Yongzhou in May is both summer and rainy season, and the weather is hot and humid, which is the most difficult season.

Xu Ping has moved to Taipingzhai to preside over the sugar business here. The beginning of a new organization was full of complicated things, the recruitment of personnel, the arrangement of officials at all levels, and the reclamation of new fields.

That morning, Xu Ping sat in the chief's hall of the sugar cane business, looking at the letter in his hand for a while.

The letter was written by Wang Su, saying that one of his nephews had won the undergraduate jinshi, and pointed out that he had shot the messenger who was also lifting the Yongzhou sugar business, and asked Xu Ping to take care of it.

The tone of the letter was very plain, and the words were very simple, no different from ordinary correspondence in the same year, but Xu Ping always felt that there was something unspoken in it.

The Wang family is a newly rising family in the Northern Song Dynasty, especially Wang Dan has been in power for many years, with deep roots and leafy leaves, not to mention that many of the ministers are now promoted from him, that is, the queen mother and the emperor also see that the people of the Wang family are different from others, and there are some secular emotions of family friendship in it.

Such a big family would let their relatives come to Yongzhou, a ghost place?

What's more, Han Zong, who came, was not from an ordinary background, his father Han Yi married Wang Su's sister, Xianping five years Jinshi, and is now sentenced to Dali Temple as a privy direct bachelor. With such a background, what are you doing in Yongzhou?

Seriously, it is a good errand to raise Yongzhou sugar business, but this place in Yongzhou is too bad, I think that when Xu Ping came, his mother Zhang Sanniang cried to death, and he risked his life when he came here.

According to the usual practice, the supervision of more than 30,000 yuan per year will not be promoted by the local officials, and the imperial court should send Beijing officials to preside over it. The scale of Yongzhou's sugar business far exceeds this number, all because Xu Ping developed it single-handedly, and he was sentenced to a part-time job by Yongzhou for his face. When he leaves office, the imperial court will inevitably send new officials to take up his post and disassociate himself from the Yongzhou region. At that time, as a deputy position, Tongju was very likely to be corrected, and with the scale of Yongzhou Sugar Affairs, it was possible to be promoted at a higher level, which was a good springboard for his career.

But Han Zong is different from the usual Hanmen Jinshi, he has already obtained the official through the shadow, and he has been promoted to Dali Judge before the Zhongjinshi, and he can directly be the general judge of Dazhou if he has a Jinshi background. His qualifications, his background, he doesn't need to come here to gild at all, what is the picture of coming here?

What are they trying to do? Xu Ping was very worried, if he hadn't been frightened by the Inquisitor's Court back then, he wouldn't have come to this ghost place after being killed, why were these children of the big clan so enthusiastic?

is not only a Han Zong, but also Zhizhou Cao Keming has also confirmed that he will leave office in a few months. Because of the trouble in Meishan in Jingnan, he was transferred to Rentanzhou Zhizhou. Tanzhou is the Changsha of later generations, but at this time there is no prosperity of later generations, and the surrounding area is full of Miao Man, which is not much better than the situation in Yongzhou.

He succeeded Cao Keming as Feng Shenji, the current governor of Yizhou, and took the titles of Yong, Qin, and Lian Prefecture Inspectors. Feng Shenji's father was the late Prime Minister Feng Zheng, another son of a big family.

Although there are also a little contradictions with Cao Keming, on the whole, Xu Ping is quite happy to cooperate with him. However, he has been the governor of Yongzhou for more than ten years, and it is purely normal for him to be transferred. can take away a Cao Keming who is not from a high background, and the partners and deputies in exchange for them are all from wealthy families, which makes Xu Ping, who has no roots and no bottom, very disappointed.

Being an official in Lingnan, it is not easy to get out after one term, Xu Ping hung up a part-time job for the promotion of sugar cane, and he had to do at least one term, but he encountered this situation again.

Xu Ping was very annoyed.

Tan Hu reported outside: "General judgment, Li Anren and his entourage have arrived and are waiting in the front hall!" ”

Xu Ping came back to his senses and replied casually: "Oh, let them wait a while, I'll be there soon." ”

At this time, Xu Ping's treatment had surpassed that of Zhizhou, and the number of soldiers with him had increased to nearly 100, and Tan Hu had also risen to the top, and he was promoted to the rank of knight, and he was awarded the third class of the official to borrow, and he officially had an official body. has been promoted, and there are many affairs, and almost all of Xu Ping's miscellaneous affairs are in charge of Tan Hu, but they are not as good as Gao Daquan and Sun Qilang, who are unofficial.

Putting away the letter in his hand, Xu Ping sighed. Officialdom is like a net, and I am gradually glued to this net unconsciously. Officialdom is another big quagmire, and the longer you stay, the deeper you sink.

He didn't like this kind of day very much, and he didn't know how to get rid of it.

In the front living room, Li Anren's eyes lit up as soon as he saw Xu Ping coming out from behind, and he hurriedly got up and saluted: "The student has seen the general judgment, congratulations to the general judgment for rising step by step." ”

Xu Ping's official has been promoted to the palace and entered the court official sequence. In the same Jinshi, in addition to the champion Wang Yaochen, Xu Ping and Wen Yanbo, who changed to Yuci County, followed closely behind, crossed Han Qi, who had just been promoted to the crown prince, and entered the first echelon. In the same year of the fifth year of Tiansheng, the first three people had faintly become leaders, but Xu Ping was secluded in Tiannan, and he did not have much contact with the same year, and his influence was far worse than that of Wang Yaochen and Wen Yanbo.

Xu Ping sat down and saw that there were three other people standing with Li Anren, a barbarian boy Li Xin had seen it, and the other two were not very old, but it was the first time they met.

Li Anren hurriedly introduced: "This Li Xin, I have seen it in Yongzhou. This one is Li Dao Li Yanei, the eldest son of the governor of Bozhou, and it is the first time to go out of Bozhou. ”

The two saluted Xu Ping together.

Li Xin suffered a little last time, and he was still a little timid when he looked at Xu Ping, but Li Dao was much more calm.

Li Anren pointed to another person: "This one is Huang Kaiyanei, the eldest son of the governor of Tianzhou." ”

Tian Kai saluted the same, and his expression was even more arrogant.

Xu Ping nodded: "Let's all sit together." ”

The four of them confessed and sat down.

Xu Ping said: "I came to you this time to discuss something, because I was doing business, so I called Li Anren to come over." You are all the most trustworthy people in the state governor, you want to be able to call the shots, right? ”

Huang Kai and Li Dao nodded together: "Of course you can!" ”

"Let's put it bluntly, I have a new sugar business here, and I need a lot of horses, Tianzhou and Bozhou are both big states, and they are on the main road, so I want to entrust the matter to you. How is it? ”

Huang Kai said: "Some little things, how dare you call us here to give us orders in person!" Most of the roads from Tianzhou to Yongzhou have been opened, as long as Shangguan commands, how many horses can be sold from Dali! ”

Tianzhou is a large state, and it is in the frontier, next to the special mill road, and Dali is the most convenient. In previous years, from Dali to sell horses, has been all the way to Tianzhou, along the right river down to Yongzhou, the other way to Guangyuan Zhou, after Bozhou and then sold to various places. Now Guangyuan Prefecture is occupied by Nong Cunfu, and the roads are impassable, and most of them have to rely on Tianzhou.

Xu Ping nodded to the head: "That's good." ”

Huang Kai asked in a low voice: "I don't know how many horses Shangguan needs here every year?" ”

"The more the merrier, but no less than fifteen hundred."

Hearing Xu Ping say this number indifferently, Huang Kai opened his mouth wide, stunned for a moment, and said after a while: "This-this amount is a bit large, it will cost tens of thousands of yuan a year, where is there so much capital in Tianzhou?" ”

Xu Ping looked at Li Dao, who had been cold on the side: "Isn't there still Bozhou?" ”

Li Dao was first overjoyed, and then his expression darkened: "Bozhou is not as rich as Tianzhou's, and there is Guangyuan Prefecture blocking the road, but this business is a little difficult to do." ”

"The cost is good, I can use white sugar to pay you some in advance, but I don't know if you can do this business. One or two thousand horses, whether it is too much or too little, depends on whether you need to pay attention to it or not. ”

Xu Ping's expression has not changed much, and Li Dao and Huang Kai are not sure what he thinks in his heart, especially worried that Xu Ping will find another way after this business is yellow.

The two glanced at each other, gritted their teeth together and nodded: "Shangguan promised to pay the capital in advance, and we can barely do this business." Besides, Shangguan opened Chrysostom, and we can't refuse no matter how many difficulties we have, 1,500 horses are 1,500 horses, and we must always drive the horses to Yongzhou for Shangguan. ”

Xu Ping nodded, didn't say anything, just looked at the two.

One is that the sugar business really needs to be used, and the other is because Guangyuan Prefecture has been really aggressive in the past two years, so I have to find a way to restrict it. There is always a limit to the number of horses that Dali can sell, and Xu Ping's purchase here will be reduced in other places, especially in Guangyuan Prefecture. Even if Dali's horses can be supplied, the price will go up, how much sand gold can be fished from the river in Guangyuan Prefecture, and where can it be compared with the sugar wealth that is growing every year.

Cao Keming was about to be transferred, Feng Shenji was not familiar with it, and Xu Ping had to temporarily take care of Youjiang together. Now that his official position is on an equal footing with Zhizhou, coupled with the promotion of cane sugar, he has actually surpassed Zhizhou in his position, and it is not considered an arbitrary power.

In the Renzong Dynasty, there are still many general judgments that are higher than those of Zhizhou, and some of them are even appointed to Zhizhou, and the division of responsibilities is not clear, and it depends on how the two get along.

Li Dao and Huang Kai were seen by Xu Ping as empty, Li Xin was at a loss on the side, the atmosphere sank down, and Li Anren felt a little embarrassed.

Suddenly, Xu Ping said to the two: "You said it well, as an official of the imperial court, you have to solve problems in the imperial court." Rest assured, for those who have a heart for the court, the court will not treat you badly. Nowadays, the price of Yongzhou City, a Dali horse is about 20 to 30 yuan, and this year it is set at 1,500 horses, 500 horses every two months. I'll pay you half of the capital first, and you decide whether you want sugar or salt or satin. There are two algorithms for the price of the horse, one is fixed now, and the unified twenty-five horses of the horse are combined, and I will pay according to this price regardless of the market price. There is also a kind of accompanying the market, and the horse arrives at the market price, what do you think? ”

The two said together: "Everything is according to Shangguan's orders!" ”

Xu Ping nodded: "How to calculate the price, have you thought about it?" Can you do it the Lord? ”

Li Dao and Huang Kai glanced at each other, both hesitating.

Xu Ping smiled: "It doesn't matter if you can't decide now, you can think about it and tell me again." However, once it is decided, don't repeat it, you need to know that the court has rules for doing things, and the most taboo mother-in-law and mother-in-law are the most! ”

"Shangguan Grace, we understand!"

The most advantageous thing for the two states is to fix the price, otherwise Xu Ping can manipulate the market price with the horses in his hand, and the market price will naturally decline if there are more horses sold. However, in Xu Ping's mind, most of the Huang family and the Li family will still choose to go with the market, without him, for fear that they will suffer losses. These people take advantage of Xi Guan, but the big account can't be calculated, Xu Ping let him choose by himself, and he is not a cheat on them.

The general direction is decided, and the rest of the small things will naturally be discussed by the following officials, and Xu Ping has not had so much spare time to say anything to them. After explaining, I will peel off this layer.

After taking a sip of tea, Xu Ping said to the two of them again: "Although horse selling is a business, there are still a lot of places where the imperial court borrows you, let's say, what do you want the imperial court to reward you?" ”

As soon as the words came out, Li Dao and Huang Kai's eyes lit up, but Xu Ping only didn't see it.

However, the two of them were just excited, but you look at me, I look at you, and they don't speak.

At this time, Li Anren was used, he stood up and saluted Xu Parallel: "General judgment, before I came here, the governors of the two states mentioned to the students that they would do things for the imperial court, and it was inevitable that they would go through the state and county, and now they are a little embarrassed, but I am afraid that other Tuzhou and Tuzhou counties will make trouble for them." ”

Xu Ping remained silent: "Then what do they want?" ”

"The meaning of the two states is to know the state, and I hope that the imperial court will give them the right time to assassinate the history, so as to control the surrounding areas and pacify the localities. Moreover, Guangyuan Prefecture has been powerful recently, and with the title of assassin, it can also compete with the Nong family. ”

Xu Ping looked at a few people and said with a smile: "Do you know what the assassination history of this dynasty means?" Do you know what the state is like in the history of assassination? ”

Huang Kai hurriedly said: "During the Tang Dynasty, our Huang family was the history of Tianzhou Thorns!" ”

"You let this dynasty be the official of your previous dynasty?" Xu Ping looked at Huang Kai and almost laughed.

Huang Kai was looked at by Xu Ping very unnaturally, and he still said to himself: "This dynasty also has a history of thorns, don't bully me as a barbarian, you don't understand the official system of this dynasty!" ”

Xu Ping nodded: "Yes, there is indeed a history of assassination in this dynasty, but whenever there is a history of assassination in office, all government affairs will be dealt with by a general judgment." Are you willing to send a general sentence to your two states? ”

The chief officials of the county have the county order and the magistrate, and the chief of the state is also divided into the assassin and the governor, but unlike the county, the state in which the assassin is in office must have a general judgment, and the power and responsibility are amplified, and the assassin is monitored and forcefully contained. Speaking of which, the history of the assassin is the official of the feudal town of the late Tang Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty does not allow the existence of the feudal town, and no matter how favored the history of the assassin is, he is not allowed to hold the power of one party alone. This is to prevent secession, and the other is that the imperial court does not believe in the ability of military ministers to govern civil affairs after all. At this time, there are still many states that do not have general judgments, but the states where the assassin Shi is in office and the states where the military minister is appointed as the governor, except in very special circumstances, will set up a general judgment to manage civil affairs. Of course, it is not a general judgment of the National Committee of Political Affairs, this is just Xu Ping scaring the two of them, stabbing the history of Gao Juexian, and most of them are relatives of the emperor, and the general judgment can only be contained.

Huang Kai and Li Dao listened to Xu Ping's words, looked at each other, and were both indignant, but they didn't dare to reply.

The two states should be the first to justify their own authority, and the other is to follow the example of the previous dynasties to control the surrounding Tuzhou and Tuxian counties and expand their own power. This is the most taboo in the Song Dynasty, if you want to do it, you have to be able to fight enough, the court can't help you, not to mention the history of assassination, you can also do it. For example, in the past, such as the previous party items, they were all actual temperance envoys and semi-independent positions. No matter how capable he is, a real king can do it, such as the current Cochin.

All in all, you have to be able to be practically independent. These two states are also matched?

Xu Ping shook his head: "You are self-aware, you do things for the court, and the court has never treated you badly." Remember, don't mention the marginal conditions, or you'll suffer! ”

Li Dao and Huang Kai did not speak.

Xu Ping sneered: "Then I'm here, honestly manage the place for the imperial court, don't dream of separating one side." Otherwise, if the knife hits your head, don't blame me for being unpredictable and punishing without teaching! ”

Seeing that the atmosphere was embarrassing, Li Anren hurriedly said: "The general judgment is serious, and the two states don't understand the imperial court system, so they just mention it casually." Now that I understand, I don't have those thoughts anymore. ”

Xu Ping looked at Li Anren and said: "They don't understand, you have passed the liberation test, you should understand, and you will have time to teach them more in the future." Well, what should be said has already been said, I have prepared a wine feast here, everyone sit down and drink two glasses, and don't keep in mind the things that are not happy! ”