The carriage slowly stopped, Xu Fengnian let go of the general Huyan Guanyin who was fished out of the water tank just after a stick of incense, bent down and lifted the curtain, and saw that there were three horsemen parked next to the post road, without wearing armor, and the rivers and lakes were dressed in short clothes, very clean and neat, but unlike the martial arts people, they all wore a Beiliang knife on their waists, and one of the young knights was particularly outstanding, with a face like a crown of jade, and a small sturdy leather bag hung on the horse's back, with five or six short halberds.
After Xu Fengnian saw these familiar faces, he jumped out of the carriage with a smile, stomped his feet, the weather was cold, the ground on the post road was stiff, and the three horsemen saw that His Royal Highness the Prince of the World had all gotten off, and hurriedly turned over and dismounted, Xu Fengnian waved his hand, signaling them not to toss those cumbersome courtesies.
The three horsemen are all born in the Fengzi Battalion White Horse Yi, and they have vaguely become the most rooted and Miao Red in Beiliang, not to mention that Hong Shuwen of the three of them fought at the Iron Gate Pass, which is impressive, holding double knives, slaughtered six Royal Forest Army and a golden knife guard, the young knight nicknamed Hong Ruthless has now become Wang Zhi's deputy general, nominally holding the official title of Changshui Lieutenant, and he also appeared in the Fish and Dragon Gang in Longqing County last time, and was transferred to the Lingzhou General's Mansion this time, Xu Fengnian remembered that when he was with Wang Zhi, Wang Zhi's flesh was so painful that he trembled, and his father and mother died, and then quickly changed his face, and with a smile on his face, he asked His Royal Highness the Prince for two official positions as compensation.
Xu Fengnian asked Hong Shuwen for his war horse, and the captain of Changshui rode a horse with Pao Ze, four people and three horses, plus a carriage, and went to Huangnan County together.
Xu Fengnian asked with a smile: "Hong Shuwen, Ning Emei taught you a halberd" Hong Shuwen, who always gives people a kind of desert lone wolf ruthless temperament, was beside His Royal Highness the Prince of the World, and obediently took away a lot of the yin that was born from his heart, but he was a little shy, nodded and said: "General Ning said that I have some talent for using halberds, when I am used to using halberds, teach me halberds again." ” Xu Fengnian didn't deliberately use words to win people's hearts, and after chatting a few words, he rode forward.
Approaching noon, to the border town of Huangnan County, leading the horse, there are many New Year's markets in the town, the people of the nearby villages have come to buy New Year's goods, there are county officials who take this opportunity to light candles and say good books, for their parents and officials to teach the people to be close to the people, but the people of Beiliang are strong, and this kind of thing is only a hilarious joke to see, and the behavior of embellishment of officials' careers in other states and counties in Yang is also quite solemn, and the people who are good at writing must be well-dressed, and there is a suspicion of non-donkey and non-horse in Beiliang, many of them are errand servants who know a little about literature and ink to go to the field, Even some lieutenants who like to be in the limelight rolled up their sleeves and went on stage to shake their heads, like Xu Fengnian stopped to watch from a distance at this time, even if the slurred officials on the stage played the same old tune, they still read the wrong paragraphs, and some children with good memories who were already familiar with their hearts started to coax, and the children made a fuss, and many adults around them also cheered, and the little officials lost their faces, glared and stretched out their fingers, and scolded angrily when they caught a man, and the man was not afraid of the little official authority of this little feather and arrow, and scolded in a loud voice, and then the man's mother-in-law also smiled a few words with charming eyes, The little official was not really annoyed, he was open-mouthed, and took the opportunity to tease the woman with plump breasts, but where can the Beiliang girls be thin-skinned fuel-saving lamps, and a few words of arrogance made the little officials red-faced, and in such an unorthodox noise, the stereotypical and pedantic good book has also become a festive event that everyone enjoys.
Xu Fengnian looked around and asked Hong Shuwen to find a restaurant, as long as it was clean.
After the group had lunch, they continued to leave for Huangnan County, Xu Fengnian temporarily bought a wide mink hat for Huyan Guanyin, covering her forehead and eyebrows, so that her appearance would not be too shocking, and the three Hu Cong, who had turned into infiltrating the local officialdom of Beiliang after leaving the Fengzi camp, never squinted, especially Hong Shuwen, from beginning to end, Huyan Guanyin did not seem to exist.
Re-mounted, from the bazaar into a post road branch road, Beiliang Post Road in addition to the three-level division of states, counties and counties on the surface, in addition to many passes, there are a few more hidden post roads that can eat silver, many seemingly cumbersome post guards are raised with heavy money, if it is not for Beiliang's financial resources, Xu Xiao still has a lot of money to implement.
And the Liyang Imperial Court in Zhang Julu insistence, the tax "flow" poured into the northern border of the gluttonous belly, south of the Yangtze River, most of the post roads were reduced to varying degrees, Zhang Julu in that Zhang Lu was very severe reprimanded several local officials who went to Beijing, after a slight change, it immediately returned to normal, plus compared to the post road, Zhang Julu had to personally grasp the matter of Ma Zheng, the first assistant did not have three heads and six arms, and he really couldn't spare too much energy to do everything in the post road rectification, and Gu Party controlled the military department for a full eighteen years, Zhang Julu not only mixed with Ma Zheng, but also directly took away the big fat meat of Ma Zheng, which was amazing in oil and water, and even the bowl was gone, and the military department had already complained, so when the anthurium eunuch Sun Tanglu went to Beiliang last time, he returned to the capital and talked about the affairs of Beiliang that he had seen with his own eyes for a night, which mentioned the post road, which made His Majesty the Emperor fall into a state of contemplation and speechlessness for a long time.
Xu Fengnian did not whip the horse to gallop fast, the post road under the iron hooves of the Beiliang war horse was developed, and it was a double-edged one, which could ensure that the soldiers, horses, grain and grass ran rapidly At the same time, if the 350,000 border troops of Beimang defeated the Beiliang iron cavalry, then they could cross the border in one go, and there was no doubt that the road to the south was unimpeded.
The reason why the Zhao family endured Xu Xiao again and again, even turned a blind eye to the matter of salt and iron, and it was not too difficult to transport it into the cold over the years, but it was not afraid that the Beiliang portal would be in trouble and the Central Plains, and let Chen Zhibao be the king of Shu in the future, but also not optimistic about Xu Fengnian taking charge of the Beiliang Armor, the court made the worst plan, in case the Beiliang Xu family could not support the northwest beam of the Zhao family, there was still Chen Zhibao's Shu as the second line of defense.
At the level of Xu Xiao and Zhang Julu, conspiracy and intrigue have actually become meaningless, and in the end, it is still the powerful who wins the world.
Xu Fengnian beckoned to Hong Shuwen and said: "Captain Hong, now there are many scattered officials in Beiliang, not to mention the captains and lieutenants, even the generals are all over the streets, if I remember correctly, Beiliang and Liyang have the same law, and the civil and military official ranks and scattered official ranks add up to seventy-four ranks, plus those scattered gifts, I can't count them at all."
If I take it all back one day, or get rid of most of it, you can tell me about what will happen to the Beiliang officialdom."
Hong Shuwen hesitated.
Xu Fengnian smiled: "It's okay to say it directly. ” Hong Shuwen said in a deep voice: "Your Highness, then our Beiliang is really going to be a mess."
If the people in the rear are unstable, those who work hard for the general on the border will not be able to live uncomfortably if they are not dragging their families and leading their mouths now.
Let's just say that the family of the humble Hong Shuwen, my father was awarded a six-grade cloud cavalry captain because of his military merits, and the second uncle had some knowledge, and he also sealed a low-grade Confucian Lin Lang who is not very common in Beiliang, these titles with grades and no positions, in the local area, that is, the face of the parents and the old brothers when they get together, I really want to say that I want to take this thing to make a profit, to collect and scrape the land, I can't do it if I want to, if it is taken away all of a sudden, the old guys will be cold, and it is worse than losing thousands of taels of silver.
Your Royal Highness, the humble duty dared to say something from the heart, this time I heard the elders of the family say that thousands of foreign scholars came, all of them came to grab jobs with Lao Beiliang, this time the humble post went to the Lingzhou General's Mansion from Longqing County, and I also heard a lot of rumors, all of which were not good for His Highness. ” Xu Fengnian nodded and smiled: "Many people have joined forces to fan the wind and light the ghost fire, and the stove of Lingzhou officialdom is very warm."
I'm afraid that there are still many people who are conscientiously adding firewood to the stove, and at the end of the year in Beiliang, it is very different from previous years, and it is really not cold at all. ” Hong Shuwen was a little puzzled, His Royal Highness the Prince could still laugh because Hong Shuwen was His Royal Highness's "close minister", the Hong family, who had a little prestige in the local area, did not get into the crowd this time, closed the door to thank guests, ignored disputes, and had been isolated and alienated by many families who had a good relationship.
It is not ambiguous to ask Hong Shuwen to go into battle to kill the enemy, Hong Shuwen has always felt that the master should throw his head and spill his blood on the battlefield, and before he became the general of the glorious ancestors, he had already thought about the fate of the horse leather shroud.
But if he wants to needle the times, it will really cost him his life, since His Royal Highness asked about this stubble and miasma, this ruthless man who once dared to slap his aunt half to death in the family can only have one thing to say.
Xu Fengnian said slowly: "Prescribe the right medicine, there is a difference between urgency and slowness.
Then first finalize the military generals who are in real power, and the border army will not touch it first, Hong Shuwen, first tell you the bottom, I plan to set up fourteen positive five-grade captains according to the terrain of Beiliang, and the captains are named after the dangerous passes in the territory, there are only three in Lingzhou, Wang Zhi will go to the Micang Ridge Road bordering Xishu to guard Lazikou, and the other two, one will be handed over to Han Laoshan, who is temporarily serving as the deputy general of Lingzhou, and the remaining one will let the entire Lingzhou fight, I don't believe it, such a big piece of fat will not have a smart person to take the bait, as long as he becomes this captain, It means that you can stand out from a large number of captains who deal with trivial matters all day long, and it is not an exaggeration to call it a prince, as long as someone is willing to take the lead in infighting, the next thing will be much easier.
Originally, I planned to give you the position of Han Laoshan, but your current military achievements are not obvious, after all, Han Laoshan has Xu Xiao's banner behind him, where can he serve the public, you can't, so I will first put you in the Lingzhou General's Mansion to accumulate qualifications, although it is impossible for me to use a quick knife to cut the mess to deal with the Lingzhou officialdom, but there is no blood at all, it is destined to be unreasonable, and you will be used when the time comes.
In the future, when I leave Lingzhou, you will most likely have to help Xu Beitong, the new assassin of Lingzhou, I believe you know my relationship with Xu Tingshi, ugly words ahead, if he makes a mistake, you Hong Shuwen can't afford to pay for the head on his shoulder. ” Hong Shuwen subconsciously wiped his neck, and said with a smile: "Anyway, your Highness will do whatever he says, nothing else, but can you ask Your Highness for something?"
Xu Fengnian scolded with a smile: "How can you fart quickly with Wang Zhi's virtue" Hong Shuwen said in a low voice: "Your Highness, if there is a war on the border in the future, you can't forget Hong Shuwen." ” Xu Fengnian asked: "Twenty years ago, the reason why so many people joined the army was because they didn't have a peaceful life anywhere, and they all went for glory and wealth.
But now it's different, how can you Hong Shuwen not do it as a stable official, you have to go to the border and desperately tie your head to the waistband of your trousers, which is very majestic, or do you think you can't be a big official on the ground?"
As long as Hong Shuwen grinned, he had some natural intrigues, "Hong Shuwen is different from others, he is not used to living a leisurely and happy life, especially after mixing with His Royal Highness, he will be uncomfortable if he doesn't kill people for a day, and he will go to the Qinglou to find women with fine skin and tender flesh to be happy, and after being happy, he feels tired, and he can't help but twist their necks."
It is estimated that this disease cannot be cured, so he can only go to the border to kill people. ” Xu Fengnian smiled, noncommittal.
In times of peace and prosperity, the people slept.
When I wake up, my home is still there, everyone is alive, I work every day, and if I still have one or two good thoughts, this is the way of the good world.
Hong Shuwen is definitely not a good bird in the eyes of the people, but without people like Hong Shuwen and Li Hanlin, the good world of Beiliang will not last long.
To be continued: