Longdu Mansion is equivalent to Yanjing City in Hebei Province, Longdu Mansion has one prefecture and six counties, and one prefecture city is Longdu City, which is divided into one hundred and eight squares and one imperial city, and the six counties are Longyang County, Mishan County, Yi County, Chechi County, Wuguan County, and Ping'an County. Zhang Xiaowu arrived at the first stop of Longdu and came to Ping'an County, Longdu Prefecture.

Zhang Xiaowu saw the three words of Ping'an County from afar, and laughed in his heart, because he thought of Li Yunlong, the story of Li Yunlong leading his troops to attack Ping'an County, and the most famous words: "Second battalion commander, bring Lao Tzu's Italian artillery." "And this Ping'an County is naturally not Ping'an County, the reason why Ping'an County in Longdu Prefecture got its name is because it is the base camp of the Qinglong Army. The four base camps of the forbidden army, the base camp of the Qinglong Army is in Ping'an County on the east side of Longdu Prefecture, the base camp of the White Tiger Army is in Wuguan County on the west side of Longdu Mansion, the base camp of the Vermilion Bird Army is in Longyang County on the south side of Longdu Mansion, and the base camp of the Xuanwu Army is in Mishan County on the north side of Longdu Mansion.

Although the Qinglong Army was defeated, the headquarters of the Qinglong Army was still there, the battlefield was quite extensive, and there were many industries attached to the Qinglong Army in Ping'an County. Most of Zhang Xiaowu's subordinates were from the Qinglong Army, so after arriving in Ping'an County, some of the guards immediately approached Zhang Xiaowu, hoping to go home.

Zhang Xiaowu naturally allowed it and gave them three days off, but half of the guards left, Xia Ming was afraid that someone would be unfavorable to Zhang Xiaowu, he laughed: "Just us people, if someone is unfavorable to me, they can't protect me." By the way, you can also go home. ”

Xia Ming was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head with a wry smile and said, "I have already let people report that I died in the north." ”

Zhang Xiaowu said: "You are obviously still alive, but what about your wife, children and parents?" You're so dead, what are they going to do? Your wife is a widow for you, and your parents are white-haired and weeping? Stupidity! ”

Xia Ming hesitated for a long time before saying, "My parents live in Longdu City, if they fall to Longdu City, I will go back to visit." ”

Zhang Xiaowu took out a silver ticket and said, "Here is a thousand taels of silver, you take it, count the salary I gave you in advance, and transfer it to your family." You tell them again, now that you are an official in the Ghost Guard, guarding the border defense of the Northern Imperial Inuyi, and the original assassination of Li Gaotu was completed by you and me. ”

Xia Ming was moved, and his silver ticket was silent.

Zhang Xiaowu patted him on the shoulder, and then ordered to live in Ping'an County for the time being.

Since there is no post station in Ping'an County, everyone found an inn to live in, and because there are often high-ranking officials passing by Ping'an County, there is a larger inn here, which can accommodate more than 100 people at the same time, Zhang Xiaowu rented this inn called Gaosheng. But soon, the owner of the Gaosheng Inn knew who the guest was, and it turned out to be the famous ghost general Zhang Xiaowu, who hurriedly came to visit.

The innkeeper is a local expert and a clever person, and invited Zhang Xiaowu to drink, but Zhang Xiaowu was disrespectful, so he inquired about the recent situation of the Qinglong Army with him while eating and drinking.

The innkeeper said that after the defeat of the Qinglong Army, many families in Ping'an County wore linen and filial piety, and some workshops and shops attached to the Qinglong Army also had to close down, so Ping'an County was suddenly depressed. Now that the plague is rampant, people are even more panicked, and there are very few people who come and go to do business, except for some candidates who go to Beijing to catch the exam, they are people who run for officials.

"What is a running officer?" Zhang Xiaowu asked.

The innkeeper didn't answer, Ruan Qingwen replied first: "The so-called running official is to go to the official department to find help, our Shenghan official rank has a total of seventeen levels, from the first rank, from the first grade, from the second grade, from the third grade, from the third grade, from the fourth grade, from the fifth grade, from the sixth grade, from the sixth grade, from the seventh grade, from the eighth grade, from the eighth rank and the ninth grade. There are six people in Zhengyipin, namely the left prime minister, the right prime minister, the Taishi, the Taifu, the generalissimo of the soldiers and horses, and the prince of the supervising country, and there are twelve people from the first product, namely the eight Shangshu, the king of Qin, the king of Jin, the king of Zhao, and the king of Qi, but these four kings will not be easily rewarded. After that, there were more officials, and I will not list them all, but the rule of the Shenghan officialdom is that officials below the eighth rank are appointed by the governors of various places, officials from the third rank to the eighth rank are appointed by the Ministry of Officials, and the officials above the third rank are appointed by the Holy Lord and supervised by the Senate. ”

Zhang Xiaowu asked with a smile: "This senate is quite a lot in charge." ”

The innkeeper poured wine for Zhang Xiaowu and the others, and said: "If the saint trusts the traitor one day, and casually appoints a high-ranking official to a drama that makes him happy, the Senate will naturally not agree." I heard a joke that there is a country on the sea east of Qingzhou called Fusang, and the emperor of Fusang is the empress. After the little white face became a general, he became an executioner, killed all the people who opposed him in the past, made all his friends officials, and even made his cats and dogs high-ranking officials. Are you ridiculous? ”

Ruan Qingwen said: "So the Senate was set up to prevent the Holy Lord from making wrong decisions, and there is no Senate in Fusang Country, so there will be shocking jokes." ”

"Therefore, those who run for official positions are local officials below the third rank and above the eighth grade, who want to be promoted or want to enter Beijing or want to be transferred to a rich place, and come to the capital to find a backer, so that they can assist in the transfer. For example, the salt officials in Yangzhou and the agricultural officials in Hangzhou are all first-class and profitable officials in the world. Ruan Qingwen said, "So there are many people who want to go to these two places to be officials, not to mention being a seven-grade county magistrate in Hangzhou, or being a nine-grade magistrate, which is more money than being a county magistrate in Bingzhou." Many officials searched the local area for the people's fat and people's ointment, and then used the people's fat and people's ointment to go to Beijing to give gifts and money, trying to become higher officials and loot more people's fat and people's ointment. ”

Zhang Xiaowu said angrily: "These damn dog officials! ”

The innkeeper smiled dumbly, and said in his heart that you are also officials, why are you still scolding officials.

Ruan Qingwen said: "This is the case in all dynasties, the general has been in the army for a long time, and the border army has always paid attention to military merits rather than running for officials, so it is normal to be angry." ”

Zhang Xiaowu shook his head and said: "No, it's the same in the army, don't talk about others, I have also given gifts to officials." ”

Ruan Qingwen said: "So giving gifts has never been an unspeakable thing, you give gifts in order to be able to better kill the enemy, and the people who run for officials give gifts in order to be able to scavenge more people's fat and ointment." He thought of something again, and suddenly smiled: "But on the way to give gifts, there are often some accidents, such as being robbed of money by gangsters, and being killed by gangsters running away from the official team." In order to run for official positions smoothly, some people also send several teams in real and real cases, which is very interesting. ”

The innkeeper said: "But in Ping'an County, there are no gangsters and robbers, the Qinglong Army is stationed here, and those robbers have ten guts, and they dare not rob here." ”