Zhang Fuguang was worried that Zeng Yu didn't know the road, so he took Zeng Yu and Zhu Wen to the street in front of Hongdu Gate and told them that this was the place where the current emperor Zhang Bang sold officials. Zeng Yu asked Zhang Fuguang to do his own business, and he took Zhu Wen to Hongdu Gate.

When they arrived, it was just as expected, and the people weren't special. Although these people have both suave and noble sons and gray-haired old men, it can be seen from the clothes of all of them that they all have one thing in common - they are all rich people. At this time, these people were gathering under the red wall outside the Hongdu Gate in twos and threes, perhaps discussing what official positions they planned to buy.

These people also saw Zeng Yu and Zhu Wen, but they didn't take it seriously. Although these people think that Zeng Yu's temperament is stronger than ordinary people, since they came here, and Zeng Yu's clothes are ordinary and the guards are only Zhu Wen, they feel that this must be the addiction of a small family who wants to be an official.

Zeng Yu didn't care, as the saying goes, the bird's nest knows the ambition of the bird. However, he was a little curious when he saw these people gathered under the red wall to see something, so he also went up to watch. When I got closer, I saw a long notice on a red wall of Hongdu Gate, on which was the price of an official position in the imperial court.

It turns out that Emperor Ling has been selling official mantles for several years, and if this is regarded as a commodity, then now this is an industry that has been monopolized exclusively, and the industrial model is becoming more and more perfect. Emperor Ling asked people to clearly mark the official positions that can be bought and sold and the related prices every month, and publicize them, today is the second day of this month's announcement, so some people who are interested in donating officials will come to check and understand in these days.

Zeng Yu couldn't help but be a little dumbfounded, although he had heard about Emperor Ling's betrayal of the official list in his previous life, he was still very shocked to be in it at this time. Throughout the history of China, even if he understands a longer history, I am afraid that the only one who can sell his official position so openly and honestly is the second emperor of Huan Ling.

He shook his head with a wry smile, and then looked up like everyone else and searched the notice. Zeng Yu is looking for the Anping county order, the county order is relatively small among all the official positions, the notice is arranged according to the official rank, he started to look from the back, and finally found the position of the county order in the back.

Zeng Yu's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly looked at the price behind, but this notice did not write the specific county order, only marked the highest and lowest price of the post of county order in a certain state, among which in remote areas such as Jiaozhou, the highest price of the county order is only 500 gold, and the county order in the hinterland of the Han Dynasty such as Sili, Jizhou, and Yanzhou is even up to 1,200 gold.

"Merge with the state and county orders, the minimum price is 600 gold, and the maximum is 1,000 gold." Seeing this information, Zeng Yu was also a little excited. Before, Zhang Nashan told him that the price of the county order was 800 gold, but now that he thinks about it, what he said should be the price of the Anping county order. However, Zhang Nashan knew so clearly, could it be that he had come here to inquire before, Zeng Yu was puzzled at this time.

Zeng Yu looked around and saw a young eunuch standing at the door. He hesitated, and finally walked towards the eunuch.

"This father-in-law, I want to donate a local county order, and I see that there is only the range of quotations in this state on the list, I wonder if you can disclose the specific price?" , Chen Chu asked without humility or arrogance.

I have to say here that although Emperor Ling is absurd to be an emperor, he is very good at management, at least these eunuchs who are in charge of receiving them outside Hongdu Gate have a very good attitude towards customers.

The young eunuch looked at Chen Chu with a kind face, nodded and said, "This son, may I ask." ”

"That's right, I want to donate a county order of my county, I don't know how to do it, how much money is needed?"

The young eunuch smiled and said, "Childe has already decided?" ”

"Of course!" Zeng Yu nodded affirmatively and said.

The young eunuch said to the other young eunuch standing aside, "You take this son in to go through the formalities."

"Childe, please come with me."

The young eunuch made a gesture of invitation to Zeng Yu, and then led Zeng Yu into the Hongdu Gate. As soon as they entered the Hongdu Gate, the two of them were silent to each other, and quietly followed a quiet path to a palace.

The young eunuch led Zeng Yu to the door and stopped, "Son, please go in, the little one has retired." Then the young eunuch departed.

Zeng Yu pushed open the door of the hall and saw a desk in the center of the big store inside, and there were three elderly eunuchs sitting behind the desk.

The three eunuchs were obviously headed by the one in the middle, and when he saw Zeng Yu coming in, he opened his mouth and asked him, "But you have decided to donate officials to serve my saint?" ”

It turned out that these eunuchs felt that buying officials was not good, and Zhang Rang, the regular servant, ordered that they were not allowed to say the words of buying and selling officials, but said that they were donating officials, and said that they were serving the saints, and Emperor Ling was naturally more happy when he heard it, so the three eunuchs asked Zeng Yu like this.

When Zeng Yu heard this, he wanted to laugh in his heart, but his face was very serious, and he bowed to the three eunuchs and replied: "The student has been studying poetry and books for many years, and he is willing to donate assets for the country's use. I also hope to have the opportunity to serve the country and solve the difficulties for the saint. ”

"Okay, I wonder how you're going to do it?" When the eunuch at the head heard Zeng Yu's answer, he immediately applauded loudly. He felt that this scholar was really good at being a man, they had seen a buyer, and they had never seen such a good talker. The two eunuchs next to him also felt that Zeng Yu was really teachable.

"The students hope to help the Holy Shepherd to protect a piece of land, spread the benevolence of the Holy God among the local people, and of course also promote the merits of Zhang Gong and other fathers-in-law," Zeng Yu replied pretending to be humble, as for what he thought in his heart, only he knew.

"Do you have a good choice?" Or the eunuch asked.

"The student grew up in Anping County, Shangdang County, Bingzhou, and felt that the fellow villagers in the county only knew the county order, but did not know the saints, let alone the adults today. Seeing this, the students are willing to contribute their family resources and take on the responsibility of pastoral education in Anping County. Zeng Yu finally said the purpose of his trip.

"You check, can the Anping County Order be in the table, what is the price?" The chief eunuch said to the man on the left.

The eunuch on the left quickly opened the account book, and in the column of the state, he found the Anping County Order of Shangdang County, and the price was 800 gold. The eunuch at the head also saw the result and told him to Zeng Yu.

Zeng Yu happily handed over the money he brought, and at the same time took out an extra fifty gold to the eunuch headed by him, and said: "Several adults have worked hard for the saint, this is a little respect for the students, I hope you will laugh." ”

Zeng Yu also had his own considerations in doing this, he knew that Zhang Rang and other ten permanent servants picked up Emperor Ling's way when he was selling his official beard, since this was the case, the person who collected money here must be Zhang Rang and others' henchmen. Now the prestige of the Han is still there, and Zeng Yu's own strength is still very weak, and he needs to use their prestige to act more smoothly in the next few years.

When the three eunuchs heard Zeng Yu's words, their old faces all smiled like a flower, and the eunuch led by them quickly accepted the fifty gold contributed by Zeng Yu, and as for the eight hundred gold for buying officials, it was handed over to the eunuch on the right and received it in the box next to it.

Soon, the chief eunuch gave Zeng Yu an official document stamped with a jade seal, and Zeng Yu naturally accepted it gratefully. However, he did not leave at this time, but pretended to say something and stopped.

"Zirui, do you have anything else?" The three eunuchs already knew Zeng Yu's basic information, of course, many of them were made up by Zeng Yu, and the eunuch led by Zeng Yu saw Zeng Yu's appearance and asked cordially, of course, that voice and appearance made people get goosebumps.

The reason why they are like this is also because they feel that since Zeng Yu is not a child of an official family, then he can completely win them over. At present, a large group of forces has been formed in the DPRK and China, with the bureaucratic clique headed by the great general He Jin on one side and the eunuch clique headed by the Ten Standing Servants on the other side. Among them, He Jin's power is mainly outside the palace, and there are many big families that follow, and he has a lot of influence in the country. And the ten permanent servants are mainly in the palace, using the emperor's favor to develop party members, but the power is still not as good as He Jin's side, but fortunately, Emperor Ling trusts them very much, so the two sides are currently evenly matched. It is precisely because of this that both sides are wantonly trying to win over the strength of neutral families, hoping to suppress each other, and the old eunuch headed by this time just thinks that since Zeng Yu is not on He Jin's side, he can strive to win him over, and when he talks about it with Zhang Rang, it can be regarded as a credit.

"Father-in-law, that's right. Now there is a county order in Anping County, but he is over seventy years old, and he has also received a return order from the imperial court, but he is a son of the Cui family in Qinghe, and the Shangdang county guard is his own family, and he has not returned home. The lower official is afraid that after going back, he will drive away the current Cui County Order, and the county guard will be embarrassed to get off the official. ”

The three eunuchs suddenly realized, and couldn't help but rejoice in their hearts, it seems that this Zeng Yu is destined to be in an opposite position with the family. So he said to Zeng Yu: "Don't worry, you can appoint the Anping County Order appointed by the imperial court, can the little Cui family still dare to resist the order?" ”

Zeng Yu nodded affirmatively, "Of course, the Cui family doesn't dare to resist the court openly, but it's easy to give some small shoes to wear to the lower officials." It's okay for the lower officials to suffer some grievances, but the lower officials are afraid of affecting the benevolence of Zhang Gong and the adults who let the people bathe. ”

"Zirui, don't worry, I will make it clear to Zhang Gong, forgive the Cui family and dare not openly go against Zhang Gong." , The young eunuch said to a young eunuch standing on the side.

"That is, who doesn't know that there is only a dead end to fight against Zhang Gong, thank you father-in-law, when I enter Beijing next time, I will definitely better repay a few fathers-in-law and Zhang Gong." Zeng Yu hurriedly thanked him when he heard this, he was really happy in his heart at this time, he didn't expect to persuade these eunuchs to help him suppress the Cui family so smoothly, so that he could really act with confidence when he returned to Anping County.

In fact, this is also Zeng Yu who has just arrived in Luoyang and does not understand the current situation. Now Emperor Ling's health is getting worse day by day, so his cousin He Jin and the eunuch Zhang let their power struggle almost reach the most intense time, and the Cui family, as an official eunuch family, is of course the eunuch force led by Zhang Rang to suppress. At this time, Zeng Yu's request happened to be able to suppress the Cui family and win over Zeng Yu, the new county commander, this eunuch knew that Zhang Rang would definitely be happy to see it, so he dared to readily agree, if the Cui family was also Zhang Rang's side, he would definitely be another rhetoric.

The three eunuchs told Zeng Yu a few more words, as long as Zeng Yu remembered the kindness of Zhang Rang and them, Zeng Yu naturally agreed, as for the real situation, I hope these eunuchs will not vomit blood in anger when they know it in the future.

It only took a stick of incense for Zeng Yu to walk out of the Hongdu Gate. He lost 850 gold in exchange for an official document stamped with the imperial seal, and the support of the eunuch forces.