Red Mansion Royal Cat

Chapter 606: The Imperial Cat Leaves the Capital and Shocks the World

After the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather became hotter.

With the rapid development of the country's construction, the Ministry of Works has more and more work to do.

Duan Jun, the Minister of Works, wrote several letters to ask for Jia Cong to be transferred back to the Ministry of Works. However, Jia Cong is now very popular, and the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Rites are all asking for him from the palace.

The four ministers had a fight in the Fengtian Hall, and Duan Jun won in the end. I thought the Ministry of Works finally had the "right to use" Jia Cong, but Cheng Yaojin showed up halfway...

"In compliance with the order of the Crown Prince Regent and the Cabinet, Jia Cong, Marquis of Yongfeng, concurrently holds the title of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Works, and is in charge of the affairs of the four ministries."

"Fourth brother, what are you going to do? Cut me into five pieces, so that I can keep one of me at home to accompany my wife and baby!"

Jia Cong slumped down on the armchair in the East Palace, feeling hopeless and spreading his hands helplessly.

It's horrible. One person has to do the work of four people. Even capitalists are not so cruel.

Liu Hong threw him a letter and said, "Take a look at this first. After you finish reading it, you will understand my helplessness."

"what?"

Jia Cong took it, opened it, and his expression immediately became serious.

"This is something I didn't expect. If the news about the Dragon Guards is true, it would be terrible."

At this moment, the fierceness in the eyes of the crown prince was shocking. He even slammed the table heavily and said murderously: "It has only been two years since the imperial examination, and someone dared to tamper with the important matter related to the century-old cause of the country. Brother Cong, a thousand-mile dam collapsed because of an ant hole. Apart from you, I really don't know who to trust! It's time to show the golden mace that Grandpa Emperor gave you!"

Facing Liu Hong's sincere gaze, Jia Cong also understood the importance of this matter.

Moreover, there are some things that no one understands better than Jia Cong, such as the railways that are being built, and the Yellow River that is being managed...

The more money a project makes, the more it will breed greedy traitors and parasites.

He put away the letter in his hand and nodded: "Don't worry, Fourth Brother, I will go there myself. No matter who it is, as long as he dares to steal our Da Xia's people, I will chop off his head!"

When Liu Hong saw that Jia Cong agreed to the matter, most of his anxiety and anger disappeared.

If we send someone else, they may be concerned about this and that, and there is a possibility that officials may protect each other or even become corrupt.

But Jia Cong wouldn’t. He was given the title of Imperial Cat just for today!

"Okay, I've been waiting for you to say that. Take this..."

Liu Hong stuffed an icy object into Jia Cong's hand. Jia Cong looked down and found that it was a tiger talisman for mobilizing troops.

"With this talisman, you can mobilize all the troops in the world. During this tour of inspection, no matter who you find guilty of, you must not care about others and kill him. You must completely put an end to this evil trend."

I see. The Crown Prince and the bigwigs in the cabinet have realized the seriousness of the matter.

As Daxia becomes stronger and richer, material abundance will easily breed corruption.

During the critical period of construction of major projects in the country, the most feared thing is the emergence of shoddy construction.

Whether it is railway construction or river management, any shoddy construction will cost the lives of countless people.

The officials involved in the case this time range from royal family members to local gentry, and there are hundreds or even thousands of them. Even the Dragon Guards may not have the courage to investigate.

Only by having an important official who dares to investigate and kill and has no vested interest in the matter to investigate can the officials in the court be effectively deterred.

One such person is King Zhongshun Liu Ke, who holds the three guillotines of dragon, tiger and dog in his hands. However, he is still drifting on the sea and it is too late.

The other is Jia Cong, the Marquis of Yongfeng, holding the Golden Mace, the Imperial Golden Order, the Imperial Sword, and the Imperial Goose Feather Knife...

He takes care of things that the Dragon Guards dare not take care of; he kills things that the Dragon Guards dare not kill!

This is Jia Cong, Marquis of Yongfeng, the royal cat known as the rat nemesis.

……

Daiyu and the maids were packing Jia Cong's luggage, while Jia Cong was holding his dear son and kissing and pinching him, making Qilin cry loudly.

When she saw her son crying loudly, she hurriedly put him into Daiyu's arms.

Daiyu glared at Jia Cong in reproach, then she held her son in her arms skillfully, rocking him and coaxing him: "Don't bother him all the time, and don't comfort him when he cries."

hey~
Isn't the purpose of having a son to have fun?
Jia Cong grinned, approached Daiyu and said, "I have to leave the capital again, and I don't know how long it will take before I come back. I have to take good care of our good son... and of course, you, Sister Lin."

As he said this, he moved closer and kissed Daiyu on the face.

The familiar fragrance and smooth touch make him intoxicated.

What a pity, leisurely time always passes so quickly.

As soon as the summer wind blew to the northern land, Jia Cong led a group of people out of the capital.

They first rode horses and took a carriage, then changed to an official ship after arriving in Tongzhou, and went south along the canal to Shandong and headed towards Henan.

Jia Shiyi handed the kettle over, and Lord Royal Cat drank it down in gulps.

A weak howling sound was heard from the cabin, and a huge tiger head emerged from the curtain.

Poor Big Cat felt the pain of seasickness for the first time when he left Beijing this time.

Ever since the old sage left the position of General Huwei to Jia Cong, Da Maoer has been living quite well in Rongguo Mansion.

There is someone to play with him every day, but the other cat is never home, which makes him very upset.

This time Jia Cong was about to leave the capital by imperial order, and the big cat bit his trouser leg and insisted on going out with him.

No, I’m seasick!

"See, you insisted on following me out, and you're in trouble now."

Jia Cong jokingly asked someone to bring some sour plum soup. The icy, sour and sweet soup finally made the big cat feel a little more energetic.

……

"According to the information reported by the spies, Mr. Qingteng is in Kaifeng Prefecture."

"That's great. I haven't seen the teacher for a long time."

The Dragon Guards' secret agents kept in touch with Jia Cong almost every day, delivering the latest intelligence to Jia Cong.

As the official ship got closer to Kaifeng Prefecture, Jia Cong's expression became more and more solemn.

The situation was worse than he and the prince had imagined. The original river management strategy formulated by the Ministry of Works was to use the latest cement technology to build a Yellow River embankment across Shandong and Henan after dredging the river.

The Yellow River embankment, stretching for thousands of miles, will be an epic project with the highest investment, largest planning, most craftsmen recruited and longest construction period since the founding of the country.

However, in such an important project, there were cases of embezzlement of money for river management in the prefectures and counties along the river in Henan Province.

What Jia Cong found most unbelievable was that among those who embezzled the money for river management, there was someone he had never expected.

Zhou Peili, former Prime Minister of the Cabinet and nephew of Grand Tutor Zhou Jiong.

"Let the ship stop at Guidefu for a while. Let's not go to Kaifeng yet."

Ok?
Jia Shiyi was a little stunned and asked in confusion: "Third Master, the official report should have arrived at Kaifeng Prefecture. If we don't go there quickly, I'm worried that those people will destroy the evidence."

"Yongfeng Hou doesn't need evidence to investigate a case!"

Jia Cong smiled indifferently, stroking the tiger's head, and seemed to be talking to himself: "Since the teacher is in Kaifeng, the evidence and other things must have been found almost by now. It's not easy to leave the capital, if we don't make a big fuss, wouldn't it be a disgrace to the reputation of the imperial cat!"

┗|｀O′|┛哦~~
When General Huwei arrived, the people on the dock scattered.

Some young men wanted to curse and yell at who had the guts to walk around in a place with so many people... Tiger, but then they saw Jia Cong dressed in a Qilin costume and wearing a purple gold crown.

"Grandpa God, it's actually Marquis Yongfeng who has arrived!"

"Who? Marquis Yongfeng?"

"Ah? Oh my God, that man is finally here!"

Marquis of Yongfeng, Jia Cong, the Imperial Cat, is the upright judge in the eyes of the common people and the King of Hell in the eyes of the judges and businessmen.

After Jia Cong boarded Matou in Yucheng County, he caused a huge disturbance in this first cargo distribution center for entering Henan.

The magistrate of Yucheng County, Dai Ting, led the county officials and quickly rushed to the dock to welcome Jia Cong and his party into the county to rest.

Jia Cong did not refuse. As requested, he marched into Yucheng County in a grand procession with a full set of ceremonial guards and stayed in a fairly exquisite garden.

"Uncle Eleven, come alive!"

Sure enough, once the ceremonial procession is set out, some people will want to give it a try.

On the second day after entering Yucheng County, someone threw a letter written in blood into the wall.

The personal soldiers and secret guards watched from afar as the man threw the blood letter and then escaped.

After Jia Cong finished reading the blood letter, he sneered and called Jia Shiyi to warn him: "Don't alert the enemy yet. This is only the first letter. There will be a second and a third letter... These people know that they can't defeat Zhou Laoguan, so they can only start with other members of the Zhou family. We are not sure whether Zhou Peili embezzled the money for river management. But it is interesting that someone is so anxious for us to uncover this."

"Third Master, do you mean someone wants to use us to deal with the Grand Master?"

"I guess so, but the main purpose of these people is to stir up internal conflicts among the reformists. If I find out that Mr. Zhou's nephew is corrupt, do you think I should enforce the law strictly? If I execute Zhou Peili, will Mr. Zhou still stand on our side?"

Jia Shiyi took a deep breath. This was too insidious.

Zhou Jiong is a contemporary literary master and leader in the literary world.

If he turned away from the reformists because of this incident, it would be an irreparable and huge loss to the country and the new law.

Moreover, the ideological innovation that has just begun will encounter huge setbacks.

"If Zhou Peili really coveted the silver, whether I kill him or not, we will lose the first game. Uncle Eleven, think about it, Master Zhou has only been giving public lectures in the Imperial Academy for a short time, and his nephew has exchanged the safety of the people along the Yellow River for silver. What will the people think?"

"Uh~ If it were me, I would be skeptical of what the Grand Master said, and even the new law he advocated would lose its fairness."

If one's conduct is not upright, no matter how you are ordered to do something, it will not work.

No matter how much you talk, your nephew just ignores the lives and property of the people along the river and makes a fortune. What about self-cultivation, family management, governance of the country and peace in the world, what about the pursuit of knowledge through investigation of things, and what about justice of heaven? They are all bullshit.

Jia Cong didn't expect that this matter involved Zhou Peili. He threw the blood letter aside, lay back in the rocking chair, and fanned himself leisurely.

"But there's no need to rush. Mr. Zhou had anticipated all this. The old fox had already made arrangements when the court officials recommended his nephew to work in the Ministry of Works. Let's lay out the bait now and see how many fish will take the bait."

……

After the first letter written in blood was thrown into the wall, Jia Cong put it away after reading it without any further action.

Soon, rumors began to spread in Yucheng County that all crows are black, and the imperial cat Jia Cong is no different.

Obviously, there were corrupt officials in the imperial court who embezzled the money for river management in Kaifeng Prefecture, but because his uncle was the Grand Tutor of Emperor Wenzong and the former Prime Minister of the Cabinet, Jia Cong protected him and suppressed the matter.

Rumors are brewing, and many people believe them, but more people are still skeptical.

What Grand Tutor Wenzong, what Prime Minister of the Cabinet, the Imperial Cat Jia Cong dared to beat even the son and grandson of the sage, and dared to kill princes and dukes. What reason is there to cover up for a fifth-rank official who is only the nephew of the Prime Minister of the Cabinet?

Jia Cong did not take any measures against these rumors. In Yucheng County, he either walked his tiger or went to crowded places to chat and brag.

Yucheng County is not a big place, but Jia Cong visited every corner of it.

He even went to Yucheng County School and served as a mathematics professor, teaching students in the county school for several days.

That evening, it rained heavily.

Jia Cong sat in the pavilion, stroking the tiger's head, whispering to the big cat about the past and telling interesting stories about the old sage when he was alive.

Jia Shiyi came from the rain dragging a man. As soon as he entered the pavilion, he clasped his fists and said, "We have found out that this man is the biggest spy in the Dragon Guards Kaifeng Mansion."

"I told you so. The river management issue is so important that the urgent report was sent to the capital. Before I even left the capital, someone knew that the court would send me to investigate the case and even wrote a blood letter? If there was no traitor, who would believe it?"

After Jia Cong finished reading the official document handed over by Jia Shiyi, Lu Wan, the captain of the Kaifeng Prefecture's Thousand Households Division of the Dragon Guards, began a secret investigation after receiving his secret order.

Soon, he found the spy hiding in the Qianhu Suo.

It turned out to be Deputy Captain Yuan Wenlong. He was one of the officials involved in the case of embezzling silver for river management. He colluded with many people, secretly communicated with each other, exchanged information, and learned the latest developments of the court from the capital, and quickly spread the news.

Jia Cong had just received orders from the Eastern Palace, and he probably hadn't reached home yet, but the news had already been sent from the capital to various places in Henan and Shandong.

"Let's keep him alive for now. When we get to Kaifeng, we'll kill him first."

He was too lazy to pay attention to such an idiot. You are a dragon guard, the emperor's personal army, what are you doing hanging out with a pen-wielding person? Are you looking for death?
Jia Shiyi asked his men to drag him away. After Jia Cong finished reading the letters from his teacher Xu Jin and Lu Wan, he asked, "Do we still need to wait for others to deliver the blood letter?"

"Of course, the show is already halfway through, how can we stop? This rain is really coming at the wrong time. Henan is the granary of the country, and the summer harvest is imminent. I wonder how many people will be delayed by this rain."

Jia Cong stretched out his hand to catch the raindrops outside the pavilion. After pondering for a long time, he said with deep emotion: "Uncle Eleven, we can't just focus on corruption, we also have to focus on the people's livelihood. Send more people out to see if the officials in Henan are doing their best for the court and the people!

　I’ll stop here tonight and continue tomorrow. Good night!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)