Chapter 2615 - 2588: Newcomer

The new governor of Qizhou was transferred from Yunzhou. Although it was a parallel transfer, Qizhou, being at the edge of the capital, is much more affluent than Yunzhou beneath the Great Wall.

It’s easier for achievements made here to be noticed.

Tang He sat cross-legged on the couch and said to Bai Shan, "This governor’s surname is Yu. Before his arrival, my father and I inquired about him. He is a governor known for his tough approach. The Emperor specially transferred him back from Yunzhou, clearly thinking that some purging is needed in Qizhou."

"Such a person won’t like having someone else make decisions for him, nor will he appreciate being forced, so when we meet, follow my lead." Tang He looked Bai Shan up and down, who was draped in wet hair, and smiled slightly, "Since your intention is for the people here, you probably don’t care much about reputation, right?"

Bai Shan slightly raised an eyebrow and smiled, "As a newcomer in the officialdom, I don’t care much about such things."

Tang He nodded, "Indeed, you will be posted elsewhere in the future. You don’t need to care much about the reputation of officials. I’d say, don’t worry about reputation; as long as you get things done, that’s what matters. In this regard, you could learn from your scholarly senior brother Yang. Despite having the demeanor of a gentleman, he can be truly shameless when needed. Alas, he just has a good-looking face, so even when shameless, it doesn’t seem so."

Instead, those around him often become collateral damage.

Tang He silently mourned for himself inwardly, then said to Bai Shan, "He should be here today unless he was delayed on the road. Seeing that it might be late, let Daji choose an elegant set of clothes for you to wear. In any case, dress as genteelly as possible. You’re still young; posing as an inexperienced young noble with a good heart shouldn’t be an issue, right?"

Bai Shan was momentarily taken aback before nodding.

Tang He happily patted his shoulder, "Good, good. If you play the part well, we can not only secure rental land for over a hundred households for several more years but also help other tenant farmers rent land."

Bai Shan slightly smiled and said, "You don’t mind if all the credit goes to Governor Yu?"

"Ha, what use do I have for that credit?" he said, "I’ve just been promoted. As long as we can buy back the land and quell this tenant farmer unrest, that will be a great accomplishment for me. As for other achievements, since we all get to eat meat, we should share some with others."

"What about the two censors...?"

Tang He waved his hand, "Don’t worry about them. They’re here to supervise us, but we still need to make our decisions on how to handle things. Even if they’re unwilling, they can’t say anything in front of Governor Yu. Besides, there’s my father too."

When Tang He said this, he felt refreshed, as he was finally openly enjoying his father’s influence.

Bai Shan thought the same, given that all the censors in the world are under Lord Tang’s command. This one being Lord Tang’s son, and he’s even willing to give the credit to the governor, what else could they do?

So Bai Shan opened the box, feeling a bit troubled. For this trip, he only brought four sets of clothes, including the one he was wearing. For convenience, one of them was an official uniform, and the rest were casual wear easy for movement.

Knowing he was going to the village and might need to deal with fights, he brought all lightweight narrow-sleeve outfits. Two were made of fine hemp, and one was silk, in sky blue or royal blue. Ironically, the brightest one was the official uniform. To look more youthful...

Bai Shan walked around the options and finally settled on the light red official robe.

His official uniforms consisted of a light red one and a dark green one, all due to his noble rank and the rewards from the Emperor.

Old Madam Liu made two sets of each for him, and with the ones distributed by the Ministry of Rites, he had a total of four sets.

This time, because he wanted to exert some authority, he deliberately brought the light red official uniform.

Tang He walked over with his hands behind his back, glanced over, and remembered this wasn’t the capital. How could Bai Shan have such suitable clothes to wear?

Thus, his eyes also fixed on the official robe.

"Forget it, you should wear the official uniform. When the time comes, we’ll all wear ours."

With this decision, Tang He remembered. He stroked his chin in thought, "Both you and I are in light red, while the two censors are in dark green. Not bad, not bad, let’s wear the official uniforms."

Thus, Bai Shan donned the official robe, tidied his hair, and waited.

But, of course, they weren’t just waiting idly. The two of them went to meet with Censor Ren to summarize the recent events.

When they finished handling the affairs and looked outside, the sun was about to set, yet the new governor hadn’t arrived, and there was no sign of Censor Liang.

The three of them exchanged glances, frowning, "The capital isn’t far from Qizhou. Didn’t they say the new governor left the capital yesterday? He should have arrived by now, right?"

Tang He got up to go outside and called a government clerk from the governor’s office, "Go to the city gate and check why we haven’t received the new governor yet."

"Yes."

"Wait," Tang He called the person back, looked around, and asked, "Your marshal and the magistrate of Guo County haven’t returned yet?"

"Yes, they both went to the city gate early this morning to greet the new governor."

Tang He frowned slightly, glanced back at Censor Ren and Bai Shan, waved to let the clerk leave, and then paced back inside, "Why don’t we have a meal first?"

Otherwise, he feared they might have to go hungry tonight, having a feeling that something would happen.

Bai Shan nodded repeatedly, but Censor Ren couldn’t bear to eat at all.

Shouldn’t they hurry outside the city to check the situation at this moment?

They couldn’t just go out and check. Qizhou’s situation was already complex. When they arrived, the marshal was a newly promoted one, and there was an acting one, oh, the former marshal and acting one are now keeping each other company in jail.

So the governor’s office was chaotic, and some matters had no one available to handle them. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have reached the point where the four of them had to go in and out together, as there wasn’t anyone in the governor’s office to assist them.

And the outside was too dangerous; they feared they’d be killed accidentally.

Tang He and Bai Shan immediately had the kitchen prepare a work meal, seizing the time to eat two bowls of rice, then put down their chopsticks as they heard hurried footsteps approaching from outside...

Bai Shan and Tang He exchanged a glance, knowing something had indeed happened?

Censor Ren, who had been frowning tightly, too troubled to eat: ...

He immediately stood up, and the government clerk already rushed in, panting and exclaiming, "My lords, something major has happened..."

Tang He sat back calmly and asked, "What major event?"

"The new governor has killed people!"

Tang He stood up in shock, Bai Shan was also taken aback, and they both asked in unison, "Who did he kill?"

The clerk, pale-faced, said, "He killed three people: the Second Old Master from the Zhu Family, the eldest son from the Chai Family, and the Third Old Master from the Zhang Family."

Tang He gasped, "What a brilliant choice! All of them were the main handlers of the court’s land on the case files."

He exchanged a glance with Bai Shan and asked, "Apart from those three, were there no others?"

"No, they say no more," the clerk wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "They say that the new governor summoned them for questioning, but they not only ignored the call but also spoke foul words. When the new governor’s men tried to arrest them, they resisted stubbornly, resulting in the officers accidentally killing them in self-defense and injuring several servants from the three families."

"Were any tenant farmers injured?"

The clerk shook his head, indicating he didn’t know. He had just learned this at the city gate and didn’t know if the tenant farmers participated in the fight.