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

Liaozhou.

Outside a rather exquisite courtyard in Tianshui City, a carriage was parked. A middle-aged man at the door bowed to his father who was seeing him off and said, "Dad, I will leave for Longhua County today to take up the post of Chief Clerk. You stay at home with mom and take good care of yourself."

"Don't worry, you don't have to worry about the two of us. When you get there, you must be a good official, do practical things for the people, and know how to adapt in official circles."

The father had white hair, but his eyes were bright and he had a noble temperament. He must have been an official when he was young, and was not an ordinary citizen.

"Take this." The old man carefully took out a square box from his sleeve. "When you go there, you will inevitably need to make arrangements. You have brought enough silver, but you also need to prepare all the things you can give away."

"This is the incense that Daddy received when he was the chief clerk in Tianshui City. The former prefect, Lord Li, gave it to Daddy because he had no use for it. I heard that it was given by a noble official in the court. Since it was given by a noble official, it must be something of high quality."

The old man handed the square box to the middle-aged man and said with emotion, "I wanted to give it to your mother, but she was reluctant to give it to you. She said that you would be an official in the future and you would need a valuable gift to decorate your home, so she kept it for you."

"I'll take it then." The middle-aged man took the square box happily.

"Be careful on the road."

"Yes, Dad, Mom, you guys go back, it's windy outside."

"It's okay. Dad will watch you go."

As the morning light shone, the coachman raised his whip, and as the horse's hooves started moving, the wheels of the carriage left traces on the ground.

The man embarked on the road to office with great ambition, but he had no idea that inside the box in his arms was something that could shake up the court and even the whole world.

When he first entered the official career, the man followed his father's teachings and worked diligently in his official duties, and soon he was valued by the county magistrate. The county magistrate wanted to climb up and found a way, but there were many competitors. He accidentally heard that the official liked to collect precious things that were not available in the world, so the man presented the county magistrate with incense, hoping that the county magistrate would help him after he rose to prominence.

The official received the incense and liked it very much. He promoted the man to the position of county magistrate when he returned. The man also rose in status and was recommended to be the county magistrate because of his good political achievements.

The official knew that the incense was a rare item, so he kept it carefully. Later, he gave it to his immediate superior for his career. After using the incense, the superior became addicted to it. He felt uncomfortable if he didn't smell it for a day. In order to continue to enjoy the addiction, he asked someone to find an incense maker to make the incense.

At the beginning, no one could make this incense, but as time went on, talented people found the clues and replicated this incense bit by bit.

At first, the boss only used the newly made poison incense for himself, and later shared it with several of his colleagues and friends. By the time he realized that the poison incense was addictive, it was too late.

As these officials died one after another, the incense left in their homes disappeared, and no one knew where the prescription and the person who could make the incense had gone.

Years are like a shuttle.

One day, incense suddenly became popular, especially in Liaozhou, causing countless officials and civilians to take it and slack off from work. By the time Emperor Jian'an IV noticed it, the addictive incense had even sneaked into the court without anyone noticing.

Xie Ji ordered a strict investigation into the incense fumigation incident and organized the destruction of poisonous incense. However, the effect was not satisfactory. The ministers in the court turned a blind eye to the prevalence of poisonous incense, thinking that poisonous incense was not scary and did not want the emperor to ban drugs.

Xie Ji was very troubled by this, and the lack of cooperation from officials and the people made him helpless. He had no choice but to seek help from the former prime minister Jing Ze who had retired and returned to his hometown.

Jing Ze wrote back to him, asking him to go to the Jiantian Division to look for the Jianbao Book.

The Treasure Supervisor is responsible for guarding the treasures left by the Imperial Master for the Jian'an National Army.

Xie Ji had been on the throne for twenty years at this time, and had met the requirements to read the treasure book, so he hurried to the Jiantian Division and took out the "Handbook of Self-cultivation of Lord Jian'an" written by his second uncle from the Jianbao Book Division.

The title of the book is quite in the style of the Second Emperor's Uncle.

Xie Ji carefully opened the book. What was inside was not the serious knowledge like scriptures he had imagined. It was more like the earnest teachings of an elder to his younger family, with a kind tone.

He quickly found the "Anti-Drug" chapter.

[Although I destroyed the recipe for the poisonous incense, I still feel uneasy. I am afraid that someone will create the poisonous incense again and harm the people of Jian'an. So I wrote down the method of prohibiting drugs.]

Below are densely packed anti-drug measures, from which Xie Ji benefited greatly. At the end, the second uncle's tone became relaxed and gentle again.

[If you notice that poisonous incense has not yet shown its fatal harm to people when it appears, the effect of promoting drug prohibition will certainly not be good, and compulsory drug prohibition will also cause many obstacles. At that time, you can bring up the name of the Imperial Master of the Heavenly Guards (this method is my own idea, it may be a bit unorthodox), saying that the Imperial Master had long predicted that the prevalence of poisonous incense today would lead to the fall of the Jian'an Dynasty. In order to prove the harm of poisonous incense to the people, the Imperial Master personally smoked poisonous incense for a long time, which led to a shortened life span and he could not live beyond the age of 45 (tsk, when it comes to fooling people, you still have to look at me~). ]

[The name of the national teacher is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. It will surely be able to remove some obstacles and make things easier for you. ]

[Don’t worry about my reputation. After death, people are nothing but a handful of yellow earth, and reputation is as worthless as dust. If I can protect the well-being of the people, it will be truly worth it (but I’d better use this method less in the future. People’s reputation points are limited, and it may not work if I fool around too much). ]

[Writing this, I suddenly remembered that there is something else I should talk about...]

Seeing this, touching the thick stack of book pages under his hand, Xie Ji burst out laughing.

Second uncle, you really worry about Jian'an.

But don't worry.

My nephew will certainly follow your teachings and govern the Jian'an Dynasty well, so that those who till the land have their own fields, those who weave have their own looms, those who live have their own homes, the old and the young have someone to rely on, and the people can live and work in peace and contentment.

Later, the fourth emperor of Jian'an implemented a new anti-drug law. In the name of the deceased imperial teacher, he made people from all walks of life quickly join the anti-drug and drug rehabilitation campaign, especially Liaozhou, which went directly from a place where poisonous incense was prevalent to the place with the strictest drug control in the dynasty.

According to historical records, the treasure left by this national teacher helped Jian'an avoid many disasters. When Jian'an's death was about to end, someone spread the word that "whoever gets the treasure book will rule the world", which led to countless forces scrambling to snatch it. Later, the treasure book fell into the world and disappeared.

However, the pitfalls that Jian'an stepped into and filled have long been recorded in history books, warning and teaching later kings and providing them with valuable experience in governing the country.