Yin Chengliang was stunned for a moment and thought to himself: Although this question originated from official slang and seemed to be a joke, it also seemed to point directly to the key points of officialdom and should not be answered casually.
After all, he had been in the officialdom for a long time and had become very good at it. He pretended to be embarrassed and said to Zheng Xin: "Xiaguan has been in Jiangnan for a long time, but it seems that he has never heard of this. I don’t know when and where it started to spread.” He turned around and asked all the civil and military officials in the palace, “Have you ever heard of it?”
These officials are all human beings. They have already received Yin Chengliang's spirit son, and they all said: "Never heard of it... Never heard of it..."
Yin Chengliang nodded, and seemed to suddenly realize: "By the way, there is indeed a new magistrate here in Xiaguan. Mr. Qiu, have you ever heard of what His Highness said?"
Qiu Yizhi was also stunned after hearing this, thinking: This Yin Chengliang is an amateur in military matters, but he is extremely proficient in the art of officialdom fighting. In just two or three sentences, he not only kept himself and all Jiangnan officials out of the matter, but also pushed the conversation away from me - but also What an old fox!
However, Qiu Yizhi was not a good person. He said neither humble nor arrogantly: "Of course I have heard of this."
Yin Chengliang understood Qiu Yizhi's clever tricks very clearly. He originally thought that as soon as he said this, Qiu Yizhi would deny it in every possible way and claim that he didn't know, but to his surprise, he actually spoke out and admitted it directly. So Yin Chengliang made up his mind and said, "Then I would like to ask Mr. Qiu, where did you hear this?"
Qiu Yizhi smiled "hee hee" and said: "Oh, this is what the emperor mentioned to me when he summoned me to talk after I passed the imperial examination. Without the emperor's words, how could I have the shamelessness to ask the emperor for a job from Jiangnan Road? What about the county magistrate?”
Qiu Yizhi's words were so precise that Yin Chengliang was immediately speechless.
Zheng Xin heard clearly, but felt funny in his heart: Qiu Yizhi was famous for being cunning and eccentric about the four brothers studying together in the past. Even the erudite and talented Zhongli Kuang was often questioned by him in embarrassment. , let alone you Yin Chengliang.
However, after all, he now has a noble and condescending status. Although he has the mission of punishing Yin Chengliang and other Jiangnan Province officials, he does not want to overly refute Yin Chengliang and others when he first arrived, so he smiled and smoothed things over and said: "This rumor is nothing but mine. It’s just a casual mention, you don’t need to go into details.”
Yin Chengliang hurriedly walked down the steps and said: "Since ancient times, official positions have been thick and thin. Jiangnan Province is a prosperous place in the world. It is a fact that officials have a better life. Therefore, it is no wonder that officials from various places have some complaints. However, I, Jiangnan Province, use my status as an official to do There may be some officials who make money through business, but there are not those officials who are extremely evil and compete with the people for profit. This is something that Yin can guarantee.”
Zheng Xin nodded with a smile and said: "I can still trust what Mr. Yin said. But since he is a messenger sent by the emperor, I can't just do it. When the time comes, I will go to several counties to check the accounts and interviews over the years. It is also necessary to visit the gentry and the elders and explore the customs and customs of the people. Please don't criticize me when the time comes."
Yin Chengliang hurriedly said: "That's natural, that's natural." But he thought in his heart: Some of our Jiangnan Yamen are masters of accounting, and they have already made the accounts flawless; most of the gentry from all over the country are related to the officials, so how can they say weird things? , dig your own grave; as for exploring the folk customs, find a few acquaintances to give you some money, pretend to be common people, and say that the emperor's grace is great and the officials are responsible for the Qingming Dynasty, and then it is considered to be sent away - Your Highness goes south to inspect, how many people can you bring with you? How long can we stop, and how can we investigate all the shortcomings in the administration of officials
Yin Chengliang was making wishful thinking in his mind, but he heard Zheng Xin change the topic and said: "Government affairs must be investigated, and military affairs must not be neglected. It is said that Master Yin ordered tens of thousands of Jiangnan Dao Jiedu Army to go out for training a few days ago. I don't know if it is Is there such a thing?"
When Yin Chengliang heard this, cold sweat suddenly broke out on his back. After weighing it for a moment, he chose to pretend to be deaf and dumb and said: "I have heard a little bit about this matter. However, although the lower official is also in charge of the civil and military affairs in Jiangnan, he knows nothing about leading troops. Jiedu Army The daily training and mobilization are all handled by Jiedushi Shi Changjie and General Shi. If your Highness wants to ask, it is better to ask General Shi."
Shi Changjie was the highest-ranking military attache in the south of the Yangtze River. In addition to his actual duties as the military envoy to the south of the Yangtze River, he also held the fictitious title of "General of the Southern Expedition." However, Yin Chengliang has always been able to control the sky with one hand in the south of the Yangtze River. He has never spoken to himself as the military commander when using troops and horses. This time he sent troops to attack Shanyin County, he only sent a secretary to casually say hello, without even asking for his own opinion.
Therefore, when Shi Changjie heard Yin Chengliang kick the ball towards him, he immediately became furious. If it had been normal, Shi Changjie would have taken advantage of this great opportunity to give Yin Chengliang a powerful dose of medicine in front of Zheng Xin.
However, he absolutely couldn't do it now because his butt, Shi Changjie's, was not clean either.
It turns out that Shi Changjie was born as a martial arts scholar, but his wife was a general. He was able to serve as the highest military attache in a prosperous place like Jiangnan just after he turned forty, and his wife's family also contributed a lot. Therefore, his wife felt confident and was never polite in front of him. She was always known as the "Tigress". Shi Changjie dared to get angry but did not dare to say anything about this. Firstly, he did not dare to divorce his wife, secondly, he did not dare to keep a private house, and thirdly, he did not dare to stay in a brothel. In desperation, he had no choice but to pretend to be in the name of self-cultivation and Taoism. Taoist nuns from several Taoist palaces inside and outside Jinling City mingled together.
Based on the above reasons, although Shi Changjie was not on good terms with Yin Chengliang, he never wanted the "Liaochen Palace" case to be exposed, so he thought hard and carefully said every word: "Master Yin has fought this matter with the last general. I said hello, saying that there are bandits in Yuezhou who are attacking the city with great force, so they have to mobilize the surrounding garrison to suppress the rebellion. As for the progress of the operation... Due to the recurrence of the old injury, General Mo did not accompany the army to command this time. The specific situation. Not sure."
Yin Chengliang was such a shrewd man. Knowing that Shi Changjie kicked the ball back to his side, he couldn't help but feel a little angry. However, now was not the time to fall out, so he could only reply smoothly: "That's right. It's Mr. Cai, the Mu of Yuezhou Prefecture. He reported that the troops stationed in the state could not suppress him, so he led the troops there. "
Zheng Xin already knew the truth from Qiu Yizhi, but he wanted to deliberately embarrass these officials so that they would say something contradictory. So Zheng Xin turned around and asked, "Is Mr. Cai, the state pastor, here? The bandits attacking the city are a major rebellion. What is the current situation? Can you tell me in detail?"
Cai Min, who was standing in the queue, was stunned after hearing this, and thought to himself: "If it is admitted that a counter-case has been committed in his jurisdiction, then he, as the official in charge, will not be able to absolve himself of the blame. As usual, the court will punish him - according to his own If someone's age and qualifications are demerited and demoted at this time, it will be impossible for them to go further in this life. If they don't admit the occurrence of the reverse case, then it will just be an ordinary criminal case within their own jurisdiction, and it will be the end of the world. I am not deeply involved in Gong's case, and I have no reason to help Yin Chengliang, who has always been arrogant and arrogant, to blame."
After such a complex psychological struggle, Cai Min finally said: "It's not that mountain bandits attacked the city. In fact, it was Master Qiu, the magistrate of Shanyin County, who left his post without authorization, causing disorder in the county. That's why I accepted Master Yin's order." Password, lead the local garrison to suppress. "
"Oh? Is there anything else?" Zheng Xin pretended to be confused, then looked at Qiu Yizhi, who was standing at the end of the team, and said, "Master Qiu, you and I have met a few times. How do you do something good? What do you have to say about resigning?"
This was originally a double act that Qiu Yizhi and Zheng Xin had discussed to perform in front of the Jiangnan officials. After hearing that he had finally brought the topic to the point, he suppressed his laughter and stepped forward and said: "Xiaguan is not good at it." I'm leaving. It's just that a big case happened in this county, and I didn't know how to handle it, so I went to Jinling to ask for advice from Governor Yin. Maybe he forgot to inform Mr. Cai, which caused the misunderstanding."
When all the officials in Jiangnan heard the word "case" coming from Qiu Yi's mouth, their hearts trembled. Although they did not dare to turn around, their eyes were fixed on Yin Chengliang.
Yin Chengliang just wanted to end this topic quickly, and said quickly: "Yes, there is a matter. The subordinate has given instructions to Mr. Qiu, and Mr. Qiu did not leave his post without authorization. This must be due to insufficient communication among the three-level officials. , It’s just a joke to His Highness.” After saying that, he lowered his voice and laughed a few times.
All the Jiangnan officials in the hall also laughed out loud - the temporarily vacant meditation hall was suddenly filled with embarrassing laughter.
"What kind of case is this that actually requires Mr. Qiu to put down his errands and personally go above and beyond to ask the governor for instructions?" Zheng Xin asked.
As soon as Zheng Xin said this, the laughter in the room suddenly fell silent, and hundreds of civil and military officials all looked at Qiu Yizhi.
Qiu Yizhi grinned and said: "The case brought by His Highness is a big case, and it is sensational in the entire Han Dynasty."
Zheng Xin immediately said: "Oh? Although my country is prosperous and peaceful, there are still some ignorant and cunning people who take risks, and there are countless cases every year. Why is Master Qiu's case called sensational?"
Qiu Yizhi also took over the conversation and said: "His Highness is well-informed, maybe not under his eyes, but in the eyes of this official, a mere unknown Taoist nun actually killed thirteen people in a few years. In this way. This case truly deserves the word 'sensational'!"
"What! Thirteen lives!" Zheng Xin stood up and pretended to be surprised, "Master Qiu! There is such a big case in your jurisdiction. Don't you know that it is the responsibility of the shepherd to protect you? Don't you know that your crime is unforgivable?"
Qiu Yizhi also pretended to be frightened and said: "Your Highness, please calm down, this is not Xianguan's fault! When this case occurred, Xianguan had only been in office for less than a day, and Xianguan did not want to take the blame for his predecessor!"
After hearing this, Zheng Xin's anger seemed to dissipate a little, and he said: "You are very sharp-tongued... but you are not completely unreasonable. Now that you have been in office for two months, the case has finally been found out, right?"
"It's been found out, it's been found out." Qiu Yi was waiting for Zheng Xin's words, so she quickly told the details of the "Thirteen Fate Case" in detail.
Zheng Xin and Qiu Yizhi's questions and answers were so compact that Yin Chengliang didn't even have a chance to interrupt. He could only listen carefully and rub his hands together in worry.
But when Zheng Xin heard what Qiu Yizhi said, he breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I didn't expect this 'Miaozhen layman' to be so vicious. Even if he killed thirteen people over the years, he actually dared to attack the imperial official. It's really lawless! He should be punished severely!"
Qiu Yizhi hurriedly bowed his head to the end and said: "What His Highness said is absolutely true, and the lower officials also think so. However, Lord Cai Mincai and Lord Yin Chengliang do not think so."
"Oh?" Zheng Xin took a heavy breath, turned to look directly at Yin Chengliang and said, "Master Yin, what do you say?" (To be continued)