Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1765 Untitled 3
Gu Sansi waved his hand and said:

"I'm fine! I'm fine!"

Hearing Gu Sansi say this, and seeing that he was as usual, Chen Wanting finally felt relieved. She had been worried and puzzled when she heard that Gu Sansi had left the Ministry of Personnel early because of a headache and feeling unwell.

After all, Gu Sansi slept next to her last night. In her opinion, Gu Sansi slept very soundly last night, snoring very loudly. The deafening, wave after wave of snoring was what kept her from sleeping well!

Just then, Gu Sansi spoke up with a smile:

"Our Provincial Governor Zhang is so thoughtful! He heard that Wanting wanted some fresh vegetables, so he brought them over for you! It seems you two must have been very close friends when you were children!"

Although Gu Sansi smiled as he said this, Chen Wanting felt something was off about it, and a hint of unease appeared in her eyes. She had only told Gu Sansi that Zhang Yilin was her childhood neighbor and playmate, but the truth was more than that. Her relationship with Zhang Yilin was more like that of childhood sweethearts; she hadn't told him this for fear of making Gu Sansi jealous.
Chen Wanting felt that she and Zhang Yilin were destined to be apart and wished each other well. However, she was also very touched that Zhang Yulin had arranged for so many people to deliver fresh vegetables to her just because of her words.

However, even though she was deeply moved by Zhang Yilin, Chen Wanting couldn't show it to Gu Sansi. To avoid arousing Gu Sansi's suspicions, she could only offer a sophistry:

"You say it's for me, but isn't it actually for you, the Minister of Personnel?"

Gu Sansi was somewhat surprised by Chen Wanting's words and immediately replied:
"Why is it being delivered to me? I didn't ask him to deliver fresh vegetables to me..."

"Of course he sent it to you. Otherwise, why would he send me vegetables? These are all cave vegetables, specially supplied to the imperial palace!"

"What is 'cave vegetable'? How can there be such fresh vegetables at this time of year? Could it have been delivered from the south by express courier?"

"There are some hot springs and heated caves in Chengqing. So, in order to ensure that the ladies of the palace could eat fresh vegetables in winter, vegetables were planted in these heated caves. The cave entrances were blocked with cotton quilts. It is said that this created an artificial warm room. The vegetables were then carefully cared for until the harvest season. Finally, when the vegetables matured, they were wrapped in cotton quilts to keep them warm and transported to Yijing!"

Gu Sansi asked in surprise:

"Is this matter really that complicated?"

"Of course! It's not easy to get fresh vegetables in this freezing weather. I heard that the yield of vegetables grown in these heated caves is very low. The combined yield of several heated caves is only two or three hundred catties. The vast majority of them are supplied to the palace."

"It's because Zhang Yilin is the deputy provincial governor in charge of agriculture, so he used his position to keep some for himself. I guess I'm just benefiting from your position!"

Upon hearing this, Gu Sansi said with a forced smile:

"How is it that you're benefiting from me? It's clearly me benefiting from you! Wan Ting, if you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known about cave vegetables at all..."

Seeing Gu Sansi's jealous expression, Chen Wanting became even more convinced that hiding her true relationship with Zhang Yilin from Gu Sansi was the right thing to do, and then she spoke up:
"Whether he wants to become the Provincial Governor of Hebei and Henan or the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, he needs your approval, sir. So naturally he'll try to curry favor with you. But since you refuse his money, he can only offer you vegetables!"

Hearing Chen Wanting say that, Gu Sansi also felt that it made sense. He then didn't say anything more, but instructed Chen Wanting to have the kitchen cook a few dishes for him. He also wanted to taste what cave food in a warm cave tasted like.

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Qilu Tao Port
Inside the prefectural government office, Ma Runchuan was calmly drinking tea, while Zhao Yingjie, the prefect of Taogang, stood to the side looking quite hesitant.

Seeing that Zhao Yingjie was hesitant to make a decision, Ma Runchuan said calmly:

"Yingjie! I have always respected your work. You have done a great job in Tao Port these past few years and have brought me a lot of honor. But unfortunately, the arm can twist the thigh, and His Majesty does not like you!"

Hearing Ma Runchuan say this, Zhao Yingjie's face darkened even more. He had originally regarded Ye Mingsheng's inspection as an important stepping stone for his advancement, thinking that he could demonstrate his governing ability to Ye Mingsheng through the development of Taogang over the years, thereby gaining Ye Mingsheng's appreciation and rising to the top of his career.

However, ideals are beautiful, but reality is cruel. Even now, Zhao Yingjie still doesn't understand what Ye Mingsheng is thinking, but the fact is that he has messed everything up!
After this incident, Zhao Yingjie felt that his originally smooth and broad career path had suddenly plummeted to the bottom, into an abyss that seemed bottomless. This also caused him to lose his motivation to work!

Now, Ma Runchuan wants him to resign, which is tantamount to killing Zhao Yingjie!
Zhao Yingjie thought it best to speak earnestly here:

"My lord, I have realized my mistake. Please give me another chance!"

Seeing that Zhao Yingjie was so stubborn, Ma Runchuan also tore off his veil of tenderness and coldly snorted, saying:
"Zhao Yingjie, you've come to this point, how can you still not understand? Do you think you can continue working in Taogang? Saying you're retiring due to illness is already giving you face. Do you really want to lose all face?"

At this point, Ma Runchuan paused, observed Zhao Yingjie's facial expression, and then dropped a bombshell:

"You can still leave unscathed now, but if the Joint Investigation Department and the Ministry of Justice start investigating you, it won't be something Zhi Shi can handle!" Hearing the name "Joint Investigation Department," a flicker of fear flashed in Zhao Yingjie's eyes, and he was caught in a deep dilemma. To be honest, he had worked so hard to climb to his current position, and he couldn't accept giving it up so easily. But if he didn't give up, it seemed he wouldn't have a good outcome either…
Because of the previous food incident, he was punished by Ye Mingsheng and had to eat dockworkers' meals for a month.

At first, Zhao Yingjie felt wronged and didn't understand why Ye Mingsheng treated him so harshly. But later he realized that he had become a victim of Ye Mingsheng's political show. In order to show his wisdom, bravery, benevolence and love, Ye Mingsheng needed a greedy and tyrannical party member to contrast with him. Only in this way could his image become more vivid and more talked about.

Realizing this, Zhao Yingjie did not blame Ye Mingsheng, or rather, he dared not blame Ye Mingsheng. He could only lament that he was out of touch with reality and had just run into Ye Mingsheng's line of fire, becoming a tool for Ye Mingsheng's political show.

Zhao Yingjie originally thought that after eating dockwork meals for a month, the matter would end there, and he would still be the Tao Gang Prefect who commanded 100,000 people.

However, he had oversimplified the matter. Although Ye Mingsheng ignored him after the incident, Ma Runchuan was unwilling to let him go and wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to force him out and take control of Taogang!
After carefully weighing the pros and cons, Zhao Yingjie gradually formed an idea. He looked up at Ma Runchuan and said firmly:

"My lord, I am the prefect of Tao Port appointed by the imperial court. As long as His Majesty and the court do not dismiss me, I will never desert my post. I will continue to fight for Tao Port, fulfill the glorious mission entrusted to me by His Majesty, and build Tao Port into the best port in the Great Qian Dynasty..."

Hearing Zhao Yingjie's words, Ma Runchuan narrowed his eyes and said coldly:
"You're shameless! You're like a dead pig that's not afraid of boiling water!"

Faced with such personal insults from Ma Runchuan, Zhao Yingjie was somewhat angry, but since Ma Runchuan was his superior, he did not argue with him too much and simply left the room.

Seeing that Zhao Yingjie had left, Ma Runchuan did not linger in the room and soon returned to the inn.

Back in his room, Ma Runchuan sat on the sofa, secretly planning how to win over Zhao Yingjie.

Although according to the rules of the Great Qian Dynasty, the Provincial Governor did not have the right to directly appoint the prefects of the areas under his jurisdiction, he did have the right to recommend candidates to the court. He did not pay much attention to the candidates recommended. Under normal circumstances, if there were no major problems, the Ministry of Personnel would report to Ye Mingsheng for a decision, and Ye Mingsheng would respect the opinion of the Provincial Governor.

Therefore, the candidates recommended by the Provincial Governor were likely to be promoted. During his time in Shandong, in order to ensure that his ideas could be effectively implemented, Ma Runchuan replaced most of the prefects in various parts of Shandong with his own people. Since his junior brother Gu Sansi was the Minister of Personnel, his personnel appointments and removals were relatively smooth.

However, there was one prefect who was not one of Ma Runchuan's own people!

This place is Tao Port!

What makes Tao Port so special is that it's a key development project for the Great Qian Dynasty. To implement the imperial court's plans, the prefect of Tao Port wasn't promoted from within Shandong like prefects in other parts of the province; instead, he was directly dispatched by the imperial court…
The current prefect of Taogang, Zhao Yingjie, worked in Yijing before coming to Taogang. He was an official in the Yijing government office and was selected by the Ministry of Personnel to serve as the prefect of Taogang.

Because he was transferred from Beijing to Shandong and appointed by the Ministry of Personnel, Zhao Yingjie felt a sense of superiority over the local Shandong officials. This led him to be less subservient to Ma Runchuan, the provincial governor, than the local Shandong officials, who were afraid of offending him in any way.

This also meant that at some meetings organized by Ma Runchuan, Zhao Yingjie would not blindly follow Ma Runchuan like the local Party members in Shandong. When faced with differences in work ideas or different opinions on certain situations, Zhao Yingjie would tell Ma Runchuan directly at the meeting and fully express his opinions.

Although Zhao Yingjie's actions were not intended to provoke Ma Runchuan or to teach Ma Zhenchuan a lesson, Ma Runchuan viewed Zhao's actions as a challenge to his authority as the provincial governor by publicly contradicting him at such a meeting.

If it were any other prefect, Ma Runchuan would have impeached him long ago!
However, Zhao Yingjie, the prefect, was indeed different. Although Taogang was nominally under the leadership of the Qilu Provincial Administration Commission, it was actually more often under the command of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works.

Furthermore, before coming to Taogang, Zhao Yingjie was an official in the Yijing Prefecture's Registrar's Office. His former superior was Liu Ning, the former Prefect of Yijing, who has now risen to the position of Grand Secretary and Minister of Justice. Therefore, Zhao Yingjie has powerful backing, and quite strong backing at that…

In Ma Runchuan's view, it was precisely because of these various reasons that Zhao Yingjie was so fearless in front of him and lacked respect for him as the provincial governor, which made him very angry.

Besides the issue of respect, the two also had significant differences in their work approaches.

As the Provincial Governor of Shandong, Ma Runchuan's idea was to develop Taogang into the engine of Shandong's development, playing a leading role in helping other prefectures and counties to develop better.

As the prefect of Taogang, Zhao Yingjie was more focused on the development of Taogang itself and did not care whether Taogang could serve as a driving force for the development of Shandong.

The difference between the two can be summed up in one's self-interest: those in positions of power should govern accordingly, while those not in positions of power should not interfere in governance.

As the Provincial Governor of Shandong, Ma Runchuan considered the development of the entire Shandong region as his achievement and the basis for his continued advancement. Zhao Yingjie was the same; Taogang was his achievement. Therefore, whether other prefectures and counties in Shandong could develop was none of his concern.

If, as Ma Runchuan said, Taogang were to become the engine of Qilu's development and play a leading role, it would require money. This is not something that can be achieved by simply talking about it. For Zhao Yingjie, Taogang's own development funds are already stretched thin. He has to raise money through various channels and personal connections. How could he have the energy to take care of other things?

So, seeing Zhao Yingjie as stingy as a miser, Ma Runchuan's resentment towards him accumulated over the years...