Chapter 77 – Do you really want to see the sword?

This night, Su Yan in the company of personal guards to pick lamps at night, to Jinglong Emperor wrote a long zhangzuo, and a letter of greeting to the East Palace, intends to take to the post station at dawn. Covered with the “immediate delivery” stamp, four hundred miles expedited, six days will arrive in the capital.

On this night, Gao Shuo went to the Jinyiwei guardhouse in Yan’an city, sealed a small roll of paper slips into a wax cylinder, and tied it to the leg of a carrier pigeon, which would arrive at the North Zhenfu Division of the capital three days later.

This night, the ringing horse pirates of the disciples with a box of human head, wearing stars and moon fast horse, two days later will arrive at the eagle’s mouth mountain.

This night, Shen Qi, Commander of the Commander of the Brocade Guards, was released from prison after his term of imprisonment had expired. He stood alone in the empty and lonesome court of Su House, looking at a hook of the moon in the sky.

King Yu’s carriage passed by Huanghua Square with a stack of the Ministry of Works’ newly drawn architectural drawings of the academy. The carriage was ordered to stop at the entrance of the Su Mansion, and the king lifted the curtain to take a long look, but shook his head and left when the attendant respectfully asked if he wanted to get off the carriage and go inside.

Yangxin Hall, lights like day, the emperor points on the folders on the batch of red, asked the Prince what insights. Crown Prince uttered a giggle to answer the strain, but in the father frowned, a bright idea, said a different way of thinking. The emperor just commented a “do not follow the right path, where to learn”, suddenly and silent.

The Prince missed Su Yan, missed him very, very much.

–

The next day at the beginning of the hour, the government office back room, inside and outside the dynasty known as the “iron blood imperial historian” Lu An Gao sitting in a circle chair, hale and hearty to almost exuberant, his face can not be seen traces of last night’s shock.

Yan’an Prefecture Governor Zhou Dao paced in, courteously bowing and exchanging salutes toward him, sitting on the master’s seat and chatting about last night’s forensic events.

After two rounds of tea, another important party has not yet come, Lu An lightening cold grunt: “This Su XII, really arrogant, about the hour to come to the debate, how late!”

Governor Zhou felt slighted, and his heart was also a bit unhappy, but still rounded off the situation, “He is new to the country, perhaps he is not used to the water. This official sends an errand boy to go to the inn to explore the situation.”

At this time the subordinate came in to announce, said Su Yan arrived. Su Yan then walked into the back hall, smiled and said, “I’m grateful to the governor for his concern, this official is unhurt, but also used breakfast on the street, Shaanxi oil splattered noodles and gourd head is really famous.”

These two local dishes are Zhou Zhifu’s beloved, immediately expressed his approval: “then set aside some peppercorns with cornelian sauce, slightly numb and spicy, better flavor.”

Su Yan said, “Why don’t we see chili sauce in the store? Jujube is slightly bitter in its pungency, not as spicy and sweet as chili peppers, which have a much better taste.”

“Chili? Where is it a specialty? This official has been immersed in the foodways for many years, but I don’t even know about this.”

Su Yan suddenly remembered that at this moment the American continent has just been discovered, chili pepper has not yet been imported from Mexico to China, but also have to be another few decades to eat. Can not help but regret: “is the western barbarian spice, I heard in Quanzhou, but have not yet seen the physical.”

Zhou Dao followed suit with regret: “This official will ask my friends and relatives in Quanzhou harbor to pay more attention to the Western barbarian merchant ships, and if there are chili pepper seeds they will buy them and send them back for planting. I planted ginger and garlic, peppers, cornelian cherry, mustard greens in my back garden, and there is still an empty row of land, just in time–“

“Uh-huh!” Lu An Shine coughed heavily.

Zhou Dao instantly came back to his senses, realizing that he couldn’t help but talk to someone about diet again, a little embarrassed, busy drinking tea to cover up.

Lu An Gao knows that this Zhou Zhifu is a conservative more than, sharp into the lack of lukewarm nature, and even sometimes out of weakness, otherwise the rule would not have been the various bandits to make the chickens fly. This year, if he is not sitting in Yan’an, decisive, Zhou Zhifu can be thieves and bandits mixed with shame to eat. The more I think, the more I feel that I have worked hard, and intervene in a bar, pointing fingers Su Yan is especially hateful.

He said to Su Yan without a good voice: “Today we are all gathered together, there is something to be said, this official has to draw the line with Su Royal Historian – last night your rude behavior, I see in the face of Zhou Zhifu, not to blame. In the future, where the scope of the anti-theft and banditry matters, this official’s duties in the body, full authority, you Su Qinghe shall not interfere. And the matter of raising horses, you go to manage yourself, love how to toss how to toss, I do not care.”

These words are really arrogant and strong, punch can, but also Su Yan the governor of the governor degraded into a horse breeder.

Su Yan, however, did not immediately get angry, but turned to ask Zhou Dao, “What does the governor think of the opinion of Imperial Magistrate Lu?”

Zhou Zhifu can not eat the bottom of the new Su Royal Historian – look too young, no hair on the mouth to do things not firm, but speak to the east and west, so people can not feel the way.

He also has a relationship in the Beijing officials, listening to one of the language with ridicule: this year, there is a new noble Enke, quite a holy favor, the Prince and Prince Yu also like him. He is very good at jumping, in the capital bit this bite that, fall a chicken feather, the result is not only hitched a life of the Commander of the Jinyiwei, but also the Marquis of the State Relatives also the whole half dead. If he goes to Shaanxi, you have to be careful, Lord Zhou, don’t be bitten by him.

And listen to another praise: this year, there is a talented EnKe, to the official micro young body, angry banging DengWenDu, bravely broke into FengTianGate, face to face reprimand power and treachery, listed its twelve major crimes, presenting its mountain of evidence, and ultimately for the teacher of the injustice to clear up the wrongs, so that the power of the treacherous to be brought to justice. It is really a chaste minister, a model of purity! If he goes to Shaanxi, you might as well make friends with him, as his future is unlimited.

Zhou Zhifu faced with diametrically opposed evaluation, do not know whose good to listen to, and finally decided to take a step and see what happens, listen more and less to express their views.

Seeing Su Yan ask about himself, Zhou Zhifu stroked his beard and said a thousand famous lines, “Well …… well …… hey.”

Lu An Gao light secretly annoyed, with a glance at Zhou Zhifu, signaling him not and mud, bravely stood out for the truth. Zhou Zhifu was forced by him to have no choice, after deliberation to open: “Su imperial history you see, Lu imperial history said quite a few points of truth ……”.

Su Yan interrupted, “Lord Governor means to approve of him?”

Zhou Zhifu began to “uh-uh-hee” again, and Lu Qisheng skimmed the tea froth with the lid of his cup, his chin lifted high.

“Three people voted and two people agreed, so it’s reasonable to say that it’s useless for me to object any more.” Su Yan regretfully sighed, and his words steeply changed, “However, there are more than three people here. Before I take a stand, it’s better to listen to what that person has to say first.”

Governor Zhou looked around, “Which one is that one?”

Lu An Light Shine snorted coldly, “Falsehood!”

Su Yan drew out a yellow silk scroll from the sleeve of his wide official robe, and said in a solemn voice: “The holy decree is here, please listen to the holy instruction of the two adults!”

Lu An Lightning’s hand shook, the teacup nearly crashed to the ground, and the hot tea splashed onto his thighs, scalding him so much that he jumped up and busied himself with setting the teacup down on the table.

On the other hand, Zhou Zhifu expected this, straightened the hem of his official uniform, and knelt down towards the imperial decree in Su Yan’s hand.

Imperial Inspector Lu also had no choice but to kneel down. Su Yan kicked his knee with the tip of his foot: ”Kneeling crookedly, Brother Lu! This edict is not for you, it is for me. I’m not a eunuch, kneeling me for what. Kneel in the direction of the northeast Forbidden City!”

The Lu Royal Historian gritted his teeth, moved his knees, turned to the northeast, and said in a shocking voice, “I, Lu An, shine to hear the holy instruction!”

“I, the Way of the Week, listen to the sacred teachings.”

“…… Shaanxi recently the official may not be people, horse political abolition is exhausted. This special order er to go to the other place, supervise peer Taisu Temple, Yuan Supervisory Temple officials specialize in horse politics.” Su Yan paused here.

Lu An Gao raised his eyes to look at him, and his face was quite proud: Look, the court ordered you to specialize in horse politics, who gave you the power to extend your hand so long?

Su Yan smiled slightly, continued to read: “In addition to horse politics, officials, border troops, security, agriculture and commerce should be involved, if there is no sense, but also by the cheap, full control. Governor, inspector and other Yamen shall not interfere with your duties. Shaanxi are, cloth, according to the three Secretary of the following officials, only the unity, all listen to the constraints of the appointment. I respectfully submit.”

Every time he read a sentence, Lu An Gao’s face will be three times white, when he heard “only the unity, all listen to the constraints of the commission”, simply no color, out of shape shouted: “In this case, you also when what the royal historian, directly sealed you a Shaanxi King!

“Imperial Magistrate Lu is wrong.” Su Yan smiled and said, “I’m just here to clean up the garden. Clean up the withered grass and leaves, and trim off the branches that are not in line, and when this garden is restored to neatness, I will have to return to the capital to resume my duties.

“Governor Zhou, you don’t mind if I rake this border of land in Yan’an Province and fertilize it to catch the insects, do you? That way when I’m gone, you can plant cornelianthus as you like and chili peppers as you like in a clean and fertile field.”

“Don’t mind, don’t mind! Since the imperial edict is written clearly, Su imperial historian despite do, this official must fully cooperate!” Zhou Da Dao got up and arched his hand, secretly saying: fortunately, I saved a hand for a rainy day, and now I have room to speak atlantically.

He was glad, but also a little worried – although the Imperial Commissioner Lu is arbitrary, good use of harsh laws, but thanks to his deterrent, Yan’an City is still considered peaceful. This new Su Royal Historian is young and powerful, and I do not know if he can make things happen. In case you can not suppress the scene, the reverse folded in, the local will not never have peace?

Su Yan turned to Lu An Gao, with a straight face: ”All finished, it’s finally my turn to take a stand.

“Lu An Gao, you do not care for the people and despise human life; you do not think about governance and act brutally; you do not listen to advice and are headstrong and self-opinionated. You do not deserve to be an official! Now I hold the emperor’s edict, dismiss you ‘specializing in arresting thieves’ duties, remove you from the official body of the imperial inspectorate, cut the registration for the people, ordered to escort you back to the capital, waiting for the disposition of the holy orders.

“I have already written a zhengbiao, flying report to the imperial court, when you return to the capital, there will be a deserved punishment waiting for you.”

Lu An’s light emitting legs went limp and he fell to the ground, roaring incredulously, “I’m an official of the imperial court! My name is on the official register of the Ministry of Justice! You’re just a seventh-grade imperial historian, under the same jurisdiction as me, what qualifications do you have to dismiss me from my post? Simply ridiculous!”

Su Yan held the imperial decree in his hand and looked down with his eyes downcast: “This imperial decree written by the Son of Heaven himself is my qualification. Since the officials below the three divisions are all appointed by my constraints, what is wrong with dismissing those who are actually not fit for duty?”

“I don’t believe it!” Lu An Gao exclaimed in despair, “You forged this imperial decree! I’ve been an official for eleven years, and I’ve never seen the Emperor issue such a biased and blind edict!”

“Slandering me for forging the imperial decree is just a matter of course, but also dare to speak out of offense, you are thinking that I didn’t cut off your head on the spot, so you can’t enjoy it, right?” Su Yan said sternly, “Resisting the decree and disrespecting it, do you want to see the Shangfang Sword of decapitating first before deciding?”

“–Shangfang Sword! The Emperor even gave you the Shangfang Sword?” Lu An Lightning surveyed his surroundings, and a look of fear emerged in his eyes.

Su Yan laughed coldly: “Do you really want to see the sword? I’m afraid that once this sword is unsheathed, your head will fall to the ground, just like those seven criminals last night.”

Lu An light shone and froze, lost in thought, “I’m not looking! I won’t look ……”

Su Yan said to Governor Zhou, “Borrow your yamen’s servants to escort Lu An Gao to the capital.”

Zhou Zhifu nodded his head sadly and ordered people to come in and remove Lu Angao’s veil and official uniform on the spot. Lu An Gao was half frame half drag, staggered out, his mouth is still murmuring: “Shangfang sword exclusive right to kill, can not be lightly given to the fortunate minister, the imperial master confused ah ……”.

Su Yan heart, you again so stubborn and also committed, to the capital face the king, I am afraid it is also a word of death.

He used the Shangfang sword to scare Lu Angao, but did not intend to really do it. Lu Angao is no longer an imperial historian, the wind constitutional officer is already noble, and should be dealt with according to the law if he commits a crime. Compared to later generations, this is a department of colleagues, are engaged in disciplinary inspection, he really hand to kill the person, other colleagues how to look at him, but also do not want to mix in the unit?

Zhou Dao’s mind gradually calmed down, he took a long breath and arched his hand towards Su Yan: “We will rely on Imperial Secretary Su next.”

Su Yan can also see that the governor can be used to do work, but not to get ideas, so he said directly: “First of all, the shifu law is abolished. The government issued a proclamation to appease the people, calling for the return of their fields, exempted from this year’s taxes. Where the loss of land fleeing the stragglers, allowed to surrender to the officials, can be exempted from punishment, and the amount of their number of people, give the allocation of pasture land.”

“What about the thieves and bandits who refused to join the government and robbed their homes?”

“Thieves and bandits still need to be arrested, but to appease and polarize, try to recall those who are willing to farm, turn bandits into people, you can weaken their power. In fact, this is just a beginning, first show the government’s attitude, immediately after we have to solve, is the problem of the people’s pastoralism. The ‘Household Horse Law’ must be repealed before the people can truly labor in peace.”

Zhou Dao was astonished, “Abolish the ‘Household Horse Law’? How can this be done? This law was issued by Emperor Taizu himself, and has been in use for a hundred years, and has never had the intention of repealing it.”

Su Yan said, now do not want to abolish the method, do you want to let it become the trigger of the uprising? Anyway, sooner or later, the people’s pastoralism is also to decline, forget a few more decades, which year, the court had to sell stallions on a large scale, can only buy horses from the enemy, then there is really no way to return to heaven.

But this cannot be told to Zhou Dao, Su Yan thought about it and said: “Everything has a lifespan, and so does the court policy, which must evolve with the times. Civilian pastoralism for a hundred years, has gradually exhausted the vitality, the people load is too heavy. The key is still to get the official pastoral up. If the court supervisor to raise the war horse, enough for the border, naturally there is no need for civil animal husbandry.”

The more Zhou Dao listens, the more he feels that his head is as big as a bucket – he also knows that the disease is difficult to cure, according to Su Yan’s idea, it must be reformed and reorganized in a radical way, the implementation of which I do not know how difficult it is.

Fear of a lifetime, then subconsciously want to shirk, so said: “This matter I a government official can not do the main, must be the nod of the governor Wei Taoshi.”

“It’s that one that went to the fold, to lay off most of the rows of Taisu Temple and Yuanma Temple, Shaanxi governor Wei Quan Wei Tang Yuan, right.” Su Yan’s heart calculating, to the reform program slowly have conceptualization, “I sooner or later also want to find that Tang Yuan adults, but not the present time.”

He coldly asked, “Does the governor know about last night’s court case?”

Governor Zhou was stunned and nodded, “I know.”

“While eating breakfast on the street today, I heard that the heads of the prisoners ordered by Imperial Secretary Lu to be hung on poles outside the city had disappeared overnight.”

“It is likely that they were stolen by their accomplices during the night, and this kind of thing has happened before. Under the strict arrest and punishment of Mr. Lu, the horse thieves have recently disappeared, and the main force is hiding somewhere, with only a few minions operating outside.”

“Then what is the governor going to do about the thief and bandit named Qi Mang in the large prison, who is said to be one of the leaders of the Rattlesnake Thieves?”

Governor Zhou frowned and said, “This person is fierce and wanton, last time when he robbed a certain official gentleman, because of the fierce resistance, he even killed the women and maidservants in his home. There was also a previous shipment of ordnance and grain to Ningxia Wei, he also led the crowd to rob, so that delayed the border war, according to the law should be decapitated.”

Su Yan said, “Since he has committed a capital offense, he will have a public trial at the entrance of the vegetable market, so that the people of the whole city can see and hear clearly.”

Governor Zhou nodded and said, “It makes.”

“In addition, it is necessary to prevent accomplices from robbing the prison. Strengthen the security guards at the city gates and the prison, deploy additional manpower, and instruct the soldiers to be vigilant and not to be careless.”

Zhou Zhifu promised one by one, see Su Yan transfer degrees, is a reliable, the bottom of the heart stone fell most of the way.

Su Yan said dry mouth, poured himself a cup of tea, drank it in one breath, looked at the wind and clouds outside the window for the change of the sky, said, “This day is too hot and stuffy, I’m afraid that there will be a big rainstorm in the afternoon.”

A battle of words and relocating thoughts back to his mind seemed to have drained his strength. “Lord Governor do not forget my instructions just now.” Su Yan lazily arched his hand towards Zhou Dao to take his leave.

Walking out of the back hall, he said to Jing Hongchou, who was standing outside the door waiting, “Ah Chou, I want to go back to the inn to catch up on my sleep, and when I wake up, I want to eat mutton meat buns, and chilled Huang Gui thick wine.”