Zhou insisted on sending Zhou Xian, Shen Yongqi, Yang Wenzhao and others to the northwest. Even Zhu Shan’s brother Zhu Hong wanted to send him to Chen Xi for some experience.

Xie Yuner was in a dilemma. She first gave Zhou 200 taels of silver, and then prepared to write Zhou's request and family situation into a letter to send it to the northwest. However, the northwest post road was difficult to walk, so whether the letter could be delivered to Chen Xi was a problem. Even if it could be delivered, it would be a month or two later.

"I hope my husband can be safe and sound in the northwest. Your Majesty rewards the silver, and as a minister, he has to thank him any reward. This is also due to the rules of the court... But if the family in the capital receives the reward, he asks his husband to submit a memorial to the northwest to thank him. Is it appropriate? What did Your Majesty think?"

No one understands Zhu Houzhao's ideas, and Xie Yun'er doesn't know that Zhu Houzhao's gifts are just doing whatever she wants, and there is no reason to say at all.

Xie Yuner went out to inquire and sent it to the northwest in the form of a official letter at the imperial court station, which was convenient and fast, but it was not feasible if it was written by family letters because no one could find him to deliver the letter.

It is much easier to deliver letters to your hometown in Fujian. There are Fujian guild halls in the capital. Every month, scholars and travelers who go to Fujian will return to Fujian. It is not difficult to ask someone to help bring letters. When you arrive in any city in Fujian, there are inns, car shops, etc. opened by the carriage and horse gang, and there is no problem with sending letters to Tingzhou Prefecture.

However, it is not so easy to find someone to send letters to Sanlan these days, especially Yulin Guard, which is on the forefront of the war.

Finally, Xie Yuner discussed with Zhou. Zhou suggested that Zhou Xian and Zhu Hong should simply take the letter from home to the northwest, and it happened to be a "dead first and report later", regardless of whether they took advantage of Chen Xi's hands... to send the person first. Both of them had the strength to do it. In Zhou's opinion, Zhu Hong was able to help Chen Xi.

Xie Yuner felt that it was not very reliable, but she still followed Zhou's ideas. In addition to Zhou Xian and Zhu Hong, she asked Zhu Qi to select a few of the brothers from the chariot and horse gang to go with her.

Before his son left, Zhu Qi suddenly asked to see Xie Yun'er, his face full of embarrassment.

Xie Yuner looked at Zhu Qi and asked, "Dad Zhu, you are an old man in my Shen family. After many years of hard work, you have been like your family. Just say something."

Zhu Qiwei said: "Madam, this is true. I wonder if the little girl Xiaoshan can walk with her brother?"

Xie Yuner didn't expect Zhu Qi to ask Zhu Shan to go to the northwest with Zhu Hong. She asked hesitantly: "Although Xiaoshan has the strength, he is always her daughter's house. I'm afraid it's not appropriate to be displaced all the way?"

Zhu Qi said: "It is precisely because she is a daughter's house, that she shouldn't always stay at home... She is a little arrogant, and I always teach her to have a daughter's house, learn from the girl's red family, be gentle and respectful, so that she can find a good family to marry, but she...ah!"

This sigh made Xie Yuner understand one thing, that is, in the eyes of Zhu Qi, a father, Zhu Shan is no longer an old girl who can't marry.

Zhu Shan looks pretty good, but he is tall and strong, rough and sturdy, and is usually insane when talking and doing things. When the brothers from the carriage and horse gang have to take a detour when they see her, who dares to marry her?

Now that Zhu Hong is going to the northwest, Zhu Shan felt that it was meaningless to stay in the capital, so he told his father that he wanted to go to the northwest to gain a better experience.

Zhu Qi also felt that Zhu Shan stayed around the capital and was full of acquaintances. He stayed away from his daughter's name, and it was difficult to find a good family.

Instead of this, it would be better to let her go to the northwest to see the world with her brother. He was very confident in his daughter and thought that Zhu Shan followed Chen Xi, maybe he might be a hero like Mulan, and he would still be a hero who would be a grand family. If he had a good look at a military man, he might even have a lifelong matter.

Xie Yuner said: "Since Dad Zhu has spoken, I can't ignore it. Let's do it. I'll call Xiaoshan and ask her what she means. If she really wants to go to the northwest, I won't stop it..."

Xie Yuner didn't support Zhu Shan to go to the northwest from the bottom of her heart. She treated Zhu Shan as her sister and kept trying every means to help Zhu Shan Zhang Luo's family, but she didn't succeed once... Those people kept away from Zhu Shan as long as they heard that Zhu Shan was extremely powerful and could not knit the girl's red.

When Xie Yuner called Zhu Shan to ask carefully, Zhu Shan was firm: "Madam, let me go. I can help my brother on the way... You also know that the brother is not capable. If we encounter robbers on the way, the incense of our Zhu family will be cut off. When we reach the northwest, I can still help the master. I heard that the master is short of people."

He didn't feel anything about his words, and Zhu Qi and Zhu Hong and his son were both dark.

Xie Yuner frowned slightly. She knew Zhu Shan’s temperament best and thought to herself: “This girl speaks without knowing the occasion, and isn’t this a slap in the face in front of her father and brother?”

Xie Yuner said: "Xiaoshan, you have to know that from the capital to the northwest, this road is not easy to walk. You may be attacked by Diyi. Those Diyi are not so easy to get along with."

"It's okay, I'm very strong, not afraid of the Tartars. Besides, there are other people, it's okay if everyone rushed forward." Zhu Shan seemed very confident.

Zhu Qi said angrily: "You must avoid the Tartars. If you see Tartars, run away. Who will give you the courage to rush forward?"

Zhu Shan lowered his head in annoyance, disagreed.

Xie Yuner said: "Dad Zhu, don't blame Xiaoshan. She stayed at home for a long time and didn't know that the Tartars are terrible. If you ask her to go to the border, you will understand. Brother Zhu, you have to pay attention to your sister."

Zhu Hong's face was blank, and his sister defamed him as if he was his daughter's house, and the living ancestor in front of him was a man.

Xie Yuner finally refused, asked Zhu Shan to go back and clean up and set off for the northwest. Calculate the time, and it is estimated that Zhu Shan and his party will arrive in Yulin Fraternity in mid-to-late March, provided that the journey is smooth.

...

...

Chen Xi didn't know that Zhu Houzhao had rewarded his family with two thousand taels of silver. If he knew, he would definitely refuse.

During this period, Chen Xi was assisting Wang Shouren in investigating the corruption case in the northwest. In less than ten days, he dismissed more than 20 officials in Yansui Town who were responsible for distributing money and grain. These people had previously confessed to guilty charges and took out dirty silver, but were still investigated and punished, and people were panicked for a while.

People sent by the Governor's Office found large sums of money from the houses of these people, and found evidence of their embezzlement, bribery, reselling military rations, and hoarding goods. Nearly one million taels of stolen money were found from these people alone.

When Wang Shouren knew this number, he was really scared.

According to Chen Xi, this is just the tip of the iceberg of the Northwest corruption case.

After investigating these people, Chen Xi did not intend to expand the case, and it would be almost done to kill one and warn him. He asked Wang Shouren to return to Beijing earlier to report. As for the chaos in the northwest, he would gradually sort out and spend about a year to completely resolve corruption and replace the officials involved in the case one after another.

Wang Shouren recovered more than one million taels of silver for the court through the account check.

He would not take away these silver, but stayed in the northwest as treasury silver, waiting for the court to deal with it, and would eventually use the silver for infrastructure construction and the distribution of soldiers' salaries.

Wang Shouren decided to return to Beijing on February 26th. He was about to visit Chen Xi before leaving. Thanks Chen Xi for his cooperation with him in handling the case, contacting him and seeking support from each other in the future.

On February 24th, Wang Shouren came to the Governor's Mansion and held a banquet for Chenxi.

There was no one else on that day, Chen Xi and Wang Shouren drank a few drinks. Wang Shouren couldn't help but talk too much as he was drunk, and his words revealed his dissatisfaction with his father's resignation.

"... It's so good. Now that eunuchs are in power, the suppression of civil servants is very serious. After my father retired, I wanted to leave the court several times, but I was dissuaded by my father. My father told me that the more I would be persistent, keep a useful body to serve Your Majesty, and prevent the traitor from becoming in power. If it weren't for the support of Mr. Xie, I would have sent me out of the capital with an important task, for fear that I would have been harmed by Liu Jin..."

Others’ hatred for Liu Jin may only be superficial, out of the position of the civil servant group advancing and retreating together. However, Wang Shouren’s hatred for Liu Jin comes from the heart because his father Wang Hua was suppressed by Liu Jin and was forced to retire. Wang Hua had always been the Hanlin official who had the highest call for entering the cabinet before.

Chen Xi thought that Wang Shouren's position in his mind was unparalleled. His son's father was all heroes. Wang Shouren had been following the path planned by Wang Hua, but unfortunately he did not have Wang Hua's talent and did not pass the first grade to enter the Hanlin Academy. However, he still took Wang Hua's teaching as his motto in life.

Chen Xidao: "Your Majesty is deceived and the eunuch party is in chaos. What can we do? Especially now, I am far away from the court. Even if I want to fight with the eunuch party, I have to wait until I can still talk to it. But it seems that the court has no intention of letting me go back for the time being."

Wang Shouren hoped that Chen Xi would come out and fight with Liu Jin, but Chen Xi was not stupid. He knew that Liu Jin was favored by Zhu Houzhao's intentional indulgence. When he went to the northwest, he actually avoided Liu Jin's limelight. When Liu Jin's ambitions and arrogance in the future caused the emperor to be disgusted, he stood up to pick peaches. Otherwise, no one would be Liu Jin's opponent in a short period of time, because only eunuchs like Liu Jin who have no moral bottom line can satisfy Zhu Houzhao's almost endless desires.

Chen Xi's self-protection attitude is nothing wrong, but in the eyes of a straightforward person like Wang Shouren, it is suspected of evading responsibility.

Wang Shouren said: "You should apply to the court for your good fortune. You should return to the court earlier. Now there are too many missing halls in the central government of the court. If you return to the court, not to mention the Minister of War, even the Minister of War is more than enough."

(End of this chapter)
Chapter completed!