Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 906 Asking for a Fight
"You have been in Guangzhou for a few days. Have you ever visited the residences of the five governors?" Suta asked.

"Yes, I passed by there yesterday!"

"What do you think?"

"The pavilions are magnificent, the walls are high and thick, and the guards are strict. It is impressive just by looking at it from a distance!" said Heba Yun.

"Hmm!" Suta said, "Do you think it looks a bit like the palace in Naniwa?"

"Yes, yes!" Heba Yun patted his thigh lightly, "They do look a bit alike. It would have been fine if you hadn't said anything, but now that you've said it, I feel they look even more alike!"

"You think it's very simple, because the Lingnan Five Prefectures General is an official of the court on the surface, but in fact he is more like a local lord!" Xu Tuo said coldly: "This Lingnan area is thousands of miles away from the Central Plains, separated by the Five Ridges in the middle, the customs and climate are different, and the land is fertile, there are benefits of trade and maritime trade, and the Han and the Yi people live together. Those who can sit in this position are not ordinary people. Not only do they have connections in the court, but they also have their own skills. My father wants to bring Yuanbao to be the governor of Jiaozhou, I'm afraid he has heard the news!"

"The Governor of the Five Prefectures of Lingnan is concurrently the Governor of Guangzhou, and Yuanbao is the Governor of Jiaozhou. Isn't there any conflict?" Heba Yun asked.

"The governor of Jiaozhou does not conflict with the governor of Guangzhou, but what if we go one step further?" Sutuo sneered, "This person has only been in office for a year, right? Do you like someone to be replaced before the end of his term?"

"this--?"

"So we have to be careful!" Suta said, "How about this! Go to the governor's mansion tomorrow and submit a business card first!"

"As you command!" Heba Yun whispered, "Do you need to make any preparations?"

"Don't worry, I'm prepared!"

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The Office of the Governor-General of the Five Prefectures of Lingnan.

The sun shines through the grape trellises, onto the face of Yang Quansheng, the governor of Guangzhou and the governor of the five prefectures of Lingnan, leaving mottled marks. The trellises are already full of fruits, but most of them are still half-green and half-ripe, attracting many flies and insects to hover and make buzzing sounds. Whenever a fly is about to land on Yang Quansheng's face, Feng Sheng waves his whisk to drive it away so as not to disturb his superior. The air is filled with the aroma of grapes, and the yard is very quiet, with only the buzzing of mosquitoes and flies flying, and occasionally a little drum sound, which is the sound of the guards practicing archery in the parade ground.

The housekeeper appeared at the gate. He saw Yang Quansheng taking a nap and stopped in his tracks. Feng Sheng stepped forward and asked in a low voice, "Is there something going on outside?"

"Yes! Someone delivered a business card!" The butler carefully pulled out a business card from his sleeve: "He claims to be the son of the Prince of Hejian!"

"Son of the Prince of Hejian?" Feng Sheng was surprised. Although he had lived in Lingnan for generations, as long as he was not deaf, he would naturally know what the name meant. He quickly took the business card and returned to Yang Quansheng's side. He gently pushed the other's shoulders twice, and then whispered, "Envoy, Envoy!"

"Oh!" Yang Quansheng yawned and opened his eyes. His hair was sparse and his face was smooth and fat. He looked tired and gentle, but Feng Sheng knew that this man had a sharp mind. Those who looked down on him because of his appearance paid a heavy price. "Mr. Feng, what's the matter?"

"Someone outside has sent a business card asking for an audience!" Feng Sheng presented the business card with both hands: "The man claims to be the son of the Prince of Hejian!"

"Prince of Hejian?" Yang Quansheng woke up immediately. He opened his eyes, took the business card, looked at it carefully, and then put it aside: "It can only be the Prince of Hejian?"

"It can only be that person!" Feng Sheng said.

"He's doing fine in Fanyang, and has nothing to do with me. Why did my son run to Guangzhou?" Yang Quansheng stood up, swayed his fat body twice, paced back and forth, and showed annoyance on his face: "How hateful!"

"Envoy!" Feng Sheng whispered, "Do you still remember the incident mentioned in the letter from the Minister of Chang'an Wang a few days ago?"

"Minister Wang? You mean..." Yang Quansheng slapped his forehead and said, "I remember now. Wang Wenzuo wanted to get his son a post as the governor of Jiaozhou. Could it be so soon? I haven't even received the documents from the court yet? And he's here?"

"Envoy, have you forgotten? This person's behavior is always unexpected!" Feng Sheng whispered: "If an ordinary person were to predict it, I'm afraid something would go wrong!"

"Hmm!" Yang Quansheng sat back on the bed, his heavy body making it creak. "Damn it, if that's the case, then it's going to be troublesome. A good father will have a good son. With a father like that, it's definitely not easy for the son to get along with him. Jiaozhou is in that state now, and I don't know how to get rid of it!"

"Sir, in fact, in my opinion, this may not be a bad thing!" Feng Sheng said with a smile.

"Why do you say that?" Yang Quansheng asked.

"Sir, you have been in the government for many years, and you should know that Lingnan is different from the inland areas. It is far away from Chang'an, and it will take several months for the envoy to arrive. Moreover, the people in the south of the Five Ridges are mixed with barbarians, who do not know etiquette and morality, and regard wealth as a hero. Officials cannot be bound by grammar, but must adapt to local conditions, govern with honesty, and show kindness and power, so that they can be roughly settled. Since the Prince of Hejian wants his son to be the governor of Jiaozhou, why not let him do it? If the rebellion is quelled, you will also have made contributions; if it fails, it is not your fault, and the court will also have something to say!"

Hearing Feng Sheng's words, Yang Quansheng nodded. In addition to the harsh natural conditions, the Lingnan region at that time was also inhabited by a large number of ethnic minorities. After the Liang Hou Jing Rebellion, Chen Baxian, who was quite prestigious in Lingnan, sent troops to the north. At that time, the Feng family, a prominent family in Lingnan, united various tribes, participated in Chen Baxian's army, and made great contributions to the establishment of the Chen Dynasty. The Chen Dynasty also reciprocated and gave political rewards to the local nobles headed by the Feng family in Lingnan. When the Sui Dynasty destroyed the Chen Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty pacified the south, the local tyrants represented by the Feng family in Lingnan were basically submissive to the victors and did not insist on resistance. The rulers of the Sui and Tang dynasties also recognized the various political and economic privileges of the Lingnan nobles: that is, to divide their tribes and set up separate counties. Their leaders were appointed as governors and allowed to be hereditary. They had their autonomy in the region, and they only had the obligation to "pay tribute" and send troops to help the Tang Dynasty - that is, "tribute, tax, and register, all not to the Ministry of Households."

Obviously, in Lingnan, officials like Yang Quansheng must have very different governance strategies from those in the inland areas. The tribal chieftains who have served as the chief officials of the vassal states for generations have money and troops, and they are deeply rooted in the local area. They don't understand Confucian loyalty and righteousness. Basically, whoever feeds them is their mother. If the Central Plains system is used, I'm afraid there will be wars every other day. The military power of the Tang Empire in Lingnan is very limited. If troops are sent from the central government, there will be no time, and the climate and geography are not suitable. The troops sent from the Central Plains are prone to epidemics and almost die before they fight. Therefore, the guards in Lingnan must not only use hard tactics, but must use the prestige of the court to divide the local nobles, and then use one faction to fight another, turning a blind eye to all less serious behaviors, in exchange for the local nominal submission to the court, and at the same time obtaining economic benefits for the court.

Therefore, the requirements for local officials in Lingnan are very high: first of all, they must have prestige and reputation, noble blood, majestic appearance, and extraordinary conversation. It is best if their ancestors were high officials in the local area and had done favors for the local area - otherwise the local barbarian chiefs will look down on you. Once they despise you, they will not be far from rebellion. Secondly, you must be able to make money and local specialties, but you can't be too greedy. Since ancient times, Lingnan has been rich in treasures such as pearls, big shells, rhinoceros horns, ivory, tortoises, and agarwood, and Guangzhou was a famous sea trade port at that time. If you go to Lingnan to be an official, you can't do without the trust of the emperor and the support of the bigwigs in the court. If you don't get some good things to make the emperor and the bigwigs in the court happy, I'm afraid you won't be able to sit in this official position steadily, right? But it's not good to make too much money, after all, the chiefs in Lingnan are not the registered citizens of the Central Plains. If they are forced into a corner, they will show their stuff and rise up, and then you will probably be in trouble.

Third, you must be flexible and know how to judge the situation. When you are an official in Lingnan, no matter how prestigious and incorruptible you are, it is inevitable that you will encounter a few civil riots during your term of office. When you encounter civil riots, you can either suppress them or appease them. The key to this is to be careful. Otherwise, no matter how good you are at fighting, if you only suppress them and do not recruit them, the result will only be that the more you fight, the more thieves there will be, and you will eventually die of exhaustion, becoming a failure case for future generations to learn from.

Therefore, when an official like Yang Quansheng from Chang'an arrived in Lingnan, the first thing he did was to recruit the descendants of the big families like Feng and He in Lingnan, either to serve as his own staff or to give them official titles and send them to Chang'an. Once there was a turbulent time, these big families would send troops to help. Feng Sheng was a descendant of the Feng family in Lingnan, and Yang Quansheng would not ignore the advice of someone like him.

"Then let's meet him!" Yang Quansheng put away his business card. "No matter what his intention is, we have to save face so that his father won't be blamed in the future. Go and find out where he lives, and I'll pay him a visit!"

"Your Excellency is right!" Feng Sheng said with a smile.

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The sun went down and the weather became cooler. Suta stood under the orange tree in the yard. The servants brought out cool fruits and porridge from the well, cut them and placed them on the table, as well as dry cakes, shrimp paste and fish soup. He sat at the table with Heba Yun and Chong Jing, broke off a piece of cake, spread shrimp paste on it, and ate it with fish soup.

"The shrimp paste tastes weird! So does the fish soup!" Heba Yun took a bite and complained, "I kind of miss the miso fish soup and venison patties from Nambakyo!"

"Just make do with it!" Suta laughed. "I heard that people in Jiaozhou cannot live without shrimp paste, and they have it in almost every meal! If you can't eat it here, you will not be able to bear it over there!"

"Okay!" Heba Yun forced himself to take a big sip of the fish soup. "By the way, what do you think Governor Yang will do when he receives the business card?"

"I guess he will see us first!" Suta said, "Then we will separate to avoid being caught by him!"

"Why don't we just go directly to Jiaozhou?" Heba Yun said.

"That's even worse! It's even more dangerous to bump into them without knowing the reason!" Suta said, "At least we need to have the name of an official, so that many things can be done more conveniently!"

"Yeah!" Heba Yun responded. At this time, Da Ayton came in from outside and whispered something to Suta's ear.

"Stop eating! Clean up!" Sutuo stood up and said, "Inspector Yang is outside. Let's go out and greet him!"

"Well! He is indeed a handsome man!" Yang Quansheng looked Sutuo up and down, and stretched out his hand to help him up from the ground: "Although I have never met your father, we have known each other for a long time. I didn't expect that I could meet his son today. I can also see a bit of his father!"

"I dare not!" Xu Tuo stood with his hands down. He took out a letter from his sleeve and handed it to Yang Quansheng with both hands: "This is my father's handwritten letter. Please accept it, Mr. Yang!"

Yang Quansheng took the letter and handed it to Feng Sheng who was standing beside him: "It's unfair for you to live in a place like this. How about this, we move to the mansion later?"

"Mr. Yang, my father has ordered that we must not leave the ship without permission, so as to avoid any disturbance." Sutuo said, "I dare not disobey my father's order, please forgive me, Mr. Yang!"

"This is Guangzhou City, there's no chance of anything changing!" Yang Quansheng said with a smile.

"Mr. Yang, you don't know that my father has always governed the family with military law. Although we are father and son, we are also superiors and subordinates!" Sutuo said solemnly, "Military orders are military orders. If you violate them, let my father know that even if you don't behead me, you will be beaten with a military stick!"

After hearing Xu Tuo's answer, Yang Quansheng's smile disappeared. He looked around and suddenly laughed: "Great! I've heard for a long time that the Prince of Hejian has strict military laws. Today I have seen his appearance. No wonder he can defeat the enemy. Then I won't force him!"

"Thank you, Mr. Yang!" Xu Tuo hurriedly said, "Please!"

After everyone entered the room and sat down as host and guest, Yang Quansheng said with a smile: "I received a letter from Chang'an a few days ago, saying that the son of the Prince of Hejian will be appointed as the governor of Jiaozhou. I didn't expect you to come so soon. I am a little surprised!"

"Reporting to Lord Yang, my father recommended my brother Yuanbao to the court to be the governor of Jiaozhou, not me!"

"Oh? Then you are——?"

"I sailed south this time to open up the sea route from Cangzhou to Jiaozhou. After arriving in Guangzhou, I heard that there was a turmoil in Jiaozhou, so I stopped the boat here temporarily to seek an audience with Lord Yang!"

Yang Quansheng touched his chin. He had recovered from his shock. He looked at the young man in front of him again and decided to find out more about him. "Yes, the situation in Jiaozhou is not very good now. However, Lingnan is different from the Central Plains. There are many more wars. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I have also heard some things in Guangzhou!" Sutuo said, "As for the war, let me be bold and say that Wang Sanlang's son can play with a sword in his cradle and can hold a spear with his ten fingers naturally!"

"Hahahaha!" Yang Quansheng was stunned when he heard this, then he burst into laughter: "What courage, what guts, you are indeed worthy of being the son of the Prince of Hejian. So, you are still planning to go to Jiaozhou?"

"Well, I have eight ships going south this time, with six hundred armored soldiers and seven hundred sailors, all fully equipped with armor, bows and crossbows, all of them are brave warriors, and can defeat ten thousand thieves! Now all we need is a name!"