Chapter 18 The Palace
Wang An chatted with Chen He all the way, constantly asking about the situation in Jizhou, and unknowingly arrived at the so-called royal palace.

I saw several yamen runners in tattered clothes hurriedly taking down a plaque with "Jizhou Prefecture Yamen" written on it from the door.

Wang An was speechless.

It turns out that the so-called royal palace is actually the Jizhou government office...

However, it must be said that after the Daliang Dynasty conquered this territory, in order to show the majesty of the Daliang Dynasty as the Celestial Empire, this government office was built in a magnificent manner.

However, after more than two hundred years of wind and rain, it has long lost its former grandeur.

Chen He showed a trace of embarrassment and blamed the Jizhou government office, saying: "The Jizhou government treasury is empty, and the court has not allocated money. We are really unable to build a new palace, so we have no choice but to ask Your Highness to live here..."

As they spoke, more than a dozen Jizhou officials all looked at Wang An nervously, fearing that the prince in front of them would get angry.

However, to everyone's surprise, Wang An did not show any displeasure, but asked with concern: "If I live here, where do you go on business?"

Chen He was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that Wang An not only did not blame them for their neglect, but also cared about their office location.

Weiwei was somewhat touched and said, "Please rest assured, Your Majesty. We are not many people in Jizhou. We can just rent a private house to do our work."

Wang An showed displeasure on his face and said sternly, "How can a state governed by a prefecture be allowed to rent out private houses as collateral?"

"This..." Chen He suddenly looked embarrassed and began to figure out the real meaning of Wang An's words.

Could it be that the prince in front of him is not satisfied with using the Jizhou government office as his palace and wants to build another one?

Is it just because you just arrived and want to maintain your image that you are beating around the bush?

But before Chen He could figure out Wang An's true intention, he heard Wang An riding on his horse and said, "I see that this government office occupies a large area. Why don't you continue to work in the front yard, and I will live in the back yard with my guards."

"what?"

Not only Chen He and a group of officials were surprised, but even Chen Huaian and other black-armored guards were amazed.

In the six hundred years since the founding of the Daliang Dynasty, there has never been a story of a vassal king living with the government office.

Wang An's move can be said to have set a precedent for the Daliang Dynasty.

However, Chen He did not agree. Although he was not a high-ranking official, he seemed to attach great importance to the etiquette of Daliang. Upon hearing this, he immediately objected, "Your Highness, this is absolutely not possible!"

"Our dynasty has been established for more than 600 years, and I have never heard of the royal family and the government being co-existing in the same place. If this gets out, it will probably damage the royal dignity!"

Wang An waved his hand and said nonchalantly: "Originally there was no road in this world, but when more people walked, a road appeared."

"No vassal king has done this before, but that doesn't mean it won't happen in the future."

“Originally there were no roads in this world, but when more people walked on it, roads appeared…” Everyone pondered over these words, feeling that there was a sense of simplicity.

Although it does not contain the profound meaning of the words of a sage, even an uneducated person can understand the truth of this sentence and benefit from it.

Especially the soldiers of the Black Armor Guards like Chen Huaian, most of them are warriors who can hardly recognize a few words. What annoys them most is the old man preaching.

However, Wang An's words did not make them feel the slightest bit impatient. Instead, they felt as if they were suddenly enlightened.

"Your Highness, what you said is reasonable, but our dynasty has been following the etiquette set by Your Highness Taizu for more than 600 years. I dare not violate it..." However, before Chen He finished his objection, Wang An waved his hand and said without question: "No need to say more. If I occupy your government office, where will the official documents and criminal lawsuits in this state be handled in the future?"

"Is it the shops along the street or the yellow brick and thatched houses? Doesn't this damage the dignity of our Daliang Dynasty?"

Seeing Chen He was speechless, his face was anxious but he couldn't say anything to refute.

Wang An slowed down his tone and said softly: "You may feel that your position is humble, but in my opinion, as long as you wear this official robe, you represent the dignity of my Daliang court!"

"We can't choose the place for daily work at random. Otherwise, the people of Jizhou are already unyielding. Now that they see my Guangfu in such a state of decline, won't they look down on us even more?"

Wang An's words were candid and touched the hearts of these officials.

If it weren't for the fact that Jizhou was too desolate, although the officials present were of low rank, they would still be figures that ordinary people could not reach if they were placed in the government offices of other states and counties.

However, in Jizhou, my uncle is not close to me and my grandmother doesn’t love me.

The imperial court treated them as if they did not exist, and the local people were not afraid of them at all.

Looking around the world, there is no official who feels so frustrated.

Originally, everyone was unhappy about the idea of ​​moving out of the government office and giving up the last bit of dignity of being an official.

However, Jizhou was unable to afford the cost of building a new palace, and it was impossible to let the prince live in an inn, so it had to give up the government office.

However, now, Wang An actually took the initiative to propose to merge the government office and the palace, with the front yard as the government office and the back yard as the palace. This is simply the best idea.

If everyone didn't know that Chen He was stubborn, I'm afraid that when Wang An just proposed this idea, some people would have agreed.

I was even more moved by Wang An's compassion.

Chen He thought about it and felt that what Wang An said made sense. However, he also felt that letting Wang An, a prince, live in the government office would not only be unfair to Wang An, but also bring shame to the court.

After some hesitation, Chen Heye couldn't think of a better solution than Wang An's. After being signaled by his colleagues, he had to reluctantly agree to Wang An's idea.

Wang An then laughed, dismounted first, and strode into the Jizhou government office.

The government office in front of me is just like its appearance, with the accumulation of time everywhere, or it can be said to be old and dilapidated.

Fortunately, the materials used in its construction were of excellent quality. Although the paint was peeling and even tiles had fallen off in some places, Wang An tried it himself and found that the overall structure was still quite solid.

At least you don’t have to worry about being hit and killed by something in the middle of the night.

Chen He was busy directing the yamen runners to clean up the backyard, and negotiating with Chen Huaian about a place for the Black Armor Guards to rest.

Fortunately, the Black Armored Guards that Cao Meng gave to Wang An were only more than a hundred people, so there was no need to find a special camp for them to station. Otherwise, Chen He would have been so anxious that his hair would have turned white.

However, even though the Jizhou officials were very careful in every aspect, accidents still happened.

Cao Yunmeng has seemed unhappy since entering Jizhou. He either pouts or has a sullen face all day long, and he is dissatisfied with everything.

(End of this chapter)