high official

Chapter 836
"Hey..." Wang Xian sighed, how could he not know the little girl's intentions, but he was already full of love debts, how could he harm this elf-like transparent girl again. "Be obedient, go back..."

"I don't care," Ling Xiao pouted and said stubbornly, "How many times have you left me behind, and this time I will follow you no matter what."

"What are you doing with me?" Wang Xian muffled.

"Nothing, just follow you."

"Hey..." Wang Xian was depressed and stopped talking.

"So, you agree?" Ling Xiao was as happy as something, and immediately laughed through his tears: "Let them give me an extra bed!"

"Don't even think about it, go live next door!" Wang Xian knew that the girl pushed her nose up, and said with a straight face, "I've made an agreement with you for three chapters, if you don't agree, go back!"

"Yes, yes, yes, all!" Lingxiao nodded like a chick pecking rice, but Wang Xian was deeply suspicious of her integrity, looked at Lingxiao for a while, and shook his head.

"Forget it, you can do whatever you want..." Wang Xian closed his eyes again, not looking at the proud little rooster.

.

After several days of sailing, the prince's mood was still low. When the boat docked, Wang Xian advised him to get off the boat and walk around to see the scenery, but the prince was not interested and refused to get off the boat.

Of course, this won't bother Wang Xian. He thought about it, and said another way: "Let's go down and take a look. It's a rare opportunity to check people's conditions. I don't know when the next time will be."

Sure enough, the prince was persuaded, and every time he went to a place, he would disembark from the boat and, accompanied by local officials, go to the market to check the people's conditions.I saw that in every prefecture and county, the streets are clean, the goods are abundant, and the people are decent. Not to mention beggars, not even the poor in rags...

At first the prince was very happy, feeling that the Ming Dynasty was really rich and powerful, but seeing the same scene too much, he couldn't help but mutter.When inspecting Qinghe County of Huai'an Prefecture that day, he finally couldn't help asking the prefect of Huai'an beside him: "Chen Futai, I have something that I don't understand, please advise."

Chen Zhifu hurriedly said in a respectful voice: "His Royal Highness has killed this minister, if you have any questions, I will definitely say everything without exception."

"If I remember correctly, your mansion was hit by a flood just this year," Zhu Gaochi said slowly, "It seems that all six counties and two prefectures in the mansion have been affected by the flood, and Qinghe County has no crops. Why do the people seem to be unaffected? Influence."

"Well..." Chen Zhifu pondered for a while, and then said with a smile: "That's because the imperial court provided relief in a timely manner and local disaster relief was effective."

"Yes, yes, yes." Qinghe county magistrate hastily nodded in agreement: "It's all Futai masters who are good at disaster relief."

"Really?" Zhu Gaochi looked at the two officials and said, "Last month's memorial also said that there are tens of thousands of refugees in Guixian County, and the people are starved of food. It took less than a month to solve everything?"

"Yes, it's resolved." Prefect Chen and Qinghe County Magistrate nodded while wiping their sweat, "It's hot enough today..."

"Oh," the prince became interested, "Chen Zhifu is still a rare official, tell me how you did it?"

"This..." Chen Zhifu was dumbfounded, unable to answer for a long time.

"Or, because I came, you whitewashed the peace and hid all the victims?" The prince's voice turned cold.

"Don't dare!" The two officials hurriedly shook their heads, "It's really solved..."

"Okay then," the prince said lightly, "Since the situation in your county is so good, let's pay the taxes and grains exempted this autumn and next summer..."

"Ah!" Prefect Chen and Qinghe County stopped chanting. Given the current situation of Huai'an Prefecture and Qinghe County, even if they were sold, they would still not be able to pay taxes!
"Your Highness, spare me!" The two knelt down to the prince, and began to slap themselves desperately. "No way, Your Highness!"

"Which song is this?" the prince frowned.

"Damn it, we lied to His Highness!" The two officials told the truth, how they drove out the victims and beggars, how they made the common people wear the best clothes, and how they concentrated the goods of the whole county in the shops facing the street. , etc. all kinds of whitewashing behaviors, one by one to the prince.

"You guys! You..." Zhu Gaochi's face turned pale with anger, pointing at the two of them and said bitterly, "You are so courageous!"

"We don't want to do this either!" Chen Zhifu said with snot and tears, "But I heard that all the counties in the south do it like this. What if we are too ugly and leave a bad impression on His Highness..."

"What?!" Zhu Gaochi was almost dizzy, and tremblingly said, "They all do this?"

"That's right, they all do that!" Chen Zhifu nodded decisively and said, "If your subordinate dares to deceive His Highness, let me strike you with a thunderbolt!"

"You should have hit the sky long ago!" Zhu Gaochi angrily shouted at the two officials who were like sifting chaff: "Wait for the black yarn to fall to the ground!" After finishing speaking, he stopped inspecting and returned to the ship angrily. The order departs.

.

As the boat sailed on the river, Wang Xian knocked lightly on the prince's door, but no one answered, so he opened the door with the food box and went in.

The prince was sitting there sulking, Wang Xian opened the food box and put the food on, and said with a smile: "Your Highness, it's time for dinner." He was supposed to stay at Qinghe Station tonight, but now he can only eat and sleep on the boat.

"I have no appetite." The crown prince shook his head, looked at Wang Xian who was full of joy, and said out of anger, "Why aren't you angry?"

"It's commonplace." Wang Xian smiled and said: "You forgot that I was born as a petty official, and I have done a lot of deceit to make a living."

"Why do you want to cheat?!" The prince said angrily: "Don't they think that this palace will not understand their difficulties after seeing the real situation?!"

"You may understand their difficulties, but you may also look down on them." Wang Xian said with a smile: "If they want to be promoted, they must make a good impression on you."

"That's why they cheated?!" The prince said angrily, "This is a deception! Even if they get away with it, it would be a misfortune for the country!"

"As long as you can be promoted, don't care about the many." Wang Xian said softly.

"..." The prince was silent for a while, then said in a low voice, "Then why did you describe the situation so direly in the memorial?"

"If it's not miserable, why would the imperial court reduce or exempt taxes and food, and how could it distribute relief?" Wang Xian replied: "Comparing misery in the memorial is to ask for money, and pretending to be fat in front of His Highness is for the official hat. In fact, the purpose is the same. of."

"However, he treats Gu as a fool and plays around!" Zhu Gaochi has been in charge of the country for more than half a year, and the decision to provide relief to the Huai'an government and reduce taxes and grains are all difficult decisions he made under financial constraints.Naturally, he was extremely angry at this moment.

"I'm not alone in the officialdom of my dynasty." Wang Xian said with a wry smile, "It's been like this in all dynasties. Your Highness has a lot of research on the people's sentiments. If you know the civil affairs well, the people below will be more restrained."

"Observe the sentiments of the people?" Zhu Gaochi snorted angrily, "What can you see if you look around like this? It's just a waste of time and money!"

"We can use another method." Wang Xian said with a smile.

"What method?" Zhu Gaochi asked.

"Weifu private visit." Wang Xian whispered.

"Weifu private visit?" Zhu Gaochi's eyes lit up.

"Yes." Wang Xian nodded.

.

The next day, the ship arrived at Xuzhou Prefecture.There were many flags and gentry gathered on the wharf. The magistrate of Xuzhou led a group of officials, who had been waiting for it for a long time. As soon as the ship docked, the gongs and drums rang, and everyone knelt down in unison, and said loudly: "Your Majesty is waiting to welcome His Royal Highness to Xuzhou ! Your Highness Chitose Chitose Chitose Chitose!"

After shouting, there was still no movement.The prefect of Xuzhou and others took a sneak peek, but the prince was nowhere to be seen on the boat. After a while, they heard a question: "Hey! Where is the Xuzhou government?"

The prefect of Xuzhou hurriedly got up, and respectfully said to the military officer who asked the question: "This is the next official, I don't know this lord, where is His Highness the Crown Prince?"

"Didn't you receive the order from His Highness?!" The military officer ignored him at all, and asked in a cold voice: "Your Highness does not allow local officials to welcome you, accept banquets, or hold any ceremony!"

"This, indeed received."

"Then why didn't you obey the order?!" the military officer asked.

"The crown prince has a decree, how dare the lower officials refuse to obey it," Xuzhou magistrate hurriedly said with a smile: "It's just that everything today is done spontaneously by the gentry and people in Xuzhou. They have admired His Highness for a long time, and it is not enough to express their love. Filial piety!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" The gentry hurriedly nodded their heads in agreement, "We did it spontaneously, and it has nothing to do with the government."

"Hmph!" The military officer didn't bother to argue with them, and said coldly: "Your Highness will not disembark, nor will you have guests, so you can go back." After finishing speaking, his figure disappeared from the bow, leaving behind a pile of Xuzhou officials and gentry looked at each other in blank dismay.

"My lord, what should we do?" the officials under his command asked the prefect of Xuzhou in a low voice.

"Cold salad!" The prefect of Xuzhou wanted to vomit blood depressedly.

.

On the official road outside Xuzhou City, more than a dozen warriors riding a horse escorted a carriage to Xiao County, which is [-] miles away from Fucheng.

There were three people sitting in the carriage, Wang Xian and Ling Xiao dressed as servants, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince dressed as a wealthy businessman.Before they arrived at the pier, they disembarked early and rushed to the nearest county town.

"Why don't you go to Xuzhou City to see?" Not to mention, Zhu Gaochi is dressed in brown silk and wearing a Liuhe hat, he really looks like a rich and fat official.

"Although His Highness has issued an order that he cannot disembark, the Xuzhou Mansion will still make careful preparations." Wang Xian was dressed in a green shirt and wrapped in a cloth scarf, but the beautiful short beard trimmed around his lips made him look like a servant.Not to mention the picturesque Ling Xiao, how can there be such a handsome servant?
"Hey." Zhu Gaochi nodded, and said in his heart that he was fortunate to have Wang Xian, who is familiar with the official situation, accompanying him, otherwise it would be too difficult to see the people's situation.

Along the way, seeing that the prince was obviously nervous, Ling Xiao comforted him and said, "Don't worry, Uncle Prince, I am very skilled in martial arts, and I will protect you well!"

"I'm very relieved." The prince smiled at Ling Xiao, obviously the little girl was thinking about it.

"Your Highness," Wang Xian finally said, "In any case, Xuzhou is still considered rich, and the situation we see will not be too bad."

"En." The prince nodded and relaxed.

(End of this chapter)