incomprehensible

Chapter 84

Lin Xize didn't know how Ye Xuehuan misunderstood his last sentence, nor did he know that he had already thought of a hundred and eight thousand ways to make him stop thinking about Lan Qi, such as sending him to the border and never returning For example, I personally told him about a marriage within the year, but in the end it was impossible to implement it. I could only vent my anger on Cheng Shujun, a shit-stirring stick, and punished him to clean the toilets of the whole camp of Xuanfeng for three days.

Cheng Shujuan felt that he was entirely responsible for this matter. Although Lin Xize's obsession with Lan Qi seemed to have deepened, but at least it made him wake up and work hard, which turned out to be a good thing.Of course he didn't dare to take credit, and he didn't dare to let Ye Xuehuan know that he also lied that he "couldn't ask for anything" from Lan Qi, so he could only clean the toilet with tears in his eyes, and then secretly wrote to Lu Yao, accusing Ye Xuehuan of being ruthless, He regarded his kindness as a donkey's liver and lungs, and desperately said in the letter that Ye Xuehuan had done too many evils and was finally punished. "The fire in the backyard" caused "the top of the head to turn green".

The letter was intercepted by Ye Xuehuan without any suspense, and at the end he stamped his own letter seal, and attached a two-character ink pen comment: "Interesting."

Naturally, Lu Yao didn't dare to reply after receiving the letter, so he could only silently pray for Cheng Shujun.Cheng Shujuan waited for Lu Yao's reply but couldn't find it. Feeling that he had been abandoned, he silently accused Lu Yao of being bullying and afraid of hard work, and then continued to sweep the toilet with tears in his eyes until he returned to Qianming City. Ye Xuehuan wanted to prevent Lan Qi from being suspicious. Only then did he show mercy and let him go.

While he was cleaning the toilet, it was quickly settled that Lin Xize would be on duty at the sentry post.

In principle, Ye Xuehuan is the commander-in-chief, and he can completely decide on the transfer of personnel; but out of respect for Lin Yuan, he still discussed with him and chose a safe and large guard post for Lin Xize.

Going to the guard post is an experience that almost every general in the Northwest Frontier Army has had. When Ye Xuehuan arrived in the Northwest at the beginning of the year, all the more than [-] guard posts along the Changyu Mountain had taken turns. Knows everything.Compared with the teams that went out to patrol the border during the period when the border guards frequently appeared, the main duties of the sentries were to monitor, communicate and protect the border residents. Even if the border guards attacked, they did not give priority to killing them. It can be said to be very boring, but this entire line of guard posts is the essence of Jilei Pass defense.

The military system in the central government, men can only join the army at the age of 14, but Lin Xize grew up in the barracks, and he has been exposed to it since childhood, and his talent and ability far exceed his peers in the army, which Lin Yuan is extremely proud of; but also because of this, he He is proud of his talents and ambitious, and always wants to achieve the goal in one step, directly join the border patrol team, and be the main force in the charge against the enemy, instead of starting from the most basic sentry duty.Fortunately, he is still young, not to mention that Lin Yuan is such a son, Ye Xuehuan actually did not expect anything from him, and wanted to imitate Yao Lie's practice in the past, let him have a few years of seniority in the army, and then transferred him away from the border; Unexpectedly, after going through such a situation, he figured it out by himself.

Lin Yuan's mood was particularly complicated. He had noticed Lin Xize's unusual attention to Lan Qi since he came back from the border patrol, but he didn't think about it in that direction for a while; as a result, after a banquet, Lin Xize suddenly became depressed for several days, and then suddenly felt pain again. Making up his mind, he really didn't understand what happened, but he also had an intuition that it was not a good thing, and it might have something to do with Lan Qi, so he didn't ask more.

Lin Xize was willing to settle down and guard the border steadily, so Lin Yuan was naturally happy; but the opportunity for him to grow up overnight was obviously not very good, it was very hasty and abrupt, and he couldn't help but worry.It's just that this matter was decided by Ye Xuehuan alone, and Lin Xize seemed to have really awakened this time, so he had no reason to object.

A few days later, there was a shift at the sentry post, so Lin Xize packed his luggage and went to the post with a group of senior veterans.Ye Xuehuan saw him off, and joked with him with a smile before leaving: "This is what you asked for yourself, even if you are tired and tired, I will never let you back if you don't have a shift."

As expected, Lin Xize took this aggressive method without vigilance, and said boldly: "I can bear no matter how hard it is! Don't talk about one shift, I can come back after three shifts in a row!"

Lin Yuan shook his head speechlessly, while Ye Xuehuan smiled more meaningfully—the first shift lasts three months, and the third shift lasts nine months, and he won't be able to return until the beginning of next spring; , even if he brought Lan Qi, this kid would not be able to see him, very good.

Lin Xize didn't realize that he had fallen into the trap, turned around and waved, leaving Lin Yuan with a chic and firm back.

At that moment, Lin Yuan's eye sockets felt a little sore.

At the age of 17, it is not too young to say that it is young.When Ye Xuehuan was 17 years old, he had followed him to participate in border patrols. Even Cheng Shujun, who seemed very unreliable, had followed Tong Xuan to Mobei to participate in that battle when he was 17 years old.He can be regarded as being strict with Lin Xize, and he will never show favoritism to those who should be punished; but as a real father, it is impossible to say that he does not protect his shortcomings at all.He not only hoped that Lin Xize could be alone as soon as possible, but also hoped that he could shelter him for the rest of his life; he not only hoped that he would become a famous general in the future, but also hoped that he would stay away from war.

——Being a parent is much more difficult than being a general.

Seeing his feelings, Ye Xuehuan deliberately teased: "Shuai Lin treated me much more cruelly back then, as expected, my own is different."

"How can this bastard be compared with you." Lin Yuan laughed, "Even if he spends his whole life in a daze, he can survive at least."

These words hit the nail on the head, and Ye Xuehuan couldn't help but smile: "From Shuai Lin, it seems like you're blaming me?"

"Where is this?" Lin Yuan gave him a pointed look, "This kid asked for it himself."

——Not "voluntary", but "self-inflicted".

Ye Xuehuan knew that he must have noticed something, so he didn't hide it, shrugged and said: "I am a small-minded person, but no one can touch my things."

Lin Yuan was noncommittal, walked back together with him, and said, "The situation in Linge County is complicated, so you can rest assured."

Ye Xuehuan sneered and said, "How can a small family in a remote place get Lan'er? Just wait and see."

On the second day, Ye Xuehuan received a letter from Lan Qi, the content was very concise - the house was cleaned up.

…………

After Lan Qi returned to Qianming City, he really didn't think about Lin Xize anymore, because Wang Yangwei had been waiting for him early in the morning.

Wang Yangwei is an honest person, Ye Xuehuan told him to "ask Lu Yao if you don't believe me", he really did ask, and Babaili sent a letter back to Danlu urgently, just to ask if Lan Qi is worth trusting.Lu Yao also hurriedly responded to him within [-] miles, and it took only a few days to go back and forth.

Lu Yao's reply was a thick stack, and first he spent three sheets of paper, blatantly accusing Lan Qi of being double-faced, pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger, "cutting a piece of darkness in his stomach", especially being arrogant, bullying, and pretending to be a tiger. ; and spent more space denouncing Ye Xuehuan as a wife-loving maniac, holding and protecting Lan Qi like a pearl in the palm of his face, as if he was weaker than flowers and more fragile than colored glass. The boss is especially good at arranging his wife to commit murder. I don't know how many people in the whole Danlu thought that Lan Qi was harmless to humans and animals, but in the end he was so intimidating, including poor Lu Yao himself.The conclusion is that these two are a match made in heaven, if Ye Xuehuan wants to let Lan Qi go out to commit murder, don't try to persuade him to stop, just be ready to collect the other party's body.Finally, there was a separate note to Lan Qi, asking him to "kill those Cui people".

Wang Yangwei's mood is very difficult to express in words. Lu Yao's words are clearly derogatory and covert praise, and what he said is so straightforward, it is obvious that he has a close relationship with Lan Qi, and even entrusted Lan Qi with the matter of revenge.

Looking at Lan Qi's plain face, he couldn't believe Lu Yao's exaggerated description, but for some reason, he became inexplicably frightened.

Lan Qi didn't react much after reading Lu Yao's note, and only asked him to know the specific situation of Qianming City.

There are mainly two big families in Qianming City, one surnamed Cui and the other surnamed Wu.The Cui family is powerful, with three generations of management, it has penetrated into almost every aspect of the city, even the governor of the Northwest has the surname Cui; back then, Qingshi was controlled by the Cui family, and it was also the Cui family who clashed with Tong Xuanqi, so Lu Yao resented quite deep.The Wu family is a rising star. The prostitute daughter of the family married the current county governor as his wife. In the past few years, they have developed rapidly with the help of the officialdom. They seem to be vassals of the Cui family, but in fact they seem to be at odds with each other, fighting openly and secretly.

Wang Yangwei's suggestion was to support the Wu family to fight against the Cui family, but was directly rejected by Lan Qi: "Raising a tiger will cause trouble, not to mention it is too slow."

Listening to his tone, Wang Yangwei seemed to want to directly confront the Cui and Wu families, so he couldn't help feeling a little weak.When Lan Qi first came back, these two families and some other rich households gave him heavy gifts one after another. While accepting all the orders, he also slapped others, which was worse than directly tearing his face, and he was bound to be forced resistance.

Wang Yangwei himself has suffered a great loss, and he still has a sense of righteousness in his heart, but he no longer dares to rectify the atmosphere in such a drastic and vigorous way; If it is too big, not only will the city be in chaos, but it may even endanger Lan Qi's own personal safety. If he is really about to be hurt, it will be difficult for Ye Xuehuan to explain.

Although Lu Yao talked about that, Wang Yangwei was still afraid that Lan Qi was used to being arrogant and pampered in the aristocratic circle, and he didn't understand how barbaric and fierce the local emperors in these remote areas are, so he tried to persuade him: "Master Lan, this matter It’s still not advisable to rush forward. The Cui family has connections in both black and white, and a direct confrontation may hurt one’s own body. As the saying goes, a strong dragon does not overwhelm a local snake..."

"My lord." Lan Qi raised his eyebrows, "There is one thing you need to be clear about. Now, in Qianming City—or the entire Linge County, the biggest local snake should be my Prince Rong's Mansion."

Wang Yangwei was in a cold sweat.

"What's more... I don't want to confront directly." Lan Qi snorted very reservedly through his nose, "These local snakes dare to be so arrogant, but they rely on the protection of the officials. If no one takes care of them, before Those tricks have been uncovered, which one is not enough for them to destroy the family?"

Wang Yangwei swallowed his saliva with difficulty, feeling even more terrified in his heart. I dare to say that Lan Qi is going to kill the entire interest circle of government-business collusion; but he himself has no official or title, so where to start?

Lan Qi and Ye Xuehuan had discussed this matter a long time ago, so they didn't say much, and just asked him to go back and wait for news.

Wang Yangwei waited anxiously for three days, and finally a paper was sent to the official office in the name of the palace.Before reading the content, a bright red seal of Prince Rong came into view first.

——Ye Xuehuan was still in the Thunder Pass, so he asked Lan Qi to bring back his seal first.

The whole document is full of more than ten thousand words, majestic and majestic, with gorgeous and neat rhetoric.At the same time, I hope that the people in the county can also advance and retreat together with the royal palace, not to bully the weak, not to bully the good and fear the evil, not to fight fiercely, not to commit crimes, not to associate with treacherous and unscrupulous people, cooperate with the royal palace to govern, and maintain the county. peaceful.

At first glance, they are all clichés and empty words. Even if Ye Xuehuan has a high reputation and is a new prince, it is not uncommon for him to make a formal statement; but as long as you continue to read, you will find these contents It seems to be flashy, but in fact it is to pave the way for the most important part in the future-the land acquisition of the palace.

According to the central law, the prince can levy land and taxes in the fief by himself, and only needs to report to the Ministry of Accounts for approval, and then the emperor approves it.It’s just that Yexue’s population is not very prosperous, and there have been no princes in the past dynasties, and there are very few people who have been granted fiefdoms; although the hereditary and irreplaceable northern and southern prefectures have the same treatment as royal princes, they have never had large-scale land expropriation. Not to mention that the common people don't understand this at all, and even the officials look at each other in blank dismay for a while.

Looking down, Wang Yangwei's hands began to shake.

The scope of this land expropriation is simply outrageous. Except for residential buildings, almost all the productive land in Qianming City has been expropriated, including cultivated land, pastures, workshops, shops, and even private schools, etc., every year. Distribution of profits to the original holders as compensation.Specifically, take the Cui family’s most important medicinal business as an example. Originally, the Cui family owned a number of medicinal fields, hired tenant farmers to manage them, and then sold them in the drugstore under their own name after harvesting. [-]% of the profits were paid to the imperial court.After the land was expropriated by the Wangfu, these medicine fields and medicine shops became the properties of the Wangfu, and all the profits were owned by the Wangfu.Except for wealthy households like the Cui family, the same is true for other sporadic small retail investors. Almost all the profitable industries in the entire Qianming City will become Wangfu, and the Wangfu will establish a chamber of commerce for unified planning and control.

No matter how you look at it, it is Prince Rong's mansion frantically accumulating money in its own fief, but the court has already approved it.Based on the time, Ye Xuehuan should have submitted the land acquisition application to the imperial court after inspecting Qingshi that day and before leaving for Jileiguan, obviously premeditated.Ye Xueyuan was on a personal expedition abroad, but the matter was of great importance, so he was still sent to the southwest front, and he personally stamped it, and then sent it back urgently; on the other side of Danlu, Ye Xuequan, who was acting in charge, also stamped it, and asked the household department to send it back. People came to assist and record the re-filing. Before March next year, most of the land in Qianming City will be under the name of Prince Rong's Mansion.

The quick replies from both ends showed that Ye Xuehuan handed over them in duplicate, and his two imperial brothers undoubtedly indulged him very much.

Wang Yangwei's first reaction was shock, but after thinking about it again, he felt extremely admirable.The palace will naturally be the biggest beneficiary, and the imperial court did not charge less tax. The tenant farmers who only get fixed wages will not get less wages, and small retail investors will use the form of chambers of commerce. The operation is more secure and insurance, and only the large households with the largest number of original places are most affected.Originally, the Cui family could exaggerate prices, deduct wages, and even falsely report taxes under the cover of official circles. Chengli, even the officials who are in collusion with him, have nothing to gain.

This is a blatant suppression by power, robbing the rich and giving to the poor. In fact, it targets the largest Cui and Wu families in the city.

This is simply too big a hand, and Lan Qi really didn't want to confront it head-on, he just pushed down a mountain directly from the top of his head.The imperial court's document has arrived, and the emperor's imperial pen has written instructions, can it be possible to resist the order?

In the whole world, is it the land of the king, no matter how big the local snake is, how can it fight against the real dignitaries who came out of the imperial city?

But Ye Xuehuan is bad here.If he himself was in the city, the two families might just have to swallow their anger; but there was only one seemingly well-behaved and weak Lan Qi in the palace, obviously trying to persuade them to think carefully.

As soon as the documents arrived at the official office in the morning, the Governor of Northwest China and the Governor of Linge County both arrived at the palace in the afternoon. Gao Qian welcomed them into the study room. Lan Qi seemed to have just woken up from a nap and was writing in front of the desk with a lazy and sleepy expression on his face.

"The two adults came just in time."

Before anyone could speak, Lan Qi started the conversation, "My prince is strong, and he has to decide everything by himself. In the future, I am afraid that there will be no room for the two adults to display their talents. If the two of you have something you like, you can do it within the same level." , the prince can recommend it."

As soon as these words came out, both of them were stunned.

They came here for the land expropriation and wanted to test the attitude of the palace.If it is purely for making money, then there is still room for negotiation, and maybe a little more profit can be won; but if it is to reshuffle the cards, change the ecology of the entire Linge County, and rob them of all the resources in their hands, then in Before Ye Xuehuan came back, they had to take some measures, such as spreading rumors that the palace was aimed at exploiting the people, inciting the people to riot and oppose, it would be better to kill some more people, to obstruct and delay the land acquisition process to the greatest extent, or even to directly discuss the matter. Stir yellow.

It's not that they don't know Ye Xuehuan's strength, but they have never seen the methods of this Prince Rong in the court, and they don't have much real sense of his cruelty. They always think that if things get serious, the court will compromise in order to calm things down; There are many examples of this in the past. After all, the northwest is remote, and the imperial court is unwilling to spend a lot of time on rectification. Instead, they have used this group of local officials and local snakes to become bullies, thinking that they can cover the sky with one hand.

However, no one ever thought that Ye Xuehuan would act preemptively and never give him a chance to make trouble.

Governor Yu Yan's eyes flickered slightly, but he didn't speak for a while; Cui Jin, the governor of Northwest China, couldn't bear it anymore, and said coldly, "Your lord wants to dismiss officials without reason?"

Lan Qi glanced between the two of them, and he had a bottom line in his heart.

The post of governor has always been a delicate existence in the central government system.There are 24 counties in the central area. There are seven Governors in Northeast, Northwest, Southwest, Coastal, Yanjiang, Jiangdong, and Yinyang. They have three or four counties under their jurisdiction. From the third-rank official position, the power can be said to be very high, and they can be called the big officials of the frontier. , but actually does not really participate in the affairs of the counties, and is only responsible for uploading and issuing. Division of power.

The governor of the Southwest used to be from the Liu family, the governor of Yinyang was from the Chu family, and the governors of Yanjiang and Northeast were all staunch royalists. Under the control of the Nangong family, otherwise Qi Chengguang would not have had the means to deliver medicine to the palace.The Northwest can be regarded as a special case, because the land is vast and sparsely populated, and there are only two counties under its jurisdiction, Linge and Cangzhu. The west is the desert, and the north is the Yanbei King's Mangshan County. No one has much resources and heritage. As a result, they stayed away from the center of the struggle, and benefited from a group of local snakes who sit on the ground and watch the sky.

Cui Jin is used to bossing around in his jurisdiction, has a hasty temper, likes to bully others, and even vaguely ignores Ye Xuehuan, but in fact he has no intentions.But Yu Yan seems to be a transparent character, able to hold his breath.

Lan Qi thought about it, and explained calmly: "Mangshan County and Nanqiu County have no county governors, and they are under the direct jurisdiction of the northern and southern prefectures. This has been the case since the establishment of the dynasty. Governor Cui is not going to rob the next-door Cangzhu County Governor. The prince just doesn’t want the system to bury talents, this is not layoffs, but reassignment. You can raise any ideas you two adults have.”

Cui Jin was furious. Ye Xuehuan didn't handle such important matters as the transfer of a third-rank official, but instead asked a male pet in the inner room to approach him. It was clearly trying to show him off, and he sneered immediately: "That sounds nice. Your lord If you want to monopolize the power, it is better for me to resign and go home than to 'transfer' to another place, making people treat me like a lost dog who has been kicked out!"

He spoke very emphatically, but in fact he was advancing by retreating, threatening to resign, thinking that he could frighten Lan Qi, at least delay it until Ye Xuehuan came back; unexpectedly, Lan Qi nodded calmly, and put a pen in front of him. A few words were written on the blank booklet, and Gao Qian at the side took out the ink jade prince seal from the brocade box, dipped it in red mud and handed it over, and after Lan Qi covered the booklet, he respectfully took it back into the box.

Lan Qi blew on the ink, put the booklet aside, picked up another one, and asked Yu Yan, "Governor Cui resigned voluntarily, what about Master Yu? Where do you want to get a job?"

Cui Jin's face suddenly turned purple, and he shouted angrily: "Even if I resign, I should submit the dictionary to the imperial court in person. When will it be your turn, a lowly male favourite, to make decisions for this official! You made up your own mind So what about Yin, I am a dignified third-rank official, even the prince has no right to fire at will! The prince can pamper and indulge you, but the court will make decisions for this official!"

Lan Qi said indifferently: "As early as the Qinghua period, Prime Minister Lu repeatedly mentioned that the position of governor is indeed redundant, but due to the situation, he has never proposed to change the system. Now His Majesty takes the lead, and he has just taken the throne. I am honored The Prince's Mansion should also set an example, blow a new wind for Yuanlong's new calendar, push forward the reform of the official system, presumably His Majesty and Lu Xiang will be happy to see the results."

Cui Jin said stunned: "Official system reform? The rules set by the ancestors, he will change it if he wants to change it? Why doesn't Ye Xuehuan just usurp it..."

Before he finished speaking, Lan Qi's eyes flashed coldly.

The next moment, Cui Jin was pushed to the ground by a group of Xuanfeng guards; Gao Qian came to him like a ghost, and he slapped him twice with his hands.

"A reckless man in the frontier, I don't know how to be in awe." Gao Qian caressed his palm, and said in a soft and cold tone, "How can the prince's name be uttered out of your dog's mouth."

Cui Jin was beaten until his eyes were staring, his ears were buzzing, and the two palm marks on his face were swollen, he hung his head and hummed twice, unable to speak.

"A mere governor of the Northwest from the third rank dares to speak wild words." Lan Qi rested his chin on one hand and looked down at Cui Jin, "You just wanted to say something, why don't you try to say it."

Cui Jin was slapped twice, and was already extremely angry; but when he met Lan Qi's dark and gloomy eyes, it was as if a basin of cold water was poured on his head, recalling the words he blurted out on impulse just now, he was shocked She was covered in cold sweat and was shaking.

——If he really said the unfinished word, he was afraid that blood would be splashed on the spot.

"Slandering the royal family is a death penalty." Lan Qi said expressionlessly, "Drag to Qingshikou, and show the public fifty-fifty sticks first, and wait for the prince to return."

Cui Jing couldn't believe it: "How dare you lynch?! Is there any law?!"

Lan Qi said: "My prince is the king of this place, so naturally it is the law of the king. If you disrespect him, you are breaking the law."

Cui Jin was speechless, and was dragged out by the guard's arm. Finally, he panicked, struggled desperately, and yelled: "Little bastard, you are a bully... You bully people too much! I won't let you go!"

"It's quite fun to bark." Lan Qi raised his eyebrows, and even smiled slightly, "If you have the ability...you bite me."

Cui Jin was so stunned that he was about to vomit blood, until he was dragged out of the door, and the screams still echoed endlessly.

Yu Yan didn't say a word the whole time, his back was drenched in cold sweat, and even his legs felt a little weak.

The small people on the frontier had never seen the real power of Heaven. It was not until the majestic Northwest Governor was ruthlessly dragged away that he finally knew what overwhelming terror was.

Prince Rong is a real royal family, and his bodyguards are real imperial guards, not comparable to gangsters raised by local wealthy households; Whether it's the figure that moved just now or the two slaps in the face are obvious; even his domestic pet is not a well-behaved kitten, but a tiger and leopard that can really kill people.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, he still has countless supporters in the court, and there are thousands of troops at the border.

Ye Xuehuan didn't intend to target Cui Jin at all, let alone suppress rich rural landowners like Cui and Wu's family. He just wanted to use this as an example to make everyone know how to respect and understand the inviolability of imperial power and heavenly prestige.

The abolition of the post of governor means that the county governor is directly responsible to the central government, which is actually a certain degree of centralization.Whether it was Ye Xueyuan or Ye Xuehuan, they both hated the late emperor's behavior and suffered greatly from it; after taking power, the first thing to do is to bring power back to the central government and no longer let powerful officials be in power.

It is obviously unrealistic to remove all the governors at once, but Ye Xuehuan sent a signal to Ye Xueyuan that he is willing to start reforms from his own fief, so that the whole world can see the attitude of the royal family.So no matter whether Cui Jin is soft or not, he will definitely be dismissed, and the court will definitely not make decisions for him.

Yu Yan doesn't need to understand the reason behind this, but he can see that Ye Xuehuan asked Lan Qi to come back first to release the news of the land acquisition, in fact, he was fishing with a line to attract them to come to provoke; It's not a forced requisition, but a distribution of profits. It's for them to choose for themselves—either they will be the dogs of the palace and eat the leftovers given by the palace, or they will be dead dogs.

Or in other words, they don't even have a choice, and Lan Qi has already arranged for them - Cui Jin rushed to become that dead dog, and he, Yu Yan, could only be the one who devoted his life to the palace. dog.

There must be one of them alive, so as to spread the fear and coercion felt in the palace today, so that everyone can see the end of disrespect to Prince Rong.

This is the fief granted by the emperor to Prince Rong. Everything on this land belongs to Prince Rong. Whoever he wants to die must die; whoever wants to be a dog must be a dog.

Ye Xueshi is the master of the world, no matter how powerful the local snake is, in the eyes of the royal family, they are just a bunch of dogs.

--------------------

Lan: No one can install X on my lord's territory.