Late at night, in the imperial city of Kyoto, in the Shang study, Emperor Guangwu was correcting the excerpts sent from all over the country as usual.

"Li Xiude, call the prefect of Jiangnan Mansion to come in. Emperor Guangwu sat on the dragon chair, and what he just called his personal eunuch was his personal eunuch.

Li Xiude listened to the tone of the emperor today, and knew that the master was worried about the bandits in various places this year, and it was better to be tight in everything.

"The emperor's edict, Zheng Shilong, the prefect of Xuanjiangnan Mansion, will come to see you!" Li Xiude stood at the door of Shang Shufang, he looked at the more than ten prefects waiting at the door in front of him, and secretly thought in his heart that these prefects were afraid that each of them would sleep peacefully tonight, and they would not even be at peace with their old bones.

"It's... Gonggong Li, what is the emperor's expression?" Zheng Shilong walked to Li Xiude's side and quietly stuffed a silver ticket over, but was blocked back by Li Xiude.

"I can't take your silver ticket in this small pocket, you better go in quickly, and you can answer whatever the emperor asks." After Li Xiude finished speaking, his eyes closed, which made the Jiangnan prefect suddenly panic.

"This Li Xiude usually accepts the sweetness of others, why is he suddenly incorruptible today?" Zheng Shilong muttered in his heart, but his steps were a few points faster.

"Minister, Zheng Shilong, the governor of Jiangnan Mansion, see the emperor, long live the emperor, long live the emperor!" As soon as Zheng Shilong entered the door, he saw Emperor Guangwu sitting on the dragon chair, and he directly knelt on the ground trembling and saluted.

Emperor Guangwu looked at the Jiangnan prefect with a panicked face, and felt a little helpless and angry in his heart, how could he be so bold, the prefect of the Jiangnan Prefecture, who was in charge of the survival of hundreds of thousands of people in the Jiangnan Mansion? But who called him the emperor, the Ninety-Five Supreme True Dragon Son could not get angry at every turn.

"Let me ask you, when you came to this study room at the beginning of last year, did I explain something to you, do you remember?" Emperor Guangwu asked calmly.

"Back to the emperor... The minister still remembers that the emperor ordered the minister to exterminate the water bandits on the Mulin River in Jiangnan Mansion. Zheng Shilong replied in fear.

Emperor Guangwu smiled, threw down a book in his hand, and said, "Don't you know that there is someone in Jiangnan Mansion who is watching you for me?"

"Minister... The minister knows..."At present, the official uniform behind Zheng Shilong has been drenched in a layer of cold sweat, he carefully opened the fold, saw the signature on the fold, and almost fainted.

That signature is Han Mosheng!

Zheng Shilong knew who the emperor was talking about, but when he really saw the name, he was still terrified in his heart.

"Your Majesty... The emperor knows that he is wrong! Please forgive the emperor!" Zheng Shilong, a man who was about to be fifty years old, cried without regard to his image, and knelt on the ground and kowtowed while crying.

"Now you know kowtow?" Emperor Guangwu sneered: "Jiangnan Mansion was originally the most taxed mansion, with many ports and developed agriculture and animal husbandry, as long as the so-called rogues combined by those peasants and reckless men are cleaned up, then the world will be peaceful!"

"But what about you!" Emperor Guangwu slowly took out a sword from the sword stand, the sword body was unsheathed, and the sonorous sound was like a dragon's groan, and Zheng Shilong trembled in fright.

"Han Shangshu said in the memoir, you have snatched six million taels of silver in just this year, countless treasures and jade, and more than a dozen beautiful concubines!" Emperor Guangwu directly drove the sword to Zheng Shilong's neck, and said slowly: "I give you two choices, first, hand over ninety percent of the ill-gotten gains you have gained over the years, and exterminate the bandits within three months, and second, take off this black gauze hat, and read that you have served for many years, and allow you to return to your hometown to retire." ”

Zheng Shilong is really stupid, but he has been mixed in this Han Ming officialdom for nearly 20 years, and he still understands Emperor Guangwu, although the emperor is very disappointed in him, but he still has not made up his mind to look at his head, because he is still useful, he has been working hard in Jiangnan Mansion for more than 20 years, and the foundation has long been formed, and no one is more sure of the banditry than him.

"Your Majesty, the minister is willing to issue a military order, and it is bound to eliminate all bandits and gangsters in Jiangnan Mansion within three months!" Zheng Shilong knelt on the ground with a handful of snot and tears, and looked at the emperor pitifully,

Emperor Guangwu looked at this extremely slippery old fox of officialdom, and said gloomily: "Go down, I will personally go to your Jiangnan Mansion to check the results after three months, if not, you will come to see you yourself!"

Zheng Shilong was like being amnestied for a while, and he kowtowed again and again to thank him, and there was an indescribable flattery between his eyebrows, which made the emperor, who now wanted to reform the officialdom, really angry in his heart.

"Wait, your prefect is really not doing well, go to the criminal department to get thirty fines yourself. After Emperor Guangwu said this, his heart was finally a little more relaxed.

Of course, Zheng Shilong didn't dare not take the emperor's orders to heart, and besides, the more the emperor punished him now, the safer he would be.

In other words, the thirty penalty sticks are still what he can't ask for!

Emperor Guangwu slowly withdrew the sword in his hand from the scabbard, Zheng Shilong, he naturally didn't really plan to clean it up, the entire imperial court, there are countless people who can quell the bandits in Jiangnan Mansion, but no matter who is called to do it, it is not as powerful as Zheng Shilong, an old fox who has taken root in Jiangnan Mansion for more than 20 years.

Therefore, for the matter of bandits in Jiangnan Mansion, Emperor Guangwu can conclude that within three months, he will be able to see the good news of the ambush of various famous thieves in Jiangnan Mansion.

"Li Xiude, come in. Emperor Guangwu paced slowly, and called Li Xiude in as he approached his desk.

Li Xiude was originally standing at the door with a cold breath, and he didn't dare to reach out to get sweetness today, because this was the principle that he had been abiding by for decades, and he couldn't make small moves when his master was unhappy.

Obviously, Emperor Guangwu was very satisfied with his approach.

When Li Xiude heard the summons, he hurriedly rushed in, but happened to meet Zheng Shilong, who was trembling at the door.

Li Xiude ignored Zheng Shilong, who looked shocked, even if Zheng Shilong was a second-rank official and he was only a fourth-rank eunuch, but in this dynasty, as long as Emperor Guangwu was still in power and still trusted him, then he would have capital arrogance.

After all, the imperial power is supreme, and the emperor's favor is the truth.

"Li Xiude, how are the officials outside the door behaving well?" Emperor Guangwu sat on the throne, playing with a jade wrench, and asked lightly: "Have these dignitaries communicated with Zheng Shilong after they saw him?"

Li Xiude bowed and replied: "Your Majesty, that Zheng Shilong is afraid of your imperial majesty, and he has been hiding at the door since he came out, and the servants have never seen him communicate with other ministers, but most of the officials outside the door are panicked, and I am afraid that they will take the initiative to inquire." ”

Emperor Guangwu was stunned for a moment, and then he actually laughed, which made Li Xiude, who claimed to know the emperor's temperament, a little confused for a while.

"Zheng Shilong, this old fox, is afraid to go out!" Emperor Guangwu smiled and said to Li Xiude: "Let those officials go back, tell them to remember what I told them, give them three months to rectify themselves, and if they can't do it, they will take off their black gauze hats and go home to farm." ”

Li Xiude was shocked, the emperor's behavior today needs him to think about it, he secretly feels that what the emperor said tonight is very serious, if those officials can't do it in the future, it is very likely that they will really be unlucky.

Li Xiude respectfully retreated, leaving Emperor Guangwu alone.

Shang Shufang was quiet again, and Emperor Guangwu sat down again, holding a Taoist classic in his hand.

A gust of air swept by, and Emperor Guangwu seemed to sense something, but he didn't take his eyes off the book.

A black-clothed man kneeling on the ground respectfully reported: "Your Majesty, the Heavenly Dao Sect has secretly sent a team of monks, led by the Jiedan monk Shan Yudaoren, ten top foundation building monks, who will definitely be able to protect the safety of the emperor and grandson." ”

Emperor Guangwu agreed, and then asked, "Is there anything unusual about the few people I asked you to watch these days?"

The man in black replied fluently: "There is no big move, but two days ago, Liu Yansong, the secretary of the ministry, secretly met with Yang Lian, the commander of the Kyoto Garrison Division, and the meeting lasted for two hours, a quarter and three minutes, and the content of the conversation has not yet been discovered. ”

Emperor Guangwu nodded, then waved his hand.

When the man in black saw Emperor Guangwu signaling that he could leave, he didn't stay, and turned into a black shadow in an instant and disappeared into the empty Shangshu.

At this point, Emperor Guangwu completely put down the Taoist classics in his hand and slowly walked to the door of the Shang study.

The Zhu Gate was wide open, the biting cold wind blew into the Shang study, Emperor Guangwu looked up at the sky, and suddenly found that the first snow in the capital of this year had quietly fallen, and pieces of fine ice particles mixed with pieces of snowflakes, making the ground paved with white marble slabs become wet.

"I'm afraid this New Year's snow is not small, I, Han Ming, will be happy to meet the snow at the beginning of this year, which is a good sign!" Emperor Guangwu smiled and took a few pieces of drifting snow with his hand, and the cold penetrated into the texture, which lifted the tired emperor's spirits.

Li Xiude walked up to Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty with a large coat and said, "The emperor is going to put it on, it's late at night, you see...?"

"Okay, let Murong Yun come to sleep tonight, and rest in the Shang study room. After Emperor Guangwu finished speaking, he waved his hand to let Li Xiude retreat.

Gonggong Li didn't dare to disturb, but quickly turned around and left, arranging for Murong Yun to wait for the emperor to sleep.

Looking from above, the entire imperial city was shrouded in snowflakes, which seemed extremely peaceful and peaceful.

Han Jiangyun stayed in a landlord's house tonight, this was not Wu Buping's plan, but in the evening, they suddenly found that the post station where they planned to stay was once again looted by those poor and crazy young men, and when they arrived, the entire post station was already stinking with corpses, and those corpses were highly decomposed, and even the post station was completely scrapped.

In the end, it was Yun Lingzi who personally cast a spell and released a cyan flame python that was nearly thirty zhang long, burning the entire post station and those corpses.

It's just that although the mess has been cleaned up, the place where they stayed at night has not yet been found, and in the end, a few guards split up to look for it, and then they found a large village and found a local landlord to spend the night.

The landlord said that he was rich, but he also had more than a dozen acres of land, and he was better than ordinary farmers in terms of food and housing, even the fox fur on Han Yun's body was barely affordable by the landlord who had saved two years of income without eating or drinking.

The head of the landlord's family is called Tian Laoliu, who has studied private school for two years, and has also seen some of the market, looking at the armor and weapons worn by Wu Buping and several people, he knows that these people are from powerful backgrounds, and he is a small landlord who can't be provoked.

"Your Excellency has come from afar, I am not prepared, old man, I can only barely vacate three rooms, and please don't blame me. Tian Laoliu sincerely surrendered his hand and asked for forgiveness.

Wu Buping arched his hand and said: "I'm really sorry to bother me late at night, I am satisfied to have a place to rest, tomorrow morning, we will set off, before that, I want to buy you some dry food on the road, you can rest assured in terms of money, we will not take advantage of you." ”

Tian Lao Liu looked at Wu Buping, but secretly said in his heart that this powerful family is different, even a guard is so strict with the rules, where is it like the handyman in the countryside, obviously he was a broken household, but he just wanted to insert chicken feathers as a sword, and act as a blessing in front of them!

Tian Lao Liu waved his hand again and again, and replied respectfully: "Don't worry, my lord, Xiao Lao'er will immediately prepare dry food and drinking water, and never delay your arrival early tomorrow morning!"

Wu Buping nodded with satisfaction, took out a five-tael silver ingot from the leather bag on his waist, and put it on the desk.

"I think this should be enough, and I bother you to bother. Wu Buping said kindly, and then asked a guard to prepare dry food and drinking water with Tian Laoqi.

As for him, he slowly walked to the guest room on the second floor, opened the window, and the cold wind poured into the window, and the flying snow and ice ballast in the cold wind fell onto the leather armor and slowly turned into water droplets.

"Huh... Why did it suddenly snow?" Wu Buping looked at it blankly for a while, and then as if he remembered something, he jumped out of the window and went directly downstairs, he ran to Tian Laoliu's stable, and took out a clean and soft futon from the carriage.

It turned out that he was afraid that the quilts in the countryside were thin, and the snowy weather was very cold, so he was afraid that Han Jiangyun would be cold.