After reading it, Fang Yun frowned slightly, then put down the official seal and prepared to go to bed. For a dignified Xu Sheng and the Governor, this kind of thing was not worthy of attention, at least for now.
The next day, Fang Yun handled affairs as usual, but he was still familiarizing himself with Xiangzhou, because documents from various prefectures and counties would arrive one after another today.
Fang Yun had to be familiar with every inch of Xiangzhou, which was what a governor had to do.
Two days later, after Fang Yun finished reading all the documents, his understanding of the state far exceeded that of Dong Wencong, who had been the governor for more than a year.
After reading the document, Fang Yun thought about it and decided to continue his incognito visit to better understand the customs and culture of Baling and Xiangzhou. If he had time, he would try to visit every city in Xiangzhou.
When in Ning'an City, Fang Yun seldom went on private visits in disguise, because before going to Ning'an, he had already served as the county magistrate of Ning'an City in the Book Mountain Illusion and knew the place like the back of his hand.
Incognito visits can provide the most direct understanding of the people and are far more accurate than obtaining information from officials. Of course, Fang Yun's incognito visits are different from those of some emperors who played with women and spent money extravagantly under the guise of incognito visits.
Another reason that triggered the incognito visit was that Fang Yun discovered that the incident of worshipping Lord Qing in Yingfang Pavilion not only did not subside, but instead continued in waves, which was beyond the original expectation.
Fang Yun really wanted to know how ordinary people viewed this matter, so he changed into a student's clothes and left the provincial government office in disguise.
Wearing a Tongsheng's uniform can prevent one from being provoked by hooligans and save a lot of trouble. The status of a Tongsheng is not particularly high, so others will not be on guard against him. It is a good choice to conceal one's identity.
Fang Yun walked towards Liba Street where Yingfang Pavilion was located. When he passed by Yingfang Pavilion, he found that there were still hundreds of people surrounding Yingfang Pavilion, making it impossible for Yingfang Pavilion to operate.
Fang Yun stood and watched for a while, then walked towards a restaurant not far away.
There were red lanterns hanging at the door of the restaurant. People were coming and going inside. On one side of the counter stood several large wine jars. Red paper was pasted on the wine jars with a big word "wine" written on it.
The shopkeeper was behind the counter, with a smile on his face, clacking away on the abacus and wiping his sweat as he went along.
The restaurant was unusually noisy. Fang Yun listened carefully and found that nearly half of the people were talking about the Jing people's visit to Lord Qing.
There were too many people in the restaurant and it was impossible to occupy a table alone. Fang Yun looked around and found three young people sitting at a table, one of whom was a student, and they were discussing the matter of paying homage to Lord Qing in Yingfang Pavilion, so he walked over.
"Brothers, sorry to bother you. May I ask if there is anyone here? There are too many people, so the waiter asked me to come here." Fang Yun said with a smile.
Two of the young men stood up in a hurry, and the young student stood up shortly after, smiling and saying, "There is no one here, if you don't mind the three of us being noisy, please sit here."
The other two nodded slightly and said nothing.
Fang Yun smiled and said, "Thank you very much." After that, Fang Yun called the waiter over and ordered a pot of green bamboo wine, a plate of peanuts and a plate of side dishes.
Fang Yun did not speak to the three people, who continued chatting. Soon, people from several tables nearby also interrupted, and then more than a dozen people chatted together.
Everyone was discussing the matter of the people of Jing paying homage to Lord Qing. Most of them were indignant. The student opposite them disliked Hua Qingniang the most.
Fang Yun kept listening and soon found out that the student was called Zhang Zongshi. He had a strong sense of justice and was very rational, and he enjoyed a high prestige among the people.
As he was talking, Zhang Zongshi sighed and said, "Alas, I didn't expect Ge Yiming to speak up on the discussion board. He said, 'Qing Jun is a benevolent king, and you should bow down to him when you see him.' He was obviously supporting Hua Qingniang. I was wrong to think that he was different from those rich kids before."
"I was also very surprised at the time. How could Brother Ge be such a person? He has always been well-known for his literary talent!"
"Has he gone mad? How could he say such a thing?"
"Does he still want a literary reputation?"
"He usually speaks up for the poor kids, why is he suddenly speaking up for a brothel owner?"
"How could he be so stupid to say such things when the people in Xiangzhou were so excited?"
"His behavior is tantamount to betraying the poor scholars. It's so stupid."
Everyone started talking about Ge Yiming.
During the discussion, Fang Yun occasionally shook his head. These people were smart, but they had too little information, so their conclusions were far from the truth.
When everyone had finished talking, Fang Yun took a sip of wine and asked calmly, "When did you have this illusion that Ge Yiming stood with us, the children of poor families and ordinary people?"
Fang Yun's voice was not loud, but most people on the first floor of the restaurant could hear it clearly.
Fang Yun’s words calmed everyone down, and many people fell into deep thought.
"Then why did he say that? Please enlighten me, brother..." said Zhang Zongshi who was sitting opposite.
Fang Yun smiled slightly and said, "My last name is Fang. Let me talk about Ge Yiming first. As a Jinshi, he is certainly not a fool. As a Jing countryman, he speaks for Qing Jun, so he has his reasons. If I am right, after he speaks, fewer Jing countrymen will blame Hua Qingniang."
Mr. Zhang nodded and said, "That's true."
Fang Yun smiled and said, "A mouthpiece. Ge Yiming is acting as a mouthpiece for the nobles behind Qingjiang Commercial Bank, warning certain people with some status that the entire Qingjiang Commercial Bank is supporting Hua Qingniang, and even the entire power of Qing Country will support her, so those people should be careful. Ge Baiwan is extraordinary, he will definitely know whether his nephew has done anything wrong. It has been about three or four days since this incident. If Ge Yiming deleted his words on the discussion list, it means that this sentence only represents himself, but it is still there now, which means that he is also speaking on behalf of Ge Baiwan."
"If he does this, won't he be despised by the poor children?"
Fang Yun smiled slightly and said, "Then I want to say three things."
"First, not only do people in Xiangzhou support Jing, but there are also people who support Qing. Those who hate Jing will support Ge Yiming without hesitation. You have to know that there are always some people in the world who are willing to be slaves of Qing because they originally hated the incompetent officials of Jing, and then hated the entire Jing, hated all Jing people, and did not understand that their behavior, like those incompetent officials, was actually harming Jing. In addition, many people envy his family background and money, so they have a good impression of him and don't care what he says. Of course, to be honest, what is the difference between him gaining admiration through wealth and family background and those who are liked because of their outstanding appearance? There is no difference. It is human nature to love the rich, as long as you don't despise the poor, it's harmless."
Many scholars nodded slightly. They did not expect that this student saw things so clearly and seemed to be a modest gentleman. Even though he opposed Ge Yiming, he did not say any hateful words.
Zhang Zongshi became interested and asked, "What about the second one?"
The entire floor of the restaurant was silent. Even the shopkeeper stopped using his abacus and walked towards Fang Yun, wanting to listen more carefully.
"Secondly, what does it matter if the poor people scorn him? What can he lose if the poor people scorn him? He is not afraid! Then what is he afraid of? He is afraid of Ge Baiwan and the nobles behind Qingjiang Commercial Bank. The scorn of the poor people is very powerless. Just like what Fang Xusheng said a few days ago, it roughly means that when the power gap between the people and the government is too large and they are unable to check and balance the government, then the officials will not care about the people. Similarly, Ge Yiming does not care about our scorn."
.(To be continued.)