The prefect, oh no, the "Deng and Qian" families revealed by the former prefect did not surprise Fu Zhiyu.
There is no way to escape from these four major families. The Yuan family can't possibly harm him. Apart from this one, the rest can be eliminated one by one. In fact, the thing the former governor confessed is of no great use to him, but he still has to kill the chicken to scare the monkey.
Fu Zhiyu was just waiting for this person to tip off the enemy and lure them out of their hole.
Three days later, Luanzhou City was in a big commotion because of this incident.
People in the streets were talking about it. After all, the local official had been replaced. The former governor of Luanzhou had a very average reputation here. He had done some bad things that were scolded by others, but he had indeed done some conscientious things in the past and had not touched the bottom line. He was the kind of official who could be kept or not. The fact that he was replaced definitely did not cause public outrage, but the people were very enthusiastic about the discussion, and there was a sense of watching the fun.
However, to Fu Zhiyu's surprise, there were actually quite a few people willing to stand on his side.
"Prince Zhao has always had a good temper. He must be so angry this time for a reason."
"He looks like a god. I saw him once during the sacrifice. He is so handsome. Such a noble person must be reasonable, right?"
"He's not a good person anyway! It would be a good idea to rush him down and replace him with a new one!"
After three days, some people couldn't sit still anymore.
The heads of the Deng and Qian families both came, and it was the first time in such a long time that Fu Zhiyu accepted the visiting invitation and formally met these two people.
"Jiangnan is the fief of King Zhao after all, so we can't say much," said the head of the Qian family, Qian Manguan, a very auspicious name. He was a man with a square face, the kind of face that looked honest at first glance. He held a string of Buddhist beads in his hand and looked at Fu Zhiyu with a very kind smile. "But after all, Governor Liu has been in office for so many years. He just made a mistake for a while. It's okay to punish him with a stick, but dismissal is a bit too much."
As soon as he arrived, he spoke straight to the point. Although his tone was good, the content of his words was not very polite, as if he and Fu Zhiyu were very familiar with each other.
Fu Zhiyu glanced at him and said with a half-smile, "Did he do something wrong? Master Qian knows very well. What do you think he did wrong?"
"Prefect Liu has told us about the sacrificial ceremony." The head of the Deng family also came out to smooth things over. He is Deng Jinghe's father. He is mentioned in the original novel basically to complete the character of Deng Jinghe, an important supporting role. This man is a playboy by nature. He is middle-aged and looks very attractive. He is 60% similar to Deng Jinghe, but he smells strongly of alcohol. Fu Zhiyu can smell it even from such a distance. I wonder which paradise he has crawled out of.
"Look, if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have noticed this kind of thing during the sacrifice, and nothing went wrong. In the end, it went smoothly, didn't it?" He continued to smooth things over. "February 2 is the day when the dragon raises its head. Now is an auspicious day. Why make everyone unhappy? Let's just make a big deal out of a small matter. Don't make it so serious. It's embarrassing for everyone. We businessmen often say that harmony brings wealth. Prince Zhao, don't you agree?"
"I said, no," Fu Zhiyu was not fooled by his high-sounding words, "He told me that it was your two families who gave instructions behind the scenes. I haven't visited you yet, but you came first."
"Haha," Qian Manguan laughed dryly, "Prince Zhao is joking. Governor Liu also said that he was stunned by the cold water at that time and he doesn't remember what nonsense he said. You can't talk nonsense without any evidence."
"Really?" Fu Zhiyu ignored them. He was too lazy to say some polite words to them at this time. Mr. Deng wanted to say something, but the teacup lid in Fu Zhiyu's hand fell down and shattered on the ground.
The crisp cracking sound seemed to be a signal, and the soldiers at the door drew their swords at once, but did not take the next step.
Generally speaking, the unspoken rule is to use courtesy before force, but Fu Zhiyu was still angry and he didn't want to reason with these people at this time.
"Master Qian, I think you haven't figured out the current situation yet," Fu Zhiyu said, "He is no longer the governor. You call him Governor Liu, so you think what I say is useless, right?"
"That's not what I meant," Qian Manguan quickly regained his composure, "Please calm down."
"It can't be eliminated," Fu Zhiyu said, "Look, I just want to live a good life in Jiangnan. You guys are the ones who want to provoke me, right?"
"You... you need evidence for what you say."
"I don't need evidence to speak." Fu Zhiyu looked at him, "Jiangnan is my place. If I think you have made me angry, I can cause trouble for you. Do you understand?"
There is an old saying that a strong dragon cannot defeat a local snake, but if you encounter an unreasonable dragon, things will not work that way.
Qian Manguan was turning the Buddhist beads in his hand. After hearing this, the master stopped here. He and the head of the Deng family looked at each other, and the meaning in their eyes was indescribable.
The conversation was obviously very unpleasant, but Fu Zhiyu did not stop them from leaving.
But the way they walked was a bit ugly, as they were pushed out by the soldiers.
As soon as the two people left, Yuan Jiangxing came out from behind the screen.
"Are you really not going to touch them now?" Yuan Jiangxing asked him.
"That's what I said, but you know I'm not such a reckless person," Fu Zhiyu glanced at him and said, "They are deeply rooted in this place, and a little bit of influence can affect the whole body. We can kill the chicken to scare the monkeys to set an example for the Luanzhou governor, but if we meet a real monkey, we can't do whatever we want. But if I don't say this, they really think I'm just making a fuss."
Not to mention Qian Manguan's hypocritical appearance, looking at the look on the face of the head of the Deng family, he came to visit drunk. I'm afraid that when he came, he didn't take the matter of the prefect too seriously at all, and just thought that he was someone he could talk to. In other words, he still didn't take himself seriously.
Fu Zhiyu just wanted to let them know that he was not someone to be trifled with, and that he would make up for every loss he suffered.
Now he was the target of public criticism. It was not like the time in the capital where he could retreat and have a bright future. But now he had retreated too much, which was why they dared to be so arrogant and use any sinister tricks.
Yuan Jiangxing nodded, and as if remembering something, he said, "Oh, right, I went through the files of Luanzhou, and they are very complicated. The entire Luanzhou is intertwined from the government to the grassroots. If we replace all the people in it, it will definitely not be realistic. After all, our people are not familiar with it for a while, so... it will take time."
"No hurry," Fu Zhiyu waved his hand, and his voice softened as he spoke to Yuan Jiangxing, "Haste can easily lead to mistakes, take your time. This matter is also my fault. I didn't let you take care of it before, and now you pick it up again. I know in my heart that it's not that easy, uncle, thank you for your trouble."
Yuan Jiangxing didn't say anything, just patted him on the shoulder.
His parents are alive and well, and his daughter is living a happy life. Yuan Jiangxing's biggest regret in his life is his sister and nephew, for he is always worried that they are not living well.
He was very happy that he could do something for Zhiyu while he was still active.
Afterwards, the Deng and Qian families sent some gifts, saying that it was to calm the nerves and to apologize. It seemed that they were humble, but in fact, they were still stubborn.
Fu Zhiyu knew that they had not yet given up the idea of bringing back the dismissed governor.
Firstly, they needed the help of the government to do business, and they finally managed to smooth the relationship with the government. Now it has been replaced by Yuanjiang Bank. Although there will be no major actions in the short term, it will definitely be different in the long run. Secondly, they want to know what Fu Zhiyu can do under such circumstances.
While the Deng and Qian families lowered their stance on the surface, there were still many people causing trouble. On the sixth day after the Luanzhou governor was removed, Yuan Jiangxing showed him a stack of memorials.
"They were all sent by governors from other cities in Jiangnan," Yuan Jiangxing said, "They all said that the governor of Luanzhou was removed for no reason, which made them... very anxious."
Fu Zhiyu laughed instead of getting angry, threw the memorials on the table, and said, "Are you trying to force the emperor to abdicate?"
Yuan Jiangxing sighed and said, "I'm afraid that the Jiangnan forces are more deeply rooted than we thought, and we just haven't discovered them yet."
When Fu Zhiyu decided to do it, he had already anticipated the current situation.
He should have known long ago that Jiangnan was not the paradise he thought it was. There was no such thing as a paradise in this world that was free from all worldly disputes.
"Jiang Wen's caravan will be back in two days. He knows more about the things here. We can discuss it with him in detail then." Yuan Jiangxing was also holding back his anger at this point. "I don't believe that I can't control these people!"
Fu Zhiyu also thought so. Here, the method of violent suppression is not suitable for widespread use. It can easily hurt innocent people and give people a chance to talk about it.
Those officials are making trouble only because there are wealthy merchants behind them instigating them. The only way to deal with them is to cut off their source of income.
To kill a snake, you must strike at its most vulnerable part; to catch a thief, you must first catch the leader. We must truly convince these people so that they will stop causing trouble in the future.
"They won't be so proud for long," Fu Zhiyu glanced at the memorials on the table and said in a low voice, "I must let them know who owns Jiangnan."
Yuan Jiangwen came back a day early and went to Fu Zhiyu's house. Before Fu Zhiyu could speak, he spoke first: "The Qian family is in trouble! Zhiyu, did you do this?"
"What?" Fu Zhiyu didn't understand. She stared at his obviously flustered face, looking puzzled, and asked, "What bad luck?"
The Qian family started out as a silk and satin business, and later on the business grew bigger, and they also made fur ornaments and the like, which were supplied to wealthy families and were very valuable.
"As for furs, the best ones are naturally from the barbarian tribe. The Qian family collected several carts of snow wolf furs there. I heard that there was also a piece of fire fox fur of excellent quality. The deal was already concluded before the goods arrived, and the money was collected. They were just waiting for the caravan to deliver them," Yuan Jiangwen said. "But this batch of goods was intercepted before it even left the barbarian territory. I heard that it was the barbarian king Xidan who led the troops to intercept it personally."
Fu Zhiyu frowned: "... King Xidan? Is he free again?"
Countries don't really care about the business affairs of caravans nowadays. Although it is common for some officials to take bribes, the major caravans have established good relationships and made preparations early on. How could they encounter someone taking things away directly like this