Flourishing of the Ming Dynasty Novel - Chapter 145

Chapter 145 Continuous Elimination And Striking
Seeing Lu Zhen say this, Zeng Guang’s face instantly revealed a trace of fear, but Lu Tu immediately cried out, “Sir, you have wronged a few of the lower officials. It is really because of the importance of this matter. The lower officials are only second officials and do not have the real power to deal with such a big matter. That is why they are delayed.”

As soon as he opened his mouth, Zeng Guang quickly reacted and cooperated, “Yes, Your Excellency, these three cases are of great importance. Our county government has already felt troublesome. Previously, there was no county magistrate in charge of the overall situation, so we can only shelve them for the time being. I hope that Your Excellency can learn from them!”

“So this official has made a mistake?” Lu Zhen sneered, “But no matter what you say, this job will still fall on me, the county magistrate. As a bureaucrat, you can only watch. Can’t you even come up with an idea?”

Lu Tu lowered his gaze, his eyes flashing with a hint of satisfaction, and the corner of his mouth curved into an imperceptible arc. However, this expression flashed and disappeared. After that, he winked at Zeng Guang. This was all because of him. Naturally, it was up to him to tell the story.

Zeng Guangxin felt bitter. It seemed that he had to say what he wanted to offend the county magistrate. But in front of Lu Xiancheng, how could he not obey? “My lord, this lowly official mentioned a word dragging technique before. This is already the safest method.”

“Is it safe? If it’s really safe, I’m afraid that the former county magistrate Li will not lose his position and leave the capital. Am I right, Lu Xiancheng?” Lu Zhen handed the conversation over to Lu Tu again.

Lu Tu could only smile reluctantly, “This … I can’t say. Perhaps because County Magistrate Li has already left, no one will hold on to this matter anymore.”

Lu Zhen chuckled again, “You’re really optimistic. But it’s also true. After all, I’m the county magistrate in front of you when something goes wrong, so it has nothing to do with you guys.”

These words were a little heart-wrenching, but this time, Lu Tu did not answer this question at all. He just lowered his head and acquiesced. He believed that Lu Zhen had no choice but to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, so he was not afraid of him.

Seeing his attitude, Lu Zhen’s anger grew stronger and stronger. He stared at him for a moment before he relaxed his tone, “Indeed, many things in this world can’t be done by people. I can only rely on myself. This time, I truly understand the truth of this sentence. These three difficult cases can only be solved by myself.”

Seeing that he seemed to have made up his mind, Lu Tu was puzzled. He couldn’t help but ask, “What is Sir’s plan for this?”

“We can’t afford to offend the factory guards, but if we drag them along and are afraid that someone will hand us a knife from behind, then there’s only one way.” Lu Zhen had already stared at Lu Tu, “Seal all the clues and evidence that we found, and then hand them over to Shun Tian Manor, let them handle it!”

He finally spoke out his solution, and the two subordinates in front of him were obviously stunned on the spot after hearing this idea. Especially Lu Tu’s expression changed, knowing that his plot was going to be in vain.

Speaking of which, when dealing with difficult matters, other than the Dragging Character Technique, there was also a move called the Pushing Character Technique in the officialdom, which was to push out the things that he could not do, or that would cause trouble in the future, and let others do it.

Generally speaking, it was the superior yamen who pushed the difficulty to the subordinate yamen. For example, Shuntian Prefecture pushed the hot case to Daxing County, letting them take the blame in the end. No one expected that Lu Zhen would actually do the opposite this time, report the case that he couldn’t handle to the Shun Tian Manor and leave it to them to deal with!

How courageous would this be, and how many people would he offend! In the officialdom, there has always been a tradition of subordinates taking the blame for their bosses. If this were to be reversed, their subordinates would probably not be able to live well in the future. Lu Zhen reported the case to the higher authorities. He was relieved, but Shun Tian Manor was in big trouble. After that, Shun Tian Manor, which had a lot of objections to him, would definitely give him little shoes to wear. In fact, in the future, there would be people who would make things difficult for him everywhere in the official circles. It was really not a good idea.

However, compared to the other result, this was the best choice. Because if he didn’t, he would probably lose his job. The former still had room to recover, but the latter would have no future. I believe that any sober-minded person would choose the latter when facing the two choices, including the previous county magistrate Li.

He didn’t do this because he hadn’t thought that he would be able to resolve the crisis like this after so many years in the bureaucracy. This was because they had long since gotten used to the various rules in the officialdom, even if they were just hidden rules. In his heart, not giving his boss any trouble had already become the norm, so how could he have thought of this move?

Actually, even Lu Zhen did not think of this countermeasure. He still had to rely on Chu Yunrong’s reminder to recover. Moreover, he had a greater advantage than his predecessor, and that was that he still had Hu Ying as his big backer. Presumably, Shun Tian Manor would not dare to attack him too ruthlessly afterwards.

After Lu Tu understood the pros and cons, his expression became a little ugly. He knew that his plan had completely failed. From the looks of it, this young county magistrate in front of him was really a character. He did not follow the law, so he had to be more careful when he attacked in the future. Fortunately, it was still up to the county government to make its own decisions, and there was plenty of time to find another opportunity.

Zeng Guang lowered his head and didn’t dare to say anything else. It was because he discovered that this county magistrate was extremely shrewd and far from being able to provoke him. He even had an idea that it would be better to remain neutral in the future, so that he would not be implicated by Lu Xiancheng beside him.

Seeing that the two of them were no longer speaking, Lu Zhen said, “Lu Xiancheng, the reason I called you here today is because of this. After all, these three cases are of great importance. Even if our county government reports them to Shuntian Prefecture, they must comply with the rules. So, you can go there.”

‘”Ah” Hearing this, Lu Tu’s expression changed once again, but he was really a little panicked. “Sir, this” He knew that sending trouble to Shun Tian Manor would bring him something, so he naturally wanted to reject it subconsciously. But before he could say anything, Lu Zhen interrupted coldly, “What, do you want to disobey?” As he spoke, his expression sank.

The counterattack came so quickly! This thought flashed through Lu Tu’s mind, but his heart sank as he knew that he couldn’t hide this time.

Even though he, Lu Xiancheng, had covered the sky with his hands in the county government, he was still a subordinate of the newly appointed county magistrate, Lu Zhen, in terms of status. This was not another county, but under the feet of the Son of Heaven. Once the matter was truly revealed, he, as a second official and a county magistrate from a family background, would dare to defy the county magistrate’s will. He was afraid that he would lose his official position immediately.

Therefore, after Lu Zhen said this, Lu Tu could only shut up and lower his head. After a while, he cupped his fists and said, “Xiaoguan, accept your orders.”

Lu Zhen stared at him with a trace of regret in his eyes. This person was also someone who could stretch and shrink, and when he saw that the situation was not good, he admitted defeat. If he really refused forcefully, he could use his identity as county magistrate to kick him out of the county government. I’m sure the Ministry of Officials would cooperate with him.

This was the strategy that Lu Zhen had come up with after coming up with a solution. Because he had already understood that this Lu Tu was the only one in the Daxing County government that could cover the sky. If he wanted to grasp real power, he had to be taken away. There were still too many things waiting for him to do. Lu Zhen really didn’t have the time and interest to follow Guang Ling and look for evidence bit by bit. He just needed to find an opportunity and directly suppress his momentum.

But in the end, his abacus was still in vain. Lu Tu actually wisely chose to obey his orders. Fortunately, this was more or less an improvement, so that the people in the yamen would know who this county magistrate was and what attitude he had towards Lu Tu. It was better for this somewhat inflated Lu Xiancheng to know what kind of identity he was.

He was just an official with a high family background, yet he actually wanted to suppress an authentic county magistrate like himself? He didn’t even think about what the people in the Great Ming official circles usually did. They had always only done dirty work and had to take the blame for their superiors if anything went wrong. Typical tragic characters who took the blame and sent them to their deaths actually wanted to trick him instead!

Lu Zhen was not a timid official who always talked about returning kindness for resentment. As long as he dared to make an enemy of him, he would definitely use the fastest and fiercest move to retaliate. This was what he had done in the grasslands and in Guang Ling. After arriving in the capital this time, he did not intend to change!

After looking at the two uncertain subordinates, Lu Zhen waved his hand and said, “All of you, go down. Remember, get this done. Otherwise, even if this official wants to let you go, the Imperial Court’s system will not forgive you!”

Zeng Guang hurriedly retreated, and Lu Tu only walked back with a gloomy expression after looking at Lu Zhen again. At this time, Lu Zhen said, “Lu Xiancheng, you must handle this matter yourself. If you ask someone else to do it, I’m afraid the Shuntian Prefecture will think that our county government doesn’t understand the rules. Do you understand?”

“Xiaoguan knows.” Lu Tu hatefully replied before leaving the public house. When he came out, the muscles on his face had already completely twisted. What made him even angrier was that Zeng Guang was actually not waiting for him outside. Instead, he had left on his own. This was something that had never happened before.

Just as Lu Tu was still considering how to deal with the difficulty in front of him, the conversation between the three of them quickly spread throughout the county government. After understanding the strength of the county magistrate and the difficulties that Lu Xiancheng would face, the people who had stood firmly on his side began to waver.

This is the warmth and coldness of the people in the officialdom. If you use your momentum to flourish, once you go, you will have to accept the result of being abandoned by others. This was also the result that Lu Zhen hoped to see. Otherwise, it would really be difficult to deal with this old man from the county government, Lu Tu.

However, this was only the beginning of his counterattack, and there were other moves coming in succession!