"Prefect Zhang doesn't need to be too polite. The disaster in Xiangzhou is serious, so there is no need to spend a lot of time on etiquette." Qing Yun opened the curtain and took a look. The father and daughter at the gate of the city were dressed brightly, and their complexions were rosy even in this harsh environment. , It seems that they are not living in the same world as the disaster victims outside the city.
Turning her eyes on the woman with her head down, Qing Yun averted her eyes indifferently. It seems that the father and daughter didn't know that it wasn't some imperial envoy who came from the capital but the eldest prince himself, otherwise Zhang Lin couldn't have carried out his daughter who was engaged to General Zhenbei like he treated other imperial envoys.
Dayan's defense between men and women is not serious, but it is not approved by the world for unmarried women to show their faces in public. Zhang Lin doesn't even want his daughter's reputation for the sake of glory and wealth.
Zhang Lin and his daughter Zhang Luoyan looked at each other, they were both a little strange, the imperial envoys who came here usually knew about Zhang Luoyan and Qi Yue's marriage, and would often greet Zhang Luoyan, so it's not like they are so cold now A cold word to pass.
There was a bad premonition in his heart, but Zhang Lin glanced at the monotonous carriage, and then five or six guards were relieved, and said according to his usual method of dealing with these imperial envoys: "Mr. , if you don’t settle down first, the official has already hosted a banquet in the mansion, please go.”
"Oh? That's great." Qing Yun lowered the curtain lightly, and he didn't have time to practice Tai Chi with the prefect. The situation in Xiangzhou is serious, and he can't wait for long. Tonight, he will let the prefect of Xiangzhou spit out all the disaster relief money he swallowed!
A group of people marched mightily thinking of the prefect's mansion, and the little guard at the back spat at Qing Yun's carriage. This group of wretches from the imperial court, at first glance, would like to eat Zhang Lin's flesh, but after eating a meal in the prefect's mansion, they turned a blind eye to the affairs of Xiangzhou, and what's more, they went straight to death. escape!
But after these imperial envoys left, Zhang Lin, the eunuch who was already a fish and meat, wanted to plunder the people's fat and anointment, so in the eyes of this little guard, these officials from the imperial court were the same as the eunuch Zhang Lin!
If only... It would be great if the third prince could come. The little guard thought silently, even though this Lin had reverted to his old self after the third prince left, at least he would calm down for a while when the third prince was around, and just this few minutes would make the people of the entire Xiangzhou grateful.
Not only did the little guards think so, they entered the city, and the victims who were hunched on the side of the road in the corner of the city saw the officials from the capital, they all looked over with hope in their eyes, and some bold people quietly asked the little guards: "Is it someone from the capital? Is it someone sent by the third prince?"
"No..." The little guard could only shake his head bitterly, "I heard that now that the First Prince is in power, the imperial envoys sent by the First Prince are here..."
These words made the victims who came to inquire suddenly slumped in the corner of the wall as if their bodies had been hollowed out, as if the flood was serious, the farmland was burned, corpses were floating on both sides of the river, and there were imperial envoys coming to annoy the prefect...
Then this piece of forest must not eat the flesh of the people raw!
No one welcomed Qing Yun's coming, because they were frightened by Zhang Lin's methods. The imperial envoys came one by one, but none of them brought the results they wanted, but made Zhang Lin even more exploitative.
Now the officials from the capital are not good news for the people of Xiangzhou, but a huge bad news. Seeing the carriage from the capital heading towards the prefect's mansion, the people of Xiangzhou standing on the street and watching, even felt resentment towards the eldest prince who sent this imperial envoy here. If the eldest prince ascends the throne, I don't know how their lives will change. what kind of...
Qingyun came to the prefect's mansion, and when he saw the furnishings in the mansion, he knew what kind of life Zhang Lin lived in Xiangzhou. This prefect's mansion was still where Zhang Lin entertained guests, and it might be a little more "simple" than his private house. .
Zhang Luoyan glanced at his father quietly, a pair of shrewd eyes revealed a burst of suspicion. She quite said that now that the eldest prince is in power, the imperial envoys sent by him may be as easy to deal with as the previous ones.
Zhang Lin looked at his daughter reassuringly, and winked at her.
Zhang Luoyan staggered immediately upon receiving her father's signal, and the golden flying butterfly on her head trembled immediately, and made a strange and pleasant sound, attracting the attention of everyone in the mansion.
"Look at you, why did you bring out the jewelry from General Zhenbei's betrothal gift? What if it falls?" Zhang Lin reprimanded pretending to be angry.
When Zhang Luoyan heard his father's words, instead of being panicked, he stomped his feet coquettishly, held his flushed face and said coquettishly, "The general sent it to me, why can't I wear it?"
Following Zhang Luoyan's movements, that step trembled again, and the two butterfly wings that were about to fly fluttered vividly. I don't know if this picture of falling smoke was intentional, but when she turned around, her swaying Bu Yao appeared in front of Qing Yun without any hindrance.
Qing Yun glanced at the golden butterfly, and sneered in his heart, whether the father and daughter went out to greet him in person, or invited him to a banquet, they were all trying to use Qi Yue to oppress him.
"Oh? This step really suits Ms. Zhang very well. Since it is a gift from her fiancée, it is suitable to wear at any time." Qing Yunyu said this sentence coldly, and then looked at the eunuch Zhang Lin with lightning-like eyes. , "I want to discuss the disaster relief with the prefect in detail, but I don't know if the prefect has time?"
The guards who followed Qing Yun from the capital heard that His Royal Highness had a different tone from the past, and could not help but look at Qing Yun in surprise, and then explained to himself that it must be the scene of Xiangzhou that made His Highness extremely angry, otherwise why did the words reveal so angry
As soon as Zhang Lin heard that Qingyun exaggerated Zhang Luoyan's gait like other imperial envoys, he immediately stroked his beard with a smile on his face, even Qingyun's obviously cold tone ignored it.
Which imperial envoy from the capital didn't have a lot of opinions on him, so he used Qi Yue's reputation to run away with his tail between his tails when threatened
"Don't worry, my lord, it's not too late to talk about business after dinner!" Zhang Lin led Qing Yun to the lobby.
Hearing Zhang Lin's words, the coldness in Qing Yun's heart could hardly be concealed overflowed. People in Xiangzhou would die of hunger every moment, but Zhang Lin, the prefect, still wanted to talk about business after dinner
He is interested to see what the specifications of the banquet in the prefect's mansion are!
The dinner started, and exquisite dishes were put on the table. Qingyun looked at the big fish and meat on the table, and he had no appetite at all. The whole Xiangzhou was full of mourning and starvation, but the eunuch ate Her face is full of oil, and her daughter still has the mind to worry about the decorations on her wrist nails.
Even the guards following Qingyun showed anger when they saw the whole dinner table. Could it be that the entire prefect's mansion is made of the flesh and blood of the people of Xiangzhou
Originally looking at the table full of fish, Qing Yun had no appetite, but the Xiangzhou prefect still didn't think it was enough, so he introduced the dishes to Qing Yun in a rambling manner.
He introduced the dishes as false, and the utensils showing off the dishes as true. Every time you introduce something, you must reprimand the subordinates in a fake manner: "Presumptuous! How can you take out the things in the betrothal gift given by General Qi?"
And although Zhang Luoyan is not a girl in the boudoir, she seems to know what her father has done. From time to time, she will help her, or reprimand her servants for destroying the letter sent to her by General Qi, or show off Jewelry on her body.
This letter was of course fabricated by Zhang Luoyan. She was accused by Emperor Hongming of marrying Qi Yue for nearly two years. At the beginning, she still hoped that one day the Great General of Zhenbei would marry her back home. But day after day passed, Qi Yue seemed to have forgotten her, and they didn't have the guts to go to the border to ask Qi Yue to urge the marriage, so they could only hold back.
Zhang Luoyan was extremely dissatisfied. At first she felt a little guilty about what her father had done, but now she felt that it was very normal for her father to take advantage of Qi Yue's reputation to gain some benefits.
The father and daughter talked to each other and introduced every decoration in the house.
They think that these words are a deterrent to the officials from the capital. After all, in Zhang Lin's view, those who can be sent as imperial envoys are all important ministers who care about the country, and the first task of important ministers is to take care of the overall situation. Dare to offend Qi Yue and cause turmoil, especially when Emperor Hongming was seriously ill.
If other people, even Wei Lin, were to come, they might be intimidated by the father and daughter, so they should be a little cautious about the strength of Qi Yue's troops. But what they met was Qing Yun who was the eldest prince, so not only did the words of the father and daughter not make him hesitate, but completely ignited the anger in Qing Yun's heart.
He was expressionless, staring at the golden emerald glass bottle in the middle of the round table with mixed emotions. According to Zhang Lin, this glass bottle is the most precious item among Qi Yue's betrothal gifts, it is very popular with Zhang Luoyan, and he has to see it every day when he eats.
Zhang Lin's father and daughter said that their tongues were dry, and seeing that there was nothing to say, they stopped and took a sip of water.
Qing Yun didn't hold his chopsticks all this time, and now he was doing it straight, his eyes full of majesty: "The eunuch and Ling Qianjin are finished? If they are finished, I have to say a few more words."
Seeing Qingyun's attitude, Zhang Lin's father and daughter were all taken aback. Even the surrounding guards around Qingyun held their breath and waited for Qingyun to speak. They found that His Highness's previous anger had been concealed, and now it was the harbinger of the great prince's anger.
Qingyun knocked on the table with his index finger, glanced at all the objects introduced by the two people, and said with a sneer: "According to what the prefect said, these utensils are all betrothal gifts from the Great General of Zhenbei, but why are each of them Engraved with the unique symbol of the imperial bestowal?"
Zhang Lin paused, and cold sweat immediately flowed down.
"Holding the guests with the gift from the emperor, the eunuch's crime of disrespect cannot be taken away." Qing Yun's voice became gloomy, "If the general who suppresses the north is hired with this gift, he will be guilty of the same crime as you , are unpardonable crimes!"
The prefect was stunned by the sentence "unforgivable crime", since he got married with Qi Yue, he had never heard anyone say such words to him.
He naturally knew that these things were gifts from the imperial court, but usually when these ministers knew about them, they thought that Qi Yue was so brave that he even dared to use the gifts from the imperial court to hire him. Was it such a furious reaction
In fact, this dowry was not given by Qi Yue, but by Emperor Hongming who pointed out that after the marriage, he thought that Qi Yue was far away at the border, so he gave some things on his own initiative and sent them to the general's mansion. Unexpectedly, Zhang Lin thought it was Qi Yue. Yue Xia's dowry.
The momentum at the dinner table was tense, and seeing that he was too soft, Zhang Lin thought about the crude carriage this person came in, and thought that this person might not have a high status, so he threatened directly: "What do you mean by this, my lord? You have to think about it." Now, the Zhenbei Army under the hands of General Qi is invincible in the whole of Dayan. Moreover, General Qi loves his daughter very much. If something happens to my Zhang family, General Qi will be furious and become a beauty, and it will be troublesome if he rebels."
The more Zhang Lin said, the more confident he became in his heart, and the more confident he said: "If I'm not wrong, my lord is under the command of the First Prince. If the First Prince wants to ascend the throne, he must not dare to confront General Shang Qi."
Seeing Qingyun's complexion getting worse and worse, Zhang Lin laughed, extremely proud: "Your Excellency, you must see clearly, even your master dare not touch me, Zhang Lin!"
As soon as Zhang Lin finished speaking, he saw the noble young man on the opposite side slightly open his lips: "Oh, why don't I know that I am still afraid of that General Zhenbei?"
As he spoke, the young man took off the jade pendant on his waist and put it heavily on the table. On the lustrous white jade, the word "Sa" is surrounded by a mighty dragon pattern.
The sound of "pop" almost rang in Zhang Lin's heart, and he stared blankly at the jade pendant on the table.
Ben Gong... Ben Gong
"Putong" the prefect of Xiangzhou, who was originally confident, fell to the ground with a bench.
There was a heavy rain rumbling from the sky, and thunder and lightning pierced the dark night sky with bean-sized raindrops.
In such a severe torrential rain, the refugees in the city didn't even have shelters to hide from the rain, so they could only curl up in a corner.
Some people closed their eyes silently in the midst of hunger, and more living people also smelled the bursts of fragrance from the prefect's mansion during the heavy rain.
Oh, the prefect's mansion is hosting a banquet for the imperial envoys from the imperial court.
They thought dully, but their extremely hungry bodies moved towards the prefect's mansion involuntarily, as if it was good to smell the fragrance.
Just like that, a lot of refugees had gathered before they knew it.
The concierge of the prefect's mansion looked sad, but he could only drive away with a frown because of Zhang Lin's lust.
But this expulsion was useless. More people came from afar smelling the fragrance, sitting around, looking at the prefect's mansion with a pair of eager eyes, praying that they could get a little bit of money. leftovers.
Even the ignorant toddler forgot to cry, biting his fingers and looking at the closed gate of the prefect's mansion, as if looking at an unattainable paradise.
Suddenly, there was a loud "bang" thunder, accompanied by the sound of the door opening.
The refugees standing in front of the gate of the prefect's mansion rubbed their eyes, and actually saw the gate of the prefect's mansion open. Several guards came out in a file, and the leader said loudly: "The eldest prince has ordered that the prefect Zhang Lin is corrupt and perverts the law. Unbearable to be an official, withdraw his position as the prefect and choose a day to ask for execution! All items in the prefect's mansion will be confiscated, and they will be used for disaster relief in Xiangzhou. Anyone who stands in the way will be executed!"
As soon as this imperial decree came out, it was as if a pot had exploded in front of the gate of the prefect's mansion. All the refugees could not imagine that they could see the scene of house raids in the prefect's mansion. Everyone wondered if they were knocked out by the previous thunder. head.
"Did you hear that the prefect's mansion is going to be ransacked!"
"Disaster relief, food...we have food..." Some women hugged their children and cried, even if it was a dream, let them get a moment of peace.
There was a lot of discussion at the gate of the city. Sensing the movement here, refugees kept pouring in from all over the place, blocking the entire prefect's mansion.
Everyone who heard the news rushed to tell each other: "The prefect's mansion was ransacked, and the imperial envoy said that everything in the prefect's mansion was confiscated and used for disaster relief!"
"No, no, no! It's not the imperial envoy, it's the First Prince, and the First Prince personally gave the order!"
"What is the eldest prince? Not the third prince?"
The news that the eldest prince went to Xiangzhou in person, along with the good news that the prefect's mansion was ransacked, spread throughout the city of Xiangzhou. Tonight must be a sleepless night for the people of Xiangzhou.
There was a panic in the prefect's mansion, but the guards who were dissatisfied with Zhang Lin immediately assembled, and under the leadership of Qing Yun's men and horses, they turned the entire prefect's mansion upside down. Someone even pointed out the location of several private houses of Zhang Lin. They copied them together by hand.
The little guard, who was angry with the imperial envoy this morning, quickly followed the guards from the capital and led them the way: "This is the warehouse, which is full of gold and silver treasures. Over there is the granary. I will take you there!"
As he said that, he turned his head and wiped his tears fiercely with the fire behind his back. Earlier today he had resented the imperial envoys from the imperial court, but he did not expect that the eldest prince, who seemed incompetent in his eyes, would come to Hunan in person. Zhou, even without stopping for a moment to completely pull out this moth!
His home was finally saved!
The little guard glanced at the place where the eldest prince was from a distance, and then quickly followed the quarreling team in front, his eyes were unprecedentedly determined.
Taking out an extremely rich amount of grain from the granary of the prefect's mansion, Qing Yun didn't stop, and immediately asked people to set up a shed and set up a big pot in the heavy rain, and the thick porridge started to boil.
The entire city of Xiangzhou was full of excitement, and the scene at this time was like a dream to the people of Xiangzhou. Just when the third prince came, the restraint of the prefect Zhang Lin could make them grateful, and today's complete overthrow of the prefect's mansion made them feel uneasy, as if they were stepping on the clouds without any sense of steadfastness.
It wasn't until the sky was slightly bright and they had a bowl of hot porridge that they truly felt what happiness is. Several properties in the prefect's mansion and Zhang Lin's were vacated to accommodate these homeless refugees. Qingyun even opened the gates of the city to let the people who were in a more miserable situation outside the city enter the inner city with higher terrain, and sent people to build sheds for people to live in.
From then on, the people of Xiangzhou looked at the prefect's mansion where the eldest prince was, as if they were looking at the residence of a god.
No one has ever pulled them out of suffering like the eldest prince. For them, the eldest prince is their reborn parents.
However, in the face of their thanks, the eldest prince who appeared in front of them made a deep bow, pleading guilty: "Letting the common people suffer exploitation is really not good for Sa, and it is too late to plead guilty, how dare you accept everyone's thanks?"
This noble young man spoke so sincerely that he even changed his name. After this battle, the people of Xiangzhou became more convinced of the eldest prince, but the impression of the third prince has gradually faded in their hearts. After all, it is obvious which is good and which is bad.
After solving Zhang Lin's matter, Qing Yun did not relax, but focused on water control. The embankments on both sides of the bank are still strong, which is why Zhang Lin dared to be so slack in water control. However, the river is growing so fast that there will always be a day when the embankments burst. Sacrificing part of the farmland, but there are two lakes to store water in the south and flooding will no longer be a problem.
Due to the shortage of manpower, Qing Yun was busy transferring people from surrounding states and counties, and at the same time let the arrested Zhang Lin and others act as coolies. After all, this group of people is not very honest. In order to prevent them from making trouble, Qing Yun went to the riverside to inspect every day, and won praise from the people of Xiangzhou.
Today, he inspected the river bank under light rain as usual, but saw a commotion at the construction site.
"Your Highness, be careful! Tell your subordinates to check first." The guards following Qing Yun are now full of admiration for Qing Yun, how dare they look at him as suspected, and immediately push aside the crowd to ask.
Seeing the graceful figure kneeling on the ground in the crowd, Qing Yun couldn't understand that Zhang Luoyan was acting like a demon again.
Qing Yun did not embarrass Zhang Luoyan, but just demoted him to a slave according to Dayan's law. Now Xiangzhou is short of manpower. Although she has changed from a young lady to a fire-burning girl, she is much better than those victims who died of illness and starvation.
This piece of Luo Yan was dressed in plain clothes, kneeling in the muddy water with a miserable face, and crying together with Zhang Lin. At first glance, it seemed that these two people had been wronged by the sky, but Qing Yun seemed like a villain. .
Seeing the figure of the First Prince, Zhang Luoyan knelt down towards him, and said with tears in his eyes: "Prince! Minnv knows that my father has done many wrong things, but after all, my father has been the prefect of Xiangzhou for many years. It can be said that you are diligent and conscientious, and you only made mistakes in the past two years, and the crime of beheading is too serious, Minnv implores the eldest prince to allow father to make up for his mistakes, Minnv kowtows to you."
Before the top of Zhang Luoyan's head touched the ground, Qing Yun said, "You don't need to kowtow to me, and you don't need to beg me."
Zhang Luoyan was taken aback by Qing Yun's words, and then he heard the young man's usual clear voice become harsh: "Turn your head and look behind you, look at the floating corpses salvaged from the river, and then look at those Refugees who don’t have enough food and clothing, those skinny children. Zhang Luoyan, you need to kowtow to them and plead with them. If the people of Xiangzhou agree to release Zhang Lin, I will withdraw the order without saying a word! "
The young man's serious words made Zhang Luoyan turn her head involuntarily following his movements, and she saw pairs of eyes full of anger and hatred, which made Zhang Luoyan panic and feel ashamed, even if He covered his face and ran away.
A rush of horseshoes sounded on the official road outside Xiangzhou City. The official road was flooded, and water splashed everywhere as the horseshoes trampled on it.
Qi Yue finally entered the territory of Xiangzhou with a team of people. Although he came extremely fast, he realized that Xiangfeng had no other people around him in order to rush on the road, so he disregarded the third prince's blockage from the three teams he brought. a team.
After all, whenever there is a natural disaster, there must be refugees. Although young people have martial arts to protect their bodies, they are born weak to prevent other conditions from appearing. Thinking of this, Qi Yue resented the eldest prince who sent young people to control the water.
He always wants to let the eldest prince know that although this young man from Zhilan Yushu is dedicated to serving the people and even neglecting his own safety for this reason, he is not something he can bully!
Walking along the official road, Qi Yue frowned more and more as he walked. He didn't see a refugee along the way, leaving only a field submerged by the river.
"General... Is the disaster in Xiangzhou so serious? No one survived?" A military officer approached Qi Yue and asked.
"No." Qi Yue said seriously, "Look, although there are no refugees, there are no floating corpses in the water, which means that in order to avoid the plague, the floating corpses have been salvaged. It will take great effort to salvage the floating corpses, and the victims must have settled down. "
"General, there seems to be someone in that direction! There are still many!" A scout with extremely sharp eyes shouted at Qi Yue.
Qi Yue stared at it, and said decisively: "Go and have a look!"
Seeing Zhang Luoyan run away, Zhang Lin and others in the ditch did not stop, but stood up one after another with fierce faces, looking fiercely at us even though we were covered in mud youth.
Qing Yun looked at the actions of these people, and twitched the corners of his mouth indifferently.
These strong and strong people are Zhang Lin's extremely trustworthy people. They are used to helping Zhang Lin in crimes and crimes. How can they be convinced when they are arrested as sinners at first
Four or five days of hard work had already made them burst with anger. Qing Yun had expected that they would explode sooner or later, so today he only brought a guard here to give Zhang Lin and others a chance to explode.
Zhang Lin slowly got up, the panic and fear of knowing that the young man was the eldest prince had dissipated, and his eyes had returned to their usual shrewdness. That night, it was only because he was too surprised to know Qing Yun's identity, coupled with the oppression of the imperial class, that made him flustered, and this eldest prince who seemed to have just reached the weak crown had the upper hand.
Now Zhang Lin has calmed down, and has already started to plan secretly. Xiangzhou is short of manpower, most of the people have suffered from the floods and are already weak, and the people dispatched from the neighboring states and counties have not yet arrived, so the main force for water control is Zhang Lin and his fish and meat thugs.
Although the guards of Guishun Qingyun's prefect's mansion were also there, and there were some relatively strong refugees to help, but compared with Zhang Lin's group of strong thugs, they were not the slightest bit worse.
So seeing that the eldest prince is single and weak, how can Zhang Lin hold back
Zhang Lin walked forward slowly. Although he was in a mess, his momentum had recovered. He looked at Qing Yun and sneered, "The eldest prince is too ignorant. Zhang is exhausted with an old bone Dredging the river, not to mention other things, should make up for the mistakes, right? But what did you mean by what you said before? Could it be that you are forcing us to rebel!"
As soon as he uttered the word "rebellion", the thugs around him immediately took a step forward, staring at Qing Yun with a stern gaze.
Seeing that the situation was not good, the refugees who were helping around immediately ran over to help. Although they were still weak around Qing Yun, they bravely picked up their hoes and confronted Zhang Lin.
Instead of hiding behind the refugees, Qing Yun pushed aside the people standing in front of him, and looked at Zhang Lin mockingly: "Oh? I don't know who gave the eunuch the courage to rebel at this moment? Could it be the General of Zhenbei Qi Yue again? ?”
Seeing that the eldest prince was still so calm and unhurried, Zhang Lin tightened his grip on the agricultural tools, but he suddenly became more courageous as he swept past the mob of refugees and the lone guard behind the eldest prince. He sneered twice in his heart, the eldest prince is still too young to bring more people around, so why not just let him take advantage of it now
Thinking in this way, Zhang Lin walked to the front with his head held high, raised his hoe and shouted: "How about Zhang who rebelled today? Brothers, listen, if the Great General of Zhenbei knows that the First Prince treats his unmarried wife and father-in-law like this , will definitely be furious, today Zhang simply created this rebellion for General Zhenbei!"
As soon as the words fell, before Zhang Linhao's ambition dissipated, he heard a sound of orderly and solemn hoofbeats, and a group of majestic and murderous troops came around from the side of the river and quickly came in front of several people.
Although the number of this team was small, a strong bloody aura emanated from the standing soldiers, and it was frightening to take advantage of the dark and sharp armor.
Suddenly the leader reined in the reins, and the black horses of the steeds neighed a long time, their hooves raised high, and the people on them followed the movements of the horses, and their scarlet cloaks flew in the drizzle.
Zhang Lin hadn't figured out what the situation was, when he heard the majestic voice mixed with gloomy anger from the leader: "General Zhenbei is going to rebel? How come I, Qi Yue, don't know?"