On Qingming Festival, Zhang Shi was invited by Zhang Yuanyi to have a different kind of dinner that he had never had before in the mansion that originally belonged to Zhang Daoling. Zhang Yuanyi drank for the first time until he fell unconscious.

The days passed so peacefully, and the water of time slowly flowed through all the gaps, just like flowing through wounds, quietly filling all the pain.

In the blink of an eye, half a year has passed.

On this day, a team of carriages came to the town, which was not seen at all in normal times. Occasionally, there were a few sedan cars in the town, but they were all returnees returning to their hometowns. Even those who were really wealthy were at most

The carriages and sedans were a little more luxurious, but it had never happened before that such a large group of carriages came to the town like today.

In particular, these carriages are all tall and mighty, and the soldiers on them are also tall and majestic, wearing black armor, which is intimidating. As the team marches, the heavy armor on their bodies will make a loud "bang bang bang" sound, as if the ground

They are all trembling.

Zhang Yuanyi was still taking care of the shop in Qingxinzhai, and when he heard the noise, he also poked his head out.

Most of the people in the town may have never seen this formation in their lives, and they all came out to watch, standing on both sides of the army.

Here comes a bloated middle-aged man, who is the mayor of Jiangdian. He is really as heavy-looking as his name suggests.

Jiangdian seemed to have known the purpose of this team of horses and carriages for a long time, and he quickly saluted and said, "I'm going to Jiangdian to pay my respects to Mr. Inspector Sima!"

Someone in the front sedan opened the curtain and walked out. It was a young man who was not particularly outstanding. He got off the carriage and returned the greeting: "Mr. Jiang, you are so polite. You and I both work hard for the imperial court. It's nothing like this."

See outside."

Jiang Dian straightened up and said, "I dare not lower my rank. This rule is still indispensable."

The two of them talked a few more official words, which made people feel tired, and I don't know how these people could stand it.

An impatient voice came from another sedan behind, "Ma Shun, I'm not here today just for you and your colleagues to chat. Hurry up and lead the way to find a place to rest, and you have to do business."

Hearing this voice, Mr. Ma showed a slight fear on his face and quickly replied: "I'll do it now!"

Then he turned to Jiangdian and said, "Hurry and lead the way to the Yamen Mansion!"

When Jiang Dian saw Ma Shun's expression, he immediately realized that the people inside were definitely of high status and not someone he could mess with. He quickly dragged his bloated body ahead to go to the Yamen Mansion.

Not long after the army left, the town calmed down again. As soon as Zhang Yuan sat in the shop, he always felt something strange.

——

In front of the Yamen lobby, Mr. Ma was talking to Jiangdian. Next to Ma Shun was a handsome man with a red bead pendant, a feather fan decorated with Baoxiang flowers on his waist, and a purple lotus-style gown.

The vessel was extraordinary, and standing next to it was an attendant wearing coarse linen and a weathered face, quietly listening to the conversation between the two.

If Zhang Yuanyi were nearby, he would definitely recognize this man as Zhu Zhiwen.

"As I said in my letter this time, the main purpose of coming here is to investigate household registration matters."

"Alas! Mr. Ma, you also know that there was a great famine in the Northland a few years ago. Ours is the county closest to the Northland. There are a lot of immigrants coming here. I have asked around but I can't find anything. It's difficult to get a household registration.

!”

"So now

I have made up my mind from above to re-examine the population, overturn all the population documents found by the Ministry of Household Affairs, and plan to compile the most accurate document."

...

Zhu Zhiwen didn't say a word during the whole process, and he fiddled with the feather fan from time to time, and he caught a lot of the red feathers on it.

He knew that there was a great famine in the Northland, but it was not as exaggerated as what Jiangdian said. Since the great famine in the Northland, the imperial court allocated a huge sum of money to rescue the Beiland, and even opened a grain transportation highway for several days to transport people from all over the country.

Food is purchased and transported.

That is to say, it was indeed a bit difficult in the early stage, with some people exiled, but it got much better later on.

Moreover, for this matter, the imperial court also allocated a small amount of money to various areas near the Northland to provide compensation for these foreign vagrants. When the disaster in the Northland eases, they will be gathered together and sent back. Although Jewelry Town is small

But it doesn't mean that he didn't receive any money at all. Probably Jiangdian did a lot of dirty things in private, and Zhu Zhiwen didn't want to look at his bulging belly again.

Petty officials are extremely corrupt.

As for the imperial court’s decision to re-examine household registrations at the expense of large sums of money, the reason is simple and the purpose is clear – to prepare for war!

Only when the population survey is clear can we recruit soldiers well, and there will be no worries.

How many countries have perished in the past are not due to too many gangsters and lack of statistics, which has led to people raising soldiers in their own nests, and when the time is right, they will rebel!

Speaking of which, this is what his father did back then, but he never cared about these things. After all, there were two capable royal brothers above him, and there were also fifth brothers below who could help his father share the burden. He just wanted to be a carefree man who made his way around the world.

It would be nice to be a prince. Occasionally, I would get to know some people with lofty ideals and introduce them to the capital. If they wanted to go to the capital, they would go to the best place. If they didn’t want to go, they wouldn’t force them. There are not many princes who could achieve what he did.

Zhu Zhiwen suddenly stood up, stretched, and said lazily: "You guys chat while I go out for a walk."

Master Ma responded: "Okay, Master."

It was one thing for him to come to Jewelry Town to follow Ma Shun to count the population, but more importantly, of course, he came to visit the little brother Zhang Yuanyi.

When Zhu Zhiwen walked away, Jiang Dian couldn't help but asked in a low voice: "Who is this?"

Ma Shun quickly interrupted him, leaned into his ear and whispered softly: "You and I can't afford to offend him, just call him Mr. Zhu, and don't even think about flattering him. Why did your head fall off when you fell down?"

Do not know at all."

Jiang Dian's heart skipped a beat. His surname was Zhu, so he must be a relative of the emperor. He secretly made up his mind to avoid Zhu Zhiwen, especially when he thought of his own bad debts, he felt even more guilty.

In fact, even Ma Shun didn't know Zhu Zhiwen's true identity. He was just a small inspection department. A few days ago, he was suddenly called out for a talk by a guy who was several levels senior to him. The content was very simple: to protect him.

This young man, please don't ask anything.

He already felt that this matter was not easy, but the gentleman said at the end that if this young man lost a hair, it would be the end of his official career or even the end of his entire life! His face was frightened.

They all turned pale, and secretly complained countless times about how he had to encounter such an unfortunate job.

Although Zhu Zhiwen couldn't hear what the two of them said, his subordinate Lao Zheng, as a profound man,

Wu Fu heard the words of the two people clearly and turned around to tell Zhu Zhiwen what they were chatting about. Zhu Zhiwen nodded, "It's quite a rule."

He heard that the east alley of the town was a residential area, so he walked around the east alley of the town, but was surprised that he didn't see Zhang Yuanyi.

Originally, they arrived late, and it didn't take long for it to get dark after strolling like this. When they were about to return to the Yamen, they happened to see Zhang Yuanyi on the road who was about to close the stall and go home.

At this time, Zhang Yuanyi's back was turned to Zhu Zhiwen and he could not see his face. It took Zhu Zhiwen a long time to recognize Zhang Yuanyi's back.

"Hey!" Zhu Zhiwen quietly walked over from behind, touched Zhang Yuanyi's left shoulder, and ran to the right.

But Zhang Yuanyi was not fooled at all. He turned to the right regardless of the left side, and met Zhu Zhiwen's eyes.

"Um..." Zhu Zhiwen was also stunned. After all, Zhang Yuanyi looked at him as if he wanted to kill him, which was a bit scary. He waved his hand awkwardly, "Long time no see?"

As soon as Zhang Yuan recognized Zhu Zhiwen, his expression softened and he smiled and replied: "It's you!"

When he was packing his things just now, he felt someone watching him from behind. He thought it was some gangster with evil intentions and kept enduring it. If he hadn't recognized Zhu Zhiwen in time, he might not have stared at Zhu Zhiwen with fierce eyes just now.

Instead, he took action directly.

Lao Zheng watched from behind, thinking that his perceptual ability was not weaker than that of an ordinary Fengchu state, especially when his young master deliberately concealed the situation.

Zhu Zhiwen patted him on the shoulder, "Damn it! I originally wanted to give you a surprise, but you are so boring!"

At this time Su Su spoke, "Brother, who is this?"

Zhang Yuan grabbed Zhu Zhiwen's neck and introduced: "This is my brother's good friend. I met him when he was traveling in the world. He is a craftsman."

The moment Zhu Zhiwen saw Su Su, his eyes lit up, "You still have such a sister!"

He quickly wiped his hands on his clothes, walked forward, stretched out his hand, and said, "I'm Zhu Zhiwen! Just call me Brother Zhu."

Zhang Yuan kicked him on the buttocks, "Call him Mr. Zhu!"

He couldn't forget who took him to the brothel for the first time. This guy was too old to be serious. Su Su must not be allowed to have anything to do with him.

Zhu Zhiwen covered his buttocks and screamed, "This is how unjust you are. Brothers don't behave like this."

Maybe it was because the kick was a bit heavy, so he cried out in pain: "Ouch! I am the most stable person in the world! Your skills are so good now!"

Zhang Yuan got angry and wanted to kick him out again, "I must have visited a lot of buildings in the past few years. Where do you get so many dirty words? I listened to my brother's advice and I'd better do some needlework by myself. Don't do it."

I'm going to prick those girls' delicate skin, I'm afraid it will hurt!"

"you you you......"

...

The two of them were quarreling and quarreling along the way, making Su Su keep laughing.

Although she didn't understand what they were talking about, she felt happy whenever she saw her brother smiling. He hadn't spoken so many words in a long time.
Chapter completed!