Stranger and Chen in the Palace

The incident of the emperor being poisoned in the Autumn Hunting Paddock caused an uproar. Everyone thought that the emperor would order a thorough investigation, but they didn't expect that he didn't even mention it. He just summoned the second prince in private, and finally let it go.If the emperor didn't investigate, everyone would naturally keep silent, pretending that this incident never happened.

The palace returned to peaceful days, but the good times didn't last long. A "Book of Ten Thousand Names" from Dianxi County completely blew up the entire court.The content of the letter is very simple. The embankment of the Fen River in Dianxi County collapsed, causing the river to flood. Not only did the local officials not open warehouses to provide relief, but they also sent troops to guard the gates of the city to prevent anyone from leaking the news.What's worse is that these people double-checked the people's fat and anointment at this time, which made the already serious disaster even worse.

When Eunuch Xu read out the contents of the "Book of Ten Thousand Peoples", everyone in the court looked very ugly, especially Xiao Ye, the official in charge of Dianxi County, many people couldn't help but stealthy glances at him.

Dianxi County is a county with a large population, and the Fen River is a big river that runs through the entire east-west territory. Once it floods, not only the people in the county will suffer, but it will also affect more than a dozen counties and counties downstream. Thousands of people were affected.

These places are rich and productive counties, and one-third of the annual national treasury income comes from the taxes of these counties.Now that the Fen River is flooding, not only the national treasury has suffered serious losses, but a large sum of money has to be allocated for disaster relief.More importantly, the actions of local officials such as Dianxi County have lost the hearts of the people. If the victims of the disaster cause riots, the consequences will be disastrous.

And it took two months for such a big matter to be reported to the imperial court, and the person who reported it was not the local governing official, but a warrior from Dianxi County who submitted the "Book of Wanmin".At that time, the guards at the palace gate prevented him from entering, and he even fought with the guards, and almost died under the siege of the guards. Fortunately, Xue Jingting who came to court stopped him, otherwise the flooding of the Fen River would not have happened. Know how long to be concealed.

After hearing the "Book of Wanmin", the emperor was furious, and slapped the dragon chair heavily with his right hand: "The embankment of the Fen River has only been rebuilt for a few years, and a large sum of money is allocated every year for maintenance and reinforcement. How could it suddenly collapse? For those local officials, it is dereliction of duty not to report it, and they are still searching for the people at this time, they should be damned!"

Xiao Ye, the direct superior of Dianxi County and other county guards, hurriedly kowtowed to the ground: "Your Majesty, this is all the fault of my humble minister. It is not a pity for me to die, but your majesty's dragon body is important..."

Before Xiao Ye finished speaking, he heard the emperor yelling at him: "You are indeed not worthy of death. If the disaster victims in Dianxi County riot, I will be the first to have your head hung at the gate of the city to vent their anger!"

After serving as an official for five years, it was the first time for Xiao Ye to see the emperor so furious. It seemed that his little life might not be saved. He was in chaos for a while, and kowtowed repeatedly: "Your Majesty, I beg to die, I beg you to die. I must make up for my mistakes, make up for my mistakes..."

The emperor snorted heavily, and Xue Jingting came out and said, "Your Majesty, don't get angry. The immediate priority is how to solve this problem in the shortest possible time. Things will change later."

Shortness of breath could not solve the problem after all, the emperor calmed down slowly, and said: "Xue Qing is right..."

The emperor thought for a while, and said to Ling Yichen: "Chen'er, I will leave this matter to you to handle. From now on, you will bring all the guards to Dianxi County, and you must handle it well!"

Ling Yichen knelt down and said: "I will obey the order, father, the matter is of great importance, and I want to bring Xue Zimo, Xiao Ye, and the warrior with thousands of people's letters along with me."

The emperor nodded: "That's right, Zimo's travels in the early years must have been helpful to you. As for the two of them, they each have their own uses, so let them accompany you."

Ling Yichen kowtowed to accept the order.

After the court was over, Xue Jingting stopped Ling Yichen, and Ling Yichen said respectfully, "What's your order, teacher?"

Xue Jingting shook his head: "The old minister just wanted to remind Your Highness that this Dianxi County is under the jurisdiction of Prince Yu's cronies. It is naturally good for you to take Xiao Ye there, but everything needs to be careful."

"I will keep the teacher's instructions in mind, and please rest assured that I will protect Mr. Xue." Ling Yichen leaned forward.

Xue Jingting smiled: "Of course, the old minister is relieved of His Highness." He looked at him meaningfully, "I just hope that His Highness will not disappoint His Majesty's expectations."

"That's natural." Ling Yichen's eyes flickered slightly.

Back in Guanlan Hall, Shunde started to help Ling Yichen pack his things, and after a while, Ling Yize came over.

Seeing Ling Yize recovering, Ling Yichen smiled and said, "Yize, are you here to see me off?"

"Brother Huang, I want to go with you..." Ling Yize looked at him eagerly.

"Yize, we are not going to play, you stay in the palace, I have asked Shunde to stay and take care of you."

Ling Yize lowered his head and asked in a low voice: "But, how long are you going, brother?"

"At least half a year, at most a year."

Ling Yize raised his head and looked at him reluctantly: "It's been so long, so I haven't seen Brother Huang for a long time?" Thinking of Brother Huang leaving him for such a long time, Ling Yize felt as if his heart had been hollowed out.

Ling Yichen smiled: "You are not a child anymore, why are you still so clingy?"

Ling Yize blushed instantly as if he was being told something important, and quickly lowered his head and stared at his toes.

Ling Yichen had no choice but to dote on him, "Brother Huang, will I bring you a gift when I come back?"

"Really?" Ling Yize brows happily.

Ling Yichen smiled: "When did Brother Huang ever lie to you?"

Ling Yize also smiled shyly: "I knew Brother Huang was the best, Brother Huang must come back early, Yize is waiting for you in the palace."

Ling Yichen nodded and asked Shunde to send Ling Yize away.

Immediately afterwards, Ling Yichen ordered Lianfeng and Lianhuang to invite Xue Zimo and the warrior who handed over the "Wanmin Letter", and the warrior who handed over the "Wanmin Letter" came first.This man was tall and strong, with dark skin, but he was not very old, about twenty years old. Judging from his breath and pace, Ling Yichen knew that he was also a trainer.

When the visitor saw Ling Yichen, instead of being timid, he stared straight at Ling Yichen. The little eunuch at the side scolded the visitor: "Bold slave, you are not polite when you see Your Highness."

The visitor glanced sideways at the little eunuch, then knelt down to Ling Yichen and said, "The grass man Luo Daman kowtows to Your Highness."

"Get up, explain the situation in Dianxi County later." Ling Yichen waved his hand.

Luo Daman's face sank when he heard the words, why did he have to wait, he has been waiting for too long, waiting to collect the "Book of Ten Thousand People", waiting to send the "Book of Ten Thousand People" to God City, waiting for the emperor to send people to relieve the disaster, it's not his nature Can't wait in a hurry, but the people affected by the disaster in Dianxi County can't wait...

At this moment, Xue Zimo entered the hall, Ling Yichen immediately got up and walked towards him, stopped Xue Zimo before he saluted, and said with a smile: "You don't need to be too polite here."

Xue Zimo smiled lightly, but did not speak.

Luo Daman was puzzled, who is this person, who actually has such a big face, he looked back, and was stunned, there is such a handsome person in this world, Luo Daman has lived for 23 years, and he has never felt that Who was good-looking, at least he didn't remember the faces of those people, but the person in front of him completely stunned him.

Seeing that Luo Daman had been staring at Xue Zimo in a daze, Ling Yichen coughed in displeasure. Luo Daman suddenly came back to his senses, with a slightly embarrassed expression. Forget it.Thinking of this, Luo Daman suddenly had a flash of inspiration. Could it be that His Highness the Third Highness asked him to wait for this person?

Sure enough, after Xue Zimo sat down, Ling Yichen said to Luo Daman: "You can start now."

Speaking of the flooding of the Fen River, Luo Daman was filled with indignation again, he suppressed the anger in his heart, and said: "Two months ago, the Fen River was in the flood season, the flow of the river increased greatly, and the embankment collapsed. At that time, half of the villages and farmhouses in Dianxi County were submerged, and not long after, more than a dozen counties and counties in the lower reaches of the Fen River also suffered. The most severely affected were Dianxi County and two or three adjacent counties. The parents of Dianxi County asked for help. At the beginning, they also distributed some relief materials to help the victims, but the number of victims was too large, and those things were simply a drop in the bucket. The officials of Dianxi County also realized this, and finally closed their doors. People were also sent to guard the gates of the city, and no one was allowed to leave the city. Even the small roads and mountain roads leading to the imperial capital were heavily guarded, neither letting people out nor entering. The most abominable thing is that the sight of paying taxes The date is approaching. In order not to let the higher-ups know the situation, the sheriff of Dianxi County double-checked those who were not affected by the disaster or those who were less affected by the disaster. Everyone asks for help. Those brothers deliberately created chaos on the official road in order to allow me to pass the checkpoint smoothly."

As he spoke, Luo Daman had tears in his eyes, "They were killed and injured, and they don't know what's going on now."

"What about other counties?" Ling Yichen asked.

Luo Daman shook his head: "I don't know, probably not much better than Dianxi County."

Xue Zimo's eyes were full of worry. He had been to Dianxi County in the early years, and it was a journey of twenty days from the imperial capital.

Ling Yichen looked at Xue Zimo's expression, and said softly: "Don't worry, we will leave for Dianxi County tonight."

Xue Zimo nodded: "The sooner the better."

When Luo Daman went out, Ling Yichen asked with a smile, "What do you think?"

Xue Zimo pondered: "I think that although the local officials in Dianxi County did not report this matter, as their immediate superior, it is impossible for Xiao Ye to be ignorant of it."

"I'm afraid he not only knows, but also knows something we don't know." Ling Yichen's mouth slowly curled into a sneer.

Just as Xiao Ye was talking, Lian Huang brought Xiao Ye here.

"My minister bows to Your Highness." Xiao Ye quickly knelt down to salute when he saw Ling Yichen.

"Get up, I want to ask you something."

"Your Highness, please speak, I must know everything and say everything."

Ling Yichen didn't give in, and asked directly: "Did you already know about the Dianxi County?"

Xiao Ye panicked: "I really don't know. If I knew about such a big thing, I wouldn't dare to hide it anyway."

"In this way, it is indeed a crime of dereliction of duty. Do you know that because of your dereliction of duty, countless victims have been starved to death. If you are not punished, the people's grievances will not be resolved." Ling Yichen said and called Lianhuang, "Bring Master Xiao to Go to the Underworld Division..."

When Xiao Ye heard the words "Department of Dark Torture", his face immediately turned blue. He knew that this place was specially used to interrogate repeat offenders. Dozens of tortures were applied to his body, and he would be permanently disabled if he didn't die.

Although the prince has no right to directly deal with officials, but given the emperor's love for Ling Yichen and his crime of dereliction of duty, the emperor will never stand up for him.

Xiao Ye knelt down with a plop, and begged, "Your Highness, I know that I have made a big mistake, please Your Highness give me a chance to redeem my sins, I am grateful."

"The only one who can help you is yourself, and there is nothing I can do." Ling Yichen smiled lightly.

Xiao Ye knew that if he killed him today without knowing it, Ling Yichen would never let him go, he hesitated for a while, and said: "Actually, I knew something beforehand, but I thought it was just a small accident. Sending people to repair the river embankment is because I don’t want His Majesty to worry about such a trivial matter. Before today, I never knew that the disaster was so serious, otherwise I would not dare to hide it even if I died.”

Ling Yichen was noncommittal: "So, you have good intentions?"

"I dare not, I just want to be loyal to His Majesty." Xiao Ye kowtowed.

Ling Yichen sneered: "I think you are devoted to King Yu wholeheartedly, right?"

"Where did Your Highness say that?" Xiao Ye was shocked.

Ling Yichen said: "Your wife Huang is the younger sister of Huang Zaizhong, who is close to Prince Yu, right?"

Xiao Ye's face was a little ugly when he heard this, but he still defended: "Your Highness, this...doesn't explain anything?"

Ling Yichen stared at him: "It seems that you want to leave the talk to the Dark Criminal Division?"

Xiao Ye pursed his lips and remained silent.

Ling Yichen smiled, and Shi Shiran said: "Young Master Ling is quite cute, not as dull as Master Xiao. I liked it, so I stayed by my side for a few days. I think you, a father, won't object, right?" ?”

"Your Highness, you—" Xiao Ye said in horror.

Ling Yichen acted as if he hadn't heard of it, and said to himself: "The children of two or three years old are always fussy, but I've always been impatient. If he starts crying, what should I do?" Xiao Ye, it seems that he is really humbly asking him for advice.

Xiao Ye's fists were clenched tightly, his lips were bitten, and bright red blood slowly oozes out.Ling Yichen was threatening him with his son. If he refused to tell the truth, the child would die immediately, but if he did, King Yu would not let their family go. If he and the child could only save one ...

Xiao Ye became ruthless, stared at Ling Yichen and said, "You can tell me the truth, but Your Highness must agree, no matter what, save my family."

Ling Yichen's eyes flashed: "I promise you—"