A few more days passed, and with the departure of Governor Li Yan and County Magistrate Tai Min, Xinye County returned to its former tranquility.

However, Xu Zun's exclamation was heard from the Xinye County Government Office.

"No way?" Seeing Xu Zun holding a gold-rimmed imperial edict, he asked in surprise, "Is this the imperial edict? Is there something fishy going on?"

In Xu Zun's impression, when the imperial edict arrived, people usually had to greet it from a distance, kneel down, kowtow, and shout "Long live the emperor" or something like that.

But now that the imperial edict had arrived, there was no pomp and circumstance at all, and no one even read it out. It was simply handed to Xu Zun by County Magistrate Luo Baiwan, who let him read it himself.

"Hey, County Lieutenant Xu, don't joke around. Oh, that's not right..." Luo Baiwan hurriedly changed his words, "Now I have to call you Lord Tixing! The emperor's grace is so great that we have to be in awe of him. We can't speak nonsense, haha..."

After the Iron Coffin Case, County Magistrate Luo's attitude towards Xu Zun changed drastically, and he no longer dared to look down on this former foolish county lieutenant.

oh……

Relevant information popped up in Xu Zun's mind. It turned out that the imperial edicts of the Great Xuan Dynasty were also divided into different levels. For someone of Xu Zun's level, the royal family only needed to issue an imperial edict as a courtesy, and it was not as exaggerated as shown in TV dramas.

Only then did Xu Zun realize that he was living in a fictional dynasty, and many of its rules were different from those of a real historical dynasty.

When I opened the imperial edict, I saw the words on it were simple and clear:

"Xinye County Magistrate Xu Zun has made great contributions in solving the iron coffin case. He is hereby promoted to Tangzhou Chief Justice with a salary of the seventh rank. He will take office today. I decree this."

Tangzhou Chief Justice?

Xu Zun soon learned that this Tangzhou Chief Justice was the Chief Justice of a provincial-level unit.

The nature of his work is basically the same as that of Chen Taiji, the Chief Censor of the Ministry of Justice, which is to investigate major criminal cases that occur in various places, but his level is one level lower than Chen Taiji, and his work scope is limited to the jurisdiction of Tangzhou.

In fact, in the past few days, Xu Zun has already had a vague premonition that after the iron coffin case, there will be major changes in himself.

I didn't expect it to come so soon.

Logically speaking, it was extremely rare for Xu Zun to jump directly from the ninth-rank county lieutenant to the seventh-rank, and he should be happy.

But Xu Zun couldn't feel happy at all.

Because, at the beginning, the leader of the Internal Guard, Cai Kun, strongly recommended me. If it really worked, then I should join the unit under the jurisdiction of the Internal Guard, right?

The judicial officer can be under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice and be appointed by the provincial government.

As everyone knows, Empress Dowager Lin and the Ministry of Justice have a grudge. How could he have entered the Ministry of Justice?

Could it be... because he is the son of Xu Changlin, the Minister of Dali Temple?

Or is it because Mr. Shen is the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice?

Or, does Cai Kun want to arrange for himself to enter the Ministry of Justice and serve as their spy?

"Xu Tixing," County Magistrate Luo handed Xu Zun another official document with the official seal of the prefecture, saying, "This is an expedited document sent by the governor's office along with the imperial edict. It was written by Lord Li Yan himself. Take a look!"

oh?

Xu Zun took the official document, but found that it was written in an obscure and difficult to understand manner. If it were not for the fact that the former county magistrate Xu had a certain foundation in writing, he would probably have found it difficult to understand.

In the official document, Tangzhou Governor Li Yan first expressed his admiration for Xu Zun, then congratulated Xu Zun on his promotion to Chief Justice, and said some words of encouragement.

Finally, the clerk got to the point, asking Xu Tixing, who had just taken office, to rush to Shangyuan City immediately to deal with an urgent case.

Shangyuan City is the seat of Shangyuan County and is a city-level city.

Logically speaking, now that Xu Zun has been promoted to a provincial official, he should first report to the provincial capital, Wude City.

From this we can see that this so-called urgent case must be extremely urgent!

"Xu Tixing," Luo Baiwan bowed to Xu Zun and said, "The governor wants you to set off immediately, and... the carriage has been prepared for you!"

No way?

So urgent?

Xu Zun hurriedly asked: "Mr. Luo, do you know what happened in Shangyuan City?"

"I don't know, but," Luo Baiwan said, "according to the messenger, the governor is also in Shangyuan City now!

"They also said that your official credentials and salary certificates are all with the governor, and they will be processed for you when you go there!"

"oh……"

Xu Zun nodded and said to himself, it seems like something really big has happened!

I didn't expect that I would be on a new journey after just a few days of rest. I wonder what kind of cases I will encounter there?

So Xu Zun stood up and said goodbye to Luo Baiwan.

"Jiying," Luo Baiwan said ashamedly, "I have offended you before. I shouldn't have slandered you and Mr. Shen in front of the iron coffin in the secret room.

"But I hope you can understand that under the circumstances at that time, I was not only doing this for myself, but also for the entire Xinye County Government!"

After saying that, Luo Baiwan bowed deeply to apologize to Xu Zun.

Xu Zun hurriedly supported him: "Lord Luo, you are too serious. Anyone would do the same!"

"From now on," Luo Baiwan said again, "I hope Lord Tixing will forgive us and take care of us!"

"Haha," Xu Zun said with a smile, "Don't forget your original intention!"

Although the Tangzhou Chief Justice was only a seventh-rank official, on the same level as the county magistrate, he naturally had much more power than the county magistrate because he had the authority to supervise and correct mistakes.

County Magistrate Luo certainly didn't want to offend this future leader.

“Master Xu, Master Xu, hahahaha…” Unexpectedly, just as Xu Zun was about to leave, the loud voice of Captain Zhao Yu came from behind him, “That’s great, I can serve Master Xu again in the future!”

Xu Zun turned his head and saw Zhao Yu wearing a thick cotton coat with a package slung over his shoulder, looking like he was about to go on a long journey.

"You..." Xu Zun was surprised and had already guessed something in his heart.

"Why, didn't Lord Luo tell you?" Zhao Yu said with a simple smile, "From now on, I will be your personal bodyguard!"

"This..." Xu Zun's heart sank and he was deeply worried.

"Oh, look at my brain," Luo Baiwan said hurriedly, "His Majesty also issued an edict. Since Captain Zhao had made great contributions in the Iron Coffin Case, he was promoted to the position of Criminal Guard to assist Xu Tixing in the case."

I'm going to...

Xu Zun was shocked. He didn't expect that the title was conferred by the emperor himself!

This is troublesome...

At this point, although Zhao Yu is brave and resourceful, his origins are unknown and he is hard to figure out, so she dare not get too close to him.

Especially after discovering Ku Niang, Xu Zun was even more afraid that Zhao Yu would discover the secret.

What if this Zhao Yu was sent by someone? It might be disadvantageous to me.

However, he was appointed by the emperor himself, and there was no way for him to be dismissed.

well!

how so?

Is it... necessary to leave my mother at home?

no……

Xu Zun firmly denied it. The secret of Ku Niang had not been revealed yet and he absolutely could not let her out of his sight.

"Master Xu," Zhao Yu said happily, "When are we going to set off? Don't worry, I'm here. No matter what case there is, we will definitely be able to handle it! Right?"

"Haha," Xu Zun pretended to laugh, put his arm around Zhao Yu's shoulders and said, "Of course, with Captain Zhao by my side, I feel more confident, haha..."

As they spoke, the two of them walked out towards the rising winter sun.

Xu Zun had a smile on his face, but his mind was rapidly planning something...