The prince is more stable

Chapter 370 Private Visit on Weibo
At tonight's welcoming banquet, Zhao Xiaoqian and the officials of Zhending Prefecture each had their own thoughts.

The officials wanted to get a close look at Zhao Xiaoqian, judge his character, and see if he would become corrupt with them.

Everyone knew very well that Zhao Xiaoqian was not Li Qingchen.

Li Qingchen had no foundation in the court. Although he was the prefect, everyone could suppress him if they united.

But Zhao Xiaoqian is a cousin of the current official family. No matter his origin, title, official position or the emperor's favor, he is more than one level higher than the officials present.

If Zhao Xiaoqian was a just and upright person, then everyone would be in trouble, and it would be a big trouble.

There is no official in the world who is not corrupt, and Zhao Xiaoqian is one of them.

If Zhao Xiaoqian is also a like-minded person, then everything will be easy. Officials have even begun to discuss privately today how much of the benefits they have obtained should be given to Zhao Xiaoqian.

Tonight's welcoming banquet is the beginning of the test.

Zhao Xiaoqian's purpose was to recognize someone.

When I entered the city during the day, I had a quick meeting with the officials, but the official titles and names of many people did not match at all.

If nothing unexpected happens, many people here will be your enemies. If you don’t even know the names of your enemies, won’t you seem like a moron?

Fortunately, Zhao Xiaoqian has normal intelligence.

Halfway through the banquet, he had memorized the official titles and names of several important figures.

Li Qingchen and Zhang Lan, the commander of the Imperial Guards, are not mentioned here. The others are Liu Qianliang, the judge of Zhending Prefecture, Wang Shenxian, the magistrate of Zhending Prefecture, Zhou Shen, the director of the Ministry of Justice, Fang Xi, and Li Zhenglian, the director of the Ministry of Transportation...

In the officialdom of Zhending Prefecture, these are probably the bigwigs who truly hold power.

As for the large group of so-called "officials with official titles but no real power" at the banquet... I'm sorry, Zhao Xiaoqian doesn't have enough memory to remember so many boring names and messy official positions.

You don't have to remember their names, but Zhao Xiaoqian gladly accepted their overwhelming flattery.

What’s interesting is that the flattery of these officials who only rely on salary is the most ruthless and powerful. It is so disgusting and corny that even a shameless person like Zhao Xiaoqian almost couldn’t catch it.

At the same time, Zhao Xiaoqian also noticed that at the welcoming banquet tonight, Zhang Lan, the commander-in-chief of 10,000 imperial guards, was present, but the other two commanders of the wing troops were not present. It was not known whether their official rank was not high enough to attend the banquet or they just did not want to come.

In the Song Dynasty, the imperial guards were under the jurisdiction of the central government, while the wing troops were under the jurisdiction of local governments. Both were armies, but their status and treatment were very different.

The two wing army commanders were not at the banquet tonight. It was probably not because they had any objections to Zhao Xiaoqian, but because they were not qualified to attend the banquet, or they were excluded by Zhang Lan and other civil servants.

Secretly remembering this incident, Zhao Xiaoqian smiled and continued to toast with the officials.

The banquet lasted until late at night, and Zhao Xiaoqian looked drunk. The officials then stood up and said goodbye tactfully, while Zhao Xiaoqian waved goodbye to everyone with his tongue stuck in his mouth.

Zhao Xiaoqian was supported by Chen Shou and returned to the wing room in the backyard of the government office. After entering the room, his drunken appearance immediately returned to clear-headedness, and his eyes became clear and bright, without a trace of drunkenness.

Chen Shou also knew that Zhao Xiaoqian was pretending to be drunk tonight, and was not surprised at his change at all. He brought him a cup of hot tea to sober him up.

Zhao Xiaoqian took a sip of tea, pondered for a moment, and then slowly said, "Chen Shou, tomorrow I will go on a private visit to the counties and towns around Zhending Prefecture. You should also wear casual clothes and follow me. No need to wear armor."

Chen Shouying said yes and turned to leave the room.

…………

When in a position, one must plan for the government. This is Zhao Xiaoqian's attitude towards life and work.

Since he was appointed as the prefect of Zhending by Zhao Xu, he became the parent official of the nine counties of Zhending.

As a newly arrived official, of course I had to go on a private visit in disguise to understand the sufferings of the local people.

The next day, Zhao Xiaoqian got up early, which was rare for him. He woke up at dawn, washed up and had a meal, then dressed up as an ordinary businessman. He took Chen Shou, Jia Shi and more than 30 other imperial guards and masters with him, and left the government office in a low-key manner and headed straight for the city gate.

After leaving the city, Zhao Xiaoqian had no specific destination, but rode his horse straight along the road, going wherever he went.

On the bumpy horseback, Zhao Xiaoqian kept looking around, observing the farmlands on both sides of the road.

It was winter now, and the crops in the fields had long been harvested. Pile upon pile of straw burned in the fields. The world was bleak, and the gray sky against it made one feel somewhat depressed.

Looking towards the end of the road, several low and dilapidated houses are scattered on the edge of the fields, and a small stream meanders past the houses.

Seeing Zhao Xiaoqian looking around silently, Chen Shou said tentatively, "Your Highness, why don't you choose a destination? I will send scouts to explore the way ahead, otherwise we might run into danger..."

Zhao Xiaoqian shook his head: "If we don't have a destination, we'll just follow this road and go into the villages when we pass by."

Chen Shou couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness, is this investigation into the people's sentiments due to the incident with those strong men yesterday? I heard that officials from Zhending Prefecture were also involved?"

Zhao Xiaoqian sighed and said, "My life is so miserable, really... I thought that when I arrived in Zhending, I would just focus on strengthening the military and fighting the Liao Kingdom, but I encountered this trouble right after arriving."

"If we don't resolve our internal issues, how can we fight the Liao Kingdom? I'm afraid of being stabbed in the back."

Chen Shoudao asked, "Why didn't the Crown Prince deal with those officials in the city today, but instead went out of the city to investigate the people's sentiments?"

"I just want to see with my own eyes what a mess these bastards have made of my Zhending Prefecture," Zhao Xiaoqian gritted his teeth and said, "I'm the Governor of Hebei West Route and the Prefect of Zhending. I'm the father and mother of this place, and the people under my jurisdiction are my own children."

"Now that my own son has been bullied, I, as a father, must see clearly how many times he has been beaten and by whom."

Hearing the murderous intent in Zhao Xiaoqian's tone, Chen Shou felt a chill on his back and dared not say a word.

After riding for half an hour, Zhao Xiaoqian finally found a residential area not far from the road. Judging from the number of houses, there were about thirty of them. This should be a small village.

Zhao Xiaoqian then reined in his horse, pointed at the small village, and said, "Let's go over there and take a look."

When they turned from the main road to the country road, the horses had difficulty walking, so everyone dismounted, tied the horses to the side of the road, sent one person to guard them, and the rest walked.

When Zhao Xiaoqian entered the village, all he saw was a desolate scene.

There were no young men or women in the village, only some old people with a group of snotty-nosed children.

It was already winter, but the clothes worn by the elderly and children were thin and tattered, covered with patches. Some of their knees were worn out, revealing their dirty thighs, and they all wore straw sandals.

Seeing Zhao Xiaoqian and his group enter the village, the old people immediately became alert and subconsciously grabbed various things at hand, looking ready to fight at any time. Some old people even ran away with their children in panic.

Zhao Xiaoqian couldn't help feeling sad. Since he traveled through time, these people in front of him were probably the poorest people he had ever seen.

He couldn't imagine that people could be so poor.

Zhao Xiaoqian put on a friendly smile and said, "Don't be alarmed, old man. I'm not a bad person. I just passed by here and was thirsty, so I came to ask for a bowl of water."

The old people gathered together, still looking at him warily, and no one spoke.

Zhao Xiaoqian took out a small piece of silver from his pocket and handed it over, saying, "It's just a small token of my appreciation. I hope you will forgive us for disturbing you."

The old man didn't take the change, but his vigilant expression relaxed a lot. He shook his head at Zhao Xiaoqian and turned to go into the dilapidated and leaky house.

Soon the old man took out a few broken pottery bowls and a kettle, placed them on the broken table outside the door, and motioned Zhao Xiaoqian to drink some water.

Both the pottery bowl and the kettle gave off an unpleasant smell, which was hard to describe, but Zhao Xiaoqian didn't mind it at all. He simply filled himself with water and drank it all in one gulp.

Zhao Xiaoqian wiped his mouth with his sleeve and started chatting.

"Father, I just entered the village and found that there were only the elderly, weak, and children. Why are there no young men or women?"

The old man was silent for a long time, sighed, and finally spoke.

"Some were recruited by the government into the Xiang army, some were robbed by the Liao dogs during the raid, some were forced to flee due to heavy taxes, and some had to jump into the well because they couldn't survive. Anyway, there are only a few of us left in the village."

Zhao Xiaoqian frowned. "What do you mean by 'taxes are too heavy'? The court is implementing new policies to reduce farmers' taxes, so why are your taxes getting even heavier?"

The old man sneered: "You should ask those officials instead of asking me."

(End of this chapter)