At the end of September, the weather is getting colder. But the sun in the sky was still bright, shining warmly on the pedestrians.

It's a good time to hurry. On the official road from Baimajin to the capital, there is an endless stream of pedestrians, cars and horses.

Han Gang and his entourage left Jingshi for only one day, and soon after setting off the next day, they saw the boundary monument of Huazhou Yucheng County.

In front of the boundary monument, Han Gang stopped his horse, and the three people who followed behind also stopped. Looking down at the boundary monument carefully, Han Gang turned around and smiled: "Huazhou is really close, it's here so soon." ”

"Huazhou has been removed, but this boundary monument has not been changed until now, and the people in charge of this matter in Kaifeng Mansion should really play the board."

The southern scholar in his early thirties, who followed closely behind Han Gang, was called Fang Xing, always smiling, and his slightly round face looked a little funny. He is from Jinxi, Jiangxi, and he is a staff member recommended by Wang Anshi. However, if it is recommended by Wang Anshi, it is actually better to say that it depends on Wang Yan.

Fang Xing and Wang Yan have known each other since childhood, and when Wang Yan was an official in Jiangnan, he was in his background. The year before last, Wang Yan entered Beijing, and Fang Xing also followed him to the capital. was first recommended to study in Guozi Prison, but in the imperial examination of this department, he did not even get the qualification of a tribute student, so he broke off the idea of being a jinshi. I was bored in Beijing these days, but I begged Wang Yan for a favor and came to Hangang.

Han Gang met Fang Xing for the first time, and after listening to him introduce himself, he heard him say: "Brother Fang Xing has a name, and he has an old relationship with Xiang Gong, and Xiang Gong also has an article to give to his clan brother. ”

Han Gang didn't react at the time, so he put on the appearance of Corporal Lixian: "Dare to ask which Daxian is it?" ”

"Daxian doesn't dare to be, the big name is called Fang Zhongyong."

Fang Xing burst out the answer, Wang Yan Ha Ha Da laughed on the side, and Han Gang also shook his head and laughed as if he was self-deprecating, but he felt slightly unhappy in his heart. Fang Xing joked about his clansmen, feeling that it was a bit difficult for him to accept. However, when it comes to relatives, it is far away from nowhere, and it is not a sin to introduce yourself as a joke.

"Go faster, and you can enter White Horse County tonight." Next to the boundary monument, Han Gang looked north along the road, but he entered the boundary of Huazhou, and there were still dozens of miles away from Baima County, "I don't know if there are any tricky big families in Baima County?" ”

"I haven't heard of it, and I don't think it will be." In order to be able to do things under Han Gang's curtain, Fang Xing still asked Wang Yan to help, and read a lot of information about Baima County, "Although Baima County is Qi County, it has the least household registration, more than 2,400 households, and 8,000 Dingkou, but it is only a middle county. ”

Han Gang was in the exam, and when they met before, he didn't ask much, which was not polite. After listening to Fang Xing's answer, he also had some feelings, "Baima County was not bad originally, it was an important place in Hejin, and thirty years ago it could be regarded as a tight county and a county level. But during the reign of Renzong, several river duels were collided, and most of the people were lost, and they have not recovered until now. ”

"So the most troublesome thing in Baima County is that there are many lawsuits." Wei Pingzhen, who spoke, was the oldest of the four, already fifty years old, and was recommended by Wang Shao. He is old and respectful, and has a lot of experience and knowledge, "especially the lawsuits on the farmland, and there is no right and wrong at all - some are the end of the family, and the foreign swindlers come to seize the land, and some are the original landowners who come to get back the fields they occupy, and they can't tell the truth from the fake at all." I heard that there are people who have been fighting for twenty or thirty years and have not seen a ...... It's all because of the river duel! ”

"If only there was as much water as the river burst now." Fang Xing was looking up at the sky that was so blue that there was no trace of clouds, "It's been a long time since it rained." ”

The last one was a short and thin Confucian scholar, with an ordinary appearance, bright eyes, and a Fujian accent: "This is because of the lack of moral and political cultivation." ”

"That's not true."

You Alcohol You Jiefu is a disciple recommended by Cheng Hao, and he also has a younger brother named You Ying, who is now studying under Cheng Hao. Han Gang didn't know if he could come in handy in government affairs. But even if it is useless, Han Gang will still treat him respectfully and politely, no matter how you say it, Cheng Hao's face has to be taken care of.

But Wei Pingzhen, a township recommended by Wang Shao, did not have so many scruples: "In fact, the alternation of water and drought, like the transformation of yin and yang, is the way of heaven." Yin flourishes and yang declines, yang flourishes and yin declines. After a few years of flooding, it will stop for a few years, followed by several years of drought. This is the cycle of heavenly dao, and it has nothing to do with people. Let's ask what is wrong with Yao Shun's governance, why are floods all over the world, and Dayu is needed to control the water? ”

You Yu glared and was about to argue, but Han Gang took the lead and asked Wei Pingzhen: "There was a flood in Gyeonggi a few years ago?" ”

Although Wei Pingzhen is a member of the Dejiang clan, he has lived in the capital for more than 20 years, and he is nearly fifty years old, and he understands all the news inside and outside the capital better than Han Gang and other juniors, "From the first year of Jiayou to the early years of Zhiping, in the past seven or eight years, the Jingshi has not known how many times it has been drowned. ”

He raised his fingers and counted them one by one for Han Gang: "In April of the first year of Jiayou [1056], there was a great wind and rain in Beijing, the Liuta River was broken, the water was poured into the door, and there were tens of thousands of private houses for bad officials. From May to June of the second year of Jiayou, the rain in Beijing did not stop, the water came to the door, the door was closed, and the people in the city were cut and ferried. In the third year of Jiayou, the Gyeonggi River overflowed, and the Mintian was bad. In the sixth year of Jiayou, it rained for a long time in Beijing, and it ended in winter. In the first year of Zhiping [1064], the Jingshi from summer to autumn did not stop raining, and the bad Zhenzong and Mu, Xian, Yi three queens mausoleum. In the second year of the reign of peace, there was a great flood in Beijing, countless bad officials and private houses, and more than 1,500 soldiers and civilians died......"

"I see!" Han Gang nodded, but he was preventing Wei Pingzhen from continuing.

Although Wei Ping is really flat and straightforward, he doesn't add much emotion. But listening to it is shocking and unbearable. Han Gang originally wanted to stop the debate about You Alcohol, but it was not to hear the history of how much suffering Gyeonggi had, let alone to make You Alcohol angry.

Han Gang's thoughts, the old and sophisticated Wei Ping could really understand it, smiled, and said: "Looking at the rain in the old years, the current drought may be a few more years." ”

……………………

Han Gang was not in a hurry to rush to Baima County, and according to the rules, he asked the officials and squires of Baima County to come out to meet him, so after arriving in Yucheng County in the afternoon, he rested and sent a competent person to Baima County to inform him of the arrival time.

In fact, there is no need for Han Gang to send someone to inform, and Baima County is also in the boundary of Kaifeng Prefecture. When Han Gang just left the city, he sent people to Zhuli to embellish it. It's not that I'm afraid of his youthful nature and make a trick of a private interview, but I want to prepare to welcome guests in advance and strive to leave a good impression.

On the third day after Kaifeng, Han Gang finally arrived in Baima County.

As soon as he entered the realm of the White Horse Land, he saw a group of people coming up from afar, shouting from afar: "But Han Zhengyan, who is destroying the prisoners and shocking Kansai." ”

Han Gang clenched his fists on the horse: "It's Han Gang!" ”

As soon as the names were reported, I saw these people hurriedly kneeling down and complimenting them one by one: "I'm waiting for the white horse people, and I'm here for a long time." Zhengyan's age of weak crown is already famous in the sea, and I heard that Zhengyan came here to serve as an official, and I am really fortunate to have three lives. ”

Han Gang frowned slightly, he had gone too far. Hurriedly dismounted and helped the oldest of them, all of whom had white beards, and helped them up: "A few old men give a big gift, Han Gang is young, but he can't afford it." "These people look like they are all eighty or ninety years old, and when they go to the Zichen Palace, the Son of Heaven is embarrassed to let them kneel and worship.

After some etiquette, Han Gang got on the horse again, and traveled all the way to ten miles away from the county seat, and a group of people were waiting on the side of the road, still greeting them with a colorful shed, full of good words and flattery, and bowls of fan soup poured over.

When it came to the land of five miles, it was the third wave. When he entered the county seat, the former magistrate Ling Zhuang took a group of officials from Baima County to wait in front of the county office.

When he saw Han Gang, Ling Zhuang greeted him with a smile: "I have heard Han Zhengyan's name for a long time, but now I have to see it." In the next three years in Baima, nothing has been accomplished, and now there is a righteous generation, and it will be able to help the elders of Baima County. "Saying that, I will invite Han Gang to enter and hand over the big seal and the accounts inside and outside the county.

The big seal is actually a small matter, and the key is that there can be no errors in the accounts and inventory in the warehouse. Han Gang brought SF Express's shopkeeper in the capital, and Wei Pingzhen was also good at financial planning. In addition, Han Gang himself knows a few joints that can play tricks on the account, so he doesn't worry about anything at all. First, the shopkeeper of SF Express will take the first pass, let Wei Pingzhen take the second pass, and then come forward to review it himself. Three levels, I don't believe anyone can pass it.

But Han Gang was not in a hurry to check: "This matter is not in a hurry, Han Gang had planned the transfer of grain and straw for Vice Pivot Wang earlier, and he knew that the inventory inspection was not something that could be completed in one day." Let's wait until tomorrow. ”

In a few words, it was clear that the carriage and horses were laid out. Wei Pingzhen twisted his beard and nodded slightly, while Zhu Li and the other officials changed their faces slightly.

Han Gang was clearly saying that he was here to hand over, and he would never turn a blind eye to the account books in the treasury and go through the motions with one eye closed. And he clearly said that he had managed the supply of grain and straw for hundreds of thousands of troops in Xihe, and he was even warning the officials of Baima County not to think that they could get through in the dark. As for postponing the inventory inspection to the next day, it is to give the officials of Baima County a night's time, if they still have illusions and do not make up for the shortfall, they should not sleep tonight, and quickly fill the loopholes.

It's just a few words, but everything that should be said has been said, just like the old fox who has been in officialdom for decades. Zhu Li's mind is slightly calm, he is indeed shrewd and capable, and he is not easy to fool.

The former magistrate Lingzhuang didn't seem to hear the hidden meaning, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, don't worry." In this case, please also ask Zhengyan to enter, the lower official has already asked people to get a reception wine, and is waiting for Zhengyan to enter the table. Please! Please! ”

As he spoke, he took Han Gang's hand and walked towards the county government together.