Pei Ziyun set off.
Abandoning the car and boarding the boat at the pier, we followed the river to the county town where Songyun Gate is located. This took some time. When we got off the boat, it was almost dusk, and we saw a steady stream of people on the street. They ate in a hurry, called for the car, and in the dusk We walked all the way and when we arrived at the county government office, there were relatively few people.
The lights of the alley are continuous, the music of restaurants is ethereal, and the cool breeze is refreshing. In front of you is a gate with gauze lanterns hanging, and the county government has arrived.
He picked up the brass ring on the door and knocked on it. After a while, a government servant opened the door and said impatiently: "Who is it? It's so late."
After taking a glance, the yamen officer changed his color and smiled quickly: "It turns out to be Mr. Xie Yuangong. Do you have something urgent to see the county magistrate?"
Pei Ziyun listened, nodded, and handed over a post: "I have something to see the county magistrate."
The yamen servant accepted the post. It was exquisite and had some silver patterns engraved on it. This made it very formal. He said, "Jie Yuangong, please wait a moment."
The county magistrate looked at the document, pushed it to one side, and said, "Songyunmen responded very quickly. The burial, pension, and construction were all in an orderly manner."
The master swallowed after listening to what the county magistrate said: "Your Majesty, why don't you just ignore the housekeeper Mi Xing? How many people died."
"They say it's a plague. What can you do? It's okay to conduct a thorough investigation. But Songyunmen has just been canonized by the imperial court. Do you want to find out who is attacking, and do you want to find out who is responsible for the poor public security in this county? ?" The county magistrate rolled his eyes.
The master couldn't help wiping his sweat. The county magistrate thought the lights were dim and asked someone to light two more candles behind him. At this moment, a yamen servant rushed forward and said: "Sir, Pei Jieyuan is here to see me. I've sent you a message."
"Bring the post." The county magistrate said. As soon as he finished speaking, the Yamen servant held the post in his hands and handed it to the county magistrate.
Looking at this post, the county magistrate hesitated: "Is this person seen or not?" =
The copyist on the other side saw the county magistrate's appearance and said quickly: "Sir, although Pei Jieyuan is famous, he is still Jieyuan. But after entering the Taoist sect, he will lose his official career. What use is it to the master? And there is Lu in front of him. The king's people said hello, the stakes here are very high, please think twice."
After hearing what the master said, the county magistrate was silent for a moment: "That's what you said."
"Come here, tell Mr. Xie Yuangong that we are not feeling well today and it is not suitable to see guests. Just send the post back." The county magistrate shouted to the door. The yamen officer took the order and went out. He smiled apologetically to Pei Ziyun: "Mr. Xie Yuangong, my lord I feel the wind and cold occasionally today, so I can't blow the wind to see the guests. I hope you'll forgive me."
After hearing this, Pei Ziyun looked around and saw the yamen servant's eyes dodge a little, so he couldn't help but laugh: "I'm afraid he got the cold disease because he heard that I was coming."
Hearing Pei Ziyun's words in front of him, the Yamen servant smiled apologetically: "What do you mean, Mr. Jie Yuangong? The county magistrate is really ill. Please don't embarrass me."
Pei Ziyun waved his hand: "I won't embarrass you, but I have one more thing here. You hand it over, and the county magistrate will take a look at it and then decide whether to see me or not."
Pei Ziyun took out a wooden box, and the yamen officer stepped forward to take it. He paused for a moment and couldn't help but think to himself: "Could this be some kind of treasure?"
"Your Majesty, Mr. Xie Yuangong did not leave. After hearing the words, he asked the villain to hand over another box, saying that the master would change his mind after seeing the box."
The master was in his fifties, dark and thin, looking increasingly shriveled, with sagging skin under his eye circles. When he heard this, he sneered: "Pretending to be a ghost."
The county magistrate glanced at him and said, "You!"
In fact, he understood that his master did not receive any money for King Lu, and he would not give money to the junior official on behalf of King Lu. However, officialdom is about this status. The master has been following him for a long time, even if it is not beneficial. You have to stand on King Lu's team.
This is a public intention, and a selfish intention is that the master is also a scholar. He did not pass the imperial examination and had to be a master all his life. Pei Ziyun, who passed the imperial examination and passed the imperial examination, was not only young, but also regarded his official salary as nothing, and actually became a Taoist priest. This man was very fond of Pei Ziyun. Not wanting to be seen, even gnashing one's teeth, this is a person's hidden emotion.
The county magistrate didn't intend to tell the truth. He looked at the wooden box and smiled at the master: "What gift do you think Pei Jieyuan has prepared for me?"
He said and waved: "Hand over the box."
The yamen servant presented it, and the county magistrate opened the box and said "Hey". There was a token in the box, which seemed to be made of gold.
He just picked it up, glanced at it, his eyelids trembled, and the token fell on the table. His body was trembling a little. He looked at the yamen servant and scolded him: "You go out first and wait at the door. I have something to discuss with the master."
The yamen officer exited and closed the door behind him. The master was surprised and asked: "The county minister?"
The county official slowed down and calmed down: "It's trouble, it's big trouble. I didn't expect that this person secretly took refuge in the prince and has the prince's palace token in his hand."
"What? Pei Ziyun has the crown prince's token?" The master stepped forward and saw the cold golden token with dragon patterns on it and the words "Prince's Palace", and his face suddenly turned pale.
The two of them stood motionless for a long time before the master clapped his legs and said, "Hey, what should we do now? King Lu said hello, and the prince has a token again."
The county magistrate heard this and sighed: "Let him come in. We can't offend the prince."
The master was a little unwilling and said: "Kelulu King has said hello, but if we don't listen, we are afraid that we will inevitably incur resentment from King Lu."
"Someone from King Lu said hello, but now this is the crown prince's visit in person, how can it compare? The lesser of two evils." The magistrate's face flickered on and off in the candle, motionless as if made of iron. After pondering for a long time, he stood up and said, "Please ask Mr. Xie Yuan to come to the side hall to discuss matters."
The yamen officer rushed all the way to the door and said with an apologetic smile: "Mr. Xie Yuang, please come in. I have taken some medicine and my health is much better. I can see Mr. Xie Yuang now."
The yamen servant led Pei Ziyun into the living room, and the county magistrate greeted him: "Mr. Xie Yuang, I was busy with official duties yesterday. I felt a little bit cold and delayed a little. I'm sorry for the delay. Please sit down and serve tea."
Pei Ziyun took a seat, took a sip of tea, looked at the county magistrate, and smiled: "Looking at the county magistrate's eyes, the circles are dark, he must be busy with official duties and very tired. It's night now, so I won't bother you much."
"You must have understood the purpose of my visit. I will only say a few points."
"First, after all, Songyun Sect is a Taoist sect with an express decree. You don't care if you suffer a big disaster. As long as I impeach you, you may not be able to keep your official position, right?"
After hearing this, the county magistrate took a breath of air: "Mr. Xie Yuangong, it's not that I don't want to rescue, it's just that the mobilization of troops must be reported to the superior..."
"Your Excellency, may I ask where your report is?" Pei Ziyun interrupted coldly before he finished speaking.
After hearing this, the county magistrate was silent for a while: "Hey, Mr. Xie Yuang, why do you have to embarrass me? This matter has Lu..."
The county magistrate stopped to drink tea when he said this. Pei Ziyun heard clearly and nodded: "There is also King Lu involved in it, right?"
"Originally, this is the emperor's family matter. It is reasonable for you to be afraid of getting involved in the dispute." Pei Ziyun said coldly: "You have your difficulties. Songyun Gate was attacked before and you did not provide reinforcements. I don't care, but now Now that I have won, it would be wrong for you to remain silent!"
"Don't forget, King Lu is not the prince yet, but the prince will always be the prince."
"Yes, yes, yes!" The county official said, wiping his sweat, "Mr. Xie Yuang knows the plight of this county, and this county is grateful - what do you want to do?"
Pei Ziyun smiled: "I don't ask for much. You can send a hundred soldiers to station at Songyunmen Mountain Gate. It only takes a month. It can be in the name of investigating cases and suppressing bandits."
"You don't even have to be stationed directly at the mountain gate. Isn't there a town below the mountain gate?"
"In order to catch thieves and steal, we send patrols to inspect the security of the town. No one can say that this name is wrong!" Pei Ziyun knew very well that in officialdom, without status and rules, even if you have money, money will be enough. He immediately took out a stack of banknotes from his arms and placed them on the table, saying, "I will definitely be short of money for errands."
The county magistrate looked at it and saw that the top one was a hundred taels. When he looked at the stack, it was at least a thousand taels, and his heart felt warm.
The county official pushed the wooden box and said, "Mr. Xie Yuan, please keep it."
He turned around and put the banknotes into his pocket, with a smile: "Mr. Xie Yuan is really serious. It is the government's responsibility to catch thieves and seize thefts. Now there are thieves attacking the town and hurting my subordinates." People, as the parent officer of the folks in the county, I will send patrols to exterminate them."
After hearing this, Pei Ziyun stood up and bowed: "Thank you, sir."
The county magistrate also stood up: "You don't have to be polite, Mr. Xie Yuan. You just have to ask me to speak kindly to me in front of the prince."
After the county magistrate finished speaking, he shouted again: "Come here, call me Captain Li."
Later, Captain Li came over, glanced at Pei Ziyun, and with a little curiosity, he saluted: "I have met the county magistrate."
The county magistrate said with some anger: "You have done a good job, Team Leader Li."
Listening to the scolding, Team Leader Li was confused and said quickly: "I don't understand my humble position, please teach me."
The county magistrate said: "Today Pei Jieyuan came to complain, saying that thieves set fire to Songyun Gate a few days ago. You didn't notice it at all. You are really derelict in your duty."
Bantou Li was shocked. Taoists live in the mountains and tend to deal with banditry on their own. The yamen never asks, why did the county magistrate suddenly mention it today
And although he was on official business, catching thieves and stealing was actually more of his responsibility as a patrol officer. However, he couldn't hold back at this time, so he quickly said: "This is a villain who neglected his duty. Please forgive me."
The county magistrate was very satisfied with his attitude and said: "Tomorrow, you will join the patrol and go to the town at the foot of Songyun Mountain to hunt down thieves. Within one month, we must capture the thieves."
As soon as he said this, Team Leader Li still didn't understand, so he quickly said: "I'll do it immediately."
When they went out, Mr. Yu Yun was waiting in the car. Pei Ziyun said to a Taoist: "Don't follow me anymore. Follow the squad leader and the patrol back. Ask Elder Zhao to give fifty taels to the squad leader and one hundred taels to the patrol." As for the appropriation fees, we don’t have to worry about them, the county has its own public funds.”
"As long as there is a banquet on the first day and a banquet on the last day."
Pei Ziyun naturally knows the rules. People who don't know will say: "The cost of living for a hundred people for a month is more than this amount."
But that's not the case. There are inspections wherever they go, and there are public funds. This cannot be counted on Songyunmen. It would be bad to give it, so it is only given to officials.
Pei Ziyun said something, and the Taoist agreed. When the Taoist Nuonuo retreated, Yu Yunjun understood what he heard. He was really impressed and asked: "The county government has been solved? Where should we go next?"
Pei Ziyun sighed sadly: "Go to the Governor's Mansion. It's time to meet the Governor."
(End of chapter)