The Ming Dynasty's Spokesperson

In the cabin of the big ship, Yingtian Governor Zhou Ji looked at the sparkling water and sighed constantly.

It is said that being a governor in Jiangnan is difficult, but I didn't expect it to be so difficult!

It is definitely not okay to go against the flow, and you may commit suicide, but it is not okay to go along with it, and you will be used as a coolie!

The private aide Li Shiye who accompanied him comforted him: "Why should Dong Weng be so worried? You are sent by Lord Shen, and you will be protected by the Prime Minister when you encounter problems."

Governor Zhou said helplessly: "The second master of the Shen Mansion told me personally that if Lin Jiuyuan went crazy, Lord Shen would not be able to stop him, and even help him clean up the mess."

Shiye Li advised again: "Since Dong Weng took office, he has always had a good relationship with the Lin Mansion. Even the site of the civil and military archway was selected by Dong Weng, so Lin Jiuyuan would not embarrass Dong Weng too much."

Governor Zhou answered very soberly: "As the saying goes, great etiquette does not care about trivial matters, and great things will not be affected by small favors.

Lin Jiuyuan has too much to do, and a little favor can't affect his thoughts and determination. "

Master Li said again: "If there is really no other way, just follow Lin Jiuyuan to do things. It is disgraceful to escape like now. "

Governor Zhou shook his head, "You don't understand. In Lin Jiuyuan's mind, the person who is really responsible for doing things is the newly appointed Songjiang prefect Xu Zhenming.

As for me, the governor, in Lin Jiuyuan's mind, the position is responsible for protecting Xu Zhenming from wind and rain.

To put it bluntly, it is a consumable material for resisting pressure, bearing thunder, and taking the blame. "

Speaking of this, Governor Zhou sighed, why is it so difficult to be an official?

According to the general principle, as long as you do things without seeking merit but seeking no mistakes, and be careful and prudent to offend less people, it is easy to get by.

How come you run into Lin Jiuyuan who likes to make a big fuss and force others to make a fuss together?

At the same time, the irritable Lin Daguanren in the Lin Mansion was also sighing that it is really difficult to do things!

From the perspective of official relations, Governor Zhou is definitely one of us, but even such a person has the idea of ​​running away.

It seems that we should not only guard against hostile forces, but also keep a close eye on our own people. How embarrassing!

The Zhang brothers, the left and right protectors, saw that Mr. Lin was thinking about it, and they couldn't help but urge him: "The situation is urgent, please give specific instructions!"

Lin Tailai shouted: "Why are you panicking! I now feel that it's good for the governor to run away!"

The Zhang brothers were speechless for a moment. Was Governor Zhou's running away such a big stimulus to the governor?

Lin Tailai said again: "Originally, it was not good to be too harsh on Governor Zhou in terms of morality, but now there is no scruple! This is called turning a bad thing into a good thing!"

Then Mr. Lin suppressed all kinds of distractions and began to issue orders to solve the problem.

"Send a message to Hengtang Town, and immediately send 200 guys to take a speedboat and go north along the canal! Look for the governor's trace!"

The official power of Suzhou Prefecture is mostly limited by region, and it is difficult to do things across borders, so only the gang members can be dispatched.

After that, Mr. Lin issued a second order.

"Let the Garrison send an urgent document of 600 miles to Yangzhou, and dispatch a group of Suzhou Guards to return immediately.

One is to guard Jingkou, and the other is to search for the governor's trace along the canal at the same time!"

The Suzhou Guards moved back and forth between Suzhou and Yangzhou Shuicang, and were also one of the few official forces that could cross the border.

If the transport troops returned from Yangzhou, they would directly enter the southern section of the canal after crossing the river, and they would be able to stop the governor's boat.

With these two forces, one chasing north from Suzhou, and the other crossing the river from Yangzhou to the south to intercept, theoretically they would be able to find Governor Zhou's boat.

Fearing that others would not understand his intention, Mr. Lin added: "Pass the order down, whether it is a waiter or a government soldier, anyone who can delay the governor's boat for half a day will be rewarded with 300 taels of silver! Anyone who can stop the governor's boat from moving forward will be rewarded with 500 taels of silver! You can think of your own reasons and methods, I just want to see the result!" Right Protector Zhang Wu subconsciously asked: "What if you can capture the governor alive?" Mr. Lin replied unhappily: "Your head will be cut off and your whole family will be exiled." Do you really think that the governor is so easy to catch? Don't think that anyone can do it just because Lin Tailai succeeded several times. Left Protector Zhang Wen said: "Others can only delay at most. If you really want the governor to come back, you have to lead the expedition in person. So now there is no time to lose, and the governor should also prepare to set off." Mr. Lin said: "We need to prepare for one more day before we go." But after Governor Zhou got on the canal, he walked north along the canal without stopping (strictly speaking, this section should be northwest direction). After passing Wangting and entering Wuxi County, Governor Zhou was slightly relieved.

What he was most worried about was that Mr. Lin would suddenly appear behind him on a speedboat, shouting "Please stay".

Leaving Suzhou Prefecture was equivalent to leaving the main sphere of influence of the Lin Group.

Not to mention that in Wuxi County, the Lin Group was an object of hatred and its power was extremely weak.

From the temporary decision to escape until now, Governor Zhou was exhausted from the journey and immediately rested at Xishan Posthouse.

The governor's sudden stay in Wuxi alarmed Sun Jigao, a big shot in the literati circle who was at home.

This Sun Jigao was the top scholar in the second year of Wanli, and the same year as Governor Zhou.

More importantly, Sun Jigao served as a co-examiner for the imperial examination in the eighth year of Wanli, and selected Gu Xiancheng, who was the actual founder of the Wuxi Gang.

So although the currently more active Gu Xiancheng is the spiritual leader of the Wuxi Gang, Sun Jigao's reputation is still higher than Gu Xiancheng, and he has been promoted to at least Zhanshi and Shidu Bachelor.

It was just that Sun Jigao went home to observe mourning the year before, so Mr. Lin had not met him since he entered the court.

When he heard that Governor Zhou, a fellow student, had suddenly arrived in Wuxi, Sun Jigao went to the post station to visit him.

Sun Jigao smiled and said, "Lin Jiuyuan had just returned to Suzhou, and you left in a hurry. What's the problem?"

No one is stupid. Seeing Governor Zhou like this, they can guess the situation to some extent.

Governor Zhou certainly would not tell the truth, but only vaguely replied, "There is an emergency in Nanjing, so I will go back to Nanjing first."

Sun Jigao thought for a while, and then said, "Lin Jiuyuan's influence runs through the Jiangnan Canal. If you go along the canal, you probably can't avoid entanglement.

I will point out another way for you. It is better to cross Taihu Lake from Wuxi to Yixing, and then go north from Yixing on a small waterway, and arrive in Nanjing via Liyang Lishui."

It's not that Sun Jigao is kind. As long as it is something that can make Lin Tailai upset, their Wuxi gang doesn't mind pushing it.

But Governor Zhou refused without hesitation. The frontier officials also have the dignity and dignity of frontier officials!

If it got out, wouldn't it be a joke in the officialdom that he, a governor, was forced to take a shortcut to return to Nanjing by land and water to avoid Lin Tailai's pursuit?

Seeing that things could not be done, Sun Jigao shook his head and said nothing more.

You, Zhou Ji, must go along the main canal road, just don't regret it in the end!

The next day, Governor Zhou felt that he had recovered and continued to set off.

But there were hundreds of people outside the post station, blocking the gate, shouting in a mess to find the governor to complain.

Master Li went out to ask, and these people claimed to be Taihu boat owners from Wuxian.

They had recently been bullied by the Wuxi boat owners on the shore, so they came to the governor to complain.

It happened that the governor was in Wuxi and could work on the spot.

It was obvious that something was wrong. Li Shiye could only follow the procedure and asked, "Hand in your petition first!"

The old boatman who led the way said, "We came in a hurry and failed to prepare the petition. We will find someone to write it now."

Li Shiye was almost angry. He knew he was here to file a complaint, but he didn't know how to prepare it?

This is just a trivial complaint. He didn't even bother to make trouble!

"Get lost!" Li Shiye was impatient with being entangled, so he ignored the image of the governor and ordered the soldiers of the standard camp to clear the scene!

For a while, there were ghosts and wolves howling outside the post station. After a long time of tossing, Governor Zhou was able to travel normally.

As soon as he arrived on the boat, more than a dozen small boats appeared and surrounded the boat.

Someone on each boat shouted, "Governor, the fair and just! We want to file a complaint!"

The soldiers on the boats went forward to drive them away, and the surface of the Grand Canal suddenly became chaotic.

Finally, the people who came to complain on the boats all jumped off the boats and ran away from the water. All the boats were left on the water, which was in a mess and affected the governor's boat from leaving the shore.

After such a toss on the road and on the water, half a day had passed when Governor Zhou's boat set out on his journey again.

"Stubborn people! They are all stubborn people!" Governor Zhou couldn't help but swear.

Although everyone knew that there were many stubborn people in Wu, those who dared to harass the governor's team must be stubborn people under Lin's command!

After that, Governor Zhou hurried on his way desperately, trying to make up time.

When they were about to reach Danyang again, they were suddenly blocked by a dozen canal boats.

It was confirmed that they were standard canal boats, not civilian boats.

A small military officer stood at the bow and shouted: "We are the Suzhou Guard Canal Army! When we passed the Guazhou Ship Lock in Jiangbei, we were exploited!

There is no way to complain in Jiangbei, so I beg the military to make a decision for us Jiangnan Canal Army!"

Governor Zhou: ""

Another complaint? Can't there be some new ideas?

Because of the importance and irreplaceability of the grain transport in Jiangnan, matters related to the grain transport are the most important matters for the governor of Jiangnan.

Even though he knew there was a problem, Governor Zhou could only temporarily go ashore, accept the complaint, and do his official work.

Anyone with a little knowledge of officialdom knows that the grain transport soldiers who come to complain cannot be treated like ordinary people and be arbitrarily cleared and driven away.

First, accept the complaint, and as for how to fool people in the future, that's a matter for the future.

The governor's fleet continued to move forward, and before ten miles, another grain transport ship suddenly appeared and blocked the way.

There was still a small military officer standing on the bow and yelling: "We are Suzhou grain transport soldiers, and this time we are responsible for transporting grain to Huai'an warehouse!

When the grain transported into the warehouse, there was a lot of deductions and losses, and we are miserable! Please make a decision for us Jiangnan grain transport soldiers!"

Governor Zhou didn't want to know why these grain transport soldiers complained now, he just wanted to know how many batches of grain transport soldiers would complain later?

He now truly understood what Lin Jiuyuan meant by linking up the Jiangnan Canal.

If he had known earlier, he should have listened to Sun Jigao's advice and taken a detour from Wuxi to Yixing and back to Nanjing by a small road.

Li Shiye advised: "The future is not easy, let's settle in Danyang first."

Governor Zhou reluctantly agreed, "Rest in Danyang first."

There was a canal boat that had been following the governor's fleet, and the military officer who had just filed a complaint was looking at it.

The officer in the governor's personal guards shouted across the water at the canal boat: "The complaint has been received, why are you still following?"

The young military officer replied: "If you can persuade General Zhou to stay here, I am willing to give you 100 taels of silver!"

The officer was speechless. Is this military officer of the canal army seriously ill?

The young military officer had a plan in mind. If the governor did not move forward, it would be equivalent to being stopped by him, and he could get the 500 taels reward from Mr. Lin alone!

If the governor wanted to move forward, he could only get a few dozen taels.

Governor Zhou felt caught in a dilemma in Danyang.

If we continue to move forward, we will probably encounter a layer of complaints. When we reach the Jingkou ship lock, there might be something strange.

But if we turn back and go to Wuxi and change to Yixing, it will be too embarrassing.

Discussing with Master Li, Master Li said: "The purpose of these people at present is obviously to slow down Dong Weng's forward speed.

As for the purpose of their doing this, it must be to delay time and let Lin Jiuyuan catch up.

So now it can be inferred that Lin Jiuyuan must have been chasing closely behind.

Therefore, I suggest that we immediately abandon the boat and gallop to Nanjing by land, otherwise we will definitely be caught up!"

Gallop? Governor Zhou was stunned. At his age and physical strength, can he still bear the gallop?

In the end, An Yi had the upper hand in his heart. Governor Zhou said angrily:

"I won't leave! I'll wait here! Even if Lin Tai comes, can he force me to be tied back to Suzhou?"

This is Danyang, not Suzhou! If Lin Tailai had the ability, he would have launched a mutiny or civil uprising in Danyang!

Master Li was speechless, and felt that Dong Weng was getting angry.

If he was forced too much, he might even think of resigning. It was similar to the saying that people are not afraid of death, so why should they be afraid of death?

The next day, Governor Zhou, who had already given up, had a good rest for a night and felt refreshed.

As soon as he walked out of the inner courtyard, he saw a tall and majestic giant sitting in the front hall, with a listless spirit and yawning constantly.

Who else could this man be if not Lin Tailai? Judging from his state, it seemed that he had chased him overnight.

Governor Zhou took the initiative to ask: "Why did Mr. Lin suddenly appear here?"

Lin Tailai yawned again, and then replied: "I came here to ask the governor to return to Suzhou and take charge of the overall situation."

Governor Zhou replied calmly: "This court is going to Nanjing."

Lin Tailai said in a kind tone: "Is the governor really not going back to Suzhou? In fact, it is better to go back."

Seeing that Lin Tailai's attitude was relatively "weak", Governor Zhou became more tough and asked back: "Does the itinerary of this court have to be arranged by Mr. Lin?"

Lin Tailai explained: "That's not the case! Governor, don't misunderstand!

I just heard a lot of gossip and think that the governor's return to Suzhou is the best choice, otherwise there will be endless troubles."

Governor Zhou intuitively felt that this was a lie, and he didn't believe it, and didn't want to be led by the nose.

So he didn't ask about the content of the gossip, but only emphasized:

"No matter what the gossip is, it is impossible for this court to change its itinerary, Mr. Lin, please go back!"

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