Xue Chongxun's line was next to a partial courtyard, it seemed to be quite clean, he got up in the morning and was planning to practice martial arts there to exercise his muscles, but when he entered the door, he found that there was actually a group of chickens in the yard! The imperial court institutions are now in Chang'an, and chickens are actually raised in these yamen in the eastern capital, and I don't know who raised them, Xue Chongxun suddenly saw such a situation and couldn't help but feel funny.

A soap officer at the door hurriedly came up and said, "Lang Jun, forgive me, I'll drive them away immediately." ”

At this time, Xue Chongxun saw a rooster chasing a hen, and suddenly found it interesting, so he raised his hand to stop it: "No, it's interesting for me to see them." ”

Soap Li was stunned, I don't know why, Sanniang on the side was also speechless. Xue Chongxun seemed to be childlike, and asked for a handful of corn from the soap li, and threw it on the ground to tease those chickens.

A flock of chickens scrambled to peck the rice for a while, and then the game of rooster and hen began again. The little rooster chased the smooth-feathered hen that was pecking rice; The hen flapped her wings and fled everywhere, but unfortunately was overtaken by the little rooster. As soon as the little rooster climbed onto the back of the hen, a majestic rooster came out and rushed up to peck at the little rooster. The two roosters then stretched their necks and began to fight, but the difference in height was so great that within two rounds the little rooster fled.

So the big rooster occupied the place where Xue Chongxun sprinkled rice, gathered the chickens to eat rice there, and from time to time he also padded one foot and flapped his wings to "tease" the hen, and the hen did not run away, pecking rice around the big rooster. The defeated little rooster tried to come over and peck the rice several times, but was chased away by the big rooster.

"Look, it's a competitive vocation." Xue Chongxun pointed to the chickens and turned back to Sanniang and said.

Sanniang didn't seem to be interested in this kind of boring thing, and she didn't reply, just silently stood aside with her arms crossed.

Xue Chongxun groaned: "It would be better if that hen wasn't committed to the big rooster because it could fight...... If people can only be the same as all things in nature, then we better be that majestic rooster, what do you say? ”

Sanniang still didn't speak, making Xue Chongxun seem to be talking to himself.

At this moment, Fang Yuzhong walked in, hugged his fists and said, "Yu Langjun, there is a letter from Xijing, and I just arrived." After saying that, he handed over a letter, Xue Chongxun lifted his sleeve, reached out to take it, and tore it open.

The letter from my mother said two things, one is that the person Xue Chongxun wanted had come to the eastern capital with the supervision of the imperial history, and they would arrive in a few days; The second is that the situation on the canal is not good for his side, but it is not a big deal, and the prime minister of Taiping is ready to sacrifice some people in exchange for initiative and public opinion, so that Xue Chongxun does not have to interfere, just do another more critical thing.

Xue Chongxun looked at it and muttered alone: "Just wait for Liu An...... This Liu Yuanjun is not bold enough and too cautious, so let me wait. ”

……

"Whew!" Suddenly, a violent wind shocked Liu An's heart, and when he looked up, he saw that the branches of the tree were blown "whoosh" and couldn't stop swaying, and he couldn't help sighing, "The tree wants to be quiet and the wind doesn't stop." ”

The staff member sitting on the stone bench took over and said, "The news from Beijing is indeed not good. ”

Liu An frowned and paced with small steps: "It's like walking on thin ice." In this place of officialdom, if you take a wrong step, you can be downtrodden for a lifetime, and the effect will be slow, but as long as you take a wrong step, your luck will deteriorate......"

The staff also nodded and said, "Liu Yuanjun is indeed in a dilemma. ”

"It's okay to be in a dilemma, the difficult thing is that there is no way out, it's too late now!" Liu An said dejectedly, "Originally, I thought that His Highness would definitely be able to stabilize, but who thought that others hadn't started to do it yet, so let's vote for it first." ”

"The past and the present are not the same, in the past, Her Highness wanted to spread out the scene, but now she wants to win people's hearts. Last time, she worked hard to ensure that Lu Xiang was the prime minister first, so we should see the change, adjust the countermeasures, and keep pace with the times...... Lu Xiangxian has a very high reputation, but the friendship between a man and a gentleman is as light as water, and he is indifferent by nature, and it is impossible for His Highness to give advice on how to deal with the prince, this person is useless at all! Why does His Highness value him? It's for a name. ”

Liu An wiped the fine sweat on his forehead and said, "After you say this, it seems that this is really the case...... What is the remedy now? ”

The staff member muttered: "Last time, Wei Guogong asked for seventy percent, why didn't he just give him seventy percent?" ”

Liu An glared and said, "Then what will we take to Chang'an?" ”

The staff said: "Don't send Chang'an." Anyway, he Xue Chongxun was originally from Princess Taiping's family, and he took seventy percent away, can he blame us? ”

Liu An lowered his head and groaned, glanced at his staff, and muttered, "This is a chess move...... Wei Guogong took the big head, he is a tall man, and if the sky is really going to collapse, the tall man has to stand up to it first. At that time, he made his words clear, and I thought about it too, but I wasn't sure if this person was reliable or not. ”

"Now that the matter is over, make a decision!" The staff said categorically.

Liu An stretched out his white and slightly puffy hand, stopped in the air and hesitated for a while, then his expression turned ruthless, and he pointed to the door and said, "Go, follow me to Xue Lang's line." ”

The two then took a car to Xue Chongxun's residence, asked where he was, and then turned around and went to the side courtyard. As soon as he walked to the door, Xue Chongxun had already greeted him, and said with a smile on his face: "Liu Yuanjun, I've been waiting for you for a long time!" ”

Liu An stepped forward, his face was a little embarrassed, and he said, "I'm ashamed...... Shame on ......"

Xue Chongxun patted him on the shoulder with a grin, took his hand and said, "It's okay, it's not too late." You will understand later that you came to me today and it was definitely the right decision. ”

"I've already thought about it, and the accounts from all over the country will be collected in the near future, and seventy percent will be given to Xue Lang!" Liu An said in a low voice.

"Haha......" Xue Chongxun raised his head and laughed, and then put the thing he was holding in his hand into Liu An's palm. Liu An opened his palm, looked down and saw that it was a handful of rice, and he immediately felt very confused.

He hurriedly pondered the meaning: What does a handful of rice mean, does it mean Lu rice? Liu An suddenly thought, does it mean that because he will serve him Wei Guogong, he will give Lu Mi, and the official position is worry-free?

Although such an explanation is a bit far-fetched, the more Liu An thinks about it, the more he thinks about it, in this situation, what can be the meaning of stuffing a handful of "Lu Mi" into his hand except for this meaning? This is a hint that it is time to pledge allegiance!

Liu An no longer hesitated, and immediately hugged his fists and said: "Liu is willing to take the lead of the patriotic horse in the future, and send it alone." ”

"We'll talk about that later." Xue Chongxun took him into the courtyard with him, turned around and said, "Go get a picture of the canal." ”

The two entered the courtyard and came to an empty room, and when the slave presented the drawings, Xue Chongxun unfolded the drawings and put them on the table, beckoning, "Liu Yuanjun came to see." ”

Liu An didn't know what Xue Chongxun was going to do, so he had to walk to the table and bury his head in it, it was a very ordinary picture, and it was even worse than the special grain drop drawings in the yamen.

Xue Chongxun didn't care about the roughness of the drawings, his face was full of red light, and he pointed to the drawings with great interest: "I came all the way east along the canal, and I have already asked to understand, from Lingnan to Chang'an, the time to transport grain is as long as eleven months!" From Hangzhou to Chang'an, it will take nine months! Such a long time of transportation, not only to eat most of the grain, but also dangerous roads, bandits, the world tax transportation and Chang'an itself is a very difficult matter of labor and money, is there a way to change? ”

Liu An groaned: "People and the sky are fighting, there is nothing to be done, but if you can clean up the officials, appoint people only to be capable, and the government is harmonious, you may be able to reduce the burden of the people." ”

Xue Chongxun was stunned and said: "You just think too much, let me tell you the law of luck, how did you get involved in the rule of officials?" We are the officials of the household department, not the officials, so what does it matter to us to govern the officials? ”

Liu An said: "The rule of officials is the foundation of political communication, so the first thing that comes to my mind is the rule of officials." What is Wei Guogong's good plan? ”

Xue Chongxun thought that Liu An, an official who had worked in the household department for many years, had much more experience in governing politics than himself, and he couldn't help it, could it be that the method he came up with was really on paper and couldn't be actually operated? Thinking of this, Xue Chongxun's excitement subsided a lot, and he was vaguely unconfident, so he said: "Then let me talk about this method first, Liu Yuanjun is an old official, give it a detailed reference, can it be implemented." ”

"Please speak clearly."

Xue Chongxun thought for a while and said: "My method is called the four-stage method, in a word, the river boat does not enter the Bianshui, the Bianboat does not enter the Yellow River, and the river boat does not enter the Wei. There are two major advantages of segmented transportation: first, ships in various water types can navigate in familiar water, reducing accidents; Second, there is no need to wait for the river to rise and fall, which saves the time of detention. The four-stage law is accompanied by two additional statutes: the storage law and the employment law. Storage warehouse method, in Yangzhou, Biankou, Heyin, Weikou and other places set up transshipment granaries, after the tax comes up, as long as it is transported to the granaries in sections, only to wait for the season suitable for shipping, and then to transshipment, transported to Chang'an. The employment law is to save the time of grain transporters and reduce the burden, and the government hires shippers for transportation, and then guards them with military escorts, so that they do not have to let grain transporters stay in various passes, nor do they have to worry about bandits, and reduce losses. Liu Yuanjun, you give us detailed references, these three methods may be implemented? ”

Liu An was silent for a long time, his face changed extremely richly, he was excited for a while, he thought hard for a while, and only after a long time did he say: "Wei Guogong wants seventy percent of the money, just to use the money to change the law?" ”

Xue Chongxun smiled: "That's right! Building warehouses, building ships, connecting rivers, hiring people, why don't you need money? I thought about this four-stage method for a long time, and I was worried that I didn't have any money, but now that I have the silver, I think it's still very feasible. ”

"Where is the feasibility?" Liu An said in a daze.

Xue Chongxun frowned and said, "What, what's the problem?" ”

Liu An sighed and said: "Today, Liu's admiration for Wei Guogong is no longer false! This method is really a combination of heaven and man, wonderful, ancient and modern, and a wonderful strategy for governing the world! Admiration, emotion, heroes are teenagers, Liu is not convinced, ......"

"Haha!" Xue Chongxun suddenly laughed, "Liu Yuanjun, your compliments are too exaggerated, but I listen to it comfortably." ”

Liu An breathed a sigh of relief: "Why didn't Wei Guogong say it earlier?" I knew that there was such a clever plan, and I didn't have to worry about it for so long. ”

Xue Chongxun crossed his waist and said triumphantly: "I'm just waiting for the people on the prince's side to slap the face on the stone, let them make trouble, the bigger the trouble, the more fierce the public opinion, the more beautiful we are, quack ......"