The next morning, the military headquarters delivered the military newspaper that was issued every ten years. In the military newspaper, Yan Gu was transferred to the post of deputy commander of the Liyuan battalion, Guo Biao took over as the governor of Longxi, Sun Fu went to Jiazhou to serve as the deputy commander of the Southern Expedition, and the Ministry of War transferred 14 battalions of Yanshanwei to join the Southern Expedition.

Before Shang Cheng put down the military newspaper, Zhongshan came to resign with stones and several battalions. Yan Shanwei was ordered to transfer fourteen battalions to the southwest, including two cavalry battalions and one infantry battalion in Beijing; The cavalry led by the stone was among them.

The military order has been issued, and Zhongshan and the others must rush to the military camp in the southern outer city before the end of tomorrow to report, where they will join up with the Liyuan army, which is the last to send south, and wait for the resignation of Xiao Jian, the commander of the Southern Expedition on February 11, three days later, and then follow General Xiao to Jiazhou.

The army's action was imminent, and there must be a lot of things in the barracks that Zhong Shan needed to arrange and deal with personally, so Shang Cheng didn't keep them. He just inquired about the imperial court's personnel arrangements for the various armies of Yanshanwei. When he learned that Shao Chuan would take over his position as Sima of the Left Army after Zhongshan left, and that Zheng Qi had also been promoted to Commander of Sima of the Chinese Army, he did not say anything more.

He sent Nakayama and Stone out of the street, where they stood for a long time. He didn't return home until the back of his comrade-in-arms disappeared at the end of the street.

After eating, he led four or five guards, brought three carts of money, silk brocade and other messy gifts, and went out to visit Guo Biao.

Guo Biao was not knighted earlier, and he was a general in the army, so he did not have a mansion in the city. The old Zhuangzi was also his wife's dowry, and it was ten miles away from the city, and the place was very remote. Shang Cheng had been to Beijing once when he entered Beijing in the winter before last, and joked with Guo Biao that with the two large miscellaneous wood forests in front of and behind Zhuangzi and the floating dirt road with seven twists and turns, if there was no guide to lead the way, he would not want to come out again. After Guo Biao was knighted and founded, the imperial court gave him a new Guogong Mansion in Changle Fang in the inner city according to the system, and now his family lives here.

Shang Cheng also has an acquaintance, Xue Xun, the left attendant of the Ministry of Officials, who also lives in Changle Fang. However, Xue Xun's mansion was not a gift from the imperial court, but he bought it with his own money. At the beginning of the founding of the Great Zhao Dynasty, the official residence system was implemented for a long time, as long as he was an official in the capital, the government would arrange a house of different sizes according to the different ranks of each person, and hand it over to the officials for free use; Wait for the official to be transferred to a foreign post or follow the system to tell the old man, and then the government will take it back and rearrange it. When this system was formulated, people thought that it would be possible to relieve officials of some of their worries. But it backfired, and the implementation of this "public housing" system was a source of complaints from the very beginning. Although some officials have a low rank, their families are rich, and the public houses issued by the government are not looked down upon at all, and they would rather pay for them to buy another one in a spacious and open place; Although some officials were of high rank, they had little savings and could not afford to buy a house for themselves, so they had to huddle together with dozens or hundreds of families; Some public houses inexplicably "disappeared" from the official account books...... the "public housing" system was implemented for twenty or thirty years, and by the time of Gaozong Taijia, it had already existed in name only, and the imperial court had no way to take it. The result was another scolding. In the past, the public housing system was implemented, and no matter how poor the Beijing officials were, they could have a place to stay, but now they have changed to money and food, and with that little bit of money that is not enough to stuff their teeth, it is delusional to want to rent a house that is only half the size of the public house in front of them! So the imperial court had no choice but to revert to the system, cancel the "mansion material" and change it back to the distribution of public housing; A few years later, it abolished public housing and reused the "house money...... In short, the "reform of the public housing system" lasted throughout the Gaozong period, and until the death of Emperor Gaozong, Emperor Xianzong succeeded to the throne, and there was no final result in this matter. It was not until the third year of Emperor Xianzong's reign that the imperial court announced that the palace money had doubled, which could be regarded as a "full stop" to this matter.

Since Xianzong, the imperial court's salaries and various subsidies and allowances to officials have increased many times, but the price of rice in Beijing is high, and it is still an extremely difficult thing to save money to buy a house in the capital. As a result, most of the Kyokan officials made their homes in, just outside the castle. In order to make it convenient to go up and down the yamen at ordinary times, they generally only take a few personal servants with them, and rent a small courtyard in the capital to stay, and wait until the afternoon of the day before the retreat, and the officials after the dispersal of the yamen will rush to their homes on chariots and horses. It is said that the great calligrapher Huang Bei was admitted to the Jinshi and became a Hanlin scholar, but he could only share a small courtyard with others, and his landlord was actually a small bookstore in the Hanlin Academy. Once, I don't know what the reason is, the landlord must increase the rent, and finally Huang was so angry that he resigned angrily, and when he left, he sighed with emotion and wrote a poem to satirize.

Shang Cheng had heard of this poem from Li Mu, but he really couldn't remember the specific content at the moment. In short, the gist of the poem is to the effect that reading a book is a bullshit, and it is better to have a few houses in the capital; In this way, even if you don't become an official, you can live a chic and comfortable life just by collecting rent......

While he was sitting on horseback and thinking nonsense, a carriage passed by, and the man in the carriage did not know what he had ordered, and the groom tightened the reins and the carriage slowed down. Xue Xun picked the door curtain and poked his head out, and said with a smile: "Uncle Ying, this has always been good?" ”

Shang Cheng hurriedly threw his hand at him and jokingly said, "Xue Xianghao." He hadn't seen the official announcement of Xue Xun's promotion to the rank of servant in the newspaper. But this did not prevent him from giving Xue Xun a blessing in advance.

He immediately saw the smile on Xue Xun's face, and suddenly it became unnatural. He sensed sensitively that something must have gone wrong. He took a step closer with the reins in his hands, and looked at Xue Xun with questioning eyes, what was going on?

Xue Xun was silent for a moment before he gently spit out three words: "Zhong Kuangong." ”

Shang Cheng searched for a long circle in his mind, and finally remembered who "Zhongkuan" was, and Zhu Xuan, a bachelor. He glanced at Xue Xun with some sympathy. With Zhu Xuan's identity, status and influence, since someone proposed him to be a subordinate servant, Xue Xun couldn't compete no matter what. What's more, behind Zhu Xuan is Zhang Pu and the entire Nanjin faction, even if Xue Xun is not alone, he has no hope of winning against Zhu Xuan. Besides, Zhang Pu is still counting on Zhu Xuan to come forward to solve big economic problems for him, if he only gives Zhu Xuan a false name as a deputy prime minister, but he does not have half of the real power in his hands, how can Zhu Xuan do things?

However, even if Zhu Xuan became a veritable deputy minister among his subordinates, he was not optimistic about this old pedant. Measure the acres of land and check the treacherous households, any one of them will offend a large number of people, and the final result of doing a good job or not doing it well will be scolded and punished. Alas, it's just a pity for Li Mu, an astronomer. Oh, and Tian Xiu, a miscellaneous scholar and idealist......

Xue Xun saw three carriages behind him, and the carriages were full of boxes and cages, although they were either visiting relatives or visiting old places. After thinking about it, he asked him, "Are you going to the Yue Guo Mansion?" ”

Shang Cheng nodded. Although the capital is big, the gossip is like having his own feet, and the matter of sneezing in the south of the city can be known in the north of the city in a moment, and Xue Xun must also know that Guo Biao has drawn a line with him, so he didn't say anything more.

Xue Xun stared at him deeply. It was a reminder that he shouldn't make this trip.

Shang Cheng smiled and rolled his gaze to the side, pretending not to see his eyes.

He didn't get in the oil and salt, and Xue Xun had no choice. This kind of thing can't be stopped directly, otherwise a comment of "instigating injustice in the middle" can make him Xue lose face. But he couldn't even watch Shang Cheng go to see Guo Biao, just let others see jokes and gossip. He moved his mind quickly with a straight face, and suddenly thought about it, and said with a positive face: "I have always heard that Yue Guogong's article is very thoughtful, but they are not familiar with each other, and it is inconvenient to come to the door to disturb. Since Uncle Ying has a relationship with Yue Guogong, I wonder if you can introduce me to him? ”

Hearing him say something so grandiose, Shang Cheng couldn't help but laugh. He only knew that Guo Biao would be able to do soma, but he never knew that this guy could write a good article. Even Guo Biao himself, who once spit out the truth after drinking, entered Beijing that year to take the Jinshi examination, it was not for the examiner who asked the four-word criticism of "bullshit does not understand" on his strategy, and he could not have joined the army in anger. Ha, Guo Biao's articles don't make sense, and you dare to call them exquisite? However, since Xue Xun wants to gain some knowledge, he has no objection to saying one by one, maybe Guo Biao's bullshit articles can just enter Xue Shilang's eyes?