There are three days before the Quanzhou government examination will start, and the candidates from all counties have rushed to the city after receiving the notice, and for a while, the whole city is full of students in Confucian robes, and this thousand-year-old city has also added a bit of culture.

On the morning of this day, before the hour arrived, a large group of people came from the direction of the northeastern provincial capital, and the front and rear of this team were officials holding signs such as "quiet" and "avoidance", and in the middle was a long carriage, which was obviously the official sent by the academic master to supervise the examination.

This time, the team was led by Song Yingkui, the political envoy of Chengxuan, the local magistrate of Sipin, and more than ten provincial officials, such as Zhao Yan, the secretary of the probationary envoy, who was also promoted to the provincial government.

Quanzhou Mansion is also ready for a long time, the prefect Gu Kejiu took a group of government officials to wait outside the north gate of the city early in the morning, after receiving Song Yingkui and his party, he led the team into the city, directly to Chengtian Temple, he arranged where everyone stayed, and accompanied these provincial bigwigs to have a vegetarian meal, and then said goodbye and left.

After noon, the Chengtian Temple, which had been lively for a long time, finally slowly returned to calm, and most of the provincial officials who were tired all the way closed their doors and were ready to take a lunch break.

It was at this time that a sedan chair suddenly appeared outside the compound where Zhao Yan was staying, and soon after the sedan chair and his entourage threw a prayer post into it, Zhao Yan appeared at the door and came to greet him in person.

In fact, Zhao Yan had finished washing up at this time and was about to go to sleep, because he was really a little tired.

Not only did they rush all morning, Quanzhou Fucheng is more than 400 miles away from Fuzhou Fucheng, they set off early the day before yesterday, and this road was full of more than two days on the carriage, and it was false to say that they were not tired.

However, he had to drag his tired body out to greet him, because it was Xu Jie, the general judge of the Quanzhou Mansion, who came to visit him.

This government is already in charge of the punishment of the government, and he has many official dealings with the procurator and the prosecutor, and this Xu Jie, who is still a famous Tanhualang, has a bright future, and he can't slack off when such a person visits.

As soon as he walked to the door of the house, Xu Jie had already come down from the sedan chair and stood at the bottom of the steps with a smile on his face.

He hurriedly stepped forward and arched his hand: "Oh, Lord Xu is here, and he has missed the distance, forgive your sins." ”

Xu Jie also arched his hand again and again: "Lord Zhao is polite, the lower official took the liberty to come and disturb the rest of the adult, and I hope that the adult Haihan." ”

Do you know that I'm going to rest and bother, and I can't wait until tomorrow to talk about anything?

Zhao Yan didn't know what was going on with this Xu Jie, because he was not familiar with Xu Jie, and he hadn't met a few times in total, and the two sides just nodded at each other.

However, everyone has arrived at the door, and he can't turn him away, he can only secretly slander himself, but on the surface, he politely said: "Lord Xu said and laughed, what is the official and the official, isn't this a raw point, please inside, please inside." ”

Xu Jie bowed his hand and was humble for a while, and then followed him towards the courtyard.

This time, the Quanzhou Mansion arranged for the inspector to have a small courtyard with two entrances, and the area was not large, and soon the two of them arrived at the inner courtyard lobby one after the other.

Zhao Yan pulled Xu Jie to the right of the main seat and sat down, and ordered the accompanying officials to serve fragrant tea, so he said with a little curiosity: "Lord Xu came to visit in a hurry, is there any major case?" ”

What he means, I'm not familiar with you, if it's a business matter, then quickly say, if it's a private matter, then forget it, the official is a clean breeze with both sleeves, just right, you can find the wrong person for personal friendship.

Xu Jie didn't speak, but turned his head to look at the official at the door of the lobby, the meaning is obvious, some words are not enough to communicate with outsiders, you better put the idle people and others first.

Is there really any major case in this posture?

Zhao Yan was suspicious for a moment, and then waved his hand to the door and said loudly: "You go to the gate of the courtyard to guard." ”

Xu Jie saw that the two officials turned around and walked out of the inner courtyard, so he took out an envelope from suspicion, and said mysteriously: "The lower official occasionally got a secret letter, and asked the lord to look at it." ”

MeSign?

Zhao Yan solemnly took the envelope, took it in his hand and looked at it carefully, and then took out the letter inside and looked puzzled.

Looking at it, his face gradually showed an angry face, although the person who wrote the letter did not sign, but the intention was obvious, that is, to frame him, slander him for accepting bribes from the Yang family of Hui'an, and open the door to Yang Cong.

How unreasonable!

He hurriedly read the letter, and couldn't help but snort angrily: "Who dares to be so bold? ”

Xu Jie hurriedly introduced: "This person may not know him, but his father may have heard that the person who wrote the letter is Chen Wenjie, the son of Chen Jiude, the imperial history of the Imperial Inspectorate. ”

Zhao Yan said with a little disgust: "Is it a disciple of the Longxi Chen family?" ”

Xu Jie nodded slowly and said, "Exactly." ”

When Zhao Yan heard this, he couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

He naturally knew that he had angrily denounced these people for their illegal activities.

However, he only scolded a few words.

This maritime tycoon is no joke, the power in the court can be described as extremely terrifying, and it is not something that an official of his level can shake at all.

He is upright, but it doesn't mean that he doesn't know anything and is stunned, knowing that if he can't turn over others, he is asking for his own death, he is not so stupid.

Why did Longxi Chen frame him, was it because he complained a few words?

The maritime tycoons have not been rampant to this extent, but they are punished according to the prosecutor, and if they fail to plant the blame, they will be in big trouble.

He looked at the secret letter again, and then said slowly: "Lord Xu, this secret letter is really written by Chen Jiude's son?" Are you sure they dare to plant their own officials' stolen goods? ”

Sure enough, just an inexplicable secret letter could not make Zhao Yan, an old criminal who had been an official for many years, believe it.

Xu Jie pretended to sigh and said: "Of course, Xiaguan also hopes that this matter is not true, but yesterday, Xiaguan received a secret report that the people of the Longxi Chen clan have already come and live in this Chengtian Temple, and they have already taken the five hundred taels of silver from Yang Yun." ”

"Hmm!" , Zhao Yan heard this, his face couldn't help but change slightly, even though he has been an official for more than ten years, he has already become a member of the fifth grade, and he is also a little frightened in the face of a maritime merchant like Longxi Chen's, he is not afraid of anything, according to his temperament, he will not start to clean up people long ago.

What should such a terrifying force as a maritime tycoon clean up itself?

At this time, he had a feeling of loneliness and helplessness in his heart, he had no background, and he had no background, the reason why he could have today's status was mainly because he was born in the second class Jinshi, and he was the head of the criminal department of the sixth grade in one step, and he was fair and honest, diligent and honest, and was a well-known Qing official, so he was promoted to the high position of the fifth grade.

With such a terrorist force as a maritime tycoon, he can't resist it at all!

Seeing his expression, Xu Jie couldn't help but feel secretly proud in his heart.

At this time, the contest between him and the Longxi Chen clan has officially begun, and he is worried that no one will help him publicize it.

He didn't want to be an unsung hero, he hoped that the court officials could know, at least those officials who looked at the maritime tycoon who was not pleasing to the eye could know that he had a contest with the maritime tycoon Longxi Chen, and he won.

And this Zhao Yan, who is an upright official and quite famous, is a good microphone.

Of course, it would be better if such a promising local magistrate could be drawn into his camp.

Thinking of this, he pretended to be concerned and said, "Lord Zhao, what's wrong with you?" ”

Zhao Yan couldn't help but shake his head and sighed: "Alas, it's really a disaster from the mouth, when the official first arrived in the southeast, he didn't know the situation here, so he was really a little arrogant." ”

Xu Jie pretended to be righteous and said awe-inspiringly: "What arrogance is not arrogant, what the maritime tycoons have done is against the laws of the imperial court, Lord Zhao is upright, he is really a model for my generation, and the lower officials really admire, as for the Longxi Chen family, they can't be lawless, right?" ”

When Zhao Yan heard this, his eyes couldn't help but light up, this Xu Jie's eyes were not ordinary people, their Yangming lineage was comparable to the existence of a wealthy maritime family, otherwise, it would not be as simple as "leveling down" to Quanzhou Mansion if he confronted Zhang Fujing, the first assistant.

At this time, he no longer cares about the suspicion of forming a party for personal gain, whether he is a party or not, whether he is a private business or not, it is the most important thing to avoid this catastrophe.

Thinking of this, he solemnly arched his hand and said, "Lord Xu, thank you." ”

This means that he wants to move closer to Xu Jie, or to the Yang Ming line behind Xu Jie.

When Xu Jie heard this, he nodded solemnly and said, "It's easy to say, it's easy to say, as long as we cooperate sincerely, we can always tide over the difficulties together." ”

He bites the "we" very hard, which means that as long as you have a heart, everyone can become their own people in the future.