Chapter 206: Are You Threatening Me?

It is well known that Xue Er Gongzi's time every afternoon belongs to Dongzhu.

Generally speaking, one cannot see a shadow of him in the Main Courtyard of the Patrol Guard Division in the afternoon.

Du Shitou was a newcomer, and being small, he was not assigned any work. Pei Jun let him familiarize himself with the Patrol Guard Division first, so he prepared his waist token and went to take a look at Dongzhu in the afternoon. Most of the gossip he had heard throughout the morning was about Dongzhu, and Du Shitou was very curious about Dongzhu's work mode.

The Three Great Halls were close by, so there was no need to walk very far, nor did he need anyone to lead the way. In fact, before he even got close, he heard the sound of Xue Yanzhi cursing loudly from over there: "Damn your father! You're coming for me, aren't you? It really was hard work for them to put together such a seamless fake account!"

"So much salt, where was it sent?! Do you know who is pushing the salt administration this time? Stop holding me back!"

There was no trace of a noble young master's demeanor.

Du Shitou carefully poked his head out and glanced into the courtyard.

He saw that in the Dongshu courtyard, several tables were set up in the open air, with paper, brushes, and abacuses placed on them.

Du Shitou was unfamiliar with most of the clerks and scribes inside, but he was surprised to see a scribe from the Main Courtyard?

The atmosphere at this moment was tense, and the resentment... er, the anger was soaring to the heavens!

Papers fluttered like waves, turning over repeatedly, abacus beads clattered loudly, and several Clerks were walking as if they were flying.

It is no exaggeration to say that the scene inside looked like a violent storm swirling with dark clouds.

It looked very terrifying.

Du Shitou did not dare to go in and was about to leave.

Just then, two more youths walked over, both wearing Clerk uniforms.

When Du Shitou entered the Patrol Guard Division, whenever others mentioned age, they would always mention those two brothers from the Mu Family, who were also teenagers.

Now, looking at the two people who had come over, Du Shitou had a guess in his heart.

The Mu brothers also saw Du Shitou and looked at the official Clerk uniform on Du Shitou's body.

"The news I heard this morning is true; there really is a Clerk younger than me!" Mu Feng said.

The Patrol Guard Division was very strict now; people from the Mu Family had to start as laborers if they wanted to enter the Patrol Guard Division. For such a kid to be able to join the establishment directly, he must either have a very noble status or have made a great contribution! He heard that Pei Jun brought him over to work in the Main Courtyard.

Mu Feng was thirteen years old; he saw that the other party was nearly a head shorter than him, and his figure was thin, reserved, and uncomfortable.

Mu Feng asked: "Are you the one brought over by Head Pei?"

The older Mu Jun was more steady; he introduced himself first, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then asked: "Where do you live now? I'll call you to go out and play when I'm free." Du Shitou said: "I live in Jingxing Fang."

The Mu brothers were immediately even friendlier.

Mu Feng said enviously: "Then you must have made a great contribution!"

Being able to live in the Jingxing Fang area meant Wen Gu knew. To be able to get permission from both Wen Gu and Pei Jun at the same time, it must be a truly great contribution!

Du Shitou could only say: "... It's alright."

Deputy Envoy Wen said that it could not be made public for now, and the matter of Yao Shanmi could not be told to others. Even though Du Shitou himself was not very clear about it, he would not say anything if he could avoid it. The Mu brothers did not press further.

They understood.

As expected, he had made a great contribution!

They gave their most genuine respect to those who truly had ability and relied on merit to rise, and their speech also carried a bit of closeness and enthusiasm.

"How old are you?" Mu Jun asked him.

"Thirteen," Du Shitou said.

The two from the Mu Family were full of shock. They looked at Du Shitou and squeezed his thin, weak arms.

"Eat more!"

"You should have quite a lot of allowance in your hands now, right?" Mu Jun asked.

Du Shitou thought of the money, grain, and supplies he had received and nodded.

"Then eat more. Where is your family?" Mu Jun asked again.

"Only I am left," Du Shitou said.

The two from the Mu Family felt even more respect; they did not know what they had already imagined, but they decided to take extra care of this little colleague.

"Since you have an allowance, you can eat directly at the Patrol Guard Division's canteen. Eat more, and practice martial arts when you have free time. If we are on duty, you can practice with us; there is a martial arts training ground over there." While speaking, the Mu brothers had already arrived at the entrance of the Dongzhu courtyard, and then quickly flashed to the side.

Seeing that Du Shitou was still standing there, Mu Jun waved his arm.

Du Shitou thought they were shooing him away and was about to walk off when he was pulled to the side by Mu Jun: "Shh, there is a technique to eavesdropping!"

Du Shitou: "... Eavesdropping?"

Mu Jun said: "It's not a secret anyway, you can hear it from the outside. We are eavesdropping openly, but we can't be seen."

One cannot have too strong a presence, otherwise, they would be pulled in to do work; they really couldn't handle clerical work!

Eavesdropping from the outside also allowed them to gossip a bit behind people's backs.

Seeing that Du Shitou was not in the loop, Mu Jun thought he didn't know anything and whispered:

"Dongzhu is conducting a routine audit and has uncovered several corrupt officials!"

"A new batch of salt was transported into Xinzhou and sent to various towns. Xinzhou City is fine, but in other parts of Xinzhou, far away, there are always people who are bold and whose greed is insatiable!" "I heard that after a large amount of salt was sent over, there were actually commoners who couldn't afford to eat salt!"

"Now the more they check, the more they find. The scribes of the Three Great Halls are all inside, and they will have to verify for the next two days. They will probably have to stay at the Patrol Guard Division at night." This kind of matter requires speed; once a problem is found, arrests must be made immediately!

"Many people come to Xinzhou in the autumn and winter, and many people leave Xinzhou. But some people, don't even think about leaving! We cannot give the other party any chance to escape!" The Mu brothers clenched their fists.

We cannot let us miss any opportunity to make a contribution!

"They embezzled money and grain, committed crimes, and now want to run away? How is that possible!"

The Mu brothers were eager to have a go. They didn't know if they could snatch a mission this time!

Only by snatching missions to rack up merit can one get promoted!

I hope we can snatch an opportunity to go out this time!

Du Shitou lowered his eyes and asked: "Then what if commoners want to leave the city and want to leave Xinzhou?"

The Mu brothers looked over in surprise: "Of course they can do it as they please! There are still many people in the civilian sector running escort agencies now, often going outside on missions. As long as they follow the rules when entering and leaving the city, no one cares." "Besides, generally speaking, it is people from the outside running into Xinzhou; very few people from Xinzhou run to the outside."

Du Shitou couldn't help but think, if only they had come to Xinzhou in the first place.

In the Dongzhu courtyard.

Xue Yanzhi was still in a fit of rage, cursing incessantly inside.

In order to strike at the salt industry of Jizhou and open up a new landscape for the salt industry in the North, he had acted like a corporate slave in Dongshu for so many days, plotting and pulling strings, only to turn around and discover that someone was causing trouble and holding him back? "Execute them! Why keep them to do hard labor? Execute them all! Where is the bottom line for being human?!"

Du Shitou stood there, stunned.

The Mu brothers thought he had been frightened, so they comforted him, saying: "Don't listen to Xue Er's shouting. There won't be indiscriminate killing. Among so many people, except for the ringleaders who will be executed directly, the others who followed along will likely just be sent to do hard labor." Someone in the courtyard also said the same thing, while Xue Yanzhi was still shouting: "Can't execute them? Then fifty years of hard labor as a starting point!!"

"Bullying the good and oppressing the kind, stopping at nothing! Is this something a human can do? Completely bottomless, worse than beasts!"

As Xue Yanzhi cursed, he began to greet the ringleaders' ancestors for eighteen generations, wishing he could go dig up their ancestral graves right now and drag their ancestors out of their coffins to do hard labor! Du Shitou thought to himself, I am not at all surprised by how evil corrupt officials and history can be; I have seen too much.

What I am shocked by is the bottom line of Xue Er Gongzi.

It is truly flexible!

Du Shitou followed the Mu brothers and listened for a while, then asked: "Is Deputy Envoy Wen not here?"

Mu Jun said: "Deputy Envoy Wen is not at the Patrol Guard Division; he probably went to Zhao Fu again."

He felt that since Wen Gu's Capping Ceremony was approaching, he must still need to go discuss matters regarding the ceremony.

"It doesn't delay official business; it's the same whether Deputy Envoy Wen is at the Patrol Guard Division or not, since the tasks have already been issued anyway."

From top to bottom, the Patrol Guard Division must work overtime for at least two days.

Elsewhere in Xinzhou.

Huang Ji, the Gu Master, swaggered out of the room.

He was tired of raising mosquitoes and came out to bask in the sun and relax.

He had been having a great time these past two days; Pei Jun had left and been replaced by someone else as a supervisor, so Huang Ji took even less notice of it.

Supervision is just supervision, what else could they possibly see?

The reputation of our "Huang Dashi" now resounds throughout the entire North!

To make it convenient for Huang Ji to raise mosquitoes in winter, the Zhao Family had even specially allocated a large batch of building materials. They even used expensive Glass to build a "Crystal Palace"! Now that the Shuipinggong was only finished with a small storage room, Huang Ji was already using it.

Once the heating duct was opened, it was bright and warm.

The mosquitoes, which had originally appeared wilted due to the temperature drop, were now starting to become active again.

Every configuration of the "Shuipinggong" had been assembled according to the requirements of Huang Dashi.

Living in the Shuipinggong, he had no worries about food or drink, and there were even people waiting on him by his side.

Even the Emperor probably couldn't enjoy this kind of treatment, right?

One has to say, the great powers are truly generous!

He now had apprentices, and many treatment steps could be completed by them, but the key steps had to be done by himself. The secret techniques of his sect could not be taught to others so easily.

All in all, the time he needed to go into action himself had been greatly reduced, and he had plenty of free time, living leisurely.

At this moment, Huang Ji, carrying the air of a "Master renowned throughout the North," scanned his surroundings with a critical gaze, looking to see which place he was dissatisfied with, so he could have the Zhao Family people change it according to his preferences again. A Master, after all, should have this kind of treatment!

Huang Ji patrolled his "territory" and habitually glanced at the spot where Pei Jun used to stand.

When he withdrew his gaze, he felt something was wrong and looked back again.

Was his vision blurred in broad daylight?

It seemed like he had seen a ghost.

At this time, someone over there called out: "Huang Dashi!"

Huang Ji: ………

Damn! It wasn't an illusion!

How could Wen Gu appear here?!

He saw that person over there again, appearing hypocritically polite: "Huang Dashi, please come over for a detailed discussion."

Huang Ji felt a bit panicked inside.

Wasn't it said that Wen Gu's Capping Ceremony was approaching?

How does this guy have time to appear here? What could he possibly want to discuss?!

The arrogant posture he had just a moment ago was immediately restrained. Huang Ji walked over with a serious face.

For someone who knows the ropes, he had to be even more cautious in his response!

He arrived at the small room where Pei Jun used to live.

Wen Gu inquired about the progress of Huang Ji's experiments during this period, what difficulties remained, and what other needs he had.

Huang Ji answered very cautiously and mentioned the biggest difficulty—a shortage of medicinal herbs.

Wen Gu asked: "Which medicinal herbs are lacking? Please specify."

Huang Ji listed a string of medicinal herb names one after another, all of which were unique to the South.

Wen Gu took out the notebook he carried with him and wrote them down one by one.

Seeing this, Huang Ji thought: Could they really manage to get them?

He originally wanted to report a few more types, but after hesitating, he swallowed the words back.

Wen Gu finished recording, his expression softening as he said: "The current situation is severe, and medicinal herbs from the South are hard to come by. But, since Huang Dashi says they are needed, we will also try our best to obtain them." Huang Ji showed a look of smugness.

Wen Gu continued: "However, resources are limited, and the medicinal herbs will certainly be used where they are most urgently needed."

Huang Ji was very confident, thinking to himself: Nonsense, what place could compare to mine?

Wen Gu turned to ask: "I wonder if Huang Dashi has ever heard of Shenyi Gu?"

Shenyi Gu was just the hometown of an old imperial physician before the chaotic times, an ordinary mountain valley village and town.

After the chaotic times, the old imperial physician gathered with his disciples, grand-disciples, and old friends to survive together, and they also provided a place of refuge for some colleagues. As there were more and more famous doctors, it was called Shenyi Gu by outsiders.

They only had technology but no military force, so the Six Great Powers of the North all maintained "friendly relations" with Shenyi Gu and had troops stationed there. Whenever there was any major movement in Shenyi Gu, the Six Great Powers all knew about it at the same time.

When the "Xinzhou Times" first exposed the progress of treating the Evil Plague in Xinzhou, many people dared not believe it.

Shenyi Gu, where the divine physicians gather, hasn't made a move yet, so what right does your Xinzhou have to be the first to bring it out?

Shenyi Gu has a great reputation; even though Huang Ji has stayed in Xinzhou the whole time, he has heard of it.

He is most sensitive to such matters and understood what Wen Gu meant in an instant.

Huang Ji slammed the table in anger: "Are you threatening me?!"

He glared with wide eyes and raised a finger to point at Wen Gu:

"You... leave some for me!"

Shenyi Gu might also have peers there, and there are many famous physicians of the Physician school over there. If Wen Gu wanted to cooperate with that group, he might not really be able to compete. But one cannot boost the morale of others and dampen one's own spirit!

Our Huang Dashi has indeed already taken a step ahead, so why fear?

Thinking this way, Huang Ji regained his confidence.

"Those medicinal materials, keep whatever you can get for me. I have already successfully taken the first step on my side, and the second step is not far off; can they compare?!" Wen Gu nodded: "Indeed, we will of course prioritize Huang Dashi's side."

Huang Ji just revealed a satisfied smile.

Wen Gu continued to ask: "I wonder if Huang Dashi has a plan for the second step?"

Huang Ji:.........

If it were someone else, he could spout nonsense right now.

But this person, Wen Gu, truly understands!

He cannot be fooled!

The arrogance that had just risen in Huang Ji shrank back down.

"Hmm... I have already gained some insights," he said conservatively.

"That is truly great! Then let us discuss and see if the plan is feasible," Wen Gu immediately replied.

Huang Ji racked his brains and searched his gut, finally piecing together a plan.

Then, through Wen Gu's suggestions, it was gradually modified and perfected.

On the drawing, the originally vague sketch became clear and detailed.

Huang Ji was now truly immersed in it.

Looking at the steps on the drawing, he had already begun to simulate and practice in his mind, inferring the feasibility based on past experience.

When Huang Ji was deep in thought, Wen Gu did not disturb him, just waiting quietly to the side.

After a long while.

Huang Ji finally spoke up: "It is worth a try!"

He thought about all the objects and manpower available to him.

"I need death-row prisoners," he said.

"Very well," Wen Gu said.

It just so happened that while auditing the accounts recently, he found a few who were on death row.