Chapter 133: The Deer Calls and the Waves, and Suspicions Arise after Reading the Family Letter
However, Sun Shaozong hurried to the front hall and exchanged greetings with everyone. Before he could get down to business, his subordinates including Cheng Rixing, Lin Delu, and Zhou Da came in.
These people were not on the same level, so Sun Shaozong had to divide them into two groups and take care of them separately.
Unexpectedly, not long after, fellow military examinee Xu Shouye and others arrived upon hearing the news.
Sun Shaozong became increasingly overwhelmed.
Fortunately, everyone just came to visit and had no intention of talking to him in detail. After expressing their feelings with a few simple words, they all dispersed.
Among them, only Xue Pan was a reckless person . He stayed and pestered Sun Shaozong, insisting that he visit his house at eleven o'clock in the afternoon.
He said that he wanted to make up for the housewarming party on the sixth day of the New Year, as if Sun Shaozong would not feel at ease living in the mansion if he didn't go there.
Sun Shaozong refused several times but failed, so he had to nod and agree. Then Xue Pan returned home triumphantly.
After the hall was empty, Sun Shaozong suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to give Jia Lian the price list for garden renovation.
Fortunately, according to Jia Lian, the Rongguo Mansion's villa for visiting relatives will be completed soon, and then friends and relatives will definitely be invited to come and see it. At that time, we can find an excuse to keep that thing in the Jia family.
Thinking this, Sun Shaozong prepared to go back to the backyard.
Unexpectedly, just as they reached the door of the hall, they saw Cheng Rixing hurriedly coming back under the guidance of a servant.
The two were in a master-employee relationship, so Sun Shaozong would not be polite to him. He asked him directly at the door, "Why are you back again? Did something happen in the government office?"
Cheng Rixing pointed inside and said, "Dong Weng, let's go in and talk."
Sun Shaozong had no choice but to lead him back to the living room.
After the host and the guest sat down, Cheng Rixing said with a little concern: "Dong Weng, the situation . Suddenly, a lot of news that is unfavorable to you has emerged. It seems..."
"Seems like what?"
"It seems like someone has set their sights on Zhizhong's position!"
Is someone eyeing the position of Zhizhong?
Sun Shaozong frowned, but he didn't find it strange in his heart. Although common sense suggested that he was the best candidate to succeed this position - but the best candidate was not the only candidate!
Not to mention anything else, in the Ministry of Justice alone there are more than a dozen Yuanwailang [fifth rank] and Zhushi [sixth rank] who are qualified to be promoted to this position.
Although these people's abilities are not as good as Sun Shaozong's, they have more seniority.
However, if these people wanted to stir up trouble in Shuntian Prefecture, it would be beyond their reach.
If there is anyone who is capable of stirring up trouble in Shuntian Prefecture and is qualified to succeed the governor, I'm afraid it can only be...
Zhao Liben, the Salt and Iron Magistrate? !
But this guy's backer Han Anbang is about to fall. How could he have the confidence to compete with me for the throne of governor?
Could it be that this guy secretly betrayed Han Anbang, so he got the support of Jia Yucun...
That's not right either.
Jia Yucun has been trapped in the Imperial Examination Hall for more than half a month. Such official infighting cannot be shouted out across the gate.
After pondering for a while, Sun Shaozong still couldn't figure it out, so he had to ask again: "Who is Zhao Liben close to recently?"
Cheng Rixing said without hesitation: "President Fu, and Magistrate Wang of Daxing County!"
Tsk~
Fu Shi, relying on being Jia Zheng's favorite disciple, was always arrogant in the government office; and Wang Qian was even more arrogant.
Sun Shaozong would not be surprised at all if these two guys encouraged Zhao Liben to usurp the throne!
But as long as it wasn't Jia Yucun's work, there was nothing to worry about.
So Sun Shaozong smiled nonchalantly and said, "Don't worry, they are just a few clowns. If they want to compete with me for the position, they are still a little lacking in skills!"
After saying that, seeing that Cheng Rixing was still a little uneasy, he smiled and said, "Eunuch Dai's godson told me this morning that His Majesty has appointed me to be a guest at this year's Luming Banquet!"
On the day after the provincial examination results were announced, local government officials would prepare a banquet to entertain the invigilating officials and new candidates. It was called the Deer Singing Banquet.
Needless to say, the scholars were not allowed to sit at the upper seats.
As for the invigilators, even if we only count the examiners who mark the papers, there are as many as 20 to 30 people. It is obviously impossible for so many of them to sit in the upper seats.
Therefore, apart from the chief examiner and the deputy chief examiner, there are often only three or five examiners who can be selected to sit at the top seats - and only these examiners who sit at the top seats can be called recognized "room teachers".
It was not without precedent for the Inspector General to be seated at the top seat, but those were all people of high status and power. It was the first time that someone as young as Sun Shaozong, who was no more than a sixth-rank official, was seated at the top seat.
What’s more, it was the emperor who added the plug himself, and the honor he showed was beyond words!
Cheng Rixing was also a veteran in the imperial examinations, so he naturally knew the meaning of "being ranked at the top". He was so happy that he scratched his ears and cheeks and praised "Long live the wise emperor".
After he left in a peaceful manner, Sun Shaozong finally had some time to go back to the backyard and open the letter with Ruan Rong to see what his cheap father-in-law had written.
But when they arrived at the back house, Ruan Rong could no longer wait and opened the letter and read it again and again.
Fortunately, seeing how happy she looked, there shouldn't be anything wrong in the letter.
"master."
Seeing Sun Shaozong coming in, Ruan Rong smiled and said, "My father has been promoted, and his temper has changed. He is nagging in the letter and talks about many trivial matters of official business."
Talked about a lot of trivial official matters?
Sun Shaozong picked it up curiously and took a look at it, and found that his cheap father-in-law had indeed been promoted to a lucrative position as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.
About half of the letter was about expressing his longing for his daughter, and the other half was about a lot of trivial matters, complaining that he had been so busy with official duties recently that he didn't even have time to rest.
but……
If you put all these trivial matters together and think carefully, you will find that it is not just as simple as complaining!
According to Sun Shaozong's original inference, Qianxiang Kingdom should be preparing to attack Zhen Kingdom, so it hopes to obtain the strong support of Da Zhou.
However, this letter revealed that the supplies from Qianxiang Country were all being mobilized to the border of Dazhou, while the supplies from Zhen Country were much less...
Could it be that the Qianxiang Kingdom was so bold that it wanted to take advantage of the Zhou Dynasty's two-front war to launch a counterattack? !
And judging from the situation, the Zhen State is most likely involved in this!
If this is true, there will be chaos on the southwestern border.
But why would my cheap father-in-law reveal this information to me?
Could he be the legendary 'Xian rapist' or 'guide'? !
After reading it carefully for several times, Sun Shaozong's mind was full of thoughts, but he smiled and said, "Since Old Taishan has been promoted, we should celebrate. Let's go to Xuanzhen Temple tomorrow. I heard that there are many chrysanthemums nearby and the mountain roads are well-maintained, so you won't get bumped on the way."