After Han Jian ascended the throne as emperor, this was the first time he returned to his homeland in the name of the emperor, so the court and the central government attached great importance to it. This time, Han Jian escorted more than 20,000 soldiers and horses, plus the officials accompanying him, the concubines and palace people in his inner palace, and the civilians who carried the escort goods in the convoy, the number of personnel exceeded 30,000.

It's like an expedition to Jiangdu, there are magistrates everywhere along the way, Han Jian rarely comes out to ride a horse, and even rarely shows up, but everywhere he goes, he will personally inspect the county capital, and at the same time will meet with the magistrate for inquiries and basic assessments, if there are unsatisfactory officials, Han Jian will even remove the magistrate on the spot.

Therefore, no matter where they go, the local people do not dare to have the slightest slackness, and the party goes from Luoyang all the way to the southeast by land, and the state capitals along the way will send people to meet them in advance, and before Luan arrives, there will be soldiers and horses in the vanguard to enter the city to take care of everything, and even the key passes in various parts of the city will take over and change the guard, in order to prevent the local officials from having bad intentions to take advantage of the opportunity to attack Han Jian, who entered the city to inspect.

Han Jian went to several state capitals, and basically dismissed some officials everywhere he went, whether it was the first or second in command, as long as Han Jian thought that there was something dissatisfied with the local administrative and military affairs, he would immediately decide not to drag the mud and water.

By the end of March, the group had done more than half of it. If the march could have been completed in more than half a month, now it has been almost a month, and it is only half of the journey, and because of the obstruction of the road, the march of the team is getting slower and slower, and at the beginning it can walk fifty or sixty miles a day, and it can walk more than forty miles at the back, and there is no appearance of rushing at all.

On the first day of April, the group arrived in Ningzhou Mansion. This is Han Jian's second visit to Ningzhou. The first time was on Yang Rui's retreat from Luoyang South to Jiangdu, at that time, Han Jian went to Yuzhou with Yang Li'er's pace not far from Ningzhou Mansion, and did not return to Jiangdu for a while. At that time, Han Jian was just a prince of the Eastern King who had not even grasped the local administrative power of Jiangdu, and now that he came again, he was already the emperor. Not only was he in charge of the government, but he eradicated the civil strife of the Wei Dynasty, and even the Xianbei people in the north were driven away, which was the time when his prestige was at its highest.

On the afternoon of the day he arrived at Ningzhou Mansion, Ningzhou Taishou sent people to express his condolences, and at the same time, he also sent local souvenirs to express his heart. But Han Jian has clearly ordered the local government not to give gifts and offerings since he set out from Luoyang, in fact, it is also to prevent the local government from setting up a clever name to exploit the people in order to welcome the holy driver, but the Taishou of Ningzhou Mansion dares to do things against his will, and Han Jian immediately wants to withdraw the Taishou of Ningzhou.

Originally, the person in charge of receiving the envoys sent by the magistrate was Ning Yuan, the minister of Lingshang Shutai. Ning Yuan was forced to follow Han Jian to Jiangdu, he was already dissatisfied, and on the way, he did all the small things of receiving and circulating official documents, which made him even more perfunctory. Just when Ning Yuan wanted to send the envoys of the magistrates away, Han Jian appeared in person in the post station, and Ning Yuan and the envoys of the magistrates hurriedly saluted and said goodbye.

"Go back and tell you Taishou that I am not patrolling the Xingjiang capital, not to let the place spend money on reception. I just casually inspect local government affairs and defenses, and bring everything back. Tell him I'll be in town tonight. ”

The envoy looked very frightened, Han Jian's move to dismiss the magistrate along the way had already reached Ningzhou, and the envoy hurriedly retired and returned to Ningzhou City with his things. When the others left, Han Jian said to Ning Yuan: "I have confessed that if there is a tribute in the place, it will be returned." Why didn't Taishi Ning refuse in person? ”

Ning Yuan saluted and said: "It's the old minister's negligence, it was originally some ordinary things, I want to come to Your Majesty this hard way, and several ladies in the palace are also tired of the journey, so the old minister wants to ......."

Han Jian nodded slightly and said, "Taishi Ning can do his job well." As for the rest, I don't have to think too much about it. ”

Ning Yuan was a little dumbfounded, he didn't refuse the local tribute, not because he had any sympathetic thoughts for the concubines in the inner palace, but because he felt that this sesame mung bean thing should not be done by him, in the final analysis, it was a dissatisfaction with Han Jian.

Just when Han Jian wanted to go back to rest for the time being, Ning Yuan suddenly reminded: "Your Majesty, it is still not appropriate for you to enter Ningzhou City today. ”

"Oh?" Han Jian looked at Ning Yuan, "Why did Taishi Ning say this?" ”

Ning Yuan said respectfully: "Ningzhou is different from other state capitals, He Liang, the Taishou of Ningzhou Mansion, has always been very close to the gentry in the north, and he has been running Ningzhou for more than ten years, and the local power is deep-rooted, and now His Majesty has returned his tribute, and also reprimanded people, I am afraid that it will make He Liang think more, if he takes risks......"

Han Jian understood Ning Yuan's words, Ning Yuan was reminding him that it was best not to provoke this place in Ningzhou, this kind of Taishou who had been running the place for more than ten years was like the local emperor of the soil, covering the sky with one hand, if the emperor of the soil felt that his position was not guaranteed, he would even take risks to the detriment of him, the emperor of the Northern Dynasty. The strong dragon is difficult to suppress the head snake, even if the vanguard soldiers and horses can advance to the city to occupy the gates of Ningzhou Mansion, the garrison in the city will fight back at any time.

Han Jian said: "What Taishi Ning reminds me is, but I can't take back what I said. Then bother Master Ning to take a trip on my behalf. ”

Ning Yuan was a little nervous and said, "Your Majesty does you have anything else to explain?" ”

"What confession? Removed He Liang's position as a guard? That's not necessary, I'm now ready to use troops against the south, it's better for the northern land to be stable or stable, even if He Liang has something that he doesn't do well, let's focus on stability first, and talk about it when I come back. ”

Ning Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, as long as he didn't go to Ningzhou Taishou with a holy decree to dismiss the official, then there would be no danger for him to enter the city this time. On the contrary, he can meet the magistrate and show off his power once, which is also the privilege he should have as the first assistant of a dynasty. But along the way, Han Jian gave him such an opportunity to go into the city to meet the magistrate for the first time.

Han Jian went to the big tent outside to rest early, as the emperor, Han Jian still set up a tent to rest along the way, only the female dependents around Han Jian who were occasionally unwell would enter the post station to settle down, and the other female dependents, including Han Jian's aunts, did not go to the post station to rest, and they all had the same meaning of sleeping in the open as Han Jian.

Ning Yuan ordered a few accompanying officials to enter the city together, this time Han Jian patrolled Xingjiang with a lot of officials, but the six departments of Shangshu did not bring any of them, and the six or so servants had to send someone to follow the patrol, and the officials of Shangshutai also accompanied him, but this time Ning Yuan ordered a few ministers who were very close to him on weekdays to enter the city together. It's also for someone to take care of when something happens.

The main person who followed Ning Yuan was He Jing, the right attendant of the Criminal Department, this He Jing was a member of Ning Yuan's Ministry of Rites, after Ning Yuan took power, this person rose to prominence all the way to the position of the waiter of the Criminal Department, and even the matters of the Criminal Department were all taken care of by this He Jing, and he was already the actual helmsman of the Criminal Department. Originally, He Jing would not be the minister who accompanied him. But Ning Yuan felt that there must be cronies by his side, so he took He Jing with him.

He Jing is known for his flexible brain, from the Ministry of Rites to the Criminal Department, he can master the daily operation of the Criminal Department in a few days, and then even the code of the Great Wei Dynasty can be memorized backwards, which can be regarded as a person that Ning Yuan admires very much, and this person's advice is also targeted, but Ning Yuan used to feel that He Jing was born in a poor family and did not have the support of the big family, so he did not ask Han Jian to let He Jing be the secretary of the Criminal Department.

"The Taishi entered the city this time. It must be both graceful and powerful. Since the local He Taishou thought that the royal car was coming in person, he must be welcoming and respectful, and if this person was unfavorable to His Majesty, he would also take precautions after knowing that he was the Taishi who entered the city. If the Master handles it properly, this person will definitely be grateful to the Master and may be able to use it in the future. ”

Ning Yuan listened to He Jing's words and nodded while thinking. This is also what he thinks, to gather more people with real power in other places to use them for his use. If it was just those civil officials of the imperial court who came to do something for him, Han Jian would say that he would be dismissed. There won't even be a little turmoil in the court. If he not only holds the power of the imperial court, but also has close contact with the local authorities, even if Han Jian knows that he is a threat, he will consider the impact of the current situation brought by his removal and reevaluate.

Ning Yuan didn't say much, and asked people to prepare a car. After all, he was ordered to enter the city, and he had to do enough pomp and circumstance.

When he led his party to the west gate of Ningzhou Mansion, He Liang, the Taishou of Ningzhou, was already greeting him with officials of all sizes in the city. No one was seen in the distance, and these people were already kneeling down to greet them.

In the end, it was not the emperor but Ning Yuan who got out of the carriage, and He Liang looked at the car behind him with some suspicion. There was no pomp and circumstance for Luan.

Ning Yuan said: "He Taishou doesn't need to look at it, today Your Majesty is feeling unwell, and let this official inspect the place on behalf of the Son of Heaven." Everyone else is flat. ”

He Liang had a very complicated look on his face, Ning Yuan knew at a glance that someone had analyzed the situation with He Liang after the envoy returned, it might be that the emperor was dissatisfied with his always administrative and local powers, and would find a reason to remove him.

He Liang stepped forward to greet him and invited Ning Yuan into the city, but he did not take a sedan chair or a carriage, but accompanied Ning Yuan on foot. At this time, it was the beginning of the evening market in the city, and the place near the city gate was very lively, with vendors and ordinary people gathering, but it seemed that it was not affected by the Northern War in the past two years, and even the evening market in Luoyang City may not be as lively as the evening market in Ningzhou.

Ning Yuan walked for a while, nodded with a smile, and said, "Your Majesty asked this official to inspect the place, and now you can see that the local people are living and working in peace and contentment, and you can return to Your Majesty when you go back." He Taishou, please lead the way and talk in the palace? ”

He Liang said with a smile: "It is an honor for Taishi Ning to come to my Ningzhou place to inspect on behalf of the Son of Heaven, so please get on the sedan chair." ”

The sedan chair has long been prepared, or eight sedan chairs, Ning Yuan got on the sedan chair, and deliberately looked out from the curtain of the sedan chair, there were many vendors along the street, and there were many people coming and going, but no one spent money to buy things. This look is a fake appearance, in order to show that the local officials are clear, used to deceive Han Jian, the son of heaven.

Ning Yuan sneered in his heart, and said in his heart that it was not Han Jian who entered the city, even he could detect that this was a monkey show, how could he not notice it with Han Jian's knowledge, and when the time came, Han Jian would have to be furious and remove He Liang from his post on the spot. At this time, he already knew in his heart that he could use this matter to deal with He Liang in a while.

The group finally arrived at the Taishou Mansion, at this time the outside of the Taishou Mansion was very quiet, perhaps because He Liang knew that Han Jian, the emperor, wanted to keep a low profile when he entered the city, so he specially did not let the local gentry come to greet him, because Han Jian inspected several places before, and there were also places where the Taishou did not know each other and gathered the people of the whole city outside the governance office to greet the holy car, but he did not get Han Jian's good face.

Ning Yuan didn't say anything else, under the guidance of He Liang, the two of them entered the Taishou Mansion Gate together, but they placed a "dragon chair" in the main hall of the Yamen, obviously wanting Han Jian to feel the feeling of being a high emperor when he came.

Because it was Ning Yuan who came, He Liang hurriedly waved his hand when he saw this and said, "Remove the chair and bring it to Master Ning!" ”

Someone immediately went to replace the chair, and when the new chair was brought, He Liang personally set up the chair for Ning Yuan and asked Ning Yuan to sit down. And he stood by with a respectful look ready to listen.

Ning Yuan looked at the entourage next to him, He Liang seemed to understand something, and waved his hand and said, "You all withdraw first." ”

At this time, the others withdrew from the main hall.

As soon as the person left, Ning Yuan said with a straight face: "He Taishou, there is something to ask you, what is the excitement of the night market in Xicheng?" ”

He Liang was stunned for a moment, he obviously seemed to be sloppy, and thought for a while: "The local people spontaneously formed a bazaar, and the government should not interfere too much, so as not to be thought by the people that the government is unfair." ”

Ning Yuan sneered: "He Taishou thinks that this official is blind, and he can't see that it is just an illusion created, and he wants to show it to me, the imperial envoy?" ”

When He Liang heard this, he quickly knelt down and kowtowed to apologize, and said: "This official is really forced to do so, the city has been depressed in the past few years, if His Majesty sees this, I am afraid that I will not be able to protect it, so I have to make this decision." Please also ask Taishi Ning to save the official's life. ”

Ning Yuan hurriedly helped He Liang up, and said in a slightly intimate tone: "If the official wants to expose you, he will say it when he enters the city." Your Majesty inspects the place, labors the people and loses money, it was originally a time when our courtiers should share your worries for Your Majesty, how could this official make He Taishou not come down from the stage? ”

After all, He Liang has been mixed in officialdom for decades, and he understands this rule, and Ning Yuan obviously has the intention of wooing him when he says this. Although He Liang is the local emperor of Ningzhou, he is only a magistrate no matter how he says it, and his hand is not long. If Ning Yuan deliberately wooed him, it would also be his honor.

"The grace of the Taishi is like reconstruction, and the lower officials must remember it. Taishi, the mansion is simply set up for a banquet and hospitality, I don't know if the Taishi is willing to move to the back hall, I will wait while drinking, while discussing state affairs, so that the Taishi can explain to His Majesty after he returns? ”

Ning Yuan shook his head slightly and said, "There is no need for wine, if Your Majesty smells the smell of wine on my body, it will be difficult to speak." But it's still okay to have a meal. (To be continued......)