Seeing the look of surprise on Guan Pingsheng's face, Liu Tongxun smiled dumbly, and said softly: "This official naturally doesn't dare to say anything more to the cabinet order, it's just that this person is so important, but this official found that the cavalry escorted along the way was only a few dozen horses, which was inevitably too few, and it would be dangerous if he encountered the Russians——"

"What? Has the Russian threat developed to this point? ”

Guan Pingsheng was suddenly a little surprised, he looked at the countless laborers here, and said softly: "But the lower officials see that this place is still in full swing, and it is not dangerous!" ”

After Liu Tongxun heard this, he did not rush to explain, but first sent someone to settle Guan Pingsheng's group, and even those carriages were placed in a very well-guarded courtyard, and strictly ordered no one to enter, only then did he find Guan Pingsheng, took Guan Pingsheng's hand and walked to the camp.

I saw that in a room in the camp, tables, chairs and benches had been placed at this time, and there were several small dishes on the table, all of which were ordinary dishes in the northwest, and there was a pot of tea on the side of the table, which looked quite simple.

Liu Tongxun hurriedly arched his hand and said: "Brother Er Chun, just now because of official business, so I can't recognize each other, but now that I'm here, it's so good that the younger brother can be regarded as a landlord, and I ask Brother Er Chun not to mind." ”

As soon as he heard Liu Tongxun mention his words, Guan Pingsheng was suddenly a little surprised, he hurriedly returned the salute, and said in a clear voice: "Don't dare to disturb Brother Liu, it's just that the younger brother has some questions, has Brother Liu ever had a friendship with the younger brother?" But the younger brother can't remember it anymore, so please don't blame Brother Liu. ”

Liu Tongxun changed his previous seriousness, but invited Guan Pingsheng to take a seat with a smile on his face, and then said softly: "Brother Er Chun, you don't have to be polite, just call me Yanqing." If you want to talk about the relationship between the two of us, I really haven't seen it in the past, but I have heard the name of Brother Er Chun from Director Wang. ”

Guan Pingsheng suddenly came to his senses in an instant, and said with a smile: "I see, but I almost forgot that Director Wang and Brother Yanqing were friends in the same year, and I didn't hide it from Brother Yanqing, the younger brother was originally in the Ministry of Finance, and it was a Langzhong under Director Wang?" Later, he was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs because of chance? Only today did I see Brother Yanqing. ”

The two have been a lot warmer so far, when they talk about some of the past events in Nanjing? It adds a bit of sympathy to each other? And what made Liu Tongxun feel a little surprised was that for this simple banquet to the extreme? Guan Pingsheng didn't seem to mind at all, and still gulped down.

Liu Tongxun smiled? Pick up a pair of chopsticks and wild vegetables? put it in his mouth and chewed it carefully, and then sighed: "The wild vegetables are really a little bitter, and with this tea, it is indeed a lot more bitter, it is rare that Brother Er Chun can still take care of my face." ”

Hear Liu Tongxun say that? Guan Pingsheng put down his chopsticks? He got up seriously and said, "The younger brother has only eaten a few bites, but Brother Yanqing has been here for more than two months, which is really deserved." ”

Liu Tongxun laughed out loud, he got up and grabbed Guan Pingsheng's arm and asked him to sit down? Cai said proudly: "Wild vegetables are bitter, but they can't withstand the man's heart of making contributions?" When I have made a contribution to planning a new city here, I can enter the center five years ahead of schedule? This bit of suffering is naturally insignificant. ”

Guan Pingsheng was a little strange when he heard this, he still thought that Liu Tongxun stayed here for the sake of the people? But now listen to what he says? It's more like a utilitarian heart for personal gain? Thinking of this, my heart suddenly felt a little weird.

Liu Tongxun saw Guan Pingsheng's strange face, so he explained directly, but this time Guan Pingsheng suddenly realized, what he didn't expect was that there were so many things to say as a local official now.

Since Dachu carried out the imperial examination reform and government reform, the logic of being an official is completely different from before, many people find it difficult to get promoted, and many of the so-called 'common sense' in the past have now been completely reversed.

Just to give an example, in the past, everyone hoped to be able to enter the center as an official, after all, the Son of Heaven was promoted quickly, especially when the key ministry cabinet yamen, the promotion was as easy as drinking water, and it was also very noble, especially like being the previous Hanlin official, it was the basic requirement for entering the cabinet.

However, in today's Great Chu, this so-called common sense is completely invalid, because in the current Great Chu official system, promotion is bound to the imperial examination, that is, the process of examination-becoming an official-re-examination-and then promotion, and in this process, all central officials belong to the transfer of officials, which means very simply, those who are promoted from the local government to the central government cannot be promoted, and those who are assigned from the central government to the local government cannot be promoted.

Under what circumstances can you be promoted? That is, when you are an official at the grassroots level, after the expiration of the term of office and no major mistakes, you will be transferred to the provincial government level as an official, and then after the expiration of the term of office, you will be delegated to the same level, so that if the local term meets the requirements, you can only carry out the promotion imperial examination, and if you only have local experience, there is no provincial government level experience, and you cannot start the promotion imperial examination at all.

By analogy, when the official character reaches a certain stage, it also needs to be tempered in the local and central areas to complete the resume, otherwise it is impossible to directly carry out the promotion imperial examination.

Therefore, in this process, it is actually very difficult for officials to be promoted, because just a satisfactory resume can kill many people, and the key element is not the experience of the center, the key is the achievements made at the local level, the more amazing the local political achievements, the easier it is to meet the promotion requirements.

Guan Pingsheng has been serving in the center in the past, and because he is in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he does not have much local experience, and he knows very little about the twists and turns in it - of course, it is precisely because Guan Pingsheng has no local performance experience, so his official character has never risen, and he will not have the opportunity to enter the cabinet in the future.

On the contrary, Liu Tongxun has an amazing local resume at the moment, and has also held important positions in the center for a period of time, so he is now promoted even faster than Peng Qifeng, Wu Jingzi and Wang Youdun, and has a better chance of entering the cabinet.

Liu Tongxun showed a wry smile on his face, and he said softly: "The matter of building a city in Hami is even more difficult than I thought before, this time eating wild vegetables is not for show, but because the money and grain cost to build the city is too great, but the northwest is poor, and I can only rely on the central appropriation, otherwise I can only continue to eat this bitter herb——"

When he said this, Liu Tongxun looked at Guan Pingsheng fixedly, and said softly: "Brother Er Chun doesn't know, the difficulty of the border land is definitely not something that can be said in a word, especially if those adults can't come in person, they can only change the way and let them know the situation here." ”

Guan Pingsheng smiled dumbly, and immediately understood Liu Tongxun's thoughts, it was nothing more than that he was worried that the people in the imperial court would really forget about him in the northwest - where do you want any money and food? is obviously borrowing his mouth to tell those adults in the court, but don't forget his Liu Tongxun's exploits.

"Brother Yanqing, I am just a small deputy director of the Far East Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and I really can't get into the hall of elegance, even if I return to Nanjing in the future, I am afraid that it will be difficult to even see the side of adults."

It's not that Guan Pingsheng deliberately took care of anything, he knows his own situation, he is just an errand runner on weekdays, and he doesn't have much right to speak, so he can't help Liu Tongxun at all.

Liu Tongxun shook his head, poured a cup of tea again, and then sighed: "If it is an ordinary time, there is naturally no need to mention it, but Brother Er Chun, you have a heavy responsibility at this time, protecting the noble person back to Beijing, if you can be on the road, so that the noble person can see one or two scenes, maybe things will be different in the future, no matter what, it is always a reason." ”

However, Liu Tongxun's words made Guan Pingsheng suddenly vigilant, and he said coldly: "Lord Liu, then you are wrong, neither the Cabinet nor the Privy Council will allow me to stay too much in the middle, let alone let that person contact other people-do you want me to die?" ”

"Brother Er Chun, this is a bad word."

Liu Tongxun didn't care about the change in Guan Pingsheng's attitude at all, he smiled slightly, and said: "I naturally won't let Brother Er Chun take risks for me, in fact, this matter is extremely simple, at the moment, Brother Er Chun is only doing dozens of horses, there are more or less risks in Hami, I can send more people to protect the convoy, and when the time comes, when they arrive in the capital, they will naturally be able to tell the adults in Hami about the situation in the capital." ”

Guan Pingsheng's mentality relaxed slightly, and said with a wry smile: "Brother Yanqing, is it possible that there are really Russians in this place of Hami?" ”

"That's right, in fact, just today, we have sent out a team of men to see if we can fish out the Russians who are still in Hami."

Liu Tongxun drank the tea in front of him very simply, with a little murderous aura in his eyes.

......

In Hami to build a city, it is naturally impossible to conjure up a large number of materials out of thin air, especially like grain, and can only rely on the support of the rest of the northwest provinces, so in the hundreds of miles from Hami to Anxi Prefecture, there are several material stations of the Fu Han army, and a large number of transporters are transporting the materials of the two places.

Therefore, at this time in this desolate northwest frontier, there is an armed transport team advancing, a team of thousands of people pushing hundreds of carts, is marching with difficulty, and at both ends of the team there are a hundred Fu Han troops, they are riding horses, escorting the carts all the way to Hami.

"One-two-one, one-two-one, hey, the big guys!"

"One-two-one, one-two-one, rush to Hami to eat mutton!"

"Brothers, pull hard, work together to push the cart!"

Thousands of people roared and pushed the carts, shouting at the horses all the way to push and pull, and everyone's faces turned red, but they all looked high-spirited, and they didn't seem to need to be urged at all.

Only a small part of them are peasants in the vicinity, and most of them are strong men in the armed farms, because they have been divided into a large amount of land in Hami, so every household is obliged to participate in the armed transportation and provide logistical support for the construction of the city in Hami on the front line.

Of course, not everyone wants to come to participate in the armed transportation, after all, there is still a war on the Hami side, and many people only think about their wives and children after dividing the land, and no one is willing to sacrifice their lives and blood and sweat for Emperor Ning.

But since the Cabinet issued a document, all the orders have been carried out, and everyone knows one thing, that is, if they do not participate in the transportation mission of the armed farm organization, then the fields will be taken back, and the farms will be evicted at that time - so no one dares to desert in the face of such military orders.

In today's Dachu conscription order, all conscription is based on the principle of proximity, that is to say, most of the farmers who participated in the construction of the city in Hami this time were landless peasants from several northern provinces in the past, and after experiencing last year's famine, they are now divided into land, and they are all very well-behaved and honest, and they dare not blow up thorns at all.

Of course, among these people, it is not completely without exceptions, among them there is a Sichuan man who has frequently aroused everyone's attention, his name is Liu Laosi, because according to normal conscription or immigration, it is impossible for him to come to the northwest, basically to the south, but this Liu Laosi has become the only Sichuan person among the people.

"Turtle son, which one is so big in this sun........ I'm dead! ”

Liu Laosi was pushing the car hard, while muttering softly, but his appearance caused the other men next to him to laugh, they looked at Liu Laosi, and laughed loudly: "Old Liu, I can help you push, but you have to marry your girl to me!" ”

Everyone knows that Liu Laosi is not alone in the northwest, but with a wife and two daughters of his own, and these two daughters are very smart, so when the men of those farms know about it, they are courteous in front of Lao Liu Tou every day.

However, after Liu Laosi heard the jokes of others, he glanced at everyone with disdain, and then said proudly: "You rough people also want to marry my daughter?" Dream on! My daughter is going to marry a scholar in the future! ”

Hearing what Lao Liu Tou said more than once, everyone just laughed, and no one continued to care, in their opinion, the word scholar was too far away from them farmers.

Even Liu Laosi a few years ago, did not dare to have this kind of extravagant hope, it was really when he was in his hometown in Sichuan, life was too poor, and he could only make a living as a tenant for the landlord's family, and the annual grain was only enough to barely eat half of the family, and he still owed a lot of foreign debts.

However, since the reform of the New Deal in Dachu, especially after the rent reduction and interest reduction order, Liu Laosi's life has been visibly improved, and later after the implementation of the armed farm plan, Liu Laosi, as a landless peasant, gritted his teeth and took his family to join the armed farm in the northwest, and also allocated 80 acres of land in Hami, and did not have to pay rent for the first three years.

For Liu Laosi at this time, life is finally coming to an end.