Chapter 475 The heroic scholar and his neighbor, the pretty widow (bushi)
The heroic scholar and his neighbor, the pretty widow (bushi)
Si Kouhong thought the same as Lance.
After getting the account book, he contacted the Zhennan Marquis Mansion to transfer personnel, and at the same time began to interact with officials from the north.
Gradually, he seldom took the two beauties out with him, and sometimes Si Kouhong would even leave them behind deliberately when he attended banquets, and even had people keep an eye on them, under the pretext of protecting them.
On the other hand, officials from the north have even started to bring out their daughters, and during the dinner they were flirting with Sikou Hong, almost going into heat on the spot.
"The Son of the World is indeed like this, he wants this and that."
Lance wasn't surprised by this.
Soon, new news began to come back from the north.
Si Kou Hong refused to associate with the Northerners and did not give face to the Northern officials. He refused various banquets many times and always rushed to the front line of sheltering refugees.
Si Kouhong established a refugee camp to temporarily house and manage the refugees;
Si Kou Hong executed a county magistrate who refused to open warehouses to provide disaster relief directly with his sword, which pleased the people and earned him the title of "Umbrella of the People";
Si Kou Hong discovered that the northern officials had colluded to swallow up the relief money and thoroughly searched their homes to recover the relief money;
Si Kou Hong worked day and night and was exhausted, so he collapsed and fainted in public.
As information came in one after another, the court's reputation of Si Kou Hong gradually became very good.
The emperor was even more delighted, thinking that he had made the right choice this time, and he directly awarded a reward of ten thousand taels to the mansion of Marquis Zhennan. The imperial edict also praised the Marquis Zhennan for his meritorious education and for having a good son who served the country and the people.
Marquis Zhennan was overjoyed and trusted Lance more and more.
He became more and more determined to win over Lance, and after much thought he came up with what he thought was a brilliant idea.
He wrote a letter to Lance, saying that although he couldn't bring Lance back to the Zhennan Marquisate, he could write a letter back to the clan and ask the clan leader to record Lance's name under the name of his deceased wife, and regard him as an adopted son.
In this way, Lance returned to the Zhennan Marquis Mansion without becoming a threat to Sikou Hong.
"Bah, you shameless guy is just daydreaming."
After reading the letter, Song Ning was so angry that he wanted to burn it, but Lance quickly stopped him.
"Don't worry, I still have some use for this letter."
"What? You still want to keep this shitty thing?"
Song Ning's eyes widened.
What's the point of keeping this kind of thing? Does it look bad?
Lance smiled and hugged the person into his arms and kissed him, then took the letter and put it aside.
"Have you forgotten? We must find a reason to get through this matter. This is the best way."
So from the very beginning, he had no intention of directly dealing with the Zhennan Marquis Mansion, because this tool was very important to him.
Song Ning was stunned.
"What do you mean?"
With the relationship between the two of them, does Lance still intend to make a clear choice?
"Just trust me. I will do whatever I promised you."
Leaving a kiss on Song Ning's forehead, Lance looked at the letter and sneered.
No one knew how the Zhennan Marquisate did it, but after Lance nodded, he went to the palace and brought back the emperor's oral order agreeing to this matter.
Marquis Zhennan immediately wrote a letter and asked his servants to send it back to his hometown clan. After receiving the letter, the clan leader immediately wrote Lance's name into the Si family tree. In the family tree, he can be regarded as Marquis Zhennan's child, the kind that has passed Minglu's path.
The Zhennan Marquis' Mansion also held a three-day banquet for this happy event, during which many officials came to attend the banquet out of respect.
Marquis Zhennan happily welcomed the guests, not noticing that Lance was becoming distant with him and the Marquis Zhennan Mansion while chatting with other guests.
Not long after this matter was completed, good news came from the north.
Si Kouhong solved the major corruption case in the north, settled the local refugees, and was about to return to the capital.
"In that case, let our number one scholar go to greet you. You two can be considered brothers now, so you can get closer in advance."
The emperor said this and sent Lance away.
Lance received the order and turned to Song Ning to ask for some calligraphy and paintings.
"What do you want these for?"
Song Ning was puzzled, but he still bent down and searched in the cabinet with his little butt exposed.
"Si Kouhong's move should have solved him."
Lance explained simply, patting the butt that felt so good in his hands.
Some time ago, Song Ning had been suffering from a loss of appetite. After seeing a doctor, he was told that it was a purely staying-at-home habit caused by painting at home all day and either eating or sleeping.
Lance came up with an idea to take Song Ning to exercise every day, and it seems that the effect has been very good during this period.
"What are you doing? I'm looking for something for you."
Song Ning handed the thing over with a blushing face, and unwilling to suffer a loss, she also touched Lance's abdominal muscles.
The two of them were laughing and playing and almost caused sparks to happen, so Lance packed up and went out to look for someone.
When Sikou Hong heard that the emperor had sent someone to meet him, he simply ordered them to go back more slowly.
"Master, is this really okay?"
The two beauties now voluntarily followed Sikouhong back to Beijing. Although Sikouhong accepted them, he had not done anything serious to them so far, so the two of them felt that Sikouhong was a humble gentleman.
Si Kou Hong looked at the beauty in his arms with a twisted look in his eyes, but he spoke high-sounding words.
"This is what His Majesty meant. I have made great contributions in the North this time, and His Majesty is rewarding me. If I go back too soon, wouldn't that be a waste of His Majesty's kindness?"
"so."
The two beauties had little knowledge, so naturally they believed him.
Si Kouhong was hesitating and trying to put on the highest possible level, but the situation in the capital changed overnight.
Officials from the Hegui faction came forward early in the morning to directly report Si Kou Hong.
"My minister Kou Hong is secretly repairing the plank road, seemingly eradicating corrupt officials in the North, but in fact he has long been colluding with the real mastermind behind the scenes in the North, and wants to keep things quiet by pushing some insignificant scapegoats."
"My people also found out that Si Kouhong not only did not personally take in refugees and manage disaster relief in the north, but instead spent every night reveling in the company of beautiful women and living a life of debauchery and wine."
"I also reported that Si Kou Hong concealed the accounts of the disaster relief funds from the Northland, deceived his superiors and subordinates, and colluded with the Northland to enrich himself. I think the 3.5 million disaster relief funds have already been divided up by them again."
The whole court was in dead silence.
The emperor's face turned pale, "Do you have any evidence?"
"nature."
The minister brought the evidence that had been prepared long ago to the emperor's desk. The emperor suppressed his anger and read through it quickly. The more he read, the more frightened he became.
His good imperial envoy indulged in wine and women as soon as he arrived there. After obtaining the account book of northern officials embezzling disaster relief funds, he not only refused to report it, but also kept it for himself and negotiated with the northern officials many times in order to obtain the greatest benefits.
Then, the scapegoat who was pushed out by the two parties after discussion was accused, and Sikou Hong divided the relief money again in the name of settling the victims. In order to please him, the officials in the north gave him a large amount of gold and beauties. Sikou Hong seemed to refuse but actually accepted them one by one. According to the above, the bribes Sikou Hong received were as high as one million silver.
"Good, good, good! This is my good subject, the good son you raised, Marquis Zhennan!"
Marquis Zhennan knelt down with cold sweat on his face, his mind going blank.
How could this happen? Hong Er had arranged everything very well, how could someone find out?!
Lance, who had already set off, slightly raised the corners of his mouth. This was just right.
It’s time to invite the protagonist back in person, otherwise how can this big show be performed?