The First Lackey Under The Empress

He's here!

Sun Xiaozhun's heart leaped.

He knew that the previous words were just a prelude, and this imperial envoy, who was unscrupulous and had tricked them upon entering the city, was finally about to reveal his true intentions.

"Please speak, Your Excellency. This official will answer truthfully," the dark and thin scarlet-robed prefect said with a serious expression.

Zhao Douan curiously raised his hand and drew a circle in the air in the courtyard:

"Since this place is so wealthy, why is the county government office so simple? That county magistrate dares to be greedy, so he must be a extravagant person. It's hard to imagine the yamen being so shabby."

Sun Xiaozhun said solemnly:

"Great villains and evildoers are good at disguising themselves. That Wang Chusheng has always been simple in his style and has always presented himself as incorruptible, which is why he has been able to hide it until now."

You answered quickly. You must have prepared your speech…

Zhao Douan stared at him, nodded slightly, and accepted the answer.

His gaze passed over the golden autumn chrysanthemums and landed on the two fat white geese under the tree. He sighed softly:

"Prefect Sun is right. How can a truly poor yamen raise such fat geese?

I once heard that to distinguish whether a person is loyal or treacherous, you should not look at their clothes and appearance, but at the people around them.

A gentleman is close to a gentleman, and a villain is close to a villain. I just don't know how many geese have been fattened in this Taicang County Yamen."

Sun Xiaozhun didn't say anything, but he heard the hidden meaning:

"Your Excellency means…"

Zhao Douan suddenly asked:

"Prefect Sun, are you from a poor family?"

The topic changed so abruptly that Prefect Sun was caught off guard!

He was stunned for a moment before nodding and mocking himself:

"The words 'poor family' are too flattering to this official. I'm just from a small family."

A poor family is still a family… This statement may not be appropriate in the Great Yu Dynasty.

Six hundred years of national fortune without a change of dynasty is almost a miracle.

But in these six hundred years, the powerful clans and aristocratic families in the dynasty have changed time and time again.

Some have declined naturally, and others have been deliberately targeted by the Great Yu royal family.

Some of the older poor families have long been as dilapidated as ordinary people, without connections, only the legend that "their ancestors were once rich."

Sun Xiaozhun is one of the very few poor people who have risen through political achievements.

His experience cannot be called legendary, but rather steady and down-to-earth.

If there is anything special about him, it is that he is one of the few officials who actively chose to take office in remote and difficult counties.

Because he can endure hardship, he can seize the positions that the children of the great aristocratic families look down on and climb up through political achievements.

"Well, since you have suffered, Prefect Sun, did you raise geese when you were young?" Zhao Douan asked again.

Sun Xiaozhun frowned and replied truthfully:

"Not just when I was young. When I was a county magistrate in Lingnan, my wife raised chickens, ducks, pigs, and dogs at home, and even the vegetables were grown by ourselves."

What a miserable county magistrate… Zhao Douan said:

"When I was in the capital, the Prime Minister once told me a story about how he herded sheep when he was young. He said that sheep were interesting, and that the flock followed blindly, so they needed a leader.

But I'm curious. Looking at this flock of geese, there is no such thing as a 'lead goose'.

Each one is about the same. When they gather together, they are like a cloud. If there is a slight disturbance outside, they will scatter like mist, clamoring loudly and fanning the flames, blinding people's eyes."

Sun Xiaozhun was initially confused, but gradually, his expression changed.

Zhao Douan stood in front of a large patch of bright chrysanthemums.

He reached out and picked a chrysanthemum.

But his gaze went beyond the county yamen and looked towards the towering red mountains in the south.

The yellow in the foreground and the red in the distance are like gold and fire…

Zhao Douan suddenly turned his head and said with a smile that was not a smile:

"But I think that there must still be a 'leader' in the flock of geese, otherwise how would they survive? When they run, how do they determine the direction? Prefect Sun, where do you think that 'lead goose' is?"

Where is the lead goose?

A question.

Sun Xiaozhun's heart skipped a beat. He lowered his eyes and said:

"This official believes that a flock of sheep is different from a flock of geese. The former is ultimately a strong livestock, while the latter is a weak bird."

"Oh, so if the birds are too weak, they don't need a leader?"

"Since we can't see it, it must not exist."

"No, it exists," Zhao Douan shook his head and said:

"The leader of the flock of geese is the owner who raises them. Do you know where their owner is?"

Sweat broke out on Sun Xiaozhun's forehead again. He was silent for a moment, then braced himself and shook his head:

"This official doesn't know. Please enlighten me, Your Excellency."

Zhao Douan stared at him deeply, released the hand holding the chrysanthemum, and let the petals between his fingers be blown by the wind, floating in the yard:

"People raise geese to eat their eggs. Therefore, whoever gets the eggs is the owner."

"People raise geese, but they also have to prevent them from being stolen. Therefore, whoever stops me from catching the geese is the owner."

"Prefect Sun, do you think this is right?"

Accompanied by the three soul-searching questions, Sun Xiaozhun's head drooped little by little.

When he finished asking, the shrewd and capable prefect was a head shorter than him out of thin air.

Others may not understand the veiled words, but how could Sun Xiaozhun not understand?

Zhao Douan suspected him?

The private visit was a suspicion.

As the indirect arranger and the chief official who obstructed the investigation by outsiders, Prefect Sun undoubtedly had a hard time clearing himself of suspicion.

What's more, Song Ti-ju's list clearly mentioned that Prefect Sun had taken money from County Magistrate Wang Chusheng.

At this moment.

Hundreds of cavalrymen sealed off the county yamen. Prefect Sun was isolated and helpless. Zhao Douan revealed his true intentions and interrogated him.

Silence.

After a long while, Sun Xiaozhun slowly raised his head. The body that had shrunk down rose section by section.

He was no longer obsequious, and there was no longer any humble flattery on his face. He just looked at Zhao Douan calmly and said:

"Lord Zhao, I have been in office for less than two years, even counting the full days."

Zhao Douan said softly:

"Three years of a clean prefect, ten thousand taels of silver. Two years is not short."

Sun Xiaozhun's chest heaved, as if he was trying his best to suppress the emotions in his chest. His eyes did not blink:

"Lord Zhao, when I was a county magistrate, my wife not only raised geese, but also raised fish. At first, the fish she raised always died in the tank. I asked the fishermen for advice, and they said that my wife changed the water too often.

The water in the fish tank can be green, sour, and smelly, and the fish can still live. Even changing half the water is acceptable. But if you change it all at once to clean water, it really won't survive."

Tsk, I didn't expect him to be a fish farmer… Zhao Douan said:

"If they die, just replace them with new fish. That's not a reason to tolerate stinky water."

Sun Xiaozhun suddenly became excited:

"But there is gray between black and white, Lord Zhao!"

At this moment, the Taicang prefect, whose temperament was different from that of ordinary officials, seemed tired of the Buddhist-like exchange.

He pierced the window paper with one hand, stared at Zhao Douan, and said:

"Your Excellency! You are an official in the capital, so you should know that even under the feet of the Son of Heaven and the Sage, under his very nose, the officialdom cannot be clean!

Not to mention anything else, but every year in winter and summer, officials from all over the Great Yu Dynasty send what to the capital in carts? Winter sends charcoal tribute, summer sends ice tribute. What charcoal and ice? They are all tributes."

"Who doesn't know this? Don't you know, or doesn't the Sage know? Aren't they all tacitly agreed to and acquiesced to?

Why?

When I was a county magistrate in Lingnan, I didn't understand, but later I learned that local officials always have various ways to make money and can eat their fill.

But Beijing officials can't!

Beijing officials are squeezed into that pool in the capital to grab food, and each one has a frighteningly large appetite. How is that enough?

If Beijing officials are not full, they will not show any mercy when assessing local officials. Are local officials afraid? How can they not be afraid?

"Not to mention officials, even ordinary people, when they get sick and ask a doctor to come, they have to seal a red paper packet, not to be cured, but to be afraid that people will be unhappy and treat you badly."

"This is to protect their official hats. If they don't find a backer, who can feel at ease? Who can sleep peacefully?

Then what about those who want to be promoted?

Not to mention, relying purely on political achievements, without anyone in Beijing speaking for you, how would the Son of Heaven know about you?

Sun Xiaozhun spoke faster, saying so much in one breath.

His words were extremely frank, without any concealment.

Zhao Douan was stunned.

It wasn't that he was surprised by the content.

But he was surprised that the prefect was giving up?

Or what:

"Prefect Sun, you…"

Sun Xiaozhun waved his hand, interrupting him:

"Lord Zhao, please listen to me first."

He took two steps back, with some self-deprecation on his face:

"You must be surprised why I said this. It's not that complicated. Wang Chusheng committed a crime and ran away. It looks like he can't be found.

Then who will take the blame next?

It must be a person with weight to be able to give an explanation. Who is suitable?

After thinking about it, I am the most suitable.

I am both the immediate superior and don't have a large family as a foundation.

After all, we can't let Governor Gao and Inspector Liu take the blame, right? In that case, I'm afraid that I, the prefect, won't have many days left to do it, so I might as well explain it clearly."

He took a deep breath, almost with red eyes, staring at Zhao Douan, and said:

"Lord Zhao, I know that since you dare to reveal your identity and directly mobilize troops here, you must have grasped some evidence. That's right, I did take Wang Chusheng's tribute, but who hasn't taken it?"

After a pause, Sun Xiaozhun suddenly bowed and made a salute, his tone sincere and earnest:

"Lord Zhao, you can't investigate! If you investigate, it will really be out of control."