After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times-Chapter 614 - 608 Yan Heng

Shen Ruhui finally agreed to Zhao Zhongyu.

So, Zhao Zhongyu started arranging his departure. Of course, it wasn’t just him; besides him, there were two of Shen Ruhui’s subordinates, a Water Department official named Cao Ping, making it a total of four people, including their families and servants.

Aside from Shen Ruhui, who only had one servant, the others brought their families, but servants were scarce. Two families didn’t even have any servants and relied on themselves for daily living.

Their official positions were minor, and they were in departments like the Ministry of Agriculture and the Water Department, which had no work to do. The emperor didn’t remember them, and since the palace was not yet built, they didn’t even have an office to report to, so there was no place for them to check in.

They only got to meet their colleagues once a month when they received their grain salaries and got some internal news.

But since they had nothing to do, they only received a minimal amount of grain salary, with no silver salary at all.

Upon arriving in Yun City, they had to spend money to buy or rent a house and purchase other necessities. These scattered expenses depleted their funds.

Even Shen Ruhui, who only had to feed himself, could only eat wheat porridge, let alone the others.

When they gathered, their faces were somewhat sallow, a result of hunger.

Not all officials and clans were as wealthy and powerful as Zhao Zhongyu and Gou Xi, who maintained their wealth and power even after so many wars.

In recent years, many went bankrupt and became peasants or even fell to a lower class. At this point, pride meant nothing, surviving was most important.

Among the four officials, Shen Ruhui was the most capable and hardest to recruit. The other three, who brought their families, were easily tempted.

Zhao Zhongyu personally escorted them out of the city, and he even assigned half of the guards Zhao Hanzhang gave him to escort Shen Ruhui and the others back to Luoyang.

Oh, by the way, none of them resigned; they just ran away.

However, the court didn’t care much, as many officials had left recently, hanging up their seals.

Some left because they couldn’t survive in Yun City and wanted to rely on friends or family elsewhere; others were utterly disappointed with Gou Xi and didn’t want to see him or the emperor anymore, so they left.

The departure of the four was like a small stone thrown into the water; no one noticed except Yan Heng, who was always watching Zhao Zhongyu.

As soon as Zhao Zhongyu sent them off, Yan Heng wanted to send people to intercept them to see why Zhao Zhongyu was sending these four away.

Then he found he couldn’t command anyone.

"The General said, Mr. Yan is not well, such trivial matters should be handled by subordinates, and sir should stay home and rest," they said.

Yan Heng was so furious that he barged into the General Mansion to see Gou Xi.

Gou Xi was enjoying music and dance in the waterside pavilion, leaning on a wooden couch, surrounded by four beauties. He was at the pavilion center, and around the open pavilions on the shore were musicians playing music and dancers performing. When one performance ended, a singing dancer would take over...

Yan Heng was one of Gou Xi’s most trusted advisers, and the servants and soldiers did not dare to stop him, so he burst to the waterside pavilion, stomping his feet in anger at Gou Xi’s decadence.

He called for a soldier, "Bring the boat over, I need to see the General." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The soldier didn’t dare to refuse and rowed the boat to take Yan Heng over.

Upon seeing him, Gou Xi frowned and turned his head aside, asking, "Aren’t you sick, Mr. Yan? Why are you here?"

Yan Heng had never taken sick leave, but this was just Gou Xi’s way of making him "sick" and stay home. Suppressing his anger, he spoke of the main issue, "General, this morning, Zhao Zhongyu sent guards to escort Shen Ruhui, Cao Ping, and two others away. I don’t know where they are going or what they are doing."

Gou Xi couldn’t recall who they were and asked, "Who are they?"

Yan Heng took a deep breath, "Shen Ruhui is the Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, and Cao Ping is a Water Department Clerk..."

"Agriculture and water affairs, Zhao Zhongyu is the Chief of Staff. Isn’t it normal for him to assign these departments to tasks? Why overthink it?"

"But they’re bringing their families and a lot of luggage, clearly leaving Yun City. General, I suspect he is sending them to Zhao Hanzhang in Luoyang. We should intercept them..."

"General," a Colonel approached with a box of official documents, kneeling, "These are memorial documents delivered two days ago, including Zhao Zhongyu’s order dispatching Shen Ruhui and the others."

Gou Xi stretched out his hand, and the Colonel immediately found the document and respectfully handed it over.

Gou Xi flipped through it, then closed it with a snap and threw it at Yan Heng’s feet, "Yan Heng, if one day Zhao Zhongyu intends to move my soldiers or contact the guards around His Majesty, then come tell me. These trivial matters are not worth the concern."

He said, "Zhao Zhongyu is the Chief of Staff; he takes the court’s salary and must serve it. What’s there to report about sending two minor officials to inspect agriculture and water affairs?"

Yan Heng bent down, picked up the document, read it, and calmly closed it, looking at Gou Xi on the couch with slightly lowered eyes, "General, this document is from two days ago, and you haven’t dealt with it. Zhao Zhongyu sent them off without waiting for your approval. Aren’t you afraid one day he’ll handle even more significant state affairs without your consent?"

Gou Xi arrogantly replied, "Would he dare? If he did, could he command me and the people around His Majesty? Mr. Yan, I think you’re just getting old, so you’re always suspicious. Someone, escort Mr. Yan back to rest and recover."

"Yes!" The Colonel stepped forward, grabbed Yan Heng’s arm, and forcibly led him to the boat, whispering in his ear, "Mr. Yan, I will escort you!"

Yan Heng sharply turned to look at him, squinting, "You are Gou Chun’s man..."

Before he could finish, a strong force pushed him, and Yan Heng was suddenly plunged into the water with a splash.

Gou Xi immediately stood up, frowned, and was about to order someone to rescue him, when he saw Yan Heng emerge from the water, pointing at the Colonel and shouting, "General, there’s a wolf at your side, and it’s Gou Chun’s wolf! How can you sleep at ease?"

Gou Xi, seeing him speaking so unpleasantly even now, turned his head away.

Seeing this, Yan Heng felt a chill in his heart and couldn’t help but curse loudly, "General, when did you become so blinded by desire, biased and unjust? In the past, would you have tolerated such a rebellious subordinate alive till now..."

Gou Xi frowned and saw that the musicians had stopped playing and were looking over. In his moment of embarrassment, he pointed to the water and ordered, "Fish Mr. Yan out and take him back. He’s sick and is only speaking nonsense now."

"Yes." The Colonel looked at Yan Heng with satisfaction. Humph, trying to kill our General, do you even know who he is? Our General is the younger brother of the Great General!