Gou Xi was dead drunk, but he still had subordinates. Though they were a bit slow, someone still noticed something wrong the next day.

So they reported it to Gou Xi.

The news went through layer after layer of reporting, finally reaching Gou Xi at noon.

Gou Xi’s face changed dramatically. He immediately threw down his wine cup and left.

Gou Xi left his residence!

Calculating, he’d already not left his residence for over a month. Official business was all sent to him here, which was also why the Emperor could tolerate him embezzling court money for extravagant enjoyment.

Gou Xi at least wasn’t like Prince Donghai in that even the Emperor caring about which commandery suffered a natural disaster would displease him. The Emperor had begun personally handling government affairs, communicating with inspectors from various provinces and commanderies, understanding conditions in different places, gradually learning about the current Great Jin.

Gou Xi left his residence and immediately grabbed a horse to quickly reach the Ming residence. Because of Yan Heng’s death, Gou Xi had restrained himself somewhat. He first had someone knock on the door.

Seeing the door couldn’t be opened, only then did he lead people to force entry.

Upon seeing the empty Ming residence, Gou Xi finally confirmed that Ming Yu had fled.

Gou Xi’s chest heaved violently. In rage, his eyes turned red. He kicked over the low table before him, his face iron-blue as he said, “Send people to pursue! Pursue immediately!”

He continued, “Divide into three routes, toward Luoyang, Qingzhou, and Bingzhou. Issue notices to all counties that they must intercept him. Eight hundred li urgent dispatch, leave immediately!”

“Yes!”

Who could Ming Yu turn to?

Besides Shi Lei, Liu Yuan, and Sima Rui, there was only Zhao Hanzhang in Luoyang.

Pursuing in these three directions, they would surely find him.

It didn’t matter—he had plenty of men. He didn’t need to choose which direction; he’d search them all!

The bit of guilt that arose from Yan Heng’s death dissipated. He hadn’t been wrong. If these people wouldn’t serve him, if they wouldn’t follow his wishes, then kill them.

Otherwise, leaving them would create disaster, ultimately harming himself.

The more Gou Xi thought about it, the darker his face became. He summoned another personal guard and ordered, “Investigate who visited Ming Yu after Yan Heng’s death.”

“Yes.”

Gou Xi turned in place, still feeling the highest probability was him going to Zhao Hanzhang. He summoned another personal guard, commanding, “Send a message to Gou Chun, have him guard the border well. Don’t let anyone from Yanzhou cross into Yuzhou. Ming Yu has fled and most likely will pass through his area.”

“Yes.”

Only after arranging everything did Gou Xi sweep a glance around the Ming residence, his eyes gloomy as he prepared to leave. Walking to the door and about to mount his horse, he tilted his head slightly and asked, “Where is Minister Zhao right now?”

The advisor following him felt anxious and quickly replied, “In the palace.”

He paused, then added, “Minister Zhao was on duty last night, so he stayed overnight in the palace.”

Gou Xi narrowed his eyes and asked, “What about Earl Shangcai?”

The advisor was stunned, then his face changed slightly, “Also in the palace. Last night… he was also on overnight duty.”

Gou Xi tightened his grip on the reins, his face iron-blue, “Send out two more teams toward Luoyang to search. We must find him.”

The advisor bowed his head in acknowledgment. After the enraged Gou Xi mounted his horse and left did he raise his head.

He turned back to look at the Ming residence’s plaque, sighed, then mounted his horse to leave.

With Ming Yu’s departure, who knew how many would die.

His guess was correct. Gou Xi, full of rage with nowhere to vent, found trouble with related personnel.

First was the neighborhood chief. As neighborhood chief, such an important person had disappeared from his jurisdiction without him noticing—he should be executed!

Then the city gate soldiers and gate-guarding general. Ming Yu left the city and they had no warning, showing how carelessly they inspected—they too should be executed.

Then his residence’s advisors and officials all received punishment. Even several of the servants Ming Yu had dismissed were found and all killed or severely punished for failing to report.

Too many were killed. The atmosphere in the city grew tense. Even though this matter seemed unrelated to ordinary commoners, pedestrians on the streets decreased, fearing they might accidentally offend this great general and lose their lives unjustly.

The commotion was considerable, even reaching the Emperor in the palace.

His first thought was: where did Ming Yu flee to?

Then he looked at Zhao Zhongyu sitting respectfully in the lower seat handling official business. The Emperor was thoughtful.

“Minister Zhao, did Ming Yu go to Luoyang?”

Zhao Zhongyu paused slightly but didn’t hide it, bowing as he acknowledged “Yes,” saying, “After Yan Heng’s death, Ming Yu felt the sorrow of the fox at the hare’s death and wanted to leave. I remembered he and Hanzhang got along well in Luoyang, so I recommended he go to Luoyang.”

The Emperor laughed inwardly, saying gently, “Why not have him serve in the palace?”

He continued, “With Ming Yu’s talent, what would be wrong with appointing him as a Chamberlain?”

Zhao Zhongyu didn’t care, “If General Gou dislikes him and insists on killing him, if Your Majesty tries to protect him, it would inevitably hurt your relationship with General Gou. He also doesn’t want to put Your Majesty in a difficult position.”

Ming Yu would turn to anyone except the Emperor. Even he needed to watch Gou Xi’s mood when acting. How could Ming Yu think the Emperor could preserve his life?

If Zhao Zhongyu didn’t have Zhao Hanzhang behind him, if his death would enrage her, even if Gou Xi killed Zhao Zhongyu on the spot, the Emperor could only feel sad for a while. He absolutely couldn’t protect him, much less seek revenge.

Zhao Zhongyu was hiding in the palace only to avoid the peak of Gou Xi’s rage. Once that point passed and he calmed down, he would understand that Zhao Zhongyu couldn’t be killed.

Unless he wanted to go to war with Zhao Hanzhang.

Zhao Zhongyu’s eyes flickered. He lowered his gaze to the official document spread on the desk, wondering how Zhao Hanzhang would quell Gou Xi’s anger. If she couldn’t, his days in Yuncheng ahead would definitely not be easy.

Because of Yan Heng’s death, the slight guilt that had arisen disappeared. Gou Xi’s subordinates hadn’t been neglectful for long; their response speed was still quite fast. Once orders were issued, they pounced toward each direction like tigers descending mountains, following commands.

Yuan Li and his group had already been very careful, but approaching the border and about to cross out of Yanzhou, they were still discovered.

Ming Yu was unwell. At this moment, he was leaning against the carriage wall, coughing violently. Feeling sweetness in his throat, he didn’t hesitate to accept the bowl his attendant handed up and took a sip, swallowing back the bloody sweetness in his throat.

He said quietly, “Tell General Yuan to divide into two routes. One carriage continues toward Luoyang while we speed up and turn toward the Yuzhou border. Send a message to General Zhao Ju to have him come meet us.”

Ming Yu covered his chest and said sternly, “I have a premonition they’ve caught up.”

His attendant immediately acknowledged and got off the carriage to find Yuan Li.

Yuan Li didn’t hesitate much and immediately followed his instructions, separating out one carriage with two people to escort it, while the rest went with them.

No one knew Ming Yu’s condition seemed to have worsened. Because of his composure, the soldiers in the group were also very confident.

Chapter 627: Benefits

He smiled slightly at Zhao Hu, “Hanzhang has regulations. The maximum limit of land one household can own in one location—good farmland, dry land, and mountain land each have their requirements. You can buy according to those standards.”

Zhao Hu couldn’t help complaining, “Why does she have so many demands? I have money, she lacks money. I should just buy however much I want and she should sell.”

Zhao Ming said, “Using her words, this is all for Seventh Uncle’s benefit.”

He continued, “She said that if there were no requirements, now you’d buy large amounts of land and give her large amounts of money. After she finishes spending the money and the world is at peace with more common people, she’ll have no land to distribute to the people and will inevitably set her sights on the land in your hands. But she’ll have no money in hand, so she’ll have to find ways to use very little money, or simply not use money at all to snatch the land back from your hands.”

Zhao Hu was stunned, the tea bowl in his hand nearly falling. Zhao Song lightly glanced at him, thought for a long while, and finally found a place to make his move, “What are you panicking about? Sanniang didn’t say this to you, she said it to me.”

Zhao Hu was angry, “Fifth Brother, if she dares do this to you, wouldn’t she dare do it to me? She’s truly an ungrateful wretch.”

“Don’t talk nonsense,” Zhao Song glared at him, then looked at Zhao Ming, “What about the second half?”

Zhao Ming casually placed a stone on the board, capturing five of his father’s black stones. Under his father’s stunned gaze, he picked up the pieces, “The second half is that she despises such practices, so to prevent herself from doing such unrighteous things, she’s decided to cut this off at the source. She’d rather struggle now than sell large amounts of land for private gain.”

He said, “This way, in the long run, it’s good for you, good for her, and good for the common people under her governance. Everyone lives harmoniously.”

Zhao Hu finally breathed a sigh of relief. He owned quite a bit of land—a little in every county of Runan Commandery, and now following Zhao Hanzhang’s development, he’d expanded outside.

If one day she really became shameless enough to do that, he couldn’t stop her.

Fortunately, she still valued her reputation. For some reason, Zhao Hu suddenly felt much more at ease.

However, after understanding the purchase limits for the three types of land, Zhao Hu immediately stopped worrying, “I won’t buy that much anyway.”

Zhao Ming smiled. After his father struggled to place another stone, he directly blocked his retreat and captured another group of black stones. Now, Zhao Hu would naturally say this, but when Yuzhou became more stable in the future and he had more money, could he really resist not buying land?

He didn’t believe it anyway.

Zhao Song was furious. He threw down the stones in his hand and lost his temper, “I’m not playing anymore. There’s no enjoyment in playing chess with you.”

Zhao Hu, who was thinking about buying land, heard this and looked down, then laughed, “Ha ha ha ha, Fifth Brother, you lost again!”

Zhao Song glared at him and stood up to leave.

Zhao Hu pursed his lips, “Clearly not good at chess, yet insists on liking to play.”

After grumbling about Zhao Song, he criticized Zhao Ming, “You too, already getting on in years, yet don’t know to let your father win a bit.”

Zhao Ming didn’t care at all. He slowly separated and picked up the black and white stones, lifting his eyelids, “Are you still buying land?”

“Of course! Come on, let’s go select land right now.”

Zhao Ming wouldn’t handle such minor matters. He directly called an attendant and had him take Zhao Hu to the yamen to find a land broker, instructing with one sentence, “Just follow the regulations.”

Zhao Hu immediately stopped in his tracks, rolled his eyes, and said, “Zinian, between us uncle and nephew, talking about money is too vulgar, but I must ask—won’t you calculate it cheaper for me?”

After a moment of silence, Zhao Ming said, “For Sanniang’s sake, I’ll give you a half-percent discount on the land price.”

Zhao Hu protested, “You have the nerve to offer such a price?”

Zhao Ming’s face became serious as he said sternly, “Seventh Uncle, you just said Chen County is poor. You also know how poor Sanniang is now. Even so, do you still want to take advantage of us?”

When Zhao Ming was in a good mood, Zhao Hu naturally dared to joke around, but when his face darkened, he became somewhat timid.

Zhao Hu didn’t bargain further, only muttering, “This is too stingy. You’re all becoming like Elder Brother…”

Zhao Hu also left grumbling.

Only Zhao Ming remained alone in the pavilion. He lowered his eyes and collected the chess pieces one by one, putting them away, then instructed a servant standing outside the pavilion, “Go invite the Chief Administrator.”

He thought the model Zhao Hu mentioned earlier was quite good. They could completely promote it in Chen County—no, in all of Yuzhou. The county yamen or prefect’s office could purchase hemp bundles, provide silkworm eggs, buy silk, and encourage common people to plant hemp and mulberries and raise silkworms in their spare time.

No need to open large workshops. They could contract production directly to households, with the yamen only handling purchases. Then they’d only need to open one workshop specifically for spinning linen and weaving silk fabrics, or they might not even need to open workshops—the yamen could slightly raise prices and resell to people like Seventh Uncle.

He curved his lips, thinking this idea was really quite good.

This linen and silk wouldn’t even need to be sold outside—Yuzhou and Luoyang alone could consume it all. Wasn’t cloth what both places most lacked right now?

Zhao Hu didn’t know that in the time it took him to turn around, his elder nephew had copied his idea. He personally went to inspect several plots of land recommended by the broker.

Oh, this brokerage was affiliated with the county yamen, and a considerable portion of the land belonged to the yamen.

Well, it was all wasteland that Zhao Hanzhang had ordered surveyed after becoming Yuzhou Inspector. Land left uncultivated for over three years, or verified to have been abandoned by owners who had left Chen County for a certain period—she simply waved her hand broadly and it all became hers—oh no, publicly owned land.

Unless the original owners returned later to appeal and could pay a certain amount of tax, otherwise this land could only be hers.

Besides publicly owned land, there was also land, residences, and shops that others had listed here for sale.

Zhao Hu looked at everything. It took him three days to decide on the fields and shops to buy, and he also bought himself a residence.

A vacant residence not very far from the prefect’s office—a three-courtyard compound with a garden, artificial mountain, and water features. It cost quite a bit.

Well, this money also went to the yamen.

Zhao Ming refused to lower the price no matter what. In his words, “This residence wasn’t originally for sale. Sanniang specifically instructed that in the future, all the residences in this area are to be bestowed upon meritorious officials. If it weren’t for Seventh Uncle, I wouldn’t sell this residence.”

Zhao Hu knew he was telling the truth. Many people in this area wanted to buy, especially merchants from outside. They frequently traveled through Chen County. If they could buy a villa here…

Their future neighbors would be the generals and advisors around Zhao Hanzhang.

Unfortunately, Zhao Ming wouldn’t sell.

Zhao Hu was the first person to buy a residence from him. Because of this special treatment, although the price was high and his heart ached, he was also somewhat happy.

This also made him look forward a bit to going to Luoyang.

Zhao Hu wasn’t stupid. He knew this privilege was given to him by Zhao Hanzhang. Since that was the case, he also needed to contribute something and improve his relationship with Zhao Hanzhang even more, so he could enjoy more conveniences in the future.

Zhao Hu finally made up his mind to go to Luoyang and set a date.

Zhao Ming, who had been waiting all along, quietly breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t in vain that he gave him conveniences all the way. If he still didn’t go to Luoyang, Zhao Ming would lose his temper.