Chapter 852: Endless Troubles

Translator: Atlas Studios    Editor: Atlas Studios

As Song Mingzhao had expected, as soon as his letter was sent to the courier station, it was sent to the Jiazhou Residence.

In the Jiazhou Residence, there were capable people who passed down forged letters and opened letters.

Song Mingzhao did not send a letter for a long time. The Jiazhou Residence was very anxious, worried that they would provoke the Zhenguo Marquis Residence to investigate. Of course, they were also confident that all the matters in Quanzhou would be arranged flawlessly. The Zhenguo Marquis Residence might not be able to find anything.

However, as the saying went, one could never be too careful.

The head had originally wanted to forge a letter, but he was stopped by his aide. “The Zhenguo Marquis Residence is an old noble of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Their foundation is extraordinary. Forgery can be hidden from ordinary people’s eyes, but it might not be able to hide from the Zhenguo Marquis Residence. I’m afraid it’ll backfire.”

In that case, he could only give up.

The head of the Jiazhou Residence had originally planned to let the registrar he had planted in the Dehua County Office use the friendship of colleagues to remind Song Mingzhao that he was busy with work and had to remember to send a letter to his family to prevent them from worrying.

Unexpectedly, he received something that was in his favor.

Immediately, he ordered a capable person who was good at opening seals to remove the lacquer seal with various special methods and open the envelope to ensure that it was the same as before it was sealed.

Then, he gathered his aides and carefully read the contents of the letter. After reading it word for word and not finding anything unusual, he looked for other people and carefully checked the paper envelope for anything unusual.

After a night, it was indeed just an ordinary family letter.

The huge stone in the Jiazhou Residence’s heart was finally settled. He quickly sent someone to send the letter to the courier station and instructed, “Send it to the Zhenguo Marquis Residence at full speed. Don’t delay.”

After the letter was sent out, the head of the Jiazhou Residence said to the aide beside him, “Heir Song is quite capable. He has only been in Dehua for two months, and this county magistrate is quite impressive.” His tone revealed a trace of admiration, then he sighed. “It’s just that these young masters of aristocratic families are all arrogant, skilled in human relationships, and insightful of the world. In the end, they’re still a little inexperienced. Look, as soon as he arrived at Dehua, he was distracted by the mountain of official matters and complicated trivial matters in the government office.”

Song Mingzhao was not the county magistrate of Dehua County.

It was after the Zhenguo Marquis Residence arranged it that he replaced the original candidate. As a result, Song Mingzhao only received the relevant documents from the Imperial Court after he set off.

At this moment, the Xie family had already escaped from Quanzhou. The government was also overwrought from the fire before the Xie family left and was busy cleaning up the aftermath.

At this moment, Song Mingzhao came over.

Naturally, he was not in the mood to care. The city was still in chaos, so he did not dare to let Song Mingzhao enter the city.

Worried that Song Mingzhao would ruin things after he reached Dehua, he quickly instructed the people he had planted in the Dehua County Office to find more things for him to do.

If there were too many things to do, Song Mingzhao would be too busy to care about anything else. As the saying went, the more one did, the more mistakes one would make. At that time, he could use the excuse of making a mistake to control Song Mingzhao and restrain him.

From the looks of it, the effect was not bad.

At the mention of this, the head of the Jiazhou Residence said with a smile, “These young masters of aristocratic families are living a good life, but they insist on finding trouble for themselves. What good life can they have if they’re demoted? They’ve learned a lot, but they’re useless. They can’t rely on idle theorizing to govern the land and the people. They have to do everything themselves. Even if they lose an ox, the government will find it. Wouldn’t they be overwrought?”

He was already like this as a poor student, let alone a young master like Song Mingzhao, who was born into a noble family and did not know the hardships of the commoners.

The aide laughed. “Isn’t that so? The older the ginger, the spicier it is. No matter how powerful Heir Song is, he’s only eighteen or nineteen years old. He’s still young and hasn’t reached his prime. How can he compare to you?”

The head of the Jiazhou Residence shook his head. “Although that’s the case, as long as Song Mingzhao stays in Quanzhou, I won’t be able to sleep or eat in peace. The royalists usually don’t get involved in the struggle for the throne, and they will support whoever becomes the emperor. Our lord hasn’t started anything yet, and we don’t know if he’s friend or foe. It’s not good for him to be enemies with the royalists. We really can’t kill him or provide for him. It’s a headache.”

Song Mingzhao was the next Yu Zongshen. He was almost the next candidate for the Grand Secretary by default. Killing him would be equivalent to making an enemy of the royalists.

The aide hurriedly said, “Lord, why don’t you think in another direction? Although Song Mingzhao’s arrival in Quanzhou was unexpected and has many drawbacks for you, Song Mingzhao is the heir of the Marquis of Zhenguo. He has enough weight in the royalist party. Who knows if he won’t become a beneficial bargaining chip for us to suppress the royalist party in the future?”

It was precisely because Song Mingzhao was too important that the Jiazhou Residence was worried that they would make a mistake. “We can’t underestimate these aristocratic families. Back then, our plan for the Xie family was foolproof, but what happened in the end?”

They had actually underestimated Princess Shaoyi.

They did not expect that from the moment Princess Shao Yi came to Quanzhou, everything she had done was already buying time for the Xie Residence to leave Quanzhou. Even he was stunned.

What infuriated him the most was that he had placed his attention on the Xie family. The Lin family, who had always been on good terms with the Xie family, had actually escaped under his watch.

It had to be known that the medicinal herbs business managed by the Lin family was an important part of his lord’s plan.

He had really suffered a double loss for Madam.

The aide also felt sad. “Lord, you’re right.”

Now, Princess Shaoyi was in the limelight. She had brought the entire Xie family to the North and joined King Yue Fei. She had even won the support of the Imperial Court and everyone in the world in the name of helping King Yue Fei promote the planting of sweet potatoes in the North to ease the drought.

However, if they beat the tiger without killing it, there would be endless trouble in the future.

The more the head of the Jiazhou Residence thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt, and the more cautious he became. “Send a letter to my lord later. Tell him everything that Song Mingzhao has done in Dehua County during this period of time. We can’t make any mistakes at this juncture.”

It had been a long time since the emperor had come to the court, and he had not even taken half a step out of the palace gate. The Empress Dowager had come to listen to the court affairs, but everyone in the court was still restless.

Concubine Lan relied on the Empress Dowager’s support to control the harem.

With the Empress Dowager’s tacit approval, the Second Prince began to participate openly in the court.

The Xu Residence had roped in his henchmen in the court. Among the princes, the Third Prince was the most powerful.

Even the once inconspicuous Fourth Prince had begun to show himself frequently.

The battle for the position of heir was already on the table.

The lord was waiting for the right time. It was almost time. The more critical the moment was, the more cautious he had to be.

…

At the same time, Yu Youyao successfully arrived at Xiangping City.

General An Yuan was worried about her leg injury, so they traveled and stopped along the way. When they encountered a place with good scenery, they stopped and set up camp. They traveled for seven days.

Hence, Yu Youyao’s feet had mostly recovered under Auntie Xu’s meticulous care.

With a wooden cane, she could walk slowly on the ground. However, when she was on the ground, there was still a slight swelling pain in her ankle. She still had to recuperate for a while to recover.

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