Everyone entered the county office, passed through the instrument gate and the main gate and entered the hall, and then arrived at the county office.

The inner house is Hu Zeyi's daily living area in the county yali. It is said that it is an inner house, but Cui Geng found that there is a lot of things inside, not as shabby as he imagined, along the way, the corridor winds like a snake, pavilions, lotus ponds, water pavilions, flower beds and stone mountains, everything.

Moreover, he walked at the end but clearly heard Hu Zeyi and Song Lian in front of him introduce that this is just a corner of the Yanei Mansion in Qingyuan County, and there are a few Lianzhuang courtyards inside.

Good guy, there's really a big world inside!

Don't look at him as the young owner of Qingyuan Distillery, and now he has money in his pocket, but it is the first time to see such a wide area of Lianzhuang courtyard. Even if he never forgets the usurped Cui family's two ancestral mansions, it is simply not enough to see, it is not a grade!

Along the way, it seems that along the way, he secretly envied all the way: Nima, so luxurious and enjoyable, he has earned two dollars in business these years, and compared with being an official, it is really a big deal.

Of course, the premise is that compared with an official like Hu Zeyi, Song Wen is not yet in the stream.

He had never been in Qingyuan County before, but today he finally opened his eyes, with so many yards and so many houses, I really don't know how Hu Zeyi can live there! This is just a county government house of the Qipin County Order, I really can't imagine how much of a moat there will be in the inner house of the Quanzhou Mansion! Even those who are far away in Chang'an......

Soon, Hu Zeyi and his party passed through an arch and entered a slightly smaller courtyard.

The courtyard is full of lush trees, and there are two large tanks in the patio, in which several goldfish that Hu Zeyi usually watches. The courtyard is not large, except for a flower hall, there are only three rooms on the left and right. This small courtyard is Hu Zeyi's favorite place to stay during non-office hours, the flower hall is used to entertain the guests he thinks are more important and honorable, and the rooms are used for lunch breaks or leisure reading.

Cui Geng is also stained with the light of Song Lian, Shen Tuo and others, otherwise his identity would not be able to enter the county mansion at all, let alone Hu Zeyi's hidden courtyard.

Flower Hall.

The position of the first two seats of the hall is naturally Song Lian and the internal canon to quote Guo Gonggong, one is the highest rank among all the people present, the sixth rank of the Quanzhou Mansion Ya Changshi, and the other is from Chang'an all the way to the mouth of the holy order, representing the seven-grade inner servant of the imperial court.

As for Hu Zeyi, the host, with Song Lian and Guo Gonggong pressing on it, it is not his turn to trespass for the time being.

After a while, everyone was seated.

Even Cui Geng sat down. However, he and Song Wen, one is a businessman, and the other is a miscellaneous official, and their identities are the most embarrassing in the entire hall, they want to be famous or not, and they want to be official without an official body. The two brothers fought to the death, but this time they were treated the same, so they could only accompany the last seat.

As soon as he sat down, Song Lian stroked his forehead abruptly and said, "Look at the old man's memory, I almost forgot what Dong Yan trusted." Cui Erlang, come up! ”

Cui Geng didn't know why, but he still answered yes, got up and stepped forward.

After that, Song Lian took out a letter from his sleeve pocket, handed it over, and said: "This is a letter from Dong Yan to you, he left for Longxi County in a hurry early this morning, and he had to entrust the old man to hand it over to you." ”

Cui Geng said, "Lord Lao Changshi" and took the letter and returned to his original seat.

"Ahem......"

Shen Tuo, who had always looked cold, coughed twice and reminded in a low voice: "Song Changshi, you can start." ”

Song Lian sighed and said, "Everyone, let's make a long story short. Since Qingyuan County has been promoted to Shang County, the position of county lieutenant who oversees Liu Cao is naturally indispensable. In previous years, the post of county lieutenant was appointed by the Ministry of Officials, or selected from among the top three jinshi who won the imperial examination, or selected from the school captain of the local state and county transferred to the army. However, this time Qingyuan County was promoted to the county party committee too hastily, firstly, there is no Enke this year, and secondly, there is still a year before the nearest scholar opens the court, so the Ministry of Officials means that our Quanzhou Government will select suitable candidates by itself to replace the post of Qingyuan County Lieutenant! ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone present had no different faces, after all, there was no suspense about this matter. It was Song Wen, who looked at Dongweng Hu Zeyi with excitement, and his eyes almost fell on Hu Zeyi's face.

How could Hu Zeyi not know the thoughts of his henchman Lao Xu, he nodded slightly towards Song Wen, indicating that he knew what he knew. Since Song Wen is his henchman, and he has promised him this, and the imperial court has also asked the local government to select substitutes on its own, if he doesn't help Song Wen at this time, then when will he help?

At this time, Song Lian looked at Hu Zeyi and asked: "Hu County Order, you are the Qingyuan County Order, and this time you have been rewarded by the imperial court, I think this replacement candidate for the Qingyuan County Lieutenant is indispensable for you to recommend one or two!" ”

As soon as Song Lian's words came out, Hu Zeyi didn't do anything, Song Wen couldn't hold back his anxiety, clenched his fists tightly, and looked at Hu Zeyi's eyes becoming hotter and hotter.

I saw Hu Zeyi get up slowly, pretending to be reserved and arching his hand and said: "In this matter, the lower officials should avoid suspicion, but the matter of eating the king's loyalty to the king, the lower officials should have the responsibility of recommending meritocracy to the imperial court." Since Lord Changshi named and asked the lower officials to recommend, as the so-called virtuous do not avoid relatives, today's lower officials recommend Song Wen, a Cao official from Qingyuan household, to serve as the lieutenant of Qingyuan County! ”

After that, Hu Zeyi looked back at Song Wen, Song Wen suddenly got up, bowed fiercely in the direction of Song Lian and Hu Zeyi in the hall, and said, "I am so loved by all my lords, learn... The students were terrified! ”

Cui Geng was sitting next to him, every move and breath of this old thing was within his line of sight, looking at it with contempt in his eyes, and secretly scolding sourly, are you still scared? I see that you may not be able to turn the world upside down!

Song Lian raised his eyelids and glanced at Song Wen, and said, "Qingyuan Hu Cao? ”

Hu Zeyi said: "Exactly! Although Song Wen has no fame, he is better than being a scholar, and he has read Confucius and Mencius since he was a child. Song Hu Cao has been serving as a government official for more than ten years, especially in the Qingyuan Hu Cao Officer's tenure for several years, he is even more conscientious and conscientious, and he is really a rare talent. I have a variegated way to enter the ranks, and in terms of ability and qualifications, Song Hucao is the best candidate to replace the county lieutenant! ”

After the words fell, Song Lian had not yet expressed his position, but Shen Tuo, who had joined the army, snorted coldly, but did not express any opinions.

However, Guo Gui and Guo Gonggong, who was beside Song Lian, leaned over and reminded Song Lian in a low voice: "Lord Changshi, local political affairs should not be mixed with slaves and maids, but Rong slaves and maids remind you that this Lord and Master Suo from Chang'an have repeatedly explained to the slaves and maids, and their words must be brought to you." ”

When Song Lian heard this, he frowned for no reason, although he didn't turn his head to look at Guo Gui, but there was a bit of disgust in his eyes. Especially when I heard the names of the two people, thinking about the words they dragged Guo Gui to me last night, I became more and more unhappy, and secretly scolded in my heart, the cool officials who flattered the power, hum, my hand is very long!

After some discomfort, he set his eyes on Chen Ziang, who had been silent, and asked, "Ziang, you are the new Qingyuan County Cheng, what is your opinion on the candidate?" ”

Hearing this, Chen Ziang subconsciously glanced at Song Wen, who was in the last seat, and stopped his gaze on Cui Geng for a short while, thinking about what Zhang Cambodia said to him when he was in Chang'an. Finally, he turned his head back and met Hu Zeyi's eyes on the other side. He could feel the meaning in Hu Zeyi's eyes, which was nothing more than to let himself support him and recommend Song Wen with him.

Chen Ziang thought about it, in Qingyuan County in the future, he would work with Hu Zeyi, and the two were Jinshi in the same year, and their friendship was also there. If you don't support him at this time, won't you directly offend yourself, who is also a colleague and your top boss in the same year? After that, in Qingyuan County, I am afraid that there will be some entanglements. Although Chen Ziang is known as a poet, he knows that he is far worse than Hu Zeyi in terms of the way of being an official, otherwise he would not have let people be relegated from Chang'an to Qingyuan, a barbaric land in southern Fujian and Guangdong, to be a small county.

But when he remembered Zhang Cambodia's entrustment to himself when he left Chang'an, and thought about the conversation with Dong Yan last night, he couldn't help but feel a little shaken in his heart.

Fortunately, at this time, Shen Tuo, who had been cold and indifferent, pulled his face longer than a donkey, and said, "Lord Changshi, Xia Guan has a proposal. Now that Song Hucao and Cui Shaodong's family are in this hall, it is a little embarrassing for us to interview this candidate in front of the two of them. It's better to let the two of them avoid suspicion first, and everyone present can talk freely, right? ”

"Huh? That's right, too! ”

Song Lian stroked his forehead again, and said with a smile: "It's still Shen Shen's army that thinks about it!" In this way, Cui Erlang, Song Hucao, the two of you will temporarily go to Hu Xianling's study to avoid suspicion, and then invite the two of you to come over later! ”

Who knew that the words of Song Lian and Shen Tuo set off a big wave in Song Wen and Cui Geng's hearts.

Where still can't the two of them hear the meaning of what they just said? It's nothing more than the candidate for the county lieutenant of Qingyuan, so one of them will be selected from the two of them!

Song Wen seemed to have been stabbed hard at this time, full of pain, anger, and unwillingness.

Why?

He faintly exclaimed, why is it that a stinky businessman, who doesn't even have the background of a scholar, is qualified to compete with me Song Wen for the qualification of the county lieutenant candidate? It's ridiculous! It's ridiculous!

No way! Absolutely not!

This position of Qingyuan County Lieutenant must be my Song Wen's!

Cui Geng, Cui puppy, how can he be? What are the qualifications and qualifications to compete with me for the position of county lieutenant?

Which law in my Datang says that businessmen are allowed to go out of office? In all dynasties, which court allowed lowly businessmen to become officials?

It's Cui Geng, although he is not as excited and indignant as Song Wen, but it is not much better.

I saw him stunned in place, his face full of incredulity, and his heart was like 10,000 grass and mud horses galloping by......

What's going on? For no reason, why is this candidate for the county lieutenant of Qingyuan still related to me?

Isn't the reward for offering the royal wine over? Are there any hidden benefits that follow-up?

Thinking about it, Cui Geng extinguished this idea as soon as possible, it was very simple, if it was because of the merit of the imperial wine, then the imperial court would not go to great lengths to let the Quanzhou Mansion select the county lieutenant candidate by itself, but directly appointed him, where is there anything else with Song Wen?

Besides, no matter how much he Cui Geng doesn't understand the officialdom of the Tang Dynasty, he also knows where there are businessmen who can enter the government by offering imperial wine? Datang has no way to enter the business at all!

The two of them slowly exited the flower hall with their own thoughts, and entered the study where Hu Zeyi took a nap at noon on weekdays under the guidance of a subordinate.

The two of them had a very tacit understanding this time, from exiting the flower hall to the study, they did not squeak and speak, each frowning, and the atmosphere in the study was a little more solemn.

When Cui Geng sat down, suddenly, Song Wen snorted coldly, looked at him resentfully, and threatened viciously: "Cui Erlang, don't be lucky, this position of Qingyuan County Lieutenant can't fight with you, a stinky businessman!" ”

Cui Geng knew that the few people in the flower hall who had the right to decide and recommend had little to do with him, and if he wanted to compete with Song Wen for the Qingyuan County Lieutenant, his chances were really slim.

But he was not happy to see Song Wen's dead face, even if the county lieutenant was really no show, he would be disgusted and disgusting Song Wen now, at least he could enjoy it, and immediately raised the corners of his mouth, and said disdainfully: "How do you know that Lao Tzu is not playing?" What if there is a play? Aren't you going to crash headfirst into this wall in anger? ”

"You ......" Song Wen gritted his teeth, if his gaze could kill people, Cui Geng would have been broken into thousands of pieces a hundred times!

Cui Geng got over his addiction, and took advantage of his leisure time to slowly open the letter that Dong Yantuo Song Lian brought him.

Just as he was about to read the letter, when he saw Song Wen's resentful expression, he poked his head out again and jokingly said, "Song Hucao, what if Lao Tzu has a play?" Pissed you off, pissed off on you, pissed off on your shit! ”

Song Wen shouted angrily: "Shut up! ”

Cui Geng saw that the more angry he was, the happier he was, the more relieved he was, and said happily: "Haha, stop your mother's mouth, I don't want to!" ”

However, when he read Dong Yan's letter, an inexplicable smile appeared on his face.

Looking at the content of Dong Yan's letter, he finally knew what happened to Dong Yan in Chang'an, what kind of uproar Mulan Spring Wine caused, and finally understood why the matter of the election of Qingyuan County Lieutenant would be linked to him, a businessman.

"Haha, there is such a good thing? It's really exciting! ”

While reading the letter, he caressed his palms and cheered, and when he was startled, Song Wen naturally looked at it again.

Eyes collide!

Cui Geng smiled at Song Wen again and said: "Hehe, surnamed Song, don't believe it, the position of Qingyuan County Lieutenant, Lao Tzu is really playful!" ”

Song Wen was pricked again and screamed, "Impossible! You shut up! ”

Cui Gengyang raised the letter in his hand and threatened: "What if there is a play? Are you dead or not? If you don't die, I look down on you, you shit. You remember, in case our old Cui family's ancestral grave really smokes, I, Cui Erlang, turned around gorgeously and became the county lieutenant of Qingyuan, and the first thing to do is you! ”

After that, he cocked Erlang's legs and continued to read the follow-up content of Dong Yan's letter leisurely......

This article is from Reading Books and Novels