Daming: Internship also counts as work experience

Chapter 32 Li Shun's Thoughts

"Twenty-one." Jia Chuan didn't wait for Li Shun to speak again, and said first: "I have already said everything I need to say to Xu Chenshi. If Captain Li has any questions, you can ask him. In the future, if Xu Chenshi and I have the opportunity to meet again..."

"Tomorrow?" Li Shun waved his hand and said without hesitation, "You have only two paths: one is promotion and wealth, the other is... sudden death!"

Countless white hairs stood up on Jia Chuan's back instantly. He knew that it was not good to be too close to the big leader!

"If you are lying and have ulterior motives, you will never see Xu Chenshi again. If you are truly favored by the Crown Prince, I will naturally give you more advice during my time with you. This will definitely benefit your future career."

After Li Shun finished speaking, he looked at Jia Chuan meaningfully, as if waiting for Jia Chuan to say something, but Jia Chuan just raised his eyebrows. He felt that what Li Shun said was a bit too explicit.

Seeing that Jia Chuan did not move, Li Shun said again:

"Originally, Xu Chenshi planned to stay for a while on this trip. This was also the Crown Prince's intention. The purpose was naturally to investigate the Huang Luling case. However, your deduction is somewhat shocking. Simply sending a letter to the capital will not work. Xu Chenshi must return in person. And Xu Chenshi clearly does not trust you very much, so I stayed... We will soon have news on what to do next. You may have another chance to exchange letters with the Crown Prince, but by then I will already be able to predict your final decision and how you will reply..."

Jia Chuan exhaled, feeling suddenly relieved. Li Shun's words reminded him that his life or death lay solely in Zhu Zhanji's hands. Their conversation was a direct one, and it would be difficult for others to interfere. So, who was he afraid of? Why was he still pretending?

There's no need to think too much about the ratio between life and death. Just kidding, if you catch up, it's 100%! Who knows what's going on in an emperor's head?
I can only blame myself for revealing too much at the beginning, but at that time it was also to save my own life.

Now she was exposed naked in front of Zhu Zhanji. It was good, it was better to reveal herself little by little in the future. Then he would need to make up countless lies to explain. Now everything was presented to him, so he could do whatever he wanted!
"If that day really comes, you'd better do it quickly!" Jia Chuan said, rubbing his face.

This was not what Li Shun wanted to hear. He was stunned for a moment and could only pick up the tea bowl to ease the awkwardness. He coughed lightly and asked, "So, what you said before wasn't entirely true?"

"It's all true, not a single word is false, but does it matter whether what I say is true or not? Doesn't it all depend on what the prince thinks?"

Li Shun put down his tea bowl, frowned, and asked, "Your previous inference sounds reasonable, but I always feel..."

"Is your Jinyiwei's office in Beijing?" Jia Chuan crossed his legs.

This action made Li Shun stunned. It would be fine if he didn't try to please or beg, but why was he showing off?

"We're waiting anyway, so tell me about the Imperial Guards. I think the officials are very afraid of you. Can you interfere with the promotion of local officials at will?"

Li Shun was a little annoyed. He snorted with a sullen face and said sternly, "How difficult is it to interfere with their promotion? We can control their life and death!"

Jia Chuan raised his eyebrows, looking unconvinced.

Jia Chuan's attitude changed visibly in just a few words, which made Li Shun feel very uncomfortable. He frowned and wanted to scare him. According to the usual work situation, as long as he frowned and changed his tone of voice, the people in front of him would sit down properly.

But Jia Chuan has now disregarded life and death. Not to mention a centurion, even if Xu Chenshi came back, Jia Chuan would still have a rotten face. The more he fed them, the more excited they would be!
You want to scare him and make him behave like a dog? Dream on!

Jia Chuan ignored Li Shun. He closed his eyes, crossed his legs and swung them. Suddenly, he remembered something and stood up, picked up Li Shun's tea bowl and took a big sip. Then he went back and sat down again, closed his eyes, crossed his legs and swung them, listening to the sound of rain outside.

Li Shun looked at Jia Chuan with his mouth open. For a moment, he really wanted to lose his temper, but then he thought, this man is the prince's man. If he really said what he did, what if this man was favored by the prince...

Li Shun's original plan was this. When he set out from the capital, he already knew that the young clerk in Dongzhao County had saved the prince's life and was trusted by the prince. Xu Gong brought him and Sun Rong all the way here, and he also said on the way that this kid was not simple.

According to Xu Gong's plan, the three of them would stay for a while, but he and Sun Rong would have to travel back and forth between the capital and Dongzhao County, and some things still had to be done personally.

Li Shun was trying to figure out Xu Gong's thoughts along the way. He could see that Xu Gong did not trust Jia Chuan very much, so he wanted to show his dissatisfaction with Jia Chuan, so that Xu Gong would think it was safest to let him guard Jia Chuan, so that he would not have to suffer the pain on horseback.

But the situation was much more serious than they had imagined, so Xu Gong had to go back in person, and Li Shun stayed as he wished.

This change was good for Li Shun. Just as he said just now, if Jia Chuan was eventually killed, he would not suffer any loss and might even gain some merit. If Jia Chuan became successful in the future, he would definitely develop a deep "friendship" with Jia Chuan during this time, especially after he developed the habit of obeying Jia Chuan in everything. As long as Jia Chuan had a smooth career, his would not be far behind either.

This wishful thinking began to fall apart in Li Shun's mind the moment Jia Chuan crossed his legs. Li Shun sat up straight and felt that it was necessary to let Jia Chuan know what the Jinyiwei were!
Jia Chuan closed his eyes and listened to Li Shunxian's introduction of what "Jinyi" was. It was a gifted uniform. Feiyufu was the work uniform specially allowed by the emperor for Jinyiwei to wear. Of course, not all Jinyiwei members could wear Feiyufu.

Li Shun then introduced the past and present of the Jinyiwei, focusing on the power held by the Jinyiwei.

Jia Chuan concluded that the predecessor of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was the Guard Office, which was originally Zhu Yuanzhang's guard responsible for protecting the emperor's travels. It was also the emperor's ceremonial guard. Since it was a ceremonial guard, it was the face of the emperor, so it was naturally dressed neatly and majestically, and thus had flying fish clothes and embroidered spring swords. At that time, the Guard Office did not have much power.

Since they were Zhu Yuanzhang's personal guards, and there were many things going on in the early days of the founding of the country, Zhu Yuanzhang had to send his own people to gather intelligence and punish ministers privately. Thus, the Jinyiwei was born. Its full name was "Jinyiwei Commandery", which had 17 subordinate offices, as well as the South and North Pacification Offices.

The scary thing about this organization is that it is not under the jurisdiction of any department and is directly under the command of the emperor. They do whatever the emperor tells them to do. If the emperor doesn't tell them to do so, they can find ways to make the emperor point in the direction they want. Anyway, they can report the so-called "unusual movements" of the ministers to the emperor at any time.

Soon, the court officials were terrified when they heard the word "tiger", and no one was not afraid of the Jinyiwei.

Another terrifying thing about the Jinyiwei is that they are not subject to judicial jurisdiction. If they encounter any rebels, they will kill them without mercy. They also have their own prison - the Imperial Prison, which is more famous than the Heavenly Prison.

It is not easy to join the Jinyiwei. One has to go through strict examination and interviews, as well as various trainings. Only those who are selected can join the Jinyiwei.

Once he joined the Jinyiwei, he would be able to hold his head high and feel proud, at least that was what Li Shun thought.

But who was Zhu Yuanzhang? He was the master of hiding the bow after the bird was killed. In the 26th year of the Hongwu reign, Zhu Yuanzhang realized the harm of this organization and ordered the abolition of the Jinyiwei. After a few years of silence, Zhu Di came.

Zhu Di restarted the Jinyiwei.

Jia Chuan felt that Zhu Di was well aware that the throne was difficult to sit on, and that the Jinyiwei helped warm it. During this period, the Jinyiwei took the task of supervising officials to its extreme. Later, when Zhu Di relocated the capital, the Jinyiwei's Southern Pacification Division remained in Nanjing, responsible for criminal cases and military artisans. The Northern Pacification Division was even more powerful, shifting its focus to criminal justice and sharing judicial control with the Three Law Departments, significantly increasing its power.

Li Shun became more and more proud as he spoke. Jia Chuan was trying to translate Li Shun's words into his own understanding while his previous life's knowledge of the Jinyiwei flashed through his mind. Suddenly, a name flashed through his mind and he asked, "Ji Gang...how did he die?"

Li Shun, who was full of pride just a second ago, suddenly looked gloomy.

Li Shun naturally knew about Ji Gang's life and the tragic scene of his death. He thought that Jia Chuan was reminding him, but in fact, Jia Chuan really remembered it and asked casually.

Just by looking at Li Shun's expression, Jia Chuan knew that this Jinyiwei commander, whose name was recorded in history books, did not have a good end. He stopped asking questions. After all, he knew what he wanted to know. As the emperor's hunting dogs, it was true that the Jinyiwei were feared by the officials in the court. It was also true that the Jinyiwei would do anything to show their loyalty. What were the consequences...

"Before he left, Assistant Chief Xu ordered me to continue investigating, especially to find the location of the bandits. Captain Li, do you have any ideas?" Jia Chuan changed the subject and asked with a serious expression.

Li Shun coughed lightly and said, "Order the yamen runners to search first. We will wait for news from the capital. If it's fast, there will be news later tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow..."

"Captain Li, do you want to wait and see how the prince will deal with me?" Jia Chuan asked Li Shun with a playful look.

Li Shun shifted his position, his face still sullen, and said, "You're mistaken! The speculations you made today are too shocking. We are just following orders, and we must first understand the superior's instructions before we can act. That's why I ordered the yamen runners to conduct a secret investigation first."

Jia Chuan nodded and closed his eyes again.

At this time, the door opened and Cui Youzhi walked into the room with a smile on his face. He said that the accommodation had been arranged and Captain Li could go there to rest.

Li Shun didn't say anything, just said he was going to secretly investigate the nearby bandits, then stood up, looked at Jia Chuan and said, "It's pointless for me to live there alone, the three of you should come with me."

Jia Chuan smiled, stood up and said "Okay".

No one noticed that Cui Youzhi's face looked more uncomfortable than if he had eaten a fly.

……

Jia Chuan is content, and Dong Shuben and Shunzi are also very grateful.

If they really locked the three of them up in the dungeon to wait for news, they would have to endure it.

In the final analysis, it was all thanks to Zhu Zhanji. If Zhu Zhanji was not the boss, it would be useless for Jia Chuan to save a first-rank official, who would definitely be in jail now.

Li Shun still thought that Jia Chuan would argue and refuse to go with him. Based on Jia Chuan's performance just now, Li Shun had reason to believe that Jia Chuan did not take him seriously. He even thought about how he would respond if Jia Chuan did not go with him?
The heavy rain was still pouring down. Cui Youzhi hesitated whether to wait until the rain stopped before sending this plague god out of the yamen, but he really couldn't wait. When he thought of having a captain of the Jinyiwei by his side, he couldn't help trembling all over. Even though the heavy rain showed no sign of stopping, he still led the way himself and sent Li Shun, Jia Chuan and others to the house.

In Dongzhao County, only the street in front of the county government office was paved with bluestone slabs, while the other streets and alleys were muddy. After the group walked into the house, although they had rain gear to shelter from the rain, most of their bodies were wet, not to mention the mud spots splashed on their bodies.

In addition to the work clothes they were wearing from the yamen, Jia Chuan and the other two also had the work clothes from the Inspection Office that they had taken off earlier. Although they had been washed by the county yamen servants after they took them off, there was still a faint smell from them from time to time. The three of them thought of going back to the house to wash them after the people left, and not going out with their bare chests. They would hang the clothes aside and work on them tomorrow.

This house has two courtyards in front and back, which are very spacious. In addition to the left and right wing rooms in the front yard, there is also a back house. The main house in the back yard has two rooms in the east and west, and the wing rooms on both sides look quite large.

Needless to say, the main house would definitely be given to Li Shun. Jia Chuan and the other two exchanged glances and divided the front yard into several rooms, but Li Shun disagreed.

The group entered the main room. Cui Youzhi's servants thoughtfully produced several sets of dry clothes and placed them on the table. Cui Youzhi said flatteringly, "The servants will wash the clothes you changed out of, and they will be ready for use tomorrow. The cooks are always in use by the yamen, so Captain Li Baihu can rest assured. These servants are quite smart and will stay to serve..."

Li Shun sat down in the main seat without hesitation, waved his hand and said, "These are irrelevant. I'd like to trouble County Magistrate Cui to take care of the secret investigation of the bandits..."

Cui Youzhi hurriedly said, "Captain Li, you don't know that a large part of the dense forest in Huangluling falls under the jurisdiction of Dongzhao County, so the patrol inspection office there is also under the jurisdiction of the Dongzhao County government. Aside from some hills here, there are no other high points in Dongzhao County. If the bandits are in the dense forest... that's impossible."

Li Shun glanced at Jia Chuan, who was picking at the mud on his body, and asked, "Jia Chuan, what do you think?"

Jia Chuan raised his head and said impatiently, "If you want to ask me about the cause of death or the details of the case, I can still talk a few words, but you ask me about this kind of thing?"

The county officials all looked at Jia Chuan with surprise.

What is this attitude?

Dong Shuben quickly stepped forward and said, "There's a small Dongshan Mountain in Dongguang County. It's been plagued by bandits in the past. I wonder how the situation is now."

Jia Chuan asked, "Why haven't I heard you mention this before?"

"You didn't even ask."

"Is Dongguan County close to the dense forests of Huangluling?" Li Shun asked.

"A small part of the Huangluling dense forest also belongs to Dongguan County." Dong Shuben answered quickly.

Li Shun took a deep breath and said, "A single forest has been divided into several parts. So, County Magistrate Cui will have someone go to Dongguang County tomorrow and find someone who has a good understanding of the surrounding area to report back."

Cui Youzhi secretly breathed a sigh of relief, quickly agreed, and said some auspicious words such as "have a good rest" and "just let him know if you have anything", then he took the initiative to leave. The officials who came with him also left respectfully without saying a word.

(End of this chapter)