Beiliang Palace was covered with intentionally upside-down blessings. The New Year's Eve dinner was very simple, just eating dumplings. Brothers Xu Fengnian and Xu Longxiang brought Xu Beizhi and Chen Xiliang together to cook and make dumplings. Wang Chudong and those women were useless. After dinner, Xu Fengnian asked two counselors to accompany Xu Xiao to chat, and he went to the Lengqing Mausoleum by himself. After returning, a large group of people sat in the Indus courtyard to watch the new year, having a good time. , I went to the temporary house to light up the lamp at night to read the piled up mountains of spy reports. Chen Xiliang brought the little girl from Beiliang, and she was already asleep in her arms. Xu Fengnian asked him to take the little girl back to rest first. Chen Xiliang didn't insist. Half hugged and half supported, he left Wutong Courtyard. When Xu Fengnian returned to the hospital again, Xu Weixiong had already gone to the neighboring house to deal with important military matters, only Xu Beizhi, a foreigner, and Xu Xiao, an old guy who had been to Dazhu, Guowu and General, were left. Xu Beizhi was not stage-frightened when he was asking the young man about the state of being an official, and Xu Xiao nodded his head frequently, convinced that it was true. After Xu Fengnian took his seat, Juzi had already raised the level from the nineteenth level to the sixteenth level, and could not be entangled His Royal Highness, Xu Beizhi had no choice but to recount it roughly, relying on the shadow of his ancestors to get rich, lying on the genealogy to be a petty official, a grandson official. Those who only call out and never get involved are called toad officials. Vicious and cunning, bullying the weak and fearing the hard, bowing his head when he sees the powerful, growling when he sees the people, he is a dog official. Following the rules and regulations, the corpse is a vegetarian, and the benefits are unambiguous, but they don't know how to avoid disasters, so they are called corpse officials. Xu Fengnian asked with a smile what kind of state the subordinate officials in Lingzhou are at present, Xu Beizhi replied that they are fox officials, because foxes pretend to be tigers and are good at observing words and demeanor. Xu Fengnian asked back, were those county magistrates and school lieutenants with real power who instigated the acceptance of the subordinate staff and set off a cloudy storm, were they tiger officials? Xu Beizhi smiled and nodded. He also added that above the tiger officials are the ghost officials. They do bad things and make troubles behind the scenes, but the common people who live in seclusion and don't know the details still think they are honest officials. This is the most powerful of the first fourteen floors.
Xu Fengnian continued to ask: "Then Zhong Cheng, the prefect of Longqing County, which floor is he thinking?"
"Zhong Chengxin is located on the fifteenth floor. In my opinion, there is nothing easier than being an official. Don't be greedy or take possession, follow a step-by-step approach. There are aides and Qingke to provide advice and advice to rectify the situation. It doesn't matter if you are a hand-off shopkeeper and only care about the wind and the moon. , no major merits and no major faults, and generally live in peace with the common people."
"Then Wang Xihua, the meritorious Cao of Huangnan County?"
"Government affairs are mediocre, but the reputation is excellent. I have never been greedy or cruel. I will do my best to help if there is good government and good deeds. To the next, treat the people as if they were their own. This is what ordinary people want most. Officials are on the sixteenth floor. Their success depends on whether the master is wise. Bending down, picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence. It’s not that they don’t want to be officials, but because they don’t have the ability to turn the tide. A few well-known poems are enough. Many civil servants in the book who are highly praised by later generations do not understand the general situation. What they do does not help the situation in the world. The emperor, let them succeed. If they are cunning kings, especially those with small minds, just a little bit of trickery can make them depressed for a lifetime. From Xu Beizhi's point of view, Wang Xihua is not suitable to be the governor of Huangnan County , but Guozijian Huan Wen kept a low profile in the officialdom and studied for a few years with peace of mind. When the time is right, he will be a blockbuster."
"What kind of official is the new Lingzhou Biejia Song Yan who is about to become your assistant?"
"The sixteenth floor, competent officials. They are not very good at gaining fame, but their methods of gaining officialdom are not bad. The point is that they can manage the jurisdiction well. The trend of the pattern other than officials, but in fact, the heart is for the common people, but this kind of people are destined to achieve a certain rank in the officialdom, unless they meet the nobles in the temple, otherwise they will be unable to move forward. Ordinary people with short-sighted family backgrounds may have to scold these officials a few times when they are in office, but in fact throughout the ages, many actions that will benefit generations and generations are all made by officials of this generation."
Xu Xiao, who had been silent all this time, peeled a yellow tangerine, and asked with a soft smile, "Bei Zhi, then you can comment on Li Gongde."
Xu Beizhi still said bluntly: "It's not as good as an upright official, it's greedy and greedy, it's not as good as a capable official, and it can do things well. Generally speaking, it can take care of both ends, and it can be regarded as a good official. Mr. Jinglueshi is already the leader of this level of officials. , If it wasn't for the slightly narrow stomach, I could have gone up to the next level. With the talent of a prime minister but not the attitude of a prime minister, it is okay to serve as an economic envoy in Beiliang. event."
Xu Xiao nodded, handed the peeled oranges to Xu Fengnian, and said, "In this way, Bi Yan'er can be regarded as the mainstay of a dynasty's ruler. Pattern. Is he the eighteenth or the final nineteenth?"
Xu Beizhi took half of the citrus that Xu Fengnian gave him, stuffed a piece into his mouth, and said with a smile, "Eighteen."
Xu Xiao fell into deep thought.
Xu Fengnian broke the silence, laughed loudly and said: "Xu Xiao, you really don't know what to say. After talking about eighteenth, only the nineteenth realm is left. Juzi went out of her way to leave you such a big flattery. It's good for you , the horse's head is facing our oranges, how do you let this guy flatter you?"
Xu Xiao was stunned for a moment, a little embarrassed, and smiled apologetically, "I always thought that if I survived to death, I would be at the level of a ghost officer. Bei Zhi, I'm sorry."
Xu Beizhi shook his head with a smile, and left after eating the orange.
As soon as he stepped out, a fat pig followed and rolled into the house.
Xu Fengnian immediately raised his hand and shouted: "Shut up."
The fat man swallowed back the crying that was about to blurt out, and Xu Xiao waved: "Lu Shan, sit down quickly."
Chu Lushan, who has been promoted to the second-rank Beiliang Governor, rubbed his hands with a smile, and sat down on the floor covered with earth dragons, which was not cold, and said in a low voice with guilt: "Father, this trip is with Your Highness and two The Princess has come to plead guilty. But for the Chinese New Year, Lu Qiu'er is shirtless and carries the thorns, for fear of looking too bad."
Xu Fengnian said helplessly: "As long as you know about Song Gu, there is no one smarter than you in the world. And my sister, so don't annoy others."
Chu Lushan sighed and stopped talking.
Xu Weixiong walked out of the room upon hearing the sound, and said coldly to Chu Lushan: "You are a mighty Beiliang Governor, and you are not bored with the trivial and dirty things you have done for half a decade?"
Chu Lushan shrank his neck, which was so fat and short that it was almost invisible, and he didn't dare to speak back. In fact, in the Xu family back then, the princess Xu Zhihu had always hated this fat man, but Xu Weixiong had no prejudices. Xu Weixiong turned his head and said to Xu Xiao: "Father, the level of officials that Xu Beizhi mentioned, I will use this to make a covert Beiliang official assessment sub-evaluation. It will not be made public, and I will only give it to Fengnian for reference."
Xu Xiao nodded.
Xu Fengnian asked in a low voice: "Lu Qiu'er, what heinous deed did you do to make my sister angry? Did the peregrine falcon and the falconer have a large-scale gang fight?"
Chu Lushan said awkwardly: "How dare you, it's just a joke when you are bored, it's not worth mentioning."
The more Chu Lushan kept secretive, Xu Fengnian became a little curious and asked, "Tell me."
Chu Lushan scratched his head, and whispered cautiously: "In the past, the spies in Beiliang were under the control of Lu Qiu'er, so some of your Highnesses traveled three times, and Lu Qiu'er knew something about it. When he went to Beimang for the third time, his adoptive father told me A little bit, so... "
Xu Fengnian scolded with a smile: "Fart your fart."
Chu Lushan probably realized that stretching his head with a knife and shrinking his head is also a knife, and he said it again, which made Xu Fengnian silent. It turns out that the current situation in Beiliang is vaguely turbulent and noisy. After Chu Lushan became the Protector of Beiliang, he didn't make any big moves. The more he felt that he had nothing to do, he randomly picked up a few unlucky guys and threw them into the Fushui room, which was miserably cleaned up. These guys include villagers, scholars, officials, people from the rivers and lakes, and soldiers and captains. Seven or eight of them are the kind who can't control their mouths. Hai Chui is almost virtuous, so it's okay to hear it, even if he is bumped into by his highness, he doesn't bother to care about it. But obviously Chu Lushan didn't have such a good temper, so he sent all his brains to the Fushui room, and according to Chu Lushan's unconstrained and unconstrained design, he began to make everyone's life worse than death. Among them, a villager in his prime said that Xu Fengnian, the son of Northern Liang, was so easy to be a son of Beiliang when he gathered for a drink. As a result, when I went to the Fushui room, I received more than one hundred and sixty knives every now and then. The number of knives and the severity were different each time. Keep up with the next knife. The reason why there are so many knives is that Chu Lushan did not set the rules for no reason, but according to His Royal Highness, who started practicing knives and killing people before going to Wudang Mountain. The princess's Dongyue retinue went to Luweidang to kill Jiaren, Yatoulu killed Xie Ling, was killed by Tuoba Chunfalcon, Rouran Mountains and Fifth Raccoon killed each other, and later Tiemenguan Shenwu City and Shenwu City were killed. Master Liu Hao cleaned up, wait, before Chu Lushan let Fushuifang use the knife, he told them that as long as they suffered enough, according to their different backgrounds, each of them could get one hundred thousand taels of silver and one thousand sixteen for the leader. The school lieutenants, seventh-rank officials, etc., can't make it through, let them go. In the end, without exception, no one had carried two hundred knives. The two hard-nosed Jianghu men couldn't stand the knife stabbed obliquely in the armpit and abdomen, and shouted not to be the masters of the Beiliang gang who founded the sect. This knife was Xue Duanbo'er returning the blow that Thunder Spear pierced his stomach. Among the seven or eight people, the scholars and scholars all left the stage crying for their fathers and mothers after a knife. It turned out that this villager was the most persistent, but unfortunately he still couldn't make it through in the end, because Fushuifang didn't tell him how much the knife was. It's the size, not to mention them, even the Fushui room where the execution is carried out doesn't know, only Chu Lushan knows. These people did not die in the Fushui room. After An Ran returned home, the result was that those who had mothers died with mothers, those who had no mothers were replaced by dead fathers, those with older sisters died with older sisters, and those without older sisters were replaced by younger sisters. so, some good The brothers were all broken arms and legs, and it was said afterwards that they were implicated and killed. Some scholars who value reputation have become notorious and despised hypocrites. In short, what they care about most, Chu Lushan will let them lose. Chu Lushan's ruthlessness lies in the fact that when these people were about to go crazy, the Fushuifang spies appeared in front of them and said to give them another chance, but no one was willing to agree, and then there was no more, because Chu Lushan slaughtered them .
Chu Lushan, who was sitting on the ground, looked calm and said with a soft smile: "Before they died, I told them that you used to complain about your bad background, but you lacked family background. In fact, you are not afraid of hardship at all, so I gave it to you." Chances are, the extent of His Highness's injuries in the past few years, considering His Highness's physical strength in various realms, and according to the physical strength of the person receiving the knife, the pain suffered, in Lu Qiu'er's opinion, ordinary people are actually very few, according to the order Walking down the whole trip is only three hundred and fourteen knives."
Xu Xiao threw a piece of orange into his mouth and laughed it off.
Xu Fengnian frowned and said exactly the same words as Xu Weixiong: "Aren't you bored?"
Chu Lushan raised his head, smiled brightly, and shook his head.
Xu Fengnian said flatly: "In the future, don't bother with such things that harm your morality."
Chu Lushan, who was obedient to His Royal Highness, said for the first time: "It's okay if you don't see or hear. As long as I, Chu Lushan, bump into each other, I will clean up one of them. The Fushui room is not bad. Hot hands."
Xu Fengnian turned his head, stared at Chu Lushan, and said slowly, "They are all from Beiliang."
Chu Lushan restrained his smile, raised his head and looked at the displeased His Royal Highness, "Although my surname is not Xu, I, Chu Lushan, am still part of the Xu family. I have been the adopted son of a great general all my life. Why do you recognize Beiliang or not Beiliang?"
Xu Fengnian said angrily: "Chu Lushan! I told you to stop!"
Chu Lushan clenched his fists tightly, put them on his knees, gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice, "Your Highness!"
Chu Lushan was able to get up with one hand on the ground, and when he bent over to stand up, he let out a series of hey hey laughter, and laughed at himself: "I, Chu Lushan, have a habit of cleanliness. I have to change into luxurious clothes every day. I like luxury. I have to change into horses every day. I love food. Every day the cook has to come up with new tricks. Change everything, except the master. Chu Lushan wished that all the white-eyed wolves of Beiliang who were beholden to the Xu family would know a simple truth. Possessed but lost. As long as His Royal Highness lets Chu Lushan be in power for a day, Chu Lushan will never see anyone standing and talking without back pain."
After getting up, Chu Bacha, who was amazingly talented and profound in the city, lowered his head, his eyes were red, and said slowly: "Chu Lushan's master is only the adoptive father, and he has treated His Highness since the first time he held the baby from the adoptive mother. That little boy, from the moment he smiled at Chu Lushan, he regarded him as his own younger brother!"
Xu Xiao laughed and said: "It's alright, alright, Lu Shan, you sit down for the adoptive father, what's the point of arguing with the family? But then again, it's okay to quarrel, if you speak out what's on your mind, there will be no threshold you can't pass .”
Chu Lushan sat down obediently.
Xu Fengnian walked out of the house silently and stood alone in the yard.
Xu Xiao said softly: "Lu Shan, Feng Nian is also doing it for your own good. He believes in fate and cherishes fate most of all. He is afraid that you will suffer retribution. The adoptive father has already lost three adoptive sons. When the time comes, you will die or you will die." Yuan Zuozong died on the battlefield. He felt guilty towards me as a father, but who could he talk to? He has cherished the maids in Wutong Court all these years, but he didn't dare to care too much. He was worried that one day they would because of Something happened to him..."
Hearing this, Chu Lushan hesitated to speak, Xu Xiao waved his hand and said, "Not necessarily before, but now he can bear it now. There is no way, who made him my Xu Xiao's son."
Chu Lushan punched hard on the knee.
Xu Xiao smiled and said: "The little girl in Changsheng is blessed, and the adoptive father likes it when she sees it. Now, while the adoptive father is still clear-headed and able to manage things, let's settle this baby first?"
Chu Lushan was stunned, and then saw his adoptive father take out from his sleeve a severely water-drained jade bracelet. A layman would know that it was not worth a few cents, but Chu Lushan, a villain who can stop a child from crying, suddenly Just whimpered.
Xu Xiao stood up from the chair, squatted in front of Chu Lushan, and said with emotion: "It is reasonable to say that this Xu family's family heirloom bracelet, the adoptive father is going to help your adoptive mother to hand it over to the future Beiliang Wangzhengfei, but this is not There is no such thing as a horoscope. The adoptive father thought about it for a while, and it is the same to give it to the granddaughter-in-law. You also know that among the six adopted sons, your adoptive mother actually loves you the most, saying that you are talented , simple-minded, knows how to repay kindness, and advises you to read and read more. You also know that your step-mother sheds tears very rarely. That time you helped step-father carry so many swords, and your step-mother saw you being carried on the back of a horse. Back, I cried in front of everyone, and scolded me that Xu Xiao is not a thing, and scolded me for not treating you as a son. And when you drove a thousand horses to Shu, the stepmother counted the time, and then she was on the mountain After waiting for you for several days, I was always afraid that you would not come back, so I told my adoptive father that when you have a daughter soon, you must kiss her better. I never thought that you would end up giving birth to a series of sons. Before my mother passed away, she was still thinking about this matter, saying that she might only become a grandson's wife."
Chu Lushan held the bracelet that his adoptive father gave to his adoptive mother as a token of love with both hands, and began to cry like a child.