The prince is more stable

Chapter 169 Xiao Yi's Disaster
Believing that there are many coincidences in the world, Zhao Xiaoqian would not be careless when he heard anything that seemed familiar.

There are not many blind old women in the city of Bianjing, and it is within the scope of Panlou Street.

Zhao Xiaoqian's expression became serious.

Counting the days, I haven’t seen Zhang Xiaoyi for several days. Did something happen to him?
The idlers at the table next to them were still talking loudly, with fierce expressions on their faces but excited eyes, and they were talking excitedly about how cruel they were when they beat people up.

Where did I punch, how did the other person react in pain, where did I kick, how did the other person hold his head and scream, etc.

As they spoke, the idlers looked around fiercely, as if such boasting could arouse people's fear of him, and the more fear people had, the more sense of accomplishment they would have.

I have to say, this kind of despicable behavior has not changed in a thousand years.

Zhao Xiaoqian listened quietly, picked up a soup dumpling that had already gone cold, and stuffed it into his mouth with an expressionless face, chewing it slowly as if unconsciously.

After a long time, the idlers finally got tired of blowing, so they started eating and drinking.

Next to Zhao Xiaoqian, Cai You also heard something wrong, and the more he listened, the more familiar it sounded.

Cai You also knew Zhang Xiaoyi, and they even had a good relationship. Zhao Xiaoqian had introduced them to each other, and they had even had a few drinks together.

"Marquis of County, the person they are talking about couldn't be..." Cai You said in surprise and doubt.

Zhao Xiaoqian shook his head and whispered, "Don't make a sound. Go out and ask Chen Shou to bring people in to subdue these people first."

Cai You nodded in understanding and walked out the door silently.

Zhao Xiaoqian sat steadily and did not rush forward to confront the idlers out of his momentary courage. That was not his job.

When you take action, you should control the situation like a lion fighting a rabbit, instead of foolishly and impulsively PKing in the lane and being taken hostage in the end.

Soon, Chen Shou came in with more than ten imperial guards. Cai You followed behind like a traitor's translator. He carefully pointed at the idle men at the table and then quickly moved aside.

Zhao Xiaoqian and Cai You both understood the principle that a gentleman should not stand under a dangerous wall.

After Chen Shou and others came in, all the diners in the building quieted down. After all, they were a group of strong and powerful imperial guards, and they all had unfriendly faces, so no one dared to provoke them.

Even the idlers at that table didn't dare to say a word at this moment. In contrast to their arrogant and domineering appearance just now, they all lowered their heads, ate and drank, and didn't dare to raise their eyes.

But Chen Shou didn't let them do as they wished. After entering the room, he led his men straight towards them.

He slapped a vagrant man's shoulder hard. The man screamed in pain and turned his head away, trying to force a flattering smile.

"Shangguan, you recognized the wrong person, didn't you?"

Chen Shou waved his hand with a forced smile: "I have something to ask you. Take them all down."

The rest of the imperial guards rushed forward and quickly captured the idlers, handcuffing their arms behind their backs and escorting them out of the door.

Zhao Xiaoqian was still sitting at the table, calmly eating another soup dumpling. The cold soup dumpling really tasted much worse. Zhao Xiaoqian frowned, but still tried hard to eat it.

He reached into his pocket to pay the bill, but suddenly stopped.

You should be frugal in your life and there is no need to lavishly entertain guests unless there is an important event.

So Zhao Xiaoqian raised his chin towards Cai You and said, "You come and pay the bill."

After saying that, Zhao Xiaoqian stood up and walked out.

Cai You opened his mouth, but still took out half a dollar and threw it on the table.

In a remote and deserted dark alley, idlers were lying on the ground in a twisted state, wailing in pain.

Zhao Xiaoqian and Cai You walked over slowly, looked at the miserable appearance of the idlers, and expressed their satisfaction.

Chen Shou is a ruthless guy who doesn't talk much, but he does things very well. Before Zhao Xiaoqian came, he had obviously entertained these heroes.

When Zhao Xiaoqian arrived, they could interrogate him directly, saving them the trouble. Zhao Xiaoqian squatted in front of them with a smile on his face and asked a few questions in a warm and friendly manner.

The answer was exactly as he guessed, it was confirmed that something had happened to Zhang Xiaoyi.

The story begins with the construction of the Yellow River dike in Kaifeng.

After the Yellow River burst its dikes last time, the imperial court punished a large number of corrupt officials and added a group of river officials. Then, the national treasury allocated money, and officials recruited civilians for labor service to start the Yellow River dike repair project in full swing.

Zhang Xiaoyi had nothing to do with this matter. He had saved Zhao Xiaoqian during the flood, and Zhao Xiaoqian kept his word and gave him one thousand taels of silver.

This is a huge sum of money, enough for Zhang Xiaoyi to eat and drink for many years.

Later, Zhao Xiaoqian developed him into a civilian spy for the Imperial City Bureau, and even gave him a monthly salary of five strings of cash, but he was not officially on the Imperial City Bureau's payroll.

Zhang Xiaoyi's life has been getting better and better, and he no longer has to earn the hard-earned money running errands every day.

Unfortunately, some people's personalities are destined to make them unable to keep their wealth and are destined not to live a rich life.

Zhang Xiaoyi is a man of loyalty and righteousness. He has become rich, but his poor brothers who used to run errands with him in Bianjing City are still struggling to make ends meet.

Zhang Xiaoyi, who was generous and charitable, could not bear to see his poor brothers starving and freezing, so he used the one thousand taels of silver Zhao Xiaoqian gave him to help them a little today and a little tomorrow, whether it was to help the poor or in emergencies. In just two months, he had spent most of the one thousand taels of silver.

However, Zhang Xiaoyi has dozens or even hundreds of poor brothers. How many can he save?
Seeing that Zhang Xiaoyi was almost broke, fortunately the court issued an order to recruit workers to repair dikes and rivers in the capital area, providing them with food and drink and 20 cents a day as wages.

This news was undoubtedly exciting for the idle people in Bianliang who were struggling to survive.

Zhang Xiaoyi was also very happy. He had no intention of becoming a river engineer. After all, he was a non-staff member of the Imperial City Bureau and had to arrange spies among the people of Bianliang for Zhao Xiaoqian.

But his poor brothers had hope. Zhang Xiaoyi decided to help his brothers, so he led hundreds of poor brothers to the bank of the Yellow River twenty miles away. The brothers had food, drink and money, and this was a big project that would not be completed in a year or two.

Seeing that his brothers had found a place to stay, Zhang Xiaoyi was naturally very happy.

But not long after, the brothers who built the dike came back in twos and threes. When Zhang Xiaoyi asked, he found out that the so-called free food and drink meant that they only ate moldy millet every day, and the so-called twenty cents a day wages only left three or five cents in the hands of the poor brothers.

Don't ask, even the officials and supervisors of the river cannot work in vain. Wouldn't you all deduct a little bit of their hard-earned money?
After being deducted layer by layer, twenty cents became three or five cents, and it was up to you to do it or not.

With the prices in Bianjing, this amount of wages is really not enough to make a living. The river embankment has been under construction for about a month, and a lot of wages have been deducted.

Zhang Xiaoyi was furious. He was the one who brought his brothers to the river embankment construction site, but they were wronged. Zhang Xiaoyi felt bad about it, so he took his men to the construction site and asked the supervisor for their wages.

You can naturally imagine what the supervisor looks like.

After a scolding mixed with official authority, Zhang Xiaoyi remained fearless and argued with reason, which aroused the anger of the crowd on the construction site and almost caused a big incident.

The supervisor panicked and reported it quickly.

The person in charge of the Yellow River dike construction was the Du Shui Jian under the Ministry of Works. The head of the Du Shui Jian was called the Du Shui Shi Zhe, also known as the Du Shui Shi.

Zhang Xiaoyi and his brothers reported the trouble to the Du Shui Jian. As the top Du Shui Jian, he naturally didn't bother to deal with such trivial matters.

So the Water Commissioner simply gave a simple order, asking his son, who had no official position, no title, and no achievements, to handle the matter, and to handle it in a low-key manner without alerting other officials.

So, what did the son do?
He chose a simple, effective and brutal method. He bribed a group of idle men in Bian Jing and ordered them to block Zhang Xiaoyi and beat him up on his way home at night.

If Zhao Xiaoqian had not happened to hear their discussion today, this matter would probably not be over yet. Today, this group of idlers would go to Zhang Xiaoyi's house to cause trouble for his blind mother, and who knows what kind of tragedy would happen.

After hearing the whole story, Zhao Xiaoqian said he completely understood.

Now he had only one question.

Why didn't Zhang Xiaoyi ask him for help when such a big thing happened?

(End of this chapter)