On the 25th day of November in the ninth year of Tiansheng, Xu Ping, who raised the affairs of Xitong in Zuojiang Province, will recruit the local officials of the prefectures, counties and mountains under his jurisdiction in Qianlongtong, except for the special order of the local officials in Bozhou and its vicinity, other local officials must arrive on time. Those who do not participate without reason will be removed from their official positions, their official seals will be recovered, and the state will be abolished.

As the day approached, Qianlongtong, which had always been deserted, suddenly became lively.

Since Huang Zongxiang, the governor of Shangsi Prefecture, was beheaded for his recklessness, which local official dared not take his life seriously? Even Huang Anming, who also tore Xu Ping's warrant at the beginning, although he didn't come, sent his eldest son to hurry to Qianlongtong, and at the same time brought enough grain and grass required by Xu Ping's warrant.

On November 24, there were so many people that they couldn't live in Longtong, and even all the thatched huts outside the village were rented. The local natives have joined relatives and friends and moved out of the village, they have worked hard for a year, and the money they earn is not as much as the rent of the house in the past two days.

With the flow of people, merchants also rushed over, and set up temporary shops on the side of the street, selling wine and vegetables, selling tea, and even a temporary tile was set up outside the village, and the whole village was very lively.

In the alleys and alleys off the street, there are people who have opened taverns, and the same people come and go, and the seats are full.

In a tavern in the depths of the alley, Wei Zhizhou of Jiangzhou stared at Huang Zhixian of Luobai County, and asked in a deep voice: "You tell me the truth, is Huang Conggui's house dead?" ”

Huang Zhixian hesitated: "Of course he is dead, he is alone when he says that he is breaking the sky, where to escape?" ”

"Huang Zhixian, we have known each other for many years, and our friendship is not shallow, don't cheat me! At this time, if Huang Conggui is allowed to escape, my whole family will have to take their lives into it! Huang Zongxiang was just the person who killed Qianlongtong to deliver the letter, and he was not the one who raised the division, so he was beheaded, and Shangsizhou now can't say that it is difficult to remove it! Hundreds of years of inheritance were buried overnight! What we do is even more taboo than this little thing committed by Huang Zongxiang, once it is revealed, no one can escape! ”

Huang Zhixian said: "You just say what to do!" It was discussed at my house at the time, and if something really happened, could I have escaped? Don't be suspicious! ”

Wei Zhizhou sighed: "Don't blame me for being verbose, isn't this worrying?" Alas, who would have thought that this situation would be reached now? When Xu Tongju first arrived in Yongzhou, we thought it was Cao Zhizhou's idea at that time, but now that we think about it, I'm afraid we were wrong at the beginning. Although Cao Zhizhou has a strong temperament, he still takes care of us local officials, where will he shout and kill at every turn? ”

Huang Zhixian said with a calm face: "When will we barbarian local officials be regarded as officials in the eyes of the imperial court?" When you see an official, you have to worship, and you don't even have a seat in front of the county order, what is the difference between it and ordinary people? In the past, there was a place to use us for good talk, but now we don't need it, of course, it doesn't please look anywhere! ”

The so-called wine is sorrowful, in this tavern, the more the two talk, the more sad they become.

Just after noon, Xu Ping sat under the tree in the courtyard to relax, while looking at a few pieces of paper in his hand, and asked Tan Hu next to him: "These are the people who arrived?" Are there still a lot of people who haven't come? ”

"Those who should have arrived have arrived, and most of those who didn't come are located on the border of Jiaozhi, or close to Guangyuan Prefecture, and they have long been out of the rule of the Great Song Dynasty. These people are just looking to the imperial court, and they don't dare to come here to show their faces. ”

Xu Ping listened and sighed: "That's the truth, but if you lack people, you always have to be gossiped about by others." Since it is located on the border, why don't they recognize the Great Song Dynasty and go to those small vassal states? ”

Tan Hu said: "It's not easy to talk about this kind of thing, in general, it's nothing more than a remote location, the road is impassable, and you can't manage them if you want to." Moreover, in my opinion of the Great Song Dynasty, these places are just a village and a township, and they are all poor mountains and remote areas, which are not taken into account, but they are worth winning over for Jiaozhi and Guangyuan Prefecture, and this is not the case after a long time. In a small place on the border, you don't have to take the general judgment to heart. ”

Xu Ping knew that what Tan Hu said made sense, but he always felt uncomfortable in his heart. Most of the small states and counties on the border are subordinate to Jiaozhi and the Great Song Dynasty at the same time, and it is their philosophy of survival to follow the wind, and the fools who have not even learned this have long been eliminated by history. understands that Xu Ping sat on this son by himself, and he felt uncomfortable that he couldn't recruit all the people, as if there was always something missing.

At this moment, the guard's personal soldiers came in and told Xu Ping: "Tongju, there are two officials and businessmen outside, saying that there is something important to discuss with you face-to-face." ”

"Oh." Xu Ping looked at Tan Hu, "You go out to see who it is, if there is nothing to suspect, let them come in and see me." ”

"Obey!" Tan Hu promised and went out with his own soldiers.

After a cup of tea, Tan Hu led in two barbarians dressed as merchants, who seemed to be master and servant.

The owner was younger, about twenty years old, with strong bones and a strong look. With a white beard, the servant is already old, his body is still strong, his face is full of wrinkles, and his eyes are full of wisdom to see through the vicissitudes of the world.

Tan Hu was the first to introduce: "This is the official who raised the matter of Zuojiang Daoxitong, come up and pay a visit." ”

The two stepped forward, bowed and saluted, and the young man said: "The youngest is Wei Zhaoji, the eldest son of the governor of Sumao Prefecture, and his father has important things to do, so he specially ordered the younger one to come to meet the promotion official." ”

"Su Maozhou, Wei family-" Xu Ping clapped his palms with the paper in his hand, looked at the young man meaningfully, and after a while, said to Tan Hu: "Take the chair and give Xiao Yanei a seat!" ”

Wei Zhaoji hurriedly said: "What kind of person is the little one! Where is my seat in front of Shangguan! ”

Xu Ping waved his hand: "You're welcome, let you sit down!" ”

Tan Hu took the chair over, Wei Zhaoji said that he was offended, and then sat on it, and the old servant he brought stood behind him.

"I don't know what Wei Zhizhou has to do? Is it inconvenient to talk about it? ”

When Wei Zhaoji heard this, he hurriedly stood up again and said: "Don't dare to hide it from the official, recently an envoy from Jiatong has arrived in our state, and my father has no choice but to deal with him, otherwise he will definitely come to Qianlong in person." ”

Seeing Xu Ping nodding, Wei Zhiji took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Xu Ping: "This is a letter from my father, and I sent it to my child." ”

Xu Ping took the letter and took it out to read it, folded it and put it aside. The letter said that he was interested in the court, but he couldn't come to pay homage to Xu Ping for various reasons, and he was deeply sorry.

Sumao Prefecture is different from other Tuzhou, although it also proclaims itself a vassal to the Great Song Dynasty, it has never been under the jurisdiction of the Song court, and it is good to be able to write a letter to express its meaning. It is located in the depths of the mountains, bounded by the Beilun River in the north, by the sea in the east, by Luzhou in the west, and by Jiaozhi in the south. This kind of place is not worth fighting, even if you want to attach it, you can only be restrained, and the cost of governance is too high.

But don't think that the Wei family is admiring Wanghua, to put it bluntly, it's still speculation. The Great Song Dynasty sealed the governor of Sumao Prefecture there, and gave it an official seal, but that's all. Only the barbarian chief under the official seal of one party can serve the Wei family? Obviously, it's not that simple. Jiaozhi divided it into two states, and even there were many small local officials in its subordinate areas, and the so-called Sumao Prefecture Zhizhou could only manage a small part of the territory.

It is precisely because of this that the geographical conditions restrict the Wei family to bow their heads to Jiaozhi and Jiatong, but they never want to lose the thigh of the Song Dynasty, and both sides rely on the direction of the wind. There are many people in Sumao Prefecture who don't deal with the Wei family, and they make trouble at the border for three days, and the Song Dynasty is also so annoyed that they want to rely on the Wei family to restrain them.

In Sumaozhou, the imperial court and the Wei family borrowed from each other, so Xu Ping also looked at Wei Zhaoji differently.

After chatting a few words, Wei Zhaoji said that there were still important matters, and it would be inconvenient to meet with the local officials tomorrow.

Xu Ping just smiled and let him go. It's just that I'm afraid of showing my face in front of everyone, and it's not easy to explain on the other side. This kind of place, which is regarded as the corner of the wall of the Great Song Dynasty, cannot be the same as the real subordinate Tuzhou.

Before Wei Zhaoji left, he asked the old slave who followed him to take out fifty taels of gold, which was regarded as a gift for his visit this time. After all, Xu Ping made it clear that the local officials wanted to bring grain and grass over, so they always had to be interesting.

Bidding farewell to Xu Ping, Wei Zhaoji breathed a sigh of relief. Before he was summoned, he had been worried, Xu Ping had just broken through Sizhou, and he couldn't say what he thought of Su Maozhou, but fortunately, the result was very happy.

Stepping out of the door, he just happened to take a look at the two people who came over, and Wei Zhaoji chuckled in his heart.

The person who came was Huang Guanshou in Menzhou Xiaoyanei, and the two had met before and knew each other. It's really embarrassing to meet at such a time.

The two glanced at each other, and finally they both smiled reluctantly, without saying a word, and went their separate ways.

When they met outside Xu Ping's residence, everyone knew what the other party was here for, what else was there to say?

As soon as Wei Zhaoji was sent away, and another Menzhou Xiaoyanei came, Xu Ping couldn't help but smile dumbly. It seems that these people all have one mind, that is, they don't know who else will come.

The situation in Menzhou is similar to that of Sumaozhou, but the geographical location is much more important, and it is the first gateway to the land passage from the Great Song Dynasty to Jiaozhi.

Xu Ping did not know that the name of this place in later generations was Dong Deng, and that there was a relatively important battle between China and Vietnam in his world. But Xu Ping had a map in his hand and clearly knew the importance of this place. Pingxiangtong, Menzhou, Langzhou connected into a line, all the way down knocked on the north gate of Jiaozhi, if the Great Song Dynasty gained a foothold in these places, it held the initiative on Jiaozhi, if you want to attack, if you want to defend, you don't have to have any concerns about Jiaozhi. The current reality is that Pingxiangtong is controlled by the Great Song Dynasty of Yongpingzhai, and Jiaozhi controls Langzhou through Jiatong, and Menzhou is located in the middle.

Menzhou also sent people, and Xu Ping was overjoyed.

The mountains and rivers in this area are crisscrossed, and the transportation is inconvenient, which may not have been of great significance in the past, but now Xu Ping can build the road there, which is completely different.