The storm continues, and the seventh watch is coming! I would like to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the birth of Taizu in this round. With the highest regards.

In the seventeenth year of the emperor's middle school, April 19, Yuan Zhou, Wu Rong, Jixian Academy

"Oh, you turned out to be the three high disciples of the Heavenly Master......"

Although it was broad daylight, the person who spoke had already drunk until he was awake and relaxed. Putting down the half-gnawed pig's trotters, and rubbing a handful of greasy on the wine-stained white Confucian robe, he took the private message from Zhang Dian handed over by Zhang Yuankong, only glanced at it, put it aside, and said, "Very good, very good." "I don't know what to do.

His attitude was so contemptuous, but Zhang Yuankong became respectful and said: "The family teacher has a saying, I don't have much knowledge when I wait for the next child, I am afraid that I will do too many mistakes and ruin the affairs of the court, and after entering the city, the first thing is to ...... to the Tai" But seeing that the drunken man's eyelids were slightly raised, he reacted very quickly, and immediately changed his words: "...... Ask the gentleman for advice. ”

The man laughed a few times and said, "Ask me for advice?" What is there to ask? Seeing that Zhang Yuankong and the three of them all looked respectful, they didn't speak, so they grabbed the letter back into their hands, flipped it over and over again, and suddenly said: "Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Then he stood up and said, "Come with me!" ”

Jixian Academy is the first of the four major academies in Wurong County, with a radius of more than 100 acres, the courtyard is full of mountains and rivers, and the pavilions are complete, the drunk man stumbled in front, the footsteps are quite fast, and in a blink of an eye has passed through the two courtyards, and came to a small pavilion.

"Your song is not good, look at me, the wind and thunder in the cold rock overnight, the master broke the golden rope, and he couldn't chase it back for thousands of miles, and the sound of the universe was empty and mountainous...... How, it's very powerful......"

Zhang Yuankong listened to the quarrel inside, there were about three or four people, talking about poetry and writing, they didn't seem to be very old, and they were thinking about what the other party had brought them for, but he heard the drunk raise his voice and say, "Come out!" ”

(It's actually a Yiren?) ）

The three people in the cabinet came out of the house, all in their early twenties, but one was more eye-catching than the other: the first two were blonde and white-skinned, with high noses and deep eyes, and the third was a Xia man, but he was a monk. The three of them bowed to the drunk man and said, "I've seen the teacher." "The attitude is extremely respectful.

The drunk man raised his hand and smiled, "Good, good." He gave way to the three voids behind him, and said, "Well, these three are sent by the imperial court, and they are here to check the authenticity of the immortal tree...... and then pointed to the first Yidao: "You clean the food!" ”

(This sir...... Do you know what you're doing!? ）

This time he was really shocked and angry, Zhang Yuankong really didn't expect that Zhang Dian had repeatedly confessed before, and let him be the first big man to visit after entering Wurong, and he would act so absurdly!

…… You must know that this is the highest symbol of the imperial court in Wurong, and it is the county guard of Wurong!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Han Sha is a very smart person, but he has always failed to transport the canopy, and he has been trapped in the East China Sea for nearly ten years."

When he heard this, Zhang Yuankong once asked strangely, if you want to calculate it like this, then Han Sha became a county shepherd in his thirties, how can this not be said to be "unsuccessful", right?

"That's because you don't know what he's missing."

Born in Qu Zouqiu's family, he was regarded as a future star at a very young age, and even an elder predicted that he would definitely become one of the ten philosophers before the age of forty. When he finally decided to become a professional, many people regretted it.

Subsequently, the young Han Sha flew to Huang Tengda, and in a short period of time, he became one of the most dazzling new stars among the civil officials of the imperial capital, and at the age of thirty-two, he was a squire, and everyone felt that within ten years, he would definitely be able to take another step.

“…… Then, the building collapsed. ”

The fall of a prince is enough to alarm the world, compared to the fall of a once promising civil official, no one cares about it.

…… It is said that he is very good, and it is said that he has super abilities, but, his backer has fallen.

When a faction headed by the prince fell, it was a magnificent scene like a landslide, like a rain star, Han Sha was able to struggle to get a real position, which was a very remarkable result, and it also reflected that the people in the temple still had a high level of trust in his ability to govern after all.

When he first arrived in Yuanzhou, he was indeed worthy of this trust, and the Guardian of a county had enough power space to be confident that he could do a lot of things, even if he didn't get additional support from the imperial capital.

"And he did."

Accurately grasped the key to Wu Rongcheng, starting from the rectification of commerce, Han Sha deleted almost all the relevant systems, greatly reorganized the original tax team, and at the same time, he was like other local officials, rewarding farmers and mulberries, and educating poetry and books.

"He did a good job, and with it, he re-established himself as a faction in the Imperial Capital...... Until, he angered the master of Wurong City. ”

Different from those northern cities that Han Sha was familiar with, Wurong was a completely different city. The foundation of Wurong is not wheat fields, not mulberry trees, but the largest natural harbor in the southeast, where the merchants and money flow in and out like a rising tide every year.

He has never paid attention to the end of the four people, and he has always been actively cooperating with the Yi merchants before, so that Han Sha looked down on these merchants who had been bowing down in other places, and in the end, in a confrontation that approached the bottom line of the merchants, these giant merchants finally showed their teeth.

"He's really too anxious...... He wanted to take back his position as the envoy of the city. ”

As a port city, Wurong had the position of "city envoy" with considerable authority, but before that, the city envoy was tacitly allowed to be produced by himself among the Yi merchants, and the imperial court only confirmed it afterwards and gave it legitimacy.

This tradition has lasted for more than 500 years, and some people call it the "blood covenant" behind it, because the first city envoy and the first head of the Yishang family to enter Wurong, the head of the Pu family, Pu Shougeng, is using the blood of an emperor to win this right for his family, this "ten million years old, interest five of them" rights.

As for what was going on, Zhang Dian refused to elaborate, saying that those things should be investigated by the disciples themselves.

"In short, after that, a tradition was formed, the county guards in Wurong City were appointed by the imperial court, and the city envoys in Wurong Port were elected by the Yi merchants themselves. In the past five hundred years, there have been a total of thirty-one envoys in Wurong City, all of whom were Yi merchants, and all of them were produced in this way. ”

But Han Sha couldn't accept this tradition: the official position of the world comes from the emperor, and non-human ministers can be self-dictatorated. Even if with the respect of the prince and the weight of the frontier, the rafters who have been recruited by themselves do not want to be officials directly, they must always turn three times first, like Wu Rong's approach, what is the use of the national talent ceremony? What is the use of three cultural wars in ten years?

…… Then, again, he failed miserably.

"It's very simple, isn't it?"

When Zhang Yuankong asked in confusion how the merchants subdued and humiliated a dignitary who represented the dignity of the imperial court, Zhang Dian smiled, as if he remembered the time when he walked the rivers and lakes again.

"Hit him big with a small blow, blindfold him, and let him step by step...... And then. ”

made a "plop" action with his hand, and Zhang Dian said indifferently: "The fat sheep is hooked!" ”

The reason for the incident was a "violated" building.

In Great Xia, where the importance of "rites" was above all else, the Semu merchants and adventurers who came from all over the world and settled in Bactria were collectively referred to as "Fanbu" or "Yibu" according to ancient texts, and they were required to live only in a limited area, not to purchase real estate, and not to intermarry with the Xia people.

Of course, rules are just rules, things on paper, can not really limit the expansion of wealth, behind them with money flowing like the sea, it is easy to break through all kinds of rules, this kind of money as the backing of the power is so strong, so that the imperial court will soon issue a special edict, strictly prohibiting the Xia people to wrap their heads in white scarves and other "clothes like fan" customs. As for taking a wife, accepting a child, etc., it has long been a blind eye and not disposed of, and in recent years, even some clan girls have intermarried with Yishang regardless of their status.

"But what...... There are things that are still not so easy to provoke. ”

The location where this building was built itself was outside the Fanfang demarcated by the imperial court, which is not enough, it was built too high, and it just fell on the ...... The front of the Bunin.

Whatever the Pu family's own thoughts, to the young scholars, it was a naked show-off, and the enraged Tongsheng and Xiucai took to the streets and walked into the yamen, and Han Sha quickly reacted by demanding that the Pu family retract the decision.

In the beginning, the Pu family always maintained a kind of humility that was simply "hateful" in retrospect, repeatedly admitting his mistakes to Han Sha, but listing his own difficulties, hoping to be forgiven.

In such a confrontation, Han Sha's reputation rose again, and the students looked at him with admiration, believing that he could use the power of "education" to subdue these local tyrants who had nothing in vain money as before, and he did live up to his expectations, pressing forward step by step, and finally forced the Pu family to bow his head and promise to demolish the building as soon as possible.

"In fact, he deliberately eased some of the pressure in the middle, so that the Pu family was able to complete the building."

“…… Does he want to stand on his own? ”

As Zhang Yuanhe guessed, Han Sha didn't mind letting the Pu family build the building higher, because he believed that the "imperial power" he represented would eventually be able to subdue these giant merchants, give them hope first, and then force them to demolish it themselves in the eyes of the whole city...... This will undoubtedly be a beautiful blow that will affect the rise and fall of the back, and it will also create greater convenience for the coercion below you.

“…… But, when he thought he was laying a trap, the other party, why didn't he think so? ”

A notice was issued specifying a date for the demolition of the unauthorised building and then ...... The day before, Pegasus entered the city.

The next morning, the whole city was dumbfounded to see that the high-rise building that had been repeatedly announced by the county guard to be demolished today was not only standing there in good shape, but also had an extra plaque in front of the building.

"Loyalty!"

The unsurpassed glory given to the Yisi Pa Xi army by the current great prince emperor is being hung upstairs respectfully by the county guard Han Sha and other high-ranking military and political officials, and it is only at this time that everyone knows that this building was originally just for the Pu family to pay, and his master will be Sai Fu Ding, the commander of the Yi Si Pa Xi army.

"Because I don't know what His Highness means, I really don't dare to talk nonsense, I pray for your forgiveness."

politely apologized again and again, but every sentence was like a slap in the face of Han Sha: Who doesn't know? After the backer collapsed, it was the eldest prince who re-entered the family with Han Sha easily? In recent years, Han Sha has often consciously or unintentionally hinted that he "still has people above", and has indeed succeeded in deterring a considerable number of local middle and lower-level officials.

…… Today, however, the iceberg has fallen.

Without more communication, no more communication, Han Sha silently retreated to the mansion and never mentioned those grandiose and subversive change plans again...... In fact, while the officials around him were quietly leaving him while exchanging glances in fear, even if he wanted to carry out these plans, he was doomed to be unable to do so.

The confrontation also ends there, just humiliation, not demotion or transfer. Because, on the one hand, Emperor Xiaoyao was not willing to deal too drastic blows to another subordinate in order to appease one subordinate--- two subordinates whose contradictions were difficult to reconcile to watch this money bag together, but it was better to deal with it. On the other hand, it is extremely absurd, although I hate this Han Sha who is always staring at everyone's money bags, but the businessmen like the order and style of study he brings, like his rectification of Wurong City, like his restraint on the ranks of officials, and like the number of talents and people who have been going up since his arrival...... Just like last time, Han Sha once again lost the backer behind him, but once again relied on his extraordinary ability to crawl out of the bottomless ice cave.

"I hope you can understand that there are no likes and dislikes in this, this is business, just business."

This is the explanation given by the then city envoy when he met with Han Sha very frankly, and it is said that Han Sha was not angry about this, but just smiled bitterly back.

"However, these are all heard, I have never seen him again, but I heard the year before last that he still has the favor of the eldest prince, and at his age, there is still a chance to turn over...... Hopefully, it won't collapse again this time. ”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Through Zhang Dian's introduction, Zhang Yuankong had already imagined his image before meeting Han Sha: a shrewd and capable official, a Confucian who was full of poetry and books, and a middle-aged man who was full of scars...... But I didn't expect that it would be such a drunkard who is careless about everything.

(Is he scared?) ）

For a while, Zhang Yuankong even doubted that this person was no longer the scholar and high-ranking official who was worthy of Master's high hopes, had he been so broken by defeat that as soon as he found out that this matter was related to Yishang, he immediately pulled out the children of Yishang to clear himself up?

But the reaction of those people was even more strange, and the first one made an exaggerated expression, slapped his hand on his forehead, and said with a long sigh, "Why is it here again?" ”

"I said teacher, big brother is big brother, I am me...... Why do you always have to clean up with me? ”

"Why?"

Giggling, Han Sha said: "With the dignity of the teacher, the disciple should obey his work; By brotherhood and friendship, what your brother has done is for you to put an end to: by ...... Only if you say it, they don't suspect that I'm coping. ”

Zhang Yuankong and Zhang Yuanhe blushed at the same time in the last sentence, Zhang Yuankong bowed slightly, but Zhang Yuanhe said in his heart: "This guy ...... It's so good! ”

The young Yiren grinned and turned to Zhang Yuankong, but he immediately looked solemn and saluted: "In Xiapu Shouhong, he is the highest disciple under the teacher, and these two are Yunshi and Mingben...... Don't dare to ask the names of the three adults? "I just didn't hear the monk shouting and scolding behind his back...... Tall your sister! ”

After greeting each other through their names for a long time, Pu Shouhong saluted again and said, "It's really scary to alarm the three adults...... However, this 'immortal tree' is really just some strange tricks, and I apologized for my brother in the next generation. ”

"Brother Ling is ......"

With a wry smile, Pu Shouhong arched his hand and said: "Brother Pu Shougeng, who is trusted by the imperial court, is now leading the errand of the envoy of Wurong City. ”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After finding a quiet room and sitting down, after drinking two rounds of tea, Zhang Yuankong finally figured out what was going on.

"Actually, my brother doesn't want to, this matter is mainly done by Archbishop Auroben."

It was very frank to tell Sanzhang that the "immortal tree" was completely a hoax, a trick made up by the Nestorian Sect in order to expand its influence, which is also their method all along, researching and monopolizing certain medical methods, and then packaging them as "miracles" for preaching.

"But isn't that what you've been doing?"

Asked very confusedly, Pu Shouhong felt that it was okay for others, and the Shenxiao faction and Longhu Mountain actually sent people to investigate one after another, which was really incredible.

"The teacher introduced me to a lot of books, and it mentioned that both monks and you like the time of chaos and epidemic the most, and whenever this happens, you will happily run to the refugees, the better ones are scattered medicine, and the worse ones are to spread comfort, but then they all take the opportunity to preach."

Han Sha even told a story to Pu Shouhong: in the north of Yuanzhou, during a major epidemic in a certain year, a group of monks ran to Jinguan County to publicize that they wanted to read the Diamond Sutra! Look at Wenjin County next to you, just because everyone worshiped the Diamond Sutra, the plague did not spread! This story helped them get a lot of sesame oil money, until finally someone couldn't help but run to Wenjin, and then found out...... The fellow monks are there preaching that they want to read the Diamond Sutra! Look at Jinguan County next to you, just because everyone worshiped the Diamond Sutra, the plague did not spread!

Therefore, Pu Shouhong felt that he couldn't understand, everyone was obviously "peers", this kind of thing didn't need to be seen, and he should understand when he heard it, why did there still be so many senior Taoist priests who came to inquire and investigate?

"Oh, the Shenxiao faction is really here to inquire about the Immortal Tree?"

I felt embarrassed early and took the opportunity to change the subject. But in fact, the three of them had speculated about this as early as during the trip, and at this time they just pretended to be curious and asked a few words, knowing that the Seven Sons of Shenxiao came to Wurong two days earlier than their party, and they also visited Han Sha first, and were also brought to Pu Shouhong by him.

"They were much more intense than the three of them!"

"Uh, that's right."

I'm no longer interested in that...... In fact, the three of them all had a sense of stupidity at this time: did they come to the East China Sea thousands of miles away just for such a scam that even the counterfeiters themselves didn't bother to cover up?

"Because the eldest brother said at the beginning, if an adult in the court comes to ask, tell the truth honestly, don't mess around."

Although he is a businessman, Pu Shougeng has a deep understanding of the political ecology and even the belief system of Daxia, and in his opinion, many things can be said frankly and hidden, but there will be big problems.

"Great Xia...... It is different from our hometown, this is the country of scholars, Buddha, Taoism...... will not become the master, here, religion only fights for 'money', not for 'power', of course, it is impossible to fight for it. ”

Therefore, Pu Shou Geng thinks that he can fully integrate into this game, in the final analysis, this world is not divided into Xia people and Yi people, but into smart people and stupid people, as long as he reaches an understanding with smart people, he can let go and fool stupid people.

Han Sha knew the details from the beginning, and many people in the city knew it, but in Pu Shougeng's opinion, these people wouldn't believe in any religion anyway, and the trick of the "Immortal Tree" didn't openly rob other believers, and second, they were still playing according to the rules of Great Xia, so there wouldn't be much of a problem.

"Brother Ling is really ......

shook his head with a wry smile, but in fact, Zhang Yuankong wanted to ask another question: if what Zhang Dian said was right, the brother of the young man in front of him should be the culprit who caused Han Sha to fall again. But he was able to worship under Han Sha, and he still seems to be a disciple who is quite valued?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Pu Shougeng's methods are indeed outstanding...... It's worthy of him changing the name himself. ”

Walking on the passerby returning to the inn, Zhang Yuanhe just sighed like this, and Zhang Yuanjin couldn't help but ask.

"Don't you shy away from it?"

Pu Shou Geng, is the first generation of Wu Rong Pu family envoys, five hundred years of wealth, from this, it is for this reason, when I heard that the current head of the Pu family is also called Pu Shou Geng, Zhang Yuanjin felt very awkward.

"Not really."

Obviously, he has carefully studied the past of the Pu family, Zhang Yuanhe said that the Pu family was originally a Yi person, and the first generation of the so-called "Pu Shou Geng" Yunyun is simply a paraphrase, but after a few generations, he began to feel at ease as a person in the summer land, and he began to follow the customs.

"At that time, they would also be flattered, taking the eight characters of 'heaven's grace and longevity', arranging the family tree, turning it down for hundreds of years, and in this generation, it just happened to be the 'longevity' generation."

His real name is Pu Shougeng, and he is just one of many peers, but as he grows older, he gradually shows his extraordinary ability, and finally stands out, inherits the position of the head of the family, and takes back the market envoy who has been controlled by other Yi merchants for forty years.

"It is said that just before he inherited the head of the family, someone proposed that your name touched the pronunciation of the first ancestor, it is better to change the word, as a result, he thought for a while, and changed it himself, at that time, several Qing guests raised in his family looked at each other, but no matter how to persuade, he just laughed, did not annoy, did not listen, and in the end the clan could not take him, and had to be by him."

Not particularly interested in this, Zhang Yuankong listened to Zhang Yuanhe's words, only said "oh", and said: "His younger brother is also interesting, it seems that he really admires the education of the national dynasty?" But Zhang Yuanhe smiled and said: "It's just an old trick of the Pu family." He said that this has been the case since the time when they took root and established the door.

"At that time, the Pu family had two brothers, who fought for the court with their heads and got the official position, and the second brother was Pu Shougeng, who was rewarded with a military position, and later became a city envoy, the big one was called Pu Shoucheng, who received a civilian position, and later became a governor."

Unlike the younger brother who always insisted on the color and the clothes and worshiped the Yijiao, Pu Shoucheng has always been positive, studying poetry and books, and saying Zen Buddha in his spare time, at that time, he was also a famous poet, and the people of the time praised him for saying "still Yayin", "enough to prepare a family", in Zhang Yuanhe's view, Pu Shoucheng's love for the way of words is probably true, but in the final analysis, this is just the old tradition of the Pu family walking on two legs for hundreds of years, no wonder.

"You, you always think deeply about people in everything, and it's a shame that you're a monk......

smiled and said a few words about this junior brother, but Zhang Yuankong's ears scraped into the side of the road to speak, he couldn't help but turn his head, fixed his head for a moment, and suddenly turned red, and said angrily: "...... Dare! ”