The mission returned to Tokyo on its own, and Wang Linhu Divine Guard returned to Qingzhou.
Qingzhou was now very different from when he left a few months ago. When Wang Lin entered the city, he found that merchants were constantly coming and going, and there were many newly opened shops in the city. He even saw a few blond and blue-eyed merchants from the Western Regions.
The initial policy is starting to bear fruit.
Regarding Zhao Mingcheng, Wang Lin's suggestion to the court was to remove Laizhou magistrate and demote him to serve as county magistrate of Yidu County, which Qingzhou belongs to.
As for whether the court will adopt it, that is still unknown.
But as long as Wang Lin doesn't kill him, Zhao Mingcheng's life can be saved.
Zhao Mingcheng, who resigned and returned to Qingzhou, almost became the laughing stock of the entire Qingzhou people.
Ashamed and landless, Zhao Mingcheng had no face to face the crowd and returned to the Zhao family manor with his concubine Jia Shi in Laizhou.
Also accompanying him was Jia Lai, his father.
This man was a merchant from Laizhou and had a rich family fortune. He betrothed his daughter to Zhao Mingcheng, the magistrate of Laizhou, for the sake of attachment.
As a result, Zhao Mingcheng abandoned the city and fled. Not only did he become a laughing stock, he was also deprived of his official position and almost lost his life. The Jia family and his daughter had other thoughts.
It is the nature of businessmen to pursue profit, and it is actually normal.
Qingzhou is prosperous, and the Jia family and his daughter are planning to transfer their family business to Qingzhou, and the Zhao family is an excellent place to settle down.
Although Zhao Mingcheng's family was in decline, as a famous official and official family of the Song Dynasty, the Zhao family still had some wealth in Qingzhou. There was at least one house in the city and a manor outside the city with more than a hundred acres of land.
But if he wanted to take over the Zhao family business, Li Qingzhao, the first wife, would become a huge obstacle.
The entrance of Zhao's Manor.
Although he knew that Zhao Mingcheng had done some disgusting things, Li Qingzhao took the initiative to greet him at the door with his maid.
No matter what, he is her husband after all.
Even if the entire Qingzhou couldn't tolerate him, she couldn't just ignore him.
However, Li Qingzhao did not expect that Zhao Mingcheng would come here with the Jia family and his daughter. Moreover, the father and daughter seemed to be in a wrong position at first sight, and they acted like they were trying to occupy the Dove's Nest.
As soon as he entered the house, he encouraged Zhao Mingcheng to drive Li Qingzhao to live in a house in the city.
Zhao Mingcheng was upset. He thought at this moment that he would definitely be in ruins and there would be no possibility of a comeback in his career. If the Zhao family wanted to maintain a decent life, they could only count on the support of Jia's natal family.
Moreover, he and Li Qingzhao have been married for so many years, and Li Qingzhao has nothing to do with her. On the contrary, Jia is pregnant with Liujia recently.
evening.
Zhao Mingcheng lingered outside Li Qingzhao's room for a long time. In fact, he was a little shy to see her, but Jia made a lot of noise in the room, so he had no choice but to come.
Li Qingzhao opened the door and let Zhao Mingcheng in: "My husband, do you have anything to say to Qingzhao?"
After all the previous events and the current situation, the actual affection between the two has faded to the extreme, almost like a passerby's indifference.
But Li Qingzhao still didn't expect Zhao Mingcheng to say what he said next.
"Madam, I am ashamed to see people like this now, but you usually have a lot of visitors, so why don't you go live in the city. I live in a manor outside the city. We have nothing to do with each other. How about that?"
Li Qingzhao was stunned, and his face immediately became angry: "Mr. sir, did you know that as soon as these words came out, we and I became strangers? As soon as you came back, I went to live in the city. What should outsiders say?"
"That's what Mr. Jia forced you to do, right? What if I don't move?" Li Qingzhao said coldly.
Zhao Mingcheng was silent for a long time and then said in a low voice: "Madam, don't force me."
"Should I force you?" Li Qingzhao responded angrily with a smile: "My husband, please tell me, how can I force you?"
"If you insist on going against me, then you and I can only live apart and have no grudges!" Zhao Mingcheng gritted his teeth and said coldly.
"You have nothing to do. The Jia family has a son. Now that I am at the end of my life, I have to rely on the Jia family to survive. What do you want me to do?"
Li Qingzhao's expression suddenly changed.
Zhao Mingcheng wants to make peace with her.
Li Qingzhao was disheartened and his body suddenly started to tremble.
She turned around slowly: "Zhao Mingcheng, I didn't expect that the love between you and me for many years is not as good as that of a merchant's daughter, a concubine taken halfway. If you are so heartless, why should I be so obsessed with you?"
Now that I have written the letter of separation, you and I will go our separate ways, each fulfilling his destiny."
…
Damingfu, Hebei Province.
In order to prevent the Khitan, Zhongshizhong moved his imperial office to Dingzhou. This idea is correct.
Daming Prefecture is located at the junction of Henan, Shandong and Hebei, and its strategic location is also very important. The post of Daming Prefect has been vacant since Liang Shijie's rebellion. Only recently did the imperial court appoint a fifth-grade prefect, which actually downgraded Daming Prefecture.
It is only equivalent to a military state at an important point.
Although it is still called Fu.
Qiu Renjie, the newly appointed magistrate of the Daiming Dynasty, has a good background. He is the third son of the current official family and the father of Qiu, the concubine of King Yun Zhao Kai. He can barely be regarded as a relative of the emperor.
Qiu Renjie was born as a Jinshi, and he originally held a casual position in Beijing. Zhao Kai secretly managed it and helped him get such a lucrative position.
On the way to Daming Mansion, Lin Chong met Qiu Renjie who was rushing to Daming Mansion to take up his post. At that time, Qiu Renjie was being robbed by a group of bandits.
Lin Chong came to the rescue. Seeing Lin Chong's good skills, Qiu Renjie took Lin Chong under his command as a second-in-command.
After Qiu Renjie took office, according to the rules of the officialdom, local businessmen came to pay homage and give gifts. As a result, a large circle of people came. After a few days, Qiu Renjie made a calculation. Everyone came, except for one person.
Didn't come.
Lu Junyi, a famous rich man from Daming Prefecture in Hebei Province, was also named Lu Yuanwai.
Lu Junyi's absence would be almost a disgrace to Qiu Renjie.
Since Liang Shijie's rebellion, Lu Junyi had a deep hatred for people in the government, so he simply cut himself off, practiced martial arts at home all day, and no longer interacted with any officials.
Although Qiu Renjie was ashamed and angry, Lu Junyi had strong financial resources and dominated Hebei, so he did not dare to act rashly.
However, no matter how powerful Lu Junyi is, he is just a wealthy businessman. The so-called people do not fight against the officials, and he has offended his parents and officials. Lu Junyi has actually laid the foundation for trouble at this time.
In fact, it was well deserved. Originally, Lu Junyi thought of sending someone to send five hundred taels of silver to the newly arrived magistrate as a congratulatory gift, but as a result, he completely forgot about something that happened at home that day.
It wasn't until Qiu Renjie sent Lin Chong to pay homage to him and invite him to the city for a talk that he realized that he had unintentionally offended his master.
But in reality Lu Junyi also thinks it doesn’t matter.
He consciously does not care about worldly affairs and does not fight against the world. The Lu family's business has also shrunk in the past two years, and it does not matter whether he has contact with the government or not.
People in Daming Prefecture didn't know about Lin Chong, but Lu Junyi knew about it. Hearing that Lin Chong actually parted ways with Liangshan and became a dog under Qiu Renjie's family, Lu Junyi felt a little disdainful.
"I'm at Lin Chong. Lord Qiu's second-in-command, today I came to Yuan Lu's foreign village to deliver greetings to my family and invite him to the city for a drink." Lin Chong cupped his hands and said.
Lu Junyi said "oh" and casually raised his hands and said: "Who do I think he is? It turned out to be the leader Lin Da of Liangshan. How come he has joined the government now?"
Lin Chong's face turned red. He knew that Lu Junyi was deliberately humiliating him, but he suppressed his anger and said: "I have another opportunity, and we will talk about it later. I also asked the staff to collect your post, so that I can go back and recover."
Lu Junyi said again: "Come on, Chief Lin, please tell the Master that Lu will attend the appointment on time."
Lu Junyi really looked down on Lin Chong as a well-known hero, but he took refuge in a bureaucrat as a second-in-command, and acted as a dog leg to a corrupt official who made money everywhere when he took office, so his attitude became even colder and he turned around and left.
Lin Chong was as angry as a bullfight, gritted his teeth, stamped his feet, and left.
For Lin Chong, although the deputy army officer was humble, he still had the status of an official soldier. With this status, he could start all over again.
In fact, he was just a low-ranking instructor in the Tokyo Forbidden Army back then. In terms of rank, he might not be as good as this second-ranked army.
Lin Chong went back to report that Lu Junyi would go to the appointment on time. Qiu Renjie sneered in his heart. He wanted to see how good this rich man from Daming Mansion was.
According to Qiu Renjie's thoughts, he took the initiative to send someone to visit Lu Junyi, which was considered a huge favor to Lu Junyi. And if this person was wise, he should give a generous gift in return when he came to visit. This is basic etiquette.
However, Lu Junyi only brought four snacks, fruits and vegetables.
The five hundred taels of silver that I originally wanted to give were not given.
This was mainly because Lu Junyi received news when he came to the city. Within a few days of his arrival, the prefect named Qiu had already received tens of thousands of dollars by inviting local merchants and gentry to wine and dinner.
He turned out to be a corrupt official who was even more ugly than Liang Shijie back then. Lu Junyi despised him so much that he deliberately didn't bring any gifts.
Lu Junyi went to Qiu Mansion to have a free meal and left in a hurry.
Qiu Renjie was so angry that one Buddha was born and two Buddhas ascended to heaven.
Lin Chong stood outside Qiu Renjie's study. When he heard Qiu Renjie furiously scolding Lu Junyi, claiming that he would kill Lu Junyi and then kill him, Lin Chong sneered at the corner of his mouth.
This Qiu Renjie is certainly not a good bird, but what kind of thing is Lu Junyi?
In fact, in Lin Chong's eyes, this official of the Great Song Dynasty was just that. He stayed in the Qiu family because he was interested in the backstage of Qiu's father-in-law, Prince Yun, and was planning to find a better way out from the Qiu family.
Working for a corrupt official is out of the question, but Lu Junyi, who took the opportunity to retaliate and humiliate him, had no mental barriers.
He is not broad-minded.
He is quite vindictive.
"Lin Chong, come here!"
Hearing Qiu Renjie's call, Lin Chong calmed down and walked into Qiu Renjie's study.
"I've met Mr. Fu Zun!" Lin Chong bowed and said.
"Lin Chong, how do I treat you?" Qiu Renjie said coldly.
"The master of the mansion is as kind to Lin Chong as a mountain."
"In this case, you think of a way to close down several of the Lu family's stores in Damingfu City. Don't ask for any reason, just use my post and token to do it. The sooner the better!"
"Nuo." Lin rushed forward, took Qiu Renjie's token respectfully, and turned around to do something.
In fact, at this moment, he felt slightly hesitant.
He knew that if he took this step, he would be no different from Lu Qian who harmed him in Tokyo.
But remembering that he was now desperate and had to rely on Qiu Renjie's background, and thinking of Lu Junyi's humiliation to him today, he gritted his teeth and strode out of Qiu Mansion.