Along the way, I didn't encounter those enemies who intercepted or ambushed them. www.biquge.info After all, the preparations made by those people were all aimed at Luo Yueying and their southward trip to Shaoxing, and now they suddenly turned to Zhuji, not to mention that they didn't know Luo Yueying's whereabouts, but they did, and it would be too late to arrange people to intercept them.

At noon two days later, Yang Zhen and his team had come to the vicinity of Zhuji County, and they could already see the rammed earth built from a distance, which looked very dilapidated, and was only two or three zhang high.

Zhuji, as Cai Yingyang said, has a history of more than 1,000 years. In the late Spring and Autumn period more than 1,000 years ago, this place, as the capital of the Yue Kingdom, was indeed the attention of the world at that time. It was in this decade that Gou Jian, a generation of "ninja kings", gathered ten years of lessons and learned a lot of lessons, and only after lying on his back and tasting courage did he annex the state of Wu with 3,000 Yuejia, whose strength far exceeded his own.

In addition, there is the love story of Tao Zhugong Fan Li, who is respected as the ancestor of the business world and the legendary beauty Xi Shi, which also happened at the foot of Zhuluo Mountain in Zhuji County, and was widely praised by later generations.

But it seems that because these two stories are too exciting, the luck of this small county town has been exhausted, and in the more than 1,000 years after Qin Shi Huang officially established the county here, this small county town has not produced a few characters who can leave a name in history, and there is no more singing and crying stories that can be remembered by future generations.

Even in the matter of the imperial examinations since the Sui and Tang dynasties, this small city in the south of the Yangtze River has not produced a few people who can leave their names on the yellow list. You must know that it is next to it, as the place of its charge, Shaoxing, but the imperial examination resort that is famous throughout the country for its literary name, every time there are many people who are in the middle of the jinshi, and there are many champions, and there are many champions, as for lifting people, it is a car bucket. But Zhuji County is not prosperous, and there have been few Jinshi since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

Because of this, this small county town is now buried in the surging torrent of history, and even Yang Zhen, a person with memories of later generations, has never heard of its name.

But even so, it was extremely rare for Yang Chenxin to come here as a county magistrate in the past.

Generally speaking, after the imperial examination, only three people on the first list can enjoy the high-standard treatment that can be used immediately, and the others will be examined and trained again, and intern in the Hanlin Academy or the Six Yamen - there is an official name here called Guanzheng - before the next step of the assignment can be carried out. Then, we had to wait until the imperial court vacated the places before we could arrange for these jinshi to fill the vacancies.

But because the imperial court admits more than 300 new Jinshi every three years, and there can't be so many vacancies in the officialdom every year, the Jinshi masters can only wait. Some people can't wait, so they return to their hometowns for the time being, so it will be very difficult to get an official again. And those who are waiting in the capital, although there are relatively more opportunities, but after all, there are more monks and less porridge, and they still need some luck. This is the tortuous reality of the Ming Dynasty's imperial examinations, which seem to have a bright future.

And Yang Chen's luck was really good, because just before he participated in the examination, there was a big shock in Wuchang officialdom, and many officials fell in this shock. The imperial court had to transfer officials from all over the south to fill these vacancies, so that Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places had many more official positions. And Yang Chen, as a new science and technology scholar, relied on some luck and was elected as the county commander of Zhuji, a small county town, and became the legendary Marquis of a hundred miles!

Looking at the dilapidated city wall, which was shorter than the courtyard wall of the Zhang family in Jiangling, and the two old soldiers in the city gate, who were leaning on the city wall and pulling idle days, Yang Zhen slowly exhaled. He could see that this was a city that had not experienced military affairs for hundreds of years, and I am afraid that it was the Japanese rebellion that swept the entire southern part of the Ming Dynasty a few decades ago, and it did not hurt this small county town very much. Maybe it's because it's so unknown, or maybe it's not rich here, so that this little city can stand alone.

But this benefit, after having the problem of the White Lotus Sect, may turn into a disadvantage. This small county town, which was ignored by Zhejiang officials, just gave the White Lotus Sect an opportunity to secretly develop its power, as long as they didn't make much trouble, the imperial court would not notice anything unusual here. And when the government is really aware, I'm afraid that this place has been completely infiltrated by the forces of the White Lotus Sect.

After this thought flashed through Yang Zhen's heart, he was even more anxious to see his brother Yang Chen. Because now he is the county magistrate of this small county, once something really happens, his guilt is the greatest. Looking at it now, Yang Chen can become this Zhuji County Commander, it may not be really lucky, maybe it is bad luck.

When he came to the city gate, which only allowed one car to pass through, Yang Zhen looked up and saw the words "North Gate of Zhuji County" engraved on it. After all, it is only a small county, but it is not as particular as Hangzhou, and it also gives each door a name that fits the environment and looks extremely elegant.

Just as Yang Zhen was about to catch the car into the city, Cai Yingyang greeted him from behind him: "Second brother...... That ......"

"Well, what do you want to say?"

"I'm not going into the city, it's still early, and I want to go home." Cai Yingyang showed a somewhat shy smile on his face. In any case, he was only a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy, and when he returned to his hometown after being away from home for several months, he inevitably had a desire to return home immediately.

Of course, Yang Zhen would not stop him, so he took out a silver bag from his arms and threw it over: "I left in a hurry and didn't prepare any gifts, so you can take this silver back, don't be surprised." ”

"Thank you, second brother!" Cai Yingyang was not polite, reached out and grabbed the silver bag, and hid it in his arms: "Then I will leave." I'll come back to you after I've consulted with my parents. ”

"Good. But don't forget, I live in the county office. You are always welcome back. Yang Zhen smiled and arched his hand.

Both of them are open-minded people, and this farewell will soon be able to meet again, so there is too much reluctance, only two sentences to explain one to the city to drive in, the other to turn the horse's head, towards the direction of the hometown to ride away.

Zhuji County not only looks dilapidated on the outside, but also average when you enter the inside. Yang Zhen, who came from Hangzhou as if it was a paradise on earth, looked at the men and women wearing coarse cloth clothes on the street, and looked at the bungalows built of mud, stone and grass by the roadside, and almost thought that he was no longer in Jiangnan.

In his impression, Jiangnan is the richest place in the Ming Dynasty today, and some places have even produced the germ of capitalism. But everything in front of him obviously subverted his cognition, and this small county town gave people the feeling of just four words - simple and ordinary, just like many other counties in the Ming Dynasty, and even much worse than Jiangling.

Even Luo Yueying in the car also showed surprise when she lifted the curtain and looked at the surrounding environment. She is still from Shaoxing Mansion, and she also knows that there is a small place called Zhuji, but she still can't imagine that this place is so poor. If she hadn't seen the inscription at the city gate, she would have thought that Yang Zhen and the others had brought her elsewhere.

"Hmm...... Yang Gongzi ...... Your brother is an official here, I'm afraid life will not be easy. Along the way, there was always some conversation between the two, and Luo Yueying called Yang Zhen his son, but every time he called him, he felt a little embarrassed.

Yang Zhen didn't have any discomfort in this regard, and said with a smile: "Actually, it's good to be an official in a poor place, at least the people in these places are simple and simple, and there is less intrigue in rich places." ”

"I don't see it that way." Luo Yueying seemed to refute and seemed to remind: "There is an old saying that the poor mountains and bad waters come out of the people. Although Zhuji County is not a poor mountain and bad water, it is better to be careful in everything. Also, no matter how simple the place is, the officials are always slippery, and it is these people that Brother Ling has to deal with as an official here. ”

Yang Zhen nodded wordlessly, he wanted to come here before, and it was precisely because of this. The intrigue above the officialdom is much more powerful than that of ordinary people, and I wonder if my brother, who has always studied the books of the sages behind closed doors at home, can cope with this?

While speaking, the carriage had already arrived in the area of Yaqian Street. It was only at this time that the surrounding houses finally got better, most of them were brick and wood buildings with white walls and black tiles, and some were even two or three stories high, which were restaurants and shops.

Just when he looked at the signboards of those shops, Yang Zhen was a little surprised, because the names of these shops were almost the same, and they all started with Li Ji or Xuan Ji. For example, Xuanji Restaurant, Xuanji Rice Shop; Li Ji pawnshop, Li Ji money village...... There are hardly any other signboards to be seen.

However, Yang Zhen only looked at this matter in his eyes and did not think much about it, because they had come to the building that looked more imposing than those shops, which was the Yamen of Zhuji County.

At the starting point of the two-character wall that extends for more than ten zhang and has a lot of notices pasted on it, there is a mansion with an open gate, and there are four big characters written in block letters on the plaque - Zhuji County Ya. On the right side of the plaque is a somewhat dilapidated drum rack, on which is placed a large drum with a face of half a foot. On the left stood two officers who looked very lazy and wore half-worn official uniforms.

Seeing that such a carriage with many swords, guns, scratches, and even some spots like blood suddenly stopped in front of the yamen, the two messengers came to their senses at that time. He ran over in three steps and two steps, looked at Yang Zhen and said, "Do you have anything to sue the official?" If so, pay 50 wen for the official fee first! ”

"......" Yang Zhen was obviously stunned when he heard this. He also worked as an errand in Jiangling County, and then dealt with several yamen in Hangzhou, but he really had never heard of such an official fee.

But soon, he knew that this was just a disguised blackmail by these errand officers, and he felt that he was angry and funny, and he didn't know how his brother disciplined him. However, as soon as he came, he would not have an immediate attack because of this, so he arched his hand towards the two and said: "I really want to see Yang County's order, but it is not to sue the official." ”

"Why is that? If you ask to see our county for other things, the price will be even higher! ”

"Uh...... What if I were Yang County's brother and came to join him? Yang Zhen revealed his identity with a smile.