Chapter 159 The imperial envoy arrived

After five o'clock the next day, all the local brave men in the city came out and began to clean the streets and chase out the idle people.

When the sky was bright and the sun was about to rise, the streets were already clean and there was no sight to see anything annoying. At this time, nearly a hundred civilians divided into two groups, holding large wooden barrels with ears in one hand and large wooden spoons with rattans in the other hand, splashing the road paved with bluestone so as to be wet and evenly symmetrical.

In this way, the ash soil that cannot be swept away on the ground was washed into the gutter on the edge of the road. When the sun shone out, the ground was bright and shiny, and there was no dust at all... As for outside the city, yesterday, the water was purified and the loess was padded, and we had already prepared to welcome the imperial envoy. In addition to being good-looking, there was another very important reason... The imperial envoy's entourage was mostly white socks, soap shoes or soap boots. If the ground was not sprinkled water, then the upper and lower robes and corners of the shoe were all earthy after walking, and I would definitely be in a bad mood.

At the third hour of the Mao period, the prefect took the Tongzhi, the magistrate, the magistrate, the pro-official officer, and the magistrate of the two counties and the assistants, and a total of ten rank-level officials. Surrounded by three yamen runners, they rushed outside the north gate and went out of the city for several miles to welcome the imperial envoy.

After rushing for more than ten miles, I finally saw a tall building ship, flags, signs, umbrellas, fan seats moored on the river, and several rows of distinctly-clad personal guards guarding a third-rank official standing at the bow of the ship and waved to Tang Shunzhi from afar.

Tang Shunzhi quickly got out of the sedan chair, led the officials to bow their heads and bowed, "Welcome to the imperial envoy, long live my emperor!"

The third-rank official with white face and long beard was Zhao Wenhua, the Minister of the Sea and the Imperial Inspector, and the Right Minister of Works, Zhao Wenhua, first received the ceremony of three bows and nine bows for the emperor, and then accepted the bows from everyone again, then said with a smile: "Brother Jingchuan and you all, please get up quickly."

The boat then approached the shore. After the board was set up, a team of sword guards came down from above, followed by the old man's imperial envoy, and finally the green and red-blocked mud sedan carried by eight people, tremblingly from the boat... and was not afraid of falling into the water.

Tang Shunzhi led all the officials to welcome him on the side of the road. When the eight-carrying sedan chair passed by, the curtain was lifted, and Zhao Wenhua, who had white face and long beard, smiled and said to Tang Shunzhi: "Brother Jingchuan is not here yet, can you still want me to go down and invite you?"

Tang Shunzhi smiled respectfully and said, "My lord has killed Shunzhi. You are an angel in the imperial envoy. How dare the subordinates be in the same sedan chair as you?"

Zhao Wenhua laughed happily when he heard this, "You and I are on the same list as Jinshi, and I have to call you a senior brother. Let's stop talking about the red tape."

Tang Shunzhi then smiled and said, "It's better to obey your orders than respect." A long man lifted up the curtain of the sedan chair and asked Lord Tang to go up.

The officials then got into the sedan chair, and the two county magistrates of Shaoxing City followed behind. County magistrate Lu murmured in a low voice: "The magistrate is too careful, why do you flatter someone with the surname Zhao?"

County Magistrate Li whispered: "I heard that Master Yan's godson is a petty man, and Lord Tang is guarding against villains."

"I heard that our Zhangbutang will not buy the account named Zhao," County Magistrate Lu laughed softly, "When this guy was in Hangzhou, he wanted to ask for bribes from Zhangbutang, but Zhangbutang was so dirty."

County Magistrate Li shook his head and smiled, "Those are all for adults. Just be good at the seventh-rank sesame official."

County Magistrate Lu laughed and said, "I heard that your brother is also on the reward list."

County Magistrate Li curled his lips and said, "Who knows?" He lifted the curtain and got up the sedan chair and left.

Looking at his back, County Magistrate Lu suddenly said, "This guy seems to have a clear idea." He said, "Who makes people have good fortune? Is there a good student like silent?" He also got into the sedan chair and followed him back.

At noon on the sun, there were crowds of people outside the north gate of Shaoxing City. People came from all over the place early, waiting for it just to see the show of the imperial envoy.

"Here's here..." Seeing a group of people coming from the northeast, everyone screamed excitedly.

The officers and soldiers who maintained order immediately became nervous. They drove away the people watching the fun with whips and guns and isolated the Central Avenue.

Just as the order was maintained, the imperial envoy's ceremonial guards arrived. First, there were two teams of two hundred guards wearing bright armor and holding bright spears to open the way in front, followed by a hundred soldiers, wearing various flags of embroidery and paintings, various ceremonial guards with wood carvings and iron, gold and silver ornaments, and avoidance, quiet, official ceremonial cards, iron chains, wooden sticks, black sheath whip, one pair after another... After a while, I saw a large black fan inscribed, a big yellow umbrella with three eaves, and slowly came over with an eight-carrying sedan chair.

The curtain of the sedan chair has not risen, and the people have never seen the imperial envoy look at it. However, this unprecedented pomp is deeply imprinted in their hearts and will be repeatedly mentioned in many years to be used as a material for educating descendants to make progress.

Zhao Wenhua in the sedan chair was also not calm. Through the gauze curtain, he had already seen the grand arrangements for him by Tang Shunzhi. He couldn't help but sigh: "The same year is the same year. I know that my brothers were wronged along the way." He thought that he would go south by orders, and the local government would pick him up and send him off, and be careful to flatter him, so that he would make a fortune by the Minister Zhao's glory and make a fortune... It was actually not wrong for him to think this way, because the officials from the capital would try their best to flatter him, regardless of size.

Unexpectedly, this is not the case. The local officials along the way didn’t buy the account of him, a third-rank official. In addition to taking care of the meal, the gifts given before leaving were all local specialties!

That is not a nominal local specialty, but a real local product and specialty... but some dried bamboo shoots, tangerines, camellia oil, and old soju, all of which are worthless things!

The gap between reality and ideal made Mr. Zhao so disappointed. He felt inexplicable. It was not until he met Zhang Butang, who was the governor of military affairs in six provinces. He realized that the root of the matter was here - someone else bought him or his godfather's account, but Zhang Butang didn't take him seriously at all, and even didn't really care about his godfather Yan Ge Lao.

After reading Lao Zhang's resume, the reason was written in it. In the 16th year of Jiajing, when Zhang Jing was the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Ge Lao was still playing with a false position in the Song Dynasty. Although Yan Song later rose to the palace and became the secondary assistant, and later became the chief assistant, and was the leader of all officials in the world, with a status of half a head higher than that of Governor Zhang, how did Ge Lao enter the cabinet? He wrote the green poem and flattered him; how did he become the chief assistant? It was the biggest unjust case after Yu Qianzhi's death, and stepped on the body of his fellow villager Xia Guixi who had supported him.

But Xia Yan was also very kind to Zhang Jing. Therefore, this Governor Zhang, who is a strong brand, experienced and capable person, cannot take advantage of Ge Lao Yan, but he will never buy his godson's account.

The partial child Zhao Wenhua was used to being arrogant in Beijing. Apart from his godfather, he didn't take all the Grand Secretary and the Shangshu seriously, and even dared to call him by Xu Jie. Now that he was not welcomed by a governor at the place, he felt very disappointed.

So after meeting Zhang Jing in Hangzhou, he overestimated his ability and gave the governor a warning. He actually said in front of several senior officials at the reception banquet: "Brothers traveled thousands of miles and suffered a lot of losses along the way. I hope the master of the ministry will help." This is not a request for assistance, this is a naked bribe.

But Zhang Butang was still chatting and laughing, eating and drinking, but he seemed to have not heard what he said. Zhao Wenhua was so embarrassed that his face turned red, but he couldn't forget it like this, otherwise he and his godfather would have lost all his face, so he said it twice.

Zhang Butang still didn't hear it...

Zhao Wenhua finally couldn't hold it in his mouth and said in a deep voice: "I am the imperial envoy! The imperial envoy ordered the minister to sacrifice to the sea!"

Zhang Jing smiled faintly and said in a dry tone: "I am also an imperial envoy, the imperial envoy, the imperial envoy, the imperial envoy, the minister of the anti-Japanese war, and the king's order flag."

Zhao Wenhua suddenly had nothing to say, and then he realized that he was facing a giant that he could not match... In terms of qualifications, he was from the older generation of Yan Ge; in terms of official title, he was a second-rank official, and he was only a third-rank official; in terms of power, he was the governor of the six provinces to fight against the Japanese, and he was a first-class official, and he was sent to sacrifice to the sea, so he had to go back after finishing his business.

Amid the ridiculed gaze of a group of senior provincial officials, Mr. Zhao threw his face at his grandmother's house, and hurriedly left Hangzhou the next day and came to Shaoxing.

The icing on the cake is never as good as a timely help. When Mr. Zhao felt a completely different treatment from before, the excitement in his heart was also imagined. He held Tang Shunzhi's hand tightly, and his eyes were red and said, "Brother Jingchuan, good brother! I will never forget your kindness in my life."

Tang Shunzhi smiled and said, "Brother Meilin, you and I are both the same year and have been kind to recommend me, so it is appropriate to make the key point." His eyes were still extremely clear, as if they were extremely sincere.

While the two of them were talking, the sedan chair finally stopped. After the curtain was lifted, Tang Shunzhi saw the people watching the ceremony, and couldn't help but smile and said happily: "Brother Jingchuan really does not let down his entrustedness."

Tang Shunzhi smiled and said, "I received a letter from Brother Meilin the day before yesterday. Only then did I realize that Your Majesty has special expectations for this reward. Shunzhi naturally had to attract all the scholars in the mansion according to Brother Meilin's wishes."

"Brother, I'm really responsible for my work." Zhao Wenhua was moved again: "Let's go and see this lucky boy."

After three cannons, the imperial envoy and the prefect walked off the sedan chair and on the red carpet. On the other end of the red carpet were Shen He and Shen Mo and his son.
Chapter completed!