The full name of the Salt and Iron Division is the Salt and Iron Transshipment Division, which has a very high status in the Jin Kingdom, and the salt tax has become the largest head of military expenditure and fiscal revenue.

Zhang Wenying was a judge of the Salt and Iron Division, and had previously served as a supervisor in Fengxian Yanchi and had dealt with Han Yu.

He warmly invited Han Yu to sit down, poured him tea again, and said with a smile: "This time, the Salt and Iron Division recommended you to serve as the county commander of Lucheng County, Cangzhou, hoping that you can overcome difficulties and make the 200,000 mu salt field in Lucheng run as soon as possible." ”

"That's why I came to Judge Zhang, what happened in Lucheng County that caused the county order to stay for a short time?" Han Yu asked puzzled.

Zhang Wenying was a little embarrassed: "This matter should be told to you by the officials, since they don't want to say it, I can only say it, after the Jin State occupied Cangzhou, Lucheng County changed three county orders, of which the first county commander died in office, the second and third county commanders resigned, and they refused to do it anymore, and the other county officials were also messing around, and they didn't care about anything, resulting in the highest yield of the salt fields in Lucheng County, and so far no salt has been produced." ”

"How can you die in office?" Han Yu asked in horror.

"The result of the investigation is that the people were accidentally injured during the fight, it was just an accident, not a deliberate murder, the local people are fierce, and the interests involved in Yantian are complicated, so it is difficult to deal with them, so the two county commanders resigned and left."

"I don't understand, aren't all Yantian official fields? How can there still be complex interests? ”

Zhang Wenying sighed and said: "Most of it is official land, and a small part of private land, and the salt produced by private land is also sold to the salt and iron supervisor according to ten wen per bucket, and the problem lies in tens of thousands of acres of private salt fields, which belong to several major families, but the property rights have been defined chaotically, so they have been fighting for more than ten years, and almost all the people in the county have been caught in these families." ”

"If they don't start work, what will these people eat?"

"Here's the problem, from last year to now, the government has been helping them, and the two county magistrates want to change the status quo, but in the end they all ended hastily, so they can only resign and leave."

Han Yu pondered for a moment, and finally made up his mind, "Then I'll try it!" ”

...........

Han Yu went through the formalities in the Ministry of Officials the next day, and left Chang'an on the same day and took an old family member to Cangzhou, Hebei Province to take office.

Four days later, Han Yu unexpectedly encountered the triumphant army of King Jin at Pujin Pass.

Pujin Pass pulled up a chain bridge to connect the two banks of the Yellow River, the army passed through the chain bridge, and thousands of people stood at the bridgeheads on both sides, waiting for the army to cross the river.

Guo Song was surrounded by dozens of autographs, and slowly passed the chain bridge on horseback, and some people at the bridgehead recognized the king of Jin and immediately cheered together.

Guo Song stepped forward and waved to the people, but he unexpectedly saw Han Yu standing in front of the crowd, Guo Song had seen Han Yu once when he met with the imperial examination scholars last year, and he still remembered it more clearly.

Guo Song felt a little strange in his heart, why is Han Yu here?

He asked his soldiers to find Han Yu forward, and Han Yu stepped forward and bowed to salute, "Xiaguan Han Yu see His Royal Highness the King of Jin!" ”

"I remember that you were the county lieutenant of Fengxian, why are you here?" Guo Song asked puzzled.

"Back to His Royal Highness, the Salt and Iron Division recommended the lowly post to serve as the commander of Lucheng County, and the lowly post has been appointed by the Ministry of Officials and went to Lucheng County to take office."

"Lucheng County?"

Of course, Guo Song knew about Lucheng County, which is the largest county in Cangzhou, north to the mouth of the Zhangshui River, which is today's Tanggukou in Tianjin, and the entire county is almost saline-alkali land, and it is also the largest salt-producing area in Cangzhou.

There are three large salt farms in this county, of which the two salt farms in the north belong to the Salt and Iron Division, which can operate normally and produce salt, but the third salt field in the south belongs to the local salt farms, which belongs to Cangzhou and Lucheng County, which is very troublesome, and the contradictions between the government and the people are intensifying.

In such a troublesome place, Guo Song didn't know why the Salt and Iron Division recommended the young and inexperienced Han Yu to serve as the county commander, but since the Ministry of Officials had already decided, he didn't have much to say.

He asked, "How many people do you bring to office?" ”

Han Yu was a little embarrassed and said: "There is no staff in the humble position, and I only bring an old family member." ”

Guo Song then remembered that generally officials who are county officials will be officials for at least ten years before they will have their own staff and entourage, like Han Yu only came out last year, and basically has no financial resources.

He summoned Yang Jun up and said to him: "This Han County Commander is going to Lucheng County to take office, it is not peaceful over there, you take fifty brothers to follow him for half a year, assist him in stabilizing the situation in Lucheng County, and come back with a heavy reward!" ”

Yang Jun bowed down and said, "Obey the order!" ”

Guo Song arranged for Han Yu to join the army with two experienced staff, and Han Yu was very moved in his heart and bowed down again and again to thank him.

"Go ahead! Lucheng County should be stabilized as soon as possible, and the Zhanghe Port in the north should be put into use as soon as possible. ”

"Obey the order!"

Han Yu bowed deeply, said goodbye and left, and everyone rode horses and followed eastward.

Guo Song led the army to continue westward, and that afternoon, the army finally returned to Chang'an, where it was warmly welcomed by the people of Chang'an singing and dancing.

...........

Returning to the Jin Palace to reunite with his family, the family was overjoyed, naturally there is no need to elaborate, Guo Song rested at home for three days, and early on the fourth day, Guo Song came to the official room to deal with government affairs as usual.

There are more than 20 important documents piled up on the table waiting for his approval, Lu Lun, who has joined the army in the record office, has already compiled the catalog, Guo Song flipped through it, and extracted the detailed rules of the imperial examination plan from it, which is also a relatively urgent document at present, and he needs to approve it as soon as possible.

Guo Song said to Lu Lun: "Go and invite Du Sima and Pan Changshi!" ”

Now Du You and Pan Liao are equivalent to his left and right ministers, and basically important government affairs are discussed with the two of them.

After a while, Pan Liao and Du You hurried over.

The two and Guo Song greeted each other, Guo Song invited the two to sit down, raised the details of the imperial examination plan in his hand and said: "I have probably read the imperial examination plan once, last year we admitted one hundred and sixteen people, and we have special care for some children of southern families, but this year's report does not mention it, why?" ”

Pan Liao bowed slightly and said: "There are actually still some this year, but this plan is only implemented in the admission stage, it is a report written separately, and it has not yet come out. ”

Guo Song nodded, "I think I am still preparing to admit 100 people this year, but there are less than 60,000 applicants this year, which is much less than last year." ”

Du You said on the side: "Your Highness, although the total number of people is a little less, the number of people participating in the Jinshi Department is still the same as last year, so the number of Jinshi admissions has not decreased, considering that this year's Wei State is needed, a large number of low-level officials are needed, and the number of admissions in the Ming Jingke is also the same as last year." ”

Guo Song smiled again and asked, "How did you think of letting my father-in-law be the main exam?" ”

"This year, Senior Minister Xue took the initiative to bring it up, and several official doctors also said that he was in good health and could bear it, in addition, we also arranged five deputy examiners, also to reduce the burden on Senior Minister Xue, in fact, he, the chief examiner, just scored the papers in the final stage, basically not too hard."

Guo Song immediately put up a pen to approve the imperial examination plan, he put down the pen again, and asked Du Youdao: "There is one more thing, I met Han Yu, the lieutenant of Fengxian County, on the way to Beijing, he went to Lucheng County, Cangzhou to take office, to be honest, I don't understand it a little, he has only been out of office for a year, why did he become a county magistrate?" ”

Du You smiled and said: "He is the county lieutenant of Chixian County, Gyeonggi, which is equivalent to Shangxian County, and Lucheng County is the lower county of more than 1,000 households. ”

'Picked up a bargain? ’

Guo Song smiled and said, "That's not a reason!" ”

"Of course, this is not a reason, in fact, it is the Salt and Iron Division that strongly recommends him, when he was in Fengxian County, he successfully dealt with a number of salt workers' troubles, and the Salt and Iron Division spoke highly of him, and the Salt and Iron Division believed that the salt workers in Lucheng County had not handled the trouble well for three officials, and I believe he could handle it well."

"So the Ministry of Officials accepted the recommendation of the Salt and Iron Division and arranged for a person who had been talented for one year to serve as the county commander?"

Pan Liao next to him said: "Your Highness, going to Lucheng County is by no means a good errand, if you don't do it, you will die, or lose your career, all officials know the risks involved, and no one envies him." ”

"I gave him a little bit of manpower."

Guo Song said lightly: "I hope he can handle it well!" ”

After speaking, Guo Song temporarily put down Han Yu's matter, and said to the two of them: "Next, the focus of government affairs is to run Hebei, to conduct a thorough investigation of all the officials in Hebei, I don't care who these officials were loyal to before, this is not important, the important thing is talent and virtue, find out those officials who are corrupt and bend the law, and find out the mediocre officials, I will give you three months, and after three months, the officials in Hebei prefectures and counties will be thoroughly rectified." ”

Pan Liao and Du You nodded, "We will do our best to do this well!" ”