Hong Ming was a man dressed in a white and black Hanlin robe. He had a ruddy complexion, a strong body, and a faint smile on his face. Judging from his appearance, he was only in his forties, in the prime of his life.
Hearing that Fang Yun seemed to have something else in mind, he smiled and said, "Among the dozens of counties in Mizhou, only Ning'an County has made me so tired."
The meeting place was silent, no one spoke at this time. After all, Hong Ming was the Hanlin governor, in charge of the power of a state. He could bow his head and remain silent when discussing other things, but now he was discussing the political affairs of his own jurisdiction. Even if Fang Yun could use the title of Xusheng, he could not easily bow his head and admit his mistakes, otherwise it would be a stain on his official career.
Fang Yun nodded immediately and said, "Yes, Lord Hong has been working hard for Ning'an County, and I am tired too."
Many people stayed out of the matter and watched the two men quietly. One implied that the chaos in Ning'an County was due to the incompetence of the county magistrate, while the other accused the governor of the state of causing trouble for the county under his jurisdiction.
Ao Huang curled his lips and said, "That state governor, I advise you to say less. Fang Yun is not a spoiled parent. You can't argue with him. If something goes wrong, don't blame me for not reminding you."
Fortunately, the scholars present were somewhat sophisticated, otherwise they would have burst into laughter. Everyone understood what Ao Huang meant and that he had no bad intentions. However, when these words were spoken to the governor of a state, the meaning was completely changed.
A young seventh-rank official beside Hong Ming couldn't help but snorted coldly, saying, "It's obviously County Magistrate Fang who is incompetent in governing the county, but today he turned the tables and pushed the blame onto my master. The documents from the governor's office regarding Ning'an County have piled up like a mountain. If it weren't for Master Hong's generosity and giving you a little face, he would have ordered you to report to the governor's office and made you lose face."
Fang Yun glanced at the seventh-rank official, then looked at Hong Ming, and said slowly and forcefully: "Lord Hong gave me a little face, but gave the enemy country's business a thousand layers of face. I have already reported to the state government and asked the governor to thoroughly investigate the grain store. But why even a fool knows that our grain store was acquired by the enemy country, but Lord Hong did not care? I am a small county magistrate and can't do anything about it. Can't the household department under the state government do anything about it?"
The people brought by Hong Ming looked angry, but Hong Ming just suppressed his smile and said, "County Magistrate Fang is anxious. I have already ordered the household department to investigate this matter. But the grain shop incident involves a lot of people, so it will take a long time to investigate before there is a result. County Magistrate Fang was slow to calm down the grain price, but he was very quick to eliminate dissidents in the county government and accuse his superiors here. If today was not a medical and literary gathering, I would definitely ask you how you messed up the grain price in Ning'an County!"
Fang Yun smiled and said, "Of course it was you, the Governor of Hongzhou, who teamed up with General Lan and Geng Sizheng to help Ji Zhibai ruin my palace examination and mess up the grain prices in Ning'an County."
"presumptuous!"
“Bold!”
The officials who came with Hong Ming shouted loudly. Hong Ming was also stunned, not understanding why Fang Yun wanted to make such a thing clear in public.
Some medical professionals were also curious. The domestic political conflicts in the country that were sparked at the medical conference would in any case break the rules of officialdom.
No matter how rotten the inside is, bureaucrats always have to save face and keep it under wraps.
County Magistrate Tao Dingnian had been holding back his anger since Shen Ming was brought to trial. Seeing Fang Yun pointing his sword at the governor without knowing his own limitations, he immediately stepped forward and said, "County Magistrate Fang, this is an important medical and literary gathering of the Ten Kingdoms. You are stirring up trouble here and now. Not only is it a disgrace to Jing Kingdom, but you are also offending your superiors. You should be punished!"
"What County Magistrate Tao said is correct!" The officials of Ning'an County Zuo Xiang's party stepped forward in unison. They were caught by Fang Yun in the county government office today, and saw that all ten houses were lost. Now that the governor Hong Ming was here, they must turn the situation around.
Fang Yun looked at Tao Dingnian in surprise and said, "What County Magistrate Tao said is really weird. This is a literary gathering, and we can speak freely, but you don't let me speak. When I was trying a case in the county government, you shouldn't have interrupted me, but you and some officials interrupted me wantonly. Let me think about it. What did you say... Well, 'If the king is not a king, then the minister is not a minister', and 'Scholars should have integrity and not fear power', and yes, 'Argue with superiors for justice', these words, you have said it, right?"
Many officials of Ning'an County, headed by Tao Dingnian, stood there in a daze. They did say so.
Hong Ming already knew what happened this morning. His face darkened and he said, "Alright. County Magistrate Fang, please stop being unreasonable. This great medical and literary gathering cannot be stopped because of your prejudice against me! Everyone..."
Fang Yun decisively interrupted Hong Ming and said, "Wait! Governor Hong, it was you who killed the county magistrate, manipulated the grain price to soar, and almost caused the medical and literary conference to be interrupted. Now you are slandering me? However, this county will not bother with you. It's just that you owe an apology to the medical scholars of the Ten Kingdoms!"
The doctors and scholars suddenly realized that Fang Yun was starting to fight back. This morning, everyone thought that the Medical Literature Conference was going to be cancelled, and Fang Yun almost became notorious. If Fang Yun was an ordinary county magistrate, it would be fine, but after all, he was a virtual saint, and there was no way he could swallow this breath!
Everyone knew that Fang Yun would fight back, but they didn't expect that he would directly target the governor of a state. They all thought in their hearts that Fang Xusheng was really daring and that he was not called the Mad King for nothing.
"If you are dissatisfied with me, you can submit a memorial to the court to impeach me. Making groundless accusations in public is simply a disrespect for etiquette! If you continue to speak out of character, as the governor of Mizhou, I will definitely deprive you of your power!"
The face of Dianshi Yu Bachi changed. It is true that there are privileges for a successful candidate in the palace examination to serve as an acting county magistrate, but if he makes a serious mistake, the governor of a state can definitely temporarily suppress the official seal of the acting county magistrate and seize his power. Then the monarch and the cabinet will decide whether to dismiss him. If dismissed, the matter will be reported to the Saint Academy, and the final decision will be made by the semi-saint examiner.
Since the establishment of the imperial examination system, less than ten Jinshi candidates have been dismissed from their posts during the palace examination.
Everyone knew that the three semi-saint examiners would never agree to dismiss Fang Yun, but the governor Hong Ming could temporarily seize Fang Yun's power and humiliate him.
Fang Yun smiled calmly and said, "You can't take it away!"
"How dare you!" Hong Ming shouted with a tongue like thunder, his eyes wide open, his whole body full of vitality surging, it was obvious that he was really angry.
Imperial Physician Yang Zijiang had no close relationship with either of them. He coughed lightly and said, "Hongzhou Mu, Fang Xusheng is young and energetic, and he has been tossed around a lot over the grain price issue. He may be too concerned about the people. I think we should just forget about it."
Yang Zijiang's words made it clear that Fang Yun was indeed too impulsive, but the reason for his impulsiveness was that Zuo Xiang's party was too excessive. Everyone could see it, so they asked Hong Ming to take a step back.
Hong Ming knew that Yang Zijiang would not help either side, but he could not say in public that Fang Yun had submitted a report to the Cabinet and the Supervisory Council. Although he did not know the content, if he was intimidated by Fang Yun's momentum at the literary meeting today, then he, the governor of the state, would inevitably be labeled as humiliated by the county magistrate. How could the left prime minister use him in the future
Hong Ming suppressed his anger and said, "What Imperial Doctor Yang said is correct. Since County Magistrate Fang is young and hot-tempered, he should apologize for his youthful hot-tempered behavior."
Yang Zijiang almost got so angry when he heard this. He clearly meant well to resolve the situation, but Hong Ming actually used his words to attack Fang Yun and dragged him, the peacemaker, into the dispute between the two.
Yang Zijiang looked unhappy, waved his sleeves, took a step back, and refused to help either side. (To be continued.)