Chapter 173 Appointment of Academic Affairs
After seeing Qin Ye off, Li Hu returned to the backyard, where Amber was sitting on the kang in the warm room embroidering.

Amber raised her head: “Second Master is back.”

Li Hu: “I’m going to the military camp.” Then he walked straight into the bedroom.

Amber quickly put down her needle and thread and followed Li Hu in.

Li Hu took off his outer robe by himself.

At this time, Amber took out his lieutenant general’s uniform from the closet.

Li Hu took the official hat from the official uniform and put it on his head. Amber then shook out the official uniform and lifted it up. Li Hu reached out and put it on.

Amber fastened his belt again. Li Hu sat down on the chair, and Amber squatted down to take off his shoes, and then helped him put on his official boots.

Li Hu stood up and took two steps, then said to Amber, “Tell Miss Lin that I’ll be back to have dinner with her.”

Amber: “Yes.”

Li Hu: “Don’t stay indoors all the time, go out for a walk.”

Amber hummed and tied the cloak on him again.

Li Hu stopped talking to her, turned around and walked out.

In front of the gate, dozens of royal soldiers in helmets and armor sat on their horses waiting to set off.

Wang Daniu accompanied Li Hu out of the gate and mounted their respective war horses.

Wang Daniu and his personal soldiers escorted Li Hu as they ran towards the south city.
The large plaque “Youjian Restaurant” inscribed by Bai Hongzhi himself is still hanging high on the lintel in the middle of the three-bay gate. Customers come in and out of the open door from time to time, and one can even hear the noise inside.

The window of a private room on the second floor facing the street of a restaurant diagonally opposite a restaurant was ajar. More than a dozen pairs of eagle-like eyes were staring at the door of the restaurant, looking at the customers coming in and out.

Although these dozen people were wearing coarse cotton robes like ordinary people, they had broad shoulders, long legs, cold faces, and it was obvious at first glance that they were not ordinary people.

Especially the person sitting in the middle, who was still wearing a hat, half covering his face, and drinking a bowl of tea slowly.

Just then, a gust of wind blew in, and the man’s left sleeve fluttered in the wind. It turned out that his left sleeve was empty.

At this moment, there was a sound of footsteps outside the box, which stopped in front of the box, and then there was a knock on the door.

The man put down the tea bowl and spoke, “Come in.” It was the voice of the Qinglong Hall Master.

The door of the box opened, and a sturdy man wearing a coarse cotton robe walked in.

The Qinglong Hall Master raised his head, revealing his somewhat pale face.

Walking up to him, the man whispered, “Master, there are suspicious people near the strongholds controlled by Mr. Bai. They must have fallen into the hands of the court.”

The leader of the Qinglong Hall sighed silently, worried that the leader of the Baihu Hall would attack Bai Hongzhi. When he felt his body had recovered a little, he abandoned his boat and went ashore in Tianjin Prefecture, then took a fast horse to go to Beijing.

The man said: “Master, the capital is too dangerous now, let’s go out of the city.”

The other men nodded.

The leader of the Qinglong Hall stood up, walked to the window and looked at the busy street with a confused look in his eyes.

Suddenly, the sound of hurried horse hooves came from the direction of Zhengyang Gate. People on the street moved aside one after another, and a group of cavalry came running.

The Qinglong Hall Master’s expression suddenly changed, and then he started coughing violently.

“Master!” The men came over.

“It’s Li Hu!” a man exclaimed.

The other men looked at the scene together, and the leader of Qinglong Hall suddenly closed the window.

Everyone was shocked and looked at the Qinglong Hall Master.

The head of the Qinglong Hall sighed and said, “How did Mr. Bai lose his left eye?”

Everyone was stunned.

After a moment of silence, the Azure Dragon Hall Master continued, “We really can’t stay in the capital any longer. Let’s leave the city now and go to the base outside the city first.”

Everyone murmured, “Yes,” and followed the Qinglong Hall Master out.

A group of people left the restaurant. The head of the Qinglong Hall looked towards the Yongding Gate. Thinking that Li Hu had just passed by, it was not safe. He whispered, “Let’s go out of the city from Guang’an Gate.”

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. This was a long way around the southern city! Moreover, the rules for riding sedan chairs and horses in the capital were extremely strict. People like them couldn’t ride horses even if they had them, and could only lead them. They were all wanderers, and they could persist no matter how tired they were. They were worried about attracting the attention of patrolling soldiers. A man spoke up, “Tang, sir, how about we go separately and meet up in Daxing?”

The Qinglong Hall Master thought for a moment and said, “Okay, let’s go separately.”

At a table near the entrance of a teahouse opposite a restaurant, several pairs of eagle-like eyes were watching their departing figures. After a while, three people walked out of the teahouse and followed the two men from a distance.

Zhou Rui was in an unusually good mood. He walked into the east courtyard quickly and went straight to Jia She’s study.

Wang Shanbao was standing at the stone steps outside the main entrance of the study.

Seeing Zhou Rui coming in, Wang Shanbao went to greet him.

Zhou Rui: “Is the master here?”

Wang Shanbao nodded.

Zhou Rui: “I have something to report to the master.” Then he walked towards the study.

Wang Shanbao quickly stopped him: “The master said that he would not see anyone now.”

Zhou Rui frowned and said, “I have something important to report.”

Wang Shanbao: “Our master said that he won’t see anyone at the moment.”

Zhou Rui: “You”

“Who’s outside?” Jia She’s voice came from the study.

Zhou Rui immediately responded: “My Lord, I, Zhou Rui, have great news to report.”

There was no sound in the study again.

Zhou Rui opened his mouth but didn’t dare to say anything, so he could only stand in the yard.

Wang Shanbao smiled coldly.

In the study, Jia She was sitting at the desk, writing something with a pen.

After a while, Jia She put down his pen, picked up the ink paper and blew on it.

If King Zhongshun saw it, he would be shocked, because the handwriting on the ink paper was somewhat similar to his own.

Jia She put down the ink paper again, took out a stack of calligraphy and paintings from the box on the desk, unfolded them, and one of them was the elegiac couplet that King Zhongshun had written to Li Hu!

Placing it next to the ink paper, Jia She took a look at it, then shook his head. It still couldn’t be mistaken for the real thing!

Jia She carefully folded the elegiac couplet and put it in the box. He sighed again and thought to himself: It would be great if I could get a handwritten order from Prince Zhongshun!
“Hand order. Hand order!” Jia She stood up, took a few steps, stopped, then shook his head. There was nothing he could do.

Jia She sighed, walked to the door and opened it.

Zhou Rui hurried over.

Jia She looked at him: “What’s the matter?”

Zhou Rui said excitedly: “The emperor’s grace is so great that our master has been appointed by the emperor as the governor of Shandong Province.”

Jia She was shocked.

Zhou Rui: “The master sent me back to tell the old lady the good news. The old lady said that if the master is free at this moment, please go.”

Jia She thought for a moment and said, “Go and tell the old lady that I will be leaving after changing my clothes.”

Zhou Rui: “Yes.” He turned around and walked out.

Jia She’s eyes sparkled. The full name of the academic official is “supervisor of academic administration”. He is a local cultural and educational administrator who is in charge of the provincial official academic policy and the annual and imperial examinations. He visits the prefectures, departments, and states under his jurisdiction regularly to check the quality of teachers and scholars, and the diligence of students. He has great power in the imperial examinations.

The rank of the academician of Dashun was not fixed. It was determined according to the original rank of the official appointed. Jia Zheng was a Langzhong of the Ministry of Works, so he was a fifth-rank official. However, there was an unwritten rule that the academician had to be a Jinshi from the two lists.

Although Jia Zheng claimed to be a scholar, he had no imperial achievements and was not a formal imperial examination official.

Besides, this is Shandong, the hometown of Confucius and Mencius, the territory of scholars. The emperor has no good intentions!

Jia She suddenly remembered that Concubine Xian’s brother Zhou Kui had been demoted to Yanzhou Prefecture, and now the emperor had appointed Jia Zheng as the Shandong Provincial Education Commissioner. This couldn’t be a coincidence. Was the emperor planning to crack down on the Kong family, or had something happened there?

(End of this chapter)