Lin Fan opened the letter and saw that the letter was as follows

"Ru Xian's brother Tai Qi:

Since the judgment, a farewell for many years, a long time, just like yesterday. Every time I look back on the past, my brother is overwhelmed with emotion. Thanks to the kindness of the brother, there is a foolish brother today, and every time the brother thinks about it, he is grateful. Although the mountains are separated and the rivers are blocked, it is difficult for the wild geese to pass on the book, but the friendship continues, and it will always be remembered in the heart.

The day before yesterday, he received a letter of good tidings from his brother in the tent; Wen Fan'er won the laurel list, drank the deer feast, and was overjoyed. The younger brother thought about it for a long time, so he made this book with his brother, and hoped that his brother would learn from it.

After the resignation of the foolish brother Su Zhi, he had no intention of pursuing a career in office, intending to stay away from the temple disputes and enjoy the joy of mountains and rivers. Brother is willing to be idle clouds and wild cranes, free in the world, and my brother is also deeply envious.

However, now there is a North Mo knock pass outside the imperial court, encroaching on my territory, wanting to break through Liaodong and directly take the Beijing division. There are displaced people in the house, thieves swarm, ravaging the land north of the river, so that the common people suffer, and the people are in danger.

The chaos in this world has risen, and my brother hopes that my brother will take the common people in the world as his thoughts, go out of the mountains to recover, help the people through the world, solve the difficulties of Li Shu, and save the people from fire and water.

Taking a step back, if my brother has an official position, even if he can't calm the troubled times, turn the tide and save the people. It can also be used as a boat to fight in the turbulent times, so that the family will not be overturned.

Therefore, the foolish brother made a private opinion, and he has written to the court to recommend his brother to His Majesty.

Your Majesty also knows the loyalty of his brother, and he will definitely promise. Although this move is against the will of the brother, the brother has no choice but to do it; If the elder brother is strange, the younger brother will bear the guilt of the pleading in the coming day, and let the elder brother deal with it.

As for Lin Fan, the younger brother was happy and thoughtful. Fan'er is both civil and military, and has both talent and learning. The foolish brother knows that his brother is on the right path for Kejia. It must be Wangfan's son who inherits his father's business and does those two rankings. If it is ordinary, needless to say, Fan'er will definitely go to Beijing to participate in the Spring Festival next year, if he can go to high school one day, the title of the gold list will be known to the world.

But in this troubled times, the foolish brother must think that it is impossible, first, the soldiers are dangerous, the road is dangerous, and the good luck is unpredictable. The second is that even if he is in the middle of the list, ranks among the top three, and enters the Hanlin Academy, he is only the first to be poor, and he is in the company of the subset of classics and history. If he wants to make a difference and enter the cabinet to worship the prime minister, it may take decades of time, which is really undesirable in troubled times.

Therefore, I have written to the Ministry of Officials, recommending Fan'er as an official. With the recommendation of the younger brother, Fan'er can fill the vacancy without going through the big selection of the officials.

It is really not right for a brother to call the shots. However, the situation is like this, and my brother has to do it. Forgive me.

I wish my brother good health and good fortune.

Foolish brother Fang Ping respectfully. ”

After reading it, Lin Fan put down the letter, pondered for a long time, and didn't know how to answer.

"Done?" Lin Ruxian looked at Lin Fan and asked again, "What do you think?" ”

Lin Fan frowned: "The incident happened suddenly, and the child didn't know how to decide." ”

"I mean, what do you think, if you want to follow the arrangement of the gentleman, I will not stop you, if you still want to enter Beijing to take the entrance examination, and want to obtain a higher fame, I will also support it. You have grown up, and these things will be up to you in the future, and neither I nor your mother will interfere. Lin Ruxian said.

Lin Fan pondered for a long time, his attitude suddenly became firm, and he said: "The child thinks that what Mr. said is reasonable, and I am willing to follow Mr.'s arrangement." ”

Lin Ruxian snorted: "It's good that you decide for yourself." ”

After saying this, the whole study suddenly fell silent, and the father and son looked at each other speechlessly.

After a while, Lin Fan asked out loud: "Father, the child has always been curious about why you resigned in the first place. Since Fan'er can remember, you and your mother seem to have avoided talking about this matter, is there anything hidden in it? And how did you get to know your husband? ”

Lin Ruxian looked at his son, and then said, "You have grown up, and there are some things that you should tell you." In fact, your mother and I have never thought of hiding anything from you, but after I resigned, I was discouraged about the affairs of the court and didn't want to think about it anymore. In order not to bother me, your mother never mentioned these things in front of people. ”

After Lin Ruxian relieved Lin Fan, he continued: "All this has to start from the Yangfu period, when the imperial court had just suffered a major defeat at Pinglingpo, and its vitality was greatly damaged, the treasury was empty, and the people were poor. ”

"At that time, only a few years after the war, the Manzhen Iron Cavalry was pressing forward step by step outside the pass, and the outer city was broken one after another. But the first emperor did not know how to sympathize with the national strength and people's strength, and was indulged in pleasure and overhauled the palace. ”

"I was the governor of Shuzhou at that time, and Shu was rich in golden silk nanmu, so I was responsible for providing the palace with the golden silk nanmu needed to build the palace. However, after generations of felling, Nanmu has long become scarce and difficult to find, requiring tens of thousands of laborers to search for food in the mountains for many years, and even if it is found, it is really difficult to transport out. Only by placing the timber in the river, letting it go downstream, and having someone to pick it up downstream, can the wood be transported out of the mountains. ”

"After Nanmu came out of the mountain, it was handed over to the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Households, and then the two departments organized the migrant workers to be transported to Beijing. Not to mention that the whole project was added up to the financial situation of the imperial court at that time. ”

"In order to save money, the imperial court had to forcibly recruit laborers. The laborers had no wages, the land was abandoned, no one cultivated, and the common people could not survive. The people had no food in their hands, and the next year there was a famine in Shuzhou, and starvation was everywhere. ”

"It was just in time for the heavy rains of that year, and there were floods, and the rivers were turbulent; Transporting Nanmu is extremely dangerous, and once the flood arrives, it is even more unpredictable for the laborers who transport Nanmu, but hundreds of laborers are swept away by the flood in more than a month. ”

Speaking of this, Lin Ruxian paused for a moment, and then continued: "An Ning's mother was washed away by the flood, and she didn't even find her body. And your Uncle An hugged An Ning, who was only half a year old at the time, fainted in front of the side door of the Zhizhou Mansion and was rescued by me, and since then your Uncle An has stayed with An Ning, even after I resigned, he also followed me back to Jiangzhou. Alas! Time flies so fast, in a blink of an eye, it has been sixteen or seventeen years now! ”

"At that time, I repeatedly wrote to the imperial court, asking the imperial court to suspend the project and the search for Nanmu, and put the people first to provide disaster relief. However, he was repeatedly rejected by the imperial court, and even reprimanded several times, saying that I was disloyal to the king and sold my name and sold my name. When the project reached a critical juncture, the officials of the Ministry of Works did not care whether the people lived or died, but urged them more closely, which finally caused civil unrest. ”

"The angry people beat to death the officials sent by the Ministry of Industry to supervise me, and the people believed in me and knelt down in front of the government to plead guilty. I had no choice but to put them in a cell and then write to the court, stating their reasons and asking for forgiveness. However, although I tried my best to mediate and save most of the people, the dozen or so people led by me were still sentenced to death by the imperial court. ”

"I thought that being an official should benefit one party. But what I have seen is that all the officials are powerful and blessed, scraping the people's fat and people's ointment, harming the public and private interests, thinking that they have great power, and treating the people as grass mustard, killing and seizing. I originally wanted to help the people and the world through the world, but officialdom is like this, and when manpower is exhausted, it will be difficult to return to heaven with the strength of one person. After this incident, I finally became disheartened and had no choice but to resign from my official position. In the end, Lin Ruxian showed a little sadness after all, which shows that he is extremely disappointed in officialdom.

After a while, Lin Ruxian's mood calmed down, and he continued, "As for my acquaintance with your husband, it is even more of a coincidence. After I resigned, I took you and your mother back to Jiangzhou by boat, and traveled with your husband on the same boat. Unexpectedly, the boat was robbed by water bandits in the middle of the road, and the servant guards were outnumbered, and in order to protect us, even your Uncle An was slashed. If it weren't for your husband's action at a critical time, he repelled the bandits and saved the lives of a boatload of people. I'm afraid that a boatload of people will be buried in the belly of the fish, including you, who were not yet a year old at the time and were still in infancy, so Mr. has a great life-saving grace to our family. ”

After that, I talked with Mr. Fang all the way, Mr. Fang Zhi is not only strong in martial arts, but also has thousands of strategies in his belly, and he is really an all-round talent in civil and military affairs. The talent of a gentleman is rare in the world; It's a pity that the times are not good, there is no fame in the body, and there is nowhere to display one's talents, buried in the countryside. ”

"Later, when I came to Jiangzhou, I said goodbye to my husband, and my husband went to his relatives. I thought it would be difficult to see each other again. I didn't expect that after more than two months, you just turned one year old, I went to the temple with your mother to burn incense and make a vow, and when I came back, I saw someone fainting beside the road, we came to help, but found that it was Mr.

It turned out that Mr. Ye had not been in contact with his relatives and friends for many years, and it was already a matter of fact, and the house had already been empty, and he didn't know where to move. Later, the gentleman was entangled in flowers, and the weather became colder and colder; Hungry and cold, and seriously ill, he collapsed on the side of the road. ”

"I took my husband home to recuperate and it took me a few months to recover. During this period, I had a very pleasant conversation with my husband, and I had a long conversation several times all night, and I admired his talent very much. Mr. originally wanted to say goodbye and leave, but I tried my best to keep you, so I stayed, and then Mr. saw that you were smart, so he accepted you as a disciple and trained you carefully. Later, An Ning and Shaofu also joined you in class, and you are today. If it's just me to teach, it's okay to read and write, but I really can't teach you martial arts and the art of war. Therefore, the great kindness of the gentleman to our family, you will never forget. ”

"The child knows, but I wonder why the gentleman left later?" Lin Fan said.

"That's because when you were about ten years old, the war in Liaodong was urgent, and the Northern Mo cavalry was in Koubian several times. At that time, my mentor Sun Gong Chengxing was planning the defense of Liaodong, and there was an urgent shortage of talents. So I recommended my husband to my teacher. Mr. went to Liaodong to serve in the army, Mr. was brave and good at fighting on the front line, and made many military exploits, and he was supported by my teacher, so the official is getting bigger and bigger. ”

"Six years ago, in the battle of guarding Dingyuan City, he led the army to attack the camp of the Liang Army, and shot the enemy chief Boluo with an arrow in the chaotic battle. The enemy army was in chaos for a while, and he was defeated and left, achieving a great victory that the imperial court had not seen for decades, and the name of Mr. was famous all over the world. Because Mr. has no merit and fame, in order to commend Mr. for his merit, His Majesty gave the top three with the Jinshi background, which is an unprecedented event in this dynasty. ”

Half a year later, Bolo's arrow sores recurred and died of incurable death, which was a major problem for the court. Four years ago, his teacher was seriously ill, and before his death, he wrote to the imperial court and recommended Mr. to take over from him to supervise the military of Liaodong. The imperial court agreed, and Mr. was in charge of Liaodong from then on, and he deserved his talent. ”

"The gentleman is talented, and the child knows it well. But father, you hate officialdom deeply, and now that Mr. is writing to the court and recommending you to re-enter the court as an official, how does my father decide? Lin Fan asked.

Lin Ruxian smiled: "Silly boy, I had no intention of officialdom, but now there is a stupid boy who is going to be an official!" For the sake of this silly boy, I can only go to the dirty officialdom again, if I don't help him shelter from the wind and rain, how can I rest assured that he will go alone in this turbid current of troubled times. ”