"I know Yizhi's sincere heart, and I will approve everything you said. However, you should restrain your wildness, act according to etiquette and laws, and don't think that 'the emperor is far away' and cause a big trouble. I can't help but be considerate, very important! In addition, the military strength of Jiangnan Road is shockingly weak, and the Japanese are so invincible. It is really worrying. Now that the Japanese rebellion has started, I have ordered Cui Nan to coordinate the suppression of the rebellion. Yizhi cannot stay out of it. It is advisable to summon people who can be driven to serve as local militia to resist the enemy. However, the number of people should not exceed 200, otherwise it will hinder the order. Try your best."
After Qiu Yizi finished reading, he was so shocked that he sat down on his seat. In the increasingly cool weather, he was sweating profusely.
Seeing Qiu Yi's expression, Lin Shuhan knew that the content of the letter was very important, so he asked tentatively: "Sir, can I have a look at the letter the emperor gave you?"
Qiu Yizi pondered for a long while, finally slowly raised his hand and handed the letter that had scared him so much to Lin Shuhan.
Lin Shuhan took it with both hands, read it over and over again, and finally handed the emperor Zheng Rong's letter back to Qiu Yizhi and asked, "Sir, what does the emperor mean by these words?"
"This... this... this..." Qiu Yizi, who was always eloquent, actually stuttered, "This... I... I don't really know, could it be... Alas... the power of heaven is unpredictable, could it be that the emperor thinks I have committed the crime of deceiving the emperor and wants to punish me?"
As he spoke, a bean-sized drop of sweat flowed down from the tip of Qiu Yizi's nose and fell onto the table, making a "puff" sound.
Lin Shuhan frowned and said, "Your Excellency's words, 'The power of heaven is hard to predict', are exactly right. However, the emperor is also a human being. His every move and every word must have a pattern to follow. Otherwise, wouldn't he become a capricious tyrant?"
After hearing what Lin Shuhan said, Qiu Yizhi's nervous mood suddenly relaxed, and he asked, "Mr. Lin's words make sense. Have you figured out the emperor's intention?"
Lin Shuhan did not speak. He took a folding fan from the side, opened it, and fanned Qiu Yizhi a few times. He said with a smile, "Guessing the emperor's intention is a serious crime. If I guess wrong and the emperor asks about it, and the emperor raises his hand and points at me and says, 'This person made a random guess,' then I will be wiped out."
Qiu Yizi knew that Lin Shuhan's old habit of putting on airs and keeping things in suspense had come out again, so he hurriedly said, "Sir, do you still not trust my character? Please don't keep me in suspense. Look at the sweat on my forehead!"
Lin Shuhan laughed loudly, fanned Qiu Yizhi a few times with his fan, and said, "Then I will not deny it. In my humble opinion, although the wording of the emperor's letter is harsh, the harshness does not mean that he is dissatisfied with you."
He paused and said, "If you don't believe me, please read this. The emperor's letter has two sentences in total. There is nothing much to say about the first sentence, and his trust in you is evident. Although the second sentence is serious, it is mainly for advice, asking you to 'restrain your wildness' and 'obey etiquette and follow the law', which are all general talk. As for the sentence 'the sky is high and the emperor is far away', it is a street slang. Speaking of it from such a supreme status as the emperor, it can also show that the emperor has an extraordinary relationship with you."
Lin Shuhan thought for a moment and said, "Also, the emperor's words, 'No matter how big the trouble is, I can't take care of it.' Although the tone is harsh, from another perspective, doesn't it mean that as long as the trouble is not exposed, the emperor will always be able to take care of it. The sky is high and the earth is thick. If you really want to expose the sky, how easy is it? In addition, the emperor's last few words are particularly important. In just a few dozen words, he actually granted Lord Qiu military power. It can be seen that in Jiangnan Road, even if the emperor does not trust you, he trusts other officials even less. To put it bluntly, the emperor still needs you to work for him in Jiangnan Road, so he will only warn you and will not really do anything to you!"
Qiu Yizhi listened quietly to what Lin Shuhan said until here, and finally put his heart at ease. He pondered his words for a long time before saying, "Thanks to Mr. Lin as my think tank, otherwise, just based on the emperor's words, I might have been worried and insane."
Lin Shuhan was like a bucket of cold water poured down on his head after hearing this: "Don't be happy too soon, sir. The emperor can say such words, in fact, he has doubts about you in his heart. As the saying goes, 'to be with the emperor is like being with a tiger'. When you have achieved success and fame, you can leave the capital Luoyang and come to Mingzhou, where 'the sky is high and the emperor is far away', to be a small county magistrate. This shows that you think long-term, and I admire this very much."
At the beginning, Qiu Yizi had made unprecedented contributions in Emperor Zheng Rong's "anti-rebellion campaign". The emperor originally promised that he could choose any civil or military official position, regardless of its rank. However, Qiu Yizi claimed that he knew too many secrets of Zheng Rong and had done too many shady things for him. Once the emperor turned against him, he would be doomed. Therefore, he insisted on requesting to be sent out to serve as an official.
Although he was very clear about this, he could not express it to anyone. Zheng Miao, the third son of the current emperor and the one who was closest to him, just thought that he had no interest in fame and fortune. As for the Prime Minister Zhongli Kuang, who had raised him since childhood, he only vaguely guessed that his student had the intention of retiring to the mountains.
In short, Qiu Yizhi could only keep these words in her heart to herself, even in front of Lin Shuhan, whom she regarded as a close friend. After a long silence, she finally said: "Anyway, from now on, I will always be more careful and cautious. Please remind me from time to time..."
Seeing Lin Shuhan nodded with a smile, he said, "Well, it's getting late. The old ship owner's condition is serious. Let's go and announce the decree!" As he said that, he respectfully picked up the two documents and walked out the door.
When Lin Shuhan saw this, he hurriedly followed.
Li Zhi's condition has been fluctuating these past few days. When he is feeling better, he can walk a few steps, but when he is feeling worse, his feet hurt so much that he can only lie in bed. Fortunately, the medicine of the deceased Gu Er Niang is very effective. Although it cannot completely detoxify the poison, the toxicity will not spread after using it.
When Qiu Yizi pushed the door open, Li Zhi was still in good health. He was sitting on the bed talking to Old Cai. Seeing Qiu Yizi coming over, he smiled and said, "It's Lord Qiu. Come, come, please sit here." He pointed to a chair near the bed.
Qiu Yizi stood still and said seriously, "Old Captain, the Emperor's decree has come down. Although the Captain is not feeling well, the relationship between the Emperor and his subjects is still here, and the great ceremony cannot be neglected. Please welcome him."
Li Zhi was surprised and happy after hearing this. He didn't know where he got the energy from, but he climbed down from the bed, staggered to Qiu Yizi, and said with a happy expression on his face: "This is a blessing for my Li family! I have lived to such an old age, and it is worth my life to receive the emperor's order!" As he spoke, tears of joy came to his eyes.
If the emperor's every word was an imperial decree, Qiu Yizhi had received countless of them in the past twenty years, so she was not as excited as Li Zhi. She said calmly, "The old captain is seriously injured and has not recovered yet. Please stay calm. It is urgent to receive the imperial decree now."
Li Zhi slapped his forehead and said, "Yes, yes, Master Qiu is right. It's just that... it's just that we are all common people and don't know the rules. How should we welcome the imperial edict? Please give us your instructions, Master."
Qiu Yizhi originally didn't care about these red tapes, but in order to win back the hearts of Li Zhi and Li Shengjie, this kind of ceremony was indispensable, so he searched his memory carefully and said, "This... I think this room is too small, please ask the old ship owner to clean the deck and set up the incense table, and everyone on the ship must kneel in silence. Oh, and all the flags on the masts must be lowered as a sign of respect."
Li Zhi nodded as he listened, and said, "Thank you for your advice!" He turned to Old Cai and instructed, "Old Cai, you heard it all, why don't you go and do it!"
Of course Old Cai knew that this matter was of great importance, so he agreed and ran out.
After Qiu Yizhi left, she reached out her hand to help Li Zhi sit back on the bed and said, "I'm afraid it will take some time for Old Cai to clean the deck and set up the incense table. I have something here that was also a reward from the emperor, but it is not convenient to give it to the old ship owner when the decree is announced. "
As he spoke, Qiu Yizi took the slightly thick document from Lin Shuhan, held it in both hands and handed it to Li Zhi.
Seeing Qiu Yizhi being so respectful, Li Zhi also took the paper package respectfully and asked, "Sir, may I open it and have a look?"
When he saw Qiu Yizi nodding with a smile, he pulled out the stack of papers from the gap that had been separated. He looked closely and saw that it was a large stack of customs clearance documents. He could not take his eyes off these thin papers, which were slightly yellow in color, written in tiny regular script, and stamped with the seals of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue.
Seeing that Li Zhi's eyes were about to fall out, Qiu Yizi smiled and said, "These customs documents were sent by the emperor together with the imperial edict, a total of 100. The emperor originally intended to give them to me to control the sea merchants traveling between Mingzhou and Japan. I think the old and young masters have saved my life, and they have bothered me a lot these days, so I will give them all to the old master."
Of course, what Qiu Yizi said was not true - but these customs documents, the imperial edict drafted by Zhongli Kuang, and the letter written by Zheng Rong did not mention it, so it would be completely reasonable for Qiu Yizi to use it to punish himself - in this way, his words were not entirely nonsense.
This moved Li Zhi so much that tears flowed from his eyes: "Master Qiu, what are you talking about? What are you talking about? Since the emperor has issued an order, I can't take it all by myself..."
As he spoke, Li Zhi tremblingly took out half of the customs documents in his hand, held them in his hand and slowly presented them to Qiu Yizi: "These customs documents are like money in the eyes of us sea merchants. My lord, take them, they should be useful!"
Seeing that Li Zhi said this, but his face showed a reluctant expression, Qiu Yizhi smiled and stretched out his hand to push the document back from Li Zhi's hand, saying: "A real man should keep his word. I just said that these documents should all be given to the old ship owner. The old ship owner refused to accept them. Is it because he doesn't want to give me face?"
Li Zhi was stunned when he heard this, and his hands froze in the air, he was in a dilemma.
At this moment, Li Shengjie pushed the door open and saw that Li Zhi and Qiu Yizi were acting strangely, so he asked loudly, "Dad, what are you doing with Master Qiu?"
When he walked in to take a closer look, he was so shocked that his mouth couldn't close. After a while, he said, "Why are there so many customs documents? They look worth millions of taels of silver! Where did Dad get them from?"
Li Zhi quickly said, "This is a gift from Lord Qiu to our Li family. Why don't you, Jie'er, pay your respects to Lord Qiu on behalf of your father?"
Qiu Yizi quickly supported Li Shengjie and said, "Forget about that. The young captain came from outside, and I don't know how old Cai has arranged it. If everything is ready, we will go to the deck to announce the decree. At that time, the three kowtows and nine bows ceremony must be performed without ambiguity." (To be continued)