The more you go upstream of the river, the more mountains there are, and even the wind becomes smaller. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Wang Yan sat on the chariot, wiping his sweat incessantly, and his mood became more and more irritable. At this time, you should be in the gazebo in the small garden, drinking cold water, avoiding the scorching sun, and drilling into the mountains, what is this!

Finally seeing the faint appearance of people in front of him, Wang Yan said to the man carrying the chariot: "What kind of village is there in front?" Once we got there, we had a good rest, escaped the midday heat, and hurried on our way. ”

"Huiguanren, it's not a village, it's a local mountain temple. People in the mountains rely on the sky to eat, the gods are the most effective, the temple incense is passable, there is a Taoist priest with a few apprentices there to preside. ”

Wang Yan said: "Whether it is a temple or not, as long as there is a place to hide from the sun, we will rest first." ”

The people around them agreed and quickened their pace together. The local elders went first and went to the temple to prepare to meet Wang Yan.

It won't be long before you arrive in front of the temple. The temple is not large, with only five main houses with a courtyard. I don't know what kind of mountain god is enshrined in the main hall, and he is dressed as a military general, which is quite ancient.

When he arrived in the courtyard, Wang Yan stepped down, and a temple had already come out with an apprentice to greet him.

After taking a look at the main hall, Wang Yan asked, "Which general is this enshrined?" ”

Miao Zhu hurriedly replied: "Back to the official, this is Cao Yao, the general under the account of Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu at the end of Qin, who killed himself because he lost the battle against the King of Han by crossing the water. Later generations set up as a mountain god, quite effective. ”

Wang Yan secretly cursed in his heart, nodded, did not come forward to worship, did not speak, turned his head and went back to the courtyard.

This Cao blame couldn't stand the agitation of the king of Han, forced to cross the river and fight, and was attacked by the Han king Liu Bang half-crossing, not only defeated himself and died, but also lost the important land Chenggao. He was not a good general, and his death was disgraceful, so he had to be a mountain god in such a small place and enjoy some incense from the mountain people.

Wang Yan was extremely reluctant to come out this time, and he was such an unlucky little god, how could he be in the mood to greet him.

A large cypress tree in the yard that has lived for an unknown number of years has blocked almost all the sunlight for this small yard. There are stone tables and stone benches under the tree, which are the places where the people in the temple rest every day, and at this time it has become the resting place of Wang Yan.

Miao Zhu carefully served tea, Wang Yan took a sip, felt that it was inferior, and pushed it aside.

Wang Yan's two entourage, Zhang Li and Zhou Buyi, stood behind him like two logs, squinting slightly, and didn't know if he was asleep.

After waiting for a while and seeing no movement, Wang Yan couldn't help it and coughed heavily.

As an entourage, at this time, he didn't hurry to ask for warmth, the official sat down, and the tea was not satisfactory, so he quickly went to find a way. Seeing that it is already noon, you must be hungry along the way, and you still don't arrange wine and dinner?

Zhang Li and Zhou Buyi obviously didn't have this awareness, and the old god was standing there on the ground, only caring about his own rest.

This kind of thing is like this, if you treat your subordinates well, they will naturally reciprocate, and if you serve you comfortably, if you treat them badly, their eyes will be bad, and you will not do anything if you don't tell them. What's more, Zhang Li and Zhou Buyi are subordinate to the three divisions, and they all want to change messengers after they go back, Wang Yan can get by here as long as they can get by, and they don't expect Wang Yan to give them a future.

Cui Zaiping, the chief bookkeeper, couldn't look past it, and stepped forward to Wang Yan and said, "Deputy envoy, it's almost noon, do you want to have some wine and dinner here?" It's been a really tiring journey. ”

Wang Yan waited for this sentence to be honestly anxious, and when he saw that someone finally asked, he pretended to nod his head: "It's okay, I'm nothing, you must be tired and hungry, eat something in your stomach and have the strength to hurry in the afternoon." ”

Cui Zaiping promised to instruct the local elders and archers to go to the nearby village to get some wine and food.

Zhang Erlang, the elder of the elderly, looked left and right, and whispered to Cui Zaiping: "Official, I have the wine, and I am afraid that the food will be a little difficult." There is only a small village of less than 10 households on the left side of here, what can we eat? It's good to get some brown rice in the pot, and you can also pull a few greens from the ground, and there is really no way to eat meat. ”

Cui Zaiping said anxiously when he heard this: "What kind of person is Deputy Envoy Wang?" Bringing these things to the table doesn't make it clear that we look down on him? One is not good, the table is lifted, how do we go back and explain to the county? ”

Zhang Erlang said: "It's really not good, I'll take a few more people out, and two pheasants will be hunted on the mountain to drink, so I'll go over." There are many wild things in this mountain, and chickens and rabbits are not difficult to catch. ”

Cui Zaiping was a little embarrassed, the meat on the pheasant was small, the meat was too rough, and there seemed to be no one who could cook in the temple, but I was afraid that Wang Yan would not be easy to explain there. This is not like the time when wild animals were exterminated in later generations, when pheasants were a much more noble dish than domestic chickens.

In this era, in the core area between the two capitals, pheasants and hares can be seen everywhere, and they are still easy to eat. But the fleshy wild ones can't be compared with the domesticated ones, which are coarse and less fragrant, except for some particularly rare species, ordinary pheasants and hares can't be on the table. Human domestic livestock and poultry are always artificially selected in the direction of delicate meat, which is just the opposite of natural selection, how can wild ones be compared?

Seeing that Cui Zaiping was embarrassed, Zhang Erlang said again: "If you want to make the wine and food look like something, you have to run farther." There is a relatively large village five or six miles away, and there is a large family in the village, and the family is rich, and his family must have good wine and food. ”

Cui Zaiping listened, his eyes lit up and said, "Then what are you waiting for?" Five or six miles is not far away, you take a few people on fast horses, and you are back in the blink of an eye! ”

Zhang Erlang sighed: "The official is right, but there is a difficulty. ”

"Tell me, with me here, nothing can be done!"

Zhang Erlang said: "That big family has a son who works as an errand in the county, so he can't die, and he is among us who are coming." It's all acquaintances who don't look up and don't look down, how can I take someone to his house to harass me? ”

"Which one is on an errand in the county?"

"Yaqian Chen Du, he went to serve in the county last year."

When Cui Zaiping heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief: "Why didn't you say it earlier!" With such a person here, what are we bothering about? This meal landed on this yaqian! ”

Yaqian is an errand who deals with chores in the yamen, and has always been a first- and second-class household in the village. The Song people often said that heavy service was no more than the front of the Li Zheng Ya, which meant that this was an errand for the upper class households in the countryside. The weight of Lizheng's heavy service is manifested in the fact that he is the guarantor of the taxation of the households under his rule, and the heavy duty of the Yaqian is manifested in the fact that he has to deal with all kinds of official errands, and he has to break his own wealth at every turn. With such a person here, the cost along the way is naturally out of his family, and Cui Zaiping still cares about it.

The sun rises from the east with countless golden rays. The sky was still filled with mist, and the sunlight shone on it with strange colors. The air is filled with the fresh scent of plants and trees, which makes people feel refreshed.

Xu Ping rode on his horse and slowly walked forward in the fog, enjoying the good time of this early morning.

Suddenly, there was a rush and the sound of horses' hooves, breaking the silence of the early morning.

Xu Ping turned his head suddenly, reined in the reins of his horse, and looked at the figure running towards him quickly in the thick fog.

Almost in a moment, the galloping horse arrived in front of him, and Chen Youzhong, who was on the horse, turned over and dismounted, and bowed his hand to Xu Ping: "To be controlled, the county is in a hurry!" The magistrate has arrived not far ahead, and he wants to see him immediately! ”

Xu Ping saw that Chen Youzhong's face was red, and hurriedly said, "You take a breath, I'll let someone go and talk back." ”

After speaking, he said to Lu Fang beside him: "You go to the front and bring Zhang Zhixian over, and I will wait here." ”

Lu Fang promised, lifted the reins of the horse, and galloped forward.

Xu Ping couldn't think of anything big in Bishui County at this time, and he also made Zhang Dayou come to him in a hurry. If it's a county affair, you shouldn't be able to find your own match, is it someone from Beijing?

I couldn't figure it out when I thought about it, so I simply didn't want to do it, and waited there quietly.

After a short time, Zhang Dayou and Lu Fang rode together.

When he arrived in front of Xu Ping's horse, Zhang Dayou turned over and dismounted, and said, "The lower officials took the liberty to come and disturb, don't be surprised!" ”

Xu Ping hurriedly got off the horse, supported Zhang Dayou and said, "Why be polite if you lose it?" I wonder what is so anxious? ”

Zhang Dayou sighed: "Back to the pending system, Deputy Envoy Wang caused trouble in the county, and the lower officials didn't know what to do, so they came to ask for an idea from the pending system." ”

Xu Ping was stunned: "Deputy Envoy Wang? Didn't he go up along the Bishui River to investigate? ”

"Yes, yesterday Deputy Envoy Wang went out of the county seat with the waiting system, and then led people to the upper reaches of the Bishui River. But I don't want to cause a big incident on the way because of eating at the place at noon, which really makes me embarrassed. ”

The more Xu Ping listened, the more curious he became: "It's just a meal on the road, what can you cause?" Could it be that it is still possible to forcibly take food from the common people without paying for it? What else could be a big deal? ”

Zhang Dayou smiled bitterly and shook his head: "What is said to be made, although it is not in the middle or far away, it is for the two chickens of the people." ”

"What? Just for two chickens! This Wang Yan is too unproductive! However, just for the sake of two chickens, no one will sue the county, right? It's just to tell you, you can comfort and soothe the chicken money for the king's deputy envoy. ”

Zhang Dayou kept shaking his head and sighing: "Xu Zhizhi, if things are so easy to do, why do I have to go so far to ask for advice?" Deputy Wang didn't care if he ate two chickens, even if he sent someone to ask me to send them to him, there was nothing, but he shouldn't have caused a lawsuit for eating two chickens! I'm a small county in Bishui, what should I do? ”

Xu Ping was taken aback when he heard this, and he was stunned for a while, muttering: "This Wang Yan, in order to eat two chickens, actually caused such a big incident?" It's—" (To be continued.) )