Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 207 Uneasy
Xu Kai left the Governor's Mansion, thinking about Huang Heshou's words in his mind. He was uneasy and thought wildly. He left the Lingzhou Administrative Office on horseback and Qingqing and came to the forefront of Huaiyuan County to find the county magistrate Feng Yang.

Feng Yang was wearing a coat, looking at the disgusting face in front of him, and asked calmly: "But what happened?"

The two have been secretly colluding for a long time, but Feng Yang has been reluctant to have direct contact with Xu Kai for the sake of official reputation. Several meetings were secretly hidden from others.

For Xu Kai to come to see him so eagerly, something special must have happened.

Xu Kai elaborated on Si Jiebu's complaint to the imperial court.

Feng Yang's expression changed drastically, and he growled and cursed: "You bastard, you are confused. I told you to give the horse back a long time ago, but you didn't listen. It's fine now, and you caused a lot of trouble."

Xu Kai was full of grievances and did not dare to complain in front of Huang Heshou, but he had no scruples when facing Feng Yang.

The reason why I was afraid of him before was because he had a handle on me. Now they are both grasshoppers on the same rope, sharing life and death. How can I, a sixth-grade captain, get the turn of a seventh-grade county magistrate yelling at me?

"Why? I obviously discovered the divine horse first, but I failed to catch it, which gave the Sijie Department an advantage. If they hadn't interfered, the divine horse would have been mine. They robbed me. What's wrong with me, I just asked for it back. They dare to complain to His Majesty... And you, don't pretend to be in front of me, I will be the first to be buried with you."

Xu Kai stared at Feng Yang fiercely, his true nature as a scoundrel clearly visible.

Feng Yang also regretted in his heart that he had colluded with such a fool, leading to his current situation.

Suppressing the anger in his heart, Feng Yang said: "It has happened. It is useless to talk more. We have to find a way to solve it. What news is there in Beijing?"

Seeing that Feng Yang's attitude softened, Xu Kai became less tough.

Although the two people dislike each other, under Feng Yang's planning over the years, Xu Kai's smuggling methods have become more secretive and formal, and he has made more money.

Xu Kai already regarded Feng Yang as his military advisor, and he would look to him for advice whenever something went wrong.

"The Governor revealed a piece of news, saying that the Sijie Department reported to His Majesty through Qibi Heli. With Qibi Heli's status, Your Majesty will definitely give him an explanation. There is no news in Beijing, but the matter may be investigated. Someone has come to Lingzhou. It may be the supervisory censor, or it may be the deposed envoy."

When he heard that the envoy was deposed, Feng Yang's face turned pale.

It's okay for the supervisory censor to say that if he really wants to depose the envoy, with the power of the other party, he can directly remove himself as the county magistrate and sneak away to Chang'an to question the crime.

"No matter what, let's stop any trade first. Stay safe, return the horse, send some fine wine and tea, and say some good words to make the Sijie people get rid of their bad mood. I will pay attention to all life in the county. Guest, let’s see if we can find out who the messenger from above is and guide him to investigate in the direction we need. In short, although the two sides have coexisted peacefully over the years, there have always been conflicts. As long as the messenger from above can see this, let him understand us. The pain will be gone."

Although this business is about mutual benefit, many disputes are inevitable.

For example, the grassland people are not good at making leather. They collect a large amount of leather during their nomadic life, mainly from wolves, rabbits, and sheep. They sell these leathers to the Central Plains people, who process them into soft and cold-proof coats. Sold to prairie people.

Compared with the price of selling leather, the price of these coats has never been acceptable to the prairie people.

There were many conflicts between the two sides.

There will be all kinds of friction between neighboring people in this township, let alone two ethnic groups with completely different living habits?

There are some things that both sides feel wronged...

Feng Yang wanted to use this to let the envoys from far away know that what the Sijie Department told may not be true. Many conflicts have accumulated over time, and both sides have been trying to find ways to tolerate and compromise.

After hearing Feng Yang's idea, Xu Kai patted his thigh and said, "That's it." Feng Yang watched Xu Kai leave with a slightly uncertain face. After thinking about it, he returned to the back room and dragged him out from under the bed. Opening the big lock on a box revealed a treasure full of calligraphy and painting antiques that he had collected over the years.

Feng Yang flipped through it carefully and found a volume of copybooks "Mo Pian Wei Ming", with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Mo Piao Wei Ming" is the masterpiece of Xu Xun, a famous scholar in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Xu Xun was born in the Xu family of Gaoyang, with brilliant talents. He and Wang Xizhi, Sun Chuo, Zhi Dun and others were all outstanding in literary and righteousness.He was not an official all his life and loved to travel. He often accompanied Wang Xizhi and Xie An on banquets and chants, and he was one of the leaders of the Qing Tan family.

Xu Xun was present at Wang Xizhi's Lanting gathering.

This "Mo Piao Wei Ming" is also the reason for Feng Yang's fall.

Feng Yang was implicated by Yu Wenjie and was transferred to Huaiyuan County. He was born in Chongxian Hall. He learned the art of helping the world and bringing peace to the people, and he knew a lot about temple matters.

A person like him, who was born in Chongxian Hall and has a certain reputation, can rise to great heights as long as he finds a backer in the temple and gets a little support.In the past, his father-in-law Yuwenjie was his backer, but now that Yuwenjie has fallen, he naturally has to find another one to protect his future.

Xu Jingzong is undoubtedly the most worthy target, and Xu Xun is Xu Jingzong's ancestor.

Feng Yang was interested in the Uyghur businessman selling the "Inscription on the Tail of the Ink Curtain", but as an honest official, he really couldn't afford that much money.

Feng Yang's desire for a future career led him to the point of no return.

Over the years, he has collected Central Plains calligraphy and painting artifacts left in Mobei and Monan. It is not that he has a special hobby, but that he wants to use these treasures as a ladder for promotion.

Originally, Feng Yang planned to keep this "Mo Piao Ming". After returning to Beijing, Xie Li paid a visit to Xu Jingzong in order to become his disciple.

There can be no delay now.

Feng Yang already had a bad feeling. He wrote a letter himself, summoned his family servant who had been with him for many years, and said, "Go to Beijing immediately and send this letter and this article to the residence of Mr. Xu Jingzong."

The servant didn't say much, but carefully stuffed the letter into his chest, put the gift box containing "Mo Piao Ming" on his back, left the county government office, and rushed south.

The servants left the city at night, speeding along the deserted official road.

A meteor flashed past, and the servant fell to the ground, falling on the spot.

In the darkness, Xu Kai appeared with several riders, and his already mean face showed a chill.

The soldier behind him stepped forward and groped around on the servant's body, then handed the letter, gift box and money bag to Xu Kai.

Xu Kai opened the letter without any surprise. When he saw the content in the letter that he hoped to be transferred back to the capital, he cursed: "I know this beast is unreliable. He wants to escape and is dreaming."

He grabbed the torch and burned the letter cleanly.

"Just dig a hole and bury him."

Xu Kai warned, rubbing his hands, trying his best to hide his uneasiness.

(End of this chapter)