Chapter 47: Adventure (II)
Li Shude, the governor of Shandong, knelt on the ground, resting his bald head on the ground, and said loudly: "I pay my respects to my master."
The fourth master, Prince Yong, Yinzhen, sat on a chair and looked down at the Yellow Banner servant Li Shude. He paused for a moment before answering, "Get up."
Li Shude got up from the ground, lowered his head and stood beside Prince Yong with his hands folded, not daring to raise his head.
Yinzhen ordered, "The emperor sent me to inspect Xiaoqing River. You report back."
Hearing Prince Yong's order, Li Shude quickly replied: "Reporting to the prince, I have been repairing Xiaoqing River since last year..."
In the next few days, Li Shude also took Prince Yong to inspect the Xiaoqing River project. At this time, the project was opening a branch channel to divert the flood water from the Xiaoqing River. The branch channel started from Junzhangba in the southwest of Gaoyuan City, passed through Boxing and reached Le'an to meet the Xiaoqing River and flow into the sea.
Li Shude also plans to open a reserve river to divert floodwaters south of Xiaoqing River after this part of the project is completed, starting from Mada Lake in the west, passing through Huichengbo and Shicun Town in the east to Dongbeiwu and pouring into Zibo River into the sea. Eventually, a situation will be formed where the Zhimaigou, Xiaoqing River and Reserve River flow into the sea in parallel.
After the inspection, Prince Yong Yinzhen had a much higher opinion of Li Shude, but was also a little disappointed. Facing the "imperial envoy", Li Shude's service and courtesy were undoubtedly qualified, and he arranged and took care of everything meticulously. This qualification was undoubtedly qualified in the field of public affairs, and Li Shude did not show any personal loyalty to Yinzhen.
If there was anything he was dissatisfied with, this was what Yinzhen was most dissatisfied with. But thinking about it, Yinzhen also felt that it was probably impossible to hear Li Shude's surrender.
After being named a prince, the imperial princes could not only have their own residences, but also their own subordinates. The source of the subordinates was the lower five banners of the Eight Banners, namely the Red Banner, Red Bordered Banner, Blue Banner, Blue Bordered Banner and White Bordered Banner.
Yinzhen was assigned to the Bordered White Banner. The only talent in the Bordered White Banner was Nian Gengyao, who passed the imperial examination at the age of 21. In order to win over Nian Gengyao, Yinzhen married Nian Gengyao's sister as his concubine.
Li Shude in front of him was a member of the Zhenghuang Banner, and was a servant of Yinzhen's father. Judging from the project of regulating Xiaoqing River, Li Shude was a capable person. But there was no way to expect Li Shude to switch to Yinzhen now.
After the inspection, Yinzhen was about to attend the banquet hosted by Li Shude. A servant came to Yinzhen and whispered, "Master, Gouzi is back."
"Oh... did you bring that guy back too?"
"Yes. Gouzi also brought back the guy named Huo Chong."
Yinzhen wanted to have fun with the bandits he met on the road, so he ordered, "Bring them in."
Not long after, the guard Gou Zi and Huo Chong were brought in. They hadn't sat down yet, and officials like Li Shude looked at the two people with puzzled eyes, but they didn't say a word.
"Gou'er, did you bring back the Liulihuo?" Yinzhen asked.
The dog in the yellow vest hesitated for a moment, then lowered his head and replied, "My master, it's back."
Yinzhen was stunned, and after thinking for a moment, he continued to ask: "But was it made by Huo Chong?"
The guard lowered his head again, but soon raised it and answered in a clear and decisive voice: "My Lord. I have checked everything myself. Huo Chong does not have a winemaking workshop. Huo Chong came up with the recipe for the strong liquor and worked with the winemaking workshop in the neighboring village to brew it. The glazed bowl and glazed fire were made by Huo Chong himself."
Gouzi was Yinzhen's servant, and his loyalty was beyond doubt. From what he said just now, it could be heard that Gouzi was trying his best to prove that Huo Chong was lying. However, the truth should be what Gouzi said, that this thing was indeed made by Huo Chong.
An indescribable feeling filled Yinzhen's heart. When he was convinced that the other party was a liar, it was proved that everything the other person said was true. The contradictory situation made Yinzhen feel a rare sense of unreality.
The room fell into a brief silence until a Taoist priest broke the silence, "Huo Chong, how did you deceive people? Tell me the truth. Otherwise, you will suffer physically!"
The other officials remained silent, some looked at the governor in surprise, and some simply ignored him.
The atmosphere was so strange that the governor felt something was wrong. Just as he was wondering why he had such a feeling, he heard Yinzhen say coldly: "So, maybe the people in my house are not good at doing things."
The provincial governor was shocked, and realized that when he jumped out in a hurry, he just wanted to rescue Prince Yong. He didn't expect that this statement of rescue would be regarded as a questioning of the ability of Prince Yong's servants to do things.
After Yinzhen finished speaking, no one in the room said anything. No one flattered anyone or questioned anyone. Everyone was waiting for Prince Yong, who was sitting in the middle, to speak. It was not the turn of others to take the lead here.
The governor felt that he was almost speechless due to the oppression of silence, and quickly knelt down to Prince Yong, "Your Highness, I was wrong. I hope Your Highness will forgive me."
Yinzhen actually had an impulse to torture Huo Chong. Gou'er was trustworthy, but Yinzhen would feel unhappy if he didn't punish Huo Chong. But this prefect was so troublesome that Yinzhen didn't want to do it anymore. According to the information collected by Yinzhen's men, this prefect had some connection with Lao Ba, and it was very likely that this guy was Lao Ba's man.
Thinking of this, Yinzhen laughed and said, "Ha! Huo Chong, some people can make lies sound like the truth. It's also a skill for you to make the truth sound like lies."
After these words were spoken, several officials around could not help but let out a low laugh.
Since he was brought in, Huo Chong has been kneeling on the ground obediently with his head down. Hearing this, Huo Chong couldn't help but smile bitterly. Yes, what he did should be acceptable in the 21st century, but it was a crime in the Qing Dynasty. If you don't experience it yourself, how can you know that there is such a thing.
However, in this era, Huo Chong decided not to say anything. It is true that the more you say, the more mistakes you make, and the less you say, the fewer mistakes you make. Not saying anything is not bad.
Just as I thought of this, I heard the prince above me ask: "Huo Chong, if I asked you to make 10,000 jin before, what would you answer me?"
Huo Chong lowered his head and replied, "I can only report to the prince that it will take six months to complete the construction."
"Why?"
"We need to prepare materials. We can only make more than 2,000 kilograms in one cycle every 60 days."
"That's not right. Since it takes 60 days to complete one cycle, six months is only about 6,000 to 7,000 kilograms. How can you make 10,000 kilograms?"
Huo Chong carefully reminded: "Your Majesty, I still have some materials at home, enough to make more than 2,000 kilograms."
"Humph! I didn't expect you to have the talent of a clerk. Since you said so, go back now and make me 10,000 catties in six months and send them to my house."
"Yes." Huo Chong felt as if he had been pardoned, and kowtowed quickly. Just as he stood up and was about to sneak away with his head down, he heard the prince order: "Gou'er, give him 500 taels of silver first, so that no one would say that I am making things difficult for him."
Huo Chong couldn't help but stop when he heard this. Then he heard the prince sneer and said, "Huo Chong, you don't look like you want to thank me, do you?"
After being reminded of this, Huo Chong quickly knelt down to express his gratitude and then left.
After Huo Chong left, Yinzhen smiled and said to Li Shude, "I didn't expect there would be such a strange person in Shandong."
Li Shude replied with a smile: "People from Shandong are a bit dull and straightforward."
Hearing this, Yinzhen's opinion of Li Shude improved a little. Looking at the governor kneeling on the ground, he felt that this guy was particularly hateful. However, Yinzhen did not want to punish him at this time, so he just said calmly: "Get up."
