The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 185 Entering the City

Cui Shulin laughed and made no effort to hide his pride. He glanced at Zhou Wuya. “Well, old chap, you don’t admit it? If you have the ability, you could also let your grandson be the commissioner!”

Zhou Wuya said powerlessly, “A disrespectful old guy!”

Cui Shulin grinned and said, “The person to whom the popular will inclines can unite all people. The commissioner comes to Pinglu for the first time and he doesn’t even enter the gate of Qing Prefecture, but look how many people praise his deeds along the journey? Those arrogant Jianghu cultivators are always unruly, but the commissioner could let them do good for ordinary people without a fight. Who has ever done this?”

“I dare say the grand occasion in front of us will spread throughout Pinglu before long. The commissioner will definitely win the hearts of the people! The commissioner has the heart for the common people, so he does such a good deed. When all unite as one, Pinglu will be prosperous. The five states and twenty-nine counties of Pinglu will usher in a great opportunity!”

Li Zhen also smiled as he saw the two people get along well.

The current situation was very clear. Penglai was trapped in a corner, so if nothing went wrong, it was unable to make trouble anymore. So Li Ye only needed to get the support of the four major families to control Qing Prefecture.

Among the four major families, the Chen family, undoubtedly, was suppressed the most and couldn’t continue to exist, while the Cui family was the most favored, so it naturally would flourish and benefit a lot in the future. And it was possible to become the head of the three families. At that time, the situation was basically stable. But stability was not enough. If Li Ye wanted to realize his ambitions, he needed to unite all forces.

If the Zhou family could spare no effort to help Li Ye like the Cui family, Li Ye needn’t worry about the shortage of talents who could help with the management of Pinglu with these two gentry families’ profound foundations. Besides, if Li Ye got the support of these two families, his force would be established, so he wouldn’t be afraid that the Wang family would have different thoughts. Even if the Wang family dared to make trouble, Li Ye only needed some means to divide and demoralize them and support the underachievers in the army so that he could still control the Pinglu Army firmly.

After stabilizing the civil, military and Jianghu forces, Li Ye could develop gradually, taking Pinglu as the foundation. In future, if the world was indeed in chaos, Li Ye would amaze the world as soon as he took action and the feudal princes in the world would sit up and take notice.

Thinking of this, Li Zhen wore a bigger smile. The future was so bright that it made people happy. But when he thought of the past, Li Zhen felt that he was in a dream.

In the past, he was alone and broke in the pavilion near the Magpie Bridge in Chang’an. He had no money to buy food and no place to sleep. He was very disappointed with the situation then. He was about to lose his morale and ambition that rainy night.

However, Li Ye, who was the vice magistrate of the Chang’an Office at that time, suddenly came over the Magpie Bridge and gave him a job to settle down. At that time, Li Zhen couldn’t imagine that he could follow Li Ye and have a chance to realize his ambitions in Pinglu in just a few years.

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“The commissioner is coming. Everyone follow me to salute.” said Li Zhen to Cui Shulin, Zhou Wuya and the other as he adjusted his clothes.

After checking their appearances, all the people became solemn and strode out to meet Li Ye and the others on the official road.

Soon, the two sides met on the road.

Everyone said in chorus, “Commissioner!”

Li Ye put the child in his arms down and went forward to lift up several people personally to show his cordiality. He said to everyone, “You needn’t be so polite. Please get up now. I feel embarrassed to have you meet me outside the city.”

“We have prepared a great feast in the city to welcome you, so please enter the city quickly!”

“You’re all the backbone of Pinglu and very busy on weekdays, so it’s very kind of you to go through all the trouble...”

“No problem. It’s our pleasure...”

Then they exchanged greetings and flattered each other as usual. The atmosphere was warm with laughter. Cui Shulin had received the message from Cui Keli to let him know that Li Ye was the black-robed childe that day, so he wasn’t surprised now. Otherwise, Li Ye might have had a hard time explaining.

Li Ye learned about the officials of Qing Prefecture in advance, so he could tell their names and official positions when he met them now. This immediately won a lot of goodwill for Li Ye, so the smiles and laughter became more genuine.

Before entering the city, Li Ye gave instructions to two officials and asked Li Zhen to work with them to settle the refugees. They had to build the shacks before it got dark to make sure they had shelter from rain and wind. Then food had to be gathered and a porridge shed built. The refugees needed to be settled down in this manner first. Whatever else needed to be done would be discussed later.

Li Ye did nothing after he entered the city that day. The banquet was served from afternoon to night. Night had descended long before the banquet was over. Li Ye also knew the important officials of Qing Prefecture well.

When he came to the gate of the commissioner’s mansion, Li Ye stopped for a moment. He looked up with his hands clasped behind his back outside the gate and observed carefully. The commissioner’s mansion was built in style with vermilion gates, high eaves, green bricks and tiles. Inside the mansion, pavilions and halls were interconnected and there were numerous courtyards, rock gardens and lakes.

But Li Ye had been to the Cui family’s mansion and he had also seen the other three major families’ mansions on that several days in Qing Prefecture. Compared with them, the commissioner’s mansion was not outstanding, on the contrary, it wasn’t as majestic as them.

It was no wonder. After all, the commissioner only took office for one term, while the four major families were rooted here. Of course, it reflected from the side that before this, in Qing Prefecture, the commissioner’s power was actually constrained a lot by the four major families.

Li Ye didn’t hurry to arrange affairs but went around the mansion first because he had to get familiar with where he lived. If anything bad happened, he had to know his escape routes.

After handling the refugees, Li Zhen came to the mansion and waited for a meeting. Li Ye didn’t delay too long and met Li Zhen in the east study.

Li Zhen first reported the affairs of Qi Prefecture. Although Qi Prefecture had been under control and there would be no trouble, Li Zhen arranged a lot of people to take care of it. They were all the officials of Prince An’s Manor. The Black Office, which followed to Qing Prefecture this time, also left some people there, so he wasn’t afraid of anything unexpected.

Li Zhen was a great talent and had honed his skills in Prince An’s Manor for several years, so Li Ye had no doubt about his ability. Li Ye praised him first and then asked him some questions about the usual affairs. After that, he asked Li Zhen to leave because it was getting late. At the moment, there was no hurry to govern Qing Prefecture and deal with all kinds of major affairs. When Li Ye took office tomorrow, he would have plans and arrangements.

After Li Zhen left, Shangguan Qingcheng and Song Jiao walked in together. They were now responsible for the commissioner’s guards. For the details of the arrangement, they had to listen to Li Ye.

“The eight hundred guards show up in public, while the Black Office hides in the dark.” That was all the objective Li Ye gave. Finally, he added. “Now the eight hundred guards are mainly to assist Wang Hanshan to search the Chen family’s mansion and confiscate his property. After that, they are incorporated into the inner army and expanded to 3000 people.”

The inner army was one type of the commissioner’s soldiers, opposite the outer army. It was stationed near the commissioner’s mansion and it was an absolutely trusted force.

After all, things were arranged roughly, Li Ye didn’t intend to continue to stay in the east study and he was led by someone to his own living quarters.

In fact, long before leaving Chang’an, Li Ye had plotted strategies on how to govern military and political issues of Qing Prefecture with Li Zhen and the others and made a careful plan. Now they just fixed the details. Li Zhen was the specific person in charge, so Li Ye didn’t have to worry about everything and he just needed to be in charge of the big plan. Of course, when he took office tomorrow, he would have to issue the orders, and officials at all levels would only recognize his arrangements.

Li Ye took the Junior Priestess back to his living quarters and let her sleep on the bed of the personal maid in the outer room. He couldn’t let her stand by his bed all the time, but she was unwilling to stay away from him.

Actually, Li Ye now had no idea of what was on the Junior Priestess’ mind. There was no possibility of assassination, and it was an arduous and thankless task for her to follow him like a shadow.

In all fairness, Li Ye and Penglai were enemies, but they fought for the general situation, without personal enmity. He and the Junior Priestess had no deep hatred and he had just caught her and brought her back. It was inevitable she would be angry. But though she was angry, her anger would eventually subside. And when her anger subsided, she basically had no reason to kill him.

This night, Li Ye only slept for four hours. He was awakened by the convergence of Luck.

Li Ye looked at the window, and wisps of white mist invaded the room and kept converging towards him. He knew, of course, that it was not mist but the Luck of the ordinary people who had no cultivation. Not many, only a few hundred.

When Li Zhen was in the east study, he told him that after the shacks, which were used for housing the refugees, were built outside the city, the refugees took the initiative to kneel beside the roads and kowtow at the direction of Qing Prefecture.

For those who were displaced, it was certain that they made a precarious living. It was unknown whether they could survive. In fact, there was little possibility. Li Ye not only took care of them all the way but also housed them outside Qing Prefecture. Although no final decision had been made on such matters as farmland, it was enough to make many people feel grateful to Li Ye from the bottom of their hearts and they believed that they would be treated well and their livelihood would be solved.

At this time, the convergence of Luck was natural.

Because of the problem of Luck, Li Ye couldn’t help but think of the future policy arrangements. He didn’t feel sleepy at the time, so he got up after lying down for a while, ready to find some water to drink.

Li Ye had just taken two steps when he suddenly heard a rustle, very slight and short-lived, but he’d noticed it. He walked softly to the pearl curtain and looked into the outer room of the personal maid. When he saw the scene in front of him clearly, he stood stunned.