Seeing Ran Tao away, Shang Cheng originally wanted to send someone to invite the two Huo family brothers over. But he immediately changed his mind. Holren is an elder, and he has come from afar, and he cannot be allowed to come to see him; It was a proper etiquette for him to go to Huo's house.

Just do it, he explained a few words to Suza and prepared to go out.

But before he walked out of his small courtyard, the two brothers of the Huo family had already stepped on the steps in front of the door.

Shang Cheng called it "rude" on the one hand, and hurriedly let the two Huo family brothers into the study, served hot tea to the two of them with his own hands, and then rubbed his hands and said to Huo Lun embarrassedly: "You see that I should have been going to greet the sixth uncle one by one, but I knew that there was paste in my head, and I actually asked you to come over." It's all my fault. ”

Huo Lun held the tea bowl and smiled: "What's wrong, it's good." You went to see me, I came to see you, isn't it the same thing back and forth? We are a family, why talk about two families? He also said, "Your uncle and aunt told me just now that it is not easy for you to be the admiral, either going to the local area or running military affairs, and you are so busy every day that you don't see the sun in the morning and evening, even if they want to talk to each other, they can't find a chance." Especially your aunt, who has just said a lot of things, let me persuade you not to do things so dedicatedly. She is telling the truth, this official business is the same as domestic affairs, domestic affairs can no longer be done, and official affairs will never have a head. Let your subordinates do what they can do, and let other yamen deal with what should be handed over to other yamen, so that you can also gather all your thoughts in one place, concentrate on a few major things that show political achievements and merits, and become a full-time commander as soon as possible. After speaking, he looked at Shang Cheng.

Shang Cheng didn't know how to answer for a while. There were some things he couldn't explain to Hollen. It's not that he doesn't want to be idle, but he can't be idle. Since the fake post, he has been straightening out the personnel arrangements in government affairs, in order to be able to free up his hands to concentrate on the military, but it has been almost a year in a blink of an eye, and the officials in Duanzhou are not complete, and Meng Ying, who holds three positions, has no three heads and six arms, no matter how capable he is, it is impossible to cover everything, and as a result, many of the decrees implemented smoothly in other states and counties are difficult to move on the ground in Duanzhou; For example, when he went to Beijing to report on his work, he asked the imperial court for instructions and then tried out the new policy of "hoarding land and guarding the border" in Yanshan, but it was not implemented in Duanzhou for a long time. He originally found a good helper for Meng Ying, but Ran Tao himself was reluctant to go; Other people who are willing to go to Duanzhou, he is afraid that his lack of ability will cause chaos for Meng Ying. There are also water conservancy infrastructure, road improvement, tax collection, mobilization and levy, official evaluation, and official inspection...... There are so many things that can be a headache. But these things have to be summarized to him in the end, how can he be idle?

He had no choice but to say to Huo Lun without words: "Sixth Uncle, it is useless for me to care about the affairs of the Admiral. The final decision is made at the imperial court. ”

"I've heard that you want to be transferred somewhere else to become a military general."

"How do you know?" Shang Cheng asked. Even if Hollen smiled and didn't answer, he could guess the answer. No need to ask, this news must have been told by Huo Shiqi to Aunt Seventeen, and then she told Huo Lun. He smiled wryly and said, "I used to have this idea, but now I definitely don't want to." "At present, the grassland strategy he proposed has been tacitly approved by the imperial court, so he will probably not be able to go anywhere until the situation in the north is generally clear.

Shang Cheng didn't say why it was impossible to have another transfer, and Huo Lun didn't mention this question at all. He smiled and said, "It's best if you can't do it." Where to become an official and a general, isn't it all about contributing to the imperial court? Besides, everyone doesn't want you to leave Yanshan. Last month, Fan Quan and they went to the Duanzhou meeting, and on the way back, they made a special detour to Yixian to see me, he, Ji Zheng and Qian Laosan all patted their chests and said that they wanted to earn a great credit for you, and they had to let you be the commander of the throne. Even Zhongshan and Sun Huan, I can also guarantee for them, they must also be looking forward to this day. Monk, you are now the backbone of everyone, but you can't cool everyone's heart. ”

The care and trust from his comrades-in-arms made Shang Cheng's heart hot. He tried to restrain the heat in his chest, and pushed a few plates of snacks on the table to Huo Lun and Huo Shiqi, inviting them to taste the freshness. This is the inner workshop craftsmanship that Pan Lian brought from Shangjing when he went to work a few days ago, and it was specially given to him by the Dongyuan Emperor.

Although it had only been a short time since dinner, as soon as they heard that the dim sum was the imperial recipe, the two brothers of the Huo family still tasted the dim sum one by one, and said a lot of words to praise Jun En.

Huo Shiqi took a sip of tea, washed the crumbs of the dough in his mouth, and then asked Shang Chengdao: "We saw Ran Tao from a distance on the road just now. How, he agreed? ”

Shang Cheng refilled the bowls of the two with tea, shook his head and said, "He refuses to go to Duanzhou." ”

"To Duanzhou? What did he do in Duanzhou? Isn't it to recommend him to be the magistrate of Yanshui County? Huo Shiqi asked suspiciously. It seems that he also believed the rumor.

"The Health Department planned to recommend him to serve as the general judge of Duanzhou, but he did not agree."

"Why?" Huo Shiqi was even more surprised.

"It's not because he was involved in the Liu Lingtai case back then. He was probably afraid that he would go to Duanzhou and become a rafter and be retaliated against. Shang Cheng said coldly with a broken face. Thinking of the conversation with Ran Tao just now, Shang Chengcheng felt very uncomfortable. It was not because Ran Tao rejected the recommendation of the Health Department, but because Ran Tao left him with the feeling of timidity. It's just that he has a bit of ups and downs in his career, neither cutting his fame nor distributing the outcasts, as for such a cup of bow and snake shadow?

Huo Shiqi lowered his head and was silent for a while before defending Ran Tao and said, "You can't blame him. You don't know, he was framed and sent to the prison, if someone hadn't defended him in secret, he would have almost died several times......"

Shang Cheng knew that Ran Tao had been imprisoned, and he also heard that it was because someone in the court said something that he did not receive a more severe punishment in the end, but he did not know the specific process of the incident. He frowned and asked, "Is there such a thing?" There is no record in his personnel file. And the Liu Lingtai case, what's going on? ”

"The detailed process, I don't know very well." Huo Shiqi said, "There is a master book surnamed Wu in the Wei Mu Mansion, do you know? ”

Shang Cheng raised his face and thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Wu Ye and Ran Tao are in the same year, and they are both Jinshi ...... in the seventh year of Eastern A.D."

Shang Cheng interjected and asked, "Lao Ye is also involved in Liu Lingtai's case?" "No matter how dull the Jinshi of the seventh year of the Eastern Yuan Dynasty is, as long as he does not make a big mistake in official affairs, his qualifications should be an eight-rank official rank; In addition to being implicated in Liu Lingtai's case, he really couldn't find out why this surnamed Wu was still a non-mainstream Jiupin official.

"Not really." Of course, Huo Shiqi knew why Shang Cheng would ask like this, so he smiled and said, "Old Wu's appearance is ......" He grinned. Shang Cheng also laughed. That Wu Ye's appearance is really unpleasant, crying and mournful, with a hooked nose, laughing is more ugly than crying, and speaking harshly, no matter how you look at it, it is indeed not welcomed, no wonder I haven't been promoted for so many years.

Huo Shiqi said again: "He also has a bad habit, he is greedy for the things in the cup, and he likes to talk nonsense with his mouth open when he drinks too much, so he ......" He shook his head.

This Wu Ye works in the Transfer Department of Wei Mu Mansion, and because of his position, he often goes to Ge Ping on business, and every time he goes, he has to drag Ran Tao to drink a few glasses. Because he knew each other when he was in Yanzhou, Huo Shiqi was also disturbed by the surname Wu. It was at the wine table that he heard something intermittently. Putting these things together, he not only knew Ran Tao's past experience, but also gradually understood the original appearance of the "Liu Lingtai case" that still makes people talk about it......