There was no wall around the manor, but a one-zhang wide irrigation ditch was dug to surround the entire manor, and they walked along the ridge path to the lonely mountain, and the golden steward introduced the manor to Guo Song.

"We are here and other places in Guanzhong, two years and three crops, one season of recuperation, two years of planting two crops of winter wheat, planting one season of rice, water and fertilizer are not bad, should belong to the field, the harvest is good, the mu production capacity reaches three stone wheat, even if it encounters a small year, the yield per mu is two stone and five buckets is also stable."

"What happens to the grain harvested every year?" Guo Song asked.

The financial steward shook and said: "Generally, it is purchased by the government, and the price is half of the market price, and it can also be sold to grain merchants, but the price is actually much the same, and it is troublesome." ”

"What's the trouble?"

"The main thing is to pick fat and pick thin, for a while, I don't think the wheat grains are full enough, and I don't think I'm drying for a while, and I do everything possible to suppress your price, unlike the government, I don't care about anything, and I ship it away directly, but the biggest problem of the government is that the money is given slowly, and it will generally drag on for several months, unlike the grain merchants who pay on the spot, there are pros and cons!"

"Is there any grain in the warehouse now?"

The golden steward shook his head, "The wheat harvested last year was thought to be owned by the Huangzhuang and was transported away, and now there is no grain in the warehouse, so that the king is exempted from the rent of autumn grain, and it is estimated that there will be grain until the summer after the wheat is harvested." ”

"The only one in charge of the manor?" Guo Song couldn't help but feel a little strange when he found out that he didn't have an entourage.

Steward Jin smiled bitterly, "At present, I am the only one, if there is anything, I will ask the young man in the village to help." ”

"Is the financial manager still serving in the county government?"

"I used to be a clerk in the county government for two years, and I didn't mix very well, and I was sent to manage Huangzhuang ten years ago, and I was basically decoupled from the county government.

"How much does the financial steward have now?"

"The county gives me five yuan a month, and nothing else is gone, and then during the New Year's holidays, the people in the village will send some chickens, ducks, fish and meat, which is a little good for doing things in Huangzhuang, there is a sick old mother at home, and the wife has nothing to do, and a son and a daughter are only eleven or twelve years old, and life is tight."

Guo Song groaned and said, "You go to the county and resign from this steward!" Then I will continue to hire you, twenty yuan a month, and two salaries at the end of the year. ”

The golden steward was so excited that his voice changed, and he stammered: "I'm afraid.... I resign, and the county government will send a new steward. ”

"Nope! After I return to the capital, I will send someone to the county to receive the manor, and then the golden steward will go to the East City Treasure Pavilion, and the Treasure Pavilion will officially hire you, and you will actually be the manor manager sent by the Treasure Pavilion in the future, do you understand what I mean? ”

"I see, this manor envoy is actually entrusted with the management of the Treasure Pavilion."

Guo Song smiled slightly, "That's right, I will not be in the capital for a while, and the Treasure Pavilion will manage it for me." ”

........

Guo Song wanted to go up the mountain to take a look, and the golden steward hurriedly ran to the village to find the posterior to raise his shoulders, Xue Tao asked with a smile: "Husband believes in this golden steward?" ”

Guo Song smiled and said: "I will look at people, generally this kind of manor steward is very afraid of the manor owner and the villagers to communicate, afraid of exposing some of their deeds, but this golden steward took the initiative to bring the villagers to me, and I found that the villagers looked at him without fear or dissatisfaction, indicating that he is usually not bad, and the villagers recognize him, so I decided to continue to hire him, otherwise just by his mouth, how can I know whether it is true or false?" ”

Xue Tao praised: "The husband's eyes are becoming sharper and sharper. ”

"Praise from the lady, I feel that my bones are ten pounds lighter." Guo Song said with a smile.

Xue Tao took a sip, "Flim tongue, I'll praise you a few more words, and you can fly directly up the mountain." ”

Guo Song smiled, he looked up at the mountain, and said with a smile: "What do you think I want to go up the mountain to see?" ”

Xue Tao thought for a while and said, "Mo Feifujun wants to restore the other mansion on the mountain?" ”

Guo Song applauded and smiled: "That's right, Chang'an is too hot in summer, you can come here to escape the heat." ”

Xue Tao's beautiful eyes flashed with brilliance, she has lived in the capital since she was a child, of course she knows that the summer in the capital is difficult, the rich are building ice walls to cool down, and the wealthy and powerful are going to the manor to escape the summer, she feels that that kind of life is too far away from herself, but she didn't expect that she could come to her manor to escape the summer like the powerful.

She couldn't wait to go up the mountain to see it.

At this time, the golden steward led seven or eight juniors to rush over, carrying three pairs of shoulders, with thick coarse cloth cushions on them, and covering them with sheepskin blankets, otherwise their feet would be too cold to bear.

The shoulder is the predecessor of the sedan chair, but there is no car, just like the sliding rod when going up the mountain today, but it is relatively wide and comfortable.

The ice and snow on the mountain had just melted, the ground was muddy and slippery, Xue Tao was wearing a long skirt, it was inconvenient to go up the mountain, she and A Qiu sat on their shoulders, and were carried up the mountain by a few young and strong juniors, Guo Song didn't need to be shouldered, he followed his wife.

At first, Xue Tao was not used to it, her shoulders were bumped up and down, so frightened that she grabbed Guo Song's hand tightly, and after going up a slope, she gradually got used to it, and let go of her husband's hand.

"Envoy, this lonely mountain is more than 100 zhang high, covers an area of about 2,000 acres, originally called Egret Mountain, the meaning of the white heron bird, during the Shenlong years, there was a white deer here, so it was renamed Bailu Mountain, Emperor Ruizong came here twice, he liked it very much, so he gave it to the eldest daughter Princess Huo Guo, when Princess Huo Guo was alive, she would come here every summer for a vacation, after her death, no one has come here, no one has taken care of it for more than 30 years, the mountain roads are broken, and you can drive a carriage up before."

The golden steward introduced them to the past here, but Xue Tao was looking at the surrounding scenery, where the ancient trees were towering, the ravines were deep and secluded, the birdsong was crisp, and from time to time the little squirrels could be seen jumping around on the trees.

"Look, husband, that's a little monkey!"

Xue Tao suddenly saw a small yellow monkey behind the tree, and shouted in surprise.

Guo Song also saw it, turned around and asked Steward Jin, "Will the monkeys here attack people?" ”

"Generally don't provoke them, they won't attack people, but they will go to the field to steal vegetables, last year a family planted an acre of radishes, has not grown up, it was stolen by the monkey overnight, I heard that the jewelry of Princess Huo Guo was also stolen by them before, anyway, the locals don't like them very much."

"Can this mountain road be repaired?" Guo Song asked.

"Of course, if you want to repair the courtyard on the mountain, you can repair it together with the mountain road, the mountain road is ready-made, the main thing is to ram strong, and the carriage will drive to the top of the mountain."

Guo Song saw that the mountain road was spiraling upward, relatively low, and could drive a carriage.

Not long after, the group went up the mountain, Xue Tao walked down from his shoulder, his body shook, and Guo Song hurriedly supported her.

"It's just that after sitting for a long time, my feet are numb from the cold."

Xue Tao turned back to ask Ah Qiu, "Ah Qiu, are you okay?" ”

"My feet are a little numb too, but.... You can still walk. ”

"Then let's go in and take a look, walk a little, and our feet won't be numb."

Xue Tao took her husband's arm and walked towards the courtyard, and Ah Qiu was a little scared and followed closely behind them.

The courtyard looks good from the exterior wall, it is made of bricks, but the wooden door and gate are rotten and collapsed, it looks a bit terrible, and there are two stone lion cubs on both sides of the gate, covered with moss, but you can see that the carving is lifelike.

Guo Song secretly admired the simplicity of the local people, and for more than 30 years, the two little lions have not been moved.

Walking through the door, a dilapidated scene suddenly appeared in front of them.

The roofs of most of the buildings have collapsed, and the dozen or so rooms on the left still show signs of burning, charred beams, blackened brick walls, and only a broken wall remains.

The fish pond is filled with melted snow water, and the edge of the pond is covered with moss, which turns the water of the fish pond turquoise.

The cracks in the wall were overgrown with half-human-tall dead weeds, and they walked towards the inner courtyard, which was also dilapidated, and there was no complete room, but Guo Song unexpectedly found that the ground was very good, there was not a single weed, and the paved stone slabs were tightly fitted, and there was not a single crack for more than 30 years.

He was intrigued, and he carefully studied the walls that had not collapsed, and stripped away the gray-white mortar, revealing large pieces of green bricks, which were very tightly built, and the bricks were of fine blue bricks, and the bricklayers were quite good.

"Husband, this courtyard seems to be very strong!" Xue Tao also discovered the special beginning of this annex.

Guo Song nodded, "I guess it was built according to the standards of the imperial palace, didn't it mean that Emperor Ruizong also came to live here?" It's supposed to be a palace. ”

Guo Song immediately said to the Jin steward: "You are responsible for restoring the road up the mountain, how much money does it cost, apply to the Treasure Pavilion, you don't care about the other courtyard above, I will arrange for the abbot of Qingxu Palace to invite a famous craftsman in the capital to repair it, and ordinary craftsmen can't repair it." ”

Guo Song originally wanted to go to the village to see, but it was not early, he could only wait for the next time, Guo Song took his wife to get into the carriage and went to Jingyang County, now it is obviously unrealistic to go back to Chang'an, so he can only stay in Jingyang County for one night and return to Chang'an early tomorrow morning.

Guo Song has sent his entourage Zhao Xiu to book an inn first, the last time Zhang Lei was injured and came to Jingyang County, Guo Song knew that the best inn in the county was called the North Inn, which was a branch of the famous inn in Chang'an.

When it was about to get dark, the carriage slowly drove into Jingyang County.