In the past two months, Zhu Di and Nie Zishi have paid more attention to the reclamation of wasteland in various townships in Wanping County than Guo An, the magistrate of Wanping County.
Therefore, there is no need to worry about the acres of land cultivated by the people of Wanping County, which is an exaggeration.
Moreover, these two people have long had the intention of asking the prefects and counties under Beiping Prefecture to go to various villages under Wanping County to inspect them.
Unexpectedly, before they could think of a reason, these prefects and county magistrates had already arrived at their door.
Therefore, from beginning to end, Nie Zushi did not say a word.
After Li Wang led a group of King Yan's guards to escort all the unwilling magistrates and magistrates, they were escorted away.
Nie Zushi then looked at Cao Peng on the ground with a gloomy look.
"Counsellor Cao, please give me and His Highness King Yan an explanation for this matter. Otherwise, don't blame me for being ruthless!"
Zhu Di also spoke in a serious tone, "Humph, Nie Fantai does not need to be so polite. I will directly take this guy into custody and interrogate him. Everything will be clear!"
"Master Fantai, Your Highness King Yan, I have been wronged. I didn't know that there was such an inside story about Wanping County borrowing grain!" Cao Peng quickly begged for mercy.
"Humph, this matter was approved by the emperor, but you, a thief, don't know this?" Zhu Di asked coldly.
"What?"
Cao Peng was dumbfounded. He really didn't know about this. Moreover, he had never thought that a mere Wanping County could alarm the emperor.
Zhu Di asked again: "Tell me, who asked you to prevent the people of Wanping County from borrowing food like this?"
"Your Highness, please forgive me. This matter, this matter will be dismissed..."
Cao Peng's face turned pale, he raised his head and looked around, but stopped talking.
Seeing this, Zhu Di shouted directly to the surrounding Peiping envoys and officials: "You all, get out!"
Nie Zizhi nodded slightly.
All the officials from the Chief Envoy of Peking quickly retreated.
Zhu Di and Nie Zishi stared closely at Cao Peng.
Cao Peng gave a wry smile, slightly arched his hands towards Zhu Di, and then said helplessly: "Your Highness, King Yan, Nie Fantai, your brother is the Marquis of Jingchuan!"
"Um?"
With just one sentence, Zhu Di and Nie Zishi's expressions changed.
The Marquis of Jingchuan, Cao Zhen, may not be too conspicuous among the nobles of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Di and Nie Zishi may not care about him at all.
However, Cao Zhen's wife was the wet nurse of Prince Zhu Biao, and Zhu Di and Nie Zishi did not dare to neglect her.
After pondering for a moment, Zhu Di asked in a deep voice: "Did the eldest brother hint you to do this?"
Cao Peng smiled bitterly and said: "His Royal Highness King Yan has misunderstood, and His Highness the Crown Prince definitely does not know about this!"
If Zhu Biao knew, he would definitely not let them act like this!
After hearing this, Zhu Di breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the prince did not order this, he would not be afraid.
"Then why are you so obstructive when I and the people of Wanping County are borrowing food?"
Cao Peng replied with a wry smile again: "Your Majesty, one of my subordinates once worked in Beiping, and I know very well how difficult it is to store grain in Beiping.
The lower official was afraid that if he lent all the 100,000 shi of grain to tens of thousands of people in Wanping County and the people still didn't return the grain in the coming year, all the officials in the Beiping Prefecture's Chief Envoy would be punished.
If by any chance, Ming Dynasty intends to go to the Northern Yuan Dynasty again, our Beiping Mansion will not be able to produce a bag of grain, and the officials and other officials in the Beiping Chief Envoy will definitely be punished.
So, the official became anxious, and the magistrates and magistrates under the jurisdiction of the Beiping Prefecture came to complain to the official, so the official was so reckless that he rushed over with a team of government officials!"
"snort!"
Zhu Di snorted coldly and looked at Cao Peng suspiciously, "Damn it, you are a bitch, are you trying to deceive me?
How dare you, a little counselor, secretly take charge of the Chief Envoy of Peiping, arrest the magistrate of Wanping County, and even dare to arrest Wang Zhen, my bodyguard?"
"What, Wanping County Dianshi is His Highness's bodyguard?" Cao Peng looked surprised.
Zhu Di said: "Humph, the magistrate of Wanping County did such a big thing, and I was afraid that a rogue official like you would not do well to others, so I sent Wang Zhen to protect Guo An.
Unexpectedly, I just sent Wang Zhen yesterday, and you, a thief official, started to do such dirty things!"
"This official is so ignorant that he didn't know that the magistrate of Wanping County is someone favored by His Highness. Please forgive me!" Cao Peng apologized quickly.
Zhu Di snorted again and looked at Nie Zishi, "Nie Fantai, this traitorous official is your chief envoy in Peking, and he should be punished by you."
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Nie Zishi responded quickly.
Zhu Di glared at Cao Peng again and walked out angrily.
In the Peking Chief Envoy's Office, looking at Zhu Di's back, Nie Zizhi looked helpless.
Cao Peng felt relieved, he had passed this level.
…
But in the wilderness under Wanping County, those magistrates and magistrates escorted by Li Wang were sweating profusely and miserable.
In May, there is a buzzing sound, and in June, the sun shines brightly!
At this moment, the heat wave is already rolling above Beiping Mansion, and the heat is fumigating.
In addition, the magistrates and prefects, who had been walking in the wilderness and had never experienced such suffering, were already complaining and regretting it endlessly.
If they had known that this would be the result, they would never have protested against King Yan just for the tens of thousands of stones of food.
But now, under the supervision of Li Wang and other King Yan's guards, they couldn't even stop and rest for a while.
So, this group of prefects and county magistrates, holding a wasteland account book, walked around various villages under Wanping County for five days, and then they only got a rough idea.
When they returned to Beiping Mansion again, all the magistrates and magistrates had become darker and thinner.
…
Wanping County Government.
Wang Zhen walked directly into Guo An's palace, handed over his hand and reported: "This is for the county magistrate, His Highness has summoned you!"
"His Royal Highness King Yan?"
Guo An was stunned. Ever since Zhu Laosi showed up in time outside the granary that day and took away Councilor Cao and a group of prefects and magistrates, he has never been seen again.
As for Councilor Cao's encounters with the prefects and county magistrates, he also listened to Wang Zhen's words.
Guo An disagreed with Councilor Cao's misunderstanding. However, if Zhu Laosi did not go to him, he, a small county magistrate, could not inquire.
"Exactly!"
Wang Zhen did not reply, but stood there quietly, looking at Guo An.
Seeing this, Guo An sighed helplessly.
"Where is Your Highness?"
"Inside the palace!" Wang Zhenxi cherished his words like gold.
Guo An nodded slightly, put down the pen in his hand, stood up and walked out.
He knew that the palace Wang Zhen was talking about was not the palace in Yingtian City, but the Yan Palace not far from the county government office.
And Zhu Laosi was his backer in Peiping, and even in the entire Ming Dynasty, so he could not ignore Zhu Laosi's summons.