The first year of Emperor You's Great Song Dynasty, this year is a rare calm year in recent years, there is no big war at the border, Emperor Zhao Zhen deposed Chen Zhizhong in the court, enabled Wen Yanbo, the government is clear, it is the image of the prosperity of the Great Song Dynasty, but in Hebei Road, first there was a big flood, and then the plague attacked, the emperor allocated money and food, medicine, and exemption from military service and miscellaneous taxes, so the disaster was not serious, to the autumn equinox, the weather became cooler, and the plague also went.

It is said that there is Hejian Mansion in this Hebei Road, Hejian Mansion is under the jurisdiction of Gaoyang County, Gaoyang County has a Fuping Township, located at the edge of the territory of the Great Song Dynasty, there are often foreign incursions on the border in ordinary times, thieves are infested, and there are official government deductions, the people's lives are naturally not as rich as the Central Plains Kyoto, but this time it is a blessing in disguise, because it is far away from the river bank, the big water is washed here, and the epidemic has not come, so the people have not suffered, However, Zhang Damao, the township leader of this township, saw that the township leaders on the left and right went to the Gaoyang County Yali one by one to report their losses, and Zhang Damao was also a little unbearable.

You see that these townsmen have never entered the grade, and they have not been assessed and promoted, but you see that the flood rushed into my township, causing some casualties and damage to some property in my township, and another plague, and causing me to suffer a number of dead and wounded, and damage a number of property, who can hide from natural and man-made disasters, as long as they report it, and then complain in front of the county order, according to the past practice, the imperial court will naturally have money and grain, not to mention how much they can share, at least the money and grain to be paid this year will be much less.

Since there is this advantage, why not take a share, but after all, the matter of Fuping Township is a bit fake, so these days Zhang Damao is running for this thing, busy legs do not touch the ground, never home, seeing that things have been done, Zhang Damao also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, these days Zhang Damao should have gone to the county again, walked around, and had a while, but Zhang Damao couldn't go on this day, it turned out that this day was the day when Xu Caizheng, who served in Beijing in Fuping Township, said goodbye to his hometown.

If you want to say that this Xu Caizheng is amazing, I think this Gaoyang County is located on the border, if you say that you can dance knives and guns, and the dealer handles, you can find a few in the fields at will, but the Great Song Dynasty is to govern the country with literature, and the strength is worthless, and it is only the ability to read and write, and this Xu Caizheng's family is rich, and he also likes to read and write since he was a child.

If it is said that it is easy to find a scholar in the capital, but it is not easy to find a scholar in this poor countryside, then Xu Caizheng really has some ambition, he was only 16 years old when he left home, wandering around to study, until the year of his establishment, he learned a lot of knowledge, and he was famous. Xu Caizheng originally thought that in this way, he would be able to show his talents and show his ambitions, but when Xu Caizheng really entered the court, he knew that studying and learning were not the same as governing the world as an official. If you want to study, as long as you have a smart mind and a famous teacher, you can have some knowledge, but this is the way of being an official is different. Xu Caizheng is an upright character, and there is no background, when he first entered the court, he couldn't adapt to the fact that there were still people who valued Xu Caizheng's talent, and mentioned a few words, after a long time, everyone saw that Xu Caizheng was indeed not the material of the official, so everyone took care of it, seeing that the people who entered the court were all promoted separately, Xu Caizheng's heart was discouraged, and finally went to the position of Guozijian in the Guozi Division, for more than ten years, and now that he is old, he has no intention of doing anything, so he resigned from the old man and returned to Fuping Township, Gaoyang County.

Don't underestimate Xu Caizheng's position as the son of the country, you must know that the prime minister's door is still a seven-grade official in front of the door, and Xu Caizheng, a Beijing official who is a serious 800-year-old jinshi, is a dignified six-grade official, and he teaches studies in the Guozijian, and knows many children of Beijing's big people. The county commander of Gaoyang County, Peng Deran, held his own identity and could not greet Xu Caizheng in person, so he asked Zhang Damao to wait for Xu Caizheng to return to his hometown on the official road in Gaoyang County instead of him.

Zhang Damao got the order, but he didn't dare to slack off, Zhang Damao can only know four or five words, but to be able to be a township, it belongs to the type that can observe words and colors, this Gaoyang County is so big, the county order Peng Deran is not blind, where can I not know what the situation in Fuping Township is, but Zhang Damao opened his eyes and said nonsense, Peng Deran still pretended to be interested and listened for a long time, and then dragged it out again and again, and has been delaying things until today, between the words of the dialogue with Zhang Damao, as if inadvertently, asked about Xu Caizheng's situation three times in a row, and Zhang Damao didn't know what Xu Caizheng was thinking.

Just the day before, Peng Deran patted Zhang Damao's shoulder and said earnestly: "Damao, although I am not a big official, I also have eight grades, and I have been in charge of Gaoyang County for three years. Zhang Damao thought about it carefully, after all, this Peng Deran has been educated, since he arrived in Gaoyang County, although he cannot be said to be conscientious, but he can be regarded as diligent, no great merit, but no great fault, fortunately, there have been no natural disasters and man-made disasters in the past few years, so the development of Gaoyang County is quite good. I want to think about it, but where did Zhang Damao dare to say this, and he couldn't stop flattering him: "My lord has been an official for three years, working hard to govern the Khitan in the north, governing the people internally, and telling me to have enough food and clothing, live and work in peace and contentment, and I can be called our parents and officials." Peng Deran shook his head when he heard this, and said to himself: "Oh, you see me, I was originally born in the Central Plains, I wanted to ask for my life for the people, so I came to the frontier, but I worked hard for three years, and no one knew about the three years of credit, I heard that when the ancients left office, all the people embraced each other, and gave me an umbrella of the people, you said that since I have some credit, why no one gave me a handful, of course, if it is Wenqu, I dare not compare, but I heard that you think that Xu Caizheng Xu is in the Guozijian service, and now he is returning to his hometown, If Lord Xu can see that his hometown is rich and refreshed after returning to his hometown, and praise me twice, I will also be satisfied. Zhang Damao still can't hear Peng Deran's words, what is the use of Xu Caizheng praising Peng Deran, the key is that this praise can be heard by the officials of the Ministry is true, and then add a level to Peng Deran's evaluation, and transfer Peng Deran back to the Central Plains, so as to take advantage of Peng Deran's intentions.

Since Zhang Damao knew the mind of the county commander, he hurriedly retired, but Zhang Damao thought about it, but found that this matter was not so easy, Zhang Damao is now fifty years old, slightly older than Xu Caizheng, he dealt with Xu Caizheng when he was a child, and Xu Caizheng did not learn to say, but his temperament is too upright, there is one thing to say, if he sees that Peng Deran is indeed a good governance, then there is no problem in writing a letter until Tokyo, but if he sees Peng Deran's mediocre governance and nothing to do, That is to ask him to write letters, and it is difficult to climb to heaven.

Zhang Damao worried about this matter for a long time, and finally felt that he said that he would not fight the smiling face person by raising his fist, so he would greet him from afar, greet him with a smile, pick up the rich place in Gaoyang County and lead Xu Caizheng to turn around, and then eat and drink, begging Xu Caizheng to write a letter, they are all villagers, and Xu Caizheng can't refute his face, so thinking, Zhang Damao brought more than a dozen people, all of whom had dealt with Xu Caizheng, and came to the official road of Gaoyang County, waiting for Xu Caizheng to return.

Now it is the beginning of winter, although the men in the north say that they are strong, but these people have been waiting here for most of the day, even a stone is already frozen, a few people picked up some dry wood on the side of the road, raised a fire, and waited. Zhang Damao was anxious in his heart, and said that according to the previous letter from Xu Caizheng's home, Xu Caizheng came back today, could it be that this Lord Xu was delayed halfway, if so, wouldn't he come to suffer the cold tomorrow.

Zhang Damao was thinking about it, and saw a donkey cart coming from afar, Zhang Damao was overjoyed, you must know that although the Great Song Dynasty was rich, not everyone in ordinary people could have a donkey cart to ride, and no one who was an official in this poor country could easily come, so it must be Xu Caizheng. Zhang Damao couldn't help but sigh in his heart, thinking that he grew up with Xu Caizheng when he was a child, and he once spanked his ass, but he didn't expect that decades later, he was just a small township, but he was a high school jinshi, and he returned to his hometown.

Zhang Damao hurriedly greeted everyone, came to the road, waited for the arrival of the small sedan chair, and got closer, Zhang Damao saw that the person next to the donkey cart was Xu Caizheng's housekeeper and an old brother from the same township, so he was even more convinced that the sedan chair was Xu Caizheng, so he hurriedly led the people of the same country, stepped forward and stood on both sides, ready to greet him. It stands to reason that Xu Caizheng has resigned now and is not doing it, Zhang Damao should not be like this, but who called Xu Caizheng the person who came back from the capital, if he didn't take care of his identity, Zhang Damao would probably have to kneel down for Xu Caizheng.

Seeing that the donkey cart was approaching, Zhang Damao didn't dare to stop it head-on, took a step forward, stood on the side of the road, bowed down, and shouted: "Fuping Township is welcoming Lord Xu back to his hometown. Although Zhang Damao is a townsman, he is also a man, he thinks that his voice is enough for Xu Caizheng in the donkey cart to hear, even if Xu Caizheng can't hear it, the housekeeper can see himself and report to Xu Caizheng, and Xu Caizheng even if he is in the same township, he has to stop and talk to himself, not to mention that Xu Caizheng will be under his own rule in the future, and he will always give himself a little thin face, but when he looks at the donkey cart again, he seems not to see Zhang Damao, and he flashed past Zhang Damao, ignoring it.

At this moment, Zhang Damao was a little embarrassed, no matter how small his township is, he is also an official, usually managing hundreds of households in a township, and now he is watched by a fellow villager, and he is rushing to slap Xu Caizheng, but Xu Caizheng ignores himself, and asks himself where to put the face of this township, isn't it a laughing stock in the township, where is the prestige, and how to carry out the work in the future. So Zhang Damao ran two steps, wanted to catch up with the donkey cart, asked clearly, and found a step for himself, but where did he think, the donkey cart of Xu Caizheng was not fast, but when Zhang Damao wanted to chase, the housekeeper whipped the donkey's buttocks, and the donkey was obedient, with a hiss, four legs exerting force, and he was not afraid that the road was bumpy, bumpy, and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Zhang Damao was a little angry now, and said in his heart that this Xu Caizheng is really shameless, he is also a townsman, even if Xu Caizheng has a big temper for a few years, and he can't look down on himself as a petty official, but he is also a fellow villager after all, and he still has to call himself a cousin, how can he turn a blind eye to himself and make himself ugly. Thinking of this, Zhang Damao was even more angry in his heart, and said that he would rush to Xu's mansion to ask for a reason, if Xu Caizheng still didn't care about himself, he would go to his old mother, the old lady was reasonable, he Xu Caizheng was not capable, and then you dared to have the ability not to listen to the old lady's lesson, if you really dared to refute a sentence, what did you care about him, Lord Xu, immediately arrested him, twisted to the government, and asked him a crime of disobedience, thinking of this, Zhang Damao shouted, picked up the country road, ran all the way, and went straight to Xu's mansion in Fuping Township.

Zhang Damao grew up here, familiar with the road in the field, came to the door of Xufu, and saw the donkey cart parked outside the gate of Xufu, and the villagers gathered left and right surrounded the three layers of the outside of the three floors, pointing and pointing there, and discussing, Zhang Damao saw that he did not stop Xu Caizheng, and called him into the house, and was furious in his heart, he was not good at Xu Caizheng, but he was not afraid of these people, strode over, and shouted behind the crowd: "What are you doing here!" Zhang Damao was able to become a townsman naturally had some means, and when the villagers saw Zhang Damao coming, they scattered in a hurry.

Zhang Damao still doesn't know if Xu Caizheng is sitting in this donkey cart, some are not sure, look up and see a scoundrel named Xu Niu in the crowd, who is idle on weekdays, but there are no big and small things in Fuping Township, there is nothing he doesn't know, Zhang Damao raised his hand and called Xu Niu over, and asked: "Xu Niu, when did you come here?" Xu Niu easily didn't scold Zhang Damao, but now the opportunity is rare, and he hurriedly smiled and stepped forward and said: "Lord Qiyu, how big is it that Lord Xu has returned to his hometown, I came here before dawn, and I have been waiting for a day." Zhang Damao nodded and said, "In that case, let me ask you, have you ever seen that it was Master Xu who came down from the donkey cart?" Xu Niu nodded and said: "Exactly, that's still fake, if you don't say that Lord Xu is an official who came back from the capital, then the faction is different, and he didn't talk to me after getting off the donkey cart, and he directly entered the Xu Mansion and closed the door." ”

Zhang Damao heard that he was not the only one who ate the closed door, but he felt a trace of comfort in his heart, thinking that Xu Caizheng was encountering something, or this was the etiquette of the capital, Zhang Damao nodded, and then suddenly asked: "Since Lord Xu has returned home, you should each disperse, why are you still gathered at the door of Lord Xu's house, pointing fingers, and what kind of system." Xu Niu was taken aback by Zhang Damao, thinking that this was a good opportunity for him to slap Zhang Damao, so he was ruthless, looked left and right at no one, stepped forward, attached to Zhang Damao's ear and whispered: "My lord, it's not that the villain framed Lord Xu, but when Lord Xu got out of the car, he seemed to be holding something in his arms, and when Lord Xu was about to enter the door, the villain seemed to hear the sound of a child crying, and many of the villagers heard it, so they gathered together and discussed." ”