Horse-drawn carriages headed towards Prince Shun's Mansion one after another. The cement roads in the city were extended in all directions, not just the two original ones. The carriage wheels were of a new style. When driving on a flat road, no bumps could be felt at all.

The area around Prince Shun’s Mansion used to be a piece of wasteland. Before the mansion was completed, the land around it was bought at a high price. Now houses have been built, mostly for dignitaries, just to be closer to Prince Shun’s Mansion, so that neighbors can communicate with each other. , is better than a stranger.

The Xie family built a new house near here, in which lived the family of the eldest son of the head of the Xie family. The eldest son was going to inherit the family business. Although his ability was limited, as long as he got close to King Shun, his benefits would be indispensable.

Master Xie stayed at the eldest son's house last night, and visited early this morning with his family and gifts. Li Xu happened to be looking for him, so he called him and the eldest son into the study.

"Sit." Li Xu pointed to the chair in the study and said.

It's not the first time Master Xie has been summoned. Knowing that King Shun doesn't have so many rules, he took his son to sit down. Li Xu met Mr. Xie's family. He was a very ordinary man in his thirties. There is no sense of presence there, but since Master Xie brought him here, it means that he still intends to let him inherit the family business.

Li Xu exchanged pleasantries with them, and then said directly: "My lord sees that there are many single men in Kou's army who are not married, and there are also unmarried women of the right age in the city. From the looks of it, if something good can be done, it is also a merit.”

Mr. Xie turned his mind quickly, wondering if he had any married offspring in his family, but unfortunately, even if there were any, they were already engaged.

He secretly guessed the prince's intention of holding this banquet, he couldn't really care about the unmarried men in the army, could he?

Could it be because of General Kou?If you want to say who is the most urgently in need of a wife in South Vietnam, it must be General Kou. The old man of the Kou family has hurt so many gods because of this. It is useless to pray to gods and worship Buddha. The two are married, and no one has waited for General Kou's favor.

But if it's for General Kou, shouldn't it be more direct? General Kou doesn't like this kind of tricks. He didn't like it himself, and no one introduced it.

Li Xu didn't know that in a short period of time, his mind had turned a thousand times, and said: "The time should be set around the Lantern Festival. It happens that every family is free. The flower viewing banquet has been changed to a lantern festival. You can ask the county guard for the lantern festival." It can be regarded as making up for the missing lantern festival last year.”

Mr. Xie stabbed his son, stood up and happily agreed: "Don't worry, it will be done properly. When is the prince's wedding date, and when the time comes, the whole city will be happy together."

When mentioning this, the smile on Li Xu's face became less sincere, "I'll talk about this later, don't worry."

The guests arrived one after another, Li Xu couldn't hide in the study all the time, and took them out after finishing talking.

Since the officials increased the assessment bonuses, the end of the year has become particularly exciting. Now that the bonuses have been received, the benefits have also been paid, and the yamen has also issued a seal, so everyone is beaming.

When officials from various yamen get together, they always ask first: how much money have you paid this year, and what kind of benefits are you paying?

Officials in South Vietnam have always been relatively poor. If they don't rely on their families or corruption, there are many people who can do nothing.

At the beginning of this year, we won a beautiful battle, and at the end of the year, we also made great achievements in suppressing the rebellion. As long as we don't kill ourselves, everyone will pay a lot of money this year.

"It all depends on the prince's leadership." An official said with emotion, before King Shun came to South Vietnam, as long as the salary could be paid in time, the officials would burn the incense, but they dared not think about other things.

"The cotton cloth that came out this year is really good. Although it's not gorgeous, the fabric is delicate. My wife said that it's suitable for making clothes for babies."

"That's not true. All the cotton cloth woven this year was consumed internally, and one piece was not sold out. The first thing the prince thinks about is his own people."

"Even this cotton is planted by the prince. When the planting is expanded next year, this kind of cloth will be sold out of the country, and it will definitely be sold out. When you see the cloth shop start selling this kind of cloth, remember to notify me. match."

"I also want the steward at home to send a boat to other places to sell. This business is sure to make a profit without losing money. I don't know if the prince will allow it."

"Don't worry about that. The prince said that as long as officials don't use power for personal gain, they won't stop them from doing business. But it's best to be in other places, otherwise it's hard to tell."

"Then I have to plan and plan. I have to support a large family. I don't have any property. If I can catch the wind of the palace, this business will be profitable. I'm afraid that everyone will think so when the time comes. , not enough."

"So, everyone is trying every means to get in touch with the stewards of the palace. It doesn't matter that the chief stewards belong to the Lei family, but those below who are from civilians or craftsmen should be easy to win over, right?"

"Stop dreaming, those talents are the most difficult to buy. They have recognized the prince, and they follow the rules of the palace in every word and deed. Anyone who violates the rules will be stabbed out. Everyone spurns them. No matter how brave they are, they dare not accept them." This kind of money, but don't you think you can find another way?"

"How to say?"

"Who is the prince's most trusted person?"

"It should be Director Liu and Mu Shiwei, right? They are the prince's confidantes." As soon as the words were finished, someone retorted, "Don't even think about these two, how high-sighted they are, remember that an official committed crimes last time , his family begged Mr. Liu to give him a whole box of pearls and jade, but Mr. Liu threw them out in public. He also said that he wanted to bribe him with such things, and there were no doors. He could see ordinary things Not eye-catching."

"Hey, that's for sure. I heard that Mr. Liu's pearls are all ground into powder and used to put on the face. My wife is not willing to use it like that."

"I can't compare, I can't compare, what about that person just now? The one who found another way... which way is it?"

The man stroked his beard and smiled complacently, "You all think about it, the person the prince trusts the most is General Kou."

As soon as the words fell, everyone said in disdain: "What kind of idea, why don't you give gifts to the prince directly, can General Kou be bribed?"

The man retorted unconvinced: "Why doesn't General Kou take bribes anymore? General Kou has sent people to the barracks a lot in previous years."

"That was also given to Kou's army. It has nothing to do with General Kou. Does he have to thank you in return?"

The person who spoke just now was still unconvinced. He felt that General Kou’s tough tactics in the past were all due to the needs of current events. Now South Vietnam is safe and stable, and there is King Shun supporting the sky. Everyone can see that General Kou’s temper has softened a lot. Now General Kou is not the General Kou of the past.

It's just that no one dared to set this precedent, and no one knew what General Kou liked.

Gold, silver, jewellery, beauties and jades seemed to be nothing he liked, and if he couldn't find what he liked, it would be useless to give them anything.

When Li Xu appeared, all the officials hurriedly stopped talking and knelt down to worship.

Li Xu held this banquet as the end of the year. These officials are his employees. He specially selected a few officials who performed outstandingly this year to name them and give them extra gifts. This was a link that no one knew about beforehand. , All envious eyes are green.

These officials were of different grades and ages, but their political achievements were known to everyone, so apart from congratulating them, there was nothing wrong with them.

As the master of the fiefdom, Li Xu is enough to look down on all living beings in South Vietnam, but he did not put his posture too high, whether it is a monarch or a powerful man, the saying "water can carry a boat can also overturn it" is applicable, history Too many regimes have been overthrown in the world.

Li Xu doesn't know how to be a qualified monarch, but he knows how to manage employees. There are rewards and punishments, and rules and regulations. They can glow and glow in suitable positions, and with some sweetness and encouragement, they can spontaneously recharge.

Generally speaking, officials and people in South Vietnam are much easier to manage than modern employees. The people are ignorant but simple and honest. Officials are thoughtful but easy to discipline. In short, the officials here don't have such thoughts.

After the commendation was over, Li Xu even organized a lottery for entertainment. The richness and weirdness of the prizes was eye-opening, and one of the prizes was a one-month paid vacation.

In this era, officials also have rest days, but they don’t have five days off and two days off, and they don’t have annual leave. They don’t have a few days off all year round, because most of the rest days are overtime, and there is no overtime pay.

Li Xu felt that he was too much like Zhou Papi, but the general environment was like this, and he couldn't change it, so he got this award.

In addition to the vacation, there is also a prize called: one year of advanced study at public expense. Everyone is confused when they hear this award. Public expense is easy to understand, but what is the advanced study?Where to study?

This is Li Xu's attendant prepared for Lei Ming's trip. Apart from young students, Lei Ming must always have politicians who are good at dealing with people. After thinking about it, Li Xu thinks that it is good to choose one of the officials. Just change it, so he added this to the award, just to save a lottery.

The rest, such as: in the next three years, if you pass the assessment, you can be promoted to a higher level; one of his family's children will be recruited based on merit; a coupon for picking up goods from Liji grocery store; a newest carriage... There are more than a dozen prizes listed Come out, no matter which one is novel, people want to pocket it.

The people who draw the lottery are all high-ranking officials, and each person draws one prize. There are ten prizes in total. There is no possibility of black box manipulation, it all depends on luck.

"You can be promoted if you are excellent in the three-year assessment. It would be great if you can draw this one. I haven't moved my position in five years. I am rated as top-notch every year. Opportunities are hard to find."

"Little officials like us, there are hundreds of people in Minzhou City, everyone is waiting to be promoted, how can it be so easy, and every time the promotion is always the big men from the counties below squeeze into the county guard's mansion, but there is no turn. to us."

"Yes, so I hope to win the lottery. If I win, I can be sent down to be a county magistrate. I don't have to act according to people's faces. How great it is."

"It's good, but it's so easy to be a county parent official. Now at least someone is making decisions for us. When we become the masters of the house, we will know how difficult it is. We have to make decisions about big and small things. I can't do it." .”

The prizes were drawn out one after another, the winners cheered happily, and those who didn't win naturally sighed with regret. Li Xu didn't care about other prizes, he just wanted to see who would win the advanced training spot.

He thought, if Ji Hanyu was selected, what reason would he find to replace him?

This award is not considered a grand prize, so it is ranked third. The drawer is Guo Fu, who was pushed out by the lieutenants, saying that he is lucky and may be able to draw one of his own.

Zhao Gang dragged Jiang Qiuming and asked, "Mr. Jiang, what do you think this public-funded training is for? Civil servants can go to further studies. Are we generals going to other military camps to learn command and war?"

Military division Jiang speculated that this was a special benefit set by the prince for the civil servants. Maybe he had some good vacancy for his own people. This vacancy was not of high grade, so he decided the candidates by drawing lots to see those civil servants who were eagerly waiting. Ladies, I wish I could grow a pair of see-through eyes.

"If you choose one out of a thousand people, you and I will definitely not be able to draw. Why do you care so much?" Jiang Qiuming also loves those prizes, but he knows that the probability of winning the prize is too low, so he still doesn't count on it.

Guo Fu put his hand into the cardboard box and stirred it. Inside were all small folded papers. They were all the same when he touched them. There was really no chance of cheating. So he took out a piece of paper to see who was lucky. was drawn.

Liu Shu stood aside and sang the tickets, took the slip of paper and opened it to see that he was still an acquaintance, so he raised his head and smiled over there: "Mr. Jiang, you have won the lottery. Vice-General Guo is really lucky!"

Jiang Qiuming was talking to Zhao Gang, he was stunned when he heard this, and then glanced at King Shun, thinking that he would say something, but the other party just looked at him with scrutiny and nodded in agreement.

Jiang Qiuming secretly thought: Did I guess wrong?

He went up to receive the award. It was a document written by King Shun himself, stamped with official and private seals, but the content was vague, and he didn't say what he was studying.

Jiang Qiuming thought, since there is only one year anyway, even if he is allowed to go to Lingnan to be a small county magistrate, it is all right to serve the prince.

Li Xu didn't expect Jiang Qiuming to win this award. After hesitating for a while, he felt that this candidate was better than the one he selected before. Jiang Qiuming has a solid foundation in literature, is good at strategy, good at communication, and has a flexible mind. Outside, there is no need to worry about losing money with him, there is nothing to say about the candidate.

But, how should he explain to Kou Xiao?Will he faint from anger after poaching his military adviser?

He asked He Zun beside him: "Do you know where General Kou has gone?"

He Zun shook his head to express his ignorance, Li Xu muttered, "You said you were looking for an entertainment show, why can't you see anyone?"

After all the prizes were drawn, Li Xu stood up and congratulated the winners, "All prizes are promised to be valid, and those who have set a deadline can go to Manager Liu to cash them out at that time. If you feel that the prizes in your hands are not what you want, you can contact them Others exchange, as long as both parties are voluntary."

Li Xu glanced at Jiang Qiuming again, wondering if he would find someone to replace the award in his hand. Public education sounds good, but it is actually a hard job to go out. Based on Li Xu's understanding of Jiang Qiuming, this person Turtle hair and cleanliness, it is estimated that it will be difficult to adapt to the life of traveling far away.

Jiang Qiuming was confused, so he became more and more sure that this award was not for him, but he was born to like challenges. Since King Shun didn't say it clearly, he just pretended not to know. He wanted to see what it was like. The chance of further study made Shun Wang embarrassed.

After the lottery draw was over, the luncheon was about to begin. Li Xu seated everyone, ordered the kitchen to serve the food, and at the same time sent someone to find Kou Xiao. If he was not present on such a day, the officials would not know what to think.

Soon, someone came back to reply: "My lord, General Kou told you to eat first, don't wait for him, he will come later if he has something to do."

Li Xu was even more surprised. Kou Xiao is not a person who is not punctual. He would not be absent for no reason on a day like today. Could it be that he was called back by the Kou family?

"Where was he when you found him? What was he doing?"

The man said in embarrassment: "The general won't let the villain say that you will know in a while, but the prince is not worried because he is in the mansion."

Li Xu wasn't worried about Kou Xiao's safety, he was just curious about what he was doing, but since he was at home, there should be his reasons, right?

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