In the front office of the Beiting Metropolitan Protector's Mansion, in the official office of the Metropolitan Protector Wang Zhengjian, Du Huan rubbed his thin cheeks repeatedly with both hands, trying to drive away the exhaustion all over his body.

Shangyuan Festival, should be a relaxing time for the family to enjoy the lanterns at night, but unexpectedly, a catastrophe broke out, and a fire will "ride under the moon, and watch people in front of the lamp." The joy is endless, and the prosperous festival of "singing and dancing until tomorrow morning" has become a tragedy in the world.

According to a report from Cao Shenjun, a soldier in charge of public security in the Beiting Prefecture, although the casualties caused by the fire have not yet been fully counted, the number of people burned by the fire and trampled to death should be no less than 40, and the number of injured is innumerable.

What's even more exaggerated is that due to the competition between Wenxitang and Ruyiju, countless family members of high-ranking officials in the North Court went to watch the lantern wheel and the lantern tower, and many people were also injured in the fire, including a son and a daughter of the Duhu Wang Zhengjian family and the three children of the deputy Duhu Ashina Yang family.

The fire shook the entire Tingzhou City, and all the officials of the Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate, who were on vacation, rushed into action to deal with the sudden disaster.

Wuhou Pu soldiers continued to extinguish the remnants of the fire and place the crowd; The Han Navy strengthened the vigilance around Nanshi and assisted in laying troops to fight fires; Gong Cao Sigong joined the army and mobilized the medical doctors and folk medical workshops in Tingzhou City to treat the wounded; Fa Cao joined the army and began to examine the corpse and find out the cause of the fire; Many temples and Taoist temples such as Saidai Temple also organized novices and Taoist children to come to help......

After the initial panic, the government offices at all levels gradually got on the right track and began to operate in an orderly manner, and various rescue measures were put into operation one after another, and the shock caused by the fire subsided slightly.

As the judge of the North Court, Du Huan is Wang Zhengjian's most trusted and relied on staff. In the face of such an unexpected situation, Du Huan naturally could not stay out of the matter.

Many small and miscellaneous items need to be sorted out one by one; All kinds of information must be filtered one by one: all kinds of decrees must be issued by his hands.

In addition to this, he also had to consider some higher and farther things, such as asking for sin, such as speculating on the cause and effect of things......

From the fifteenth day of the sudden fire to the early morning of the sixteenth, Du Huan did not rest for a moment, and stayed in the official office with Wang Zhengjian to deal with various matters related to disaster relief.

After being busy for so long, the chaos caused by the fire was finally brought under control. Looking at the moonlight outside the window, Du Huan suddenly realized that this was another disgusting Shangyuan Festival.

In fact, Du Huan has never liked the Shangyuan Festival, and his memories of this festival have always been mixed with vagueness and disgust.

As the big surname in the Jingzhao area, the Du family lives in Duqu Town, south of Chang'an City, and lives next to the Wei family, another major family in the Jingzhao area.

At the time of the Tang Long coup d'état, Webster was ambushed. When the soldiers loyal to the saint came to Duqu Town to kill the Wei clan, they also killed many people surnamed Du by mistake.

However, although the Du family is surnamed Jingzhao, Du Huan's house has long been decayed, and his grandfather is a complete prodigal, who is a prostitute every day, and does not do his job, and the family's property is quickly ruined; His father wanted to cheer up, studied hard with anger, and worked hard to take the road of the imperial examination, but his body was weak, and his ambition was not rewarded, and he died of illness.

Du Huan can be said to be lonely at a young age, and he is an adult with his mother's hard work. So when he was young, Du Huan, who was poor, had few playmates, and he didn't have many opportunities to go to Chang'an City to watch the lanterns.

Du Huan's memory of the Shangyuan Festival stays more on his mother's hard work than on any songs and laughter.

Fortunately, Du Huan is still smart and resolute, and with the strong support of his mother, Du Huan went to study in the Du family's ethnology early.

Mr. Clan Studies was very fond of Du Huan, who was poor and hardworking, and not only exempted him from his restraints, but also accepted him as a personal disciple and taught him carefully.

Du Huan also lived up to the expectations of his mother and husband, and passed the Jinshi examination at the age of twenty-four.

You must know that there were many subjects in the imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty, but the Jinshi was the most difficult to test, and the saying that "thirty old Ming Jing, fifty young Jinshi" circulated among scholars is by no means groundless.

At the age of twenty-four, Du Huan was a young man, and his bright future was like a Persian carpet embroidered with gold and silver threads, which had been slowly unfolded in front of Du Huan.

On the third day of March after the end of the imperial examination, the patriarch of the Wei clan, who had been in contact with the Du family for generations, invited a matchmaker to go to Du Huan's house to propose marriage, and was willing to marry the concubine of the Wei family's branch to Du Huan.

In fact, in all fairness, if you really want to sell Du Huan at a price, the price offered by the Wei family can be said to be a little cheaper.

As a young and first jinshi, Du Huan has a huge room for growth, even if he does not bother to operate, it will be easy to ascend to the stage in the future, or to serve in Zhou County.

And the Wei family actually hopes to use the daughter of a concubine in a side house to envelop such a young talent, and I am really sorry for the four gilded characters of "Jinshi and the first".

But Du Huan and his mother discussed it a little and agreed to the proposal of the Wei family patriarch.

The patriarch of the Wei family dared to make such a bid, not because he was confused and incomprehensible about the world, but because he was careful to the extreme.

Although Du Huan is a new science and technology scholar with an unlimited future, his weaknesses are also very obvious, first, there are few poor people, and the direct help he can get is limited; The second is that although the Du family was extremely brilliant in the year of Zhenguan, it was generally in a dormant period in the political arena in the early years of Tianbao, and Du Huan's family help after entering the office would be very limited.

Under this restriction, although Du Huan can make a difference, unless there is a big opportunity, it will definitely be difficult to enter the political hall for life. If he pursues and persists in his career, it will inevitably be extremely difficult and tortuous.

On the other hand, the Wei family, more than 20 years after the Tanglong coup, has risen again as an important force in Tianbao's political arena after recuperation and painstaking management.

Wei Yuangui of the Wei family's house has two daughters, the eldest daughter is the concubine of Li Ye, the younger brother of the saint, and the concubine of the young daughter Li Heng, the crown prince.

Wei Yuangui's eldest son, Wei Jian, who has served as the Taishou of Shaanxi County and the envoy of land and water transport, is shrewd and capable, and is in good grace.

In the contrast of the situation of the Wei and Du families, the Wei family patriarch is willing to marry the impoverished Du Huan with his own daughter, which can be regarded as a combination of Du Huan's blue eyes, and maybe it still takes into account the factors of the intersection of the Wei and Du families for generations.

Otherwise, there are so many Jinshi in the first place, and the hot Wei family has a lot of choice, why give the opportunity to Du Huan, a poor boy?!

Du Huan is not stupid, he thinks a little about the increasingly clear human feelings, and also understands the shrewd calculations of the Wei family patriarch.

Although he felt a little aggrieved and resentful, reason told him that such an arrangement was not unacceptable, at least the family situation would be changed quickly, and the large bride price brought by the Wei's daughter could alleviate the financial embarrassment and let his mother get rid of the hard work of working every day.

As for the help in his career, Du Huan saw it relatively lightly, he was fortunate to have it, but he didn't have the "Lingyun Ambition" that he must have a golden seal and purple ribbon in this life.

After the Wei family patriarch knew that Du Huan agreed, he was also very happy, and felt that he had not only attracted Yingjie for the family, but also achieved a marriage, which was really meritorious.

Before the marriage, the ceremonies such as Nacai, asking for names, Naji, Nazheng, and inviting dates were not bothered by Du Huan, and the Wei family patriarch assigned the elders of the clan to communicate directly with the Du family, and Du Huan's marriage was carried out smoothly and quietly, and the wedding date was set in the spring of the fifth year of Tianbao (746).

Although the patriarch of the Wei family is very good at abacus, he is still quite satisfied with Du Huan, the new son-in-law who knows the roots, and when he was carrying out the Nacai ceremony, he greeted Wei Jian, helped Du Huan successfully pass the re-examination of the Ministry of Officials, and found a position for him in Gyeonggi Wannian County to improve his qualifications.

According to the design of the Wei family patriarch, after Du Huan got married, he found a suitable opportunity for Wei Jian to transfer him to the Criminal Department for training, and then continued to rise under the care of Wei Jian, the secretary of the Criminal Department.

If things were arranged completely according to the kind-hearted Wei family patriarch, Du Huan would probably be working in the departments of the Criminal Department now, and it is estimated that he would be able to make a difference under Wei Jian's care.

But the world is so complex and unpredictable that it will not completely succumb to the wishes and assumptions of any one person, but will always be like a mad bison breaking into a china shop, rampage along its own wayward route, shattering the seemingly seamless plans and calculations of countless people.

Tianbao's five-year Shangyuan Festival is the clearest and most unforgettable New Year's Eve in Du Huan's memory.

Since the names of the two parties have been decided, Du Huan generously accompanied the little lady of the Wei family to Chang'an to watch the lanterns.

Chang'an Yuanxi's romance, prosperity, and wealth are naturally not comparable to the military towns of Tingzhou.

But Du Huan always couldn't remember what lights he enjoyed and what dances he watched that day, he only remembered that he rode a horse with the incense cart, and from time to time he talked a few words with the shy little lady in the car.

At that time, it seemed that his life should be so peaceful and tranquil, and his path forward should be like a straight Suzaku Street, with an unobstructed view.

Unexpectedly, there were waves on the ground, and on the night of the New Year's Eve, someone reported to the saint that Wei Jian violated the law of the country and secretly met with the side of the Hexi Festival to make the emperor Wei Ming, trying to support the crown prince to ascend the throne.

The saint was furious when he heard this, the emperor Fu Weiming died, Wei Jian was demoted, the crown princess Wei and Li Heng divorced as nuns, and many people in the Wei family were purged and implicated.

The Wei family, which was prosperous and prosperous, suffered the most severe blow after the Tanglong coup, and more than 20 years of business were empty overnight.

The patriarch of the Wei family could not bear such a heavy blow, and died in a hurry, and the Wei family tree fell and scattered, and in an instant it withered to the ground like a cherry blossom in the wind.

Because Du Huan has not yet married the little lady of the Wei family, he has not been implicated too much, but he has lost his position in Wannian County and has become a candidate again.

Most of his peers have already decided on positions, or they have seniority in the central cabinet, or they have been put in local states and counties to hone their skills.

When Du Huan and the Wei family got married, it was inevitable that some people said that he had climbed high branches in the same year, and now that the Wei family collapsed in an instant, there were many people gloating openly and secretly.

After the Wei Jian case, the Wei family and the Du family thought that Du Huan would veto this marriage and find another good couple.

Unexpectedly, Du Huan still insisted on completing the marriage and did not waver. Du Huan's persistence was highly praised by the Wei family, but it was only praised.

The Du family was already powerless, and the Wei family was swept away, and Du Huan was poor and had nothing to rely on in his career.

However, the bride price of the little lady of the Wei family was not greatly affected, so that the life of the Du Huan family would not continue to be embarrassed.

After getting married as scheduled, Du Huan began to plan for his official position, after all, he couldn't rely on the bride price of his wife!

Du Huan inquired about it, and found that the northwest, northeast and other remote places were lacking in people's care, if the Jinshi of the first rank was willing to go, the officials would grant the official position as soon as possible with super speed and high efficiency, so as not to regret the Jinshi who was confused for a while.

In order to make a living, Du Huan went to the Ministry of Officials to try it out, and was soon sent to the Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate, and Ren Zheng Jiupin's Gong Cao joined the army.

The reason why it is the ninth product instead of the usual nine products is that Du Huan took the initiative to invite Ying to go to a remote state town, which can be regarded as a small commendation from the ministry to him.

Before leaving, the newlywed wife was naturally reluctant and wanted to come to Tingzhou together. But after years of hard work, Du Huan's mother was weak and unable to travel far.

Du Huan went to the border town, and Wei had to stay at home to serve his aunt. The newlywed Yan'er's little couple was quickly driven away by the unpredictable fate, and the sky was separated.