On the third day of April, in Jing'an Fucheng, the spring rain came quietly.
Outside the governor's office, the accumulated water was like a mirror, reflecting the gloomy sky.
The next moment, the water mirror was trampled to pieces. Before it could regain its calmness, several more feet stepped on it.
Four bearers wearing raincoats dropped the sedan outside the governor's office, and immediately a servant came to the sedan curtain holding an umbrella.
The curtain was lifted, and an official wearing a scarlet robe and a black gauze hat came out.
After getting off the sedan, the man looked around and found that there were more than a dozen sedans parked outside the Yamen.
"I'm afraid I'll be late!" the official muttered in a low voice.
Then he did not dare to waste time and walked quickly to the governor's Yamen.
"Master, umbrella..."
Afraid of wasting time, the official still had the nerve to take an umbrella, so he entered the governor's Yamen despite being caught in the rain.
There were many minor officials coming and going in the governor's office. After briefly asking these people about the situation, the official rushed to the second hall.
When he arrived at the place, nearly forty chairs were placed on the left and right sides of the hall, and it was already full of people.
In addition to the high-ranking officials of the Second Division of Fan and Zhen, the chief officials of various prefectures and counties, and even the guarding eunuchs also came.
Entering the lobby, Hu Yuanjun seemed a little panicked, because there were few empty seats in the room, and it was obvious that he was indeed late.
Everyone was chatting in low voices. Hu Yuanjun was about to quietly find a place to sit down when he heard someone say: "President Hu, please pay attention to the time in the future!"
The person who said this was Hu Yuanjun’s boss Zhang Zhifu.
Hu Yuanjun hooked his waist and said extremely humbly: "I understand, I will pay more attention to it in the future!"
Magistrate Zhang frowned and said, "Find a seat in the back and sit down!"
"Yes...yes!"
After wiping the sweat from his forehead and greeting his familiar colleague at the front of the store, Hu Yuanjun finally went to the back row to find a place to sit down.
The fat magistrate sitting next to him asked casually: "What's wrong? It took so long to come!"
"It rained suddenly, so I had to go back and prepare rain gear, so I wasted time!"
The fat magistrate leaned over slightly and said quietly: "Fortunately, Mr. Ge hasn't come yet, otherwise you would have suffered!"
"I heard that Mr. Xie Ge came here to do something big, but he wanted to kill someone first to establish his authority!"
Upon hearing this, Hu Yuanjun immediately shuddered.
Looking at the empty main seat in the lobby ahead, Hu Yuanjun felt lucky and secretly thought that Mr. Ge was not here yet.
Only then did he understand why Magistrate Zhang was angry. It turned out that the situation was much more serious than he thought.
Although Xie Xiaofang was in the capital and was submissive in front of the emperor, he had a fierce reputation in the south, so officials were extremely afraid of him.
Just because for nearly half a year last year, Xie Xiaofang handled a major case in the south and punished nearly a hundred wealthy families and many officials.
It is true that the southern officials and gentry hate him, and it is also true that they fear him.
After taking a few breaths, Hu Yuanjun asked again: "Why is Mr. Ge so late?"
"Two imperial envoys came this time, but the other one has not arrived yet!"
"Could it be Mr. Cheng Ge?" Hu Yuanjun asked again.
Last year Xie Xiaofang went to the south, and the deputy envoy accompanying him was Cheng Wenguang, so Hu Yuanjun asked this question.
In fact, Cheng Wenguang is also famous in the south. After all, he is specifically responsible for "supervising work."
The fat magistrate immediately said: "It's not Mr. Chengge, but a new censor. I heard he has a weird temper!"
While Hu Yuanjun was thinking, he then asked: "Old Zheng, where did you get so much news?"
The fat magistrate lowered his voice and said, "I arrived the day before yesterday, and I've been asking a lot of questions these past two days!"
After glancing forward, he continued: "The errand to be arranged this time is probably not easy to do!"
Hu Yuanjun sighed and said, "Just do your best!"
In the back hall on the other side, Xie Xiaofang looked very unhappy because Hu Lizhen had not come back yet.
If he were an ordinary censor, Xie Xiaofang would have joined in early.
It's just that Xie Xiaofang knew that Hu Lizhen was valued by the emperor, so he tolerated it so much.
Xie Xiaofang looked ugly, while Ding Yan, the governor of Jiangxi next to him, looked relatively calm.
As an old man from Longyou Prince's Palace, Ding Yan knew a lot of inside information about the court, including Xie Xiaofang's mission to Jiangxi.
Glutinous rice
Although the local wealthy families suffered a blow, the energy of the gentry was still great, and it was not easy to inventory the land.
It depends on local officials to implement this matter, but can these people really be trusted?
If things go wrong, Ding Yan doesn't dare to think about the consequences!
Regardless of whether the officials and gentry were afraid of the emperor, these so-called "emperor's confidants" were actually also very afraid.
"Sir, I'm back...I'm back!"
Hearing the footsteps coming from outside, Xie Xiaofang glanced at the door and saw a small official appearing outside.
"Where is he?" Ding Yan glared angrily.
I saw the visitor saying: "Reporting to my lord, I just came back and am changing my clothes!"
Oops...we still have to wait!
A few minutes later, footsteps were heard again outside the house.
"Elder Ge, I am ashamed of my humble position. I wasted my time. Please punish me, Mr. Ge!"
After entering the room, Hu Lizhen quickly confessed, thinking that he was really in the wrong.
"I told you that we would discuss matters at noon today, but you were late for half an hour. How can you behave like this?" Xie Xiaofang asked with a cold face.
"You are guilty of a low position, please punish me, sir!" Hu Lizhen replied with her waist raised.
"Punishment? I asked you to come to Jiangxi to do business, not to be punished!"
Trying to suppress his anger, Xie Xiaofang asked: "Honestly...what have you found outside these days?"
Anyway, we are already late, so we are not afraid of delaying for a while longer.
"Sir, I have been away from my humble position for the past few days..."
Hu Lizhen was a real person. When Xie Xiaofang asked about it at this moment, she told what she saw and heard outside.
After talking for seven or eight minutes, Hu Lizhen finished introducing the general situation.
"The people of Jiangxi are all grateful for the emperor's favor, which is actually used by the people, so we can rely on the people..."
Before Hu Lizhen could finish her last sentence, she was interrupted by Xie Xiaofang: "You mean, if we want to succeed, we can rely on the help of the people?"
"Exactly!" Hu Lizhen said seriously.
"That's ridiculous!" Xie Xiaofang said coldly.
In the common concept of this era, the so-called common people are just slaves, not even human beings in the eyes of the powerful.
Therefore, relying on ordinary people to achieve something is a joke in Xie Xiaofang's eyes, and the same is true in Ding Yan's mind.
"Forget it, it's time to discuss things!" Xie Xiaofang stood up directly.
Hu Lizhen wanted to explain something, but seeing Xie Xiaofang's attitude, he gave up the idea of continuing to argue.
Next, let’s speak with facts!
"Let's go!"
Ding Yan also stood up and walked outside immediately.
As a result, the three of them left the room one after another and walked to the lobby in front.
The lobby was still buzzing and noisy at this moment.
Until the footsteps came from behind the screen, the conversation in the lobby suddenly stopped, and everyone's eyes glanced at the screen.
The next moment, Xie Xiaofang, the second assistant to the cabinet, appeared, and all the officials on the scene stood up.
Under the leadership of the Chief of the Second Department of Fan Zhen, dozens of officials said in unison: "I have met Mr. Ge!"
Walking to the back of the big case, Xie Xiaofang sat down directly.
Instructing everyone to sit down, Xie Xiaofang said in a deep voice: "Everyone, I haven't seen you for a long time!"
"Mr. Ge, all the lower-ranking officials are thinking of you!"
"Yes, Mr. Ge, with you here to take charge, all the lower-level positions will have a backbone!"
For a time, there were constant flattering voices in the lobby, and the atmosphere seemed very harmonious.
"Enough!"
Upon hearing these two words, everyone immediately put away their magical powers and stood up, ready to listen to the instructions.
Xie Xiaofang stood up and said in a deep voice: "The Emperor's decree!"