Pingyang Fu of the Red Chamber

Chapter 903 Xu Changwen Arrives in Jinling
At dawn,

In the misty rain of Jiangnan, on the banks of Qinhuai River, the fog rises, as if there is a layer of gauze floating on the water surface. As the sky gradually brightens, the fog is like being gently lifted by an invisible hand, revealing the sparkling waves on the river surface.

The water in Jinling City had long since receded, but the land outside the city was still muddy. In the morning, the government troops, along with the conscripted civilians, began to rush to the Xinbei Dam to repair the dam, while the remaining government troops went to various counties to provide disaster relief. However, the food for the relief was very limited.

Jinling prefectural government office,

Jia Yucun looked gloomy, looking at Lord Jing who was sitting in the main seat with a normal expression, his heart was cold, and the judge Ma Guangcheng stared at Shen Wanhe who was sitting opposite him, and asked;
"Sir Shen, where is the food you promised to give to the prefectural government for disaster relief?"

"Yes, Lord Shen. In the four counties of Jinling and the five counties of Jiangbei, a large number of disaster victims are starving. The food in the government treasury can't last for a few days. Didn't you say that the relief food has already been prepared?"

Tongzhi Hu Wenxuan also hurriedly asked about the food in the government treasury. Someone had been sent to provide disaster relief. Unfortunately, a large number of fields and villages were destroyed, and countless people were killed and injured. The water in the county town had not yet receded. The water could wait, but people were hungry and could not wait.
But Shen Wanhe's expression remained the same. He only glanced at Lord Jing who was sitting in the main seat, and replied calmly;
"Don't worry, my lords. All the grain stored in the rice shops in Jinling City will be lent to you. There is also enough grain stored in the farms outside the city for disaster relief for 30 days. As the saying goes, natural disasters are inevitable, and the gentry and wealthy families in Jinling should also do their part."

The voice changed,
Turn the spearhead elsewhere. Whenever the imperial court was in trouble, the gentry and nobles would help to tide over the difficulties. This time was no exception.
"Gentlemen are gentry, they are indispensable, Lord Shen is Lord Shen, the order of priority cannot be wrong, grain must be transported to the prefectural government office today, and the remaining four counties must also transport grain, first provide disaster relief to stabilize the situation, what do you think, Lord Shen?"

Jia Yucun had to speak up as well. His own life was at stake. He could no longer hide behind and pretend to be ignorant. And there was also the captain of the government army and the excavation of the Xinbei dike. Ma Guangcheng, that idiot, actually wanted to send these people to kill people to silence them. The confidential matter was in the public eye, and he had to show off if he wanted to die.

Shen Wanhe nodded and agreed. He came here today without wearing official clothes. He was in a hurry and had no time to change. Many officials in the room knew that he was Eunuch Yang's man, so they did not blame him.
"Don't worry, sir. I have already sealed up all the food in the city, and some of the food from the farms outside the city has been transported into the city. I will follow your instructions on how to arrange it."

Shen Wanhe's attitude also made the officials present stunned. Hu Wenxuan felt that something was wrong when he agreed so readily, and continued to ask;

"What about the price of rice in Jinling City?"

Even Lord Jing looked askance at this question. If the price of rice rose too much at this time, Jinling City would be unstable.
"My Lord Hu, if all the rice in the rice shop is transferred to the government treasury, there will naturally be a shortage of rice in the city, so I don't know what the price of rice is."

Shaking his head, Shen Wanhe was telling the truth. There were a total of 33 rice shops in Jinling City. If there was no food, the people in the city would be in a panic. What would they do then?

The officials in the hall almost gasped. Magistrate Jia, Ma Tongpan and others looked livid. Didn't you say that the food for disaster relief had been prepared long ago?

The atmosphere was gloomy to the freezing point.

Outside Jinling City,
The flood receded, but a desolate scene was revealed. The fertile fields were now covered with a thick layer of mud. The ridges had long disappeared, and occasionally a few crooked rice seedlings could be seen scattered among them. Most of the farmhouses were in ruins, and there were many damaged fishing boats lying on the ground. Several corpses were so white from being soaked that it was unbearable to look at them.

Xu Changwen, Gao Wen, Xu Dong, and Zhuang Jinwen, who had just left the cabin, stood on the deck.
"Look, we have arrived at Jinling Wharf. Brother Xu, this is where you will stay. Although we will be in different places in the future, we will meet again someday. Take care of yourselves."

Gao Wen had some emotion in his mind. The four of them were not only classmates, but also good friends. Over the past week, they had discussed poetry and prose with each other and had long regarded each other as close friends. They were reluctant to leave as they were about to depart.

The other three were all like this, feeling sad. Xu Dong smiled and clasped his fists.

"All good things must come to an end. We have been able to spend these days together, and I don't know how many lifetimes of blessings we have accumulated. Jinling and Suzhou are neighbors, and we will surely meet again someday."

"Yes, we will meet again someday."

Zhuang Jinwen was the most reluctant to leave. If it weren't for his two brothers, he wouldn't be able to hold the position he is today. Xu Changwen's eyes were firm, and he patted the two men's arms.

"We must be careful when we take up our posts. Although the county magistrate of Jiangnan is wealthy, there are many people watching him. We must think twice before we act. After we settle down, we must keep each other informed. Take care."

Several people looked solemn. When they were in the capital, they began to inquire about some things in Jiangnan. They all said that it was easy to be a county magistrate in Jiangnan. After three years as a county magistrate, they could earn 100,000 silver coins. But who could have known the fate of many county magistrates in Jiangnan. Many of them were exiled, and some had their property confiscated and were executed. Many people were involved behind the scenes. Therefore, the four of them became alert.
"Dang, Dang"

After a few gong sounds, a captain on the ship shouted,

"When a ship is moored, do not stand on the shore."

The ship swayed under their feet and approached the shore. They lowered the bridge plank and leaned against the shore. Xu Changwen and Xu Dong did not delay any longer. They bowed to each other and said goodbye. Then they boarded the bridge plank and went ashore.

"Brother Xu, I am leaving now,"

Xu Dong and Xu Changwen stood on the shore, clasping their fists towards the people on the boat. At Jinling Wharf, only Xu Changwen and Xu Dong got off the boat, while Gao Wen and Zhuang Jinwen were going south to Suzhou, so the four of them said goodbye to each other on the boat and wished to take care of themselves.

After getting off the boat,
The ship slowly left the shore. After seeing the ship leave, the two turned around and looked at the Jinling Wharf carefully. However, they could not believe it. It was said that Jinling was extremely rich and the wharf was prosperous, but there was no place to stay.

But the two of them stood on the shore and saw that although the wharf was built larger, it was just large and had nothing to do with prosperity. Not only were there few people working there, but even the laborers doing the portering were much fewer.
I thought someone from the government would be there to receive them, but to my surprise, there was only an official waiting at the dock. When he saw the two of them coming on the ship, he knew that the real host had arrived, so he ran over and asked;

"Excuse me, gentlemen, is this Lord Xu here?"

Xu Changwen and the other two had just arrived and looked around unfamiliarly. They saw that there were very few people on the dock, and there was no noise in the wine shops and inns. There was some mud on the ground, which was messy and did not look like a place for water transport in the south of the Yangtze River.
With some doubts in his heart, but not showing them, Xu Dong responded;
"I am waiting for you. Who are you?"

"In reply to your Excellencies, I am an official from the Jinling prefectural government office. I am waiting here for you. I will report to the office as soon as you arrive."

The yamen runner was young, his eyes were lively, and his official uniform was new. He was obviously not an ordinary person. It was unknown who was behind him. Although the two were new to the job, they still understood the human relationship. Xu Changwen reached out and took out some silver from his pocket and handed it over.

"Thank you very much, brother, for waiting for us here. I am very grateful and sorry for the trouble."

"Yes, I'm sorry for the trouble, brother. I wonder how things are going in the city?"

Xu Dong also understood what he meant and handed over one or two taels of silver. The yamen runner narrowed his eyes and smiled. They were indeed the two masters from the capital. They were indeed the new literary stars of the capital. He quickly reached out and took the silver into his arms and replied;

"You two are too polite. This is not the place to talk. The carriage is just ahead. After we get on the carriage, we will go back to the city. We can talk on the way. How do you think?"

"Listen to my brother."

The two men looked at each other and understood that something was really going on. Although there were not many people working at the dock, it was not a place to talk. There were many people watching and they didn't know who the spies were among them.

"You two are welcome, my name is Gu Da, and I am a constable in the prefectural government. I have taken over my father's job and have been doing this since I was a child."

After explaining his origins, he turned and walked towards the alley of a house. It seemed that the carriage was there, so the two of them did not hesitate and followed. However, where did all the silt on the ground come from? Could it be backwater from the canal? Looking back at the dock, it was obviously much higher than the canal, which did not seem like the right direction.

Although the two of them had doubts in their hearts, they did not see any signs. When they reached the alley, Gu Da drove the carriage out.
"My Lords, get in the car and let's go."

"it is good."

The two men did not hesitate to get on the carriage and sat quietly inside. With the sound of a whip being cracked, the carriage slowly drove away from the dock.

After leaving the dock, Gu Da sat in the front driving the car and sighed.

"What do you two adults want to know?"

The two people in the car opened the curtain and looked at the muddy road on both sides. There were floating corpses thrown there casually, and there were also a lot of sundries. They were shocked. Thinking of the mud on the ground at the dock, they immediately thought that there was a flood disaster here, but no one in the capital knew about this.

Xu Dong calmed himself down and asked;

"But there was a flood?"

"Your Excellency, there was a flood. The Xinbei dike in Anning County, north of Jinling City, broke, and the flood rushed in, flooding nine counties in the south and north of the Yangtze River. It was a terrible sight." Gu Da's face turned pale. The flood was not just talk. Many people in the villages outside Jinling City died, not to mention Anning, Shangyu, Chunyang and other counties that were hit by the flood. I'm afraid there would be corpses everywhere.

"What. How could this be?"

The two were horrified. Jiangnan was the granary of the imperial court, and there was such a disaster. Could the embankment be made of paper? Xu Changwen's face was gloomy, and he continued to ask;

"The dikes in the south of the Yangtze River are repaired every year. How could they be breached overnight? Could it be that someone embezzled the money used to build the dikes?"

"Sir, you must not say that. I don't know whether the money was stolen or not, but the breach in the dam was not caused by water, but was dug by humans. The captain of the government army saw it with his own eyes. It was a natural disaster and man-made calamity. The whole city of Jinling has heard about it."

Gu Da also had a look of sorrow on his face. He had saved money with great difficulty to buy some good land, but now the money he saved could only be used to save his life. The price of grain in the city had increased three times. Damn it.

"Then do you know who dug the breach in the levee?"

Xu Changwen stared with wide eyes and asked, who dared to do such a shameless thing?
Gu Da hesitated and blurted out,

"The ones who dug up the Xinbei dike were the constables and patrolmen of the prefectural yamen, Li San and Feng Si. They were originally bandits, but were granted amnesty by Ma Tongpan. They are considered to be Ma's confidants."

Gu Da was filled with resentment. It was the arrival of these people that squeezed out many of the old officials in the yamen, causing the people who made a living in the yamen to resent them. Everything they did was closely monitored.

perhaps,

The two new gentlemen can solve the problem. It has never been possible for someone to work in Jiangnan as a scholar. This is what my father told me privately. He told the two of them about the affairs of the yamen. As for what will happen in the end, it all depends on God's will.

Xu Changwen's eyes were filled with horror. Whose orders were they following? If the dikes were destroyed and the fields were flooded, the people would think it was the imperial court that did it, and the purpose was to turn the fields into mulberry trees. Those people were simply putting the imperial court and His Majesty on the spot.

The two looked a little frightened, and looked at each other, both of them had something in mind, and Xu Dong asked;

"Such a big incident happened in Jiangnan. How did the Governor Zhuang and the Inspector General Jing deal with it?"

"Well, I don't know about this, but Lord Jing arrived at the government office early this morning. The prefects and the others were all there, and even Lord Shen from the Manufacturing Bureau came. They seemed to be discussing something."

Gu Da touched his head. He couldn't figure out what the adults were doing. But when he saw the adults in the prefectural yamen all had gloomy faces, he knew something big had happened. As for the deeper level, it was not something that a detective like him could understand.
"Okay, since it's a discussion, then we'll go and discuss it, quickly."

"Yes, sir, go! Go!"

As the saying goes, "the faster the horse, the faster it goes." Gu Da, the coachman, whipped the horse whip and the carriage sped up a bit. They had already entered the city of Jinling, but there were very few people on the streets. When they passed a rice shop, the door was packed with people trying to buy rice. The sound of crying and noise was endless. It was a scene of decline that was unbelievable.

The two men looked heavy-hearted. After checking clearly about such an important matter, they would immediately submit a memorial to their mentor. This thought occurred to them at the same time.

As the carriage galloped,
The prefectural government office was right in front of them. The two men straightened their clothes and prepared to go in, but at the door, Xu Dong suddenly stopped and said;

"Brother Changwen, this is our first time here, so should we dress neatly and put on our official uniforms?"

"Brother Xu, we are new here and have not submitted our documents yet, so we are not considered officials. However, Brother Xu can change, and I will remain in this outfit. I would like to see how the officials of the imperial court have turned the prosperous Jiangnan into this."

Xu Changwen's face was cold and filled with anger. He was a dignified official of the imperial court. Not only was he incompetent, but he was also negligent in destroying the dike and flooding the fields. He deserved death.
"Brother Changwen, please think twice about this. You can submit a petition in secret. The Marquis' Mansion still has a backup plan in Jiangnan. Don't be impulsive."

Xu Dong was afraid that something might happen to Xu Changwen, so he tried to comfort him first, took out his official uniform and hat, and changed his clothes in the carriage. Xu Changwen beside him just tidied up his Confucian clothes and did not move. Instead, he put the package on his back and tied it up. Seeing this, Xu Dong could only sigh and changed into his official boots. Then the two got off the carriage and entered the back hall of the yamen.

In the back hall,
The faces of the officials were still grim. It was as if Shen Wanhe had said nothing. There were only these grains in the city. If they were transported outside for disaster relief, the people in the city would have no food. But if they did not go for disaster relief, the food in the government office would not last more than ten days. In this way, all the difficulties would be borne by the officials. The most obscure thing was the destruction of the dikes and the flooding of the fields, which no one dared to mention.

"Report, my Lords, the two county magistrates from the capital have arrived at the back hall. I have checked the transfer documents and official orders from the Ministry of Personnel, and they are genuine."

Down the hall,

The yamen runners in the front yard hurried over to report.
This voice made the atmosphere in the room relaxed. Jing Cunliang looked up at Jia Yucun. The appointment and acceptance of the county magistrate was the responsibility of the magistrate. The two men came at the right time. Jia Yucun was moved. Who could the county magistrate from the capital be? There had been no news so far, so he immediately gave orders.

"Quick, invite the people in,"

"Yes, my lord."

The bailiff left in a hurry.

When they got outside, he said to Xu Changwen and the others;
"My Lords, the prefect invites you."

"Well, thank you."

After saying thank you, Xu Changwen took the lead and walked in. The backyard of the government office was not big, but the room in the back hall was not small. After entering the outer door and then the middle door, one could enter the inner hall.

The two stood outside an inner door, looking at a room full of officials, including the prefect, the deputy prefect, the deputy prefect, the chief official, and a general sitting at the end. There were also some officials that they didn't recognize. It seemed that they were really discussing something.

The two of them were filled with awe, bowed and saluted;

"I am Xu Changwen and Xu Dong from the capital, and I am honored to meet you all."

Jia Yucun had long been staring at the two men outside. They were both very young and well-mannered, but one was wearing an official uniform and the other a scholar's uniform. Why was that?
"No need to be polite. You two came from the capital. I wonder which year you became Jinshi?"

Xu Dong was somewhat stunned and didn't know how to answer. How could he be a Jinshi? Xu Changwen raised his hand again and clasped his fists.
"Your Excellency, we two are not Jinshi, but the top three in this year's provincial examination. The emperor has been so gracious that he has granted us official titles, and that is why we are here to serve as officials."

As soon as these words were spoken, the officials in the room were in an uproar. They all couldn't believe it. Those who passed the provincial examination were just scholars. Even if they passed the metropolitan examination, they were just juren. Only after the palace examination, the top three jinshi could be appointed as officials. Now, two scholars were actually granted official status and appointed as seventh-rank county magistrates in Jiangnan. There had never been a precedent in the entire Dawu Dynasty. Not to mention those who were surprised, there were many jealous officials present.
Some officials in charge, as well as the ninth-rank officials of the government office, thought the two were joking.

"How is that possible? What kind of official position is a scholar? The seventh-rank county magistrate in Jiangnan is a seventh-rank official."

"Yes, for such a young official, after a few years, the fifth and sixth ranks will be nothing more than playing house."

"Who said it wasn't, hey."

The officials around were all talking freely without reservation. Even Lord Jing and the prefect Jia Yucun did not stop them. No one knew what they were thinking in their hearts. Was it a rule set by the cabinet, or a grace given by His Majesty himself? Could it be that something went wrong in the imperial examination in the capital?
Unfortunately, the complicated affairs in Jiangnan distracted their attention, and the news from the capital was largely ignored.

There are two chief examiners from the capital for this year's imperial examination. It seems that one is Marquis Luo Yun, and the other is the Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace. The behavior of these two people is suspicious.

Seeing the chaos in the room, Xu Dong's face straightened. Just as he was about to speak, Xu Changwen beside him spoke first and shouted;

"Why, you superiors are so reckless in discussing the court's appointed officials? Do you not recognize my status as an official, or are you dissatisfied with the court's appointment? The documents of the Ministry of Personnel and the official position documents are all here. Do you want to review them and take a look?"

With this remark,
The whole room was silent, but there was some surprise in their eyes. This person was so bold. Only Shen Wanhe smiled slightly.
"Two county magistrates, don't worry, these were just jokes!"

"Who are you?"

(End of this chapter)