lady, please calm down

In Changhua County on the afternoon of the 19th, the turmoil did not only occur in Xianggongzhong and Caotangbao, but the county seat of Changhua County also experienced a period of chaos.

Due to the large-scale change of flags in Jiangnan in a short period of time, many counties were still garrisoned by the old Zhou Guoxiang Army, which had only changed its flags.

The local garrison troops had been neglected and lazy for many years and had long been ineffective, so that Pang Shengyi's troops were able to enter the city extremely smoothly.

By the time the Xiang army reacted, Pang Shengyi's men had already rushed into the county government office.

When the army heard that a cavalry of unknown origin had entered the city, their first reaction was not to lead their troops to resist, but to quickly pack up their belongings, take their wives and concubines and prepare to escape in the chaos.

Later, when he learned that the other party was the emperor's personal army, he felt relieved and came in person to inquire what had happened.

At 1 p.m., when the captain arrived at the county government office, he saw bailiffs and messengers squatting against the wall outside the government office with their hands on their heads.

Several soldiers held up the arms of County Magistrate Lu Xiaozhai and dragged him out like a dead dog.

The official hat of Magistrate Lu had already rolled away, and he was still shouting as he struggled, "I am innocent, I am innocent."

A gentry who heard the news came and questioned Pang Shengyi, the leader of the team, "Why do you treat the parents of a county like this?"

Pang Shengyi on horseback only said: "According to your majesty's order, arrest Lu Xiaozhai and take him to Lin'an."

When the general saw this, he knew that this was not a matter he could participate in, so he simply hid in the crowd and said nothing.

There was a ready-made prison van in the county government office, and Pang Shengyi put Lu Xiaozhai and his staff into the van that day and returned to Lin'an.

As soon as they left, Changhua County was in an uproar. For the past two hundred years, whenever an official was convicted of a crime, the local prison official had to first investigate and collect evidence, and then the case would be adjudicated by the Ministry of Justice and then handed over to the Dali Temple for sentencing.

In other words, investigation, trial and judgment are independent and not subordinate to each other. If any one of these links fails, the official cannot be convicted.

This is also one of the reasons why few officials in the Zhou Dynasty were punished, and most of the cases were left unsolved.

Of course, this seemingly cumbersome and relatively fair process only applies to officials and gentry. As for ordinary people, a simple trial by the county magistrate is enough to destroy their families.

Today, the Emperor's personal troops came to the door and violently arrested people. This method has never been used on officials before. The gentry who witnessed this were all shocked.

But before they could make the next reaction, the news that the Cao family of Caotangbao was arrested and sent to Lin'an had already reached the county town.

Is this okay?

The national policy is to destroy the Tang Dynasty and return to the Zhou Dynasty to unify the country, and the royal family and the literati will rule the world together!

But it seems that our new monarch has no intention of treating the gentry with respect!

No matter what the reason is, sending your personal troops to arrest people is an act of cruelty and inhumanity. If this continues, the gentry in the world will no longer be safe, and they will become slaves of your family!

The country will not be a country!
At the end of the Shen period, messengers from various families set out to either inform the gentry of Lin County or express their serious concern and worry to officials in the court.

Although the eldest son and his men were cavalry, after receiving the oral order from His Majesty yesterday, they traveled day and night without any rest along the way.

On the way back, the three teams met up outside the border of Changhua County and camped in Lin County for one night to allow the soldiers and horses to rest.

But the messenger from Changhua County did not need to rest.

So, by the afternoon of the next day, July 20th, when the eldest son's troops were still on the way, the incident in Changhua had already spread in Lin'an.

At the beginning of the evening at the hour of You, in the rear residence of the Prime Minister’s residence in Lin’an.

It is hot in midsummer, and every time I go out for promotion, I get covered in sweat and dirt.

Above the newly built bathroom, there are several black-painted iron barrels, connected to the bathroom with pipes below and equipped with copper shower heads, which can form a self-flowing shower system relying solely on water pressure.

With this thing, dozens of people no longer have to queue up to boil water for bathing like before.

In the misty water vapor, I could only hear Hu Tou's crisp voice calling out, "Here, Concubine Yi has sent me the bottle of shampoo you requested last time."

"Wow! Xiangyi, you are so generous! Is this whole bottle for me?"

"Well, each of our three groups will get a bottle, hehe."

In the past, if women wanted to use that fragrant shampoo, they could only go to Huizhi Lanxin to receive services.

It was not until the end of last year that Yurong Fragrance Cosmetics launched this bottled shampoo with a shelf life of only five months. However, the new product was very expensive.

Most girls' school students cannot afford it.

Of course, Hutou is not included. After all, she has a good relationship with Yunong.

After receiving a letter from Hu Tou, Yunong mailed her two large boxes.
"Xiangyi, thank you!"

"Hehe, I'm taking advantage of Xiang Yi again."

In the past, after a busy day, everyone was often too tired to talk much, but today, the atmosphere was obviously more lively and relaxed.

This was what Hu Tou did on purpose. What advanced method could the little girl think of to boost morale?
It's nothing more than relying on small favors that her classmates cannot afford but are not difficult to get.

At 2:15 pm on the evening of You, the third group of more than ten girls finished washing up and walked out of the bathroom, each holding a basin filled with towels, soap and shampoo.

The harem was full of women, so there was nothing to be shy about. Everyone wore only a comfortable, cool but brightly colored nightgown.

And because they received shampoo from Hutou today, everyone was in a good mood. For a moment, the flowers were colorful and the air was full of life.

The entire backyard seemed to become bright in an instant.

Hu Tou casually tied her half-dry long hair into a bun on top of her head, with two strands of hair hanging naturally beside her temples. After being rinsed with hot water, her fair skin turned slightly red.

Wu Junru, who was walking beside him, looked at Hu Tou with envy and said unconvincedly, "Xiang Yi, we grew up together, why do I always feel that you grow faster than me, Daya, and Zhiruo?"

Hutou is two or three inches taller than Sandra Ng, and has clearly grown up in the past year. He looks more like an adult than the slightly skinny Sandra Ng, who is still growing.

Tiger Head smiled complacently and said, "When I was young, I drank goat's milk for a few years longer than you. At that time, I asked you to drink it, but you thought it was fishy. My brother said that drinking goat's milk can make you grow taller, so who can you blame if you don't drink it?"

Seeing Hu Tou's arrogant face, Sandra Ng couldn't help but pick on him, "Xiang Yi, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but now that Brother Chen is the emperor, we all call him Your Majesty. Only you still call him brother all day long."

"What do you care? I'll just call you brother, brother, brother, and make you mad to death."

"Are you a hen? You keep clucking!"

"Hahaha" The two were chatting and laughing when they suddenly saw Si Lan hurriedly running into the back house from the front, sweating profusely and with red eyes.

"Lan'er, we're done washing, you guys go quickly."

Regnar Wu didn't notice anything unusual and greeted him warmly, but Hu Tou noticed that Si Lan looked strange and asked in confusion, "Lan'er, what's wrong?"

"." As Si Lan opened his mouth, his lips trembled and he couldn't speak.

Si Lan took two deep breaths and forced himself to calm down before saying, "Just now, Brother Yan and Grandpa were in front of us. They said that Senior Cui had died."

After saying this, Si Lan's tears rolled down.

‘Bang~’

"Bang~"

There were two sounds of copper basins falling to the ground. Hu Tou opened his eyes wide and said in disbelief, "Senior Cui is dead? Wasn't he fine when he went to Changhua ten days ago?"

"Brother Yan and his men are going to see His Majesty. Our group 2 will go together. Are you going?"

Si Lan didn't have time to answer and just sobbed.

"Let's go!" Hu Tou replied firmly, and then said, "Tell Yan Ge'er and the others to wait for a while. We will change our clothes and meet up at the front!"

The news of Cui Zaidao's death quickly spread in the backyard of the prime minister's mansion.

Soon, low sobbing could be heard from the back house.

They were the first two groups of students in the school. At that time, the school was not very large and had not yet been divided into boys' and girls' schools. They could be said to be brothers and sisters who grew up together day and night.

Although Cui Zaidao came from a poor family, he had an open-minded and cheerful personality. When he grew up, he was often the leader of the school's practical activities. In everyone's eyes, he was like an older brother.

It is hard to accept the bad news suddenly.

But judging from the fact that Yan Ge'er and others wanted to see His Majesty as soon as they heard about this, there must be something behind the death of Senior Cui.

At three quarters past the hour of You, Hu Tou and the others changed their clothes. As their hair was not dry yet, they could not tie it into a bun, so they simply let their hair down without caring about their image and went out.

After leaving the prime minister's residence, I saw nearly a hundred students, led by Peng Yuyan, Wu Yanzu and others, lined up in an orderly manner, standing in the afterglow of the long street.

Some had angry faces, while others had red eyes, obviously having cried. Passers-by looked at the group of young students curiously, not knowing why.

Even so, there is still a considerable number of students distributed in slightly more distant states and counties who have not received the news yet. Otherwise, the number would at least double.

On the way to the Imperial City, Peng Yuyan told Hu Tou and others the news he had just collected. "The news was spread by the gentry of Changhua. There are all kinds of rumors. Some said that Zaidao was tempted by the beauty of the Du family and killed the father and daughter of the Du family when he failed to force them, and then committed suicide. Others said that Senior Cui had sex with Du Xiaoniang after drinking, and had no choice but to sign the marriage contract. Later, he regretted it and wanted to burn the father and daughter of the Du family to death, and accidentally died in the fire. In short, all kinds of news are very unfavorable to Senior Cui."

"Bullshit!" Tiger Head, who had been trained by Cat to be a lady of noble family for more than ten years, immediately cursed and said, "Cui Zaidao is the president of the Student Union, and was spotted by my brother a long time ago. He will take him by his side to be cultivated as soon as he has some experience! When he was in Huaibei, the number of families who wanted to marry their daughters to him could not be counted on one hand. How could Senior Cui do such a stupid thing!"

Si Lan also said: "Since Senior Cui is no longer here, they can throw dirty water on him as much as they want!"

"That's why we have to go see His Majesty! Zaidaor is gone and cannot be identified. As his classmates, we naturally have to fight for justice for him!"

After Wu Yanzu finished speaking, Peng Yuyan nodded, glanced at the dirty Chen Yingyi next to him, and said: "This matter is not as simple as it seems. Yesterday, my eldest brother suddenly went to Changhua and arrested the county magistrate and the entire Cao family. It is said that he was following the order of His Majesty. It seems that the death of the senior must have a lot to do with the officials and gentry in Changhua!"

Hearing that Chen Chu had arrested someone yesterday, Hu Tou and others breathed a sigh of relief subconsciously. This meant that their brother did not choose to sacrifice Cui Zaidao in vain for the so-called "overall considerations".

"I knew it~"

Hu Tou had not shed tears when he heard the news of Cui Zaidao's death just now, but when he heard that his brother was on their side, his nose suddenly felt sore for some reason, but his tone was full of pride.

Here, Peng Yuyan continued, "It is conceivable that the officials in Lin'an must have heard the news and taken action. Your Majesty is under great pressure."

"We ask for an audience with His Majesty. His Majesty will always have some excuses!"

Si Lan is very smart and understood it immediately. This means that all the officials will definitely put pressure on Your Majesty because of this illegal arrest, but since the students have made such a big fuss, Your Majesty can also use the excuse that "the students in Huaibei are very excited" to fool the officials.

It will prevent public opinion from being led by officials and gentry into a one-sided situation.

Sandra Ng looked confused, totally not understanding why everyone meeting His Majesty together would relieve His Majesty's pressure.

But that didn't stop her from staring at her brother Yan with admiration. He was so powerful and decisive, and acted after careful planning. He was much more handsome than her father Wu Kui!
Hu Tou also understood, but after looking around, he asked unhappily, "Where is Chen Yinglang?"

Chen Yinglang was older than all of them. He was the first president of the Huaibei Student Union and came from a noble family. He enjoyed a high reputation among his younger classmates.

Only Hu Tou dared to call him by his name. Peng Yuyan and the others looked embarrassed. Chen Yingyi, who had been following them, took two steps forward and explained a little embarrassedly, "Brother is not able to go out, but I am not outside of today's incident."

Wu Yanzu also explained on behalf of Chen Yinglang: "Indeed. A lot of the information was secretly passed on to us by Senior Chen. This matter is sensitive, and we need to understand Senior's situation and not take it too seriously."

This is true. This incident can be regarded as a very bad precedent set by the emperor against officials, and it concerns all officials and gentry in the world.

If Chen Yinglang leads everyone in a high-profile manner, people will inevitably wonder whether his father Chen Jingyan has stood on the opposite side of the gentry class.

Seeing Chen Yingyi's dirty clothes, Si Lan slowed down her pace and gradually walked to the position side by side with him. She whispered, "What's wrong with you? Why are your clothes so dirty?"

Chen Yingyi smiled shyly and whispered: "My uncle closed the house early today, so I sneaked out of the dog hole."

"Aren't you afraid of embarrassing Master Chen?"

Si Lan was curious. After Chen Yingyi came to Lin'an, he lived in the second uncle's house with his cousin. Now Chen Yinglang didn't go out, but Chen Yingyi sneaked out to participate in this matter.
Come to think of it, he and the others were not even classmates, so it was not worth taking the risk.

But Chen Yingyi sighed and said sincerely: "Although I have only met Brother Cui a few times, I know what kind of person he is. I also know what you and your majesty are doing. Speaking of which, I have been studying in my hometown for more than ten years, but none of them are as exciting as what I have experienced in the past few months! Just like what your majesty said in the signed article published in Caizhou Five Days Talk two months ago, 'In this great era, the vast majority of students can only enter the government one day if they go among the people'. Since this is a great era, I naturally want to be a witness."

Youshizhong.

The sun was setting in the west, and the western sky was covered with fine scale-like evening clouds for half the day.

Next to the Nangong Gate inside the Lizheng Gate of the Imperial City, the duty room which used to be filled only in the early hours of the morning was now packed with people.

But there were only a few people who could get seats.

The two people in the middle are Chen Bokang and Xu Bang, the newly appointed governor of East Zhejiang.
In theory, whether in terms of actual power or rank, Xu Bang had some gap with Chen Bokang, Luo Ruoji and others.

But at this moment, everyone seemed to be following Xu Bang's lead.

"Lord Xu is a loyal minister who has served His Majesty well. Your Majesty is young and brave, and only a loyal minister like Lord Xu can persuade Your Majesty."

The words of Xie Kuo, the former Minister of Justice of the Zhou Dynasty who remained in office temporarily, seemed to represent the voice of the majority of officials, and he was praised by many.

Since his debut with the Kiriyama boy group, Xu Bang has never occupied the center position, and mostly played the role of a secondary officer.

Not to mention the brothers Cai and Chen, even Ximen Gong, who had already served as the governor of Liaodong, was far inferior to them.

This time, he was appointed as the governor of eastern Zhejiang, which was his first time to serve as a frontier governor.

After arriving in Lin'an for more than 20 days, Xu Bang, as a meritorious official who followed the emperor, became almost the most popular figure in Lin'an City. Important officials of the Zhou State came to pay him a visit in an endless stream.

So, after the incident in Changhua County spread in Lin'an this afternoon, the old ministers of the Zhou State, led by Luo Ruoji, naturally went to find Xu Bang.

In the words of Zhou Wei, the Minister of the Dali Temple, "Only when the monarch and his subjects are in harmony can orders be passed down and the court run smoothly. Your Majesty arrested someone because he was angry about a student named Cui from Huaibei, trampling on the law. If this precedent is set, all officials will be in danger and will be cautious in everything they do in the future. They will not seek merit but only avoid mistakes. This is definitely not a good thing for the Great Chu."

Having served as an official for many years, Xu Bang had long regarded himself as a member of the official class. He also agreed with Zhou Wei's opinion, but felt that his fifth brother was still young. The remaining forces of the Zhou Kingdom had not yet been completely wiped out. If he developed rifts with the officials, it would be detrimental to the stability of Da Chu.

With this idea in mind, Xu Bang, surrounded by flattery, came to the imperial city with hundreds of officials, wanting to persuade Chen Chu to release Cao Ling, Lu Xiaozhai and others.

However, everyone waited in the duty room for two quarters of an hour but still was not summoned by His Majesty.

As all the officials were becoming increasingly anxious, they suddenly heard that students from Huaibei had also arrived. All the officials walked out of their duty rooms at the same time, and saw in the twilight, a team of more than a hundred people slowly occupied the entire playground, requesting to see His Majesty.

Their faces were either childish or sad. Compared with the ministers dressed in red, they were undoubtedly much less dignified.

But the students have something that all officials envy: youthful, vigorous energy.

The officials could naturally guess why the students came, and they all frowned.

However, everyone also knew that among this group of students there were numerous children of Huaibei nobles. If they stepped forward to scold and criticize them, they might not give them face.

If the other party is not convinced, it would be embarrassing for him to have a quarrel with those high-ranking officials who are proud of their status outside the palace gate.

So Luo Ruji walked up to Xu Bang with a respectful look on his face and said, "Young students are ignorant of government affairs and do not know the benefits and disadvantages. They are just causing trouble. Lord Xu is from Tongshan together. Speaking of which, they should call Lord Xu uncle when they see him. So please persuade them to go back and study hard."

This statement mainly highlights Xu Bang's "seniority", which is also the point he is most proud of.

Xu Bang, who was very pleased, walked down the steps slowly under the gaze of all the officials, and acted like an elder. "Why are you making trouble here? Your Majesty and I will handle the matter of Changhua. You are still young, and the most important thing is to study, learn skills, and go back quickly!"

Xu Bang was dignified and kind, but Peng Yuyan, Wu Yanzu and others just looked at each other silently, and no one answered.

Naturally, he would not turn back just because of Xu Bang's words.

There were countless colleagues watching behind him. Xu Bang could not help but feel a little annoyed. He just said, "What's the matter? This official and your fathers and brothers have followed Your Majesty for more than ten years, and only then did Great Chu become what it is today. If I punish you on behalf of your fathers and brothers, I don't think they will say anything!"

Oh, he is trying to scare us with the family rules.

At this time, a graceful figure stepped out from the crowd, stood in front of Xu Bang, bowed, and said, "Second Brother Xu, which side are you on?"

Second Brother Xu???
I am already old, how could any young girl call me second brother!
Xu Bang was angry, but when he looked carefully, he realized that this was the Queen's sister.

The Queen follows His Majesty and Hutou follows the Queen in calling him Second Brother. Doesn't that seem to be anything wrong?
Xu Bang's expression changed several times, but he finally smiled kindly, "Oh, it's Miss Zhao, why are you here too? If you want to see His Majesty, you can just inform him directly, why are you waiting here foolishly?"

However, Hu Tou raised his head and said crisply, "I am not here today as your Majesty's sister-in-law, but as a student from Huaibei, to appeal for Senior Cui! I don't know whether Second Brother Xu is here today as your Majesty's sworn brother to comfort your Majesty for the loss of his student, or as the leader of all officials to force your Majesty to abdicate and force your Majesty to swallow his anger!"

"Oh~"

Peng Yuyan, Wu Yanzu, Chen Yingyi and even Si Lan all looked at Hu Tou, as if they wanted to get to know each other all over again.

Hu Tou said this with great hatred, but Xu Bang was unable to refute Second Brother Xu, "Your fifth brother has just lost a beloved disciple, and as his sworn brother, you did not come to comfort him, but followed the officials to block the palace gate. Who is fooling around?"

You are in your forties, but you are not as sensible as us kids!

This kind of question can no longer be answered with reason, because it is about emotions.

"Force the emperor to abdicate? Xiao Zhao, please don't talk nonsense to me. I just happened to be passing by!"

Perhaps Xu Bang, who had been a little arrogant recently, was awakened by Hu Tou's harsh words, or perhaps the incident just happened suddenly and he was fooled by Luo Ruoji and others. Only now did he realize that the key to the matter lies in the "struggle between the power of the emperor and the power of the ministers."

In short, although Xu Bang was confused for a while, he finally came to his senses at this time. He waved his hands repeatedly to deny the "forced abdication", then smiled and whispered: "Second brother remembered that he had something to do at home, so he went back first. Madam Zhao, please tell the emperor that I was bewitched just now. I, Xu Bang, will always stand on the side of the emperor."

In the back, Luo Ruoji and others were standing at the door of the duty room. They saw Xu Bang showing off his power first, and then whispering something to a pretty young lady.

Although I couldn't hear it clearly, I found his hard work hilarious. There has been a rumor in the streets that among the four sworn brothers of His Majesty, Xu Bang was the dumbest. Now it seems that this is true.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been fooled into helping them charge into battle. Compared to the slippery Chen Jingyan who suddenly contracted a mouth disease and stayed at home, this Xu Bangzi is much cuter.
While Luo Ruji was thinking, he suddenly heard Zhou Wei and Xie Kuo beside him shouting, "Master Xu, where are you going!"

Luo Ruji looked up when he heard the voice, and saw Xu Bang sneaking along the wall to the palace gate like a thief.
When Xu Bang heard the shouting from behind, he suddenly quickened his pace again, from a fast walk to a trot, and rushed out of the palace gate and disappeared into the dusk. (End of this chapter)