Thief Emperor

Chapter 995: Forgetting Grudges

In wealthy families, the middle door is never opened. Even when the owner of the house moves around, he always goes through the side door.

The servants took a more remote door.

Only when someone of higher status than oneself arrives will the middle door be opened wide as a sign of respect.

Zhou Bi was the director of the Inspection Department of the Privy Council, a man of great power. He was the son of a duke and the brother-in-law of General Su Sheng. With his status, no matter which family he visited, the middle door would usually be opened to welcome them.

However, the Zhuo family also has a duke and even a prime minister in the court. In terms of background alone, it is not worse than Zhou Bi. Although the Zhuo family did not open the middle door to welcome him at this time, the head of the Zhuo family came out to greet him personally, which meant that he treated Zhou Bi as someone of equal status.

This is not a big problem and is not considered rude.

But Zhou Bi's face had already darkened.

He had just made it clear that he came here on orders and handed over his badge.

It is no secret who the emperor brought with him when he left the capital this time. It is also not difficult to guess why Si Zheng, the director of the Privy Council, now appears in the Jiangnan area.

The Zhuo family was able to reach this point in Jiangdong, so they were certainly not stupid people. One could even infer that they must have guessed on whose orders Zhou Bi came.

Under such circumstances, it would be a bit arrogant to welcome him like this.

Zhou Bi first took a look at Zhuo Guangqing, the patriarch of the Zhuo family. He was a middle-aged man in his fifties, of medium build and with a greasy face.

Zhou Bi's face suddenly turned cold, and he said slowly: "Master Zhuo is so grand."

Zhuo Guangqing was stunned, and the smile on his face faded. He bowed to Zhou Bi and said, "Young Master, this should be the first time we meet. Why are you speaking so coldly to me?"

Zhou Bi ignored him again, and took out the land deed and house deed issued by Jinling Prefecture from his arms, handed it to Zhuo Guangqing, and snorted: "I have already said that I came here on orders. This time I am accompanying the emperor on his eastern tour. Is it difficult to say whose orders I am following?"

"You, the Zhuo family, don't even open the middle door. You are so shameless!"

He forced the land deed and the house deed into Master Zhuo's hands and said coldly, "This is what His Majesty ordered to be returned to the Zhuo family. His Majesty said so."

"In the past ten years, if the Zhuo family intends to collect rent from your Majesty's family, it won't be long before the rent is paid in full according to the market price!"

After saying this, Zhou Bi didn't even look at Zhuo Guangqing, but clasped his fists symbolically, then turned around and walked away. He came to the tree where the horses were tied nearby, looked at the two followers, and said in a deep voice, "Let's go!"

Just as Zhou Bi and his two followers were untying the horse reins, Zhuo Guangqing had already opened the thing Zhou Bi handed over. After just a quick glance, the face of the Zhuo family patriarch changed drastically.

The Li Garden in Jinling was a gift from his father to Li Yun. In the beginning, everyone in the Zhuo family was somewhat dissatisfied with this matter. After all, that house was the best house in Jinling City at that time. For the Zhuo family, which had already declined in wealth at that time, it was already a considerable part of their property.

However, Mr. Zhuo overcame all objections and still got the job done.

It was not until Li Yun became King of Wu that the Zhuo family realized how wise the decision made by Master Zhuo was.

Because of this mansion, the Li and Zhuo families have a deep bond that is difficult to give up.

Because of this mansion, even though Mr. Zhuo was thousands of miles away in Luoyang, the local officials in Jiangdong still had to give face to the Zhuo family and were even quite respectful to them.

And now, the land deed has been returned. No matter how stupid Zhuo Guangqing is, he already knows that the Emperor is quite dissatisfied with his family.

His mind raced, and just as he reacted, he looked up and saw Zhou Bi had already mounted his horse and was ready to leave. Mr. Zhuo rushed over in three or two steps, almost falling to the ground, and finally grabbed Zhou Bi's sleeve before he left.

Zhuo Guangqing's face was a little pale, and his voice was trembling: "Young Master, Young Master."

"This matter, what is going on, what is going on..."

He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his other hand and asked, "Is it because my family did not rush to welcome the emperor that made His Majesty unhappy?"

Zhou Bi just glanced at him and sneered, "Master Zhuo knows exactly what the Zhuo family did."

After saying this, Zhou Bi did not stop, shook the reins, and rode away.

Master Zhuo looked at Zhou Bi's leaving back, and his whole body froze in place. After an unknown amount of time, he finally returned to the main hall of the Zhuo family with the help of the servants.

After sitting in the main hall for half an hour, his eldest son Zhuohong hurried back home.

Zhuo Hong is the current Jiangdong Salt Administrator, in charge of the entire Jiangdong Salt Road, and has been in this position for more than ten years. After seeing his father, he first asked about what had happened. After listening to his father's story, the Jiangdong Salt Administrator's face turned unhappy.

Zhuo Guangqing looked at his son and spoke with a slight tremor in his voice: "Over the years, our Zhuo family has always been honest and dutiful, and has never done anything out of line. Why did we anger the emperor?"

He looked at his son and asked, "Did the imperial court know about your tampering with the salt road, so..."

Upon hearing this, Zhuo Yanzheng took a deep breath, shook his head slightly and said, "Dad, which official in the world is not greedy? How could such a trivial matter anger the emperor?"

"Moreover."

Zhuo Hong whispered, "My grandfather worked so hard for the Tang Dynasty, and my uncle has worked hard for the court over the years."

"This salt road was promised to our family by His Majesty. When His Majesty promised it to our family, he had already tacitly approved of this matter and there is absolutely no way His Majesty would turn against us because of this." In a sense, what the salt administrator said was not entirely unreasonable, because the emperor also knew that there were not so many incorruptible people in the world.

If the Zhuo family only wanted to make some money from the salt road, and provided that the operation of the Jiangdong Salt Road was not affected, Emperor Li would not have made trouble for it.

"I know, kid."

Zhuo Hong took a deep breath, his face pale. "I heard a few days ago that my uncle got into trouble in the court and was involved in a big case. But I only heard about it. There is no definite news from the court."

"Now it seems that Uncle..."

"Most likely he really lost power."

Zhuo Hong looked at his father and whispered, "Therefore, before His Majesty even arrived in Jiangdong, he has already started to attack our Zhuo family!"

Zhuo Guangqing frowned when he heard this: "When did this happen? Why didn't you tell your father about it?"

"I thought it was just a rumor..."

Zhuo Hong sighed: "After all, my uncle is one of the founders of the Tang Dynasty..."

Zhuo Guangqing looked uncertain, and whispered: "My elder brother has worked hard for the court for many years, how could the emperor be so cold and indifferent!"

"father."

Zhuo Yanzheng quickly pulled his father's sleeve and said with a wry smile: "The Nine Officials are omnipresent, be careful of the harm that comes from your mouth!"

He took a deep breath and said, "Since this matter has already been resolved, there is only one way left. You should leave now and go to Jinling to prepare to receive the emperor."

"I will leave now to meet the emperor on the road and apologize to him."

The father and son discussed for a while, and Master Zhuo nodded slowly and sighed: "It's strange to say, if something really happened to your uncle, since the court hasn't arrested him yet, then he should at least send a few words back..."

Zhuo Hong shook his head slightly and whispered, "Maybe Uncle has already been targeted by Jiusi!"

…………

Qingyang Prefecture, at the foot of Cangshan Mountain.

Cangshan Mountain at this time is different from before.

Because the emperor's ancestral tomb was built here, and there is a military camp stationed here all year round, the foot of Cangshan Mountain is now much more lively than before and has formed a large town.

There is even a rudimentary form of a county town.

It is foreseeable that if it continues to develop in this way, this place will most likely become a new county in the future.

The name is also easy to choose, it is called Cangshan County.

At this time, His Majesty the Emperor had already arrived at Cangshan Mountain and had already paid homage to the ancestral tomb.

The emperor has been staying here for three days.

At this time, under the leadership of Zhou Liang, several old men from Cangshan Village had already entered the back garden of the emperor's residence.

It was autumn now, and the weather was gradually getting cooler. With many mountains nearby, it was even cooler. His Majesty the Emperor also put on an outer coat and went to the backyard alone.

He did not bring his two concubines, nor his eldest daughter.

After he sat down in the main seat, he looked at everyone and said with a smile: "It's been many years since we last met. Sit down, everyone."

Everyone answered yes and then sat down.

Led by Zhou Liang, everyone toasted Li Yun with a glass of wine. After finishing the glass of wine, Emperor Li looked at everyone. After a moment of silence, he said, "It's very rare to see someone like this again in this lifetime. What do you have to say?"

"You can speak freely now."

Yuan Zhengming, the second in command whose hair was almost completely white, looked at Li Yun and sighed, "It's been almost twenty years, the old things back then..."

"Please forget it, Your Majesty."

"I have long forgotten what happened in the village."

Li Yun looked at him and said with a smile: "But when I was an official, some people talked nonsense behind my back."

"Later, I became the King of Wu."

"Someone went to look for my elder brother again."

(End of this chapter)