Yangzhou, shrouded in the night, is no longer as beautiful as it was before, and is more quiet and quiet than the day. Only some special places have a little light, and other places are swallowed up by darkness. After the disaster, the homeless people could only hide in groups in a few buildings that have not been completely destroyed for the night.

Li Ling and the other two walked out of Mingyue Tower with enough food and food. What they saw was this scene, which completely dissipated the joy in their hearts, leaving only sighs. However, they all knew that the current situation could not be saved overnight. It was necessary for the yamen and even millions of people in the palace to work together to make Yangzhou come out of the harm of this chaos.

"Young Master, we are all here, why haven't we seen Brother Wan and Miss Yang come here?" Li Moyun found that there were only two of them, so he thought of other helpers.

"Brother Wan should still visit and investigate the situation in the counties below. This is what I asked him to do closely." Li Ling replied. When he first arrived in Yangzhou, he could not completely believe the reports from the people below. He originally planned to have a private visit first, but now he can only rely on Wan Shenji to help him watch more and listen to more things.

"Qingxiao is going to pick up Yue'er, maybe she was delayed on the road. After all, Yangzhou's territory is not very stable now, so they have to confirm that I will come after taking office. Maybe they will all come in two or three days." Li Ling said as he walked, his originally gloomy mood had been relieved to a certain extent.

While speaking, the two of them had returned to the government office and saw the notice posted on the outside wall of the door. They confirmed that Chu Lian and the others had indeed conveyed the matter of raising people according to their own wishes. Li Ling smiled with satisfaction: "Very good, the first step has been taken out, and they finally did their best."

...

The Xie family fort, called the fort, is actually a settlement of the Xie family mainly consisting of the Changxing Marquis Mansion. However, on the periphery of this large settlement with dozens of courtyards, there is also a circle of high walls of seven or eight feet to isolate the inside and outside, which makes the Xie family look a bit like an independent fortress.

The fort wall under the moonlight has many bumpy and damaged marks, which are still new, which is caused by the previous rebellion. However, compared with the outer city wall, this fort wall finally withstands the rebels' repeated attacks, which not only shows how weak the combat power of the official army is, but also shows that the Xie family's own strength cannot be underestimated.

Because of this, the Xie family clearly despised Yangzhou Prefecture, so when the news came today, the juniors of the Xie family were full of disdain: "The new magistrate took office? What does it have to do with us?"

"That's right. Our Xie family was awarded a sacred iron voucher by Emperor Taizu, a high-ranking family member who was granted a marquis. Even the governor of Jiangnan had to be polite to us when he came. Can he, a new prefect, scare us?"

"But I heard that this new magistrate named Li Ling seems to have some background. He was an official in the capital at the beginning, and later he was in trouble in the southwest. In the chaos in our Jiangnan, he seemed to have done a good job in Huating."

"So what? Can our Xie family still be afraid of him? In terms of identity, we are above him and in terms of credit, we have saved half of the people in the city. Also, he is almost alone now, with few people around him who can be used. From my perspective, he is just such a name."

"I also heard that before dark today, a notice was posted in front of the government office, saying that it was to recruit the officials and the old officials and the military, and that it would not treat them unfairly. Tell me, is this reliable?"

"Everyone knows what the situation is like now. If I want to see, this is just a fool. Even if he sells himself, he is afraid he won't be able to make up much money!"

This immediately caused more than a dozen children of the Xie family in the hall to burst into laughter, but then a low cough came from outside the door, which made them quickly silence and dared not talk loudly and joke casually as before.

A man walked into the hall with a smile, wearing a blue robe, although simple, it looked quite noble when worn on him, and steadily suppressed the young children in the gorgeous clothes in front of him. As his eyes swept, everyone sat upright, not daring to be careless at all.

He is the head of the Xie family, the hereditary Marquis of Changxing, Xie Wenruo. Although he is only over 40 years old, his temperament and skills are no longer inferior to those stubborn and scheming guys in his fifties and sixties. In the Xie family castle, he has a far superior prestige in front of all the children of the Xie family. In front of him, no one dares to be presumptuous.

"Very good, it seems that I don't have to worry too much. You already know that a new magistrate has arrived in Yangzhou." Xie Wenruo said, sweeping over these juniors again, making them feel terrified, and they all bowed their heads and dared not look at each other. "But one thing you are wrong. My Xie family has never thought of having any conflict with the magistrate's office. There was no before, and there will be no future.

"I gathered you guys today to remind you. I know that because of this rebellion, you all took the government seriously and thought that my Xie family was the leader of Yangzhou. But now I just want to tell you clearly that it is not. The person who is in charge of Yangzhou City is still the government office or the prefect Li, whether he comes here for one day or a year.

"If I find someone dares to go against the government office openly and secretly, then my Xie family rules will definitely not spare him easily. Do you all understand?"

The tone of these words was not too heavy, but the pressure was enough, so that all the children of the Xie family dared not argue, and they all bowed to say yes. Perhaps they did have the intention of parting with the government office at the beginning, but now they have already been scared and given up. The head of the family keeps his word, so who dares not to obey?

However, among the sounds, there is still an exception. A handsome boy with a 16 or 17-year-old suddenly raised his hand and said, "Dad, what if the government office is asking for trouble for our Xie family?" He is Xie Wenruo's favorite son, Xie Muyun, the entire Xie family fortress, and he dares to question the head of the family in this way.

"This won't happen. My Xie family has a marquis. How could the prefect government have nothing to do to find trouble?" Although she frowned, Xie Wenruo still answered, "Of course, if such a strange thing really happens, I will deal with it freely. It's not your turn to worry about it."

Xie Muyun saw that his father was here this time, so he didn't dare to raise any more questions, so he responded softly, but he still felt a little dissatisfied. Just a prefect, would he be afraid of him?

After explaining to the younger generation and letting them go, Xie Wenruo's expression changed from seriousness to solemnity, looking at his brothers: "Wenbin, Wenchang, you can also help me watch them, and others have told me not to have a conflict with the new Prime Minister Li."

"Head of the family, are you a little too cautious?" Xie Wenbin said in confusion, and the same expression also appeared on the faces of several other main figures of the Xie family.

"I'm not worried about it, because our new Prime Minister Li is not simple. Not only is his origin not simple, but his purpose is not simple..." As Xie Wenruo expressed some of his thoughts, the brothers became solemn...

The same scene was also performed in the Lujiazhuang, but this time the instructions were not Lu Xu, the current head of the Lu family, but Lu Xingyuan, who manages the daily affairs of the village, a middle-aged man who is about the same age as Xie Wenruo but has a more literary temperament.

Compared to Xie Wenruo's direct domineering behavior, his words have been much more relaxed, and he also gave his own reasons: "We just got conclusive news from the capital. The taxes in Jiangnan will be reduced by only about 30%, and it is said that our taxes in Yangzhou this year will not be reduced."

Even if they didn't have to do production and didn't have to pay taxes, everyone in the Lu family was moved: "This... isn't this going to kill people? Or is it that Governor Wen wants to force Yangzhou to rebel again?"

"So didn't he just send Li Ling to serve as the prefect? ​​This person is not simple. He turned the situation around Huating and other situations. And I heard that he had made great contributions to the Jiangnan Rebellion. The relevant news and contributions had been sent to the capital at this time. So, although he was young, his influence in the court would be quite large."

"Even so, what do you have to do with our Lu family?"

Lu Xingyuan sighed: "Don't you understand yet? This is clearly Wen Ming. No, it should be a problem that Wang Han, the right prime minister behind him, had to his uncle. When Li Ling came here, he would naturally have conflicts with our Lu family over the tax matter. If we really fight with him, how can we deal with the matter if the information comes up?"

Everyone immediately understood the key, and Lu Zhen was also the key figure in promoting this policy. If the Lu family took the lead and could not get along with Li Ling, it would inevitably affect him, and perhaps His Majesty would be suspicious of him.

Seeing that everyone understood the truth, Lu Xingyuan said again: "So we must deal with Li Ling carefully and never have a dispute with him. However, it is necessary to not oppose him, but it will really harm the interests of our Lu family. When it is time to show our position and the bottom line, we must not weaken our family's momentum. This will be done by the head of the family and I.

"Anyway, in one sentence, during this period, you young people have been low-key, don't give him any opportunity to take advantage of. Li Ling is accustomed to taking advantage of the opportunity to make trouble. He is a man who is not afraid of making trouble. If you retreat a little, it will be beneficial to our Lu family."

Although some young and energetic Lu family members still puzzled this, since the head of the family repeatedly made repeated orders, they did not dare to disobey and could only obey orders and be low-key.
Chapter completed!