The general will eat grass

"What's the matter?" Hua Boxi asked the guards to call a yamen servant when he saw the left-behind yamen servants rampaging on the street as soon as his carriage entered the city.

"Go back, sir, a thief suddenly appeared in the city. The family members of Lord Zhang and Lord Wu came to report the crime, saying that the thief had stolen something very important. We just saw that the thief went towards Lord Wang's house."

After Hua Boxi heard this, his heart skipped a beat. As soon as the officials and gentry left the city, people from the Inspector's Office appeared and snatched the "two important criminals" from the prison.Now that the burglar at home was an adult who had secretly allied with him, this made him suspect that all this was deliberately arranged by the inspector's office.

There are many capable people in the inspector's office, who can find out things that others don't know. Hua Boxi was very worried about his private exposure, so he didn't dare to delay any longer, and asked the carriage to go back to the yamen.When he got out of the car, he pretended to be calm, and asked the boss who came out to welcome him, what was unusual in the yamen.Master Bo only mentioned that the people from the inspector's office broke into the prison and took the two prisoners away.

Hua Boxi said calmly that he knew it, and hurried back to his bedroom, carefully checked the surroundings, found nothing abnormal, then lifted the bedding on the bed, and opened the secret compartment, which contained more than a dozen secret letters.Seeing that the things were still there, he was greatly relieved.

What he didn't know was that there was a person hiding on the beam, watching his every move with his head down.

---

Two days later, Zhao Yuansong and the Second Prince met in the small village.Hua Boxi has all the criminal evidence in his hands. Apart from the evidence that he and several adults conspired to embezzle money for disaster relief and frame Li Yuanxing, there is also his private correspondence with King Zhenbei. It turns out that Hua Boxi is a member of King Zhenbei. The south spread rumors to shake the foundation of the country in order to overthrow Xuanyuan Longji's rule by taking advantage of the peasant uprising.

When General Yu received the news, he immediately sent it back to Beijing through the channel of the Superintendent's Office. The others stayed in the village to recuperate temporarily, and Dr. Bai still needed to treat Hong Yu's injuries.

Li Yuanxing dragged Zhao Yuansong to talk about the Songzhou Mansion. Apart from the plague, those rebels were even more difficult to deal with. "Zhan Longqing and Jiang Changsheng will especially stir up the emotions of the people, saying that the plague is God's punishment, and that the people are all implicated by the emperor. Such rebellious words are easy to come by. And those ignorant people are even more annoying. To put it bluntly, they don’t believe me as an official. Zhanjiang and the two first promised them no land, and used them to rob wealthy households. To collect some land ownership taxes, just like this, they cheated the money back from the people.” Li Yuanxing shook his head, but in desperation he hated iron and steel, “I don’t know what kind of poison these people have been poisoned. It's a scam, they couldn't understand it, and they believed in Zhanjiang and the others."

But thinking of Zhao Yuansong's way of dealing with them, Li Yuanxing was depressed before sweeping away, and asked curiously: "Yuan Song, how did you come up with the idea of ​​using the trick of 'Heavenly Empress Appearance'?"

Zhao Yuansong smiled, "Use his own way to treat his own body." In fact, his inspiration mainly came from Zhao Shilang. Believing it to be true, he finally found the lost magical art of war in the ancient tomb. "This plague is raging, and the government's disaster relief funds have been corrupted by those officials, so they cannot be implemented in the hands of the people. If they can't see hope, the people will believe in such illusory things as God. If they lose confidence in the court, if I use it It is estimated that they will not believe the special medicine issued by the imperial court to treat the plague in the name of the court. That's why I imitated them and borrowed from the gods."

The effect was surprisingly good, not only attracting the two ends of the Changlong Qi-Rebel Army, but also attracting the officials and gentry in the city, providing favorable conditions for the hidden guards to sneak into the city.

Li Yuanxing smiled and praised: "You are the only one who can come up with such a method, Yuan Song. Saying that this plague is God's punishment for the wicked, not only exposes the conspiracy of Zhanjiang and his majesty, but also defends those who have not been rescued." People, find a reason to get sick, and appease the hearts of the people."

Zhao Yuansong: "Brother Yuanxing, don't praise me! This is mainly due to the greatness of Doctor Bai. If he hadn't developed a medicine that can cure the plague, I wouldn't be able to do the next thing."

The second prince, who was already able to get out of bed, walked in from outside the house and said with a smile: "Don't be modest, both of you are great heroes."

Zhao Yuansong and Li Yuanxing stood up and saluted him at the same time, "See Your Highness the Second Highness."

"Walking outside, don't be too polite, just sit down." The second prince was still a little weak, and found a place to sit down as soon as he entered the door. He waved his hand to excuse Zhao Yuansong and said, "After this incident, I treat you as a pastor." My friends, as for Xiao Kun and the prefect of Jingzhou, you can do whatever you want, don't worry about me."

The second prince's mother's family is not strong and has no foundation, and it depends on his own ability to gain a foothold in the court.After being dragged back by his uncle Xiao Kun, and walking between life and death, he made him thoroughly reflect on his abilities.Being able to sit in that position can certainly realize one's ideals and ambitions, but how many lives and deaths are there in the process?

The person sitting in that position needs the support of the vast majority of people, and will he do better than his father?Take this plague as an example, in addition to corruption, peasant uprising, and King Zhenbei and King Pingnan's attempt to usurp power, can he bear all this?

It's not that he doesn't have confidence in himself, but that he recognizes his own shortcomings.He is too clear about how sincere the people who take refuge in him are, or what they want to get from him. Even if he reaches that position by relying on these people, it will definitely consume more energy if he wants to control the entire court in his own hands With time, is there still a chance for his ideals to be realized?

He only wants this country to be prosperous and strong, free from foreign enemies. He only wants the people to live and work in peace and contentment, and their lives are getting better day by day.

Of course, in order to realize his own value, he can forcibly suppress it.The emperor was furious, laying down millions of corpses, bleeding profusely.But can he be selfish enough to waste the lives of more people for his own sake?

The second prince, who had kind thoughts in his heart, dispelled his desire to compete for the crown prince at this moment.He looked at Zhao Yuansong, and joked, "This time, I'm not good at running a business. After I return to Beijing, I probably won't be able to escape my father's punishment. The penalty for dismissal is still light, but my family still needs to support everyone. We all know that Yuansong you The best at making money, after returning to Beijing, can I ask Yuan Song to take care of me for a while?"

Zhao Yuansong raised his eyebrows and looked suspiciously at the second prince's expression.

The second prince said frankly and generously: "Yes, I was too young and vigorous before. I always wanted to compete with Feng Changying, and I also wanted to win over Old General Feng. Now, after experiencing life and death, I see it aside. It's better to follow Yuan Song You, like the ninth brother, do more practical things for the common people."

The second prince has a high rating among poor people, and his character is still good.Zhao Yuansong believed that he was speaking the truth at this time, and admired his open-mindedness.

In the evening of the next day, General Yu brought back the emperor's instruction that the second prince needs to commit crimes and make meritorious deeds by dispatching troops to adjacent counties and counties to arrest all the officials involved in the case, recover their embezzled money, and use it for disaster relief. The two leaders, cut to the ground, and passed the law.When Li Yuanxing returned to his post, he wanted to try his best to treat the sick people, so Zhao Yuansong cooperated with him to appease the people no matter what method he used.

Everyone acted immediately, and three days later, they returned to Songzhou Mansion and put all 16 people involved in the case, including inspector Hua Boxi, Jingzhou prefect, and the second prince's uncle, into prison.

Hua Boxi's face was pale. When he checked the secret compartment again, he found that the secret letter had disappeared, and he had a bad feeling.He originally wanted to escape overnight with his family, but the army brought by the second prince happened to block him outside the city gate.

Seeing the second prince, the prefect of Jingzhou sought friendship and wanted to excuse himself. Seeing that the second prince ignored him, he yelled bitterly, saying that Jingzhou County could not do without him, and only he could invite rich gentry and rich families to sell disaster relief food to the court.He has been operating in Jingzhou County for many years, and his relationship is intricate. He believes that for the common good, those people will keep him.

Zhao Yuansong sneered at this, he didn't turn over the old accounts, he called these gentry and wealthy households together, and said so, without spending half a cent of disaster relief money, he made them willingly donate a large amount of food for disaster relief.

The second prince, who followed him all the way, secretly gave Zhao Yuansong a thumbs up.Well, this guy once again used the name of the goddess of the sky, saying that he would cultivate merits for the next life, and asked Doctor Bai to make a bunch of big tonic pills for them, pretending to be the magic medicine given by the goddess of the sky.

Zhao Yuansong was smiling, and his big black grape eyes shone brightly in the sun. "Hey." Zhao Yuansong pointed to the steles and plaques that had been hurriedly made, "The commendation meeting will be all up to you, Second Highness."

Li Yuanxing ran over in the imperial robes, "Yuan Song, how are you going?"

"Brother Yuanxing, don't worry, I'll take care of things!" Zhao Yuansong smiled confidently.

A simple high platform was built outside the city of Songzhou Prefecture, and the "All People's Congress" of Songzhou Prefecture and even Jingzhou County was held.Li Yuanxing was the first to take the stage, announcing to the general public the true purpose of the Changlong Uprising - the rebel army colluded with the King of Zhenbei to collect money, and also announced the list of all the criminals and officials involved in the case, disclosing their crimes one by one, dragging out the two of Zhanjiang, and beheading them.

The second person who came to power was the second prince, who issued an edict of guilt on behalf of the emperor, stating that the imperial court had made a mistake and was accidentally taken advantage of.Next, all the gentry and rich families in Jingzhou who supported the disaster relief were commended, and they were praised for their concern for the people, and special plaques were given to thank them for their generosity.

It was Zhao Yuansong who came to the stage last. When the people saw him, they knelt down collectively, saying that he was a fairy boy sent by the goddess of heaven.Zhao Yuansong is very good at acting. Seeing this, he immediately knelt down, kowtowed to the people, and said that he was just an ordinary person. Everyone should thank the emperor. Kneeling him would only shorten his lifespan.After the people got up, Zhao Yuansong stood up and led the crowd to bow in the direction of Kyoto.

Afterwards, he invited Li Yuanxing to join him on the stage. He first said a few words to appease the people, and then said that the emperor intended to build dams and repair water conservancy projects for the people.Of course, in order to appease the wealthy gentry who were once again used as cash machines, Zhao Yuansong promised that after they beat up the emperor, they would set up monuments and seal scripts for these great meritorious deeds, so that future generations can admire them.

In this way, within half a month, all the people in Jingzhou County were appeased.After the Jingzhou prefect heard about it, he lost his confidence and collapsed on the ground like a dead body.With a solemn face, the second prince ordered all the criminals to be escorted back to Beijing.

After Jingzhou County, there are other disaster areas in the Lianjiang River Basin.Li Yuanxing stayed in Songzhou Mansion, while Zhao Yuansong followed the second prince to continue disaster relief.On this day, General Yu received an urgent call to return to Beijing immediately, but there was also an epidemic in Kyoto, and His Majesty the Emperor and His Highness the Crown Prince were seriously ill.

People in Jingzhou County, especially Songzhou Mansion, learned that Zhao Yuansong and the others were going back to Beijing, and they all rushed to see him off.

This made Zhao Yuansong and the group feel extremely excited and moved.