Chapter 370 Let Prince Jing come to see me
Chapter 370 Let Prince Jing come to see me
"I don't gamble anymore!"
Haitang crossed her arms, snorted coldly, and looked up at an angle of 40 to 50 degrees, with a face that looked like an anime character in anger.
The teardrop mole at the corner of the eye becomes more and more conspicuous.
"Haha, then let's bet one month's salary. That should be fine, right?" Zhao Duan joked. When joking with female colleagues, one should know when to stop.
The trip was too arduous, with fighting and killing all the time, so he deliberately made fun of his son to relieve his tension.
"It's a deal," Haitang sighed, "Compared to this, you should go out and check on your two weird guards first. Do you know what it means to win people's hearts? I see they are also injured."
"I understand." Zhao Duan smiled and walked back to the deck.
With a quick glance, he locked his sight on a corner of the deck, where a warrior and a sorcerer were sitting and regulating their breathing.
The knuckles of Lang Shiba's hands were cracked, and he was pouring strong liquor from a ceramic bowl onto the wounds, grimacing.
The socially anxious person Ji Yue squatted on the ground, hugged his knees with his hands, and curled up into a ball. His dark hair fell down, covering his entire face.
"How is your injury?" Zhao Duan walked over with a smile and squatted on the ground.
Lang Shiba was a little surprised, and he managed to force a smile on his thin, weathered face covered with stubble:
"It's just an external injury. It will heal in a few days of rest. It won't delay the protection master's trip."
Ji Yue raised her head slightly from her hugged knees, revealing her faint eyebrows and eyes under her wet black hair, and said softly: "It's... okay."
The old society is in fear.
"Prepared for you." Zhao Duan took out a wooden box, inside which were two large pills, one red and one white.
He gave the red one to Lang Shiba and said, “It’s for external injuries.”
The Northern Swordsman, who was once a general of Jubei City but now has changed his name, accepted it calmly and put the elixir into the green-skinned gourd, which became a medicinal wine: "Thank you, sir."
Zhao Duan nodded and motioned Jiyue to take the white pill: "It is used to restore the magic power of the warlock."
"Thanks……"
Ji Yue uttered two words in a mosquito-like voice, then carefully stretched out his pale hand, but found nothing.
Zhao Duan suddenly moved the box away, then handed it back, saying with a smile: "I'm curious, you can't see the pupil in your eyes, can you see people clearly?"
"...Okay." Ji Yue answered dryly, then stretched out his hand with a scar on his wrist for the second time, but again grabbed nothing.
Jiyue: “…”
Zhao Duan, who had unexpectedly moved the box away for the second time, smiled and said, "I have another question. Your clothes are wet, don't you need to change? There are dry clothes in the cabin."
Jiyue: “No need.”
Then, through the gaps in her black hair, her two white pupils saw the young official in front of her and said "Oh", then handed over the box of pills.
Ji Yue learned his lesson and didn't dare to reach out.
"Here you go. I won't tease you anymore." Zhao Duan laughed, stuffed the box to her, stood up, patted his butt and left.
These two guards are both people with great stories. They are different from ordinary foot soldiers. How can they be easily won over?
At the current stage, it is nothing more than increasing familiarity.
Ji Yue held the pill in both hands in a daze, and looked carefully at Zhao Duan who was leaving several times.
After making sure that he wasn't looking at me, he quickly swallowed it, like a small animal afraid that its food would be snatched away. As a result, he ate too fast and choked and rolled his eyes...
"Here." Lang Shiba handed over a bowl of medicinal wine, as cold as a killer.
"..." Ji Yue picked up the medicinal wine and swallowed the pill, then handed it back: "Thank you..."
But Lang Shiba ignored him and went to the side to drink alone.
Ji Yue hugged her knees silently, her black hair covering her face.
……
……
Soon, the official ship successfully entered the Huting Wharf.
When Zhao Duan and his party got off the boat, they saw that the dock was under martial law and a group of civil officials in official robes were waiting eagerly.
Among them are some important figures such as the Huaishui Provincial Governor.
However, what was surprising was that the people standing at the front of the queue of officials were not wearing scarlet robes, but a group of people wearing green robes.
"Master Zhao! I have waited for you for many days and finally you are here!"
The middle-aged man in the lead, who looked familiar, came up to greet them with a big laugh.
"Feng Ju?" Zhao Duan was slightly startled, with a look of surprise: "Of course it's you, Chief Feng."
The middle-aged civil servant in front of him was none other than his old acquaintance, Feng Ju, the head of the Ministry of Personnel.
At the beginning of the time travel, Zhao Duan, taking advantage of the power of others, deceived Feng Zhushi into falsely accusing Li Yanfu and dragged him into the "Imperial Party" camp.
Later, when Princess Yunyang and Marquis Xiajiang were dealing with Zhao Duan, they kidnapped Feng Ju's family and threatened them.
Zhao Duan lent a helping hand, and the relationship between the two deepened. In the following months, they contacted each other less and less, but during the holidays, Feng Ju would send gifts to the Zhao family.
On the way here this time, he looked through the list of officials in Huting and saw Feng Ju's name, but thought it was a duplicate.
"Haha, Lord Zhao is busy with family and national affairs, so he may not have paid attention to the transfer order from the Ministry of Personnel." Feng Ju smiled brightly:
"In order to open the market, the imperial court has set up a special 'Merchant Department' government office. Fortunately for me, your majesty has bestowed upon me the title of Langzhong of the Fifth Rank. This time I will be presiding over the opening of the market on behalf of the imperial court, and in the future, many affairs concerning the imperial merchants will also be handled by me." Langzhong of the Fifth Rank... if you only look at the official position, it is really not a high position.
But this is indeed a case of "small position but great power", as can be seen from the fact that Feng Ju still has to stand ahead of the Huai River Governor.
This is similar to the governor who left the capital, who was only of the seventh rank but could act on behalf of the emperor. His real power was so great that it could not be measured by rank.
"In that case, we should congratulate Doctor Feng on his promotion." Zhao Duan smiled.
Feng Ju felt ashamed and unworthy, and said humbly that he dared not.
If we talk about political parties, Feng Ju should be considered a member of the imperial party promoted by Zhao Duan. Ninety percent of his achievements in his current status are due to Zhao Duan.
Feng Ju even suspected that the core reason why the empress placed him in this position was his relationship with Zhao Duan.
He also secretly made up his mind that when Zhao Du'an arrived, everything here would be under the command of Lord Zhao.
"Your Excellency has had a hard journey. I have prepared a place for you to stay."
Feng Ju warmly invited everyone to get on the carriage and arrived at a private garden called "Humble Administrator's Garden".
According to him, it was the private residence of a local "royal merchant" in Huting, and it was specially vacated for Zhao Duan to stay.
The garden-style private residence is full of Jiangnan charm, with small bridges and flowing water, white walls and black tiles, rockery and flower beds... Although it is late autumn, because this place is close to the south, there is still a lot of greenery.
Zhao Duan, surrounded by a group of officials, entered the main hall of the garden and exchanged some pleasantries.
He also learned about the current situation in Hu Ting from Feng Ju.
……
"Your Excellency, please allow me to report."
In the main hall, Feng Ju, who was left alone, bowed and said:
"The market is about to open, and now almost all the invited forces have arrived. This is the list."
He held out a large volume in his hands.
Zhao Duan weighed the list and didn't rush to look through it. He put it on the coffee table and said with a smile:
"Just tell me briefly the general situation first."
"Yes," Feng Ju responded, and after a moment's thought, he said:
"Now Hu Ting is roughly divided into three forces. One is the imperial court and the confirmed imperial merchants. These are the ones who have joined us in the past few months. According to the requirements of the higher-ups, half of the quota is reserved for small and medium-sized merchants. The remaining half is for some local nobles who were the first to join the imperial court and actively accept the new policy."
“The second force is the merchants and local families belonging to the seven kings.
Except for Prince Jing who came in person, the other seven princes did not come in person, but they all sent their trusted followers to secretly monitor those under their jurisdiction to prevent them from defecting to the court. "
Zhao Duan raised his eyebrows and interrupted: "Are you talking about the Seventh King?"
Feng Ju nodded and said seriously:
"Prince Huai'an is quite special. Unlike the seven princes who clearly oppose him, Prince Huai'an has an ambiguous attitude and is wavering. He belongs to the neutral faction. In fact, in addition to Prince Huai'an, there are many other people in the neutral faction, and the number of local nobles is the largest among them."
Zhao Duan was not surprised and said calmly:
"The new policy itself is aimed at these noble families. They resist in their hearts, but they dare not openly oppose the court and get close to those princes, so their attitude is wavering, which is reasonable."
Feng Ju nodded in agreement and said hesitantly:
"I have been keeping an eye on them these days and have discovered that Prince Jing and others have been secretly contacting these neutral parties, trying to win them over and unite them to oppose the opening of the market. If this group of people really join forces, then even if the court forces the market to open, commodity trade will probably be difficult under the joint blockade of these people."
The implementation of any policy cannot bypass the local authorities.
Even if a merchant has obtained the qualification of an imperial merchant, if he is blocked and squeezed by major forces during the course of doing business, it will be difficult for him to do business.
Zhao Duan said seriously: "So, neutrality is very important?"
"Yes," Feng Ju said seriously:
"We can't win over the nobles who wholeheartedly follow Prince Jing, Prince Mu and others, but we can win over the neutral factions in the middle. We don't need them to side with us. As long as we prevent them from side with the Seventh Prince, we'll be halfway there."
"Half is not enough." Zhao Duan frowned and said.
Through Feng Ju's narration, he also realized the difficulty of the Hu Ting situation and was immediately glad that he had come in person.
Otherwise, if no one is watching this side, and Prince Jing and others really mess things up, the court’s finances won’t be relieved, and there will be big trouble again next year.
"I understand. I will find a way to deal with this matter."
Zhao Duan said calmly:
"But before that, I need to meet our royal merchant first."
Let’s not talk about the neutral faction for now, but at least he needs to keep a close eye on the imperial merchants to prevent anyone from turning against him at the last minute.
He would only feel at ease after personally reviewing this group of people and having them take sides and express their stance in public through his own interview.
Feng Ju stood up, smiled and nodded:
"Okay, I'll arrange it right away. In fact, these people are eager to come visit you and are waiting outside."
Zhao Duan smiled. He came to Huting this time without any official position.
But everyone knows that this envoy Zhao who came from the capital is the big shot who really calls the shots and represents the empress.
"By the way, where does Prince Jing live?"
Zhao Duan suddenly stroked his chin, with a smile in his eyes:
"Since we are going to meet them, please pass on a message for me, saying that I would like to invite Prince Jing to come over for a chat."
(End of this chapter)