Immediately, Li Ke wrote a memorial and rushed to Chang'an for eight hundred miles. The emperor will be able to see this memorial by this time tomorrow at the latest.
After taking care of this matter, both Li Ke and Qin Mubai felt relaxed.
Both of them thought at the same time: Someone actually took the initiative to help us clean up the mess and solve the last bit of trouble. How comfortable!
Then the two acted as if nothing had happened, symbolically sent people to the homes of the three deceased to express their condolences, and continued their daily work.
At noon on the third day, the messenger from the imperial court finally arrived.
"It came down so fast!" Qin Mubai and Li Ke couldn't help but want to laugh. Maybe the emperor is also very eager to clean up things here quickly
The person who came was not an ordinary eunuch or petty official, but Li Shimin's daily servant, Chu Suiliang.
A living official is an official who always follows the emperor and records his every word and deed with paper and pen. A bit like a historian, a bit like an admonisher, and sometimes the emperor's personal secretary.
Chu Suiliang also has a great background. His father, Chu Liang, was one of the eighteen bachelors in the palace of King Qin Li Shimin in his early years, and was also a member of his intellectual group. After Li Shimin ascended the throne, basically all the old officials in the Qin Palace were promoted to high-ranking officials and were deeply trusted by the emperor. Now that Chu Liang is old, he still serves as the director of the Hongwen Hall, a confidential think tank department, recruiting literati and wise men from all over the world for the emperor.
And Chu Suiliang is a rising star in the past two years. Yu Shinan, the official secretary supervisor, was once Li Shimin's "secretary", but he was old and out of office, so he could only teach Li Zhi to read in the harem.
Li Shimin loved Yu Shinan's calligraphy and was very used to not having him around. Someone recommended Chu Suiliang to Li Shimin, saying that his calligraphy was the essence of Wang Xizhi's. Li Shimin invited him to the scene to test the writing, and found that it was indeed true. He was overjoyed and appointed Chu Suiliang as the living man. He helped draft imperial edicts by his side and recorded his every word and deed for recording in history books.
Therefore, although the official position of Qi Julang is not big, it is like a nail in a key part of a precision instrument, which is very important. Moreover, no one dares to underestimate this little living man. He accompanies the emperor almost every day, and he is mostly aware of the emperor's government affairs. It is no exaggeration to say that he is the emperor's confidant.
Li Shimin sent such a confidant to "proclaim the decree", which was a bit unexpected to Qin Mubai and Li Ke.
With no time to think about it, Li Ke first let Chu Suiliang enter the king's tent.
Chu Suiliang was about forty years old, with a slender figure and a rather elegant and elegant appearance, with the standard appearance of an elegant scholar. Qin Mubai was relatively familiar with him, so they were both people who stayed by the emperor's side. They often met each other but did not have a close relationship.
After Chu Suiliang came in, he put public affairs first and then private affairs, and immediately read out the emperor's imperial edict. Li Ke, Qin Mubai and officials and generals from Jiangzhou received the order together.
The imperial edict was relatively long, and the general idea was to "deeply regret" the floods in Jishan, and to praise Li Ke, Qin Mubai, and especially the officials and generals in Jiangzhou for their hard work in disaster relief. And rewards were clearly stated in the imperial edict. Li Ke restored the food that had been cut off due to excessive hunting. Qin Mubai rewarded him with five hectares of farmland and awarded him the rank of "Xiongqiwei", a sixth-grade military officer (a military attache position purely used to commend merit, which is the same as Qin Qiong's). The second grade Shangzhuguo has the same meaning). Except for Cheng Songnian and Ma Kun, all the officials and generals in Jiangzhou were given rewards.
After the imperial edict was issued, everyone let out a sigh of relief - it seems that the emperor is not ready to investigate the Jiangzhou case in depth, and has adopted a "calm down" approach, appeasing these people who may have vassalized Zhang Tianci, Officials such as Cheng Songnian and others.
Only Qin Mubai and Li Ke knew in their hearts that the emperor was probably not compromising to anyone by doing this. He was appeasing, but it did not mean that he was supporting an adulterer. At this time and that time, Zhang Tianci and Cheng Songnian were controlling the sky in Jiangzhou. If they did not vassal their officials, they would not be able to survive. Now that these two people have fallen, these officials were all like frightened birds for fear of harming the fish in the pond, but now they have been rewarded by the emperor. How can they be grateful and not be grateful and swear to serve the emperor to the death
There are two benefits to this. Firstly, the emperor has completely conquered the hearts of all the officials in Jiangzhou. Secondly, if a thorough investigation is carried out and most of the officials in Jiangzhou are dismissed, who can immediately replace them and take charge of the prefectures and counties on behalf of Tianxun Mu? If that happens, it may be more of a headache than a flood. Therefore, Li Shimin most likely used a "delay strategy." Let’s calm down these people first. As for whether they will settle the scores and ask questions later, that’s unknown.
After receiving the rewards, all the officials and generals left happily. Only Li Ke, Qin Mubai and Chu Suiliang were left in the king's tent.
"Mr. Chu must be tired from traveling thousands of miles. Why don't you take a rest? Xiao Wang asked someone to arrange a military tent for you. How about you stay there first?" Li Ke said politely.
"Your Highness is too polite. I am on an errand under the emperor's orders, so I dare not talk about the hard work." Chu Suiliang bent down and returned the greeting, humbly replying.
Li Ke nodded and smiled, and asked: "As a close minister of my father, Chu Suiliang, did my father ask you to deliver an oral message to the little king before he left?"
"There is no oral edict, but there is a secret edict." Chu Suiliang said seriously, "Your Highness, King Wu, accept the edict!"
"Wei Chen accepts the order!"
Chu Suiliang took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Li Ke. Li Ke took it, took it apart, took a look, and suddenly looked surprised.
Qin Mubai and Chu Suiliang also became confused, but they did not ask what was written in the secret decree. Since it is a secret decree, there is no reason for others to ask questions.
"Mr. Chu, my father's secret decree has ordered you to temporarily take over the post of governor of Jiangzhou, and will immediately send the imperial envoy to help the imperial envoy investigate the cause of death of Zhang Tianci and others." Li Ke said.
"Your Majesty arranged it like this?" Chu Suiliang was slightly surprised for a moment, then he immediately bowed his hands and said, "I obey your order!"
"Qin Mubai, His Majesty's secret decree is that you will temporarily take over the post of Captain Zhechong of Ma Kun Jiangzhou Prefecture and continue to lead these soldiers and horses to rescue the victims and build dams. If there is any abnormality, you can kill it first and then report it!" Li Ke received it again.
"Wei Chen accepts the order!" Qin Mubai clasped his fists in agreement, thinking to himself: The emperor's tricks are really endless!
"As for me... I will leave for Chang'an immediately." Li Ke frowned slightly and said with a melancholy look on his face, "I must also take Quan Wanji, who is in prison by me..."
As soon as Li Ke said this, both Yu Suiliang and Qin Mubai understood that the emperor was going to transfer Li Ke back, leaving the civil affairs to Yu Suiliang, a close minister who had just been sent, and the military affairs to Qin Mubai temporarily. Deal with it, Li Ke is not allowed to take care of things here!
Because Li Ke and Quan Wanji had a big quarrel before, Qin Mubai secretly reported it to the emperor. Moreover, the emperor also knew that Li Ke concealed Zhang Tianci and did not report it. It seems that Li Ke is likely to be "repaired" by the emperor after returning to the court!
The ending that Li Ke, Qin Mubai, and Quan Wanji had set long ago is finally about to appear. After the Jiangzhou case was settled and Li Ke was publicly rewarded, it was time to go back to the emperor to "accept his crime."
At that moment, Li Ke seemed a little worried. He wandered for a few steps and asked Chu Suiliang, "Mr. Chu, why did your father want to transfer me suddenly at this time?"
"Your Majesty's intentions, even the humble ministers don't know." Chu Suiliang shook his head, obviously not wanting to say anything more to Li Ke. If you can't keep things confidential, then you wouldn't be called a "secretary".
In fact, both Li Ke and Qin Mubai knew that the reason why the emperor sent Chu Suiliang to take over Jiangzhou meant that he must be aware of the causes and consequences of everything, and he must have obeyed the emperor's holy will. Came to do errands. Otherwise, with the current sensitivity and tension in Jiangzhou and Li Shimin's caution, it would be impossible to send a confused person to take care of the funeral.
Li Ke deliberately asked Chu Suiliang like this in order to make the performance more realistic and make him appear very hesitant and guilty.
"With your orders, I have no choice but to leave for Chang'an immediately!" Li Ke frowned and said softly as if talking to himself, "I don't know if it's a disaster or a blessing..."
Qin Mubai took the words and said: "Since your Highness came to Jiangzhou, he has been busy working day and night to relieve disasters and help the people. Even if he has no functions, he has worked hard. His Majesty the Emperor has a clear mind of rewards and punishments. It must be after His Highness Xuan returns to the court. "
"I hope so!" Li Ke smiled bitterly, "Since I was impeached last time, I am a bit frightened. Not long ago, I imprisoned Quan Wanji on impulse. In fact, I was also very worried later. I regret doing this. Even though Quan Wanji was overly aggressive with me, his starting point was for my own good, and after all, he was my teacher, which was indeed a bit disrespectful."
"Why do you think so much, Your Highness? You already know this when you go to Chang'an?"
"Yes, yes."
Qin Mubai and Li Ke were asking and answering questions as if they were playing a double act. They had to make Chu Suiliangqian, who knew about it, stand aside and feel embarrassed. To tell the truth, if he revealed the holy will, he would definitely not be able to afford it. Just keep it secret and don’t tell Li Ke. Li Ke will definitely hate him when he thinks about it in the future!
What a dilemma!
"Ahem..." Chu Suiliang coughed slightly to attract the attention of the two people, and said with a smile, "Your Highness, you don't need to worry too much. Although you went a bit too far in imprisoning Quan Wanji, in general, Since you arrived in Jiangzhou, you have performed very well, and the emperor has praised you in front of all the ministers more than once!"
"Really? Then I can go back to Chang'an with peace of mind, haha!" Li Ke laughed heartily, exchanged secret glances with Qin Mubai, and at the same time cursed in his heart: Chu Suiliang is also a fox, he has something to say. It must be hidden and tucked away. Although he said a nonsense that seemed to be known to everyone and was insignificant, he secretly reminded Li Ke that "there is no danger".
This Chu Suiliang is also a smart man!
Although this drama was full of twists and turns, but fortunately there was no major deviation in the ending, just like what Li Ke, Qin Mubai and Quan Wanji had planned before!