn't want to, so he started arguing with the Xu family servants, and was pushed to the ground and beaten so hard that his legs were broken.
The other party also threatened that if Father Qian did not hand over his granddaughter, he would be thrown into jail. While the neighbors were worrying about Father Qian, news came that the governor of Youzhou was coming to Jicheng for inspection.
Since then, the slaves of the Xu family have not come to the door again, and the neighbors are glad that Father Qian escaped.
Father Qian touched his waist and found an iron awl hidden in his clothes.
At this moment, a carriage drove over in the distance, and several people jumped out of it.
Seeing the enemy, everyone stood in front of Father Qian. They could clearly see that these people were the slaves of the Xu family who injured Father Qian the day before yesterday.
The leader, Hao Nu, stepped forward and said to Father Qian, "Old man, there were some misunderstandings the day before yesterday. We won't talk about the past today."
"I'm here to give you a fortune."
"Today you are entering the city and need a maid to accompany you. Your granddaughter has been chosen!"
"My father-in-law, you are going to be prosperous now. If your granddaughter follows the envoy, she will have a good name in the future and will be able to honor her ancestors!"
When everyone heard this, they all hesitated, saying that they dared to sue County Magistrate Xu, but they had no idea of resisting the governor of a state who relied on the Yuan family.
Father Qian's face was gloomy: "My granddaughter is careless and will make you unhappy, so let's forget it."
The leader of the slaves laughed: "Master Qian, this is wrong with you. Is it possible that your granddaughter will be a blacksmith with you for the rest of her life?"
"We are also doing things under orders, don't make things difficult for us."
At this time, the refugees who entered the city were sitting on both sides of the road to rest. There was a man in tattered clothes who listened to the argument between the people on both sides, then got up and walked out of the city without revealing anything.
He arrived at the military camp outside the city, took the token to find the scout, told the story about the city, and finally said: "The envoy did not force the women of the people to be recruited, so my subordinates came here to report."
The scout was the leader of the spies responsible for intelligence collection. He wrote down what the man said on the bamboo slips and said, "Thank you for your hard work. Now go back to the city and keep an eye on that place. If there is any movement, report it immediately."
After hearing this, the man left the camp and returned to the city.
Before Yuan Xi came to Jicheng, he had already arranged some capable spies to sneak into the city to gather information. This man was one of them. He found out that Xu Jiehao's slaves were recruiting women from the people in Yuan Xi's name, so he went out of the city to report the news.
More than half an hour later, Tian Yu returned to the camp. The scout went up first to report. After hearing this, Tian Yu thought that Xu Jie was very courageous.
He asked the scout to open a box, which was full of scrolls. He took out a bamboo slip with Xu You's name on it and opened it. Finally, he found Xu Jie's records on several bamboo slips.
It says that when Xu Jie was in Yecheng, he served as the chief clerk of Xu You, and also served as the county magistrate of a certain place in Jizhou. He often engaged in greedy and ruthless raids, but in the end he was saved by Xu You.
The judge also consulted Xu You about this matter, but because no evidence was found, the matter was finally dropped.
Tian Yu thought about it, this shows that Xu Jie is careful in doing things, so logically he wouldn't be so stupid?
At this moment, someone sweating profusely came in. When the intelligence officer saw it, he turned out to be the man who reported the message earlier, and said, "What's the matter, are you in such a hurry?"
The man said anxiously: "When I went back, the father-in-law Qian and his granddaughter were gone!"
"I asked the neighbors, and they said that the Xu family's servants took the two of them into a carriage and drove towards the city gate."
"I chased him all the way to the door and asked the guard. The carriage had indeed left the city!"
"I always feel that there is something fishy about this matter, so I will come back right away to report it!"
Tian Yu was in charge of the scouts. He felt that something like this happened as soon as Yuan Xi arrived in Jicheng, and something was obviously wrong. He immediately ordered: "Gather all the spies in the camp, get on their horses and leave the camp, and look for the carriage separately."
whereabouts!"
"You come with me and identify those people!"
Seeing the spies following Tian Yu out of the camp, the scout thought, "Why does it seem like something is going to happen as soon as you come to Jicheng?"
Father Qian hugged his granddaughter and shouted coldly in the carriage: "What do you want to do?"
"This is the wrong way!"
After hearing this, Father Qian's granddaughter buried her head in Father Qian's arms. She was full of fear and her body was shaking.
The leader Haonu smiled and said: "The envoy is in the military camp outside the city. Don't I know that?"
Father Qian snorted coldly, he understood that he was deceived by the other party!
Naturally, he didn't want his granddaughter to be a maid, so he thought that since he couldn't escape, he might as well take a gamble and go see the envoy and sue Xu Jie severely, maybe there would be a chance of survival.
So he pretended to agree and proposed to meet the envoy to ask for some rewards. To his surprise, the envoy easily agreed and let his grandfather and grandson board the car.
Seeing that the carriage left the city and headed towards the wilderness, Father Qian felt something wrong.
How can servants like the Xu family decide whether the governor of a state can see the common people or not?
Father Qian thought to himself that he was afraid that he would complain to the envoy, and most likely he wanted to drag him outside the city to silence him?
Thinking of this, he lowered his head and said a few words to his granddaughter. The girl's eyes suddenly widened.
The next moment, Father Qian shouted loudly, threw his arms around his granddaughter and slammed into the car door. There was a click, the door was knocked open, and Father Qian rolled out of the car with his granddaughter in his arms.
This was unexpected by the Xu family servant, who cursed loudly and quickly ordered the carriage to stop.
Father Qian fell to the ground, pushed his granddaughter away, and shouted: "Let's go!"
Instead of retreating, he advanced, pulled out the iron awl from his waist, and plunged it into the neck of the horse pulling the cart!