"Your Majesty Xue Jing, I wonder where these gentlemen came from?"
Xue Jing bravely came to the dock and saw clearly the clothes of the person coming.
The official uniform worn by one of them is that of a fifth-grade official.
He is two levels higher than his seventh-grade county magistrate.
"Are you Xue Jing? I am Ma Cheng, the general manager of water transportation in Jiangzhou. These two are the prefect of Ezhou, Mr. Wang Ran, and the Jiangzhou guards are guarding Mr. Mingyu."
These three people came together.
A few days ago, Ma Cheng and Yu Ming brought the fleet to Yangxin. All work in Yangxin is making steady progress.
After inspecting the training of the Renaissance Army, Yu Ming was very satisfied.
After all, all Renaissance armies in various places have officers and soldiers from guard stations serving as instructors.
Yangxin Baihu still has Ezhou Wei Linyong who has many years of experience in Baihu.
After staying in Yangxin for two days, Ma Cheng and Yu Ming boarded the ship again and went to Daye.
Daye Iron Mine has now been occupied by Wang Ran, and he has left a strong team of one hundred people here and moved five hundred refugees to stay here permanently.
The iron ore cannot be mined for the time being, and we will consider stopping it here when there are more people in the future.
After seeing Daye, the fleet set sail again and went to Huangshi.
The original county seat of Huangshi collapsed, leaving no reputable person behind.
The people were in chaos, bandits were rampant, and the refugees were scattered.
It wasn't until Wang Ran came with the Fuxing Army and Minzhuang that the chaos in Huangshi was quelled.
And eventually Huangshi County was restored.
At the same time, Wang Ran transferred the newly appointed chief secretary Yang Xin to Huangshi as the county magistrate.
This chief clerk is a native of Yangxin, named Wei Guan.
Originally he was just a farmer.
Because his family was well off and he had attended a private school, and he was quite smart and capable, he was appreciated and promoted by Wang Ran.
However, his official career was good, and he was promoted to Huangshi County Magistrate after only one month as Yangxin's Registrar.
In the past few days, Wei Guan has just stabilized the situation in Huangshi with the help of the Yangxin Renaissance Army.
Now the gradual restoration and reconstruction of Huangshi County has begun.
After seeing Daye and Huangshi, Ma Cheng took the fleet and set off again.
This time Wang Ran also came with him. He wanted to meet Xue Jing and have a good talk with him.
Ma Cheng revealed his identity, and Xue Jing had a strange look on his face.
Logically speaking, the Ezhou magistrate was his immediate superior, but this Ezhou magistrate was appointed by the King of Jiangzhou.
So he felt very awkward.
"What do you want to do with these adults coming to my Ezhou County?"
"But the imperial court has a decree?"
Xue Jing asked bravely. Now he could only try his best to talk to the court.
After listening to Xue Jing's words, Ma Cheng said with a half-smile but not a smile: "The imperial court will no longer have a decree. Without Da Qian, the world will be in chaos. It has been more than a month, Master Xue, right?"
They came here to show off their cards. If Xue Jing knew the truth, they would let him continue to be the county magistrate.
If you don't know the truth, Ezhou County must also be captured by force.
Even the entire Ezhou Prefecture must be subordinated to the King of Jiangzhou!
After more than a month of exploration in Jiangbei.
Ma Cheng was completely sure that the entire Daqian had collapsed.
The situation in the prefectures and counties in Jiangbei may be even worse than that in Jiangnan.
There are only a handful of surviving people in the state capitals along the Yangtze River.
Ma Cheng ran with his fleet for more than half a month and finally picked up more than 2,000 people from Jiangbei.
This number is simply shocking.
Of course, Song Yang is no longer in the mood to care about the situation in Jiangbei. He can only focus on Jiangnan now.
Over in Jiangbei, Ma Cheng was asked to visit frequently and bring over any surviving people.
This is the only thing he can do to help the refugees in Jiangbei.
Xue Jing's expression changed. He didn't expect these people to be so direct.
Wang Ran took two steps, hugged Xue Jing and said:
"Master Xue, I have long heard of your ability and conduct."
"Master Xue is indispensable for Ezhou's restoration to its current peaceful situation."
"But the king of Ezhou has passed away. Ezhou is also in chaos."
"If there is no clear leader, Ezhou will only become more and more chaotic, and the people will be homeless and hungry."
"As time goes by, bandits are rampant and chaos arises. It will be even more difficult to bring order to the chaos!"
Wang Ran's words were very sincere, and he analyzed the current situation with facts and reason.
It’s not that Xue Jing didn’t understand, so he gathered and restrained the people of Ezhou.
And a strict curfew policy was implemented in Ezhou County.
A civilian team of 1,000 people was formed to maintain public order in Ezhou County.
But he still had some illusions, hoping that someone in his brother-in-law's family was still alive.
"Master Xue, I believe you should know better than me about the situation in Jiangxia!"
"The refugees said that the river embankment collapsed and there were no survivors in the entire Jiangxia!"
"What are you still hesitating about?"
Wang Ran's words deeply hurt Xue Jing.
Indeed, according to his investigation, Jiangxia has been flooded.
Until now, the entire Jiangxia has been soaked in water.
All the surviving people had escaped long ago.
There is no one there anymore.
"well!"
Xue Jing sighed heavily and sat down on the ground.
"Master Xue, the people in the county still need you, and the people in Ezhou also need us to save them together."
"If you still have any ambition to become an official, you should join us, His Highness the King of Jiangzhou!"
"Did you know that order has been reestablished in Jiangzhou's counties, and the number of surviving people has reached hundreds of thousands!"
Wang Ran helped Xue Jing up and continued to speak.
Xue Jing paused for a while, looked at Wang Ran, then at Ma Cheng and Yu Ming.
As well as the nearly a thousand soldiers in full strength on the dock behind them.
Xue Jing knew that he had no hope of struggling.
"Do I still have a choice? Haha. Forget it, I will go and see His Highness the King of Jiangzhou." Xue Jing said with a wry smile.
A smile appeared on Wang Ran's face, Ezhou was finally won.
"Master Xue, I am not in a hurry to see the prince."
"We can't live without you here in Ezhou. The people of Ezhou Prefecture need your help to appease them."
"When we stabilize Ezhou, I will personally take you to Jiangzhou to meet the prince."
Wang Ran said it sincerely, he really needed Xue Jing's help.
The Xue family is a wealthy family in Ezhou and is the in-laws of the king of Ezhou.
Xue Jing is well-known throughout Ezhou.
This is also the reason why Wang Ran never came to Ezhou County forcefully.
Xue Jing looked at Wang Ran and said, "I am only the magistrate of Ezhou County. I'm afraid I can't help Mr. Wang in any way."
Wang Ran chuckled and said: "Hey! Mr. Xue! You are no longer the magistrate of Ezhou County!"
Xue Jing's face darkened. Are you going to take him down after all?
It was only he who had this idea, so he heard Wang Ran continue to say: "You are now a fellow magistrate of Ezhou!"
"Same...same knowledge?" Xue Jing was stunned.
Tongzhi is an official of the fifth rank, second only to the prefect in the state government yamen.
Did he jump directly from the seventh level to the fifth level?
"Um...how can you overstep the rules? This is against the rules!" Xue Jing stared at Wang Ran and said.
Even in special times, if you want to appoint a fifth-rank official, you must at least go through the prince or the Taotai governor.
This guy appointed colleagues as soon as they met?
"Hehe. Mr. Xue doesn't know something!"
"In order to restore order in Ezhou as soon as possible, the prince has given me the autonomy of the state government."
"All officials, big and small, from the official level below can be appointed and removed on the spot."
After Wang Ran finished speaking, Xue Jing looked shocked.
He admired Song Yang, the king of Jiangzhou, whom he had never met before.
How bold it is to create an autonomous power in the state capital.
Could it be that by taking refuge with the King of Jiangzhou, he was doing the right thing?