Fenghou

"Last year I came back for the Chinese New Year. This year I am on duty for the New Year. I can only come back early for vacation."

There was urging in the distance again, and everyone carried their hoes and poles and left. Young got on his horse, waved goodbye to everyone, urged the horse to run up the official road, and ran along the official road in the direction of Jingzhao.

This young man is called Nian Xiaowu, and he is a soldier of King Yong. All soldiers of the Western Army have one month of family leave every year, and the soldiers are no exception.

Nian Xiaowu is from Mei County, Fengxiang Prefecture. He is going home this time to take annual leave, but he also has a mission to understand the people's situation for King Yong. This is not only his mission, but all the soldiers have this mission.

Two days later in the morning, Nian Xiaowu returned to the pro-barracks to report, and then went to Chao Qing to report back to his hometown.

Chao Qing and Wei Ji served as the assistants of Baihutang, responsible for classifying all documents and reviewing the compliance of documents. Chen Qing had three new recorders joining the army, that is, the top three in this year's imperial examination. Their duty is to condense the Class A document for Chen Qing, but the three new recruiters have insufficient experience in joining the army, and they need Chao Qing and Wei Ji to take turns instructing them every day, so the two also serve as the old chief of staff. job.

In the room, Chao Qing listened to Nian Xiaowu's narration while taking notes, at this moment, he suddenly stopped writing and said with a smile: "Forget it, you'd better go to see King Yong with me!"

"Why?" Nian Xiaowu was stunned.

"What you said happens to be what His Highness is most concerned about. You go and report it to me first, and I'll record it later."

Chao Qing brought Nian Xiaowu to Chen Qing's official room. Chen Qing happened to be talking to Jiang Yanxian, and it was over. Your Highness will be interested in what you say."

Chen Qing nodded and smiled, "Let him in!"

Nian Xiaowu walked into the official room, knelt down on one knee and saluted, "See Your Highness!"

"When did Xiao Wu come back?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, I have just arrived at the humble post, so I went back to the barracks to report, and then I asked Mr. Chao to report back to my hometown."

Chao Qing said from the side: "Just now Nian Xiaowu talked about the county workers in Mei County, I guess His Highness will be interested."

Chen Qing was really interested, and asked with a smile: "What's the name of your Mei County worker, and what did you do?"

Nian Xiaowu bowed and said, "The county worker in Mei County is called Tian Kuang. He was originally an aide of the county magistrate Li Zhe. He has followed Li Zhe for many years. I heard that he was recommended by Li Zhe as a county worker three months ago. He has done a very good job. Yes, thirteen of the seventeen old bridges in the county have been repaired, and many roads that turn into mud when it rains have been re-paved and compacted. When I was at home, I happened to be building farmland and water conservancy. Tian Kuang organized more than 1 people every day Digging ditches and expanding ponds, the most interesting thing is that more than a dozen large ponds in Changlin County have been dug through and turned into a large lake covering an area of ​​thousands of acres. Now the water source is sufficient, and the people are very praised he."

Chen Qing pondered for a while and asked: "Has he encountered any obstacles? I mean, for example, something was done at the beginning, but then it stopped."

"It seems to have!"

Nian Xiaowu thought for a while and said, "I heard that he was planning to repair the dilapidated city wall. Several old city gates were torn down to replace them with new ones, but later the old city gates were reinstalled, and the matter of repairing the city wall was over. After all, let’s talk about it when we chat together.”

Chen Qing nodded, building the city wall is not necessarily hindered by others, it is very likely that there is insufficient financial resources, repairing roads, bridges, and building water conservancy are all related to the vital interests of the people, even if no money is given, the people I am also willing to work spontaneously and don’t spend much money, but the construction of the city wall is different, it has nothing to do with the interests of the people, no one is willing to do it for nothing, and the Yong Kingdom has canceled the labor system, so there is not enough financial resources to build the city wall. Usually, it is reported to the Ministry of Industry layer by layer, and then the Ministry of Industry arranges funds to repair several city walls every year. It takes many years to wait in line, and many counties have queued for decades without getting their turn.

"Other than that, what else?"

"Everything else is going well. The county magistrate is very supportive of him. He went to the farmland several times to dig soil and carry the burden together to show his support for Tian Kuang."

Chen Qing learned about some other situations, and then let him go back.

At this time, it was already noon, Zhou Kuan came over and asked Chen Qing to have dinner with him, and the two of them got into the carriage and drove to Qingfeng Teahouse.

The first thousand 380 seven chapters surrender

After the two finished their meal, Cha Ji came in and served them freshly brewed tea. Zhou Kuan took a sip of the tea and said with a smile, "I feel that Your Highness has something to say to me?"

Chen Qing nodded, "Today one of my relatives came back and told me something about his hometown, which is Mei County, Fengxiang Prefecture."

Zhou Kuan laughed and said: "I know, their county magistrate is called Li Zhe, and I promoted him back then. He used to be just a small prison officer. I found him very capable. I asked him questions that the county magistrate couldn't answer. He The answers were fluent and I knew the situation in Mei County like the palm of my hand, so I made an exception and promoted him to be the chief minister, that was eight years ago, and now he has been promoted to the county magistrate."

"But what I want to talk about today is the county workers of Mei County!"

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "Of course, this county worker, Tian Kuang, was also recommended by the county magistrate Li Zhe. He was Li Zhe's staff before, and he has been doing well in the past few months, building bridges and roads, and recently The key to his success in organizing more than 1 people to build water conservancy projects is the strong support of the county magistrate."

Zhou Kuan understood what Chen Qing meant, and smiled wryly, "Your Highness, this is just a special case!"

"No! This is not a special case."

Chen Qing did not agree with Zhou Kuan's definition, "I think this is the success of decentralization. We have defined the function of the county worker before as the assistant of the county magistrate, so it is easier for the county magistrate to recommend the county worker. Cooperation makes it easier to do things well, and Mei County is the best example of realizing my intention!"

"Your Highness, there are also serious drawbacks here!"

Chen Qing waved his hand, asked the tea girl next to him to step back, and asked, "Then tell me, what's wrong with this?"

"There are three disadvantages. First, the relationship with the state government. We all know that county officials, except for the county magistrate, are generally recommended by the state government to the Ministry of Officials, and then the Ministry of Officials determines through evaluation. The power of recommendation is handed over to the county magistrate, which undoubtedly deprives the state government of its power and will arouse the dissatisfaction of the state government."

"And then?" Chen Qing asked quietly.

"Secondly, if you meet a good county magistrate, you can recommend talents, but if you meet a fatuous or even corrupt county magistrate, you will get along with each other, especially if the county job is to spend money. They will steal at least half of the one hundred coins; the third is that people from the Ming Jing Department can also be county workers, isn't it contrary to the original intention of His Highness to run the Taixue and set up the Engineering and Computing Department?"

Chen Qing nodded and said with a smile: "I have considered the three questions you mentioned, let's talk about your third question first! Didn't you find out? This year Taixue did not have many students, only 100 people. After all these years In practice, I found that Taixue is more suitable for cultivating researchers. The students there are not suitable to be local officials. Taixue students are generally shy and introverted. How can they organize civilian husbands to do things with such a personality?

In fact, it was you who reminded me that the county worker does not depend on whether he understands technology or not. The key is that he must be able to employ people. Basically, they are all Tai students, and all those who have passed the exam are also Tai students, so I plan to cancel the engineering and computing department in the next imperial examination. "

Zhou Kuan and other officials who participated in politics knew that His Highness’s determination to establish the official position of county worker had been determined and would not change, so they would settle for the next best thing, hoping that the county worker, like other county officials, would best be appointed through the imperial examination. Wang has indeed changed it, but lowered the standard to Ming Jing Ke, and put more emphasis on practical ability. This is recognized by everyone. After all, the county worker is a practical officer who deals with the people, but His Highness handed over the right of recommendation to the county magistrate. This point Everyone has some criticisms.

"His Royal Highness's arrangement is more reasonable. One of the big reasons for everyone's opposition before is that the county worker is a practical officer, and he must have a strong ability to deal with the people. This requires many years of experience to accumulate, and it is by no means a student. The young man is competent, but is it not in compliance with the rules to be recommended by the county magistrate?"

Chen Qing said lightly: "Rules are made by people. In fact, there is no difference between the county magistrate's recommendation and the governor's recommendation. The key is the decision of the officials. Just like what you said just now, if the county magistrate's reputation is not high and the evaluation is mediocre, then he The Ministry of Officials would not accept the recommended officials, and would definitely send another official. The key to Tian Kuang's success in recommendation was that Li Zhe's own evaluation was good. In the hands of the governor, there is nothing wrong with delegating the recommendation power of a county worker to the county magistrate."

"Your Highness is considering the increase in the status of the presiding officer? Will the county magistrate be emptied, so supplement the real power of the county magistrate from the other side?"

Chen Qing nodded, "I have a little consideration in this regard, but the more important reason is to hope that the county can do things smoothly. After all, the county magistrate also needs political achievements, and a capable helper is conducive to making political achievements."

"The humble staff understands His Highness's considerations. You can ask Suzhengtai to send an envoy to visit various places to understand the situation in the county."

Suzhengtai is Yushitai. It is relatively independent from the internal affairs hall and is not controlled by the political affairs hall. It reports directly to the monarch. This is also a means used by the monarchs of all dynasties to control the court. , Otherwise, he will definitely be dismissed from office. After all, everyone makes mistakes and has reasons. It just depends on whether the king cares.

"Okay, I'll tell Zhang Shun and ask him to make an annual plan."

……

Back at the official room, Pei Wenjin, who joined the army, reported at the door: "His Royal Highness, just now Lu Shen has an urgent matter to find!"

Chen Qing nodded, "You invite him over and say that I'm free now."

Pei Wenjin is the No. [-] scholar in this year's imperial examination. He is from Jiangzhou, Hedong Road. The Pei family is a local rich family, which is in the same line as the Wenxi Pei family of the Tang Dynasty.

Wei Bo, No. 2 in the imperial examination this year, and Li Jinyao, No. 3, both chose to join the army as King Yong, just like Pei Wenjin, which made other officials criticize.

Not long after, Lu Qingshan came in a hurry and said to Chen Qing: "This morning, I received a message from the Yanshan Road Intelligence Agency that Yang Qin, Minister of the Ministry of War of the Kingdom of Jin, wants to join us in the Kingdom of Yong, and begs for our help."

Chen Qing knew that Yang Qin was a former Han minister of the Liao Kingdom, and later surrendered to the Jin Kingdom. It is said that he had some secret contacts with the Song Dynasty, and for some reason he wanted to take refuge in him again.

"Did something happen?"

Lu Qingshan said: "The Intelligence Department doesn't know much about the situation, but it is roughly inferred that it is related to the internal struggle in the Kingdom of Jin. It is said that the struggle between Wanyan Wushu and Wanyanchang broke out. Yang Qin is a member of Wanyanchang. He wants to leave , it must be Wan Yanchang’s death.”

Chen Qing pondered for a long time and said, "You can help him!"

"Your Highness wants to use this person?"

"how is this possible!"

Chen Qing said with a smile: "I just want to know the internal situation of the Jin Kingdom through him. He is a Hanchen of the Liao Kingdom. How can I use it to let them live in Yanshan Mansion and save their lives!"

"Humble job understands, humble job arranged for the intelligence agency to help them evacuate!"

Chen Qing shook his head and said: "It may not be enough to rely on the Intelligence Agency alone. I will also involve the internal guards to help them evacuate through the waterway. You can let the people from the Intelligence Agency contact this person, but be careful not to expose it."

"Humble job understands, let's make arrangements!"

Lu Qingshan saluted and left in a hurry.

……

The first thousand 380 eight chapters of the falcon

On an official road to the east of Pingzhou, several men on horseback rushed forward, a total of five people, four men who looked like warriors guarded a young man.

The young man is dressed in fresh clothes, wears a golden crown, and has an indescribable arrogance on his face. His name is Zhang Mingqian, and he is the son of Zhang Wo, a wealthy family in Pingzhou.

Zhang Mingqian was ordered by his father to go to Jizhou to pay respects to Guo Wei, another wealthy family. During this time, the connections between wealthy families were extremely active, and many disturbing and frightening incidents occurred on Yanshan Road.

First, Wu Wenli, the county magistrate of Jixian County, was killed on his way to Daxing City on business, his head was cut off, and his whereabouts are still unknown. Secondly, Li Xiao, the county captain of Lulong County, Pingzhou, was stabbed and seriously injured, and Zhu Qin, the county magistrate, was also killed in the mansion. He used poisonous arrows to plot against him from a distance, but the murderer shot the wrong person and killed the little maid beside Zhu Tan.

In addition, Hu Yun, the pacifier of Yanshan Road, was assassinated twice, but failed.

The successive assassinations made the officials of Yanshan Road panic, and no one knew whether he would be the next to be assassinated. As for Niu Gao, he specially allocated [-] soldiers to protect the safety of officials in various states and counties.

The five galloped through a forest, and suddenly shot a mace arrow from the forest, the arrow was lightning fast, and before the other party could react, "Puff! An arrow hit Zhang Mingqian's left shoulder, and the arrow almost pierced his shoulder.

Zhang Mingqian screamed, turned over and fell off his horse, "Young Master! Young Master!" The four warriors shouted in shock.

At this time, more than [-] cavalrymen rushed out from the woods and quickly surrounded them. The leading warrior shouted: "It's the inner guard, break through the encirclement!"

Si picked up Zhang Mingqian from the ground, didn't care to stop his bleeding, and desperately wanted to break through, but they were facing more than twenty internal guards with high martial arts skills, so how could they give them a chance to break through.

Another arrow shot out from the woods, and a warrior screamed. The arrow shot from the back of his neck, and the tip of the arrow shot out from the front throat, and he died tragically on the spot.

The other three fought for only a short while before two of them were killed and the leader was captured alive. At this time, a person came out from the woods. It was Zhong Huan, the commander of the inner guard. The serious injury caused by the stabbing was related to Zhang Wo, a wealthy family in Pingzhou.

It's just that Zhang Wo is elusive, who doesn't know where he is hiding?And you can't do it casually, you will startle the snake.

At this time, Zhong Huan got the news from Jizhou's subordinates that Zhang Wo's son Zhang Mingqian appeared in Jixian County to pay his respects to Guo Wei, the wealthy patriarch of Jizhou.

The wound on Zhang Mingqian's shoulder had already been bandaged, his hands and feet were tied behind his back, and he lay face down on the ground. When Zhong Huan walked up to him, Zhang Mingqian immediately shouted: "Kill me if you have the guts!"

Zhong Huan knelt down and smiled slightly: "I'm sure of the caste, but I won't kill you. I need to exchange you and your father for something."

The warrior leader next to him yelled: "What do you want, let the young master go, and I can change it too!"

"You must be Qi Wu! Although you are the leader of the warriors of the Zhang family, you are still not qualified. You go back and tell the Patriarch to send someone to Yuguan to negotiate with me. Your Patriarch knows exactly what I want!"

Chong Huan immediately ordered his left and right sides, "Let him go, give him a horse, and let him go!"

The soldiers let the warrior leader go. The warrior leader wanted to rush to rescue Zhang Mingqian, but the inner guard put the knife on Zhang Mingqian's neck and looked at him coldly.

Helpless, the samurai had no choice but to shout: "Young master, I will report to the Patriarch, and I will definitely come to rescue you!"

He got on his horse and galloped away.

The inner guard soldiers led Zhang Mingqian towards Yuguan...

Zhang Wo has been a wealthy family in Pingzhou for generations. There are more than a dozen of them in Guangzhuang Manor. The martial arts style on Yanshan Road is very strong, and the people are generally tough. Leather armor, knives, and spears are like a private army.

Not only that, but Zhang Wo also raised dozens of warriors with high martial arts skills as his guards. On Yanshan Road, if there are not more than a thousand Zhuang Ding, then he is not worthy of being called a rich family, but can only be called a big landlord.

There are still five or six wealthy families like him on Yanshan Road, distributed in various prefectures, and there is only the Zhang family in Pingzhou.

Zhang Wo also has a brother named Zhang Bao. Zhang Bao lives in Pinglu County and controls the business of the Zhang family. Zhang Wo lives in the countryside. But the inner guard doesn't know which manor he lives in?

Zhang Wo has two daughters and one son, both of whom are married, leaving only one son, Zhang Mingqian, whom he regards as a treasure.

Hearing that his son was taken away by the inner guards, he immediately became furious, "Bastard! If you dare to arrest my son, I will tear him to pieces!"

Zhang Bao hurriedly persuaded: "Brother, calm down, the other party only wanted to trade him for something after capturing Ming Qian, not to kill him, and killing him is meaningless, Ming Qian's life should not be in danger."

Zhang Wo restrained his anger and said, "What do they want?"

"I asked Qi Wu, and the other party said, what do they want, brother knows it well, brother, what do they want?"

Zhang Wo said for a while: "I guess they want news about the secret envoy of the Kingdom of Jin!"

Zhang Bao frowned, "Didn't the secret envoy of the Kingdom of Jin leave?"

"But if I tell the inner guards the news, they will be able to catch the envoy of the Kingdom of Jin based on the clues I provided. I know that the envoy of the Kingdom of Jin is now in Yizhou. There are more than 1 people, and then the Jin soldiers will be able to take back Yuguan, and our family is the key, and it will be Zhuang Ding's stronghold in the future."

"Then brother, is he going to tell the inner guard the news about the envoy from the Kingdom of Jin, and exchange it back to Mingqian?"

Zhang Wo nodded, "I don't care about the life and death of the envoy from the Kingdom of Jin, but Mingqian is my only son, and I must rescue him, Erlang, you are the public representative of the Zhang family, you go to Yuguan to negotiate with them. "

"Brother wants to give me the news of the envoy of the Kingdom of Jin, shall I exchange it directly?"

"No! For the first time, find out first, clarify what each other wants, and then exchange. You have to tell them. I promise to tell them the news about the envoy of the Kingdom of Jin, but I must ensure the safety of my son!"

"Is my brother still here when I come back?"

Zhang Wo shook his head, and said in a deep voice: "When you come back, go to Bailong Villa to find me. Be extra careful and don't be watched."

……

Zhong Huan interrogated Zhang Mingqian overnight. Unexpectedly, the boy was bitten to death and knew nothing, so Zhong Huan had to put him in prison and wait for news from Zhang Wo.

At noon the next day, a soldier came to report, "A man came from outside Guancheng, claiming to be Zhang Mingqian's second uncle, and he came here to negotiate with the general."

Zhong Huan knew that the person who came must be Zhang Bao, Zhang Wo's brother, he pondered for a moment and asked, "Is Xue Ke back?"

Xue Ke was also Zhong Huan's commander and led dozens of brothers to station in Pinglu. He was in charge of keeping an eye on Zhang Bao.

"Report to the general, you haven't come back yet!"

Zhong Huan nodded and said, "Bring Zhang Bao in, first take him to see Zhang Mingqian, and then bring him to see me."

The first thousand and 380 chapters and nine chapters of the falcon