Sang Yi brought Xu Ping's family letter, and there was no major event in the family, but after the father-in-law Lin Wensi left his original position, he was reappointed as the chief secretary of Caizhou Queshan County, and continued to marry Xu Ping to a mother-in-law, who was also the daughter of a broken official eunuch. Li Zhang and Su Er gave birth to a big fat son after they got married, and it has been 100 days.

Xu Ping got the news, hurriedly prepared a gift, and asked someone to send it back together with Xiuxiu's gift to Su'er. The relationship between the two families is extraordinary, and this kind of etiquette is indispensable.

Li Yonghe and the first term of Kaocheng County completed the inspection, but the change of officials was not successful, and he continued to stay in Kaocheng County.

Although the grinding system has been completed in this era, not everyone can be promoted smoothly according to seniority, and even for lower-level officials, it is good luck to be re-elected directly without changing officials. Because both the grinding and various subsidies are sent according to the actual job, as long as the official does not suffer, on the contrary, once he enters the big pit to be elected, the income and treatment are suddenly reduced.

Accompanied Sang Yi to play in Taiping County for two days, and after eating all kinds of local specialties, Xu Ping accompanied him out of Taiping County. Sang Yi went to Qianlongtong to find Gao Daquan, while Xu Ping looked at the newly opened cane fields of the cane sugar business.

At this time, it is the middle of February, the apricot blossoms have just fallen, the peach blossoms are in full bloom, and the front and back of the house in Taiping County are picking out a branch of red from time to time, dyed with the picture of spring.

Walking in this painting, people seem to have become much more elegant and quiet, and they have forgotten the hustle and bustle of the red dust for a while.

Xu Ping and Sang Yi rode side by side in front, and Tan Hu led ten soldiers to follow, and the sound of horses' hooves knocked on the stone road crisply, and walked out of Taiping County along the stream.

As soon as you get out of the county, the rape flowers in the wild are in full bloom, and from a distance it looks like a yellow ocean, boundless. Mixed in this sea of yellow flowers, there are pink peach blossoms, fire-like kapok, clusters in the east and clusters in the west, which adds countless vitality to this sea of flowers.

On the hill not far away, all kinds of rhododendrons dye the mountain forest colorfully, surrounding the sea of camellias, like a colorful wreath.

Sang Yi stopped his horse, looked at the sea of flowers, the colorful picture-like world, and exclaimed: "At that time, I pointed out the errand of Zuojiang Dao, and the family was going to die or live, thinking that I would never return to the Central Plains alive one day." Everyone says that Lingnan is full of miasma, especially in Yongzhou, and most of the officials will die here. But I didn't expect that after coming, it would be this scene, especially better than the prosperity of the Central Plains. I haven't been to Gangnam, but I've heard that everyone is good at Gangnam, and in my opinion, Gangnam is just like that. ”

Tan Hu listened, and said with a smile in the back: "It's good when the inspection comes, if it was a few years ago, when the general judge first came to Yongzhou, it would be a miasma everywhere, and even fierce beasts often come out to hurt people." At that time, as the general judgment inspected the counties, I always plucked up the courage to fight the tiger. Since the general judgment was made to open the sugarcane fields, and later to build the cane sugar business, the fields have been opened up, the population has increased, the miasma has disappeared, and I have not heard of tigers hurting people in the past two years. In previous years, in Wuyuan County, just to deal with the tiger fighting in the county was miserable, two days ago I saw their county lieutenant, talking about this matter, he said that now it is all hunters for the tiger skin drill deep in the mountains to fight tigers, how can you imagine? ”

Sang Yi looked at Xu Ping and sighed: "You have been here for a few years, it can really be regarded as a change of world." Supposedly speaking, your official promotion in the past few years is not much better than that of Kolai Gong back then, but if you really come here to see it, I am afraid that everyone will still think that it is not enough to compensate you for your hard work in the past few years. ”

Kou Zhun was nineteen years old in the second branch of the Jinshi, for the Taiping rejuvenation of the country for five years, at the age of 30 as the privy deputy envoy, ranked as the chief executive, the speed of his promotion, the youth when he entered the center, can be described as unprecedented. People in this era often take Kou Zhun as an example when they talk about fast promotion, and Xu Ping's promotion at this time is faster than Kou Zhun back then.

Xu Ping has memories of his previous life, and he looks at problems from different angles, but he knows that Kou Zhun is because of the special background of the times. Emperor Taizong was not properly seated, and he urgently needed to use new political forces to overpower the nobles who were in power at that time and consolidate his hard-won throne. Only then did we vigorously promote the literati who were born as scholars, and only then did we have Kou Zhun, and there was a situation in which the third, fourth, and fifth years of the Taiping rejuvenation of the country were full of talents and famous ministers. The appearance of these people on stage had the dismal end of Zhao Pu, the famous minister of the early Song Dynasty, in his later years.

The literati from the Jinshi came to the forefront, the nobles withdrew, and the scholars became the protagonists of the Great Song Dynasty.

An era has a background of an era, how can it be simply compared.

Life is like a stage, and we are just a small role on the stage. Even if some people think that they are the protagonists, desperately trying to attract every gaze, thinking that they can dominate the changes of this whole world. But no matter how beautiful you are on stage, when the curtain ends, you will eventually find that you are just a small decoration on the stage, and the real protagonist will never appear on the stage.

No one watches the drama on the stage of life, there is no protagonist on the stage of life, we are all on this stage arranged by others, and we are all small roles.

Xu Ping listened to Sang Yi's words, looked at the boundless sea of flowers in front of him, and said lightly: "The two of us have known each other for many years, and you know that my family has thousands of hectares of fertile land, herds of cattle and sheep, beautiful wives and young daughters, and wealth is already for me." After all, it is a matter of being a soldier, and it is just like that. ”

"Although that's the case, but the official is so capable, and the knight is rewarded, you should be rewarded accordingly for doing these things, otherwise what is the point of us officials doing it?"

Xu Ping listened to Sang Yi's words and didn't say anything, just shook his head and urged the horse forward.

It's always nice to say it, but the better it sounds, and the more disheartening it will be to uncover it and see the facts. It's a pleasure to sit in this seat and lie to yourself, and if you don't want to lie to yourself, you shake your head and leave it alone.

All the way to Luobai, it was noon, everyone got off the horse and found a tavern to eat some wine and food.

As the so-called peach blossoms bloom, the rain rises, the flowering period of Yongzhou comes early, the rain also comes early, at this time the water in the river is rising, the weather is warmer, and all kinds of fish, turtles, shrimps and crabs are active. It is also a habit brought by Xu Ping, and rich people have also begun to eat shrimp and turtles, and even this roadside shop sells good Shanrui soup.

Xu Ping and Sang Yi sat at the same table, and Tan Hu played sideways to accompany them, and poured wine and food by the way.

Since arriving in Yongzhou, Xu Ping has also been accustomed to entering the store to have a plate of beef appetizer first, and asked for a few local side dishes, and drank three cups with Sang Yi.

After chatting a few words, Sang Yi looked at the road in front of the store and asked Xu Ping: "Since I entered Lingnan and came down all the way from Guizhou, it is this kind of stone-paved road, and the horse walks very briskly, but the farrier is sharpened." I also asked the locals, and they all said that they learned it from Yongzhou, is there any way to say that the road is paved like this? In the past, when I was in the Central Plains, even the official road was just a solid foundation, why is it different here? ”

Xu Ping thought for a while before saying: "The geography of the north and the south is different, the north is dry, and of course there is no problem with rammed earth roads. Lingnan here is not good, as soon as the rainy season rains non-stop, there is no dry time on the road, where can the rammed earth withstand rainwater soaking? The roadbed below this kind of road is full of big stones, the top is small stones, and the top is a small stone mixed with loess, and the rainwater can flow down the stone crevices without accumulating water. In this kind of humid place, this kind of road is suitable, even the stone road is not comparable, the stone road is slippery and bad in rainy days. ”

Sang Yi nodded: "It makes sense, it's really brisk to walk." ”

Where is the real truth, Sang Yi can think clearly at once? However, Xu Ping has already said that he will always be able to figure it out after a long time here.

Xu Ping said: "But this kind of road is also delicate, and someone has to maintain it from time to time." The drainage ditch on the side of the road must not be blocked, otherwise the roadbed will be damaged. The stones on the road will slowly be ground into powder, and someone will have to spread them after a few days. I have a commander in this sugar business to take care of the surrounding roads. After the ancient Wanzhai, the road over there is the maintenance of the prison city soldiers, and it is not sloppy at all. ”

This is actually the gravel road of later generations, because Xu Ping paved a large number of national defense roads in his previous life, and some places are also called "national defense roads", which look inconspicuous, but there are many exquisiteness. The biggest advantage of this road is not what Xu Ping said, but that it can overload heavy vehicles. Because the roadbed is full of stones, and there are small stones on it, when heavy vehicles pass through, the small stones are stuck in the cracks of the big stones, so that the road has a certain elasticity and will not be broken when pressed. However, there were no trucks in those days, and the biggest benefit was that it was useless.

But in rainy areas, this kind of road is still very suitable, and it is convenient for cars. As for the cement road and asphalt road, it is a luxury that can only be laid on a large scale in the industrial society, and the little cement burned in the Yongzhou cellar is not enough to build a dam and a canal, so how can there be any extra to pave the road. Besides, cement roads are more troublesome to maintain, and they are purely a heavy burden on an agricultural society, and Xu Ping had no intention of doing so from the beginning.

Sang Yi drank wine, looked at the pedestrians on the road, and felt that when he came to Yongzhou, he couldn't see through Xu Ping anymore. In the past, when he was farming in Zhongmu, Xu Ping had all kinds of whimsical ideas, and it can be said that he also planted flowers. I didn't expect to come to Lingnan, and all kinds of interesting and strange ideas came out one after another. Sang Yi is a person who has traveled south and north for many years, and has served at the grassroots level for several years, so he naturally knows that this road is not as simple as Xu Ping said. Lingnan is difficult to walk on the road, and if you really want Xu Ping to spread this kind of Lingnan, it is tantamount to creating another Jiangnan for the Great Song Dynasty.

In the city, there are still stone roads on both sides of the road, and even the drainage ditches are built under the stone slabs, so that the stone slabs do not delay the vendors to set up stalls, and it is really convenient for pedestrians to walk.

It is not that there are no roads with special sidewalks in the Great Song Dynasty, but they are a limited number of roads in the city of Tokyo, so that different roads are used to separate pedestrian and vehicular traffic, and large-scale paving, Yongzhou is the first one.

When he met Xu Ping by chance in Zhongmu, this little brother gave him a lot of surprises, but he didn't expect that this surprise would be even greater after coming to Yongzhou.

In the days that followed, I don't know what strange things were waiting for him.