The team continued in the direction of Chang'an.

On August 26, the seventh year of the Apocalypse, Xu Liang and his entourage of more than 120 people entered Chang'an City along the way. After resting in Chang'an City for a night, Xu Liang packed up and went to the Yamen of Shaanxi Governor to meet Shaanxi Governor Hu Tingfang for a banquet early the next morning.

The result was very unfortunate, Governor Hu was not in the governor's yamen at all, and the official who received him asked Xu Liang about his intentions, checked the official document of the appointment, and asked Xu Liang to wait in the hall for a while, and after a while, he came out and returned the order, and told Xu Liang that you can go directly to Zhenyuan County to take office.

Xu Liang still didn't believe it, and asked nervously: "Do you want to visit the Pingliang prefect first?" ”

The official looked disdainful, waved his hand and said: "The earlier Pingliang prefect died three months ago, and the official appointment of the current Pingliang prefect has not yet been issued, but it is concurrently held by the political envoy and the senator Lord Hong, who went to Ningxia with the governor Hu Tingyan." Besides, Lord Hong is busy with official business, how can he have time to see your little Qipinzhi County? ”

When Xu Liang heard this, he went back to the inn, asked his subordinates to pack their bags, and immediately set off for Zhenyuan County. On the way, Xu Liang asked Tietou to take out the information of several important officials in Shaanxi who were asked by his uncle Huang Weizhong before setting off from Jianchang, and found a page of Hong Chengchou from Shaanxi.

Hong Chengchou, the word Yanyan, the number Xiangjiu, a native of Quanzhou, Fujian, was a Jinshi in the forty-fourth year of Wanli, and served as the political envoy of Shaanxi in the seventh year of the Apocalypse.

Xu Liang closed the information, thought about it, and always felt that this name was a little familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had heard it for a while.

After another five days, a small county town hidden in the dusk sky was in sight, and the destination of this trip, Zhenyuan, arrived.

Xu Liang looked at this small county town where he was about to take office, like an ugly duckling in the northwest, clumsy and vicissitudes. When I got closer, I couldn't help but be disappointed.

The city wall was not high, only five or six meters long, the bricks were mottled, and the two curved gates were half-hidden, one of which had been cracked in half, creaking with the sound of the wind. On the head of the city, a Ming banner was erected with bamboo poles, which was covered with wind and sand. The head of the city in the southeast corner had collapsed, and a group of ragged men were stacking stones and bricks on them, apparently repairing the walls. Three or five soldiers with spears in their hands saw Xu Liang's team approaching at the top of the city, shouting for the brothers on the side of the city gate to close the tattered gate, and shouting downward: "Stop! Who are you? ”

Xu Liang dared to guarantee that if it weren't for his team of men and horses wearing the newspaper ornaments of the patrol battalion and waving the banner of the Ming Dynasty, most of the soldiers at the head of the city would have sounded the gong to warn.

The iron head stopped the procession and went up to the city gate to reply in person. Taking advantage of this gap, Xu Liang returned to the carriage and changed into his brand-new seventh-grade blue robe official uniform.

Before long, the city gate was wide open, and seven or eight soldiers bravely ran out of the city gate and came to Xu Liang's carriage to salute the arriving Zhenyuan Governor.

Xu Liangduan stood and frowned at these soldiers dressed like flowers, waved their hands to get them up, and asked, "Why are you the only ones who defend the city?" What about the people in the Inspection Division? ”

One of the soldiers replied bravely: "If you go back to your lordship, your subordinates are all soldiers of the Inspection Division. ”

"Where's the inspection?"

"The Inspector died three months ago."

"What about the other adults in the county government? County Cheng, the main book, the canonical history? ”

The soldier Yong hesitated for a moment, and then hesitated: "The little one has sent someone to inform Huang Xiancheng." ”

Xu Liang nodded, sighed, waved his hand and said, "Lead the way, this county wants to enter the city." ”

The seven or eight soldiers turned around and ran back, creaking the two gates to the maximum to greet the young Zhenyuan Zhixian.

Xu Liang entered the city, looked at the empty streets in front of him, frowned, and then looked up to see that the people who were repairing the city heard that the new magistrate had arrived, and most of them stopped and looked down around the city.

Xu Liang raised his feet and went up to the city, and Huang Ziren and Tietou and others also followed behind him.

The gang of people obviously didn't expect Xu Liang to come to the city in person, they looked surprised and flustered, and hesitated to whisper to salute.

"The county magistrate is a good ......"

"The county master is so ......"

"I've seen the magistrate ......"

Xu Liang nodded, and walked to the edge of the city wall that had been repaired for most of the time, the outer wall of the collapsed city wall had been built, and it was currently on the inner wall. Stones, mud balls, bricks, mud bricks are scattered all around. Flat poles, bamboo baskets, and hemp ropes were placed on the edge of the city wall, and these people who repaired the wall looked like they had been weathered and had sad faces.

An elderly man saw Xu Liang staring at the half-repaired city wall, so he explained loudly: "My lord, this wall was blown down by thieves three months ago, and the county lord organized everyone to repair the city wall, which has been repaired for more than a month, and it is estimated that it will be repaired in half a month." ”

Xu Liang was shocked when he heard this, and then scolded: "The city wall is a barrier to the safety of the county, and it has been nearly two months since the wall collapsed. The city wall collapsed and could not be repaired, the city gate was broken into the shape of that bird, and the door had to be poured into the wind, if there were thieves coming to attack the city in the future, if there was no danger to defend the original city of a large town, and there was no city to follow, wouldn't everyone die without a place to be buried? Is that what a county is a pig brain? ”

The people stopped talking, and looked coldly at the young magistrate in front of him jumping to his feet and scolding.

Suddenly, an angry voice sounded from under the city: "Who is insulting this official from above?!" ”

Immediately after a rush of footsteps, a middle-aged official in a dirty green official robe took two officials to walk up to the city from below, looked at this tall, thin, and excessively young magistrate, and couldn't help but be even more angry, regardless of the fact that the young magistrate was surrounded by more than a dozen guards with knives, pointed at Xu Liang, jumped to his feet and roared: "You are a yellow-mouthed child, you have been reading sage books for several years, you don't know the world, you don't know things, you don't know anything, you don't know anything, you don't know anything, you don't know anything, you don't know anything, you don't know anything, you don't know anything, The official has worked hard to repair this city wall, begging grandpa to tell grandma, and it took a lot of scraping together to recruit so many people, Zhenyuan County is now ten rooms and nine empty, there is no one to ask for people, no money to have, no food to eat! This official can cultivate this Cheng dù, even Lord Taihong of the Mansion has never said that I, you white-faced scholar who has just arrived, why are you so humiliated by me? ”

Looking at the uncle-level county man in front of him with a stubble on his face, messy hair, deep-set eye circles, and a vegetable-colored face, Xu Liang heard him spitting and roaring in front of him, the righteous Zhenyuan Zhixian County, and he was stunned for a while, and he couldn't figure out what the situation was, and he was stunned for a while before he remembered that Lao Tzu was the biggest here, and he was trembling with anger at the moment, and he was about to ask the left and right to take down this uncle who did not respect the official is to ask, and suddenly felt that the person in front of him was a little familiar, and then looked closely, and suddenly remembered a person.

Before the others could speak, Huang Ziren, who followed Xu Liang to the head of the city, first became angry, pointed at the middle-aged county and scolded: "Where did the mountain village man come from, dare to be so rude, come, tie up Lao Tzu!" ”

The guards from Jianchang were originally soldiers of the patrol battalion, and they were used to listening to Huang Ziren's orders, so they shouted at the moment, stepped out of the two guards, and quickly pressed the middle-aged county man on the shoulder, and then knelt on the yellow and thin county man.

The two officials accompanying the middle-aged county Cheng were frightened and wanted to come to the rescue, but they were immediately held down by the guards.

The middle-aged county man struggled and shouted: "Come on, there is a kind of killing this official, I have long been enough of this suffering sesame official, and I will save myself from suffering in this world if I die early!" Come on, do it! ”

"Hey, you old guy has a tough mouth!" Huang Ziren said angrily, raising his hand to whip him.

"Wait." Xu Liang shouted.

Huang Ziren paused, looked at Xu Liang, and shouted: "Brother, we have come all the way to this chicken does not lay eggs, birds do not shit, and the tattered Zhenyuan County. ”

Xu Liang waved his hand and said, "Let him go." ”

"Brother?" Huang Ziren exclaimed.

"Let him go!" Xu Liang said in a deep voice.

When the guards let go, the middle-aged county Cheng got up and looked at Xu Liang with red eyes.

Xu Liang stepped forward, chuckled and arched his hand: "Lord Zhou Huang of the Zodiac, farewell to Jianchang, I didn't expect you and I to meet here today." Lord Huang, don't come unharmed. ”

Huang Daozhou was stunned, then leaned closer and looked at Xu Liang carefully, and suddenly realized: "It's you?" Jianchang County Cheng Xu Liang? ”

"It's the official."

I met an old acquaintance in another country, and there was no need to make the atmosphere so stiff. Huang Ziren waved his hand to let go of the two servants, and stepped forward to greet Huang Daozhou, Huang Daozhou also had a lot of opinions about Huang Ziren at the beginning, and when he heard that Huang Ziren was actually a hundred military generals from the sixth grade, the grade was above himself, so he had no place to be angry.

Huang Daozhou officially saluted Xu Liang with the courtesy of the next official, and led Xu Liang down the city to return to the Zhenyuan County Office.

On the way back to the ya, Xu Liang and Huang Daozhou walked side by side, Xu Liang asked: "Lord Huang, why have the officials been here for so long, and the original officials of the town only saw Lord Huang alone, and what about the other master books and historians?" ”

Huang Daozhou's face was defeated, and he said sullenly: "The former chief bookkeeper, the history of the canon was killed when the thieves captured Zhenyuan three months ago, and the lower officials escaped by hiding in the underground kiln. ”

Xu Liang exclaimed: "Could it be that the successor has not yet arrived?" ”

"Not yet." Huang Daozhou glanced at Xu Liang and said with a wry smile: "Xiaguan is alone in this dilapidated Zhenyuan City, and in the past three months, my lord has been the first successor official to be taken over by Xiaguan. ”