Before you know it, it's late spring in March, and the spring flowers are blooming. The whole territory of the Fen River thawed, and the boats on the river became more and more day by day.

Xia Zhu led troops to patrol the border in February, from Daizhou to Fuzhou, and even passed through several states in a month, which caused the Khitan and the party to be very nervous. Especially after the failure of the Khitan offensive party, relations between the two countries broke down, and they were particularly concerned about the military mobilization of the Song Dynasty. This move also caused controversy between the DPRK and China, and finally supported Xia Zhu's action, and he was transferred from the Hedong Road Economic Envoy to Hebei, and was appointed as the Hebei Provincial Economic Envoy.

After receiving the news, Xia Zhu ordered Du Zhongxiao to immediately return to the state from Datong Prison and hand over the money-making affairs to Li Gui, the magistrate of Jiaocheng.

Entering the city from the Kaiyuan Gate in the south of the city, Du Zhongxiao rode on a horse, looking at the willow trees on the side of the road were green, and the pedestrians on the road were weaving, and there was a feeling of being separated from the world. Datong Prison is located in the mountains, very remote, and he has not seen such a bustling scene for a long time.

When he arrived at the state office, Du Zhongxiao went to Xia Zhu's residence and asked the officials to ask to see him.

In the flower hall, Xia Zhu looked at Du Zhongxiao who came in, got up and said, "Datong has been in prison for several months, and it has been hard to sign the judgment. You made money there and solved many of my problems. Now that the state is politically connected, you have contributed a lot. ”

Du Zhongxiao hurriedly said that he didn't dare to salute Xia Zhu.

The guest and the host sat down, and Xia Zhu got straight to the point: "The court transferred me to Hebei Road as a handsome, and I also know the famous mansion." I originally intended to take you with me and make you sign the judgment for the Daimyo's Mansion, and I didn't want to be rejected by the DPRK and China. Alas, you will stay in the state for a few more days. ”

Du Zhongxiao was taken aback, Xia Zhu is a border marshal, a curtain official, especially the signing of judgments, the imperial court rarely objected, and hurriedly asked: "Xianggong, it is a common practice for border marshals to sign judgments, why did the court and China reject it?" ”

Xia Zhu sighed: "Cao envoy Shi Changyan, saying that you are setting up a fur yard in Bingzhou, and making new money, all kinds of actions are very useful to the imperial court, and it is not appropriate to move." These days, the imperial court has obtained your newly made iron money, and the important ministers think that it is very useful, and it can be implemented throughout the country, so that you can improve the money law here. ”

Du Zhongxiao had nothing to say, and was a little dazed for a while. Is there anything wrong with my own ability? If he is transferred to the Daimyo Mansion with Xia Zhu, although he still signs the judgment, the official will always be promoted to one or two ranks. Staying in the state now, isn't it a missed opportunity to be promoted?

Xia Zhu said: "You have been in the state for half a year, and you have made a lot of political achievements, I have written to the imperial court, and my official has been promoted." You just have to rest assured, and when the affairs of the state are over, I will find a way to transfer you to the Daimyo's Mansion. ”

Du Zhongxiao thanked him, but said in his heart, since my official has been promoted, what else do I want to do in the Daimyo's Mansion? Xia Zhu appreciates himself, but he doesn't appreciate Xia Zhu. Under him, he has been running around for half a year, but he hasn't done much in his own business.

After asking Du Zhongxiao about his situation in Datong Prison for a few months, Xia Zhu said: "I came to know that the former Shaanxi Jinglu Zheng Shilang was the former Shaanxi Jinglu, who was upright and upright, and his majesty was extremely strict, so you should be cautious." ”

Du Zhongxiao hurriedly thanked him. Xia Zhu said this sincerely, and Du Zhongxiao thanked him sincerely. Zheng Jian has been an official for decades, and he is notoriously not afraid of the powerful, and the case of Feng Shiyuan, a small official in the capital, overthrew several ministers and dozens of important ministers who were implicated. And he has a characteristic, whenever ordinary people have conflicts with wealthy giants, he will concentrate on cleaning up the wealthy giants.

This is a good official, but not a good boss, Du Zhongxiao suddenly wanted to follow Xia Zhu again. The construction of a fur yard in Bingzhou has led to the development of the local economy, but intuitively, it is the big businessmen and the wealthy families in the city who have benefited the most. In the eyes of this Zheng Shilang, he is only afraid that he will not be welcomed. Xia Zhu may have heard something and specially reminded Du Zhongxiao.

The two chatted for a long time before Du Zhongxiao said goodbye to Xia Zhu and left. Out of his residence, he saw a round of sunset on the horizon, sprinkling thousands of glows, and Du Zhongxiao lost his mind for a while. Compared with Zheng Jian, there is no doubt that Zheng Jian is a good official. Xia Zhu is greedy for money, multi-powered, and insidious, and the upright Zheng Jian are simply two extremes. But as a subordinate, Du Zhongxiao really didn't want to meet such an official. He has a thousand-year memory and can do some practical things, but in terms of self-cultivation, he is not as good as this kind of decent official, and even has many problems in his eyes.

These are two different concepts, Du Zhongxiao pays more attention to the actual performance of officials, and does not care much about the private morality of officials. For Zheng Jian, political achievements are important, but personal morality cannot be ignored, and the requirements for subordinates are too strict.

Tao Seventeen and Seventeen Lang were waiting outside the door, and seeing that Du Zhongxiao's face was a little bad, they hurriedly asked, "Official, is there anything wrong?" ”

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "It's nothing, Xia Xianggong is going to be transferred to Hebei Road, and he is no longer serving in Bingzhou." ”

Tao Seventeen said: "Has Xia Xianggong been promoted?" Has the official been promoted? ”

"Along the three sides of the road, Hedong Road is in the middle, the status is the lowest, Xia Xianggong went to Hebei, it can be said that he was promoted. As for me, because the imperial court is discussing the new iron money, I will not follow the minister to Hebei, and I am still an official in the state. ”

Tao Qiqi nodded, and couldn't think of anything famous. On the other hand, Thirteen Lang was a little disappointed when he heard that Du Zhongxiao was not promoted, and said in a low voice: "The official is an official in the state, how many great things have he done, why is the official not promoted." ”

Du Zhongxiao said with a smile: "What do you think, is the official so easy to be promoted!" How many people are old, they are all shogunes, what do they think! ”

A few people walked out of Zicheng as they spoke. After staying in the mountains for a long time, I finally returned to the prosperous place of Bingzhou, and it was inevitable that I wanted to find a lively place and have a good drink. There are four gates in Luocheng, but the streets opposite the four gates are not the same, but several "D" roads. Out of the north gate of Zicheng, it is the north gate of Luocheng Street, facing the Huaide Gate. The three of them had nothing to do, so they went all the way north along the main street of the North Gate.

After walking a short distance, he suddenly caught up with a person from behind and saluted in front of Du Zhongxiao: "I heard that the officials returned to the city, and the small ones waited outside the state government to see no one. ”

Du Zhongxiao saw that it was Kang Chengdong, a fur merchant from the Northland who he met a few months ago, and said to him: "What is the matter with me outside?" ”

Kang Chengdong looked around, pointed to a colorful building in the north and said: "There is a famous Chunfeng Tower in the city, the officials don't shirk, the small one is there to be a host, and the officials are invited to drink." ”

Saying that, Kang Chengdong made a gesture again and again, please Du Zhongxiao. Du Zhongxiao was about to take Tao Seventeen and Thirteen Lang to drink, and he didn't shirk it, and went to Chunfeng Building with Kang Chengdong. went to a window pavilion on the second floor to sit down, Kang Chengdong picked up good wine and food and ordered a table, and sat down as guests.

After three rounds of drinking, Du Zhongxiao said to Kang Chengdong: "Outside, if there is anything, I can talk about it now." ”

Kang Chengdong sighed: "The officials have been away from the state city for several months, but they don't know that there is a miasma of smoke in the freight yard, and they can't do business!" ”

Du Zhongxiao was taken aback: "Where is this kind of thing?" I have asked people, the business of the freight yard has always been booming, why can't the business be done? ”

Kang Chengdong said: "Officials don't know that the fur business in Bingzhou was booming last winter, and everyone knows it from far and near. I don't know if it's Hedong Road, even the Central Plains and Beidi are well-known, and the business is getting bigger and bigger. The small ones brought in a lot of fur from the northland, and wanted to make a big deal, but they didn't want to be run by the city's commercial houses. They don't allow others to open tanning factories anymore, and even raise prices, we, foreign businessmen, have no money to make, but we are pitted! ”