On the twelfth day of February in the eighth year of Tianbao, the first rays of sunlight in the early morning had just shone into Qiuzi City, and Cen Shen, the secretary of Anxi Jiedu, who had already been freshened up, pushed the door out and left the heavily guarded Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate Office.

It's been half a month since I came to Qiuzi, and Cen Shen still feels as if in a dream.

The 34-year-old Cen Shen, after entering the high school in Tianbao for three years (744), successfully passed the re-examination of the Ministry of Officials, and was awarded to lead the government soldier Cao to join the army from the right of the nine grades.

I thought that it would be a smooth road after getting the middle jinshi, but it was too insignificant for a mere one to join the army from the nine-rank soldier Cao, and in the huge Chang'an City where there were many relatives like dogs and heroes and nobles everywhere.

Over the past four years, Cen Shen believes that he is diligent and has never slackened. But at the end of the three-year period, when the grinding survey was promoted, he only got the middle evaluation, and the level remained unchanged.

And a colleague who abandoned government affairs, called eagles and chased beasts, and slept in willows, got the comments of Shangzhong, and his official rank rose steadily.

Cen Shen was indignant in his heart, and hid alone in the wine shop when he was drinking. Just meet the colleague who calls friends and celebrates the transition.

Although Cen Shen tried his best to refuse, he was still forcibly dragged into the private room by his complacent colleagues.

At the non-speculative banquet, listening to the laughter and conversation between the guests and hosts, Cen Shen realized that this colleague was a distant relative of Li Linfu, the minister of power.

After figuring out the reason, Cen Shen got drunk and didn't know how he returned to his simple and dilapidated home.

In fact, Cen Shen's career could have been much smoother. His ancestor Cen Wenwen was an important minister of the Taizong Dynasty and served as the Zhongshu Order; His father also served as the assassin of Jinju in the early years of Kaiyuan, and his future was bright.

If his father had been alive, Cen Shen might have been able to become a civil and prose official before he became a scholar; After being a scholar, he can directly enter the key departments such as the Zhongshu Sect or the six departments of the three provinces, work beside the saints and Xiangguo, and then take advantage of the situation and go out to the herdsmen in the states and counties to accumulate qualifications.

It's a pity that when Cen Shen was young, his father died of illness. The family fortune suddenly plummeted, and he quickly fell from a noble to an ordinary humble scholar.

Cen Shen is not afraid of poverty, and he firmly believes that he can set foot on the court again with unremitting efforts and reverse the decline of the family. And the existence of the imperial examination made him see hope and the future.

I thought that after studying the scriptures and high school scholars, I would be able to exert my fists and kicks and revitalize the lintel. An ordinary grinding survey, but like a cold ice rain, Cen Shen was cold all over, which directly shattered his ambition.

In the embarrassment, Cen Shen remembered his old friend Wang Changling, the same Jinshi background, the same poetry, but also the same bumpy career......

In the midst of the chaos, more than a year has passed in a blink of an eye. The disheartened Cen Shen, although he is still diligent in government affairs every day, has lost his original vitality, because the hope that was jumping in front of his eyes is like a bubble in the sun, which has been punctured by the ruthless reality.

When all thoughts were lost, suddenly came the news that Gao Xianzhi, the deputy capital protector of Anxi and the envoy of the Four Towns Festival, wanted to recruit staff among the Beijing officials.

Before Cen Shenzhong Jinshi, he had traveled in Shuofang and Hedong; Since joining the army, he has also actively paid attention to the armament and personnel of military towns in various places. Therefore, unlike ordinary Beijing officials, he still has some understanding of the Anxi Protectorate in the far west.

At that time, Gao Xianzhi had just won a great victory in the expedition to Xiaobolu, and his reputation was rising day by day. The legendary experience of leading the army to brave difficulties, climb mountains and mountains, attack Lianyunbao and Xiaanu Yue City, capture the little Bolu King, and capture the Tubo princess has been widely spread among the army, scholars, rangers and Hu Niang in Chang'an, and everyone knows it for a while.

Cen Shen's colleagues were also full of praise for Gao Xianzhi's expeditionary feat. But praise is praise, but no one is really willing to leave their family and business, leave the flowery Chang'an, and go to the west of the yellow sand to eat sand.

After several hesitations, Cen Shen finally took advantage of the strength of the wine to propose to the lady the crazy plan to travel to Anxi. Looking at the raunchy and drunken Lang Jun, Liu Niangzi nodded helplessly with tears.

In the middle of the seventh year of Tianbao, Cen Shen received a message from the Ministry of Officials, saying that the Anxi Protectorate had officially reported to the Ministry of Officials, and was willing to recruit him as the secretary of the section from the eighth grade, responsible for the performance of the book emblem and other documents. And the Ministry of Officials also passed the application of the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate very happily.

Later, Cen Shen learned that the reason why the Anxi Protectorate agreed to let him serve as the secretary was because of this recruitment, and he was the only Beijing official who signed up.

In the eighth year of Tianbao, after spending the New Year's Eve in Chang'an, the lonely Cen Shen rode a horse and took an old servant to embark on a long journey to the west.

The farther west you go, the colder it gets. When spending the night at the post station in the west of Dunhuang City, Cen Shen was awakened by freezing in the middle of the night, curled up on the bed and shivering.

Fortunately, Yicheng was very polite to Cen Shen from Chang'an, hurriedly found a bed and sent a rare quilt, and told him to pay special attention to the cold when he arrived in Anxi.

Seeing that Cen Shen, who was awakened by the cold, couldn't sleep for a while, Yi Cheng asked people to make a pot of turbid wine, roast a leg of mutton, and drink with Cen Shen.

After three rounds of drinking, Cen Shen, who had a limited amount of alcohol, recounted the bitterness in his heart with Yi Cheng, who met in Pingshui. He thought that Yi Cheng was just a stranger anyway, and he might not be able to see him again in the future, but he was a suitable person to talk to.

After listening to Cen Shen's emotion and complaints, Yi Cheng laughed and persuaded him not to be discouraged. Yi Cheng also deliberately used Judge Du of the Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate as an example to comfort Cen Shen.

Yi Cheng recalled that when Judge Du traveled west to the North Court, he also rested here for one night. At that time, Judge Du was also discouraged and had no fighting spirit.

But fate is uncertain, and fortune and misfortune are unpredictable. After Judge Du arrived in the North Court, he immediately became a heavy protector of the royal capital, and his official position was promoted again and again, becoming a hot big man.

Later, when Judge Du followed Wang Du back to Chang'an to meet the sage, he passed by the post station and revisited the old place. At that time, Judge Du was surrounded by fresh clothes and angry horses, and his teeth and soldiers were embraced, compared with the downfall of the westward journey, it was simply heaven and earth.

Yi Cheng also said that when Cen Langjun went to Anxi, he should be able to ride the wind and turn into a dragon in the rain like Judge Du. When the nobles pass by the post station again, don't forget to be down.

Du Huan's allusions, Cen Shen also heard a little when he was in Chang'an. Du was a year later than him, and he was considered a junior, but there was no intersection between the two.

Cen Shen knew that when Du Huan first arrived in Beiting, he was only a nine-rank Gong Cao who joined the army. However, after being reused by Wang Zhengjian as the judge of the Metropolitan Protectorate, within a few years, the official rank has been promoted from the sixth rank.

Thinking of this, Cen Shen couldn't help but look forward to the trip to Anxi.

On the way from Dunhuang to Qiuci City, the towering snow-capped mountains, the desert with yellow sand, the Buddhist temples all over the city and the Hu Niang everywhere made him really feel the atmosphere of the border fortress that was different from Chang'an.

On the first day of coming to Qiuzi City, the diligent Cen Shen immediately asked to meet Gao Xianzhi, the envoy of the four towns of Anxi.

Although when I was in Chang'an, I heard that Gao Xianzhi was beautiful and not like a warrior. But when he really saw the deity, Cen Shen was still surprised.

Gao Xianzhi, who is in his early forties, has a long body and fair skin, and if it weren't for a fluttering hair, he wouldn't be like a man.

Cen Shen really didn't expect that the famous general who commanded thousands of troops and horses, marched thousands of miles, and shook the west of the city would be so soft and thin, which was really unbelievable.

When Cen visited Gao Xianzhi, he also saw the famous "Feng Er" Feng Changqing.

Feng Changqing, the judge of Anxi Jiedu, who is lame in his eyes and legs, ugly in appearance, and older, and Gao Xianzhi, who is beautiful, are simply people from two worlds.

Before coming to Anxi to take up his post, Cen Shen also carefully learned about the military and political leaders in Anxi and their mutual relations through the same year he served in the military department. Therefore, he knew that although his appearance was not good, Feng Changqing was actually Gao Xianzhi's most relied on right-hand man.

Gao Xianzhi asked Cen Shen in a soft voice what he had seen along the way, and briefly mentioned the main officials of the Ti'an Xidu Protectorate and the current main tasks.

Consistent with the news that Cen Shen inquired from the Ministry of War, in the eighth year of Tianbao, the top priority of the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate was to cooperate with the Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate to go west and teach the Shiguo without the courtesy of the courtiers.

Looking at the thick gong on Gao Xianzhi's case. Wen, Cen Shen understands that he is the secretary of the section, and the responsibility he will shoulder will definitely not be easy. But he was not afraid of the burden on his shoulders, for he did not come to Anxi for the sake of comfort.

The first time we met, it was very short. Gao Xianzhi said a few words briefly, and then asked Feng Changqing to take Cen Shen down to familiarize himself with the environment of the official office.

Following the limping Feng Changqing, Cen Shen had a few words of greeting, but he didn't know where to start. And Feng Changqing's ugly face was tense, and he only took Cen Shen to look at the official room and the house where he was staying, and then left with a cold face.

When they met for the first time, if Cen Shen was surprised and respectful of Gao Xianzhi, then he was a little respectful of Feng Changqing. Although he knew that judging people by their appearance was not a gentleman's doing, Cen Shen really didn't communicate with the cold Feng Changqing.

Half a month has passed in a blink of an eye, and Cen Shen has basically become familiar with the clerical government affairs such as Anxi's performance of the book emblem. After all, Anxi is only a remote military town, and the types and quantities of documents are limited after all. text, it can still be easily handled.

In the process of processing the documents, Cen Shen gradually became familiar with the military and political officials in Anxi. For example, the burly, majestic, and loud voice of Anxi Deputy Du Cheng Qianli; Bian Lingcheng, a long-faced, thin-cheeked, empty-eyed, commanding superintendent; The long history Bi Sichen, who is unkempt, bearded, and happy when he smells money......

Walking on the open street of Qiuci City, Cen Shen looked back at the majestic official office of the Metropolitan Protectorate, and listened to the dance music of Qiuci from afar, as if he had not woken up from a big dream, and his mood was extremely complicated.

After arriving in Anxi, Cen Shen also thought that he would become the second Du Huan as Lao Yicheng expected, and his name was moved to the west. However, the reality is cruel, and instead of quickly coming to the fore, he often falls into deep loneliness.