Chen Jian returned to his dock fort and said to his brother Chen Fen: "Zu Taishou is greedy and tyrannical, just like a lone wolf, you should stay away; Bian Bei is a humble gentleman, and it seems that he can be attached to him. With {dream} small ◢.1a"

Chen Fen asked him, "How is the envoy?" ”

Jian Chen glanced at his mouth: "The family is high-level, and he is just a gentleman, but listening to his words, it seems that he has the intention of asking for a bribe." I plan to present the Tian Deed Secret that I had tampered with the day before to the envoy after some time, and as long as I attach some offerings, I believe that I will be able to sign it, so that it can be passed on to future generations. ”

Chen Fen nodded again and again—this is good, this is going to be obtained, but—"I'm waiting for the common people, I'm afraid we can't cross the other car and meet the envoy directly......"

"Before my brother returns, he will talk to Huaihai about Wei Jun, and Wei Jun seems to be able to connect us."

Chen Fen said very good, brother, you really didn't run in vain this trip, you got such good news, but I don't know how many benefits we have to come up with in order to buy Dongwei and Pei Tingshi?

Chen Jian said that this matter could be discussed again, but-"My brother's benefits are actually more than that." As he spoke, he turned around and greeted him, and a large tray came up from the man's hand, and two stacks of plates were thickly placed on the plate.

Chen Fen glanced at it and said I don't know much, what is written on it, brother, read it to me. Chen Jian said that there is no need to read it, to tell you the truth, brother, these are blank confessions, and they are the best treasures for me to wait for salted fish to turn over!

The vast majority of the dock castle owners were deeply excited about Pei Gai and Bian Yan's "selling official beards", but they also said that it was difficult to make a decision for a while about which officials to buy and how many materials or manpower they had to "donate" to be able to buy, so they would admit some for the time being, and said that they would discuss with the clansmen after they went back, and finally finalize it.

This is because there may be several official positions that they want, but if they are not discussed and coordinated in private, they are afraid that the government will take the opportunity to open their mouths and engage in tricks similar to "auctions", or sell the goods to two companies. There are also some Wubao who may want to swallow several official positions in one go, but then they must come up with a large sum of money, not only a little painful, but also afraid that the money will be exposed because of this, and they will be targeted by the ancestral county guard who seems to have a great appetite......

As long as Jian Chen gets out of the county safely this time, he is not afraid that his ancestors will be bad, so he doesn't care much, and he should get off more than a dozen positions in one breath. But the problem is that if he buys all of them, no matter how rich the manpower and material resources in the dock fort are, it will inevitably hurt his muscles and bones, so he can't make up his mind about what he wants, and he will come back to discuss with his brother Chen Fen after all.

Chen Jian originally wanted to be the governor of the state government, but Bian Yan's price was too high...... It's not that he can't afford it, but since you're a guard, it's better not to buy a Zhu Cao Zuo for your brother, right? If the two high-ranking positions are taken down, the money and food may not be in hand. So take a step back, and plan to buy a township for my brother - that is, the head of a township, and buy a deputy of the township for himself, that is, the township history or the township Zuodang. In addition, in Huaisi Township, there were fourteen officials and one school official, and he also moved back first.

It's a pity that the county and the county officials don't sell it - the county is because of the insistence of the ancestors and refuses to sell the official, and the county is because of ...... There is not even a county order, how can you put an official? It's a pity that only the positions in Huaiyin County are sold for the time being, and Chenjiawu Fort still has a large number of industries in Xuyi County, Linjun, and it can't be bought for the time being......

But who wanted to come diligently to show his brother's merits, but Chen Fen didn't think so at all: "We have land, dock forts, and soldiers to do, so what's the use of asking for the quota of these country officials?" Originally, in Huaisi Township, it was my brothers who had the final say, what more do you want? He shook his head again and again: "Don't buy, don't buy." ”

Chen Jian begged repeatedly, but Chen Fen just didn't allow it, and laughed at the brother officer for being confused - "If you want to be an official, you might as well wait for the Han army to come and kill you on a different day, and I'll buy a general for you." ”

In the end, Chen Jian was anxious and said that since you have no intention of being an official in the Jin Dynasty, then okay, I will be the one who is in this township! Of course, even if you are a township, I still have to listen to you, you are a township's brother. When I am a brother, I want to wear a robe and shake my majesty, I also have a share of the wealth of Wubao, so I will use my share of money and grain to buy it, and I will not move my brother, you have a grain of grain!

Chen Fen patted his brother's shoulder: "Between brothers, what is the difference between each other?" If you want to be an official in the rejuvenation of the country, then you will be an official, I will pay for it, and I will buy it for you. ”

In the end, the two brothers agreed that Chen Jian would first buy the village Zhenglai, and then buy three lieutenants, and send them to three Chen Jian's cronies, with a total value of 2,900 grains of grain and rice, or converted into 5,800 man-days of labor—that is, to help repair the city and the coastal forts.

In addition, according to the agreement at the meeting, each Wubao must also send thirty to one hundred men, as well as enough rations for one year, to serve as county officials, not only can this reduce the autumn tax of this year by 20%, but also not in vain.

In this regard, Chen Fen felt that it was too much-you have to reduce the tax by at least 30% - and estimated that his brother was carried away by the matter of buying officials, so he agreed to it. But this is not a big deal after all, for the sake of peace between brothers, forget it, I will admit it. However, he immediately allocated grain, silk, gold and silver worth 5,000 yuan from the public treasury, saying that this is for the purchase of land deeds, brother, you bother to operate, I hope that when the autumn harvest comes, all the fields in this township will fall steadily into the hands of my Chen family.

That's the most important thing, brother, don't worry about being small and losing the big.

——————————

Only six days after Chen Jian returned to Wubao, he was busy escorting a large amount of grain and rice, as well as military service and hard labor, and returned to Huaiyin County. First handed over the people and food to the stuttering Zhou Zhi, filled in the names on the four notices, and then went to Xun Wei Zhi, presented ten silks, and asked him to help make a statement to the assassin Shi and change the field deed. Although Wei Zhi took the gift diligently, he told Jian Chen that the assassin Shi happened to be out and did not return, you go back and wait first, and when he comes back, I will help report it.

Jian Chen couldn't help frowning slightly: "Where does the unknown make you?" When will I be able to return? ”

Wei Xun said with a smile: "Envoy Jun Naiyun: 'The county has no post superintendent, but let me do whatever the county does?'" Why did the ancestors drive me like a servant? ’”

Jian Chen didn't understand at all, so he had to stare at the two innocent big eyes, look at Wei Xun, and ask him to explain. Wei Xun couldn't help but shake his head - the local landlord is really uneducated, you see this is still known as the elder brother, so it is clear that he has not read any books - so he had to patiently explain: "The county should have been a post supervisor, and the branch was in the county, but the ancestors were the first to arrive, and there were no famous scholars in Ru County, so there was no post supervisor to serve, so I asked the king to help the county......"

He said that it was Zu Ti who said to Pei Gai, you don't have anything to do anyway, don't you feel bored when you stay in the county? Why don't you help me go around and inspect it-hinting to Jian Chen, Zu Ti has the intention of taking Pei Gaiyu away and completely hollowing him out.

Of course, this is a nonsense, Pei Gai and Zu Ti will not be so quick to get into trouble, if it is not voluntary, the dignified assassin will not act as a patrol supervisor. When discussing how to collect money and grain from the county's docks and forts that day, Bian Yan said that this matter was not easy to handle - the authority of the government had been lost, and who would be willing to take so much money and grain out to help repair the city defense for no reason? Zu Ti suggested that it was better to borrow it from a white strip businessman.

Pei Gai smiled: "I borrowed a lot of money and grain from Gu, Ji and other family merchants in Jiangdong, but they were willing to borrow it only in the face of the princess of the East China Sea, and they wanted to cling to it." If there is nothing to come out of now, who will borrow you? "Why don't we sell the official beard.

Contrary to his performance in front of everyone, Zu Li did not have too obvious dislike for this, and said that he could try it, but Bian Yan, who had always been strict and upright, waved his hand again and again, saying that he could not do it. Pei should explain, saying that I didn't plan to sell the official position, but those township officials, officials or something, anyway, they can't find a suitable person to do it for a while, even if they look for it now, they will eventually have to fall into the hands of the local dock castle owner, so you might as well just sell them.

Bian Yan said: "What about the original township and the officials?" ”

Pei Gai said that I have checked, the township and small officials in a county, who took the initiative to resign and were forced to go into exile, exceeded seventy percent, and the number of people left is not much, if there is a family that wants to buy, then it is better to replace them directly - "A term of order, often more than the township and the official, is also ordinary." ”

Bian Yan asked: "The lord of Wubao and others, if they have the strength but not necessarily the reputation, even if they have the name of the township, they may not be recognized by the government. ”

Pei Cai pursed his lips: "If they don't have a name, won't they be in the fish and meat town?" "Don't look down on the manners of those landowners, and don't look down on their guts.

Bian Yan has been the minister of state after all, and not long ago he also temporarily took pictures of Guangling County, what kind of virtue those rural landlords are, he is also clear, he is silent when he hears the words, although he is still reluctant, but he has no words to refute Pei Gai. So they originally planned to sell officials, not Bian Yan's temporary idea, and the reason why they opened all the state officials at a sky-high price was because they didn't want people to really buy them, just to decorate the façade - there was LV hanging at the door to attract customers to enter the door, in fact, I only sell miscellaneous bags.

When the defense (selling officials) conference came to a successful conclusion, according to the original plan, Pei Gai would temporarily leave Huaiyin County and inspect all parts of the county -- the main purpose was to keep the other counties in his hands and temporarily order people to take charge of county affairs, so that a little grain tax could be collected during the autumn harvest. But although the owners of the county's dock fort went back happily, they seemed to be very buyers, after all, they had not been able to pay the money with one hand and deliver the goods with the other, and things may still be repeated.

I had to wait for Chen Jian to come back, and the first transaction was completed, and Zhou Zhu reported to Pei Gai, who was basically relieved. But he still ordered Wei Xun to find an excuse to hang Chen Jian first - Chen Jian's intentions were tested in front of Wei Yinzhi after the last meeting, and Wei Xun reported to Pei Gai - the more you want to get it, the more I will let go slowly, and I have to hook your appetite, so that it is possible to sell it at a good price.

Then he packed his bags and left the city. Before leaving, Zu Ti and Bian Yan naturally came to see each other off, Pei should no longer be the bizarre dress of the Gaomen family, put on a serious crown uniform, and ordered Pei Lian to lead the horse over.

At the beginning of their journey to the north, so many people only had one horse, and Pei should have brought it across the Yangtze River from the north and then gave it to Zu Ti. This is because there are very few horses in the Jiangnan area - there are basically no horse farms - the cheap breed is about the same size as the mule, and the noble breed has long since fallen into the hands of the large indigenous families, or the families who first crossed the river, resulting in a priceless market. However, when the Yangtze River is crossed, even if the climate of the Guangling area and the south of the Yangtze River is not much different, after all, the transportation with the Central Plains and the North Land is more convenient, and horses are not too rare objects. Therefore, not long after arriving in Huaiyin, Pei Gai and others bought more than a dozen horses, and the cavalry could not afford to raise them, but at least the nobles had one horse per person, and they could travel on their behalf, and there was no need to take an ox cart.

Especially if Pei should want to farm in Guangling, cattle are actually more important than horses, how can they be overused and left for themselves to pull the cart?

Pei Lin led the horse over, and Pei should have stepped up. Bian Yan's reaction was a beat slower, but Zu Ti immediately found out: "Why is the wood a board?" ”

Pei Gai smiled and replied to him: "I am not a Hu man, I don't ride a horse, and my control skills are very weak, so I use this thing to assist my ears." ”

Zu Ti smiled and said, "I'm not a Hu person, but I don't need this thing." "Then I bowed my hand, please let you go on your way. What does Pei Caixin mean? I'm still amazed when you see my new "invention" stirrup, and then rejoice and admire, who would have thought that it didn't take it seriously at all! Are you blind, or was my understanding of stirrups too superficial in my previous life, but in fact, this thing didn't play a big role in promoting the development of cavalry? Anyway, after I have my own stirrups, I feel much more comfortable riding a horse, and I can last longer on horseback......

Forget it, I'll test myself first, and I'll tell you when I get back from this trip.

So I got out of Huaiyin County, walked east first, crossed the ditch, and went to see the land of reclamation. He took with him the slaves Pei Du and Pei Lian, the "bodyguard" Zhen Sui and other six people, as well as Huaihai to engage in guarding. As a rule, each state must set up a capital water to be responsible for the management of rivers and lakes within the territory, among which Xu and Liang are the most important, Xuzhou has been renamed Huaihai and Liangzhou has been renamed Hejin - as soon as you hear the name, you will know what the key responsibility is. Wei Yinzhi is a Huijiren, it is said that his hometown is in Yongxing County, which is adjacent to the mouth of the Qiantang River at the mouth of the sea, so he still has a certain understanding of water conservancy and fishery, and Pei should be entrusted with this appointment.

When they arrived at the tunken land, Tian Cao hurriedly greeted the general and saw Pei Gai to pay homage. Pei should ask him about the situation of the reclamation, and Fei Sheng guided him, walking all the way, watching all the way, while dancing and explaining in detail, the organization was quite clear. Pei Gai put his hand on the canopy and looked closely, only to see the ditches and ragged homeless people working hard and orderly under the spur of the little official-of course, Fei Sheng did not follow Pei Gai to the north alone, he also had more than a dozen relatives and slaves of his own family, who happened to be the helpers of the reclamation.

Pei Cai couldn't help but say: "I can't tell whether this concubine is talented or not, but it seems that it is barely enough to manage several townships and one county." So he encouraged him and said: "Bo Qian works hard, if there is a fruit in Tuntian in the next autumn, he will be the head of a county." "The concubine was overjoyed, and she made a series of gestures to thank you for the kindness that made the heavens and the earth thick.