Like Zhou Ao, Dong Xu was the deployment of Chen Zhi in the past, and he followed Chen Zhi since Chen Zhi was the Taile Ling.

Later, Chen Zhi was promoted from Taileling to Secretary-General of the Secretariat, and Dong Xu followed him like Zhou Ao, and now he still serves as Secretary-General in the Secretariat.

Before, whether it was Su Liao's entry into Beijing or Chen Zhi's inquiry about the news and intelligence of the capital, Dong Xu was the key point, and he often sent important information to Chen Zhi.

However, in private, Dong Xu still maintained contact with Zhou Ao, and the communication between the two sides was frequent, because when Zhou Ao left, he asked Dong Xu to help take care of his family.

On the other hand, Dong Xu often mentioned some news in his letters, which he heard from the officials who visited the Secretariat by using his position.

Generally speaking, when it comes to news about the North and Chen Zhi, Dong Xu will send it directly to Chen Zhi, but if there is little to do with Chen Zhi, it will only tell Zhou Ao when it comes to issues such as poor family policies, which has become almost a convention.

But this time it was a little different.

"The prefect may become a governor? Isn't this a promotion? This is a good thing. Why did Dong Xu specifically notify me? This matter involves the prefect, why didn't he inform him? It was sent to me alone, and he also specially entrusted the servants who gave me their hearts to hide it on the road and not be searched by others until they personally handed it to my manager or my hands."

Frowning frowned, Zhou Ao realized that there was a big problem involved, and there must be something strange behind it.

The prefect of the New Han Dynasty certainly had a lot of power, and the prefect of the border even had the power to lead troops. The military and political affairs could not be said to be at one point, but at least most of the control was very powerful. For example, Liu Kun, who was resisting in Bingzhou, was actually the prefect of one side. However, relying on the resources and connections he accumulated during the prefect, after the Xiongnu rebelled and annexed Bingzhou, it was still enough to form a team and resist until now.

However, no matter how powerful the prefect is, it is not as great as the governor.

The governor, within the bureaucratic system of the New Han Dynasty, was a watershed.

An intuitive comparison is that in Xuzhou, the governor of Xuzhou, Zhang Chu, could directly suggest that the capital of a state be moved from the north to the south due to his personal likes and dislikes and the elements of natural disasters and man-made disasters.

Although there are reasons for the Zhang Chu family, it is also a reflection of the governor's authority, let alone the governor Wang Jun of Youzhou.

In the border areas, the county magistrates still have the power to lead troops, let alone Youzhou. After Wang Jun's management and the wars in Jizhou, Qingzhou and other places, the connection with Luoyang became increasingly weak. In addition, the influence of the Hu people outside the border areas, Yanran became a semi-independent kingdom. As the governor guarding this place, he had the reality of separatist rule, and took advantage of the situation in frontiers to compete with the influence of the court.

Even Wang Jun expanded his territory with Youzhou as the foundation, and finally opened up and served as the governor of Pingzhou. Just looking at these, it is enough to know how powerful and influence the governor, especially the governor of Youzhou, is!

"If there are really people in the court who want the prefect to be the governor of Youzhou, isn't this a great thing? Isn't the prefect still worried that the governor of Youzhou Wang Jun will turn against him after the war and put Dai County in trouble? If he jumps into the governor of Youzhou, what else should he worry about? Not to mention Dai County, there are other counties and counties in control. How can we still worry about Wang Jun's revenge and suppression?"

Zhou Ao thought about this and couldn't help but feel excited. He was Chen Zhi's confidant and followed Chen Zhi all the way, and gradually gained some influence in Dai County. If Chen Zhi could go to the next level, he would of course be one of the most profitable people.

However, Zhou Ao has been in the capital. He knows that one thing cannot be just about the benefits, but also about the resistance, how many forces he offends, and how many people's interests he affects.

"Well, Wang Jun will definitely not give way easily. This is a direct conflict with him. But as long as the court is willing to support the prefect, it will be easy to deal with. No matter how arrogant Wang Jun is, he will rely on the border war as an excuse to bargain with the court, and at the same time deceive the dukes in the court to fight for room for movement? As long as the court, huh?"

As he thought about it, he continued to look down, and was immediately surprised. He finally understood why Dong Xu was so mysterious and told himself privately.

"The idea of ​​making the prefect the governor was actually proposed by Zhang Ying. It was to drive the tiger and swallow the wolf, and to involve the Taipu and the Yang family, and to let the two families consume each other, so the court will not provide any help, and will only give the prefect a name! This is simply to put the prefect on the fire and roast it!"

There is no need to elaborate on the grudges between Zhang Ying and Chen Zhi. The first few things this person has done after he was in power were to send Chen Zhi out. Chen Zhi left the capital and went north to become a county magistrate, so he had this person's relationship.

"It turned out that the emperor and King Guanghan were going to return to the capital. The King of Jiangdu arrived and threatened him. So he wanted to accomplish something. Zhang Ying seized the mind. Taking the war in the north as an opportunity, he also contacted Wang Jun with great momentum. There were many taboos in the court. So when he mentioned this, it can be said that letting the prefect be the governor was just one part of it. In addition, there are many other proposals."

Just looking at Dong Xu's brief description, Zhou Ao could detect the reason.

"This Shangshu Ling, who is in charge of the central government and in charge of Yin and Yang, is indeed amazing. Within a few words, he can both dominate and suppress political enemies. Their discussion was conducted in the Dongyuan Book Pavilion, so Dong Xu discovered something. The reason why Dong Xu told me first and asked me to consider it before deciding whether to tell the prefect is that Dong Xu also feels that the prefect has encountered a crisis this time and may not be able to survive. Don't he be optimistic about the prefect?"

After putting down Dong Xu's letter, Zhou Ao fell into deep thought. It was really hard to decide whether to tell Chen Zhi. In terms of reason, he should have said this, but even if he said it, it may not seem that much change will be made.

"The prefect has a good relationship with the emperor, but according to the meaning of this letter, the King of Jiangdu planned to decide this matter before the emperor returns to the palace. Even if it is not released for the time being, it is only a matter of time. I think the King of Guanghan, who really controls the government, will still give the King of Jiangdu face. The prefect wanted the emperor's suggestion that this matter was suppressed, but Wang Jun would always know that Wang Jun was worried that the prefect would seize the throne, but the prefect would lose the legitimate court order, and maybe the situation would be worse!"

As he thought about it, he became more and more distressed and opened another letter.

This letter was written by his friend. The man is now an official in Jiangnan. He heard that he will be transferred to the capital soon. Although he did not communicate frequently with Zhou Ao in the past, he was not discontinuous.

The letter opened, first reminiscing, then changed the subject and mentioned that he wanted to become an official in the capital, and there were one or two recommended places. If necessary, he could help Zhou Ao come back.

The more Zhou Ao looked, the more his brows were, the more straightforward the letter was written.

"The prefect Chen was famous in the past, and everyone knows it. I have heard of it in Jiangnan. However, the world has changed, and now he offended the minister of the current dynasty. He was not happy with the King of Jiangdu because of the Buddhist comments. Zhou Jun went north and wanted to achieve some achievements and return to the court again. However, Wang Jun was the tyrant of the north and was coveted by the Xiongnu. Now there are wars in Xianbei and exhausted in Dai County. It is not a place to act. I saw my uncle, and I got his entrusted to him to do a job in the capital. It is not as good as the past, but it is better than being in the border. I hope that the king would think about it and make a reply."

To put it bluntly, his friend is not optimistic about Chen Zhi's current situation.

This is normal. The so-called gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. Perhaps Chen Zhi survived it, which is another situation. But how many people can joke about their future, especially Zhou Ao, who finally recovered and had some hope, but because of Chen Zhi, he stayed away from the capital. If his future is dim in the end, he would be really in a slump.

"But if there was no prefect, I would have just been waiting for death and spent time in the yamen. Even if I finally fell into decline, it would have been just that."

Shaking his head, Zhou Ao opened another letter from a friend. This person was not an official, but a wealthy person with many fertile lands under his name. This letter was written just to reminisce about the past, but the meaning of persuasion could still be seen between the lines, but he advised him to resign and return home, and to be a rich man, stay away from the political vortex.

His friend's home is located in the south of the Yangtze River. The letter mentioned that it was also uneasy in the south of the Yangtze River. There were aristocratic families who viewed the northern land and the chaos in Shu. They were dissatisfied with the court levying a large amount of taxes on Jiangnan to supplement the north and southwest. Therefore, they were ready to move. In the future, the court might have to go more turbulent, and it would be better to leave as soon as possible and protect themselves.

Zhou Ao looked at it, but smiled bitterly, and couldn't help but shake his head and said, "Gong Bao is confused. If there is really a change in Jiangnan and the court is in chaos, let alone cultivate in one place like him, even if he goes to the ends of the world, how can he be alone in the world? I won't do this!"

Thinking of this, he opened the last letter, which was written by Ji Fa.

Zhou Ao was the most surprised by Ji Fa's letter. He was not very close to the descendants of this aristocratic family. At most, he had some contacts and contacts in official business. I don't know why this person wrote to him, and he also avoided Chen Zhi and asked his servants to bring him directly.

However, after a few glances, Zhou Ao's eyelids jumped up.

"Ji Fa actually asked me to persuade the prefect to retreat voluntarily, resign and retire for a while to avoid disaster!"

It turned out that Ji Fa also learned about Zhang Ying and others' plans from his own channels, and it was even more comprehensive than Dong Xu knew. According to him, there were more than a group of people in the capital who wanted to instigate Chen Zhi and Wang Jun to fight, and they reap the benefits of the fisherman.

Among them, some people wanted to kill people with a knife, and Wang Jun suppressed Chen Zhi, while others valued Chen Zhi's background. They were worried that Wang Jun would be completely untreated after he grew stronger with the Xianbei Battle. So they wanted to use Chen Zhi as a chess piece to leverage the general trend of the north, weaken Wang Jun, and prepare for the next step to eliminate the disaster in the north.

"Okay, I finally said I wanted to recruit me. When will I become a sweet bun?"
Chapter completed!