Since last year, some of the ships of the Ming Dynasty going to sea to trade will be attacked, not only the sea ships sent by the Shandong side that Lu Zhen knew before have had accidents one after another, but also the merchant ships of several ship divisions on the southeast coast have also suffered a lot of damage, and this matter is serious.

You must know that since the sea ban was completely opened a few years ago, the income of the Ming court from this item has far exceeded the previous taxes, which naturally makes maritime trade the most important task in the hearts of the monarchs and ministers of the court.

Originally, the local officials wanted to hide something after the accident, and tried their best to solve the problem. But in the end, not only did they find nothing in the past few months, but things got worse and worse, because the losses caused by the accident of the sea ship were no longer something they could hide, so they could only ask the court for guilt, and at the same time turn to the court for help.

When the emperor learned about this, he was naturally furious, and immediately ordered the Yamen of Yousi to send commissioners to various places to investigate the case. As a result, these people had little to gain after being busy, but someone died strangely in the city of Suzhou, which naturally made the emperor feel even more angry, and immediately ordered Lu Jin, who was still in Kaifeng, to immediately bring people to Suzhou to find out the inside story of this series of things, and catch the culprit who was making trouble in the dark!

When Lu Zhen took this will, the smile on his face was obviously a little reluctant, and he could guess that this was actually an expression of the Son of Heaven's dissatisfaction with himself, because he was blaming himself for poking out the case of King Zhou without reporting this time, thus killing the Son of Heaven by surprise, and also causing a lot of damage to the reputation of the royal family.

Originally, if it was common sense, Lu Zhen cracked the case of the Yellow River bursting the embankment, and the imperial court should have rewarded it, but when announcing the results of the disposal of the King of Zhou and other relevant officials, there was no mention of this. That's it, the emperor didn't even want Lu Zhen and the others to return to the capital first, and directly sent them to Suzhou, obviously he didn't want to see these unconscious courtiers for the time being.

In addition, it is not so easy to investigate that this case is full of fog, Lu Zhen has not really taken over the case for several years, and at this time, he suddenly handed over such an important errand to him, obviously there is some embarrassment in it. Moreover, judging from the tone mentioned in the will, even if he finds out the truth of the case this time, it will be useless, and if he fails to find out the result in the end, he will inevitably be punished.

Therefore, this is clearly the Son of Heaven's response to Lu Jin's previous arbitrary exposure of King Zhou's case. But even so, Lu Jin had no intention of refusing, not only because he did have the intention of doing something after a few years of idleness, but also because this sea trade was originally advocated by him, and now that something happened, he naturally felt responsible to solve the problem.

So soon after receiving the order, Lu Zhen led people to leave from Xingze County and embarked on a journey to the south. And just after they stepped out of the county office, they saw that hundreds of people had gathered on both sides of the street, looking at them with gratitude, and after a while, these people knelt down in unison, and kowtowed: "Thank you Lord Qingtian for saving me, it is equal to fire and water, and the grass people have nothing to grow, only pray to God every day in the future, please God bless Lord Lu with a long life of 100 years, a hundred sons and thousands of grandchildren, and a full house of wealth and ......."

Looking at these grateful, sincere prayers, Lu Zhen couldn't help but be moved. The little dissatisfaction and resentment that had arisen in my heart because of the blame of the Son of Heaven also disappeared.

Yes, is it really for a few words of praise from the emperor to do all this yourself? No, I am doing all this to get justice for these suffering people, so that the officials who do not care about the lives of the people know what can be done and what cannot be done.

Thinking of this, a sense of pride naturally surged up from his chest, so that Lu Zhen no longer had any hesitation and concerns, and immediately got out of the carriage, strode to a white-haired old man at the forefront, and hugged him vigorously: "Old man, hurry up!" You all get up......" As he spoke, he raised his voice suddenly: "I don't want to say some false words, I just want you to know that maybe there are some people in the court who will do things that are sorry for you because of greed, but you must believe that now in the prosperous age of my Ming Dynasty, the reign of the Son of Heaven will not let the evil villain succeed and harm you and other good people." In fact, not only the officials, but also the adults in the county government, they also have the heart to make decisions for you and others, and I hope that you can obey the arrangements of the county officials in the future, and live a good life after eliminating the flood and food shortage. ”

Everyone agreed, and then several elders came up with a huge umbrella, which made Lu Zhen a little flattered. The Wanmin umbrella is the highest commendation that only officials who have served in the local government for many years and have made many meritorious contributions to the people can receive when they leave office, representing the aspirations of the people. But today, they actually sent such a courtesy to their officials who have only been in Xingze County for a month or two, and this affection is extraordinarily important.

Lu Zhen did not stretch out his hand to take this heavy heart, but waved his hand: "Fellow villagers of Xingze, this official can't stand to be so loved, so let's take back this Wanmin umbrella." ”

"Your Excellency is too humble, you have the grace of life for us and others, what is this Wanmin umbrella?" The old man at the head hurriedly persuaded him. Immediately, the others also persuaded him: "Yes, my lord, although you are not an official of my Xingze County, and you have only been here for a month, you have done more for us than many officials who have served here for ten or twenty years, this is just a little gratitude for my waiting, and I hope that your Excellency will not refuse!" ”

"If you don't even accept our little intentions, then we won't let you go!" I don't know which bold master actually shouted like this, and immediately got the approval of many people, and all the people actually surrounded him, blocking the way of Lu Zhen and his party, and put on a posture that if you refuse to accept the umbrella of the people, we will not let you leave.

In the face of such obstruction, even those brocade guards are not easy to drive away, so they can only look at their own adults in embarrassment: "Dudu, they are also a heart, I think you are still ......"

Lu Jin's heart was also moved, so he had to reach out and take the huge Wanmin umbrella from the old man's hand: "Okay, since you are so insistent, then this piece of your heart will be accepted by the official." Now you can let the official go, right? ”

When people saw that Lu Zhan really took over the Wanmin umbrella, they finally let out a burst of cheers, and after talking for a while, they reluctantly gave way and let Lu Zhan and his group continue to move forward.

Next, Lu Zhen and his entourage slowly walked out of the gate of Xingze County in the middle of the people's send-off, and walked along the official road towards the south. After walking out of a distance, when looking back, everyone can still see the figures of the people gathered at the city gate, constantly looking at this side and waving, which makes everyone feel a lot of emotion in their hearts.

"I've done a lot of errands in the past, but none of them have made me feel as happy as this time, and it's really a great thing to be able to be the master of the people." Yao Gan couldn't help but sigh.

Lu Zhen opened the curtain of the car, and nodded and said, "You are right, this is what people like me who are officials should do." If you and I eat the food provided by the people like this, and take the silver taels that the people send to the government, but we can't do the host for them, then how can we wear this official uniform? If they are like some people who only kill the people, then how is it different from beasts? ”

"The governor is high-minded, and the lowly rank is admired." Everyone hurriedly praised.

"By the way, the witnesses and confessions that you sent to the capital earlier have arrived in Beijing safely, right?" Lu Zhen suddenly remembered something and asked. Just when the situation in Beijing suddenly arose and criticized King Zhou's various crimes, Lu Zhen had already asked his subordinates to send the relevant evidence of the crime, in order to completely confirm the crime.

"Don't worry, my lord, just yesterday night, there was a flying pigeon from the Zhenfu Division, saying that the human and material evidence had been received, and it must be sent to the Yamen of Yousi today as evidence in court."

"That's good. After this incident, we can rush to Suzhou with peace of mind and solve the problems there! Lu Zhen said, raising his eyes and taking a deep look at the southern sky, not knowing what kind of situation would be waiting for him there.

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Suzhou, the city of the Yamen. A middle-aged man in a crimson official uniform was pacing back and forth in the hall uneasily, and from time to time, he raised his eyes to look out of the hall a few times, as if waiting for some news.

After a long while, a chaotic sound of footsteps sounded from outside, and then more than a dozen people hurriedly ran in with a man covered in injuries and a dull face.

As soon as the official saw this, his body suddenly shook, and he hurriedly greeted him, and he didn't care about any official authority, so he opened his mouth and asked, "He is the only one who lived on the ship that had an accident earlier?" ”

"Back to the words of the adults, exactly. His name is Li Tiezhu, and he is one of the shipwrights who went to sea with the ship, and the ship he was on was reported to have an accident more than two months ago. As a result, three days ago, he was found fainting in the coastal area. It's just ......," one of them quickly replied.

When the official heard this, he hurried to Li Tiezhu and asked urgently, "Li Tiezhu, you say, what is going on?" What happened to you that you would let such a ship go without returning? ”

Li Tiezhu first looked at the adult blankly, and after asking two more times, he suddenly screamed, and then shouted incoherently: "Monster! Ghost! Yellow hair, red hair, green eyes...... Don't, don't come here......" The voice was sharp and rapid, like a ghost crying, which scared everyone present for a while!