Chapter 301 Your humble servant greets the Imperial Envoy!

What is the purpose!?
An autumn wind blew into the courtyard from the mountains. The dust on the stone table rolled like waves, and the roots of several clusters of brilliant golden chrysanthemums in the courtyard swayed.

Zhao Duan watched the performance of the county magistrate with a strange expression, thinking that there really was such an unlucky person... He had just taken on the mess for Wang Chusheng, and now he offended him.

He shook his head and was about to speak.

Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves was heard outside the county government office.

Accompanied by noisy movement.

"What's going on?" County Magistrate Wang, who was showing off his power, turned around and was stunned for a moment, not knowing what was going on.

"Someone is coming, why don't you go out to take a look?" Zhao Duan joked.

What do you care about me... County Magistrate Wang glared at him.

After a slight hesitation, he pushed open the gate, asked the constables at the door to keep a close eye on him, and ran out.

The county government office is not big. After passing through two hanging flower gates, you will reach the "Sixth Room".

As soon as County Magistrate Wang showed his head, he bumped into the captain of the police who reported the news. He cried out in pain and was about to curse when the captain of the police said:
"The imperial envoy and the prefect are here! They've brought a lot of soldiers with them!"

The imperial envoy went to the countryside to inspect?
County Magistrate Wang was stunned for a moment, and when he was panicking, he saw two rows of soldiers rushing into the yamen, holding swords and looking very aggressive.

Then, the group of people entered the yamen amidst the crowd.

At a glance, there were more than a dozen of them, the most eye-catching of which was the prefect Sun Xiaozheng in a scarlet robe.

"Your Excellency the Governor! I am sorry for not welcoming you to the county government..."

County Magistrate Wang immediately showed a fawning smile, his old face was like a dried orange peel.

Sun Xiaozhun was panting, nodded slightly upon hearing this, and turned to the "Imperial Envoy" beside him and said:

"My Lord, this is..."

"This way."

However, the "imperial envoy" did not stop at all.

After only roughly identifying the direction, he followed the instructions of the brown paper weight and led a group of people in royal uniforms, passing by the other party and heading towards the side yard where the "prisoner" was held.

"Eh? Imperial envoy?"

Magistrate Sun was stunned for a moment, but had no choice but to follow again.

However, he did not notice that County Magistrate Wang, who had just been servile to him, was struck by lightning.

It was because, when he took a quick glance just now, the young man who was respectfully called "Imperial Envoy" by the prefect looked exactly like the suspect in the yamen.

Where in the world are there two people who are exactly the same?
"It's bad!" County Magistrate Wang's heart skipped a beat and he quickly turned around to catch up.

At this time, Magistrate Sun was also confused as he was forced to come to the door of the side yard.

"Back off!"

Hou Ren swung out his scabbard with both swords, knocking the clerk guarding the gate to the ground. Qian Kerou then pushed open the slightly dilapidated gate of the courtyard with force.

squeak-

When the door opened, both parties inside and outside the courtyard could see each other clearly.

Zhao Duan smiled slightly: "You are here."

"Sir!" The round-faced secretary called out with excitement.

Prefect Sun just managed to squeeze in from outside at this time, and happened to see this scene. He was obviously stunned for a moment, and his head was buzzing.

Wait…why…

He subconsciously turned his head to look at the "imperial envoy" beside him, but saw that the nobleman, who had been taciturn and expressionless since entering the city, raised his hand and wiped his face, returning to his original smiling appearance.

He held the colorful mask named "Jiuyi" in both hands, which was quite similar to the style of Picasso's paintings, and respectfully came to the "young master" in the courtyard, bowed, and presented it with both hands:
"Sir, return the property to its original owner. I can't pretend anymore."

The other few close Jinyi captains stepped forward in unison and saluted at the same time:

"Subordinates, I meet the imperial envoy!"

The blue-robed Imperial Censor Chen Hong walked forward slowly, and the deputy saluted to the two of them in turn:
"Master Zhao, Princess, you two are frightened."

Xu Junling nodded slightly, the lady from a noble family smiling without showing her teeth.

Mr. Song stood there in a daze.

Magistrate Sun was stunned.

"Your Excellency the Governor...wait a minute..."

behind.

County Magistrate Wang, who was wearing an eighth-rank official robe and a seventh-rank black hat, hurried in, shouting halfway.

Immediately, with a thud, his knees went weak and he fell to the ground. Cold sweat instantly poured out and soaked his clothes.

The shifty face stared at the scene with dull and horrified expression, and the black hat on his head tilted and fell to the ground.

"Imperial Envoy... County... County Princess?"

County Magistrate Wang’s eyes went dark, and he felt like he had fallen into hell, unable to breathe.

Zhao Duan raised his hand, took the disguise mask, sat still, and glanced at everyone calmly, finally stopping at the Taicang prefect who he finally saw at this moment, and smiled:
"Sun Xiaozhun? I didn't expect that I would meet you as a suspect in this county government office."

After a pause, he said quietly:

"You are a good official."

In an instant, cold sweat covered Sun Xiaozhun's forehead.

……

Outside the county government office.

"Sorry..."

The two horses stopped suddenly. Coach Xie pulled the reins and looked at the county government office which was tightly blocked by the cavalry from afar with a strange expression on his face.

He followed the magistrate all the way here, intending to find an opportunity to report to the magistrate in private, but unexpectedly, he followed him all the way to the county government office.

"Master, why are you here at the county government office? Oh, it's those people's carriages!"

The young boy Xiaowu suddenly raised his hand and pointed at the two carriages parked outside the yamen in the distance.

"Keep your voice down!"

Coach Xie covered his mouth with his hand, his expression solemn and his heart in turmoil.

My master, a juren scholar, and the man and woman from other places were in the county government office. They were arrested just as the imperial envoy arrived... Could it be that those two were really suspects? They were being pursued by the government?

"I'll wait here. Go back to the manor immediately and tell me about the situation here."

Coach Xie suddenly said to him:

"In order to prevent our family from worrying if we are late to return."

"Oh..." The young man was somewhat reluctant, but still turned his horse around and galloped towards Songjiazhuang.

However, not long after he left, Xiaowu came back again, with an agitated expression:

"Master Xie, something bad has happened. There is another group of horsemen outside the town. They are all wearing robes of the same color as the prefect. They seem to be high-ranking officials. They are coming this way!"

Senior officials above the fourth rank...

In Coach Xie's mind, the images of the Governor and the Censor emerged, the two big men who were in charge of the entire Linfeng, and his heart was greatly shocked.

Suddenly overturned the previous guess.

If he was just a thief, why would he alarm so many important people and rush over?
"Could it be that he is some noble person? A noble person who can make a second-rank official come to see him in person?"

……

Taicang County Government!

In the back court, in another courtyard where the county magistrate usually lived, Zhao Duan and Sun Xiaozheng walked into the courtyard one after the other.

The princess and others went to the second hall in front of the county government office to rest.

Leave this place alone for them to talk.

Unlike the dilapidated yard that was idle and used as a temporary "detention center", this one is much more tidy but still simple.

Just extra clean.

At the back is the county magistrate's private residence where he lives on a daily basis. This large courtyard occupies a very large area.

A small sunshade pavilion was built in the corner.

There is a low fence in the middle of the yard, which is planted with clusters of brilliant autumn chrysanthemums.

At a glance, it almost occupies half of the yard. When you look up, standing in the yard, you can clearly see the red mountains in the distance.

The view is superb.

In addition, there are two particularly fat white geese in the yard.

This would see strangers coming in, flapping their wings and making squawking sounds.

But when Zhao Duan glanced at him, he timidly fled to a tree in the corner.

"Whoosh-"

The cold autumn wind blew, and the autumn chrysanthemums in the yard swayed neatly. Zhao Duan felt the cool breeze on his face and praised with his hands behind his back:

"What a beautiful natural scenery. When I left the capital, I thought that after leaving the prosperous capital and coming to this big mine, there would probably be nothing to see. But I didn't expect that after coming to Taicang for a day, I saw many wonderful scenery that I had never seen before."

You'd better say "landscape" in the literal sense...

next to.

Sun Zhifu, who is a man of capable temperament and known for his vigorous and decisive work, and who looks older than his actual age because of his dark and thin appearance, thought to himself.

When walking, he lagged behind the imperial envoy by half a step.

Both of them are of the fourth grade.

However, the imperial envoy who went out of the capital had a similar status to that of a governor, so even the provincial governor had to be treated with extreme courtesy.

He was just a prefect, and had no temper at all, so he said immediately:
“Before I was transferred here two years ago, I had the same idea as you.

However, the place I stayed in before was more miserable, but I didn’t care. After coming here, I realized that the scenery here was much better hundreds of years ago than it is now.

It’s because the mines are getting bigger and bigger, and there are more explosions and collapses, that the scenery is not as good as before.”

"That's a pity," Zhao Duan said in amazement. He turned his head and glanced at the Taicang prefect, saying:

"However, although the scenery is beautiful, it cannot fill the people's stomachs. Mining benefits the country and the people. When I came here, I saw that the local people were quite wealthy. For example, Songjiazhuang, I heard from the princess that it is a good place to be located in Huaishui."

Sun Xiaozhun was unsure of his thoughts, so he had to say cautiously:
"Mr. Zhao is right. The Taicang Silver Mine not only pays silver to the imperial court every year, but the wages paid by the government to the people who work in the mines are also much better than farming. Over time, it will naturally be richer than other places."

There was a pause.

Sun Xiaozhun glanced at the young and handsome imperial envoy.

Seeing that he looked calm, he said cautiously:

"Sir Zhao, I really didn't know that you came here incognito and were arrested by the county magistrate... I really failed in my duty..."

Zhao Duan waved his hand, smiling warmly, without any anger on his face:

"You are too kind, Mr. Sun. I have been making secret visits all the way because I want to see the people's situation with my own eyes, so as not to stand too high and not be able to see the tiny dust below.

When I was in Beijing, the Grand Tutor also told me that if you serve in the court for too long, you will lose touch with the real world, and your thoughts and decisions on national policy will tend to fall into empty space...

What's more, when people walk on the road, strong winds can easily blind them. The higher you stand, the stronger the wind will be. Will the wind and sand cover the sky and the sun?
For example, the case of the mine silver corruption has blinded your majesty's eyes, right? That's why we, as ministers, have to travel thousands of miles to take a look on your behalf. Don't you think this makes sense?"

Sun Xiaozhun could only nod his head:

"That's what Mr. Zhao said."

"So,"

Zhao Duan looked at him with a smile:

"Look, if I hadn't personally visited the people, how could I have encountered this?

Haha, don't worry, Governor Sun. I am not that unreasonable. Now it's a big case and the suspect's whereabouts are unknown. You want your people to be vigilant and guard against it tightly. That's what you should do.

It is not wrong to capture me, but rather it is fulfilling your duty."

"…Your Excellency is magnanimous."

Sun Xiaozhun was confused by what he said and was increasingly unsure of the imperial envoy's true intentions, so he could only choose to give safe praise.

"but……"

The next second, Zhao Duan changed the subject, suddenly stopped, stared at him, and smiled:
"I have one thing I don't understand, and I would like to ask the governor to explain it to me."

(End of this chapter)

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