The weather was unusually cold after the snow. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoThe snow that melts in the sun at noon freezes at night, and the road in the early morning is hard and slippery, and if you are not careful, you will fall. The north roared across the earth, rolling snowflakes and falling on people without a head or face.

Xu Ping rode on the horse, cautious, for fear that an accident would occur if the horse's hooves slipped. Tan Hu simply stopped riding a horse, and personally led the horse for Xu Ping, stepping on the ice ballast on the ground with one foot high and one foot low. He has non-slip iron spikes on the soles of his boots, so he doesn't worry about slipping, but he has to walk with extra effort.

The clouds in the sky are not thick, but they cover the whole sky in layers, and the sun behind the clouds only has a rough outline, which looks half-dead. A flock of geese occasionally flew in the swamps in the distance, and it was not known whether they were going to fly south or north, or if they were going to stay around Henan Province for the winter.

It was already Layue, Xu Ping didn't dare to delay any longer, and hurried to Mengzhou to inspect. If you don't hurry up and do this, an accident will be delayed until the next year, which will cause a lot of trouble. Patrolling all the subordinate states and counties, this is the main duty of the transfer envoy, and if you don't do other things, you can't delay this matter.

After arriving in Yanshi County for the night, the next day over the Beibi Mountain, we arrived at the Yellow River. The Mengzhou pontoon bridge is an important passage connecting the north and south of the Yellow River, this season is the dry season, the water flow is gentle, and the pontoon bridge is unimpeded.

Li Shen took the Mengzhou officials to the pontoon bridge early, and when he saw Xu Ping and his party in the middle of the bridge, he hurriedly stepped forward to greet him. When he arrived at the other side, he saluted and led Xu Ping to the Mengzhou Post House.

Mengzhou is the important place of the Yellow River, and most of the northward travel in the Central Plains has to pass through here, and the post house is very large. In this season, the weather is cold, there is ice and snow, business travel is cut off, and the post house seems empty.

After settling down, Li Shen said to Xu Ping: "Du Cao, look at the sky, it's not too early." You take a break, I will arrange for someone to prepare wine and food, and I will pick up the wind and wash the dust for you in the post house. ”

Xu Ping waved his hand: "These false courtesies are exempt, this kind of weather, I am afraid that the people I brought don't want to stay in Mengzhou longer." You order the state officials to prepare official documents, start auditing early tomorrow morning, and let them go back to work today, don't bother. By the way, if you come over in the evening, we will have a glass of wine and gossip, and the other officials will not have to. ”

Li Shen promised, turned around and instructed Yicheng to do what Xu Ping said, especially at night, not to disturb the rest of the inspectors.

Xu Ping said again: "Also, you send a subordinate official to take Shiheng to Heqing County." There is a white wave shipping envoy, and they also have to go to check. He went to do the work, and when I left, he went to visit Wen Langzhong. ”

Li Shen responded, turned around and ordered the governor in the state to take Chong Shiheng to Heqing County.

Heqing County is Baibo, which is the station of the Baibo Shipping Mission. At this time, the three white wave shipping envoys were combined into one, and the shipping envoy was Wen Yanbo's father, Wen Xun. Generally speaking, the shipping envoys on the transshipment are the Jianghuai shipping envoys, the money and grain of the six routes in the southeast of the country, and the cao transportation into Beijing. Although the Sanmen Baibo Shipping Envoy is also known as the Shipping Envoy, it is not a road-level organization, only equivalent to the state level, and is under Xu Ping. However, in the same year, Ru brothers, because of Wen Yanbo's relationship, Wen Xun was Xu Ping's elder, and when he arrived in Mengzhou, Xu Ping was going to visit.

After sending away Chong Shiheng, Xu Ping returned to his residence, washed up, changed into civilian clothes, and rested for a while.

The sky has been gloomy, and I don't know sooner or later, and by the time Xu Ping woke up, the sun had already set.

After Xu Ping's order, Li Shen did not put on a big feast, but just stayed in the post house by himself. Li Di is the former prime minister, and there is no reason to go out of the city to meet the transfer envoy, and under Xu Ping's inspection, he can't enter the city according to the regulations, so he can only rely on Li Shen to be busy outside the city.

After washing his face, Xu Ping pushed the door out, and saw Li Shen standing under the tree in front of his door, looking at the sky in the distance, and hurriedly asked, "Has Li Tongju already come?" Why don't you let Tan Hu say goodbye? ”

Li Shen arched his hand: "Du Cao has worked hard all the way, why did you disturb your tranquility?" This heavy snowfall is very rare, and it is good for me to stand here alone and look at the snow scene, and besides, I just came, and I didn't stand for long. ”

The two exchanged a few polite words, and Li Shencai said: "Du Cao doesn't like to be noisy, so I won't set up a banquet tonight." I have prepared two fat pigs, a few jars of good wine, and a few drinks with Du Cao to relieve the fatigue on the road. ”

Mengzhou's pork can be regarded as the first in the world, and it does have a unique flavor, since he ate it once in Heyin, Xu Ping has never forgotten it. This is not only the difference between his pre-industrial pigs and local pork, but also the aroma of this special pig breed. The breeds of livestock and poultry are changing, and there is no reason that has remained unchanged for thousands of years, and in Xu Ping's previous life, the large-scale pig breeds were basically mixed with the blood of European wild boars. European pig breeds are large and have firewood, and pork production has gone up, and the meat quality is always a little worse. I really want to say that this Mengzhou pig should be similar to some fragrant pigs in front of him, but unfortunately he didn't have that mouth to taste in his previous life.

Under a big pine tree in the back garden of the post house, a table was placed, and Xu Ping and Li Shen sat opposite each other. On one side, Tan Hu stood, and Yicheng took a few post guards to clean up the wine and food.

Mengzhou pork has a delicate taste, and it is the most fragrant and delicious when roasted. A fire was lit in front of the table, and the pork was cut into large pieces and grilled on the fire. Xu Ping saw that the smoke was burning and a little indecent, so he asked them to cut thin slices and put an iron net on it.

After warming the wine, Tan Hu poured Xu Ping and Li Shen full of wine.

Li Shen raised his glass and said: "Du Cao came from afar, so shabby, Xia Guan was really uneasy in his heart. Fill this cup! ”

The two drank wine, and Xu Ping said with a smile: "Qingchen, we met in Heyin County, and we are a little old. There is no need to be restrained between you and me, and polite words can be avoided. If the envoy inspects the prefecture and county, he will have to be light and simple, if it is a lively singing, dancing, drinking and feast, not to mention others, Li Xianggong is afraid that he will be unhappy. It's so best, the two of us drink together, and we want to be quiet. ”

Li thanked him, and the two drank for a while before he said: "Du Cao, there is a sentence I don't know whether to say or not." ”

Xu Ping put down the meat he was carrying in the chopsticks, so that Li Shen could speak directly and did not need to worry.

Li Shen sighed before he said: "This year, if you talk about the first half of the year, Mengzhou is not bad if you compare money and grain." But in the second half of the year, since the cotton cloth went on the market, especially the price of silk silk fell, Mengzhou Curry really owed a lot. Du Cao came this time, but I was afraid that Mengzhou would be ugly on Jingxi Road. I also know most of the money and food in other state capitals, and Mengzhou is indeed too bad, because there is no new policy here, but if it is bad, it is bad. Du Cao said last year that there would be an exam every year, and this year's exam will be extraordinarily strict, I don't know if there is any statement? I don't care, Li Xianggong is an old and important minister, if he is heavy, his face will be ugly. ”

Xu Ping looked at Li Shen and was silent for a while before he said in a deep voice: "Since you asked, I will say it directly." Last year, it was not a lie to say that there would be an exam every year, and you always have to do it when you say it. If the money and grain in Mengzhou are particularly ugly this year, I will write to the imperial court, and the lord of the state will be demoted to an official. Because of the credit you have done other things, you can offset the merits, but Li Xianggong is afraid that he will not be able to hide from it. ”