Xu Ping dismounted, led by Yao County Ling and Zhong Zhushu, and walked towards Heyin County. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Heyin County is very small and looks like a dirt fence from the outside. The rammed earth walls were only more than a man high, there was no moat outside, and the city gate was only made of large pieces of miscellaneous wood, which was not even.

Xu Ping looked a little unhappy, this shabby scene was not as good as Ruhe County when he was in Yongzhou.

When they arrived at the city gate, the two veterans guarding the gate were losing their teeth, and they couldn't stand there steadily. His eyes were cloudy and unfocused, and he didn't know if he could see what Xu Ping looked like.

As soon as I entered the city gate, I looked up and saw the county government in front of me, and when I looked up a little more, I saw the city wall on the other side.

In this small county town with a big palm, it is estimated that one or two thousand people living in it will be crowded, and it is really similar to a village.

Heyin is barely a central county, with just over 1,000 households combined. Xu Ping looked at the twenty or thirty officials and public servants around him, and sighed secretly in his heart, it was not easy to feed these people.

In this era, there is no transfer payment from the central government, and the poor are really poor, and even the officials here suffer with it. But anyone who has a little way will try their best to get out of here. This county ordered Yao Zeguang and the chief bookkeeper Zhong to look back, they had been on the selection level for many years and couldn't be promoted, and they didn't have any background.

There is only one street in the north and south of the county, so you don't have to be afraid of getting lost, just go straight along the avenue after entering the city gate.

The road is a dirt road, and such an important section from the city gate to the county government is still potholed. Most of the houses on both sides are rough straw houses with low eaves, and only occasionally two open their doors to do business, and the others are just ordinary residents. It seems that the business in this county is not good, there are few inns, and there must be no merchants.

Xu Ping walked all the way, observing the scene in the county and secretly estimating the situation in the county.

After walking a short distance, I arrived in front of the county government.

I don't know what year it was built, and it looks dilapidated, and even the paint on the gate has peeled off. On the roof of the house in the back, not only were weeds overgrown, but even a few small trees had grown.

The county yamen was already crowded with people watching the excitement, and they all gathered there to watch the strangeness. I don't want to come here for many years, but if I come here occasionally, it's like coming to the circus.

Yao Zeguang instructed the messenger to stop the people watching the excitement, and invited Xu Ping into the county office with a smile.

Entering the door, Yao Zeguang said to Xu Ping: "To be made, the saddle horse is tired on the way, and the lower official has prepared a thin wine in the back garden, I don't know if I should eat now or take a rest first?" ”

Xu Ping said: "Xingze County is only twenty or thirty miles away from here, and it is not tiring, so let's eat first." ”

Yao Zeguang got the order and hurriedly asked the people around him to make arrangements.

Bypassing the front official hall, entering the back office from the flower hall, there is a small courtyard in front of you, in which some flowers and trees are planted, and a pavilion is surrounded by a few bamboos, which is the back garden in Yao Zeguang's mouth.

Let Xu Ping go to the pavilion and sit on the upper seat, Yao Zeguang got up and served wine and food.

This small county is not comparable to other big places, and there are no competent people in the yamen. Xu Ping looked at it coldly, Yao Zeguang called back and forth to two people, one was in his fifties with a dark complexion, and the other looked in his twenties and looked white. The official uniforms on these two people are still patched, and their identities can be imagined.

In this kind of small county, if you want to live well in the yamen, you naturally have to eat big households, and arrest the rich and powerful people in the countryside as errands. The heavy service in the world is none other than Lizheng Yaqian, this is not to say, especially in Yaqian, you have to do all kinds of things for the county officials, and you have to pay for it yourself, and if you don't go well, it will make you miserable. remembered that in the "Water Margin" I watched in my previous life, Song Jiang worked as a priest in the county, and he had to break away from his father and son, because he was afraid that something would affect the family.

Just this year, because there were too many incidents caused by the Yaqian errands, if there was no offense after just two years, he could be made up as a general of the three divisions, and from then on he would eat the emperor's grain, and he would become a public official with an establishment from a public servant. The two people that Yao Zeguang came and went to use were obviously not from big families to serve, and Xu Ping felt strange in his heart.

After a while, the miscellaneous officials came up with tea, and Yao Zeguang said: "Forgive me for waiting for the system, there is no hospitality in the remote county here." This tea is still sent down by the state for folding, I heard that it is the Yongzhou tea method used, I don't know if it can be made to the taste? ”

Xu Ping knew that after Fang Tianyan practiced the new tea method, the northern part of Jingxi Road replaced the old tea with new tea, and some local tributes and goods bought by the government department used the new tea as a reward, and it also flowed to Heyin County.

Taking a sip of tea, Xu Ping nodded: "This tea is okay, it has a clear aroma." ”

Zhong Hui, who had not interjected on the side, finally found this opportunity, and said in a trembling voice: "If you can talk to the system, just don't dislike us for being vulgar." ”

Seeing that he had reached the age of old and faint, Xu Ping nodded with a smile and didn't say anything.

Yao Zeguang was busy for a while before the arrangements were made, and the two handymen brought two plates of vegetables over and put them on the table, took two bottles of wine and opened them, and filled them for everyone.

Xu Ping looked at the dishes on the table, they were all common vegetables, and the tender lotus root was even made into two plates. It is not appropriate to eat lotus root in this season, and it is still a treasure here to entertain guests.

Yao Zeguang got up and said to Xu Ping: "It is a remote and small county, except for the judgment of the state every year, there have been no officials from above in the county for many years. When the elders in the county heard that the pending system was coming, they were very happy, and they wondered if they could let the elders in the county come and sit together and listen to the teachings of the pending system? ”

Xu Ping reluctantly squeezed out a smile and said to Yao Zeguang: "This is a good thing, this official came down this time, naturally he should ask about the people's suffering, and he was about to ask the elders for advice, wouldn't it be good to come and sit together!" ”

Yao Zeguang thanked him, and hurriedly asked the people around him to go outside and call people in.

To welcome the banquet, as usual, there must be local elders and leading figures to accompany him, Yao Zeguang also specifically asked, this old man is afraid that it is not a legitimate way. Xu Ping was already muttering about the situation in this place, and there was a strangeness everywhere that was different from ordinary places, so he could only be more careful.

In a moment, the so-called country elders came in from outside.

The first one was an old man with sparse gray hair, who was accidentally blown away by the wind when he walked, and he didn't seem to know how old he was, and was supported by a young descendant.

The last two, the first strong man in his thirties, with a face full of meat, just entered the solar term in May, but he only wore a bare arm and shoulder, walking with open arms, tiger and tiger. One of the others looked to be fifty-six years old, with a gray head, black and thin, a goatee, and only a pair of shrewd little eyes, which were black and bright. (To be continued.) )