Chapter 148 Li Guodong's Plan
Chapter 148 Li Guodong's Plan

Isn't this a slap in Zhu Yuanzhang's face?

If this matter was reported, Ye Xuan could almost imagine Zhu Yuanzhang's rage.

Moreover, on the surface, this matter seems to be just a corruption problem involving Li Guodong alone, but when it is extended, the people and things involved are very numerous.

If we want to hold Li Guodong accountable first, we cannot avoid the issue of the Ministry of Revenue’s dereliction of duty.

Secondly, as the land granted to Prince of Yan by Zhu Di, Zhu Di could not escape the accusation of inaction.

Although he felt very sympathetic towards the farmers in Beishan Imperial Farm, it was obvious that neither the Ministry of Revenue nor Zhu Di were easy to deal with. It was not that Ye Xuan was afraid of trouble, but he just didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble.

Being an official under Zhu Yuanzhang was already stressful enough, and if he made enemies everywhere, his great dream of living a safe and peaceful life would face countless challenges.

However, as a three-good youth of the new era, Ye Xuan felt a little uncomfortable watching these farmers live a miserable life without enough food.

"Forget it. Once the potatoes are planted, give priority to the farmers in Beishan Huangzhuang." Ye Xuan muttered to himself.

"As for that damn Li Guodong, we can just find an excuse to get rid of him after we return to Yingtian."

That night, Ye Xuan did not stay at Xu Erdan's house after all.

The small hut was really unable to accommodate anyone anymore, so Ye Xuan spent that night at Yao Guang's home.

The next day, Yao Guang sent Ye Xuan to the exit of Beishan Imperial Manor, and the two were about to say goodbye.

A shout came from afar: "It's bad, Master Ye is in trouble!"

Ye Xuan turned his head and saw Xu Erdan chasing after him and Yao Guang anxiously and savagely.

Ye Xuan immediately went to the gate of the manor, and waited for Xu Erdan to run to him breathlessly before asking, "What happened?"

Xu Erdan waved his arms and breathed heavily. After a long while, he finally said, "Master Ye, the potatoes we planted yesterday were... pulled up by Master Li early in the morning!"

"What!" Ye Xuan's eyes widened in surprise, "The potato trial planting was ordered by His Majesty. This Li Guodong is so brave!"

Yao Guang was also a little incredulous and said, "This... shouldn't be the case. Although Lord Li is usually a little cold and arrogant, it shouldn't be that serious!"

Ye Xuan turned his horse around and said, "No matter what's going on, let's go over and take a look first."

…………

Xu Erdan's fields.

"Sir Li, these potatoes were planted by Sir Ye who came from Yingtian yesterday, and were also brought here by Sir Yao, one of your men. We are just ordinary people, how can we know so much?"

Xu's wife knelt down at Li Guodong's feet and said in panic, "We just do what the adults say."

"You just do whatever they say," Li Guodong kicked Xu's wife away with disgust and said ferociously: "Does that mean my words are not as effective as that guy named Ye?" "This... Lord Li, that's not what I meant!" Xu's wife said in panic.

Ignoring Xu's wife, Li Guodong raised his head and looked at the potatoes he had just planted, which were being pulled out one by one by his subordinates. A hint of pride flashed in his eyes.

After returning to his official residence yesterday, Li Guodong felt more and more uncomfortable.

Ye Xuan was already a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard at a young age, a higher official position than himself. After all, he was the first in the second class of the palace examination, but he was defeated by a military officer whose brains were only about muscles.

When I thought about the fact that I had already been in Beishan Huangzhuang for five years, I was embarrassed to tell my family about my current position every time they wrote to ask about it.

Although he was a sixth-rank official in the Ministry of Revenue, which seemed to be a good position to others, the work he did at Beishan Imperial Manor was no different from that of a housekeeper in a wealthy family.

The more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt. Although Beishan Huangzhuang had made a lot of money in the past few years, how could it compare to those classmates who had taken the imperial examinations back then? Some of them had entered the Hanlin Academy, while others had gone to the countryside and were living the life of local emperors.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but start thinking about how to attract the attention of the higher-ups so that he could be transferred away from this hellhole.

Even if he couldn't enter a prestigious government office like the Hanlin Academy or the Censorate, even if he was sent to a rural area to be a carefree official, wouldn't that be much better than staying in the Beishan Imperial Manor?
When he thought about it, he thought of the Zhenfusi Yamen where Ye Xuan was.

During this period, the Jinyiwei, despite being very powerful, was collectively ostracized by the civil service group due to the empty seal case and the case of Yang Xian, the left chancellor of the Secretariat. It can be said that they were notorious.

If I could teach these arrogant Jinyiwei a lesson, wouldn't that attract the attention of my superiors?

By then, won’t I have to be reused?
It was Li Guodong who went crazy after staying in Beishan Royal Manor. He actually did whatever he thought of and actually thought of dealing with Ye Xuan.

Didn’t the emperor ask Ye Xuan to be in charge of trial planting potatoes? But he cannot accomplish his task by himself!
Li Guodong did it as soon as he thought of it. He found out where Ye Xuan planted the potatoes early in the morning and brought his men to cause trouble early.

Li Guodong's men were working hard here, but suddenly they heard a cold and fierce shout: "Stop it, do you want to disobey my order?"

Everyone was startled by this sentence. They looked at the person who made the voice, and then looked at their master, Li Guodong, with some trepidation.

Li Guodong was also startled, but when he saw the newcomer and Yao Guang and Xu Erdan following behind him, he couldn't help but sneer, "Captain Ye, don't use disobedience to scare me. I'm not scared of anything."

Ye Xuan didn't waste any words and drove the horse towards Li Guodong. He bent down and gave Li Guodong a big slap in the face when he was caught off guard.

With a crisp "pop" sound, everyone present opened their mouths in surprise!

We've all heard that the Jinyiwei are domineering, but I've never seen one so domineering.

Li Guodong was a sixth-rank official in the imperial court after all, so Ye Xuan slapped him in the face without giving any explanation.

Li Guodong covered his instantly swollen cheek, pointed at Ye Xuan and said “you you you” for a long time, then he became angry and said: “Ye Xuan, you beat up the imperial official for no reason. Don’t think you are great just because you are a Jinyiwei. I will definitely write to the court to impeach you!”

Ye Xuan sneered and said indifferently: "If you want to impeach me, come on, but Li Guodong, you'd better explain why you pulled up the potatoes that were just planted yesterday. Otherwise, I'm afraid that before you can impeach me, you will have already executed your entire family for disobeying the order!"

Li Guodong was startled, but quickly regained his composure.

(End of this chapter)