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

After Xie Chengze arrived at the prefectural government office, the first thing he did was to go to the treasury to check the silver.

Liang Wanda was well prepared. Even though there were only a few boxes of silver in the vault, he said calmly, "Nearly half of the 102 counties in Yizhou have suffered from floods. The closer to the middle reaches of the Minjiang River, the more serious the disaster. If the silver is shared, there won't be much left. I even lost a lot of money."

Xie Chengze glanced at him.

Although more than half of the counties in Yizhou were affected by the disaster, the 300,000 taels of silver allocated by the court focused on the counties that were severely affected and the reconstruction of river embankments. As for the counties that were less affected, they could still survive by holding on and did not need disaster relief at all.

But Xie Chengze doesn't care about these.

He said to Liang Wanda, "I believe in the ability of Governor Liang and will be able to handle this disaster relief. You can handle the rest of the matter yourself."

"I will definitely live up to your trust, Your Highness!" Liang Wanda saluted hastily, but a hint of understanding and disdain flashed in his eyes.

He had figured out that this Second Prince was a man who came here to gild himself. Once the affairs in Yizhou were settled, he would gain all the fame and honor, and when he returned to the capital in the future he would be able to report to the emperor.

He likes people who are easy to fool. If it were someone else, he would probably go to check the granary first.

"I will be leaving now. Your Excellency the Prefect, please go about your business." Xie Chengze waved his hand and left the treasury lazily.

He was just here to go through the motions. As for inspecting the granary or something like that, isn't that just a waste of time?

Don't worry about him~

"Farewell, Your Highness!" Liang Wanda hurriedly leaned over and bowed to see him off. After Xie Chengze left, he couldn't help but stroke his beard and laughed, feeling happy and satisfied that the other party had fooled him.

"What is Lord Liang laughing at?"

Liang Wanda was startled when he suddenly heard someone talking next to him. He turned around and found that it was Shen Yuan, who came with the two princes to supervise the disaster relief.

He had already inquired about it. This Shen Yuan was the grandson of the retired Grand Tutor Shen. Because he was favored by the emperor, he was appointed as the Deputy Minister of Rites. Now he also served as the Privy Councilor to come here for supervision. He was a real newcomer.

It was easier to fool the newcomers. Liang Wanda didn't take the other party seriously at all, but he still had to be polite to save face, so he replied, "I was just thinking that it is a blessing for the people of Yizhou to have a prince who cares about his people like the Second Prince!"

Shen Yuan sneered.

Liang Wanda heard the mockery in the laughter and couldn't help but look at the young Privy Councilor.

Could it be that this Privy Councilor is not on good terms with the Second Prince?

Liang Wanda was just thinking about it when he heard Shen Yuan say calmly, "This official has been ordered to supervise the disaster relief. Looking at the amount of silver in the treasury of the government office, I believe that Prefect Liang has already distributed the relief silver and recorded the relief silver allocated to each county. I hope Prefect Liang can take out the account book so that this official can take a look."

Liang Wanda smiled, "Of course, Lord Shen, please wait a moment."

Being young is being young. Even if you have a passion to benefit the people, it is not so easy to see through the ins and outs of the officialdom.

What can one tell from an account book? He can't possibly take the account book and go to each county office to confirm whether it is true or not, right?

No one would do such a thankless task.

Liang Wanda quickly took the account book and handed it to Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan took a quick look and found that because the disaster relief silver was 100,000 taels more than in his previous life, the records above had some fluctuations. However, there was no doubt that everything recorded in this account book was false.

Very good, as long as Liang Wanda still takes the money, he can collect evidence and destroy Xie Chengze's dream of ascending the throne.

Shen Yuan put the account books into his arms. These account books had backup copies, so there was no problem for him to take them away. However, in order to lower Liang Wanda's vigilance, Shen Yuan still said, "Well, no problem."

Liang Wanda smiled immediately, "Of course, I would never dare to do such a thing of corruption and abuse of power."

"Well, let's go to the granary and take a look." Shen Yuan turned around and walked out of the bank, saying lightly.

Liang Wanda: ...

The Second Prince didn't even go to the granary, why would you, a newcomer, go there? Are you trying to make yourself look smarter than the Second Prince?

However, even if he went to see it, he would definitely not see anything unusual. Liang Wanda raised his foot and followed Shen Yuan, smiling meaningfully, "I will lead the way, sir. Please."

……

That night.

After Xie Chengze bathed and changed his clothes, his black hair fell like a waterfall. The slender hair tips dripped with water, staining the snow-white inner clothes with pink dots.

He sat at his desk, holding a thin and awkward brush, and scribbled with difficulty on the linen paper. Suddenly, the candlelight flickered, and a black figure stood beside the desk and handed him a letter.

Wuhen: "The emperor's letter, sent 800 miles in expedited fashion."

Xie Chengze:?

Why did the stinky old man send him a letter? Why was he so anxious? Didn't he remember what important things were happening in the palace at this time?

Xie Chengze opened the envelope puzzledly, and after taking a glance at it, his face twitched speechlessly.

It probably said: My son is traveling far away, and I miss him very much. Something has happened in the court recently, blah blah blah blah, what do you think, my son?

How do I see it? How can I see it? I see directly that the future of the Jian'an Dynasty is bleak!

You're an emperor, why don't you solve your problem yourself? Instead, you come all the way from eight hundred miles away to ask me in an urgent message. Are you sick?

Xie Chengze replied directly on the back of the letter: Son, please help! Ask the prince! Don't bother me if I'm bald!

Because he had never practiced calligraphy, the handwriting on the paper was quite hideous, showing the owner's helpless and angry mood.

I'm sure Emperor Jian could feel it.

After writing, Xie Chengze sealed the letter contentedly and handed it to Wuhen, "Send it back."

The candlelight flickered slightly, Wuhen turned and disappeared. After a while, a bluish-white shadow climbed through the window. Wuzhi, who had disappeared for more than a month, knelt on one knee beside the desk and took out an account book from his arms, "Your Highness, this is what you wanted."

Xie Chengze put down his pen and flipped through the account book.

After a while, he sighed.

"If I don't **, it would be a waste of you and Wuhen, these two top configurations." Xie Chengze couldn't help but sigh.

Wu Ji tilted his head, "Your Highness wants to kill me? Then I will go back and chop off Emperor Jian?"

"No, no, no, that's totally unnecessary, that's totally unnecessary!" Xie Chengze quickly refused, "I was just saying it casually, only idiots would want to be emperor!"

Emperor Jian from afar:?

Xie Chengze said that he just wanted to maintain his current life, just like he came to Yizhou this time, not for any political achievements, he was just worried that Shen Yuan and the prince would join forces, if they teamed up to squeeze him, he would have no good days.

Emperor Jian will eventually die of illness. If he wants to maintain his rich and prosperous life and not be liquidated by the reborn Shen Yuan, he must live an honest life, not provoke corrupt officials, win over more honest officials, and make Shen Yuan have no legitimate reason to act!

That old fashioned guy can’t kill himself unless he finds evidence!

hum!

What a clever guy he is!

Xie Chengze continued to work on the drawing on the table. Wuji knelt behind him and carefully wiped his wet hair. He glanced at him out of curiosity, but was bewildered by the scribbles.

Your Highness's painting skills... really haven't improved at all.

"Your Highness, what is this?" Wu Ji asked.

Xie Chengze put down the last stroke, raised it up to admire it in the candlelight, with a mysterious smile on his face, "This is... something that can make you immortal!"

No trace:?

No wonder His Highness doesn't want to be the emperor, it turns out that he has found a way to become an immortal.

Wu Ji looked at the painting with a slightly serious expression, but unfortunately, after looking at it for a long time, he still couldn't understand the deep meaning of it.

It seems that he does not have the qualifications to become an immortal... No, when Wuhen comes back, he will ask Wuhen if he can understand it.