amaotonovel Chapter 932: The Brainless and Incompetent Princess
Chapter 932: The Brainless and Incompetent Princess
The official post house with blue bricks and black tiles had already been cleaned by the yamen runners, and the newly hung gilded lanterns under the eaves were swaying in the north wind.
Zhu Zhaochang, the magistrate of Gongcheng County, knelt in front of the stone steps with his deputy county magistrate, chief clerk and other subordinates, the hems of their official robes covered with snow and mud.
"Your Highness, the Princess, is greeted respectfully!" He rested his forehead on the back of his frozen hands, his voice trembling with the white breath he exhaled. "Your Highness, the Princess, has prepared a welcoming banquet in the flower hall. Please..."
"County Magistrate Zhu," Shi Anxia stepped down from the sedan chair on a brocade cushion, her black fox cloak sweeping across the stone steps covered with a thin layer of snow. She turned around and stood still, looking down from above, "The welcoming banquet will be cancelled. Within two hours, I will meet with the prefect, the judge, and the garrison general of Lingzhou. Go and pass the message quickly, don't delay."
At dusk, several officials named gathered at the Enyi Inn in Gongcheng. Among them, the Lingzhou prefect was Wu Hongbo, who was exiled from Beijing.
This man was originally the Minister of Rites. One day, he was summoned to the palace by Emperor Mingde in the middle of the night and made to kneel outside the imperial study. He was then transferred out of the capital along with two other officials.
The other two officials were Zhuo Qiran’s brother-in-law, Wang Chengyou, the former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue; and Lu Shiliang, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
These three were also the ones who instigated the poisoning of Emperor Heng of Liang in the previous life. They were banished early in this life, which was related to this.
It was only after Wu Hongbo became the prefect of Lingzhou that he realized he was being valued.
It turns out that he was the vanguard of Emperor Mingde! He was the one who led the expedition for His Majesty!
No wonder he was transferred away from the capital!
Before Tiema City was occupied by Wan State, it belonged to Lingzhou. Now that Beiyi has recovered the lost territory, it naturally belongs to Lingzhou as well.
Wu Hongbo looked at the princess with particular affection, "Your Highness, please forgive us for being late."
Shi Anxia glanced at this minister who was considered a loyal minister in his previous life but did bad things, and then looked at Bei Hui.
The latter understood and immediately took out a gilded box carved with dragons, took out a roll of imperial edict with bright yellow cloud patterns, raised his hands high above his eyebrows, and stood solemnly aside.
"Here is the imperial decree." Shi Anxia's voice was cold.
The officials knelt on the ground in panic. Bei Hui slowly unfolded the imperial edict and showed it to the officials, but always kept a distance of three feet.
The four large cinnabar characters "奉天承运" sparkled brightly on the silk.
After a moment, Bei Hui took the imperial edict and solemnly put it back into the box.
Shi Anxia said, "Lingzhou is now my fiefdom. I hope you can all work together to help all the people in the newly recovered cities overcome the difficulties. Especially..."
She cast a cold gaze on Wu Hongbo's head, "My Lord Prefect, have you ever heard that there is no medicine or doctor in Tiema City? If the common people catch a cold, they will be killed."
How does this official serve as a parent official?
Wu Hongbo wiped his sweat, "Princess, calm down! Princess, you don't know, Lingzhou is not rich, the land in many places is not good, and there is not enough food. Tiema City and other places at least have food and supplies allocated by the court, and other places... Sigh... Princess, you don't know the miserable situation."
He also wants to achieve something, but a good cook cannot cook without rice, and he is not a god!
Shi Anxia frowned, and her eyes just happened to pass by Lord Wu's temples. She found that Lord Wu, who had lived a life of luxury in the capital, had already turned gray in such a short period of time.
I couldn't help but soften my voice, "Everyone, get up. Now is not the time to blame each other. Let's discuss the matter first and solve the urgent problem at hand."
For the next three days, the bells of the Lingzhou government office never stopped ringing. Post horses crushed the morning frost, and officials shuttled back and forth. The state government, which had been silent for many years, actually showed a bit of wartime atmosphere.
Half a month later, when the mountains should have been closed due to heavy snow, a black line still continued to meander on the official road - that was the path torn open in the snow by the soldiers of the north wing with shovels and flesh and blood.
The soldiers took turns to fight. The blood marks on their frozen palms dyed the shovel handles ochre, but no one stopped.
One after another, horse-drawn carriages covered with oilcloths struggled to move along the snowy road, and the ruts were soon covered by new snow.
The white breath exhaled by the drivers condensed into ice and hung on their eyebrows, but they still delivered medicinal materials and other supplies to every disaster-stricken city on time.
The common people spontaneously brought water and food to the soldiers who were shoveling snow and clearing the way. Women carried earthenware pots, and boiling ginger soup rose up in the cold wind. Old men pushed wheelbarrows and stuffed the last few millet cakes in their homes into the frozen hands of the soldiers.
Even half-grown children were running on the official road, stepping on the knee-deep snow, singing nursery rhymes in their tender voices, "The wind bites the hands, the snow is up to the waist, the soldiers on the official road swing the shovel. The mother cooks the soup, the father carries the bag, and the children walk on the ice bridge to deliver food. The princess's carriage passed by first, and we Lingzhou people will stick together through thick and thin!"
The princess would dispatch grain that should have been allocated to the lost areas such as Tiema City to be distributed to areas where there was a food shortage.
She enforced her orders and kept her word. Qiu Zhiyan played a big role in this.
It was at this time that Qiu Zhiyan emerged and his abilities attracted much attention.
Cen Che brought Xie Huai to Enyi Inn to report the progress of the Xie family's actions, and Shi Anxia could only say "hmm hmm" and nodded frequently.
Whenever something needed to be arranged, she always looked at Qiu Zhiyan, like a brainless and stupid princess.
Cen Che came down and said to Xie Huai, "See, what did I say? She is just a puppet, brainless. Look at how prosperous Lingzhou is now, it's all because of the capable officials below."
Xie Huai nodded in agreement.
But no matter what, he met the princess and General Wu, the defender of Tiema City. These people were all real officials and generals appointed by the court.
Even if the Xie family spends their whole lives in chaos, it would be difficult for them to meet these people.
All doubts were gone, and Xie Huai was determined to empty the Xie family's assets to save the family from this disaster, and the servants who followed him were so anxious that their throats were smoking.
Cen Che was even happier these days. He received important news that Lingzhou was included in the princess' fiefdom.
His eyebrows and eyes, which had always been as gentle as jade, became sharp and bright.
The North Wing is his blessed land! God is so merciful!
If Lingzhou is the princess's fiefdom, given his status in the princess's mind, ahaha, wouldn't that be very convenient for him to do things?
One day, Cen Che went to look for the princess again and happened to run into the legendary Ye Xun.
His steps suddenly stopped, his back straightened. He had heard that Gu Masters killed people invisibly, and now, passing each other in the corridor, it seemed that even the touch of clothes would be infected with the poison.
He turned sideways and tried to retreat, but saw that dark figure blocking the road ahead like a ghost.
His gaze like a frosty blade scraped across his Adam's apple, and Ye Xun's voice was colder than the snow, "Are you afraid of me?"
Cen Che shuddered, but his usual casual smile appeared on his face, "You are joking, sir." He deliberately pronounced the word "sir" frivolously, "We have never met before, why should I be afraid?"
At this moment, Zhuo Qiran arrived and bowed respectfully to Ye Xun, "Master, the princess wants to discuss something with you."
Bei Hui also came, "Thank you, sir. The princess wants to see you."
Ye Xun glanced coldly and said, "No, I'm not going." Then he walked in the opposite direction.
Bei Hui smiled and said, "Thank you for your forgiveness, sir. Our princess has to be courteous to Mr. Ye Xun. Just avoid him when you see him in the future, and don't mess with him."
Cen Che felt very aggrieved. I had clearly taken a detour.
The secret report from his subordinates was indeed correct, Ye Xun was just a weird old man!
He knew that he would need to avoid Ye Xun next time he saw her, and try not to bump into her. When he was thinking this, his eyes lit up, and he saw the woman he liked, and his heart suddenly thumped.