Chapter 335: Clouds and Mist
Little Rock Town.

A fast horse galloped in the night. Zhou Tieyi did not sleep, and many officials of Shantong Mansion kept their eyes half open even if they were asleep. They had just washed up not long ago when news came from Baizhishan mining area.

The lights lit up the main hall. Chu Shengyan, the prefect of Shantong Prefecture, looked at the attendants, "Where is Minister Cui?"

The attendant replied in a low voice, "He has already rested."

Chu Shengyan nodded slightly and had no intention of waking up Cui Wanxia. He also got a hint from the separation of Cui Wanxia, ​​Zhou Tieyi and Deng Zhenquan just now. That is, in this Moshi case, the Fa family is only a supervisor, and unless the situation is too serious, the Fa family will not end easily.

Chu Shengyan spread out the stack of papers he had just received from the knight on the table. Officials of all ranks gathered around to watch. With the help of the bright candlelight, they could see clearly what was written on the papers.

“Is this a new housing structure?”

The person who spoke was the head of the Shantongfu Industrial Bureau.

The entire prefectural office can be seen as a small imperial court, with similar departments such as industry, household, education, Taoism, and Buddhism. The Engineering and Construction Bureau manages most of the construction affairs of Shantong Prefecture.

“Isn’t it a little too narrow?”

An official said subconsciously that he saw the honeycomb-like small rooms and compared them with the corridors in his own garden. If it was only for one person to live in, it would not be narrow, but the rooms were built too closely and had no aesthetic appeal at all.

Chu Shengyan glanced at the official and cursed him in his heart, "He's an idiot."

He raised his head and looked at the knight, "Does Lord Zhou have anything else to say?"

The knight replied seriously, "Lord Zhou wants to see this house built within two months, and built according to his requirements."

Chu Shengyan looked at the head of the Construction Bureau, who smiled and said, "This is not difficult. As long as I can please Lord Zhou, I can have it completed in a month and a half!"

Chu Shengyan thought about it for a while and realized that this was indeed not difficult. Even though it would cost some money and require the mobilization of some practitioners who were good at construction, building a house was already the simplest task.

But the intention behind building this house...

Chu Shengyan looked at the end of the crowd, and saw He Qigong who was also thinking. Only the eldest son of the He family had met Zhou Tieyi before, and the advice he had given before was very reliable. Holding a grand banquet in the Golden Tower not only made Marquis Zhou happy, but also left a story for the ages. For officials like them who hold great power, it would be something worth bragging about to their descendants in the future.

In life, fame and fortune are the two most important things.

"My dear He, does Lord Zhou seem to be trying to improve the lives of the miners?"

He Qigong heard Chu Shengyan's question and raised his head and said, "The benevolence of Zhou Hou is great benevolence, so he doesn't care about small righteousness."

He Qigong was responding to Zhou Tieyi's words today in front of the officials of Shantong Prefecture that he "did not come to Shantong Prefecture to uphold justice."

Many officials listened thoughtfully.

Only the head of the Industrial Construction Bureau, who had just looked relaxed, looked a little hesitant. "If Lord Zhou really wants to implement this method in all mining areas, how much silver will it cost!"

His expression hesitated for just a moment, and then ecstasy surged from his heart.

But he looked cautiously at the head of the Finance Bureau, who had a conflicted look on his face.

Zhou Tieyi wanted to build a large-scale construction project, which was not a bad thing for either the Industrial Construction Bureau or the Finance Bureau. In comparison, the only difficult thing for the Finance Bureau was where the money would come from.

In this era, there are two ways to develop local civil engineering projects. The first is central funding, and the second is local fundraising.

Both methods require the support of a strong person behind the scenes, and it is not something that he, the head of the Finance Bureau, can do alone. The head of the Finance Bureau is worried that Zhou Tieyi just wants to do this and leave the trouble to himself.

As the prefect, Chu Shengyan spoke first, "Mr. Zhou, this is a good thing."

Although the officials present did not really care about the miners, in their opinion, the miners could hardly even be considered as the people under their rule, because in this era, only those at the bottom who had lost their land would choose to become miners.

But everyone can think this in their hearts, but cannot say it openly.

So Chu Shengyan wanted to convey their difficulties to Zhou Tieyi through He Qigong.

"If we only want to build this new type of house in one or a few places, we can collect donations from the noble families in Shantong Prefecture and build it. But if we want to build it in the whole Shantong Prefecture, it will probably be a waste of money and labor."

He Qigong showed a look of realization. He was just wondering why Zhou Tieyi didn't keep him by his side to discuss things. Combined with Chu Shengyan's words now, he suddenly understood that Zhou Tieyi and the officials of Shantong Mansion hoped to have a messenger in between.

Many words spoken directly are orders, but with a messenger in between, there is room for negotiation between the two parties.

And I am the most suitable person to be the messenger because both sides trust me.

He Qigong bowed and said, "I will convey the difficulties of the mansion to Lord Zhou."

······
The morning light shone from afar, and the candlelight became dim. After talking with Zhou Tieyi for an hour and exchanging some issues about steam airships, Sun Shiyuan got up and left contentedly.

At this time, someone outside came in to report that He Qigong wanted to see him.

Hearing the words "He Qigong", Li Jianhu and Mo Tianheng's expressions became slightly unnatural.

Zhou Tieyi looked calm and said, "Let him in."

He Qigong walked in and saw that Li Jianhu, Mo Tianheng, and Cui Yu all looked a little abnormal. He looked at them with a serious expression and did not ask any more questions. He walked to Zhou Tieyi and bowed, "Sir."

Before He Qigong could speak, Zhou Tieyi pinched his nose, stretched, picked up the cold tea in front of him and took a sip, "Did the officials of Shantong Prefecture ask you to come?"

He didn't wait for He Qigong to answer, and continued, "They want to test you to see if I can help them get the money to build a house?"

Zhou Tieyi then looked at He Qigong, "Do you think I can help them get the money?"

He Qigong had prepared a lot of speeches before coming.

He wanted to ask a lot of questions, not just where the money for building houses for the miners would come from. He also wanted to ask how Li Jianhu and the other two would handle it, and what additional actions King Ning would take...

But when Zhou Tieyi looked at him with smiling eyes, He Qigong could only whisper, "I am stupid."

Zhou Tieyi's smile faded, his expression slightly cold, "You disappoint me a little."

He Qigong was slightly stunned. He didn't understand why he had angered Zhou Tieyi.

Could it be that Prince Ning's Mansion was involved in the situation?
Zhou Tieyi continued, "Do you think I am disappointed with your scheme regarding Prince Ning's Mansion?"

Zhou Tieyi shook his head. "If I was disappointed in this matter, then your He family would not have survived until now. Do you think King Ning has not reacted yet? Do you think King Ning is really as extravagant as the legend says, so he will not react until we have completed the scheme? Who do you think is behind the Huxin Academy case? You?"

He Qigong felt that these words were of great weight and he immediately knelt on the ground.

Zhou Tieyi reached out his hand and stopped He Qigong from kneeling. "I don't need to kowtow to you. Playing tricks is not a reason to die. You, me, and King Ning are all playing tricks. We can even see a lot of your thoughts, but we won't object, because you are just an extension of our will in this matter. You are just being smart. So when King Ning sent someone to communicate with me, he mentioned it and your He family passed it over. I used the interests of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company to ask King Ning not to pursue the matter."

He Qigong kept thinking and judging in his mind.

When he had involved Prince Ning before, his main purpose was to involve the local royal family. If he could deal with Li Jianhu and the other two without him having to take action, that would be the best outcome.

Of course, he didn't have much hope in this regard.

His original intention was to implicate Prince Ning in the ink stone case, so that with his He family as the link, the Zhou family, and Prince Ning's mansion, one in Tianjing and the other in the local area, they could block this wave of attacks from the Confucians.

And with the powerful external support of Ning Wangfu, Zhou Tieyi would not care about his private actions. Even if something happened, he could completely blame it on Ning Wangfu, just like what Zhou Tieyi hinted to himself in the carriage that day.

Although He Qigong had good intentions at the beginning, and even part of the situation evolved in the direction that He Qigong expected.

For example, when Li Jianhu was being tried in the court, if Zhou Tieyi insisted on putting pressure on the Confucianists together with the Queen Mother to investigate the Shinto affairs involving Li Jianhu and Huxin Academy, then the blame could be shifted from Zhou Tieyi to the Ning Wang Mansion and local Confucianists.

But in He Qigong's opinion, he did not expect that Prince Ning would be so bold as to directly make the Lakeside Academy into a local crime case. He did not expect that the interest alliance formed between Zhou Tieyi and Prince Ning was so "solid" that Zhou Tieyi was willing to take huge risks and come down to investigate the case himself. He did not expect that Zhou Tieyi's ambition was not only a struggle for power, but also a struggle for Taoism!
But this should have been something he could have thought of!
He Qigong couldn't help but recall the first time he witnessed Zhou Tieyi's methods, and the saying "the virtue of a gentleman is like the wind, while the virtue of a villain is like grass."

He couldn't help but recall that night on the Wangshu Tower, when before Zhou Tieyi wrote a poem, he asked the "villain" Chen Daxing to get on his carriage, forcing the "senior officer" Wang Mingyi into a dilemma.

Everyone in the world can be a scholar.

It was not until now that he truly understood Zhou Tieyi's intentions.

But can everyone in the world really be a scholar?

Zhou Tieyi asked, "What should your He family do now?"

He Qigong held his breath slightly. He knew that if he didn't answer this question well, the He family would have lost its value to Zhou Tieyi.

He couldn't help but look at Qin Yu behind Zhou Tieyi. Zhou Tieyi could tolerate people who made mistakes, but he could not tolerate fools. If someone made a mistake, as long as the method was right and they could correct it, they would be accepted by Zhou Tieyi again. This was a major principle of Zhou Tieyi's behavior.

First, determine what Zhou Tieyi is going to do, and then what the He family can do.

He Qigong suddenly had an idea and said cautiously, "The newspapers in Shantong Prefecture are all delivered from Tianjing, and Shantong Prefecture itself does not have any newspapers yet."

It takes time and effort to deliver newspapers from Tianjing, and with the shipping costs, it is not something that ordinary people can afford. Especially for the people in Shantong Prefecture, their income and literacy rate cannot be compared with those of the people in Tianjing, so it is even more difficult to start a newspaper here.

Zhou Tieyi smiled again. "You're not that stupid, but you wasted two and a half months of my time. During this time, I thought you should have done very well to live up to your reputation as the literary and military heroes of Shantong Mansion, so I tested you. But now..."

Zhou Tieyi turned his head to look at Mo Tianheng who was standing beside him. Mo Tianheng coughed weakly a few times. From the conversation between Zhou Tieyi and He Qigong just now, he already understood that they were able to enter Tianjing because Zhou Tieyi really had other purposes. During the whole process, Zhou Tieyi did not take any action. It was not because he was incapable or could not see the situation clearly, but because he wanted more!

But until now, Mo Tianheng still couldn't fully understand Zhou Tieyi's intention. Zhou Tieyi was like a mountain surrounded by white fog. When you could see the outline clearly from afar and thought you had understood it clearly, you walked into the mountain with confidence and then you knew what it meant to look up to a towering mountain. But by that time, you wouldn't even have the chance to leave.

Zhou Tieyi knocked on the table with his hand. "Do this well. I want to see your ability. I have given you a chance to make a mistake. I have given you a chance to make a mistake because your ancestors followed my Zhou family."

He Qigong bowed down, "I will never forget your kindness, sir."

This time Zhou Tieyi did not help He Qigong up.

His original plan was to sacrifice the He family directly, but as the situation changed, some things developed faster than he had expected, so he had to bear more of the wrath of the Emperor of Great Xia. Then the sacrifice of the He family at this time would be dispensable, so he really had to give the He family a chance now, provided that He Qigong really woke up.

He Qigong stood up. At this moment, he didn't want to ask about Li Jianhu anymore.

In front of Zhou Tieyi, he could only put aside his little thoughts, work hard, and get through the current hurdle first.

When He Qigong walked to the door, the sunlight outside had already illuminated the entire mountain range. It was a rare sunny day in Xiaoshi Town today.

Zhou Tieyi's voice came from behind He Qigong, "He Weimin?"

This sentence seems to be asking oneself, but also seems to be asking oneself.

If it were in the past, He Qigong would have answered without hesitation, "Scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans serve the people."

This is also the standard answer.

If Zhou Tieyi had asked himself this question before when he was kneeling, the answer should be "The scholars of the world serve the people."

But now, when he was about to step out of the door, Zhou Tieyi asked again, and it seemed that this question hid something deeper, which was another reminder to himself.

Sure enough, Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "Don't worry, I haven't thought about this question clearly yet, you can think about it slowly."

After He Qigong left, Li Jianhu, as the bravest of the remaining few, hesitated for a moment and said, "Zhou... Lord Zhou, didn't you say that anyone in the world can be a scholar?"

Zhou Tieyi turned to look at Li Jianhu and said with a smile, "Yes, everyone in the world can be a scholar, but I never said that everyone in the world can be a commoner."

(End of this chapter)