Women Wearing Men: The Growth Path of the Bastards of the Aristocratic Family

Chapter 383 From Love to Fear

Qian Xun was a special envoy sent to Shu by Emperor Jingfeng. He had to visit every state capital in Sichuan and would not be able to stay long in Xuzhou.He and Gu Yunji took over official duties, and then visited and investigated various places for a few days. Before the magistrate and his fellow magistrates came back, he rushed to the next state capital without stopping.

After two or three months of detailed investigation, Qian Xun discovered that central Sichuan had indeed experienced a relatively serious drought. Although the drought has been resolved, the people's manpower has been severely depleted, and it has become impossible to pay the summer tax. It's autumn tax time.

After Emperor Jingfeng found out, he directly exempted Sichuan from taxes this autumn and next summer, and allocated a large sum of money to let the government dig canals and build roads, make up for the aftermath of the drought, and allow the people to rest and recuperate.

Qian Xun felt that as a special envoy, he had to handle Emperor Jingfeng's errands well, so he is still in Shu and has not returned to Beijing.Although he didn't come back, he first sent back a thick stack of reports, recording everything he had seen and heard in the past few months in detail, and then presented it to Emperor Jingfeng word for word.

"Special report on drought, documentary of local people in Shu, special report on grain production, preliminary evaluation of official style..."

Looking at the letter sent back by Qian Xun, Emperor Jingfeng couldn't laugh or cry: "It's such a big pile, at least tens of thousands of words, right? He has written a book about feelings. Everyone writes a report on the drought. His report is enough, but he would like to tell me whether the food in every household in Sichuan is salty or bland."

Cheng Yan laughed at the side and said: "Master Qian is serious about his work. He has carried out everything His Majesty ordered to the letter. This shows that he is a loyal and honest person. This sincerity is very valuable."

"It's good to be serious, but he is too serious. I don't have that much time to read it word for word." Emperor Jingfeng waved his hand and signaled Cheng Yan to take away the report in front of him, "You can screen it for me and select it." Some important thoughts.”

"Yes."

Cheng Yangong accepted it respectfully, glanced through the report, and asked Emperor Jingfeng: "About the drought in Sichuan, Mr. Qian has already given a detailed explanation before, so there is no need to go into details. At this moment, I would rather read it to Your Majesty." Read this "Preliminary Evaluation of Official Style"?"

Emperor Jingfeng sent Qian Xun to Shuzhong. The first task was to check the drought situation, and the second was to supervise the administrative style of local officials to prevent them from deceiving superiors and concealing information from subordinates.Emperor Jingfeng really wanted to know the situation of local officials in Sichuan, so while approving the memorial, he nodded: "Well, let's read it."

"Then I will read it to Your Majesty in the order written by Mr. Qian."

Cheng Yan said, opening the report and seeing the name on the first page, his expression changed slightly.

Then, he quickly glanced at the content at the back, his expression softened slightly, and he laughed before Emperor Jingfeng asked: "Oh, this is not Wei Chen's partiality. One of the officials Mr. Qian wrote about is Wei Chen's old friend." I met Gu Yunji, I didn’t expect God’s will to be like this, it’s really a coincidence.”

"Gu Yunji?" Emperor Jingfeng raised his eyebrows, but did not raise any doubts, "How can this be God's will? Xuzhou Prefecture has a river port. If you take the Yangtze River waterway from other places to enter Sichuan, the first state capital you will arrive at is Xuzhou Prefecture. And Gu Yunji is the general judge of Xuzhou Prefecture, so it is normal for Qian Xun to write about him first according to the order."

Emperor Jingfeng had said the words himself, so Cheng Yan didn't need to say more, pretending to be sad: "It seems that Wei Chen thought too much. Wei Chen thought that God couldn't bear to bury Hualang in the southwest and stay away from the king's kindness, so he deliberately sent him to the southwest." The position was mentioned first."

Emperor Jingfeng looked up from the memorial and scolded him with a smile: "You slippery man, look at how aggrieved you are. Don't you just want to say a few good words for Gu Yunji, fearing that I will forget him? I will do as you wish. Read it!”

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Cheng Yan smiled slightly, then picked up Qian Xun's report and read it unchanged: "'I Xun said: On July [-]th, when I first arrived at Xuzhou Prefecture, the prefect, All colleagues were on official business in Chengdu, and it was judged that Gu Yunji was not on duty at the government office, which was against the regulations of the imperial court.'"

"When I found Gu Yunji in the countryside, he was not wearing official uniform, his clothes were dirty, and his appearance was not neat. He actually rolled up the front of his robe around his waist. His behavior was vulgar, which was very insulting to the gentlemen. His official dignity was completely damaged. I couldn't bear to be honest. See."

Cheng Yan couldn't stop reading at this point. He raised his head subconsciously. Emperor Jingfeng had the same expression as him: "...Why does this Qian Xun write about everything? He even has to report people who don't wear official uniforms. I asked him to go." As a special envoy, he is not allowed to give me small reports on officials."

After saying that, Emperor Jingfeng shook his head helplessly: "That's all, keep reading."

Cheng Yan continued: "'However, Gu Yunji has not been on duty in the government office all year round. In fact, he is very hands-on and cares about the sufferings of the people. Whenever he promulgates policies and measures, big or small, he always goes to the scene to give guidance and never relies on others. He wears plain clothes and spends money simply. For his self-denial and dedication to serving the people, all the people in Xuzhou know Tongpan Gu Yunji, and they all praise him...'"

Qian Xun's description of Gu Yunji is relatively long, with nearly a thousand words of eloquence. Except for the two "accusations" that are almost nonsensical at the beginning, the rest are all praiseworthy words, praising Gu Yunji to the sky.

Cheng Yan only glanced at it hastily at first, but now the more he thinks about it, the more outrageous it becomes. He and Gu Yunji have known each other for many years, and he thinks he can't praise it to this extent.And Qian Xun described Gu Yunji so well that Cheng Yan would never believe him if he said that he did not have any subjective bias.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Emperor Jingfeng had stopped reviewing the memorial and looked up at him. Cheng Yan decisively picked up Qian Xun's memorial and presented it to Emperor Jingfeng: "Your Majesty, you'd better read it yourself. I know Gu Yunji, I'm afraid." The tone of the unintentional recitation was laced with personal feelings and affected His Majesty's judgment."

He just read out the words written by Qian Xun exactly as they were, and they were not serious enough to affect his judgment.Emperor Jingfeng knew that this was Cheng Yan's excuse, so he didn't say anything. He reached out to take the report and read it silently.

Emperor Jingfeng knew very well what kind of person Qian Xun was. Anyone who could make him have a certain subjective bias must be outstanding.In other words, even if Qian Xun's memorial is very subjective, it still has a high reference value.

After reading it, Emperor Jingfeng's lips curled up slightly: "It's rare that Gu Yunji is so young and has never been a local official before. He has been able to manage Xuzhou Prefecture in an orderly manner and has received much praise just after he has been in the southwest for two years." The local people praised him, which shows that he is capable."

After reading Qian Xun's description of Gu Yunji, Emperor Jingfeng continued to scroll back, turning over the names of officials one by one. Emperor Jingfeng looked at it, his smile gradually faded, and the ink in his eyes became darker and darker.

After a long time, Emperor Jingfeng exhaled and handed the finished report to Cheng Yan again, saying meaningfully: "Qian Xun is really courageous. If everything he wrote here is true, I am afraid that the officialdom in the southwest will be in trouble." I have to be turned upside down, and I don’t know how much trouble it will cause in the court.”

Cheng Yan took the report without even looking at it. He lowered his eyebrows and said respectfully: "Your Majesty is the True Dragon Emperor. He is like a needle that fixes the sea. Those shrimps, soldiers and crabs will be in front of you. No matter how strong the wind and waves are, they will not be able to disturb them."

This was what struck Emperor Jingfeng's mind, and he immediately said with great joy: "That's right! To put it nicely, they are called shrimp soldiers and crab generals, but to put it unfavorably, they are all worms in the imperial court, and they must be cleaned out sooner or later."

"However, the matter is of great importance, so we still need to plan it slowly, starting with the small fish and shrimps, so as not to scare the snake."

(End of this chapter)