Ji Wenjun was extremely excited when he saw Ji Qizhen.
Then he caught a glimpse of an old eunuch behind Ji Qizhen, his face suddenly darkened, and then he pouted:
"Why are you here, Eunuch Song? Did your father send you to capture this master?"
Gao Xiaosong is one of the most trusted chamberlains around Emperor Tianqi. His presence here shows that this trip is the emperor's intention:
"If you go back to Your Highness, even if I have the courage, I would not dare to arrest Your Highness. The Emperor misses the princess so much that he asked this old slave to invite His Highness back to the palace to have sex with her."
By the way, I also asked the old slave to follow King Tan to Guangdong to investigate something."
When Ji Wenjun heard that they were not here to arrest him, he immediately said excitedly:
"Are you really not here to catch me? That's great. I haven't had enough fun yet. You go back and tell your father that you've had enough fun. I'll go back by myself."
Gao Xiaosong smiled bitterly and looked at Ji Qizhen asking for help.
Ji Qizhen said majestically:
"Imperial sister, please stop messing around. My father ordered Eunuch Song to take you back. If you don't go back, aren't you deliberately making things difficult for Eunuch Song?"
Ji Wenjun looked at Ji Qizhen angrily, and then acted like a frustrated player:
"Go back as soon as you go, but why are you going to Guangdong? I am going too."
Ji Qi Zhendao told the capital about Hou Yao's battle report and She Huien's memorial.
"My father has already sent two censors to Guangzhou Prefecture to investigate the matter of the two hundred thousand shi of grain. Brother Wei and Eunuch Song mainly went to Bao'an County for a secret investigation.
Hou Yao killed two colleagues in a row. Although there was a reason for everything and the process was written in detail, he was too courageous.
In addition, the fact that he defeated the Japanese spies is also suspicious, and my father also asked my brother to check whether this person was training troops secretly."
Lin Lihui raised his eyes and glanced at Ji Qizhen. He would not believe the lies about secret visits.
With his status, the corruption in Bao'an County is clear to his mind.
It was clear that Hou Yao's salt control methods were too tough and affected his business. I am afraid he found an excuse to suppress him this time.
Lin Lihui shook his head helplessly. After all, Hou Yao was considered his disciple.
If Hou Yao is really suppressed too much, his face will be tarnished.
"His Royal Highness King Xi, Jie Qiu can be regarded as my disciple. He is indeed a bit more upright, even to the point of hating evil as much as possible.
But to say that he has rebellious intentions, someone must be maliciously slandering him, so please be aware of it, Your Highness."
Ji Qizhen glanced at Lin Lihui in surprise.
It is not a secret that Lin Lihui supervises the Guangdong Provincial Examination, and it is normal to call Hou Yao his disciple.
But for a so-called protégé to warn him, this is thought-provoking:
"Don't worry, uncle. My nephew will definitely get to the bottom of it and Zhongliang will not be wronged."
Before Lin Lihui spoke, Ji Wenjun suddenly said with a smile:
"It turns out that the emperor is going to find trouble with Hou Yao. That's great, I want to go with him.
Humph, let’s see how I deal with that ignorant nerd.”
Ji Qizhen was shocked and said this time:
"How come the imperial sister knows Hou Yao? As a daughter of the Tian family, you cannot do something scandalous that will disgrace the family of the Tian family.
Otherwise, even my father and mother will not be able to protect you when the time comes."
Ji Wenjun said angrily:
"What did the emperor say? Who do you think this master is? People ignore you."
After saying that, he stomped his feet and ran into the inner hall.
Lin Lihui quickly explained to Ji Qizhen and Gao Xiaosong why Ji Wenjun met Hou Yao.
What happened at the Luming Banquet was a scandal for Lin Lihui. After all, Hou Yao's refusal of his invitation was a public slap in the face.
Therefore, almost no one dared to spread the details of the banquet that day. Even the name Hou Yao has almost become a taboo.
The nobles far away in the capital naturally knew about it.
However, the poems written by Hou Yao that day were circulated and spread widely.
Ji Qizhen suddenly realized the truth and said:
“It turns out that the widely circulated ‘True Interpretation of Reading’: to establish a mind for the heaven and earth, to establish a destiny for the people, to inherit the unique knowledge of the saints, and to create peace for the world was actually done by this person.
No wonder my uncle looked at me differently. I said that the person who could write such a majestic "True Explanation of Reading" could not be an unknown person.
It turns out there is such a tortuous story in it.”
Lin Lihui also said with emotion:
"Yes, and his 'Song of Righteousness' puts me to shame even more.
In fact, I don’t know anything about what Jieqiu did in Bao’an County.
When he was giving lectures at the county school, he said: To study, you must be determined. When you are determined, you must first establish your body. If you cannot establish your body, how can you maintain your ambition?
The purpose of reading is to apply what you have learned, to promote learning, to learn from each other and to integrate knowledge with action.
I strongly agree with these remarks, and the various new industries he created are also surprising to people.
To be honest, if it hadn't been for the Lu Ming Banquet incident, he would have been famous all over the world by now.
But now, there are people who dare to tell about his poetry and deeds, but those who dare to make him famous are very worried."
Ji Qizhen nodded in understanding. No wonder there have been many new things on the market recently. Just asking for the source is unclear.
I originally thought that the merchant was deliberately keeping it secret, but it turned out that it was because he was afraid of offending big shots.
"I heard my uncle say this and I will know it. Don't worry, uncle, I will deal with it fairly.
In fact, I don't believe that a county magistrate who has only been in office for half a year can train an army, and this is in a place like Bao'an County.
However, what happened to Li Jingshan was indeed strange. An army of Japanese pirates that had been secretly trained for at least ten years was defeated by a temporary group of young and strong people.
This seems to be too disrespectful to Li Qianhu, who died in the battle.
What's more, the Guangzhou Prefecture said that the Japanese pirates had an army of tens of thousands, while Bao'an County claimed that there were only five thousand people. The difference is so huge that we need to investigate clearly."
"Your Highness, King Xin, if the Japanese pirates can raise an army of tens of thousands in Bao'an County without being noticed, all officials in Guangzhou should be killed."
"Uncle, please rest assured, my nephew will definitely get to the bottom of it."
…
In Ji Qi Town, Gao Xiaosong and Ji Wenjun took a speedboat and landed at the pier closest to Nantou City.
Then they pretended to be ordinary merchants and took a carriage to Nantou City. This journey greatly refreshed the three people's understanding.
Of course, the biggest shock was the moment they first arrived in Nantou City. They didn't even know if they and others had entered the city.
With Nantou City as the center, street markets were formed all over a hundred miles.
There are a dazzling array of shops, and all walks of life are thriving and prosperous.
The streets were crowded and crowded, even worse than the markets in the capital.
From time to time, a team of yamen officers with sticks would patrol the streets. If they passed through a crowded place, the yamen officers would stop to maintain order.
They won't leave until traffic is cleared.
Every street looks crowded, but in fact it is neatly planned, clean and tidy, and there is no filth in the whole street.
This is not even comparable to the capital city. Even in the capital city, it is inevitable that there will be cow dung, horse dung and other filth on the streets.
But it is almost invisible outside Nantou City.
Ji Wenjun sat in the horse, opened a gap in the curtain, and looked at the street scene outside.
After walking for a long time, I discovered that there was a beautiful wooden barrel every hundred steps on the street, so I curiously said to Ji Qizhen next to me:
"Brother, do you know what that beautiful wooden barrel is used for? If you just put it on the street like this, you won't be afraid of being stolen?"
Ji Qizhen was looking at the street scene on the other side, and only noticed this problem after being reminded.
I racked my brains and couldn't figure it out, so I asked one of my subordinates to ask passers-by, only to find out that it was actually a trash can.
Ji Wenjun's little face looked gloomy and scary, and he muttered viciously:
"This Hou Yao is really a dog official. There are so many poor people in the county who don't go to rescue them.
To waste money on such a flashy place, I was really blind before I found his paper.
I’m really pissed off. No, I must fire him and investigate.”
"Who should we do? Little sister, what are you muttering about?"
"People are just unhappy. How much can a county be used for? How much does it cost to put such beautiful trash cans all over the streets?
If you don’t use your money to help the poor who don’t have enough to eat, but use it to do these flashy window-dressings, Hou Yao, a dog official, deserves to die.”
"Little sister, after hearing what you said, I discovered a problem. We didn't see a single beggar during our walk.
This... even the best street in the capital can't see a beggar, right? What on earth did this Hou Yao do? "
Ji Wenjun's little face turned even greener and he said hurriedly:
"Did he drive out all the beggars? Or... wouldn't he kill them all?"
Ji Qizhen suddenly couldn’t laugh or cry:
"What are you thinking? How could it be possible to kill all the beggars? No matter how stupid you are, you wouldn't do such a ridiculous thing.
It's useless for us to make random guesses, we can just ask someone to find out."
After that, he said to the guard outside the window:
"Find an inn nearby and take a rest."
"Yes, sir."
Soon the carriage stopped in front of an inn.
Gao Xiaosong came over to help brother and sister Ji Qizhen and Ji Wenjun get out of the car.
I saw that the carriage I was riding in was parked within a white line frame, and I asked the guard next to me.
"Sir, the waiter at the store said that these white lines are called parking spaces, and they are stipulated by the county magistrate."
Ji Qizhen waved the guard down and smiled at Ji Wenjun:
"Little sister, the Jie Yuan you appointed seems to be a very interesting person."
Ji Wenjun was already very dissatisfied with Hou Yao's rejection of Lin Lihui's invitation, and he also preconceived the idea that Hou Yao was just a doggy official.
Everything she looked at at this time felt that Hou Yao was whitewashing the peace and was full of bad intentions.
"What's the point? Don't let this dog officer get caught by me, otherwise I will have to deal with him personally.
Give Baoan County a bright future."
Ji Qizhen shook his head with a wry smile and walked into the store. The store was busy and crowded.
There was only an empty table in the corner, and the tableware on the table hadn't been cleared away yet. It was obvious that a table of guests had just left.
The waiter saw someone entering the store, but he greeted him and said:
"Dear guests, I'm sorry. We only have one table available for four people in our restaurant at the moment. Seeing that there are so many of you, I probably won't be able to sit down.
Why don't you guys go check out the store diagonally across the street? Maybe they have some vacancies."