How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

County Magistrate Liu had never seen such a scene before. He was so frightened that he peed himself. His whole body was shaking like a scared mouse. He ran away with his head in his hands, saying, "Your Highness! Your Highness! Your Highness, please spare me! I know about this! I will investigate this matter thoroughly, send the beggar to the Children's Affairs Bureau, and arrest all the beggars who profited from the children and put them in jail. Let them do labor to reduce their fines until they can be self-reliant!"

Xie Chengze chuckled and raised his hand to signal Wuhen to stop. "Hey, Magistrate Liu, isn't this quite clear? I thought you had enough food and money to eat after serving as an official for so many years, and you had forgotten those sage books you read in order to pass the imperial examinations."

"Your humble servant... please don't forget!" County Magistrate Liu folded his hands and bowed deeply to Xie Chengze in a mournful manner.

"Go and do your work. I'll be waiting here." Xie Chengze ate the last wonton. After County Magistrate Liu stumbled away, he said to Xie Zimiao, "Write a letter to my father. In today's world, the corruption of county magistrates alone is hard to guard against. Supervisors should be added to the county offices to supervise the officials in each state and county. The above reports should be submitted to the Ministry of Personnel on time. Any omissions and discrepancies in the handwriting should be investigated by officials."

Xie Zimiao blinked and asked, "Second brother, why don't you report to our father and remove the county magistrates of Zhuolu and Cangfu counties?"

Xie Chengze smiled and patted his head, "Someone will do this, and small fry like us don't need to get involved."

Xie Zimiao blinked in confusion, and it took him a while to react, "Master Shen, go and do it."

Xie Chengze pinched his soft face and said, "You are so smart. You are worthy of being my brother."

Xie Zimiao couldn't help but blush and lower his head in embarrassment.

County Magistrate Liu acted quickly and got things done quickly, which showed how lazy he was in his official duties before, which led to Cangfu County being so depressed that even the wontons sold at a wonton stall had only the amount of meat filling as small as a fingernail.

"This place has picturesque scenery and is very cool even in summer. If it can attract wealthy people from the south to come here to escape the summer heat, it will surely boost a lot of business." Xie Chengze said as he looked at the scenery in the distance.

Upon hearing this, the prince's guard beside him could not help but speak up, "Your Highness, you may not know that ten years ago, many wealthy people from the south came to Cangfu County to escape the summer heat, and the local area was considered prosperous."

Xie Chengze was stunned for a moment, then he sighed, "The county magistrate is incompetent, and the people are suffering."

There are beggars wandering around all over the place, and they are reluctant to leave the shops because of their poverty. No wonder the rich people are unwilling to come here now. They are not their enemies. If this place does not accommodate the rich, there will be other places that will accommodate them.

Xie Chengze sighed, and the result of this sigh was that Wuhen took out a box of heavy silver from Magistrate Liu's house, "Your Highness, there are still a lot of official silver with worn silver bureau marks hidden in the basement."

Magistrate Liu knelt down again with his legs weak, his body shaking like a shaking dustpan.

"This silver..." Xie Chengze deliberately slowed down his tone and said meaningfully, "It looks a lot like the Yizhou disaster relief silver I kept at County Magistrate Liu's house. What does County Magistrate Liu think?"

"Your Highness is right! This is indeed Yizhou's disaster relief money!" County Magistrate Liu was quick-witted. He immediately prostrated himself on the ground and said with a smile, "Your Highness, please take it away quickly! I will follow your instructions and serve the people well in the future!"

Xie Chengze nodded with satisfaction and signaled for someone to take the stolen money away.

Magistrate Liu looked at the fruits of his years of embezzlement with bitterness, all of which became Xie Chengze's private goods. He thought to himself that he had thought that this Second Prince was truly working for the people, but it seemed that he was just using this as a cover to take the money for himself.

It's his bad luck!

The next day, the fully prepared convoy set off again.

Shen Yuan seemed to be really angry. He disappeared for the whole afternoon and the whole night, and only returned when the convoy set off. When he saw Xie Chengze, he did not say hello, but walked away from him and did not speak to him.

Xie Chengze didn't want to get into trouble, so when he had nothing to do, he played chess with Xie Zimiao.

For more than half a month after that, whenever Xie Chengze arrived at a county town, several boxes of silver would appear in his carriage. Shen Yuan probably knew that this guy had gone to scare the county magistrate again and took away all the stolen money.

He wanted to see what Xie Chengze would do with the money. If he took it for himself, he would definitely report it!

The carriage continued to move forward. If one wanted to enter Yizhou, one had to cross the Guanzhong Plain and enter the Qinbaling Mountains, take the dry road through Jiange, reach Jiangling, and then go down the Three Gorges before entering Yizhou.

If you want to cross the Qinbaling Mountains, you need to take the Baoxiadao. The Baoxiadao is a plank road built several dynasties ago for walking. It is a little dilapidated now, but it still lingers among the mountains like an old dragon. It is a place for students from the south to go north to Beijing and pass the imperial examinations to benefit the people, a place for the court to transport disaster relief grain to help the people affected by the disaster, and a place for merchants from the north and south to exchange what they have and what they need, so that the people can live in peace and prosperity.

If they wanted to take the Baoxiade Road, they had to abandon their carriages. Every time Xie Chengze arrived at a county town, he would exchange the silver he had "embezzled" from the previous county town for silver notes. Therefore, he did not have much to carry, and he led everyone lightly into the Qinbaling Mountains.

-

The Baoxia Road was sparsely populated, and Xie Chengze thought that he could catch up with the relief convoy that had set out earlier by hurrying, but unexpectedly, he met a few unexpected people along the way.

That day, everyone was on their way when they suddenly heard someone shouting for help. When they rushed over, they found that it was a few young men. One of them accidentally fell off the plank road and was stuck in the middle of a crack in the rocks. The others were frantically trying to help.

After rescuing the man, they found out that they were all scholars.

"My name is Bian Yangchun, his name is Ouyang Jiu, and this is Ji Songhua..." One of the scholars who seemed to be more talkative introduced them one by one, "Thank you for saving me, what are your names?"

"My last name is Cheng, and my given name is Ze. This is my younger brother Cheng Miao." Xie Chengze also introduced.

Bian Yangchun looked at Shen Yuan again. It was this man with great martial arts skills who rescued Ji Songhua who was stuck in the crack of the rock.

Just as Shen Yuan was about to speak, Xie Chengze at the side spoke first, "This is my family's security guard, Shen Daqiang!"

Shen Daqiang: ...

"It's Brother Shen Daqiang, thank you very much." Bian Yangchun hurriedly bowed to express his gratitude, and Ji Songhua, who was still in shock, also bowed to express his gratitude.

Shen Daqiang: "...It's just a piece of cake."

For some reason, Bian Yangchun felt that brother Shen Daqiang seemed to be gritting his teeth.

"But, aren't you students? Why do you come to Qinbaling?" Xie Chengze was puzzled. The Spring Examination had already ended and the next one would be next year. Why did these scholars appear here?

"Hey? Don't you know? We are planning to go to Yizhou..." Bian Yangchun said in surprise. Just as he was about to say something, Ji Songhua beside him suddenly coughed twice.

The Qinbaling Mountain was very humid, and Bian Yangchun thought he was cold, so he took off his coat and put it on him, then looked at Xie Chengze.

He saw Xie Chengze was wearing fancy clothes and his family background was not ordinary. He seemed to be unaware of the matter, so he asked tentatively, "Brother, don't you plan to take the imperial examination?"

Xie Chengze nodded and said innocently, "My father is a merchant in Huaiyang County. I am stupid and really not good at studying. I gave up long ago."

Bian Yangchun thought to himself, "Why did you come to Qinbaling? Are you going there to do business?"

Xie Chengze shook his head. "I heard that Yizhou has magnificent mountains and rivers, so I plan to go there for a visit."

"Oh!" Bian Yangchun heard this and sincerely advised, "Brother! Yizhou suffered a flood more than a month ago. Now I'm afraid there are starving people everywhere and people are living in misery. It's not suitable for sightseeing!"

"In that case, why are you all going to Yizhou?" Xie Chengze asked puzzledly. At least he had guards with him. These scholars looked as weak as the wind, so why would they go to that famine-stricken area?

Bian Yangchun smiled and said, "It seems that you really don't know. The current emperor has issued a test paper on how to deal with the flood in Yizhou. Those who answer well will be admitted as an exception. Our hometowns are close to Yizhou, so we are planning to come to Yizhou for an inspection. If there are officials coming here to deal with the flood, we can also take the opportunity to learn, right?"

"I'm afraid all the students in the world know this news now!" Bian Yangchun said with a smile.

Xie Chengze: "Oh~oh~~~"