Time passed little by little, and in the blink of an eye, Zhou Chen had spent more than two years in Youyu County.

Because of Cao Zhengchun's warning more than two years ago, and Zhou Chen's idea of taoguang and obscurity, he has not made any big moves in the past two years.

On weekdays, in addition to dealing with necessary official duties, Zhou Chen spent most of his time on cultivation, and he had a rather leisurely life in the past two years.

It's a pity that this kind of peaceful life can't live for a few days at all.

Because in less than half a month, Zhou Chen's term of office as the magistrate of Youyu County will be completely completed.

At that time, Zhou Chen was either transferred back to the capital, or he was promoted to a higher local official position because of his merits.

As for what the final result is, it depends on the meaning of the Hongzhi Emperor sitting in the Forbidden City.

Approaching the completion of his term, Zhou Chen has been quietly waiting for the arrival of the capital's will for the past few days.

When there were still three days left before the three-year term, the envoy in the capital finally came to the Youyu County Yali.

It was none other than Cao Zhengchun, who had dealt with Zhou Chen more than two years ago.

"Lord Zhou, don't come to harm?!"

In the main hall of the county office, Cao Zhengchun arched his hand towards Zhou Chen and said with a smile.

"Thanks to Father-in-law Cao's guidance two years ago, this official has lived a very leisurely life in the past two years."

Zhou Chen also arched his hand and replied: "When it comes to Gonggong Cao, your complexion is becoming more and more ruddy and shiny, and I think you have gained a lot in the past two years." ”

Hearing this in his ears, Cao Zhengchun couldn't help but smile proudly in his heart, he has not only gained something recently, it can be said that it is very huge.

Because when Cao Zhengchun left the capital, the crown prince Zhu Houzhao once revealed a few words of news to him, and when he returned to the capital this time, he was very likely to be the governor of Dongchang.

In recent days, Emperor Hongzhi's physical condition has been deteriorating every day, so Emperor Hongzhi has begun to prepare for the crown prince Zhu Houzhao's accession to the throne.

Putting the violent institution of Dongchang into the hands of the crown prince Zhu Houzhao was one of the many foreshadowings made by Emperor Hongzhi.

And Zhu Houzhao, as the crown prince of the current dynasty, naturally it is impossible for him to personally take charge of such an institution composed of eunuchs as Dongchang.

Therefore, in the end, the candidate for the governor of Dongchang naturally fell to the cronies and eunuchs beside the crown prince Zhu Houzhao.

After a little selection, Cao Zhengchun became the new superintendent of Dongchang chosen by Zhu Houzhao.

As long as Cao Zhengchun returns to the capital after completing his errand, Wang Yue, the great eunuch who is now in charge of the East Factory, will hand over the rights of the East Factory with Cao Zhengchun.

Cao Zhengchun's heart is naturally extremely excited about this, as a castrated crippled person, his pursuit in this life is power and money.

However, after all, the position of the overseer of the East Factory has not completely fallen into the hands of Cao Zhengchun, so he is not proud of any flying and domineering.

In the face of Zhou Chen's congratulations, Cao Zhengchun just smiled and waved his hand again and again and said: "Our family has indeed gained some small gains in the past two years, not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning!" ”

After Zhou Chen and Cao Zhengchun exchanged pleasantries for a while, Cao Zhengchun finally got down to business.

"Hmm...... Hmmm......"

I saw Cao Zhengchun first clear his throat, and then solemnly announced: "Your Majesty has a will!" ”

The look on Zhou Chen's face was also instantaneous, he hurriedly tidied up his official uniform, bowed and said, "The emperor bows to Jin'an!" ”

"I'm safe!"

Cao Zhengchun carefully took out a bright yellow scroll from his bosom, slowly unfolded it and read it: "Fengtian carries the emperor, and the edict says ......"

After a lot of gorgeous rhetoric praising Taiping, Cao Zhengchun finally said the most important content: "In the fifteenth year of Hongzhi, he was the magistrate of Youyu County.

During his tenure, he was dedicated to his duties and was now promoted to the prefect of Guangyang Prefecture in Shanxi.

Because of his meritorious achievements, he was specially awarded the honor of Zanzhi Yin, and he was awarded the doctor of the Central Council. ”

The moment the words in Cao Zhengchun's mouth fell, Zhou Chen hurriedly bowed down and bowed three times to the holy decree in Cao Zhengchun's hand, and said loudly at the same time: "Minister Zhou Chen, thank you for the decree!" ”

Seeing that Zhou Chen thanked him, Cao Zhengchun presented the holy decree with both hands and handed it to Zhou Chen, and Zhou Chen also took the holy decree with both hands.

Looking at the bright yellow holy decree in his hand, the thoughts in Zhou Chen's heart also surged rapidly.

Prior to this, Zhou Chen had some guesses about his future path, which was roughly divided into two possibilities.

One possibility is to be transferred back to the capital to fill the vacancies in the upper six departments.

The second possibility is to be promoted to a higher official position, as is the case now.

Therefore, Zhou Chen was not surprised that he was promoted to the prefect of Guangyang Mansion.

After all, just by virtue of the merit of arresting the candidate of the White Lotus Sect's Holy Maiden, it would not be an exaggeration for him to be promoted to the third level, not to mention that Zhou Chen also had the credit for successfully establishing the Northern Xinjiang Mutual Market.

Originally, Zhou Chen was the official position of Zheng Wupin, but now he has skipped being directly promoted from the fourth rank to the position of prefect of Zheng Sipin.

But in terms of his credit, there is no problem at all.

The only thing that surprised Zhou Chen was that Emperor Hongzhi not only promoted him to an official position, but also awarded him a medal and a loose official rank.

It was just a matter of awarding the honor of Zanzhi Yin, but at the level of scattered officials, Emperor Hongzhi actually skipped the initial award of Zhongshun Doctor and the promotion of Zhongxian Doctor, and directly awarded Zhou Chen as the Zhongxian Doctor.

In this way, Zhou Chen's heart also felt a little flattered.

Just when Zhou Chen secretly wondered if Emperor Hongzhi had any deep meaning to him in such a gift, Cao Zhengchun once again unhurriedly took out a folded bright yellow paper from his arms.

With his hands stretched out, Cao Zhengchun sent the bright yellow paper to Zhou Chen's eyes, and said with a smile: "Lord Zhou, we still have a secret letter from Your Majesty to you here.

This secret decree is very important, and it is inconvenient for us to read it, so you should read it yourself, Lord Zhou! ”

Hearing Cao Zhengchun's voice in his ears, Zhou Chen, who came back to his senses, muttered in his heart: "There is another secret decree?!"

Two years ago, the secret decree was that Emperor Hongzhi wanted to intercept the revenue of the Northern Xinjiang Mutual Market and enrich his own internal government.

What is the purpose of this secret letter now? ”

However, Zhou Chen didn't show it on the surface, he smiled and took the secret decree directly and flipped through it.