"I didn't mention it."

"Why not?"

Huang Rong gave up his seat to the guests and said, "Do you know the royal decree of 'collecting Hu Tun Mu'? ”

Although the "collection of Hu Tunmu" was in the stage of decision-making and had not been made public, several government officials who came to Huang Rong were not high, but they all paid attention to county affairs and had the intention to show their strength in their careers, so they knew that Linghu was ordered to follow this order.

The room is cramped, and there is no single bed.

Everyone got on the couch, sat down side by side, and replied unevenly: "Yes." ”

Huang Rong said: "The prince is ready to implement this order. Right now, Fu Jun's mind is all on this. I didn't have a chance to mention that incident, and I shouldn't mention it. ”

Several officials heard the words and looked at each other.

One of them was stunned and said, "Why not? Let's talk about it for a long time! Finally, in addition to worshipping the prince of the court, he went to the county. The prince of the palace and we are both scholars, we should know our difficulties, and the prince of the palace is the hero who helped the king ascend the throne, and he is deeply trusted, so we can take this rare opportunity to beg the prince of the palace to write to the court and change the righteousness for us; The prince of the government can also have the wings of the county dynasty, expand the eyes and ears, and prevent the children of Shi and Zhang from monopolizing authority, which is the best of both worlds. "Blame Huang Rong, "It's been more than a month since the prince arrived in the county, and you, as a close minister, have not mentioned this matter so far, what do you mean!" ”

The officials often agreed.

These officials were selected by Huang Rong from many county officials in the past few years since the county government and won over his friends. He noticed their expressions, worried that he would lose his prestige among them, and said in his heart: "Among all of you, you are the only one who has repeatedly contradicted me, and now you are questioning again?" I'll have to bend your recklessness. Asked, "Have you read The Getaway?" ”

"Read."

"Zhou Yi", "Laozi", and "Zhuangzi" are all important in the world, and there is no one who has not read them.

"Kun turned into Peng, angry and flying, its wings are like clouds hanging from the sky, 'the water hits three thousand miles, and the one who sways up is ninety thousand miles', 'and then it is now Tu Nan'; …… Do you remember these words? ”

"Yes."

Huang Rong sneered and said, "You, it's the Shu and the dove." 'What do you know about the two worms'? ”

Dapeng flies to a height of 90,000 miles, and the wind is below, and then it can fly with the wind; Carrying the blue sky on its back, there was nothing to stop it, and then it could plan to fly south.

The cicada and the dove did not know the truth of this, and laughed at it and said: "I get up and fly at once, and stop when I touch a tree, and sometimes I can't fly, so I just fall to the ground, where is the need to fly up to a height of 90,000 miles and then fly so far to the south?" ”

"What do the two insects know", what do the two flying insects know?

Huang Rong compared this person to a cicada and a dove.

The man was furious, sat upright, and said, "Do you despise me?" ”

This person's name is Xiang Kui, the current county government thief Cao Shi, eight feet long, strong and brave, sitting among the officials at this time, like a flock of eagles perched on chickens, and the temperament is irritable, is a well-known reckless man in the county government, hundreds of officials in the house, no less than dozens of his fists.

Huang Rong was also afraid that he would do it, once this guy started fighting, the officials on the couch would be on the same page, and they couldn't stop him, so he quickly turned to appease him, slowed down his tone, and said: "I'm not despising you, it's really that you don't understand the king!" ”

"How do I not understand?"

"What you said in a suitable way, 'The prince of the palace and we are the same as the parables', is certainly good. But the problem is, if the monarch of the mansion is the Kunpeng who has risen to 90,000 miles! What we ask for is probably not what the prince wants. ”

Xiang Kuixin said: "It turns out that you are using Kunpeng to compare the kings of the mansion. Knowing that Huang Rongfei was not comparing himself, his anger decreased slightly, he sat down and asked, "What do you mean?" ”

"We are so different from 'soil and residence', and I guess that the prince of the house will help us, but according to my observation, the prince of the house is dedicated to the public, and he doesn't seem to care about the land and the house. If you don't believe it, it wasn't until yesterday that the prince asked me where my family was from. ”

Xiang Kui said, "Really? ”

"Isn't it!"

Huang Rong looked at everyone and said, "Gentlemen! I say that the prince of the house is the Kunpeng of high flying, not empty words. The government is diligent and pragmatic, not vain. Although you have not met with the prince of the mansion, you should have heard the wind in the mansion, all the government affairs, the monarch of the mansion has done it himself, and has never 'looked at the empty office', even if the number is sarcastically admonished by the chief bookkeeper Zhang Jun, he still does not change. ”

The officials talked a lot.

"Looking at the white office" is the fashion of the chief officials of this dynasty, the so-called "looking at the white office, is called Qinggui; Be diligent and slack, and end up stagnation and vulgarity". "Wangbai is empty" means that only the documents are signed, and no government affairs are asked. The subordinate brought the official document, and the chief official did not look at it, and with a stroke of the pen, he just drew a signature, which was so irresponsible, but he could get the praise of "pure and noble", and was evaluated by the scholars as a great tool in the future; As for those who are diligent and conscientious, they will "end up stagnate and vulgar", become the company of Han scholars, and cannot be high-ranking officials, nor can they be beautiful.

A official said: "I heard about the matter of the chief bookkeeper Zhang Jun's sarcasm and persuasion of the prince. ”

Another official said: "I have been in the county government for more than ten years, and I have served four times before and after, and the king of Xin Mansion is indeed very different from other government kings. ”

Huang Rong said again: "Also, do you know? When the prince first came to the county, the three counties of Xingchun, the counties were dedicated as usual, although the prince did not refuse, but in a blink of an eye, he used it to gamble with his subordinates, and deliberately lost. I drove from the car and saw it with my own eyes. He asked everyone, "The dedication of each county, this is customized, the government can not accept it, but it can be lost in a blink of an eye, why do you say it?" ””

Xiang Kui asked, "Why?" ”

"This shows that the monarch of the mansion has lofty intentions!" He spread his hands and asked everyone again, "The prince of the mansion has lofty intentions, and he is intended to be public, and he does not care about the difference between land and residence. You say, when this important task of 'collecting Hu Tun Shepherd' is about to be implemented, can I disturb the government with our affairs without interest? ”

The officials understood his suffering.

Xiang Kui is impatient, but he is not unreasonable, so he is silent.

A official said: "'Collecting Hu Tun herd' is not easy. Does the government have a plan? ”

Another official complained and said: "Good and dignified, how could the king have a whim and engage in a 'collection of Hu Tun herd'?" A little Hu Mu is the income of household registration, how much cattle and sheep rent tax can be obtained in a year? If the policy is not taken properly, it will provoke the rebellion of Hulu, and the gains will outweigh the losses. ”

There was only one couch in the room, and Huang Rong didn't want to crowd with everyone, so he didn't sit down.

He stood beside the desk, facing everyone, and said, "Great king, lord also." When Wang used to be the general of the Fujun army and the prince of Fuping, he went out to calm the external turmoil and control the power of the dynasty internally; I heard that he often beat the drum with his sleeves after drinking, and sang the songs of "Xuanniao" and "Yin Wu", which was majestic and majestic. With the heroism of the king, how can you care about small profits? I expect to 'collect Hutun herd',......。 ”

"Xuanniao" and "Yin Wu" are the titles of the "Book of Songs: Ode to Shang", both of which are poems in praise of Wu Ding, who recorded the story of Wu Ding's defeat of Jing Chu barbarians and submission to the princes of various places.

In the past, whenever Linghu Feng was drunk, he often sang drums and sang in public, or chanted the sentence "Heavenly Destiny Xuanniao, descended and gave birth to business", or chanted the words of "Tart Yin Wu, Fight Jing Chu", as if Wu Ding's exploits were expected, as Huang Rong said, it was generous and majestic.

Huang Rong's words were not finished, and he stopped halfway.

The officials waited for a while, but when they didn't see him speak, one of them asked, "What do you expect?" ”

Huang Rongxin said: "I don't expect that 'collecting Hu Tun Mu' is not the original intention of the king. In the end, what the king wanted was not taxes, but the army. ”

This is the conclusion he came to after many days of deliberation and guessing.

He thinks that with Linghu Feng's eloquence, how can he care about such a small profit from cattle and horse taxes? And under the premise of risking "stirring up chaos in the lives of Hu people". The fundamental purpose of Linghu's order, he judged, could only be "government first and then army", and its ultimate purpose was to "recruit Hu as a soldier".

He thought: "I have hundreds of thousands of Hu Yi in the western country, which is almost the same as the population of my Tang people, but why are there few Hu cavalry and Hu pawns in the army?" It is nothing more than because the Hu people are impermanent and are not in the household registration, so it is difficult to expropriate. Therefore, if they are included in the household registration by 'collecting Hu Tun herds', so as to change the habit of the captives who are light and difficult to treat, then the imperial court can take from them at will and use them in the territory. ”

He looked at them and thought, "This is a national policy!" If it can be done, I will determine that the western country will no longer suffer from the shortcomings of the lack of troops, and will be strong and strong, and there will be no need to defend the border from now on, but the south will attack Ranxing; Crossing the river in the east, entering and competing with Qin Yu, following the footsteps of Wuding, and conquering Zhuyi, he has made great achievements! …… This policy is very important, and the king's clear intention has not yet been revealed in the country, so I cannot speak lightly to others. ”

Facing everyone's puzzled expressions, Huang Rong said calmly: "I expect that 'collecting Hu Tunmu' must be the most important thing for the prince at the moment. ”

His words clearly did not match what he had said before.

But without waiting for everyone to doubt, Huang Rong immediately threw out the topic they were most concerned about, and said: "So, gentlemen, as long as we can help the prince of the government to handle this matter smoothly, so that the prince of the government knows our ability and attaches great importance to us, then what we ask for will not be a matter of course, and we can naturally take advantage of the situation to implore the monarch of the house, can it be realized?" ”

The officials thought so.

Xiang Kui and others are all scholars, they are not local, and the county Dazhongzheng, who is responsible for evaluating the township products of the county people, has all been born indigenous, so compared with the indigenous scholars, their career is very difficult. As mentioned above, the township products are related to the future of the scholars and officials, and all the people here are the township products obtained before entering the office, and the higher ones are similar to Xiner, five or six grades; The lower ones are only seven or eight grades. Asking themselves about their talents, they don't think they are worse than Shi Liang and Zhang Daojiang, if Huang Rong is even more self-proclaimed in the county, not Shi and Zhang can compare, but Zhang and Shi rely on their family voices to take advantage of the natives, one is three grades, one is four grades, and they are far higher than them.

Before serving as the Taishou of Jiankang County, it is not that there are no scholars, Jiankang is an overseas Chinese county, on the contrary, there are many scholars who have served as Taishou; But just as the scholars in the opposition can't compete with the indigenous scholars, the "officials" in the dynasty can't compete with the "indigenous officials", so the Zhongzheng of Jiankang County is as stable as Mount Tai and has always been controlled by the aborigines. Now that Xin Er has come to the county, the situation has changed, Xin Er is a "hero from the dragon", so Huang Rong, Xiang Kui and others are wondering, can they change the situation in the county through Xin Er?

If the county's Zhongzheng can be changed to be a scholar, it will be beneficial to the Liuyu scholars who have not determined the local quality, and it will be even more beneficial to them.

If there is no hometown product, you may be able to get a good product, etc.; Like them, who have already set a product, such as an eight-grade official, at most an eight-grade official, if they want to break through this blockage and take another step, there is no other way than to transfer the product to him in the county.

Among the officials, the younger ones are high-minded and ambitious, and the older ones are almost fifty years old, and they have been stumbling for half their lives, so they are all impatient to change the county center. But after listening to Huang Rong's analysis, he was helpless for a while, so he had to follow his proposal.

Xiang Kui asked, "What should we do to help Fu Jun handle this matter?" ”

Huang Rong said: "The prince has a plan. told everyone about Xin Er's plan of "lure", and said, "But there is a problem at present, that is, how to win the trust of Lu Shuihu." Do you have a high opinion? ”

The officials fell into thought, and for a long time, no one came up with a way.

For hundreds of years, the struggle between the Tang people and Hu Yi in the border areas has never been broken, and the contradictions are extremely fierce, and it is difficult to win the trust of Hu Yi. Huang Rong sighed: "It's really difficult! ”

The back house of the county government.

Xin Er thought about it left and right, but couldn't find a way to win Hu's trust, so he asked people to go to the military camp in the south of the city, summoned Lan Baozhang, Qi Dali, Bal Lianfan and others, told them about their troubles, and asked them: "Do you have a good plan?" ”

Bal Lian Fan said: "It's easy. ”