Chapter Seventy-Five: There is a long way to go

Pei Ju was born in the thirteenth year of the Great Unification of the Western Wei Dynasty, and now he is sixty and four, but Pei Ju's body is very tough, and after receiving the appointment, he immediately set off in the four-wheeled carriage given to him by Chen Ying, and embarked on the road to Lingzhou to watch the army.

Pei Ju likes the four-wheeled carriage given by Chen Ying very much, Pei Ju belongs to the kind of model who lives to learn from old age, even if he is now forty out of sixty, he still can't let go of the scroll. I thought that if I went to Lingzhou this time, I would die of old age, but I didn't expect that sitting in this kind of carriage, I wouldn't feel the bumps at all, especially when the water in the teacup was poured to seven points full, it would not spill out.

Although the outside was covered with snow and snow, and the cold wind was howling, the charcoal stove was lit on the four corners and two compartments of the four-wheeled carriage, but the inside of the carriage was still as warm as spring.

Pei Ju first passed through Liquan County, and then passed through Fengtian (now Qianxian County) without entering, rested for one night in Yongshou, and arrived at Baitu (now Bin County) at noon the next day, and entered Baitu County, Pei Ju felt that this place was very different from Chang'an. The official road from Yongshou County to Baitu County is extremely smooth, and I heard that it is not the government to organize the repair, but the people spontaneously built, the official road is densely packed with four-wheeled ox carts, although this kind of ox carts are not as tall and majestic as the four-wheeled carriages, but as unobstructed as the wagons, but used to carry goods or the loading capacity of five or six wagons.

Baitu County is rich in coal, many open-pit coal mines are full of people who brave the cold to pour charcoal into their homes, at this time, there is no one to cut wood, because hard work to cut a dry firewood can be burned for up to three days, but a random man can get enough charcoal burned in a month in one day.

Pei Ju was surprised, so he stopped in a wine shop on the side of the road and found an old farmer to pull up the homework. Guanzhong has been the imperial capital since the Qin and Han dynasties, so the people of Guanzhong are all sons and grandsons, even if they look at Pei Ju, they know that they are not rich and expensive, and this gray-bearded old farmer is not stage frightened, and talks eloquently.

From the gossip in the market to the fortune of the Tang Dynasty, this old farmer can say four, five or six, although the old farmer is not very knowledgeable, and many things are his own conjectures, but Pei Ju still listens to it with relish. When Pei Ju asked the store to bring three catties of cold-cut beef and a pot of soup with three pulps, the old farmer was very interested in talking and almost knew everything. In the middle, Pei Ju slowly led the topic to the economy and people's livelihood.

Pei Jujiang walked all the way, he saw a lot of such ox carts, most of the coachmen were old and weak, and there were some women, but they all looked very happy, they spoke loudly, and they asked very curiously with a rare spirit: "Why are there so many ox carts in Baitu?" Everyone pulls charcoal, can they burn it all? ”

The old man pulled his messy beard, poured a big bowl of wine, wiped his mouth and said: "I can't use it up for my own use, but there are many people in Chang'an City, and this charcoal can earn this amount." ”

The old farmer stretched out his hand to Pei Ju, and stretched out his five fingers to the sky.

Pei Ju said: "Fifty Wen? ”

"It's five hundred Wen!" The old peasant thief said awkwardly: "One person and one cow, one day and one night can fight back and forth." ”

"Old man, how long have you been doing this?"

"It's not a long time, there are still three days to go and ten months."

Pei Ju calculated, "So, I started doing it at the beginning of this year?" ”

"Lang Jun is a scholar, right? Listen to the accent, like Shandong? ”

Pei Ju smiled: "The old man is well-informed, can he hear this?" ”

"Hehe, I often go to Chang'an, our Pei County Court (the honorific title for the county order) is from Shandong, and I heard that he is still a famous person in Shandong. I talked to him twice, old man, and I listened to the accent. Wenxi is a good place, a famous person, and a good official, there used to be a Pei Shiju, quite famous. He ran the Western Regions for Emperor Yang, fought against Tuyuhun, and used the score to score the Turks, and was a good official......"

Pei Ju chatted with the old farmer, just to inquire about the people's understanding of Pei County's reputation and Pei Xuanji's reputation.

Pei Ju had a son in his later years, Pei Xuanji was the son born to Pei Ju when he was forty years old, and he is now twenty-four years old, and his official residence is in Baitu County. It seems that Pei Xuanji has done a good job, at least his reputation is not bad, he did not get Pei Xuanji's bad comments in Chang'an, if there are no bad reviews in the local area, at the latest next year, he will definitely get a good evaluation.

Baitu County is a middle county, Pei Xuanji is the seventh grade county order, and then go up from the sixth grade to the state or long history, and it is not a problem to be promoted to the sixth grade official in the year of establishment, and in the future, with his own face, after the prince Li Jiancheng ascends the throne, he can at least be promoted to one level.

Pei Ju did not stay in Baishi County, but arrived in Changwu that night.

The four-wheeled carriage and horses rested and the wheels rolled forward all the way, Pei Zhi finally arrived in Lingzhou before the heavy snow closed the road, and when he entered the territory of Lingzhou, Pei Ju obviously felt different.

First of all, although it is cold here, the street is not inaccessible, on the contrary, the street is full of people coming and going, bustling, I am afraid that in this weather, Chang'an will not be so lively.

Pei Ju's heart was like a cat scratching, and he was very eager to figure out what was going on.

Suddenly, a person stopped Pei Ju's carriage, the carriage stopped in the middle of the road, Pei Ju leaned out, and before he could ask what was going on, he saw a person bowing down: "Meet Pei Gong!" ”

Pei Ju didn't remember that he would know such a person, Pei Ju muttered: "Please redeem the old man's clumsiness, Your Excellency is ......"

Yang Ze walked like a fly, came to Pei Ju's carriage and said: "After the end of school, enter Yang Ze!" ”

The name "Yang Ze", Pei Ju is naturally not unfamiliar, it is precisely because of this person's unprincipled concession to Li Daozong, which made Chen Ying's blood go down the drain, it is precisely because Yang Ze is not enough to entrust him, Chen Ying recommended himself to Li Jiancheng, the prince of the East Palace, looking at the Yizhou Thorn Shi coming to greet him alone, Pei Ju was very displeased, but felt that Yang Ze did not have the prestige of the Yizhou Thorn History.

Although the history of the assassin served in the local area, in fact, from the official position of the history of the assassin, it has always belonged to the central officials, but it was slowly localized later. The greatest power of the assassin is that he can directly report to the emperor and impeach lawlessness.

However, Yang Ze put his position too low, originally the assassin Shi was to contain the general who commanded the army, but unfortunately Yang Ze did too much.

Although Pei Ju was slightly unhappy in his heart, he did not show it, but said to Yang Ze: "Yang Envoy, please get in the car!" ”

Yang Ze was not polite, and calmly boarded Pei Ju's carriage.

Pei Ju personally poured a cup of hot tea for Yang Ze, and Pei Ju looked Yang Ze up and down for a moment: "Yang Zhijun learned about the intention of the old man, right?" ”

Yang Ze said: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has already instructed Yang Ze in his letter, everything is based on Pei Gong, and Yang Ze will fully cooperate!" ”

Pei Ju was silent for a moment, he turned his head, leaned against the wall of the car, looked through the window of the car, looked at the bustling crowd outside, and his mind suddenly wavered, just like a four-wheeled carriage.

The task given to him by the prince is actually very heavy, to restore Chen Ying to set up a blast furnace steel workshop during his tenure as the governor of Lingzhou, restore coal and salt production, and make Lingzhou the largest money bag and material warehouse in the East Palace, Pei Ju sighed and said: "There is a long way to go, and time is not waiting for me."

Yang smiled disapprecantly.

Suddenly, Pei Ju found a very big problem, there are many pedestrians in Lingzhou, but there are no children, Pei Ju asked strangely: "Yang Yuanjun, why can't you see children in this Lingzhou?" ”

"Pei Gong has tormented the boy, just call me to deal with it!" Yang stroked his beard and smiled: "How can the dolls play, they all go to study." ”

"All going to school?" When Pei Ju heard this, he was immediately startled.

Pei Ju lost his father when he was young, and it was his uncle Pei Rangzhi who raised him as an adult, but because Pei Rangzhi cultivated Pei Ju, he even made Pei Ju's cousin Pei Wenyue a son-in-law, which was the biggest regret in Pei Ju's life.

At that time, Pei Rangzhi was the master of Gao Cheng, the general of Wenxiang, and was also a scholar in the middle school, and he was a fourth-grade official, but he could only support three children to study, which shows how difficult it was to support a scholar at that time. Now the children of all Lingzhou go to school, which is undoubtedly shocking to make the Celestial Empire fully realize tens of millions of small riches in one day.

Yang realized that his words were a bit exaggerated, so he explained: "Alas, in fact, it can't be regarded as reading, the county lord of Baicheng invited some literate and hyphenated gentlemen to take care of the dolls, and by the way, teach them a few words, write their own names, and keep some simple accounts, by the way, this is the policy promulgated by General Chen when he was in Lingzhou, General Chen said, this is called literacy." If you find a smart doll, you will have to send it to the county school and state school for further study in the future. ”