ATPnovel Chapter 2157 Xizhou is a good place
Chapter 2157 Xizhou is a good place
Zhou Daowu thought it over. Prince Ji was his brother-in-law and he would not betray him anyway. He would follow Li Shen wherever he took him.
After a while, the servant reported that all the officials had arrived, and Li Shen stood up and led everyone to the dining hall.
At this moment, Pei Ziyu was waiting here with more than a hundred officials from the Governor's Office, and everyone was very nervous.
There must be something wrong when things are out of the ordinary. Most of these officials are low-ranking officials who don't even have the opportunity to see King Ji.
But now he was invited to dine together, which made people feel nervous.
"Pei Changshi, do you think today will be the Hongmen Banquet?" an official asked in a low voice.
Pei Ziyu glanced at the official after hearing this.
"You mean, King Ji will kill us all?"
"No, no, no, what I mean is whether Prince Ji will do anything bad to us." The official hurriedly explained.
"What have we got that is worthy of King Ji's personal intervention? Are you Lu Bu?" Pei Ziyu said coldly.
This made the official retreat in embarrassment.
In fact, Pei Ziyu had already guessed why. Some time ago, Wang Xuance, the chief secretary of Prince Ji's Mansion, came and took away all the account books.
I think some problem must have been found.
These people usually act arrogantly and domineeringly, and I'm afraid they will be punished today.
Other senior officials are also thinking about this matter, and it may be difficult to end today.
"Prince Ji has arrived~~~~~"
Just as everyone was thinking about it, a long moan was heard outside, and then Li Shen's figure appeared at the door.
"Greetings to His Royal Highness Prince Ji!" All the officials saluted.
"Hahaha, no need to be polite, everyone..." Li Shen laughed as he walked.
Li Shen walked to the front with big strides, looked at the people below, and said:
"Everyone, I have been here for many days and have not met you all. Today is a good opportunity for you all to get to know each other.
I will stay here for a while, and I hope you can help me complete the task assigned by His Majesty."
Li Shen said this to the lower-level officials.
"Don't worry, Your Highness Prince Ji. We will do our best to assist Your Highness Prince Ji."
"We will do our best to assist His Royal Highness Prince Ji."
Led by Pei Ziyu, the officials behind him followed suit and expressed their opinions.
"Then I'll rely on you. Come and sit down."
Li Shen nodded slightly and sat down.
"By the way, this is the imperial concubine's son-in-law, General of the Right Guard." Li Shen introduced to Zhou Daowu.
The people who were originally sitting down stood up and saluted again:
"Meet the Prince Consort."
"No need to be so polite, everyone." Zhou Daowu also stood up and said.
"I asked His Majesty to transfer the Prince Consort here to handle military affairs for me.
However, he is injured now and needs to recuperate. After a while, the military affairs will be taken over by his husband.
He will report the military affairs to the king."
Li Shen spoke again to give these people a reminder first.
The officials below did not have any objections. Prince Ji was here to act as the Governor of Xizhou, and military affairs were originally under the management of Prince Ji.
It is normal for him to arrange his own people.
"Okay, let's eat." Li Shen picked up the chopsticks.
"Your Highness Prince Ji, we offer a toast to Your Highness Prince Ji and congratulate Your Highness on your triumphant return."
All the officials raised their glasses and toasted Li Shen.
"Okay, everyone, drink with me."
This is a common practice at the wine table. Li Shen picked up the wine glass and drank it all.
The banquet officially began, with singing and dancing arranged by Shi Tou, which were the basic arrangements for the banquet.
The atmosphere of the entire banquet was harmonious and peaceful. Li Shen had a smile on his face and was harmless. From time to time he would raise his glass of wine and drink with the officials. It was such a harmonious atmosphere.
Half an hour later, the banquet was about to end, and Li Shen's face was rosy from drinking.
At this moment, he waved to Shi Tou, who understood and stopped the singing and dancing and drove them out.
"Everyone." Li Shen stood up and everyone looked at King Ji.
"This is my second time to come to Xizhou. Xizhou is a good place. The mountains are high and the emperor is far away. No matter what you do here, the court will not know.
Such a wonderful place, I am thinking of going to Anxi to be a vassal."
Li Shen said to everyone with a smile.
Only Pei Ziyu said in his heart that what was supposed to come had finally come.
He could predict what was going to happen next.
The others didn't understand and looked at Prince Ji, thinking that there was something else behind his words.
Li Shen picked up the wine glass, took a sip, and said:
"It's good here. Even if you do something wrong, no one will be able to help you.
Wang Wencheng had been doing evil here for many years, but no news of it had ever been passed back to Chang'an, and he hadn't even entered the interior of the country.
It is enough to see the extraordinaryness of this place, it is simply a Feng Shui treasure land."
Li Shen's tone began to become a little cold, and the smile on his face gradually disappeared.
"I am guilty, and I ask Your Highness Prince Ji to punish me."
All the officials apologized together. They now realized that Prince Ji was blaming them for their negligence in the matter of Wang Wencheng.
“You don’t have to be so angry. The court has already investigated the matter and has issued an order to execute the main culprit. The others will not be held accountable.
This king was just expressing his feelings just now.
You say that Wang Wencheng is just a businessman and that's fine, but if a prince comes in the future, for example, the Prince of Jin comes.
He wants to recruit soldiers and rebel in Anxi Protectorate. Do you think it will be the same as Wang Wencheng's case, where the court will not know about it until the Prince of Jin rebels? "
"this......"
All the officials were speechless for a moment. They didn't dare to take up the topic. They just looked at each other.
Even Wang Xuance and others beside him couldn't help but twitch their lips.
Prince Ji spoke his true thoughts, otherwise he would not have made such an assumption.
"Look, what I said is right, isn't it? If even Wang Wencheng can do it, how can the King of Jin not be able to do it?
From this point on, we can see that they are not as loyal to the court and Your Majesty as they claim."
Li Shen sneered repeatedly, and his eyes looked at everyone with a hint of inexplicable emotion, indifference, disdain, and ridicule.
"We are terrified, Your Highness Prince Ji. We are absolutely loyal to the court and to Your Majesty."
All the officials stood up and bowed to Li Shen.
Good man, King Ji put a big hat on them right away, and they can’t afford it.
Wasn't it because of your, Prince Ji's, face that Wang Wencheng was let go at the beginning? Otherwise, who would bother with a merchant?
"Loyal to His Majesty? Humph! Then tell me what this is?"
Li Shen said as he slammed an account book heavily on the table with a "bang" and glanced at everyone with cold eyes.
The people at the back stretched their necks to look forward. They had no idea what was written on the notebook that Prince Ji took out.
Only the few people in front knew that not long ago, Wang Xuance, the chief secretary of Prince Ji’s Mansion, took away the account books of Xizhou Prefecture.