Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 887: Small Matter Becomes Big
"Sir, the messenger sent to the court must have arrived in the capital by now." Ye An said. A cold light flashed across his eyes: "Why don't we just not wait any longer? We should go all out and directly send troops to attack the Shuixi tribes..."

"How should we fight?" Ma Ye rolled his eyes. "The Shuixi Yi people are the local bosses here. If we take the initiative and are no match for them, won't that give them an advantage?"

"General Lan Yu, the Duke of Liang, is stationed in Sizhou to suppress the bandits. Only if General Lan Yu takes action can we be absolutely safe... But if General Lan Yu wants to take action, we must first force Shuixi to rebel, so that the army can go out with a legitimate reason."

"The credit for this lies in how we force Shuixi to rebel... They have lost their leader, so why don't they rebel? I have already torn my face off against them..."

"Perhaps... there are still people in the Shuixi tribe who are in charge of important matters and suppressing the Yi people." Ye An muttered casually. "If not, how could all the Yi people become cowards?"

Hearing this, Ma Ye's eyes gradually brightened.

……

On the other side, as it was getting dark, Mrs. Shezi welcomed Zhu Su to the Shuixi West tribe’s residence. After having someone serve him food and drink, she told Zhu Su about the current situation during this period.

"Since His Highness left, the officers and soldiers of Guizhou Second Guard have been making things difficult for us Yi people, smashing and destroying things at every turn..."

When Guiyang City was first built, two main urban functions were planned: trading and garrison.

Not only were the two Guizhou guards stationed in the city, but a large-scale market and market were also planned. Most of the market was given to the various chieftains and tribes. When Zhu Su was in power, the garrison and the tribesmen in the market were still able to keep to themselves. You trained your troops and I sold my mountain products, and no one bothered anyone else.

However, after Zhu Su left, the situation of both parties changed. Guiyang City was a new city, and the court had not yet determined its regulations. There were not many households in the city, so the court naturally did not send officials to govern it. As a result, Ma Ye became the highest official in Guiyang City after Zhu Su left.

But the market in the city was promised to be jointly managed by Shuixi and Shuidong. After Zhu Su left, soldiers from the garrison often went to the market to cause trouble. They seemed to do it deliberately, causing trouble everywhere and being extremely arrogant to the people of various ethnic groups who set up stalls and did business in the market.

The chieftains of the Shuixi and Shuidong tribes who were in charge of the market were naturally very dissatisfied, but with Ma Ye's support behind these officers and soldiers, Shuixi and Shuidong were also unwilling to create discord with the court, so they always swallowed their anger.

However, the Guizhou guards became even more aggressive. One day, they robbed a Yi girl who was going to the market in the city, and then rushed back. The girl was the daughter of a chieftain in Shuixi. The chieftain naturally found Ai Cui and asked Ai Cui to seek justice for him. If Ai Cui still bowed her head in such a matter, he would not have to do his job as a chieftain, so Ai Cui took the chieftain to the guard post to find Ma Ye to ask for the girl.

Unexpectedly, Ma Ye arrested Ai Cui and all the people she brought with her without any investigation!

This stirred up a hornet's nest. Ai Cui had a good reputation among the Yi people, and the Yi people were not happy about this. After hearing the news, the Yi people in the city gathered in front of the garrison and asked Ma Ye to release Ai Cui. Ma Ye was not moved at all, but scolded the Shuixi Yi tribe for wanting to rebel, and deployed soldiers in front of the camp gate, intending to suppress them with swords.

"I think this is what Ma Ye said in his urgent report, 'The people of Shuixi West surrounded the guard office, and their rebellious intentions are obvious.' This is also the biggest crime of Shuixi West that shocked the court... If it is true as Mrs. Shezi said, the Yi people just want to find Ma Ye for an explanation, then Ma Ye's report... is no different from deceiving the emperor."

"What happened next? Madam, why are you here?" Zhu Su asked.

"It was Mr. Xie... Mr. Xie tried his best to stop us from doing anything wrong, and repeatedly guaranteed that he would find Ma Ye to get my husband back, so we went out of the city to wait... But now it has been nearly a month, and there is still no news in the city. Your Highness, my husband won't?" Although Mrs. Shez was trying hard to stay calm, her last sentence revealed that she was actually very confused.

Zhu Su secretly thought that he was lucky. Previously, he wanted to blame Xie Jin for not seeing things clearly, but if he hadn't stabilized the situation at that time, I'm afraid Shuixi would really rebel that day. Although this person failed in details, he was still commendable in terms of the overall situation.

"Madam, don't worry..." Zhu Su was just about to say something to comfort Madam Shezi, but suddenly he heard someone outside shouting, "Mr. Xie is back!"

"Ah! Mr. Xie is back!" Shezi was shocked and immediately got up and rushed out. Zhu Su thought, could it be that Xie Jin has asked for Ai Cui back? He hurriedly followed him out to see what was going on.

There was a commotion in the tribe, with countless people heading towards the entrance to greet their chieftain. However, there was no one behind Xie Jin, and when Zhu Su came out of the house, Xie Jin had already seen Zhu Su's royal flag and the figure that he was very familiar with, so he quickly pushed through the crowd and came to Zhu Su.

"Sir Jin, what are you doing..." When Xie Jin approached, Zhu Su found that he looked in a dishevel, with dust on his face and the hem of his clothes. His face became gloomy.

"Your Highness... You, you are finally here..." Xie Jin was dragged out of the city gate by Ma Ye. He was a talented man who was proud of his talent and valued his reputation the most. He had to put on a smile for more than a month and suffered such a great humiliation.

If he had not received Zhu Su's instructions before leaving and had not been entrusted with an important task, he would have lost his temper and wanted to die to avenge his shame. He promised to bring Ai Cui back but failed to do so. He originally planned to find Shui Xibu to apologize for his crime and then commit suicide, perhaps to make Shui Xi not be so hostile to the court. However, seeing Zhu Su here, he finally had a place to vent his grievances. When his will to die was gone, he actually cried out loudly: "Your Highness, I have ruined your plan, failed to appease the tribes, failed to bring back Ai Cui Tusi, and failed to fulfill my mission... Please punish me, please punish me!"

When Zhu Su saw him in such a state of embarrassment, he knew that he must have hit a snag with Ma Ye. But the Yi people were still looking forward to him, expecting him to bring back good news, but suddenly they heard him crying loudly, admitting that he had not been able to bring back Ai Cui. All the Yi people were in an uproar.
Seeing that the Yi people were so excited that they looked at him with a strange look, Zhu Su could no longer care about Jie Jin and hurriedly comforted Madam Shezi, saying, "Madam, don't worry. Now that I am here, I will give your tribe a proper explanation."

"Madam, please follow me to Guiyang... No matter what, I need to first teach your tribe to welcome back Tusi Aicui!"

(End of this chapter)