Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 1409: Disciples

After attending the Tea-Horse Trade Fair, Zhu Zhen returned to the palace to rest.

His vacation had not yet ended, and the two princesses refused to let him go out to work, fearing that he would run away again and not come back for a year or so.

Therefore, if civil and military officials from Yunnan wanted to report to him, they could only visit him in the palace.

The three people who came to visit him that day were his favorite students - Ma Junze, Hu Yan and Huang Guan. The first two came to the provincial capital to report on their work, while Huang Guan was the superintendent of education in Kunming, so they agreed to come together to pay a visit to the prince.

Zhu Zhen was naturally very happy to see them. After asking the three to sit down, he asked with a smile: "Hey, why didn't Tie Xuan come with you? Since you are all here, is it appropriate for him, the landlord, not to come?"

"I asked him to come along. But the prince also knows that Dingshi is a very serious person." Ma Junze explained for Tie Xuan: "As a result, when the student went to his office to call him, he happened to meet someone beating a drum to file a complaint. He asked the student to go ahead and file a complaint with the prince on his behalf."

"That's understandable." Zhu Zhen smiled and said, "Don't people say 'If you did evil in your previous life, you will be a county magistrate in the city; if you are full of evil, you will be a county magistrate in the provincial capital'? It's not easy for him to be a county magistrate in the provincial capital."

"Dingshi has been in dire straits these years." Everyone laughed and said, "Especially for a man as upright as him, he has to entertain guests all day long and serve so many mothers-in-law. It's really hard for him."

Hu Yan smiled and said, "I still remember that when he first took office, he wrote to me that he was 'busy and busy, dealing with numerous matters, running around, and exhausted'."

“But even so, Brother Dingshi can still rank first in the provincial and county assessment, which shows how powerful he is.” Huang Guan praised.

"Just like Ruosi said, Dingshi is a man of extraordinary ability and integrity, but the problem is that he is too upright and cannot tolerate any injustice. When he sees injustice, it's like a thorn in his throat, and he can't feel relieved until he speaks it out. It's not bad to be an official like this, but it's easy to make things awkward when he is in charge of a place. That's why we chose such a frustrating place for him." Zhu Zhen glanced at Hu Yan and said:

"In fact, I put him in the position of Kunming County Magistrate just to temper his character. I was worried that he was too young and would be forced to grow too fast, which would ruin him. But in the past few years, he has grown very fast and can keep his words to himself. He can also put aside some principles for the sake of the overall situation. He can handle so many ancestors with ease. What's more commendable is that he has done a lot of practical work and can be promoted to a higher position to take on important responsibilities."

The three of them were naturally envious, but not jealous. This was what Tie Xuan deserved. In order not to delay his work, he didn't even go back to take the exam. This dedication made them feel ashamed.

~~
"Don't envy him. You are all very outstanding and have made me proud!" Zhu Zhen said as if he could see the three people's thoughts:
"This is not a lie. When Yunnan was pacified, no officials were willing to come. Those who were sent to Yunnan were either demoted for making mistakes or were excluded because they had no connections. Even so, not many people could be gathered, so my father had no choice but to recruit many retired old people."

"How serious was the shortage of officials at that time? There was only one county magistrate in the county and one prefect in the prefecture. There was no subordinate official at all. It was simply a group of commanders without any troops." Zhu Zhen looked at his students emotionally and said:

"It was you, more than a thousand college students, who voluntarily gave up their future in the capital and followed me to Yunnan, and only then were the government set up and able to operate officially! Everything is difficult at the beginning, especially in Yunnan. If it weren't for you, the young soldiers, Yunnan would never be in its current situation!"

"The situation was really difficult at the time. The chieftains were fierce, the mountain people were unruly, the military households were arrogant, and the immigrants only wanted to escape," Ma Junze said with emotion. "When I first took office, I was almost dumbfounded. I really felt like a domestic pig suddenly falling into a wild boar forest."

"Haha, Jun Ze's description is very vivid. Your Anning Prefecture is indeed not peaceful at all." Zhu Zhen couldn't help but laugh and said, "Fortunately, you have successfully grown fangs and defeated those guys with bared teeth, and successfully dominated the mountains and forests."

"Hahaha!" Everyone laughed again. "Alas, it's all because of the well salt. When the students first took office, there were fights almost every day in Heijing Town. The dead were just thrown into the ditch. Sometimes more than ten or twenty people died, and no one took it seriously. It was simply lawless." Recalling the past few years, Ma Jun sighed:

"I originally thought that peace was the most important thing. I asked everyone to sit down and talk. We could all make money together. Isn't that better than fighting and killing all the time? But I didn't expect that these bastards didn't take me seriously at all. They talked nicely in front of me, but they continued to fight and kill after they went back. I had no choice but to form a militia. I would kill anyone who dared to fight and kill. After a few years of rectification, things gradually became peaceful."

"This is really unlike what Brother Junze would do." Huang Guan and Hu Yan sighed, "You have always convinced people with reason."

"Alas, some people don't understand nice words, so you have to convince them by force." Ma Junze said with a wry smile.

"Given the innate conditions of Anning Prefecture, the fact that you were able to rank in the upper middle of the test already shows that you are very capable." Zhu Zhen praised him and said, "When I sent you to Anning Prefecture, I also wanted to hone your skills. Being an official is not like being a human being. You can't just be harmonious, you also have to be ruthless."

Then he said to Ma Junze in a deep voice: "I am going to add more burdens to you. Do you have the courage to go to a more dangerous jungle?"

"Where?" Ma Jun asked nervously.

"Go and be the prefect of Dongchuan." Zhu Zhen said.

"Wow! Congratulations, senior brother!" Hu Yan and Huang Guan congratulated Ma Junze: "You are finally going to be the second one among our classmates to wear a scarlet robe!"

"Haha, but that's Dongchuan..." Ma Junze couldn't laugh. It was the most chaotic place in Yunnan and even in the entire Ming Dynasty. Apart from anything else, the last governor of Dongchuan was still lying in the military hospital.

He was shot by an arrow when he led his troops into the mountains to hunt down the Tuman. The good news was that he was wearing armor and the injury was not serious at the time. The bad news was that the arrow was poisoned and he had to have his limb amputated in the end.

The previous prefect of Dongchuan was even more unlucky. He was ambushed on his way to inspect a copper mine. He and his horse fell into a mountain stream, and his body was never recovered.

So when Ma Zhizhou, who thought he had evolved into a wild boar, heard that he was going to Dongchuan, he couldn't help but feel a little scared.

He wiped the sweat off his face and forced a smile, "The people from Anning Prefecture robbed the salt wells. They can't be moved, so they have to be careful so that they can meet again in the future. The barbarians from Dongchuan directly robbed the copper factory, leaving no room for them at all!"

"Just tell me whether you want to go or not. If you don't want to go, I'll find you another place." Zhu Zhen smiled and asked, "Don't feel any psychological pressure."

"Go, I'll go wherever the prince tells me to go!" Ma Junze has a high EQ. He knows that if he says he won't do it, his opinion in the prince's heart will plummet, and he won't get any good things in the future.

So there is no second answer at all.

(End of this chapter)