A carriage came up the street in front of the door and stopped slowly. The coachman got off the carriage, put away his whip, and went up to knock on the door.
"Go and report to your prefect, Yang Zi is waiting to see you!"
When Menzi heard the identity of the visitor, he quickly left a polite message: "Please wait a moment, I will report to you, sir."
After a while, the door turned around and said in front of the carriage: "Master Marquis, your Excellency invites you!"
Zhu Kui opened the curtain, jumped out of the carriage, and said with a smile: "Excuse me for leading the way."
In fact, this was not the first time he came to Danyang Prefecture. Three years ago, before he became successful, he visited the prefect once. It was to buy more authority over Moling County with money, and he spent a million taels on the phone.
When I come here this time, I am afraid that the friendship I established before will be broken up.
In the meeting hall, the prefect of Danyang was already sitting on the main seat. He stood up and greeted Zhu Kui. He bowed and wanted to invite him to sit down. At this moment, in Jiangdong, under the vigorous promotion of Wang's Trading Company, almost all people in Jiangdong used tables and chairs.
, instead of kneeling on the ground.
Zhou Xin, the governor of Danyang, is in his fifties and has been governing Danyang for more than ten years. He adheres to Lao Tzu's rule of doing nothing, and his political achievements are mediocre, neither good nor bad.
Zhu Kui came alone this time, without any entourage. He looked at the other party and did not salute. He directly found a seat and sat down. He picked up the tea next to the table and drank it.
When the prefect Zhou Xin saw the others sitting down, he glanced at himself and said nothing. He felt a little anxious. In fact, he had a guilty conscience.
"It's not like he found out about that, but so what? Who told him to offend someone he shouldn't have offended?" Zhou Xin thought in her heart, and because she was dissatisfied with Zhu Kui's rudeness, she said coldly: "Yangzi Hou, I'm visiting you today.
,What’s the matter?”
Putting down the tea cup, Zhu Kui glanced sideways and signaled to the servants on both sides.
After seeing the other party retreating all the servants, he said slightly: "I, the lord, received a secret report last night. It seems that someone is going to do harm to me, and Prefect Zhou knows the details, so I want to ask, who wants to harm me?"
I was slightly shocked. This was just what happened the day before yesterday. Who told the secret that there was a spy in the palace? The first thought in Zhou Xin's mind, but he could not admit it and said: "With such things, the Yangzi Marquis has made great contributions to the country."
, someone actually wants to harm Mr. Hou, but please rest assured, I will investigate thoroughly."
Zhu Kui sneered in his heart, looked directly at the other party, and said: "Then please ask Prefect Zhou to take you into custody."
To put it bluntly, the prefect Zhou Xin was not afraid. You just have a title but no power. He is the prefect of a county. He said: "What do you mean by the words of the Marquis of Yangzi? Does it mean that I have harmful intentions for you?"
"I don't want to talk nonsense to you anymore. Three days ago, a visitor came to your house. His name is Yuan Lin. On the orders of the two brothers Yuan Feng and Yuan Wei, he asked you to do something. He asked you to deal with me. It will be done.
After that, the Yuan family will try to transfer you to Luo and seek the position of Jiuqing for you."
"And you promised that day that in order to deal with Zhu Kui, you must first cut off your wings and replace Ma Jun as the magistrate of Moling County."
"I wonder if what I said is right?" Zhu Kui slammed the teacup on the table and questioned everything.
"Humph, that's absolutely not the case!" Prefect Zhou Xin denied, turning his head and not daring to look directly, out of guilty conscience.
"Prefect Zhou, I am thinking about the spies in the palace. I have no grievances with you. I have cooperated with you in the early years. It's just that you have disappointed me so much. But I thought that after resigning for two years, I can be bullied by you and others.
"
Seeing the non-committal look on his face, Zhu Kui continued: "In the first year of Xiping, Xu Sheng of Kuaiji rebelled, and the governor Zang Min led the troops to suppress it, which took three years. At the beginning of the suppression of the rebellion, the imperial army was disrespectful one after another, and at that time
The Danyang Prefect of Danyang, for some reason, frequently communicated with Xu Sheng, the leader of the thieves, in secret. Unfortunately, there was a scribe under Xu Sheng who was not optimistic about Xu Sheng's rebellious behavior, so he secretly withheld the letters.
I wanted to be rich and powerful in the future, but unfortunately the scribe died in the war. These letters became relics and were collected by his son and passed into the hands of this prince.”….
"Prefect, do you dare to do this thing of confiscating the houses of nine clans?"
Facing Zhu Kui's threat, Prefect Zhou Xin could no longer keep calm and said tremblingly: "How are you doing?"
"I have no intention of targeting the prefect. I just hope that the prefect will not be used by others so that he can live a good life as a prefect. Otherwise, he will bring disaster to his descendants. You should understand that I have the ability to do this and dare to do so.
I dare to kill Yuan Pang, let alone others..."
"Two years ago, when Yuan Pang, the Jin Wu, was returning from Xiliang, he was assassinated on the way. The whole court was furious. After more than half a year of tracing, there was still no news. It turned out that it was you who did it."
The prefect Zhou Xin pointed at him and said in disbelief: "You told me so, aren't you afraid that I will tell you?"
"You can go as long as you want, not to mention whether you have any evidence, but also to see if you have a chance to leave Danyang County." Then he stood up, prepared to leave, and left another sentence: "You can also try the city.
Will Wei Zhaoan still listen to your orders?"
"Next, you should know what to do." He turned and left, leaving only the face of the dignified prefect behind him, one green and one white.
After Zhu Kui left, for several days, the entire Danyang Mansion was searched, but no one could be found to be a traitor. They also hosted a banquet for the captain, Zhao An, and tested him several times during the banquet. As expected, although he was still respectful to him, he was no longer the traitor.
No longer listening to his own orders, for a long time he had no idea what the Yangzi Hou wanted to do. It seemed that the entire Danyang County had become a puppet.
Two years ago, Zhu Kui resigned from office, which indeed attracted the attention of the court, especially the Ling Emperor Liu Hong. He was very optimistic about Zhu Kui. The captain of the city gate was the leader of the forbidden army outside Luoyang City, and he did not have many troops.
He is an important member of the emperor's heart.
From the question and answer at the first meeting, the prince's question, to the final battle in Xiliang, everything he did was to win the Holy Heart. He issued a special edict to persuade Zhu Kui to stay, but he didn't want Zhu Kui to leave. He was determined and never looked back. Even Zhu Jun later
, Xi Zhicai, Hua Xin, Huangfu Song and other people who were friendly to him sent letters to persuade him to stay, but they all refused.
Soon everyone's attention was drawn to the assassination of Yuan Pang. Zhu Kui blamed all the reasons why Zhang Wen targeted him on the Yuan family. He believed that the person who really recommended him to lead Liangzhou affairs was one of Yuan Pang.
Urgently ordering the two tigers to return to Jiangdong, Hou Mei Qian sent the young Zhuan Zhu Cao Rang to the north quickly and easily blended into the army. Zhu Kui had made preparations before leaving, so he hit the target with one blow. Yuan Pang died unexpectedly, and even the murderer was killed.
have no idea.
Later, Tao Qian and Fu Xie sent letters to their friends in the court, such as Cai Yong, Lu Zhi, Wang Yun and others, regarding the vision they had seen of Zhu Kui leaving the court and the eclipse of the sun.
A minister in the court once again said that Zhu Kui's meritorious service should not be resigned without reward, which was against the Holy Emperor's principle of distinguishing rewards and punishments. He would give a thousand households additional food and towns, which would be the same as a county prince, and would be hereditary for one generation.
In the carriage, Zhu Kui leaned against the window, closed his eyes, and thought to himself. Fortunately, the governor Zang Hao was summoned to Youzhou by the court three years ago to take charge of the affairs of the Southern Huns. The prefect Xu of Danyang had no talent, so he could be frightened.
Only then can he take the opportunity to become the master of the secret areas of the county. I heard that Zang, the governor, was appointed as the Xiongnu Zhonglang General. He had too many things to do and was almost exhausted.
"Hey, the Han Dynasty has lost another talented man in civil and military affairs. As fate goes, the closer the country is to its final years, the more talented people will appear. Because these elites from the previous dynasty will not die, how will the new dynasty be established? They are all too loyal to the previous dynasty.
This is a good thing about Confucianism, and the concept of loyalty to the emperor should be popularized."
The next day, when Zhu Kui was about to return to Moling, Governor Xu personally went to stay at the inn incognito and promised not to interfere in the affairs between the Yuan family and him. From now on, he would not write or reply to the Yuan family. He only hoped that he could
Ping Ping'an has been a prefect for a few years, and he is more like a man in his sixties.
It is best if you are willing to be under control, and I feel relieved. This is the reason why I came here this time. The county magistrate is not as good as taking charge now. Although you and Yuan Feng are three brothers, you cannot go to Moling to argue with the county magistrate at will.
Make everyone in the world laugh.
The two of them had a big meal together in the inn. Under the personal escort of Governor Xu, they left Danyang and returned to Moling.
Two days later, the carriage arrived at the foot of Moling City, passed through the city gate, and drove slowly.
In less than half a quarter of an hour, I arrived in front of a three-foot-wide mansion with a plaque reading: "Zhu's House."
As soon as the carriage stopped, two maids led two barely walking children out of the door to greet them.
I saw two children with very similar faces, shouting in a sweet voice: "Father! Dad! Hug!"
Zhu Kui stuck out his head, jumped down, opened his hands, and said happily: "Hong'er, Wu'er, come on, come to my father's place!"