Just do it, although you don't have a good grasp of it, but if you succeed, you can quickly solve the problem, Chen Yingliang still decided to give it a try, and arranged some subordinates and reliable sergeants to escort Changsun Wuji on the way by boat and go to Luoyang, the eastern capital, to move weapons and armor for himself, as for the activity funds, Chen Yingliang gritted his teeth and took out a batch of jewels seized from the black and white brothers and Zhang Qian's nest, as well as all the gifts that the counties of Qian County gave themselves during this time, as well as the gold that Emperor Yang of Sui rewarded himself this time, ready to give Pei Yun by the way, Pei Hongce, Huangfu Wuyi and others also sent one to celebrate the New Year and get closer to each other.

It is worth mentioning that Chen Yingliang also prepared a gift for Fan Zigai, who was an honest official, ten copies of "Fan Huazong's Collected Poems" printed with movable type printing - although Fan Lao's talent in poetry and writing is very ordinary, but considering the temper of this old stubborn who loves face and loves to clear his name, Chen Yingliang estimates that Lao stubborn will still love this gift. At the same time, movable type printing was also inadvertently discovered by Chen Yingliang after the engraving printing in this era, and he took the time to get it easily, ready to return it to the people of Yongcheng as a source of wealth, and also used it to pat Fan Lao's stubborn fart.

In mid-December, the eldest grandson Wuji left with the guards, usually not paying much attention, until the eldest grandson Wuji left, Chen Yingliang found out that this brother-in-law during this period of hard work and help to himself, because without the help of the eldest grandson Wuji, the mountains of official documents must rely on Chen Yingliang to review and write, tired and sore wrists until late at night and did not get a rest, regretting his carelessness, Chen Yingliang also found the lack of civilian talents around him, The idea of recruiting a few capable literati to serve as staff members also appeared in Chen Yingliang's plan.

What is lacking is not only civilian talents, more than half a month of guarding the county, Chen Yingliang, who has been busy with political affairs, has already found that his command is now a shortage of civilian officials and military generals, only one of the civil servants is the eldest grandson Wuji, and it is difficult to be a big job at the age of fifteen, and there is only one Ma Sanbao in terms of military generals. In addition, Chen Yingliang is also surrounded by an incomparably scarce scientific and technological talent, especially in casting, ironmaking and machinery, as well as the mathematical talent necessary to calculate ballistics in the future.

In order to solve these problems, with the attitude of trying his luck, Chen Yingliang imitated Cao Cao's boss once, and personally wrote a notice and posted it on the notice board at the south gate of Yongcheng, openly recruiting talents in civil and military affairs, and also recruiting talents who are good at physical science, claiming that once he can satisfy himself, he will definitely be retained with a lot of money.

Chen Yingliang soon found out that he had done something stupid, and in the next few days, although a considerable number of so-called literati and warriors ran to Chen Yingliang to apply for jobs, what made Chen Yingliang desperate was that these so-called literati could write a few crooked words, silently write a few paragraphs of the Mean, or could write a few sour poems and rotten words, and none of them really knew how to govern the people, let alone the strategists and thinkers who knew astronomy and geography that Chen Yingliang expected.

The military generals are even more miserable, although the Sui and Tang dynasties worship martial arts, and the folk martial arts are prevalent, but it may be because of Chen Yingliang's character problems, the samurai who came to apply for the job are all a group of meat feet, and they will embroider their legs with a few fists and eyes above the top, and nine out of ten who threatened to come to receive the vanguard seal, including the more modest one, are all goods that even Chen Yingliang, who can only have some superficial martial arts, can not beat the goods, the flower frame is beautiful, and the generals Ding Ma Sanbao can kick over one by one, and there is no one available at the last time, It also caused Chen Yingliang to waste countless precious time, which once affected the most important military training event.

The talents in science and technology are even more miserable, because there is no science in this era, Chen Yingliang is very vassal and elegantly used the word 'Gewu' instead, but those who came to apply for the job talked to Chen Yingliang about self-cultivation one by one, and the intention was sincere, and it took a long time for Chen Yingliang to understand that the so-called Gewu in this era only refers to the philosophical category, not the synonym of ancient science (in fact, Gewu as a synonym for natural science, first appeared in the late Qing Dynasty). Then Chen Yingliang could only scold himself for crossing too early, while tearing up the original notice with his own hands and rewriting a notice to recruit talents proficient in smelting, forging, machinery and arithmetic.

Having learned the lesson of the previous notice, and in order not to waste his time, Chen Yingliang came up with a math problem on the notice this time - I don't know how many things are today, two of the three or three numbers are left, three or five numbers are left, and seven or seven numbers are left of two, asking the geometry of things? Chen Yingliang inquired carefully and knew that this advanced mathematics problem had appeared more than a hundred years ago in this era, and some people had already solved the answer, so Chen Yingliang believed that if someone could give the answer, he would definitely have a certain attainment in mathematics and be worth reusing, so Chen Yingliang announced that he would be rewarded for the first correct answer, and he would be retained with a lot of money! But if you answer the wrong answer or deliberately run blindly, you will be rewarded with ten military sticks!

The new notice was released, which naturally caused a lot of sensation in the Yongcheng area, but it was a pity that countless pretentious literati and scholars studied the notice for a long time, but they all shook their heads and retreated, unable to find the correct answer and did not dare to run to Chen Yingliang's blindness, and suffered ten military sticks in vain. At the same time, because no one was selected by Chen Yingliang, there were very few literati and samurai who came to apply for the job, and Chen Yingliang, who didn't even find a usable person for a long time, was disappointed, so he had to plan to lower the standard and get two masters with good writing to write official documents for himself.

Tossed in vain for more than ten days, the time is unconsciously the end of the ninth year of the great cause, the New Year is approaching, Chen Yingliang, who is busy with official and military affairs, has gradually forgotten about the recruitment of talents, but what Chen Yingliang did not expect is that on a snowy afternoon, when Yongcheng County ordered Dong You to come to Tongshou Mansion to discuss official business, after finishing official business, Dong You casually asked Chen Yingliang in his spare time: "Chen Tongshou, I heard that you have been recruiting talents in the past few days, recruiting literati and warriors, as well as excellent craftsmen and proficient in arithmetic, what is the result?" ”

"Don't mention it, it's just a fool." Chen Yingliang smiled bitterly and sighed, casually talked about the situation in the past few days, and then sighed: "I don't want to waste my strength anymore, I plan to tear that notice off in a few days." Dong County Order, you are from Shilin, if there is any suitable person, as long as the writing is a little better, please recommend one or two to me, help me take care of the official documents, I will not treat them badly. ”

"Well, Xia Guan has a few friends in poetry and literature, and the calligraphy is not bad, so I'll ask them if they are willing to serve as a staff member for Chen Tongshou when I go back." Dong You, who is not a good person, agreed, and then said: "But Chen Tongshou, forgive the official for not saying anything, if you want to find craftsmen who are proficient in iron making and casting, as well as people who are proficient in arithmetic, just look for them in Yongcheng and Qianjun, then you are in the wrong place." ”

"What does Dong County mean by this? Please also advise. Chen Yingliang asked.

"Because the outstanding craftsmen of the people have long been recruited by the imperial court." Dong You and Chen Yingliang got along quite well, and he had no scruples when he spoke, explaining: "When today's son loves novelty artifacts, and builds dragon boats and royal cars, at the beginning of his ascension to the throne, he has already ordered all counties in the world to pay tribute to skilled craftsmen, and at the same time these skilled craftsmen are very rewarded, so almost all of the top skilled craftsmen in the Great Sui have moved to Luoyang and Daxing, or they are used in the patrol team, Chen Tongshou, if you want to recruit talents in this area, of course, it is almost impossible." ”

"And people who are proficient in arithmetic." Dong You added: "The Son of Heaven likes to build palaces, there are more than 40 palaces alone, and he dug canals and rebuilt the east and west. ”

"Ouch! Why am I so confused? Chen Yingliang slapped his forehead and screamed, and said regretfully: "I knew that these talents had already gone to Dongdu and Daxing, I should have recruited them on the way here, my uncle Li Guogong happened to be the general supervisor, and some of the talents under his command were proficient in arithmetic!" Confused, confused, how come I didn't even think of such a simple thing?! ”

"Chen Tongshou doesn't have to blame himself so much." Dong You said with a smile: "I can't blame you, to put it disrespectfully, Chen Tongshou is only seventeen years old now, and you are only seven or eight years old when the current emperor ascends the throne, so it's normal to not know these situations." ”

Chen Yingliang still blamed himself, and thanked Dong You for his guidance, Dong You was modest, and said with a smile: "With a gesture, it is also an honor for the lower officials to be able to help Chen Tongshou." If the Chen Ji Room is in urgent need of someone who is proficient in arithmetic, you might as well put pen to paper now, and the lower official will immediately arrange for the post guard to deliver a letter to you. ”

Chen Yingliang wanted to agree, but when the words came to his lips, he changed his mind, shook his head and said: "There is no need to be in such a hurry, don't hide the order of Dong County, in fact, what I lack most now is skilled craftsmen, and I must first have skilled craftsmen before I can use arithmetic talents." Alas, it's a pity that I have average friendships with He Chou and Yun Dingxing in Shaofu, and it is difficult to get people from them, otherwise, things will be much easier. ”

Dong You's official position is not as high as Chen Yingliang, but his age and qualifications are placed here, and his understanding of this era is far above Chen Yingliang....... ”

"Report." The pro-soldier Sangouzi, who suddenly came in, interrupted Dong You's words - a few days after following Chen Yingliang, Chen Yingliang's old neighbor Sangouzi still didn't know the rules very well, and he didn't care that Dong You was in the hall, so he directly bowed his hand to Chen Yingliang and said: "Yutongshou, there is a man from outside our yamen, saying that he can answer your notice questions and ask for your reception. ”

"Is there anyone who can really answer that?" Chen Yingliang was overjoyed, and hurriedly ordered: "Lead him in." ”

The three dogs took the order and left, and Dong Youye continued to say to Chen Yingliang: "Chen Tongshou, just now you said that it is difficult to recruit skilled craftsmen from He Zhengqing and Yun Shaoqing of Shaofu, and you also said that you can only use arithmetic talents if you have skilled craftsmen, which reminds Xia Guan of a strange person, he is not only a rare skilled craftsman, but also proficient in arithmetic, and is not under the jurisdiction of Shaofu, if Chen Tongshou can recruit him to his command, he can kill two birds with one stone." ”

"Such a strange person as the meeting of the world?" Chen Yingliang asked with great joy.

"In the world, there are no wonders, and it is not uncommon for one or two such strange people to appear." Dong You was very proud of Chen Yingliang's surprise, in order to show off his knowledge, and in order to please Chen Yingliang, the top boss who held the power of assessment, Dong You also deliberately aroused Chen Yingliang's appetite, shook his head and said: "But speaking of which, the ups and downs of this strange person's life experience and the twists and turns of fate are really rare in the world, I wonder if Tongshou is interested in listening to it?" ”

"Please introduce Dong County, I'm very interested." Chen Yingliang really fell into Dong You's trap.

"This strange man is from Danyang, and he was already famous for his skills when he was Chen." Dong You deliberately slowed down the pace of his speech and said: "In the former Chen period, the puppet emperor Chen Shubao appointed Wang Yong as the assassin of Dongheng Prefecture, because this strange man was already famous as a Nanchen at that time, Wang Yong looked at the thatched house, and finally invited him out of the mountain to serve as a staff ...... for Wang Yong. ”

"Tongshou, people brought it." The three dogs ran in again to make trouble, and led a man into the lobby of Chen Yingliang's Tongshou Mansion, and pointed to the man and said: "Chen Tongshou, this person claims to say that he can answer the arithmetic questions on your notice, and also said that if you answer incorrectly, you are willing to receive double the penalty." ”

Chen Yingliang glanced at the man casually, and saw that he was in his thirties, his appearance was usually inconspicuous, he was still wearing a tattered thin Confucian shirt under heavy snow outside, and the cloth shoes on his feet had already exposed his toes, and his body was still trembling when he saluted him, looking very depressed, so he didn't care much, and pretended to greet generously: "Sir, please sit down in the brazier and wait for a while, I still have some things, and I will talk to you later." Chen San, serve this gentleman a pot of hot tea. ”

The three dogs agreed, and the down-and-out man was not polite, and said cautiously: "Tongshou, can you give me some hot soup and rice?" I haven't eaten for a day. ”

"Nothing in a day?" Chen Yingliang frowned, and said in his heart, this guy is so hungry that he can't stand being beaten to cheat and cheat, right? But for the sake of loving the people like a son and seeking talent, Chen Yingliang still reluctantly ordered the three dogs to do it.

"Who are you? Where did it come from? Dong You, who has been a county magistrate for many years, is not as hypocritical as Chen Yingliang, and said directly to the down-and-out man: "Are you here to cheat and drink, or are you here to answer the questions?" Chen Tongshou said the question in the notice, but you can also answer the difficult problem in "Ghost Valley Arithmetic"? ”

"The answer is twenty-three." The down-and-out man replied calmly, and asked rhetorically: "Dare to ask the two adults, have you ever answered wrong?" ”

Dong You didn't know the answer, so he could only turn his head to look at Chen Yingliang, Chen Yingliang was slightly stunned, and nodded lightly to indicate that the answer was correct, but he was not too surprised, because someone had already calculated the answer to this arithmetic, and it was not strange that this down-and-out man might have heard the answer from there, so Chen Yingliang didn't care, and said to the down-and-out man: "Sir, please take a seat, the meal will come soon, and we will talk while eating in a while." ”

The down-and-out man thanked him, and then sat down next to the brazier to warm up, and Chen Yingliang also turned to Dong You and said: "Dong County Order, just now you said that strange man, after being hired as a staff member by the former Chen Thorn Shi Wang Yong, what happened later?" ”

"Later, Wang Yong suddenly fell ill and died in Lingnan." was interrupted by the down-and-out man, Dong You had forgotten a lot of the jokes prepared in his stomach, so he had to reply: "That strange man lost his support, and he had no money to return to his hometown in Danyang, so he had to settle in Lingnan and get along very well with the Yue tribe there. ”

"Later, the puppet emperor Chen Shubao sent Shangzhu King Shiji to send troops to quell the rebellion, and soon quelled the Yue rebellion, and that strange man was captured alive by Wang Shiji's team." Dong You danced with a little eyebrows, and said: "It stands to reason that the strange man should have been executed by the car split, but that strange man was so clever that he actually said that Wang Shiji pardoned his capital crime, and took him as a house slave and kept him by his side to listen to it." ”

"Later, my Great Sui Heavenly Soldiers Eight Ways to Ask Chen, and soon pacified Nan Chen, Wang Shiji surrendered to Dasui with Chen Shubao, moved to Daxing, that strange man also followed Daxing, and also built a water power to run the armillary sphere to Wang Shiji, Wang Shiji dedicated this armillary sphere to my Great Sui Emperor, the first emperor was overjoyed, and personally issued an order to the strange man to take off the slave status, put the Taishi Bureau as an official, and later gave it to Yang Xiu, the king of Shu, which was very trusted and reused by His Royal Highness the King of Shu, and once had unlimited scenery in Shu."

"Later, Chen Tongshou must have known that the King of Shu rebelled and was quickly pacified by Yang Su." Dong You continued: "That strange man was once again a prisoner, and once again he was guilty of a car split, but what no one expected was that this strange man immediately made a pocket timer (pocket timer) and dedicated it to He Chou, asking He Chou to intercede for him, and then restored the legendary vessel (water clock), dedicated to the current saint, and the saint was overjoyed, so he pardoned his capital crime. Then another year later, he was appointed as the supervisor of the Shangfang Administration, and two years ago, this strange man was promoted to the position of Daxing Taishi Cheng. ”

"Taishi Cheng of Daxing?" Chen Yingliang was stunned and said, "In this way, I should definitely have met him, what is his name?" ”

"Geng inquired about Geng Dunxin."

A voice suddenly sounded on the side of the lobby, and he answered this question for Dong You first, Chen Yingliang and Dong You turned their heads together in surprise, but saw the down-and-out man who was roasting the fire facing the brazier, and said weakly: "Geng Dunxin I have seen a few times, in addition to the mouth can say a little, in fact, the talent is also very ordinary, ten years ago I competed with him in Shu for arithmetic astrology, and he was defeated in my hands." When I was eighteen years old, I had already built an armillary sphere with the advantages of both a hexagram and a quadruple instrument, but at that time I had no money and could not afford to build a copper armillary sphere, so I could only use wood, so I did not preserve it. ”

"Bold Puff!" Dong You was furious and said angrily: "You dare to speak wildly and insult the court officials!" ”

"The county honors the forgiveness of sins." The down-and-out man got up and turned around, saluted Dong You with his fists, and said calmly: "But I didn't say anything crazy in Xia, and I really competed with Geng Dunxin in arithmetic astrology, and easily won against him." Also, in fact, he is also an official of the imperial court. ”

"You're also an official of the imperial court?" Dong You and Chen Yingliang are both the same.

The down-and-out man nodded, and said with a wry smile: "But it shouldn't be now, in the next Yanguan County order of Huiji County, more than a month ago, the team of the thief Liu Yuanjin was received by the thieves in the city, and the inside and outside of the city jointly broke through the Yanguan County, and he was unable to resist, so he had to abandon his post and flee, and the road was blocked by the thieves, and he could not go to Huiji to ask Taishou for guilt, so he could only return to the Eastern Capital to ask the court for guilt, who would have thought that he would encounter water bandits on the road, entangled and robbed, and the two subordinates were also killed, so it became like this. ”

"Are you really an official of the imperial court? Or an incumbent officer? Chen Yingliang and Dong You were a little stammered.

"That's true." The down-and-out man nodded again, and said with a bitter smile: "I finally came here, hungry and cold, unrelated, and accidentally saw Chen Tongshou recruiting talents, so I took the liberty to come here to eat and drink." ”

"What's your name?" Chen Yingliang hurriedly asked.

"In Chengdu Yuan Tiangang, I have seen Chen Tongshou." The down-and-out man saluted respectfully and replied calmly.

There was a loud bang, although the down-and-out man's tone was calm, Chen Yingliang, who had been brainwashed by Di Renjie very thoroughly, reacted extremely violently, and his ass slipped and fell directly to the ground, pointing at the down-and-out man and screaming: "What? You are Yuan Tiangang? You wicked, you've come out now?! ”