Chen Laoshi and Qiao Da squatted side by side outside Yuxian Tower, looking at the boats occasionally passing in the river not far in front of them, and said sullenly: "It's Shangyuan Festival again——"

Qiao stretched his neck, looked at the lanterns hanging on the trees on both sides of the road, and said, "Burn the lantern!" ”

After saying that, the two shrank back and leaned against the wall behind them, watching the people coming and going.

The Yuxian Tower behind him has long been dilapidated, and only the finely carved doors and windows are still telling the prosperity of the past. I don't know how many years ago, an official who was demoted from the capital admired the time in the capital, and built this restaurant in the remote Yongzhou City, which imitated the Yuxian Lou in Tokyo, with the same name, and even the wine in the minister's library was called "jade liquid". In the years when the restaurant first opened, it was the most lively place in Yongzhou City, and it was only after eating here a few times a month that you could be called a famous member of Yongzhou.

Restaurants, like people, will age slowly. The locals learned how to brew jade liquor, and new restaurants were opened one by one, and Yuxian Lou slowly grew old. Later chiefs are not good at business, there is no more wine in the minister's wine store, 30 years ago Yuxian Lou finally died, only this dilapidated building remained, pestle in the most prosperous area of Yongzhou City, recalling the old days.

Chen Laoshi was originally transferred to Yongzhou as a forbidden army, but as the years passed, he also aged day by day, and the forbidden army was selected to become a van army, and finally was sent to guard the dilapidated Yuxian Tower. Qiao Datou is the child of the old brother in Chen Laoshi's forbidden army, the old brother is not satisfied with the water and soil of Lingnan, and when Qiao Datou was five years old, he left the west, and the local Hun family did not know where to go, and was raised by Chen Laoshi. When Qiao Datou became an adult, Chen Laoshi asked someone to supplement him in the Honshu miscellaneous army and be his companion.

Every day, they squatted outside the Yuxian Tower, watching the crowd on the road flow endlessly, watching the sun rise and set day after day in Lingnan, and occasionally recalling the time in the Central Plains when they were young.

Qiao Datou poked Chen Laoshi with his elbow, pouted, and said, "The official is here." ”

Chen Laoshi turned his head and saw a young official on the road walking towards him with two soldiers, followed by Minister Ku Bai, and a public official following suit.

Turning his head, Chen Laoshi said casually: "It's another official change." ”

Xu Ping finally had free time, and took Gao Daquan and Tan Hu to see Yuxian Tower with Bai Gan's office, who was in charge of the minister's library. He wants to subsidize the cost of winemaking, so he naturally has to take stock of the original assets first, and the minister's treasury actually has a restaurant in a prosperous area, which is much beyond his expectations. Such high-quality real estate has not been rented out, and it has been slowly decayed, which also shows how careless the previous governors were about the management of public assets.

When they arrived at the front of the building, the two raggedly dressed van soldiers squatting on the ground just glanced at Xu Ping, and then they were still squatting there to look at the street scene, without any intention of getting up.

Bai Ganban couldn't hold back his face, and rushed forward and shouted to Chen Laoshi: "Chen Laoshi, this is the new general judge in Benzhou, come to inspect the restaurant." If you don't get up to greet you, are you looking for a board to fight?! ”

Qiao Datou shrunk his neck and said to Chen honestly: "Do it, you have to play the board!" ”

"Hit." Chen Laoshi still looked careless.

Xu Ping shook his head impatiently. The ranks of the van army are large and complex, and can be roughly divided into three categories. Supplementing the forbidden army can be conscripted, with each commander of about 500 people as a unit, there are numbers, Yongzhou has Jingjiang and Xinzhao Jingjiang two commands, more than 1,000 people, all have been taken away by Cao Zhizhou to garrison Yongzhou's subordinate Wuzhai. There is also a more regular conscription, which also has a number. The rest is the miscellaneous army, which has no number, although it bears the name of the army, but actually does the work of miscellaneous soldiers.

The forbidden army of the Northern Song Dynasty was basically all northerners, and ninety percent of them were also stationed in the north, and the vast area south of the Yangtze River relied on the box army to maintain order, and its status was higher than that of the box army in the north. But the miscellaneous soldiers never taught them to read, nor did they expect them to fight, they were actually official servants, and their quality can be imagined.

The people are not afraid of death, why are they afraid of death? These two van soldiers are like beggars, they look like they have nothing to love, what's the use of scaring them in vain? Killing also saves money for burning and burying, how can they be afraid.

Looking at the dilapidated Yuxian Tower, Xu Ping asked the squatting Chen Laoshi: "How many years have you been watching here?" Has it always been like this? ”

Chen honestly said: "We have been watching here for more than ten years, how can it always be like this? This building is decaying day by day, and we won't be able to shelter our grandfather from the wind and rain for a few years. ”

Seeing that Chen Laoshi looked like a dead pig was not afraid of boiling water, Xu Ping was speechless. Hearing that he didn't speak like a local, he asked, "Where is your hometown?" Doesn't sound local. ”

Chen honestly said: "We are from Jinzhou, Hedong, Emperor Taizong conquered Jiaozhi, and when we returned to the army, we stayed in Yongzhou for more than 40 years." I'm old, and I don't know how many years I have left to live. ”

Qiao Datou whispered: "I was born locally, and I am considered a local." My dad is from Jinju, and he has been dead for more than 30 years. ”

It turned out to be the veterans left behind when Taizong conquered Jiaozhi, Xu Ping looked at them and had an unspeakable feeling in his heart. Several emperors at the beginning of the Song Dynasty have the meaning of recovering Jiaozhi, counties and counties, Taizong Taiping rejuvenated the country for five years by Jiaozhi civil strife, sent troops to crusade, first won and then defeated, tens of thousands of troops mostly died in Lingnan. These veterans are accustomed to seeing life and death, and they have long been honored and disgraced.

Sighing, Xu Ping said: "It turned out to be a veteran of the forbidden army of the previous dynasty, and he was disrespectful." I'm going to clean up Yuxian Building and reopen it, you guys opened the door and let me go in and have a look. ”

Chen Laoshi stood up, took out the key and opened the door with Qiao Datou, muttering: "What to pack up, wouldn't it be better to build a new building again?" We don't even have a place to stay. ”

As soon as the door was opened, a smell of decay came to my face, as if the door of a thousand-year-old tomb had been opened.

Chen Laoshi and Qiao Datou didn't realize it, and staggered straight forward.

The restaurant was dimly lit, and a few rays of sunlight barely squeezed in through the cracks in the sealed windows, aimlessly spilling into the dusty and moss-covered lobby.

There were a dozen or so tables in the lobby, and the texture was long gone, and the wind that came in from the door swayed as soon as it blew.

Xu Ping sighed: "The tables and stools can't be used." ”

When Qiao Datou heard this, he leaned over to Chen Laoshi and said, "Daddy Chen, the official said that these tables and stools can't be used, they are all cedar wood, it's good to start a fire, we don't need to look for firewood for these two months." ”

He looked like two people whispering, but the voice was so loud that everyone could hear it clearly.

Xu Ping felt a little sad, these two people lived in the city, but they were like people in the mountains, all the bustle and prosperity around them were like grass and trees to them, looking at life and death, watching prosperity and withering, but it had nothing to do with the two of them. They are like this decaying restaurant, quietly waiting for the moment when it will end.

"Let's go upstairs and have a look."

Xu Ping stepped on the stairs first to the people beside him.

Gao Daquan hurriedly stepped forward, walked in front of Xu Ping, and said: "This staircase is badly decayed, officials should be careful, just walk behind me." ”

Upstairs is a small pavilion, just like the layout of a restaurant in Tokyo. Through the dust, cobwebs and moss, Xu Ping seemed to see how many years ago, the brocade-covered officials sat in the pavilion and chatted, the singer next to him sang the lyrics from the big city, the second child sang the name of the dish loudly, and the vendor selling all kinds of snacks shuttled through the pavilion.

Chen Laoshi stood at the top of the stairs, playing with the key in his hand, bored. He was already old, just quietly waiting for his time to come. Everything in the world was blurry in his cloudy old eyes, and he couldn't distinguish them one by one, and he didn't have the heart to distinguish them.

Qiao Datou beside him looked at Xu Ping and the others but was a little curious, he was in his thirties, and he had not yet felt the shadow of death rushing over, and he was willing to open his eyes to see the outside world.

Gao Daquan said beside Xu Ping: "Official, this place looks much bigger than the restaurant in our Baisha Town, but it is so decayed that I don't know how much manpower it will take to clean it up." ”

Xu Ping sighed: "No matter how difficult it is, you have to clean it up, and there is no money in the state to build a new restaurant." Tomorrow, you and Tan Hu will bring the soldiers to clean up, and Bai Ganban will follow, and all the expenses will be paid from me first. ”

Tan Hu said: "Don't the officials still want to make wine?" I see that a lot of sorghum has been harvested, and the soldiers are here, who will help the officials? ”

"What's the solution? Just a few of you, if you do this, you lose that, so you have to pick up the important ones first, and slowly figure out a way. ”

Tan Hu looked at Chen Laoshi and Qiao Datou who were standing at the staircase, and whispered: "Actually, there are a lot of miscellaneous soldiers like the two of them in the state, and the officials can be recruited to do something." Anyway, they are idle, they are idle, they don't have enough food and clothing every month, and they are rewarded with two yuan, and they are still grateful to the officials. ”

Xu Ping couldn't help but be moved when he heard this, it was much more reliable to use his subordinate army than to hire people, and he was only willing to pay wages to work, and it was easier to manage.

"You have a point, I'll check it out when I go back, and I'll dial it to you tomorrow."

After Xu Ping finished speaking, he said to Bai Ganban beside him: "By the way, Bai Ganban will come tomorrow, this is a restaurant belonging to the minister's treasury, and you can also bring a few people to clean up." Also, Bai Ganban, how much is the monthly rent money after the requisition of the military treasury of this restaurant? ”

Bai Ganban has been carefully looking at Xu Ping's face, for fear that he will blame himself for not taking good care of himself and letting the official property be ruined like this.

Hearing that Xu Ping didn't blame himself, and talked about the rental money, Bai Ganban put it down, and hurriedly said: "The two libraries are now under the same judgment, how dare the little one interject?" ”

Xu Ping smiled: "Cao Zhizhou should come back in a few days, I will set the rental money, maybe he will be too much or too little, you can say a price according to the market price, and there will be something to say at that time." ”

Bai Ganban looked at Xu Ping's face carefully, and said in a low voice: "How do you feel about the monthly consistent Qian Tong judgment?" ”

"Oh, it's not expensive, then I'll pay two dollars a month."

With such a large restaurant, this price is not too expensive. Besides, the minister's treasury is used by him and Zhizhou, so he can't lose himself. If it weren't for Cao Zhizhou's disagreement, Xu Ping would definitely set the rent at twenty yuan, and the money in the minister's treasury would be much more convenient to spend.

In states where alcohol is prohibited, the wine in the minister's liquor store is not allowed to be sold, and can only be sold as vinegar from the sake lees left over from brewing, which is called vinegar interest money, which is an important source of revenue for the minister's treasury in many states. Yongzhou does not prohibit alcohol, and the minister can open his own restaurant, as long as he pays taxes like other restaurants. The court of the Great Song Dynasty paid close attention to money, and no matter how the local government tossed, it was impossible to miss the central government's taxes.

Xu Ping finally decided that he would put the profits from brewing into the military treasury in the future, first, he would enter the minister's treasury as a small treasury and the funds would be easily criticized, and he would not want to be cheap Cao Zhizhou. Zhizhou has the greatest decision power over the minister's money, and Xu Ping can only supervise how the money he earns can be used willingly. As long as there is an industry, no matter how strict the review is, it will not let Xu Ping, who is in charge, lose money to spend, or his own political achievements, why not.