Xu Fengnian came alone to the Jinglue Envoy's mansion in Beiliang, whose specifications were only lower than Qingliang Mountain. He was familiar with Li's residence, and he didn't need to lead the way. He arrived at the back garden where Xu Xiao and Li Gongde rested. The official circles in Beiliang know that Li Gongde likes to plant locust trees in recent years. Many big locust trees from other places have been moved to the mansion. Mostly in the autumn season of Huaihuai, the month is also called Huaihuang. It can be seen that Master Li is still brooding about his many failures in the past. Xu Fengnian walked on the deep path lined with hollyhocks, and saw a long sandalwood couch under the tree. Xiao was drinking green ant wine alone. Li Gongde knelt in front of the king of Beiliang more often than he sat. As a first-class eunuch in Xinjiang with the same rank as the six ministers, there is no such humble figure as Li Gongde, not to mention Sun Xiji, the economic envoy of the Western Chu Road, and Zhao Yi, the king of Guangling, who have been shut behind closed doors for several visits in person, just like that Dai Yuzhen, the economic envoy of Lianghuai Road, oppressed Huainan king Zhao Ying with such magnificence, which shows the importance of the envoy's power. As soon as Xu Xiao saw Xu Fengnian appearing, he immediately wanted to give up the sandalwood couch. Xu Fengnian ignored him, and asked Yuan Zuozong to ask the steward for two chairs, and sat down with Li Gongde. A few more cups of green ant wine were taken down his stomach, dispelling a lot of chills. Li Gongde has never spent any thought on annotations and interpretations of scriptures in his life. , but found that this young man who is not stingy when he meets uncle is not in a hurry to pierce the window paper, so he can only sit and drink with him, tell some interesting anecdotes about Lingzhou, make jokes, and flatter a few words by the way. How His Royal Highness' trip to the capital won the hearts of the people, Xu Xiao believes it or not, but it is always comfortable to hear, with a little more gentle smile, Xu Fengnian smiled and saw it in his eyes, with mixed feelings, when Yan Chiji and Yan Dong Wu's father, Yan Jiexi, was the governor of Lingzhou, and his official position was roughly the same as Li Gongde, the governor of Fengzhou, who had not yet been incorporated into Youzhou. Now Yan Jiexi has defected from Beiliang to Tai'an City to become a relative of the emperor, maybe In the future, he will become the head of the dynasty, and Li Gongde is not bad. He failed to become a Beijing official, but he has achieved the ultimate in the local official system. In terms of face, Yan and Li's families jumped over the dragon's gate, but the women of these two families still hated him as a prodigal son. Negative truth is "ghosts fascinate the mind", and there is a poor family scholar, who said that the moon will be the first to be close to the water ? Xu Fengnian had been friends with Li Hanlin and Yan Chi for so many years, but they didn't get any good looks from their sister. It's not that Xu Fengnian really had any unreasonable thoughts about them, it's just that he was half-truthful and frivolous at the beginning, and he liked to tease the prudish ladies. Xu Fengnian lazily leaned against the back of the chair and couldn't help smiling. Uncle Li was quite open-minded when dealing with the poor man who was not of the right family. Instead of beating the mandarin ducks, he even paved the way secretly Building a bridge, tampering and raising the score for it, from the humble family to the gentry, and then promoted from the petty official to the high-ranking official. Will take the opportunity to shoot again? Xu Fengnian didn't mean to embarrass that poor scholar, although he had seen the scholar's face and the city's government outside the Tingma Temple, that guy was once plotted against by Xu Beizhi, and he felt that Li Neghen had entrusted him with injustice. Hanlin's elder sister enjoyed it, and Xu Fengnian didn't bother to point fingers. Even if the poor man really had the ability to be an official, Xu Fengnian didn't mind giving him a slightly larger ermine hat. Ability to be an official is the key, and the scholar may not be unable to become the second Li Gongde. Whoever dares to say that Li Negzhen must have misunderstood it. If a woman is stupid, maybe she will be lucky.
Seeing that Xu Fengnian was drinking to his heart's content, he looked at Li Gongde with a half-smoke and half-drunk smile and said, "Uncle Li, do you know that there is a young man named Xu Beizhi in Longqing County?"
Li Gongde, who hurt his face when he drank, didn't see any words carefully, and smiled with his beard: "Of course, of course, although Xu Beizhi's official position is not high, he is only a secretary, and he belongs to Longjing Princess Bo, but Uncle Li knows that he is the prefect of Longqing County. Zhong Chengxin is also very respectful to Xu Beizhi, because this person is rich in knowledge, what is more difficult is that he can use his knowledge for his own use, and can be familiar with politics. He is not a bookworm who claims to be lofty. If His Highness hadn't mentioned it, Uncle Li has already decided to promote Xu Beizhi to Lingzhou Encouraging Education after the spring of the next year, and to serve as a state academic officer so that everyone can make the best use of their talents."
The corners of Xu Fengnian's mouth curled up, he nodded, and turned his head to look at the old man who had been smiling and not interrupting, "Xu Xiao, which official university is the school of persuasion and the school of classics?"
Xu Xiao insisted on being the hands-off shopkeeper, raised his glass and pointed at Li Gongde, "Don't ask Yu Blind, my father is also a layman, so I have to ask Uncle Li."
Li Gongde laughed quickly and said: "The ranks are the same, but the salary of the classics is slightly higher than that of the persuasion."
Li Gongde slapped his forehead, and the slap was very clear. The force of this slap was definitely not light, and his face suddenly realized, "Look at Uncle Li's memory, Yang Qianli, who works in Lingzhou classics, is not young. Not long ago, he complained to Uncle Li about his physical strength." It's not good, I have the idea of resigning my old age and returning home to take care of my life, so I just happened to be lucky, Uncle Li felt that Xu Beizhi should not be a persuasive student at all, it would be good to work in classics, Lingzhou Xuezheng really only needs Xu Beizhi to take care of it , Uncle Li can rest assured."
Xu Fengnian poured another full glass of wine for Li Gongde and himself, and after drinking it all, he said drunkenly: "Uncle Li, you don't know, when Xu Beizhi was tricked by me to come to Beiliang, I promised him that he would be fooled by the local government." A high-ranking official, but how old is a high-ranking official, there is no certainty. My nephew still has a little understanding of military affairs, but he doesn't know anything about it when he comes to the officialdom. It's only around the sixth or seventh grade, isn't it similar to the county magistrate in Xiazhou Biejia? Even if Xu Beizhi doesn't dislike the official, but since my nephew boasted about Haikou back then, he was afraid of breaking his trust. Besides, I'm brazen enough to ask Xu Xiao again This general of Lingzhou showed off that if Xu Beizhi became a scholar of classics and kept his head down all day long, he would be ashamed to drink flowers and wine with him, Uncle Li, do you think this is the case?"
Official positions in Liyang, according to the law, are below the third rank, and the rank is not only divided into two ranks, but also divided into two ranks. For example, both rank four, but actually there are four grades, Beijing official and local official, chief official and deputy official, real shortage of fat, and Qingshui yamen, all of which are full of mysteries. Being an official is the first dragon gate for entering the first rank, regardless of whether it is from the ninth rank or not. The difference between officials and officials is no different from a gap. In general, most of them are above the fourth rank, and most of them can be counted. If you want to climb to this position, you must rely on your family background, chance, and ability. The master is just offering wine from the right of the third-rank Guozijian. So regardless of how meek and humble Li Gongde is in front of Xu Xiao, even a sneeze in Lingzhou can make those county guards tremble with fear.
At this time, Li Gongde still didn't have the courage to be a second-rank official, and the little chicken pecked rice nodded frequently, "Yes, yes, this is the reason. Your Highness has promised a thousand gold. How can you break your promise? It's all due to Uncle Li's inconsideration. There are also two positions, the magistrate of Huangnan County in Lingzhou and the county magistrate of Fengyu County, which are suitable for Xu Beizhi. What do you think, Your Highness? Among them, Fengyu County is the largest county in our Beiliang Road. It has a special rank, which is comparable to the prefect of a county. The state city is not far... ”
Xu Fengnian suddenly yelled, put down his wine glass, got up and said with a tired face: "Song Yan, the prefect of Huangnan County, is in his prime, and his reputation seems to be not bad. As for the county magistrate, although Fengyu is the leading county in Beiliang, it doesn't sound like it after all. It sounds good, forget it, the Chinese New Year will be in a few days, so don’t worry about this matter, Uncle Li. My nephew is just a general of Lingzhou, if he chatters about the government affairs of Lingzhou, I’m afraid that he will visit the door next time, and Uncle Li’s family will not Eat and drink."
Li Gongde slapped his thigh heavily, and both Xu Xiao and Xu Fengnian got up, how could he dare to sit there with arrogance, stood up hastily and whispered: "Your Highness, since Xu Beizhi was a soldier of Longqing County and Cao Canjun, why don't he be the leader of Lingzhou?" drive?"
Xu Fengnian smiled and said, "Let's talk again."
As an important assistant official of the head of a state, Bie Jia can bring his own car and horse with him when the governor inspects the territory under his jurisdiction. As long as an official takes up the post of Biejia, as long as he does not make a big mistake in office, half of them will be able to advance smoothly to become the governor. Liyang has set up thirty states under the Dao, and as a candidate for the governor, Biejia can be regarded as an extremely important local minister. No one underestimated. Xu Beizhi's leap from a county official to a state official is like crossing the second dragon gate in the officialdom with ease, and even the whole Beiliang Road has to pay attention to him. But what made Li Gongde uneasy was that His Royal Highness was still in a daze, seemingly absent-minded and easy to talk, but Li Gongde, who had always mastered the fire to the peak, was at a loss. Xu Xiao didn't let Li Gongde see him off, and the strategy made him understand the essence of flattery, so he didn't bother the cleanliness of father and son going out of the house together.
After Xu Xiao walked around the screen wall, he said with a smile: "Is it because you have a big appetite, or Xu Beizhi has a big appetite? Is Li Gongde the assassin who refuses to let go? In normal times, Li Gongde would not be so reluctant, but now Xiao Thousands of scholars flooded into Beiliang, and most of them would stay in Lingzhou. Many things were said inconveniently, but many things were more convenient for the governor of Lingzhou. Even if you haven't recalled it now, but with his eyesight, you can quickly guess what you want. Dad, let me say something, snakes have snakes, rats have rats, Beiliang military affairs, even if you go It's not a big deal to make a fuss about a Huaihua general who disarms and returns to the field. You say that you can be a general of Lingzhou, but the circle of civil servants, big and small, are intertwined and intertwined. Well, fists alone can't solve all the troublesome things. This is also the root cause of my father's indifference to local political affairs. I really can't take care of them. The officialdom is the world, and everyone can't help themselves. The officialdom is not the world, and you can't just convince others .”
Xu Feng smiled young and said: "I know the seriousness. In fact, Song Yan, the governor of Huangnan County, is Li Gongde's favorite student. This official position is very sincere. Xu Beizhi went to Huang Nan. Even if the former students of the Li family don't know how to support him, they can't help him. It’s not going to cause trouble. But it’s ridiculous not to drive in Lingzhou. I know better than anyone that the Master Jinglue is waiting for that kid from Hanlin to return home. This position is tailor-made for his son. It is reasonable to become the governor of Lingzhou in the future. In the middle, if it were someone else, even if it was Xu Beizhi, whom I knew very highly, he would be doomed to fail. But to be honest, it would be fine if Hanlin was promoted from the army to the deputy general of Lingzhou in the future and then moved to the general, or the county magistrate should not be the governor. Regardless of the way, I'm happy to see it come to fruition. No matter how unkind I am, how can I have no selfishness towards Hanlin? Uncle Li, you are still a little petty."
Xu Xiao stooped forward and said with a smile: "The size of the layout is not static. It may be helpful to have a wider vision after being promoted, but it is still not as good as some people's natural layout. It’s just that he is suitable for this position. After all, it’s not for Li Gongde’s pettiness, he wouldn’t be able to get to where he is today. Speaking of this, Dad will talk about some experiences. Many people may not be doing well right now. Okay, but you still have to be more patient, don't talk about others, just like your father, you didn't have the kindness you have now, before you joined the army, you fought against the market's Qingpi every day, and later became a school lieutenant , and never thought that one day I would be on an equal footing with those unattainable temple elders, and when I begged for money and food from them, I still didn't have a lot of face left, and I just didn't kneel down. Among them Even the old brothers who left Liaodong with those gangs, Dad never said a word."
Xu Fengnian nodded.
Xu Xiao laughed out loud without warning, and said with relief, "Just now I saw you and Li Gongde pushing the grindstone, fighting with each other while drinking, and Dad is really happy just thinking about it."
Xu Fengnian rolled his eyes, sighed, and laughed at himself: "In the end, I still didn't get the governor of Shouling Prefecture, and I was still worried about how to go to see Xu Beizhi. Just now I made a vow and spoke boldly with this guy, but in the end, it was winter, and I turned around." He took a large basin of cold water and poured it on his head."
Xu Xiao smiled even more happily, "How about going to Xu Beizhi's place for you to support the scene?"
Xu Fengnian shook his head and said: "Forget it, you go back to Liangzhou first, I will definitely rush back to eat the New Year's Eve dinner, and before the next year and the border military parade, I will be here honestly as a general of Lingzhou to scare people. It shouldn't be long before I go back to Qingliang Mountain after the matter in Lingzhou."
Xu Xiao nodded, and walked out of the gate of Li Mansion, Xu Xiao said with a playful smile: "Being implicated by your boy, Li Chengzhen's girl hid in the screen wall, and she didn't call out when she saw my uncle, so you didn't look back Have a look?"
Xu Fengnian didn't turn his head, he sent Xu Xiao to the carriage outside the house, and gave him a hard look.
Yuan Zuozong was riding a horse to protect the driver, Xu Fengnian raised his head and said: "Second brother Yuan, don't let Xu Xiao drink too much on the way, I'm really hungry, let him drink at most, no more."
It was rare for Yuan Zuozong to have the leisure and elegance not to sternly tell jokes, Crouching Cane raised his eyebrows, looked towards the carriage and asked, "Father, who should Zuo Zong listen to in this matter?"
The old man in the carriage laughed and said, "From now on, you will always listen to him."