Frost for a Thousand Years

Do you dare say you are absolutely loyal to His Highness?!

When Shen Kang, who was outside the prison, heard these words, his expression turned serious.

Could it be that this eunuch Lian is really hiding some secret?
But if he really had some leverage over Song Shi'an, why didn't he tell me?

After all, this was his real chance to survive.

What does it mean to bring this up in a private conversation with Song Shi'an at this time?

He wasn't afraid that Song Shi'an would kill him and make it look like a suicide.

After all, this is Song Shi'an's territory.

Is it just intimidation, a bluff?

"Huh? Do you dare say it?"

Lian Gonggong's voice came again, this time with a hint of aggressiveness.

Song Shi'an didn't say anything; perhaps he was really intimidated.

If you can scare someone, it means they really have something to hide.

This is the downside of eavesdropping and surveillance: what you hear is not always the truth. Without knowing the true reactions, the misunderstandings caused by words can easily lead you astray from the real truth.

"You, what do you do?"

When Eunuch Lian cautiously uttered these words, the Imperial Guard next to Shen Kang immediately placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, but Shen Kang stopped him with a cold glare.

But we can't blame him entirely.

In the minds of a normal member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, this clearly seemed to be something that made Eunuch Lian say something that aroused Song Shi'an's murderous intent, and then Eunuch Lian became afraid.

until,

"The first time I met Eunuch Lian was when I was a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) reporting on my duties."

"At that time, my father-in-law was radiant and had a cheerful face."

Shen Kang was stunned.

Closed his eyes.

He wanted to say, "Have you discovered a genius who could be a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard?"
He had been following the path of tenderness the whole time, never pressuring the other person, but all the words he spoke together were not as powerful as this one flashback.

When Shen Kang first met Eunuch Lian upon arriving in Huai County, he was quite startled.

Because this eunuch was only around forty years old, and being a eunuch, he aged more slowly and had a longer lifespan than ordinary men, so he looked only in his thirties. In such a state, and in such a position, he could be considered a winner in life among eunuchs.

But when they met again, the person was like a withered withering, thin, haggard, pale-faced, with deep-set eyes that revealed a pair of bloodshot pupils with pale whites. They didn't even recognize him at first glance.

For this reason, the Embroidered Uniform Guards even held a meeting.

Lian Gonggong became like this as soon as they arrived, not after being interrogated for several days!
The door was opened by Song Shi'an, and then he closed it again.

Shen Kang and the Imperial Guards standing to the side looked at him.

Song Shi'an bowed to him, then smiled calmly.

It means it's all settled.

Shen Kang also clenched his fists to show his gratitude.

At this moment, in prison, Eunuch Lian's eyes were brimming with tears.

The moment he saw his own grotesque appearance, nothing else mattered to him.

original,

He wanted to see the Crown Prince.

He wanted to impeach Song Shi'an.

He desperately wanted to live.

But in that instant, he realized, what was the point of living like this?
Neither human nor ghost.

The crown prince abandoned him long ago. Even if he manages to survive, where is his master?
The emperor was also very old and nearing death.

He is like a lost dog.

At this moment, he remembered his godfather, Chen Bao.

That official was also abandoned by the emperor and exiled to the imperial mausoleum because of Song Shi'an.

But he was different from me; he didn't want to fight with Song Shi'an.

Heavens above! Fighting Song Shi'an is a losing proposition, and not fighting him is also a losing proposition. Is there any way for us eunuchs to survive?

No.

Eunuch Lian shook his head, his face immediately darkening.

Chen Bao is completely different from me.

He was abandoned by the Wei family.

Chen Bao, on the other hand, abandoned the Wei family.

Godfather, only now do I realize how amazing you are...

At this moment, Eunuch Lian had no more stubbornness, no more worries.

Shen Kang pushed open the door and walked in.

"Father-in-law, how did your conversation with the Prefect go?" Shen Kang asked tentatively.

"What you said is all correct."

Eunuch Lian looked at him calmly and said.

His attitude made Shen Kangzhen feel a pang of sadness, but she didn't show it. There was no point in him playing the good guy here; it would only make him seem hypocritical.

"That indictment..."

"I sign."

Without delay, honest and fair.

Seeing this, Shen Kang moved the bucket of water aside, then knelt on one knee in front of Eunuch Lian, presenting the indictment with both hands, and had the other party tremblingly sign his name and affix his fingerprint.

Thus, Eunuch Lian became the person primarily responsible for the failure of the Huai County land reclamation project.

"Father-in-law, is there anything else you would like to say?"

Shen Kang didn't want to hide the 'handle' his eunuch wanted to talk about. He wanted his eunuch to speak directly to the Crown Prince, so he reminded him, "After you return to Sheng'an, you will be in the imperial prison. Whatever your request or message, I will do my best to convey it for you."

Upon hearing this, Eunuch Lian remained silent, only offering a rather faint smile. He then glanced at the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard out of the corner of his eye, a sinister look that made Shen Kang inexplicably uncomfortable, as if the other man were saying:
"You're next."

.........

The news of Song Shi'an's return to Huai County spread immediately.

For grassroots officials, this is undoubtedly a shot in the arm.

After all, the previous eunuchs were just there to cause trouble and had no professionalism whatsoever.

Therefore, order was quickly restored.

However, the damaged credibility of the government is not so easy to repair or make up for.

Those merchants whose personal freedom had been restricted gathered together.

"Lord Song has returned, and Huai County will surely get back on the right track. However, I feel that he is not so trustworthy anymore."

"All crows are black, so what's the difference?"

"If he truly cared about us, why did he resign without a word back then? Didn't he anticipate these consequences?"

"Moreover, I've figured it out. These officials are very shrewd. They always ignore old debts when they're new. If they don't want to pay back the money, they just change the prefect, leaving us with nowhere to chase after the debt."

"If we continue building this palace, won't it just keep costing money and make the books unbalanced?"

"Let's go find Song Shi'an. Anyway, he promised that whenever we want to withdraw, we can take all the stored food with us."

“Good idea, but he said it himself. If he doesn’t agree, he’ll be contradicting himself. Then no one will be willing to continue serving him.”

"Yes, let's go." After everyone had discussed it, they went to find Song Shi'an together.

There were many guards outside his main hall.

Then one of them shouted, "We want to see Lord Song!"

Upon seeing these people, an old man hurried over and said to them with a smile, "You have all arrived. Lord Song has been missing you all."

This starkly different attitude made these people feel a familiar warmth.

After all, Eunuch Lian, being a palace servant, didn't take them seriously at all; all they felt was humiliation.

However, don't underestimate the shrewdness of businessmen.

What's the use of having a good attitude? Does that guarantee that the government won't treat them like people from Qi?

"Alright, let's go see the Lord now!" the leader said.

"Okay, we can meet now." Song Gan maintained his smile and said, "Please allow me to introduce myself first. My name is Song Gan."

Upon hearing this name, they all calmed down considerably.

After all, this surname is quite unique.

“I am the steward of the Song family. Although I am just a servant, the lord trusts me quite a bit,” Song Gan said. “The lord told me that when I see you all, I must apologize first.”

After speaking, Song Gan bowed deeply again.

"..." Seeing this, the leader softened his tone and said, "Master Song, although we are all merchants, we had some unpleasant misunderstandings with the Prefect before. However, it was because of the Prefect's promise that we stayed here. So, does the previous promise still stand?"

“Of course,” Song Gan said.

“Then we want to return our grain,” he said bluntly.

“Okay, either way is fine,” Song Gan said without hesitation.

what happened……

Why was the decision made so decisively?

They knew very well that Song Shi'an couldn't provide them with enough grain, because the vast majority of it had been consumed during the land reclamation.

The reason they agreed to lend the money first was because Song Shi'an said that the first thing to do after the harvest of the garrison land was to use the money from selling the grain to pay off the debt.

The land reclamation project isn't over yet, and such a huge mess has occurred. This hasty return of grain seems so deliberate.

As they were thinking this, Song Gan said, "The Prefect is currently in the main hall, but he wishes to see everyone at once. So, would you all like to move to the palace foundation and wait for the Prefect?"

A small meeting turned into a large one.

But these people only want to hold small meetings.

"After you finish speaking, please come back here so that I can discuss this further with you all, shall we?" Song Gan promised that there would be a smaller meeting after the main conference.

Having said all that, they had no choice but to agree.

So everyone went to the foundation of the palace.

Nearly a thousand people, including officials, military officers, and merchants, gathered at the foundation of the original main hall of the imperial palace.

While waiting, Song Shi'an walked up to a high platform.

There was only one guard beside her, and that was Xinyue.

"Everyone, I am Song Shi'an!"

Song Shi'an knew that crisis management was paramount, so he was determined to pull off a major operation. He loudly ordered the audience to quiet down before getting straight to the point: "The construction of the temporary palace was the court's original intention. However, after the Crown Prince dispatched the Imperial Guards to Huai County, they learned that the Grand Eunuch Lian Song, under the guise of supervising the construction, had threatened officials, accepted bribes, and disobeyed the Crown Prince's orders by arbitrarily altering the palace's specifications to curry favor. This contradicted the court's policy of 'simplicity in all things,' and involved several times the required manpower and resources. This has offended the people and merchants. He has been severely punished and escorted back to Sheng'an for trial!"

These words were met with cheers from the audience.

But the vast majority of people were clearly not satisfied.

The death of a eunuch has nothing to do with them.

It wasn't until Song Shi'an said, "Therefore, the Crown Prince has decided to stop the construction of the temporary palace and return everything to production! Furthermore, all the money spent on building materials and procurement will be paid off after the land reclamation is completed!"

The palace will not be repaired.

This is the most significant positive news today.

And then, everyone suddenly realized what was going on.

"Lord Song's land reclamation project is almost complete, so why is he resigning from his post?"

"That's right. If the court didn't want to accept this, why did they let him come back?"

"And this back and forth seems to have confirmed one thing, which is..."

"The Palace of No Cultivation".

"Could it be that Lord Song resigned because he refused to build the palace, and that his return this time is because he has already negotiated a price with His Highness the Crown Prince, unless the palace is not built?"

In an instant, the image of an upright and honest official appeared before their eyes.

Of course, these merchants were already very tired after being hurt.

There are still quite a few people who want to leave.

Song Shi'an had guessed it too.

When you start buying stocks, who doesn't have strong confidence in them? So why do you still end up losing money?
My confidence is gone.

Therefore, the statement that confidence is more important than gold is absolutely true.

"Furthermore," Song Shi'an said loudly, "if you know any of those wealthy merchants who were disheartened and returned to their hometowns due to Lian Song's coercion, please write to them and ask them to send only one representative, a family member, or a servant back to Huai County. The grain and money they have stored in Huai County will be personally escorted by the army to their homes after the autumn harvest!"

If the previous remarks can be considered as a way to correct the chaos...

Now, things have changed.

After these words were spoken, everyone felt relieved.

The villagers are back; they've paid you your wages.

Moreover, it's not about luring people back; all you need to do is send a legal representative.

This might be a publicity stunt, but how wicked does a person have to be to trick someone into coming back just to "tease you"?
With just one speech, Song Shi'an made all the officials below feel his powerful methods.

Ji Zhi even revealed a smile, feeling satisfied with his initial decision.

This Song official did the right thing.

.........

In this way, Huai County returned to normal.

Aside from the loss of some northbound merchants and thousands of laborers.

But that's insignificant compared to such a large scale.

The businessmen who wanted to run away are all gone.

The locust plague is also being suppressed with all efforts.

That evening, Song Shi'an was reviewing memorials at his desk in the main hall when Xin Yue rushed in and said to him, "Eunuch Lian is dead."

"?" Song Shi'an was startled, then asked, "Judging by the speed, you shouldn't have returned to Sheng'an yet. How did you know?"

"On the way, we suddenly discovered that he had died from a wooden awl. The Imperial Guards were thrown into chaos. They stopped on the spot and conducted a thorough investigation. When they reported to Sheng'an, they also notified us," Xin Yue said.

"He..." Song Shi'an asked warily, "Did he die in Huai County?"

“He died exactly ten miles outside the border of Huai County,” Xinyue said.

Upon hearing this, Song Shi'an gripped his pen and remained silent for a long time.

Then he exclaimed, "This eunuch Lian is a kind and honest man."

He died halfway on the road outside Huai County, silently conveying two last words.

Your Highness, I don't want to see you.

Song Shi'an, I don't want to hurt you. (End of Chapter)