It's late November, and the annoying autumn cicadas are still hiding in the dense branches and leaves of the big banyan tree, making people so distraught that they forget the hurried pace of time.

Xu Ping returned to the Yongzhou Prefecture and went straight to the governor's hall.

It was the hot time of the afternoon, and several officials sat under the big banyan tree and chatted, and when they saw Xu Ping coming in, they hurriedly stood up and saluted. Since this young general judge came to Yongzhou, the life of the upper and lower officials has suddenly become better, Yulu never defaults, and there are some rewards from time to time, and the poor officials can occasionally cut two catties of mutton and cook it, but they didn't even dare to think about it before. Yongzhou hukou is scarce, it is said that several prefectures on Guangnan West Road together can be equivalent to two large counties in southern Zhejiang, but the state is high and the allocation of officials is basically complete, these officials are closely watched by officials at all levels, and there is less opportunity to make extra money, and life is tight. It is also their blessing to have such a generous boss as Xu Ping.

The state is financially well-off, and the environment of the office is different from the past, all of which are equipped with water-cooled air conditioners, and several nearby states produce tin anyway, so the source of materials is very convenient. In the past, it was hot and stuffy in the house, and everyone didn't want to stay in it, but now it is cold in the house, and they have to come out to bask in the sun from time to time, which makes people feel that they have changed the world.

Xu Ping nodded and said hello, and a public official said: "Go to the hall quickly, Cao Zhizhou has been waiting inside for a long time." ”

Entering the Governor's Hall, Cao Keming, who was napping on a chair, opened his eyes, saluted Xu Ping, and smiled self-deprecatingly: "Since I learned what kind of water-cooled air conditioner your general judgment hall has installed here, I don't feel hot anymore, but it is very cold, which makes people miss the weather in the Central Plains more and more." ”

Xu Ping sat down and said with a smile: "Yes, who doesn't miss the Central Plains." I grew up there, and when I didn't come out, I didn't think it was like a paradise when I came to Lingnan for a year. ”

Cao Keming is a native of Yazhou, Xichuan, where it rains all year round, and when he grew up, he joined the army with his uncle, and turned around the northwest of the Central Plains, and since then he has liked the dry weather. After the addition of officials, he has been going around Jinghu and Lingnan, and now that he is old, he remembers his youth from time to time. The opulence and prosperity of the two capitals in the Central Plains, and the Jin Ge Iron Horse, who fought against the party in the northwest, entered the old man's dream from time to time.

After chatting a few words, Cao Keming handed a letter on the table to Xu Ping, and said in a deep voice: "The eighteen states under Zuojiang Province jointly signed a letter, and the affairs of Zhongzhou are just going to be put aside-"

Xu Ping picked up the letter and read it carefully, it was a letter of plead from Cao Chengxiang, the governor of Zhongzhou, to the effect that it was nothing more than because his subordinates fled, and led people to chase him and inadvertently went out of the state border. Hezhou has been convicted of the crime, and the letter is to ensure that similar mistakes will never be made again in the future, and if they do it again, they are willing to use their lives to atone for the crime.

Below the letter, is the eighteen states of Zuojiang Province Zhizhou Zhitong monogram, willing to jointly name Huang Chengxiang as a guarantee, please forgive Zhongzhou, let Huang Chengxiang wear the crime of meritorious service.

The eighteen states are headed by Shangsi Prefecture and Siming Prefecture, and the name of Qianlong Zhitong is particularly conspicuous. When Taizong, he had set up Qianlongzhai, governed the surrounding states such as Shangsizhou and Zhongzhou, and Zhenzong was located in a remote area, and removed the imperial court officials such as Zhizhai, only the name of the village remained, and the right to move Longzhitong and Zhizhai was actually abandoned. Qianlongtong is the main road, located between the three major states of Chungju, Sangsiju, and Simingju, and the three states have been fighting for the dominance of Qianlongtong for decades, but they all joined forces this time.

Putting the letter down, Xu Ping thought for a while and said: "This is that all the states south of Zuojiang have interceded for this Huang Chengxiang, I really didn't expect that this Huang Zhizhou has such a good popularity." ”

"It's not that he is popular, it's that Zhongzhou is at the intersection, the imperial court withdrew Zhongzhou, and along the old road of the former dynasty, you can go directly to Simingzhou, and it is connected to Yongping Village. The state mountains on the left and right sides of this old road want to keep the gate of Zhongzhou, for fear that the imperial court will accept all these states and counties as prefectures and counties, and this group of barbarian chiefs will have nowhere to go. ”

Xu Ping said with a smile: "These barbarian chieftains are farther than you and me, this way past, there is only one mountain road and a few small mountain dams, surrounded by continuous mountains. The imperial court harvested the prefectures and counties directly under the central government, and it was not enough to support the officers and soldiers there, and the money and grain on the Quang Nan West Road were not enough. ”

Cao Keming shook his head impatiently: "People have no long-term concerns, they must have near-term worries, and these barbarian chiefs have also learned." ”

Xu Ping nodded, closed his eyes and pondered for a while, his face became solemn: "They jointly protect Huang Chengxiang, and they can't help but give them face." These eighteen states have a history, and it is this area that the Xiyuan Barbarians who rebelled during the Tang Dynasty have been in turmoil for decades, and the surrounding dozens of states are not peaceful. Do you know the state of interest? ”

"The general judgment is right, the matter has come to this point, and it is not good for us to use force directly, and Huang Chengxiang's catastrophe can be regarded as avoided. But that's it, I'm always unwilling, and in a few days, I'm going to let Huang Chengxiang personally come to the state to apologize. If he doesn't come—"

"He's not coming." Xu Ping cut off Cao Keming's words, "The things that have been jointly signed have been done, how could he come to the state by himself and let us handle it?" If Huang Chengxiang doesn't come then, will we send troops to attack Zhongzhou? Then it's better to send troops now! In my opinion, it's okay not to do this kind of thing, don't make us unable to get off the stage and lose the face of the court. ”

Cao Keming said in a deep voice: "Is that it?" ”

"Forget it? The state and the state united, held a group to threaten the imperial court, and protected a Tuzhou governor who openly led troops to invade the state and county, which already has the heart of rebellion, and his heart can be punished! The mountains south of the Zuojiang River are continuous, and it is indeed inconvenient to march into the army, and with the strength of our current Yongzhou troops, they are united, and they are indeed unable to endure them for a while. But as long as Yongzhou is here, we will solicit household registration, let Ruhe County become a big county, and eat them bite by bite! ”

Cao Keming looked at Xu Ping and sighed in his heart. At the beginning, he looked down on this little jinshi who came to partner with him, even if Xu Ping later made a lot of money for the state, Cao Keming's attitude towards Xu Ping was a little better, and he still looked down on it in his heart. Yongzhou is a frontier, can fight to subdue the barbarians, he has been in the army for decades, from the northwest to the southwest, countless achievements, this is the only way to gain a foothold in Yongzhou. It wasn't until a few days ago that Cao Keming discovered that this little judge was also able to fight. can make money and fight, but he is useless as a governor, and he suddenly feels old in his heart.

"Speaking of Ruhe County, a few days ago, the report came down, and someone in the court proposed to delete and merge Yongzhou County. If you want to merge Lechang County into Wuyuan County, and if He County is merged into Changhua County, ask our state's opinion. ”

Xu Ping said: "Now that the sugar has just been put into storage and has not been sold, we will report one million catties of white sugar as the envy of Yongzhou, is it possible that there are still people who will scrap Ruhe County?" ”

Cao Keming smiled: "Of course, no one will dare to mention it again." These days, I'm also thinking, how to report this million catties of white sugar to be safe, the word envy, Chaoli doesn't like it very much now. ”

In addition to fixed taxes, over-collected state and county finances can be handed over to the imperial court, which is generally called envy, which means that the income exceeds the tax. This is also considered a part of the performance appraisal of officials, but it is not a positive example, and whether or not to be rewarded depends on the attitude of the ruler of the imperial court. Rewarding officials who have handed over a lot of envy will inevitably be suspected of encouraging local officials to exploit the people, which has been resisted by many officials. Now the ruling Empress Dowager Liu just doesn't like this name, there have been magistrates in the name of envy for more tribute money and food to reward for gratitude, was ridiculed by the Empress Dowager Liu, the prime minister of the court Wang Zeng and others which is the prime minister who relies on the envy of the surplus, which means that it is enough to do their job honestly.

Xu Ping said: "There is no need to worry about this, we just need to make the accounts clear, so that the court can know where the money came from at a glance, is it possible that there are still people gossiping?" Besides, we have left hundreds of thousands of catties of sugar in the state, as the capital to further expand the scale, I am afraid that the three divisions will not agree. ”

"Let's take the idea of this matter, the matter of sugar is clear, and there should be no accidents."

After the matter was discussed, Cao Ke was obviously happy, and he no longer had the interest to compete with Xu Ping, so he simply let Xu Ping call the shots, and he should retire in advance.

Cao Keming's attitude surprised Xu Ping, he didn't expect to become so easy to talk now, but he was a little embarrassed.

Seeing that it was getting late, Cao Keming got up and said: "It's rare to go back to Yongzhou City, so let's go to Yuxian Tower for a feast in the evening and drink two cups." ”

"It's okay, I haven't drunk with Zhizhou for a long time. But there's one more thing we need to discuss. ”

"What's the matter? A good thing or a bad thing? ”

Cao Keming sat back in his chair and asked Xu Ping.

Xu Ping said with a smile: "It's not good, it's not bad, it's about the official position of Ruhe County Commander Duan Fang." Before coming to Yongzhou, he had already joined the army as a manager in Zhaozhou, and according to the rules, he should be promoted to Beijing official, but he himself used this opportunity to exchange for the county order of Ruhe Ren, so he didn't count. Now that the white sugar is grown in Ruhe County, Duan Fang has no merit and hard work, and his qualifications are enough, I wonder if we jointly guarantee his promotion to Beijing official? ”

Cao Keming nodded and smiled: "It should be." Zhongzhou has reached this point, and his previous little thing is no longer a matter, and Zhaozhou has already stayed, and the promotion of the capital official is reasonable. However, the number of people in the two of us is not enough, so let's do it, I am familiar with Feng Qixian in Yizhou, count him as one, and the others will have to find a way. ”

Feng Shenji's word Qi Xian, he went to various places to fight side by side with Cao Keming many times, and the friendship he has formed over the years, of course, this kind of trivial matter will help.

Xu Ping was a little embarrassed, he had been in Yongzhou for a short time, and he didn't have any connections in Lingnan, so he thought for a long time before saying: "I'll try to talk to Tian Zhizhou in Guizhou, and I am only familiar with this Lingnan official." Other people only need to say that Wang Cao and Zhang Yun can judge one person, and it is not difficult to think about it. ”

Five people are needed to elect people to be promoted to Beijing officials, among whom there must be one supervisor, Wang Weizheng and Zhang Cun must at least say that one person will participate, plus Tian Shaozhong, plus Xu Ping himself, it is enough for five people. If you can't say that you can move Tian Shaozhong, Xu Ping is wondering whether to use his relationship in the same year, and there are several Jinshi in the fifth year of Tiansheng who are officials on Jinghu South Road, and they can barely be regarded as climbing the relationship.

This kind of thing uses political resources, and if someone helps you, you have to admit it, and when you ask for it, you can't help it, and there are people in the so-called court and China who are good officials. The Baoju system, together with the same year as the various scholars, is intertwined with various unclear marriage and kinship relationships, forming a huge net, and the deeper the network is entangled, the more it can eliminate disasters and take refuge. If you want to struggle to get ahead in this net, you must either marry a good wife and climb a good father-in-law, or climb to the top of the court, if you want to rely on your own ability, then you must fight for a Jinshi background, and you must be a high student, and the real protégé of the Son of Heaven can avoid all kinds of constraints in this net.

Xu Ping came from an ordinary background, and his father-in-law Lin Wensi was not as big as his own face, so he couldn't rely on anything, and the duckweed in the official website was generally helpless. Fortunately, he was a first-class jinshi, and he was naturally promoted when his seniority arrived, and he didn't need other officials to protect him, so the emperor personally protected the career of these high-ranking jinshi. But if you want to promote others, you have to exchange him, the only first-class Jinshi political capital, and you owe a favor once you use it.

Since arriving in Ruhe County, Duan Fang has worked hard to help Xu Ping do things, and has never mentioned any conditions. As a result, this time he thought that his long-cherished wish would be fulfilled and that he would be able to reunite with the barbarian girl lover he had been thinking about for a long time, but Chungju slipped through his hand again. Xu Ping always felt that he couldn't go, so he could only use this method to compensate Duan Fang a little.

At this time, Guangxi was remote, the water and soil were harsh, and very few officials were willing to go here as officials, and there were only a handful of counties in the entire Guangnan West Road where the Jing Dynasty officials were in charge. If Duan Fang changed from Duan County Order to Duan Zhi County, at least he would have a light on his face when he went out to meet his colleagues, and no one would dare to underestimate him.