Before Yuan Xi came, he thought there was no problem in Jicheng, but now it seems that he needs to stay longer.
The Yuan family had just transferred the city from Gongsun Zan and needed to win people's hearts, but such a mess happened, which made Yuan Xi very disgusted.
He saw that there were no other soldiers in the city except for a few soldiers patrolling, so he couldn't help but ask, "Are all the thousands of troops of Zilong stationed in the city?"
Zhao Yun replied, "Except for the soldiers guarding the city, I have ordered everyone else to camp outside the north gate to avoid disturbing the people and to guard against bandits coming from the north."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi suddenly came to his senses and turned to Tian Yu and said, "Tell the soldiers not to enter the city. Except for the necessary personal guards, they should set up camp outside the four gates."
After hearing this, Tian Yu took the order and left. The people in the city were already in a panic, and when they saw the soldiers retreating from the city again, they couldn't help but feel confused and puzzled.
Zhao Yun saw this and said, "My lord, you reacted quickly, but this is not enough. The person acting as the city defender now is Xu You's nephew Xu Jie. He has been in office for more than a month, and he has already caused public resentment."
As the two were talking, they saw several horse-drawn carriages approaching in a hurry on the road in the distance. A man jumped out of the carriage, wearing the county magistrate's robes, and bowed in front of Yuan Xi's horse, saying, "I am Xu Jie, your humble servant, and I pay my respects to you, Your Excellency."
Yuan Xi thought to himself, damn it, you speak of the devil and he will appear, how dare you come to see me?
He said calmly: "Are you Xu Ziyuan's nephew?"
Xu Jie raised his head and said with a flattering smile: "It is indeed me, your Excellency. I will continue to be promoted by you in the future."
When everyone heard this, they were speechless. They had seen thick-skinned people, but they had never seen someone so shameless!
Seeing this, Xu Jie hurriedly smiled and said, "I have already prepared a place for you to stay. Please move."
Seeing Xu Jie's fearless look, Yuan Xi thought that today he would see what the other party was up to.
Everyone followed Xu Jie's carriage and arrived at a huge mansion in the city.
Yuan Xi jumped off his horse and saw the door of the mansion open. Looking inside from the outside, he saw flowers and green trees everywhere, flying eaves and brackets. It turned out to be a very romantic garden mansion!
Xu Jie immediately ushered Yuan Xi in and said with a smile, "Sir, this was originally Gongsun Zan's private residence. Now I have recruited civilians to renovate it within a month. It will be no less luxurious than the mansions of the nobles in Yecheng."
Yuan Xi walked in and saw that the hall was clean and tidy and fully furnished. He thought that Xu Jie was willing to spend a lot of money, but it was hard to say who the money belonged to.
With his hands behind his back, he walked through several halls with Guo Jia and others. Xu Jie led them to a warehouse in a mysterious manner, ordered someone to unlock the door, and said to them, "Your Excellency and your superiors have come from afar. I have prepared some small gifts to show my appreciation."
Yuan Xi, Guo Jia and others walked in and saw huge boxes stacked several layers high, filling the ground so densely that there was no place to stand.
He winked at Sun Li, who walked forward and opened a box. The valuables inside immediately blinded everyone's eyes.
Sun Li turned to Yuan Xi and said, "Brother, this looks like something from the treasury."
Xu Jie heard this and hurriedly smiled and said, "That's right. When I took office, I didn't dare to touch the things in the treasury, so I moved them to the mansion and left them for you to deal with."
Yuan Xi thought to himself, what the hell, you're using my money to give me gifts?
He said to Zhao Yun, "After the soldiers capture Yongcheng, can you open the treasury and give them rewards?"
Zhao Yun answered honestly, "I am not in charge of internal affairs. I put a seal on the treasury that day and did not touch it without permission."
After hearing this, Xu Jie broke out in a cold sweat. Was this a blatant complaint against him?
Yuan Xi shook his head and said, "Zilong is still too rigid. Rewarding people according to their merits is what a general should do. Otherwise, if the soldiers have not been rewarded for their merits, we can't let them rob the people, right?"
He turned to Xu Jie and asked, "Does County Magistrate Xu think this is right?"
Xu Jie's heart twitched, and he quickly responded: "Your Excellency is right, it was my negligence."
Zhao Yun stiffened his neck and said, "Rewarding soldiers is something that the lord wants to do. I don't have the power to make the decision, so I dare not do it."
Yuan Xi thought of the first time he made a bet with Zhao Yun in Beixin City, Zhao Yun was also unwilling to take the property, and he couldn't help but laugh, "Then I will grant Zilong the power of discretion now. Zilong, find a way to take out the share of the things in this room, and I will give out the rewards in the next few days."
Xu Jie was anxious and said hurriedly: "Sir, these are all good things that I carefully selected to reward the soldiers. There are also a large number of copper coins and linen in the mansion that can be used as rewards. Why waste such things?"
After hearing this, Yuan Xi smiled and said, "County Magistrate Xu is very understanding. It seems that County Magistrate Xu has been working hard these days."
After hearing this, Xu Jie hurriedly said, "It is my honor to work for you, my Lord."
Yuan Xi still had a smile on his face, but he was muttering in his heart.
Is Xu Jie really stupid or just pretending to be stupid?
A county magistrate dared to open the government treasury. Was it because he was used to being domineering and thought it was a trivial matter, or was it because he had someone to rely on and felt that he could not control him?
Logically speaking, as the nephew of Xu You, although he is greedy, he shouldn't be so stupid, right?
Or was he sent by Xu You to test himself and could be sacrificed at any time?
For a person like Xu Jie, I could just kill him with a knife now, but now that things have come to this, the most urgent thing is to think about how to make amends.
But there was something weird about this matter. Yuan Xi thought that he should first figure things out in the next few days to see what Xu You was up to.
He led everyone out of the warehouse and walked around the courtyard. He discovered that there was actually a stream of running water running through the mansion. There were several rockery along the way. The water flowed gracefully, and fish were swimming and jumping in it.
The stone railings of the bridge were quite new, and it was obvious that a lot of effort had been put into its renovation. Yuan Xi was quite unhappy. He had just captured the city, but instead of repairing the river outside the city wall, he spent money on such things!
He turned to Guo Jia and asked, "Sir, what do you think of this place?"
At this time, Guo Jia was secretly cursing Xu Jie in his heart. He had seen people seeking death, but he had never seen anyone doing this. He even said that he would temporarily indulge Xu You and his sons and nephews, but he was too unscrupulous.
Xu Jie was totally unaware and was trying to curry favor with the young master by using the tricks of the Yecheng nobles. Wasn't he courting death?
He could only laugh dryly and said, "This place is very well maintained. Jia is very envious and would like to live here herself."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi smiled and said, "In that case, sir, please stay here for a while."
"Zilong, find me another house, a smaller one will do."
Zhao Yun understood what he meant and said immediately, "I will do it right away."
He thought to himself that Yuan Xi saw the situation clearly. The people in the city were still undecided, but he was impatient to move into the mansion. What would the people of Jicheng think?
Thinking of this, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. At least Yuan Xi has not forgotten his roots yet.
Xu Jie stared at Yuan Xi in a daze, and led everyone out of the mansion, cold sweat streaming down his forehead.
Before he took office, his trusted confidant said that Yuan Xi would never dare to offend Yuan Shang, so as long as he bribed him heavily, Yuan Shang would turn a blind eye to his actions.
Looking back today, Xu Jie vaguely felt that this was not the case?
However, his uncle Xu You made a lot of money in Beixin City. Ju Shou wrote several letters to Yuan Xi to complain, but in the end, didn't it all end in nothing?
Xu Jie comforted himself that things might not be that bad. Yuan Xi might want to emulate Liu Yu's simple lifestyle and was afraid of being criticized for living in a big house.
Thinking of this, he felt that he had guessed the truth, and he slapped his head hard, wondering why he had flattered the wrong person!
Mrs. Wu looked through the gap in the carriage window and saw the unique scenery inside the house. She thought she would stay here, but she didn't expect the carriage to turn around and drive out of the house.
She wondered, "Sir, don't you like this mansion?"
Zhen Mi lifted the curtain of the carriage, took a quick look, and said with a smile: "My husband is not very picky. He can live in a big and good house or a small and broken one. If he wants to live here, then he can live here."
"Although this place is not as good as the Zhen family's mansion, it is much better than Beixin City. My husband must have a reason for doing this."
Madam Wu saw the light flashing in Zhen Mi's eyes and couldn't help but say, "Madam and Master know each other and accompany each other, which is really enviable."
Zhen Mi turned her head in surprise, "Isn't it the same among the noble families?"
Madam Wu smiled bitterly and said, "How could that be? Women from aristocratic families have many rules to follow. It's rare for a husband to be patient enough to explain the whole story to you."
"Most of the time, the husband says what the wife does."
After hearing this, Zhen Mi asked softly, "Madam, was this the case before?"
Mrs. Wu's face darkened after hearing this. She shook her head and said softly, "Every family has its own difficulties."
As they were talking, there were some shouting outside the carriage, and the two women looked outside, only to find some people kneeling beside the road, kowtowing repeatedly to Yuan Xi, who was in the front, and calling him the real master.
Mrs. Wu saw this and said, "This is the greeting of the Taiping Dao. These people should be the remnants of the Yellow Turbans."
After hearing this, Zhen Mi said, "Madam, you are really well-informed. Aren't they afraid of being caught?"
Madam Wu smiled bitterly and said, "Although the Yellow Turban Rebellion has been over for ten years, most people in the world have been Yellow Turbans. Can we kill them all?"
"How come these people believe that you are a real person?"
She had come to the Northland from Guangling and didn't know about the rumors about Yuan Xi. Zhen Mi briefly told her about the matter. Madam Wu was stunned and said in a lost voice, "Young Master is too bold!"
"You should know that rumors and prophecies are the most taboo!"
Zhen Mi smiled and said, "Really? I think so too."
"If my husband fails, I'm afraid our family will be confiscated and exterminated."
Mrs. Wu's eyes were filled with disbelief when she heard this. "Madam, you clearly knew about this, but you didn't try to persuade him?"
Zhen Mi chuckled and said, "Because Madam doesn't know what your husband is thinking."
"I believe that once Madam understands what you want to do, she will be convinced."
Mrs. Wu was a little dazed. What was there to do?
Isn't the greatest achievement to be an emperor?