Chapter 1021: Chapter 857: Stirring Up Trouble

As long as nothing goes wrong, this assignment of his really isn’t difficult. Afterwards his teacher could even ask the Emperor for merit on his behalf; getting promoted by one rank was not impossible.

With that thought, the fatigue on Min Feng’s body vanished, and he felt delighted inside. If he became Secondary Fifth Rank, wouldn’t that put him at the same rank as Gu Chengyu?

One had to admit, you really do need a good teacher! Serving in the court, you must have connections; otherwise, how could promotion be so easy?

Even though Liang Zhirui was now the current Crown Prince’s Master, that was an empty title, with no real power in his hands.

While Min Feng was happily indulging in his fantasies, Gu Chengyu, on the other side, was hurrying along the road in bitter hardship.

Because after he entered Jiangnan, it kept raining off and on. Traveling in the rain severely affected visibility and was extremely dangerous, so Gu Chengyu had no choice but to switch to a carriage.

Yingnan Mansion was not far from Hangtian Prefecture. If one spurred a fast horse without rest, one could arrive in a day and a night. Of course, if one rode in a carriage, it would be slower; it would probably take two days.

Since he had already reached the Jiangnan region, Gu Chengyu no longer needed to rush so anxiously. After all, people need to rest, and horses do too.

Besides, in just these two days, Hangtian Prefecture probably wouldn’t be thrown into chaos yet. So he cheerfully switched to a carriage and took the opportunity to get a proper rest.

Min Feng led four officials from the Ministry of Industry to inspect the river embankment for two days, and when he saw the commoners working together with the river workers in full swing, his face showed a hint of surprise.

It seemed this Yang Chaoying was not completely useless. He had stayed in Hangtian Prefecture these two days and had close contact with Yang Chaoying, and felt this was in fact an upright official who cared for the state and the people.

Yang Chaoying had considerable prestige among the people in normal times, because he had done quite a few practical things for them. His attitude toward the commoners was fairly amiable, and he did not put on much of an official’s airs.

It was just that his abilities were too mediocre, and he had no connections in the court, no one to promote him, that was all. If Yang Chaoying could endure this flood without being implicated, Min Feng could actually recommend this man to his teacher.

Min Feng was not someone who only listened to slander. He could see that Li Taixing was slick, good at handling affairs and even better at handling people. But the man’s mind was full of schemes, overly cunning.

Today he could bribe Min Feng and climb up to his teacher; tomorrow he could cling to someone else. A man like that was, in truth, not reliable.

However, someone like that, once taken in under his teacher’s gate, could be put to great use; at least his abilities were beyond doubt. As for someone like Yang Chaoying, whose aptitude was mediocre, his strength lay in being obedient.

After Min Feng had run through all the calculations in his mind, his attitude toward Yang Chaoying improved a good deal.

Yang Chaoying was pointing at the river workers as they filled in a section of the leaking river embankment. These past few days they patched up one spot and another would leak; it had left him physically and mentally exhausted.

"Gentlemen, look! This river embankment keeps leaking—how exactly are we to put a stop to these leaks once and for all?"

Yang Chaoying looked toward the officials from the Ministry of Industry. These two days he had been providing them with good food and wine and dared not offend them in the slightest. As for Silver Coin, he did want to give some, but the time had not yet come.

It had been mentioned before that Yang Chaoying was not that sort of pedantic man; he had merely failed to find a good patron before. Now, however, both the imperial envoy and the Imperial Censor sent by the court were men of great background. As long as he clung to one of them, his official career would be smooth in the future.

Min Feng was Xia Qing’s Closed-door Disciple. If he could latch onto the great tree that was Xia Qing, in theory he should be so happy he’d wake up from his dreams laughing.

Yet the one he aimed to latch onto was not Min Feng, but Hu Maoshen. He had his own considerations: Xia Qing was already old, and his reputation in the court was not good.

Even if he held power over the whole court now, once the new Emperor ascended the throne, who knew what the situation would be like? Perhaps the new Emperor would no longer favor Xia Qing, in which case attaching himself to Xia Qing would bring him no benefit.

What was more, Xia Qing behaved somewhat arrogantly and had made quite a few enemies in the court. Once he fell, he would surely be targeted for settling of scores by those officials.

He felt following Hu Maoshen still had more prospects. Even if Hu Maoshen was a Pure Minister or had already pledged himself to some faction, that did not matter.

Because Hu Maoshen was still young, and his abilities were beyond doubt.

All this he had considered after thorough deliberation; Yang Chaoying was currently just waiting for Hu Maoshen to arrive at Hangtian Prefecture.

The officials from the Ministry of Industry were also wracked with misery. They had not expected so many leaking spots along the river embankment of Hangtian Prefecture; what good solutions could they possibly have?

Unless they diverted the river water at this section—but was that even possible? It rained every day; the river workers had to work under the pelting rain, and one careless mistake could cause a collapse, burying the river workers beneath the rubble.

Moreover, diverting the river’s course was a massive project that required large amounts of Silver and manpower. Where were they supposed to get Silver at this point?

The court had still not allocated any Silver; without Silver, this was simply harder than scaling the heavens.

"You’ve got several leaking spots here, and with the rain coming down every day, reinforcement is difficult..."

Ministry of Industry doctor Duan Zhijie had not yet finished speaking when he was cut off by a Government Official who rushed over in a panic.

"My lord! The disaster victims outside the city gate are causing trouble—they’ve gotten into fights with our local commoners." The Government Official was panting heavily, sinking deep into the mud with every step.

"What? What’s going on?" The lines of Yang Chaoying’s brows knotted into a dead tangle; trouble came one after another with no end.

"My lord, you had better go and see for yourself! I’ll explain on the way. Right now it’s chaos outside the city gate; some of the disaster victims are extremely overbearing. We’re short on hands—without drawing weapons, I fear we won’t be able to hold them down."

Yang Chaoying hurriedly grabbed the Government Official and headed for the city gate, leaving the Ministry of Industry officials and Min Feng where they stood. The remaining officials all looked at each other, then quickly rushed toward the city gate as well.

Min Feng’s eyes flashed. He had only taken a few steps when he suddenly hesitated a bit. It seemed a riot had broken out outside the city. As a court-appointed official, he naturally ought to go help Yang Chaoying quell the incident.

All the more so since he was an Imperial Censor personally designated by the Emperor; if he shrank back, it would be beneath contempt.

In this situation, he really had no choice but to go. With a helpless sigh, he followed the others from a distance.

"Hmph! Those officials don’t care whether we live or die. Our whole families are about to starve to death before their eyes, and still they won’t let us into the city."

One of them was extremely angry. He rolled up his sleeves and spoke in fury to the others huddled under a big tree to shelter from the rain.

"Exactly! We’ve already run out of grain in our hands. If this goes on, we’ll definitely starve to death. That lord hasn’t shown up again since the last time; it’s obvious he doesn’t intend to care about us anymore. Even if we keep waiting outside the city gate, those people will never let us in." 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

The village chief of River Village wore an expression full of helplessness. His old face was etched with helplessness and grief. Looking at the city tower ahead, looming solemn and unapproachable through the curtain of rain, he heaved a deep sigh.

"They’ve already started fighting over there—aren’t we going to take a look?" One villager from River Village gazed at the group grappling with each other on the other side, a complicated light in his eyes.

He both hoped the matter would blow up, and also hoped there would be some casualties. If the situation grew big enough, would the court then have to step in and take care of them?