The red sunset hung obliquely in the western sky like a big fireball, and the red glow touched everything in the world, with a warm feeling.

In Xu Ping's small courtyard, a table was set up in the sunset, and a large basket was placed on it.

A family of three sat around the table, playing with rice balls with nothing to do.

The glutinous rice balls of this era are called "balls", which are still a little different from later generations, and the trapped materials are far less abundant than those of later generations. Although Xu Ping's craftsmanship is not good, he still has knowledge, and this year, the Xu family's glutinous rice ball filling is particularly rich.

Lin Suniang sat quietly at the table, watching the rice balls in her hand slowly take shape, with a faint smile on the corner of her mouth.

After Xu Ping's repeated questioning, Lin Suniang finally admitted that she might be pregnant again, but the days were too short and uncertain, so she didn't say it. Only Zhang Sanniang knows in the family, looking forward to hugging her grandson every day.

Panpan squatted on the side, a pair of tender white hands stirring around in the snow-like glutinous rice noodles, playing happily.

Not far from the table, Xu Chang stood and told Xu Ping about his conversation with Sun Wanglou in the afternoon, and reported the progress of the site selection of the factory in the northwest of the city. Finally, I talked about the news I heard from Sun Wanglou that the Jiaoyin shop sells tea.

Xu Ping's face was smiling, his expression remained unchanged, and only after Xu Chang finished speaking, did he say lightly: "Our family is doing business innocently, and you have to pay attention to the land you entrust someone to buy, and you must check that there are no hidden dangers." Now it is not as good as when we were in Zhongmu, we are also the home of the official eunuchs, and the official and the imperial history are staring at it, don't fall into the hands of others. ”

Xu Chang agreed, and asked carefully: "Where is the Jiaoyin shop-"

"You have this news back and tell me that you are right, and leave the rest alone. Remember, I must never mess with any business that involves my official position. Usually do business with them, but also keep a snack, trade fairly, and don't be greedy. ”

Xu Chang said: "I remember, I usually be careful." ”

Xu Ping nodded: "We are eunuchs, and there are everywhere to take advantage, but if people let us take advantage, they will naturally find a way to get it back a thousand times, and it is still ourselves who suffer." ”

Xu Chang left, Xu Ping rubbed two more rice balls, stood up and said, "I have something to go to the yamen, you two can play slowly here." If there is anything to do in the evening, he will rest in the city tonight and will not return. ”

Pan Pan said: "Daddy, why did you go to the Yamen for the holidays?" Didn't you say that the imperial court was on holiday? ”

Xu Ping patted Panpan's head: "It's because of the holiday that I have to go back and give orders, otherwise what if there is a mess during the holiday?" Tomorrow, you will follow your mother-in-law and mother to the Xuande Gate Tower to watch the lanterns, remember not to be naughty. ”

Panpan kept nodding his little head: "I remember!" Does the Queen Mother also want to watch the lanterns together! If Panpan is naughty and annoys the Queen Mother, Daddy, your official will not be able to be, and our family will have no food to eat! ”

Xu Ping shook his head with a smile and walked out of the courtyard door.

When he went to the main house to say goodbye to his parents, Xu Ping took two small servants and rode straight into Wansheng Gate.

The royal street is bustling, the lamp mountain has been set up in front of the Xuande Gate, and the small yellow gate in the palace is directing the craftsmen to be busy.

Xu Ping entered the imperial city from the gate, came to the Yamen of the Third Division, asked the little servant to wait outside, and entered his official hall.

At this time, the yamen is more chaotic than usual, and they are all preparing for tomorrow's holiday, where is there anyone who has the heart to deal with official business? There are even officials who have been arranged to be on holiday duty and shouting and making emotions there.

Xu Ping called a military general over and asked, "Is Judge Han in the yamen?" ”

The general crossed his hands and saluted: "Deputy envoy, Judge Han has left the yamen and gone home an hour ago." ”

Xu Ping picked up a poster, wrote a few words casually and handed it to the general: "You go to Judge Han's house and ask him to come to the yamen, just say that I have something to discuss with him." ”

The general answered the promise and turned to go.

Xu Ping sat down behind the case and flipped through the case file casually.

After the Shangyuan Festival, there are a lot of things to be busy. The matter of money law has to be opened, and there are some new field affairs to be opened, all of which Xu Ping has to worry about. In a few days, the bridge and road troops in Yongzhou will enter Beijing, and they will be busy building roads.

When the sky was about to get dark, Han Zong went to the Yamen of the Third Division and came to the Xu Ping Official Hall.

After saluting Xu Parallel, Han Zong said: "The deputy envoy called me back to the yamen, I don't know if there is any urgent business?" ”

Xu Ping said: "Tomorrow is the Shangyuan Festival, the whole city is watching the lanterns, and the whole Kaifeng Mansion is busy preventing chaos, and they are also busy preventing the lights and candles from catching fire, and many places can't take care of it." Your subordinates are in charge of the military case, assign manpower, and keep a close eye on all the field affairs under the three divisions, so as not to make trouble during the festival. ”

Han Zong said respectfully: "The deputy envoy can rest assured, according to the practice of previous years, every time it comes to this season, there are military officials to strengthen the rotation. They all know that the time is critical and they dare not take it lightly. ”

"Convention?" Xu Ping smiled and shook his head, "Judge Han, this is the first time I have encountered Shangyuan Festival as a deputy envoy, and I am not at ease with the previous practice, so you will transfer additional manpower from the Xiangjun under the management of the third division to go to various places." This group of people is under the jurisdiction of the military case itself, don't mix with the people and horses of each field, you also work hard, I will make up for it in the future. ”

Han Zong's father and son are officials in the capital, and there are many relatives and friends, and they don't know how many things are going on at home, and they don't want to be busy with business during the festival from the bottom of their hearts. However, since following Xu Ping in Yongzhou, I have been used to it for so many years, and I know in my heart that Xu Ping is not a casual and troublesome person, so in the end, he still didn't say anything.

The three divisions are in charge of a part of the army, and they are also in charge of the world's officials, and they are quite adequate. In Kaifeng City, not counting the fighting army, the Privy Council of the Imperial Palace and the Third Division can mobilize the most manpower. Although Han Zong is only a judge, he has thousands of troops under him, which is not comparable to ordinary Beijing officials.

Looking at the back of Han Zong's departure, Xu Ping shook his head helplessly. Conventions, the officials below rely on these conventions to play with officials! These conventions were all set by the petty officials, who left a back door from the beginning and did things according to their routines, and the officials were only played around.

As soon as Xu Chang said that Xu Ping roughly understood the process of the matter, in Yongzhou for six years, there were many warehouses and trading places under the management of the sugar cane business, and Xu Ping had seen a lot of this kind of thing. The little officials in the world are all about the same, just looking for loopholes in these routines that they are familiar with, and filling their pockets.

The spell to break them is very simple, as long as you don't play cards according to the routine, it's fine, if you are really not afraid of death, then it will be just a pot to be disposed of. However, most of the petty officials are cautious and will not give officials such a chance.

Playing the time difference and exchanging tea for tea is nothing more than taking advantage of this kind of holiday, the supervision force in the field affairs is lax, and the internal and external collusion quickly completes the matter. Usually, changing tea leads to waiting for a month or two before various procedures are completed, and when this kind of personal gain is pursued, the officials can use one or two hours to do things seamlessly, including all kinds of accounts together.

As long as this window of time passes, even if the officials have accurate information, there is nothing to be done, because all the loopholes have been plugged and there is no handle left for you.

Many officials have a great headache for the petty officials, often with the help of strict punishment and the practice of the yamen, but as soon as they leave these conventions, the yamen does not work, and in the end they are still played around.

The ones who can really subdue these petty officials are those officials who are clear about the routines of the petty officials. It is a pity that many officials pretend to be high-minded, and some have limited ability, they can only shout and kill, but they can't do things.

It has been a few months since he arrived in the third division, and Xu Ping has also noticed some drawbacks. But Kaifeng is not Yongzhou, and the three divisions are not the sugar cane business that Xu Ping can fully control, there are thousands of public officials here, many of them have been handed down from their ancestors, and the family has been doing things in the three divisions for five generations, and the interpersonal relationships are intertwined, where is it so active?

Xu Ping could only slowly get acquainted, patiently waiting for the opportunity, and only when he had a firm grasp did he dare to attack the personnel in the third division. Now, Xu Ping can only maintain no chaos.

Han Zong walked out of Xu Ping's official hall, and after thinking about it, he knew that Xu Ping's order must have sensed that something was wrong. has cooperated in Yongzhou for many years, and Han Zong knows what he should do.

Xu Ping deliberately said that he was going to find the Xiang army to patrol the various fields, and Han Zong went directly back to his official hall, without even informing the person in charge of the military case, and directly ordered the miscellaneous officials to call a few officers over.

There are nearly 100 treasury affairs under the three divisions in the capital, but many of them are just idle yamen, and it would be good to send a few people symbolically. There are only one or twenty yamen that may really have accidents, and Han Zong sent capable people to take care of them one by one, and specially instructed his direct command not to mix with the original officials of the field.

Night is gradually falling, Kaifeng City is shrouded in a lively atmosphere, the people in the city are waiting for the arrival of tomorrow's big day, everywhere lanterns, dazzling all kinds of juggling, even the emperor also came out to have fun with the people.

The traffic shop next to the Bianhe River is unusually quiet, the yamen is on holiday, they have no business to do, and they can only close the door and reopen after the festival.

There are also a few shops that look as silent on the outside, but are crowded with people inside.

These are coolies recruited from other states and counties, and when they are waiting for the carnival of the whole city tomorrow, they will quietly blend into the goods and carry tea out of it. As soon as the formalities are completed, there are responsible officials to take care of them, and they wait for these people to do things.

There are still several boats parked on the Bianhe River not far away, and all kinds of procedures for leaving the city have been completed, but the goods inside have been quietly unloaded, waiting for tea to be loaded tomorrow. As soon as the tea is loaded, go directly out of the city from the water gate and go south along the Bianhe River.

And the shabby-looking restaurant that Xu Chang once went to, at this time the backyard was brightly lit, and the wine feast had been set up, just waiting for the good news to come tomorrow, and Mrs. Liu and his subordinates celebrated together.

At this time, Han Zong mobilized the subordinate armies of the three divisions and began to assign tasks overnight. (To be continued.) )